Food Inc.

After putting it off for 2 years, I finally sat down and watched Food Inc. After watching it, I'm equal parts thoroughly pissed off at our government and empowered to make sure that I feed my family has healthfully as possible. Please, just watch this documentary. Sure, it would've been a whole lot easier for me to use my 1 hour and 33 minutes to watch something light and fluffy, that would make me forget my problems and see the world through rose-colored glasses, but I knew that I HAD to watch this documentary--especially since I hold the health of my family in my hands.

One of the things that kept me from watching it for so long was that I knew that there would be "slaughterhouse scenes." Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm an animal lover. I don't kill insects (except for mosquitoes) and was vegetarian for a few years. Unfortunately, the thing that keeps me eating meat, these days, is convenience. This documentary wasn't the most gruesome out there and I was able to hide my eyes just a few times, in order to push forward through the movie. This movie isn't at all anti-meat--it just calls for more healthful practices. In fact, one of the farmers that's interviewed (who I found to be really insightful) was being filmed while he was slaughtering chickens. (I hid my eyes through that part)

I could write a long diatribe, basically re-stating what was covered in the documentary, but that would be boring. All I'm saying is that, after watching this film, I've come away with a greater sense of how to grocery shop for my family and how to feed us. As was stated in the documentary, you get 3 votes a day (via your meals) to dictate what type of foods you demand from the industry. I'm proud to say that my little family is already on the right path. We don't eat much processed food; (although the toddler does have some processed food favorites that we're slowly weening her off of...and oops, those chicken nuggets mentioned in the last post) the bulk of our grocery bill every week is consumed by fruit and vegetables. Soda water is a treat in our home--not what you drink when you're thirsty and we don't eat much red meat at all.

One of the things that I've recently discovered is how easy and how much healthier it is to take a few more minutes to cook something that would much more easily be made via a box, a scary packet of dried sauce and a microwave. A good friend introduced me to the following recipe for mac and cheese. I'll be the first to admit that I have a giant box of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese single-serve pouches, currently taking up half of a shelf of my pantry. To make a single serving of this stuff, you nuke the pasta in the microwave for 3 minutes then mix with the packet of dried, neon orange "cheese" stuff. After cooking it, mixing it and then letting it cool sufficiently enough for two children to eat it, probably 7 minutes or so has elapsed. This recipe that I've been making takes 7 minutes for the macaroni to boil then another few minutes to mix in the ingredients and stir. Voila! A way-healthier version--and way yummier too. I also like knowing exactly what I'm putting into my kids' mouths.

Stove Top Macaroni & Cheese

• 3 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 ounces sourdough bread, torn into pieces
• 1 teaspoon butter, melted
• 12 ounces large elbow macaroni
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated low-fat milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

Place tomatoes in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with black pepper. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.

While tomatoes cook, place bread in a food processor; pulse 2 times or until crumbly. Toss crumbs with melted butter. Sprinkle the crumbs on a baking sheet, and bake at 375° for 12 minutes or until golden, stirring frequently.

Cook macaroni in boiling water 7 minutes; drain. Return macaroni to pan; place over medium-low heat. Add cheese and remaining ingredients; cook 4 minutes or until cheese melts, stirring constantly. Stir in tomatoes. Sprinkle each serving with about 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs.

Now, here's how I modified it: I omitted the breadcrumbs and the tomatoes, because my kids don't care for them. Instead, after the mac and cheese was done, I mixed in steamed broccoli. I served it with a large salad and some crusty bread. It was delicious. This recipe made a huge pot of mac and cheese--which we ate on for days--and cost roughly $6 to make. The next time I make it, I will probably try whole wheat macaroni, just to up the nutritional value. Take that, cheap convenience foods!

Anna Quote Friday

"Anna, would you like chicken nuggets for dinner tonight?"

"Yum! Yes! Chicken nuggets: that's what chickens eat! Chickens also eat eggs."

I dread having the "where your food comes from" talk with her.

