What's Cookin'

When I got married, I was a decent cook. I didn't enjoy cooking because I HATE making messes, but I 've come to terms with it. I used to make lots of food I had grown up with (Mexican) and recipes Rich's mom gave me when we got married (casseroles), and they were good...so good that each of us has gained about 60 pounds. So since I am in charge of the food around here and I can't stand for my menus to be boring and our bodies can't stand for them to be unhealthy, I have been on a year-long quest to improve our eating, especially by tripling the amount of vegetables & fruits we consume.

The quest for F&V led us to lots more Asian-inspired foods and vegetarian recipes. Of course we have always been smoothie fans and our girls are, too. Addie comes up with the best smoothie recipes! We try to keep a big tub of vanilla yogurt on hand as well as lots of frozen fruit (we got lots last September marked down, cut it up and froze it)--we LOVE the triple berries from Costco and their blueberries, and of course summer brings so many strawberries and peaches--yay! Rich made smoothies last week that were just peaches, blueberries, and apple juice and we loved it.

I discovered this great recipe for Kahlua Pork cooked in the crock pot. Costco has great little pork roasts, sold in three-packs for around $10--they're so great and usually make 2 meals each. Anyway, you can cook them overnight with just three ingredients: a splash of olive oil, 2-3 tablspoons of liquid smoke (hickory or applewood), and a few shakes of salt. Keep moist by adding a bit of water as needed and in about 8 hours, you've got a luau!

I made up a great recipe for the leftover pork: egg rolls a la Sister Gunn!

I know it's blurry, but the filling is just shredded pork, 1/2 head of cabbage chopped, and 2 carrots grated. Then I put in about a tablespoon of crushed ginger root, a tablespoon of crushed garlic, and 1/4 cup of Shoyu sauce (recipe below).
Then we wrapped them up in won tons and fried them in a little canola oil. YUM! We had the rest of the cabbage with mushrooms and broccoli steamed with Shoyu sauce on the side.

And it was DELISH.

My friend Megan gave us the recipe for Shoyu chicken and I love it because (a) it's tasty (b) I can