Go Texan Day

Anna and her best lil' "pardner"

The little brothers dressed up too

Go Texan Day is another weird, Texas "thang" that we do. Here in Houston, we dress in western wear to celebrate the beginning of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. At Anna's school, the kids were asked to wear their cowboy finest. Anna has a pair of pink cowboy boots that were a hand-me-down from her cousin. Prior to a couple of weeks ago, she was vehemently opposed to even looking at them. Then, one day, she spotted them up on the tip top shelf of her closet and decided that she might like to try them on. She even wore them out to eat one night. I figured that we were in good shape to wear those for Go Texan Day. Naturally, the tides turned this morning, so that when it was time to put them on, a white-trash parenting scene ensued. Our morning, it weren't so purdy.

She was in a good enough mood once we got to school though. I brought the boots along with us, just in case she had a change of heart, once she saw all of her friends in their boots, but, alas, it was not to be. The kids paraded through the courtyard, to show off their cute outfits.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

There's a whole, long birth story that I've partially written, including every detail of the days leading up to Jack's birth, his birth and then beyond. I've written it more for my sake than for yours. Maybe I'll post it soon, maybe not. In the meantime, I'll include the condensed version here.

After debating back and forth and feeling so guilty about scheduling this boy's birthday, my doctor and I decided to schedule the c-section on February 18, 2009. For a week before he was born, I waddled around, a whopping 5 cm dilated. I figured that he must've been hanging on by his toes like a little tree monkey in there. We prayed every day, "please, just hang on until February 18".

At 12:25 am, on February 18, 2009 (about 5 hours before we were due to be at the hospital for the scheduled c-section) I had just dozed off to sleep when gush--my water broke. He certainly held out until February 18.


Jack Hugh was born at 2:57 am. The delivery was incredible, he sounded like a little kitten "mewing" when he came out. Our time at the hospital was blissfully restful and I got to thoroughly bond with our little man as we watched the sun rise and set from our 27th floor hospital room.

The year has flown by. Jack surprises us every day as we see new peeks of his personality. He's easy going, happy and loves to entertain. He eats like a horse, sleeps decently, (although not the Olympic sleeper that his sister is) loves his bath, his daddy and his hilarious sister.



He's just now beginning to say a few words. He says, "catch!" (when he's got a ball or something else over his head that he's about to throw at you) "Dada," "Mama," "Meow" and I've heard him say "Anna".



Happy birthday, sweet boy! We love you so.

But, why?

Anna has discovered the universal toddler appeal of the word "why". Now, let me tell you, I'm all for the quest for knowledge. I love when she asks questions about how the world works, why people do the things that they do (who knows?) or why things happen the way that they do--but her latest scheme is to ask "why" just for the sake of talking and (most importantly) as a stall tactic. Here's an example:

Jenny: "Ok, Anna, it's time to sit on the potty"

Anna: "But, why?"

Jenny: "Because you need to try to go to the potty before we leave"

Anna: "But, why?"

Jenny: "Because you might not want to use the potty at the library, so you need to go now"

Anna: "But, why?"

Jenny: "BECAUSE I SAID SO! NOW JUST DO IT!"

Ugh. "Because I said so." Another one of those things that I swore I'd never say.

Happy Valentime's Day (per Anna)

And yes, same dress, same headband. I'm all about getting our money's worth out of Holiday clothing

Anna and I are quite proud of our homemade chocolate-covered strawberries! It was much more fun and less-expensive than buying them pre-made at the grocery store. Anna was in charge of applying the sprinkles. And no, Anna hasn't converted to Hinduism--that's chocolate. We were practicing full-contact strawberry-dipping, apparently.

Happy Valentine's Day, from our house to yours!

Men and Meditation Don't Mix

When the stars all align on Friday mornings, I have a new class that I'm enjoying at the gym (yes, I'm going to talk about the gym again. Oh, and I'm also going to whine a little again, too! How annoying am I?). There's a yoga class that meets on Friday mornings that is an hour and 15 minutes long. The last 15 minutes of class is reserved for guided meditation. As an over-worked, stay-at-home mother of 2 small children, you can only imagine how indulgent the idea of 15 minutes of silence is--especially when, at my home, any time there's silence in this house, it probably means that someone is doing or eating something that they shouldn't (and this applies to our cats as well).

I went to this yoga class for the first time last week and really enjoyed it. It's a very gentle, very stretching-based yoga class (as opposed to a more rigorous, "workout" type of yoga class) and I enjoy the teacher. Considering that the rest of the week, I'm pushing myself at the gym, it feels nice to have a day of relaxation and the stretching is much-needed come Friday.

Everything worked out this morning at home so that I could go to this class again. I really enjoyed the yoga portion and was totally, blissfully engaged in the meditation portion when the man next to me fell asleep and started snoring. SNORING. Ugh. Now, let's talk about this for a second. How many women do you know--especially women who are often stretched to their limits, physically and emotionally in their personally lives--who could fall asleep during a meditation, in which the instructor is guiding you through a total body relaxation? It just sort of went all over me--the fact that this man was probably bored silly and just decided to tune it out and catch some shut eye. Typical. This happened about halfway through the meditation, so I gritted my teeth, trying to tune-out the goat sounds happening next to me (which only means that all I could focus on were the goat sounds) until about 13 minutes into it, when I heard the classroom door creak open and a whispered voice saying, "Psst! Jack's mommy!". This could mean only one thing--and it means the same thing every time: Jack has taken care of his "morning constitution" and I need to go and change his diaper.

You see, they don't change diapers at the gym. About 99% of the time that Jack spends at the gym, he's sitting in his own poop because he poops when we're at the gym every. blessed. time. I am not even kidding you. Usually it's not so bad that they have to come and get me (although, there was that one time, when I got through working out and went to pick him up and they had a giant can of Lysol sitting out, within the childcare workers arms' reach) so I knew that today was special. I looked at the worker and motioned, "One more minute" and she hesitantly nodded at me and walked out. So, the last 1.5 minutes of my meditation was spent wondering just how badly my dear son had shit his pants today. Unfortunately, the childcare worker interrupting class didn't manage to awaken the snoring goat-man, so actually, in addition to spending the last 1.5 minutes wondering how bad Jack's diaper was today, I was also immersed in the barnyard sounds adjacent to me. Ah, Namaste indeed.

After the class was over, I quickly rolled up my mat, stepped over sleeping goat-beauty, put my shoes back on and scurried out of the room and into the childcare area. Jack was sitting on the floor, with his back to me when I arrived. From across the room, I could see the hot, steaming diaper lava bubbling up out of the top of his diaper. It was rough. Poor boy, but isn't that just like a man: to crap like clockwork--same bat-time, same bat-channel--and also to set out to ruin my 15 minutes of peace. Can't a woman get a moment to herself? Maybe next Friday.

Ready to party "heart-y" (Get it?)

Today is Anna's Valentine's Day party at school. She was excited to wear her special dress for the occasion.

An absolutely fake smile, but how cute is that dress? It's a size bigger than she usually wears, so look for it again next year.

Less fake

She comes up with these poses herself, I promise.
(Edited to add: Those curls are all natural. We don't use hot rollers around here. This is not Toddlers & Tutus)
(Edited again: Oops, Toddlers and Tiaras not Tutus. Same difference)

Not to be outdone, brother was sporting his Valentine's Day hoodie too. Ladies Love the cool J.

I have so much that I want to write about and I'm hoping to somehow carve out the time to do it soon. It's pretty frustrating, not having any creative outlets right now. Seems as though my "creative time" is eaten up with trips to the grocery store, laundry and, when it comes down to it, sometimes I just need to sleep. Precious, precious sleep. In the meantime, I hope you like pictures, 'cause that's what you're getting. Pictures of the big birthday bash will be posted soon(ish)...hopefully before next year.

By the way, if you'd like to wax nostalgic, you can view pics of previous Valentine's Days here and here.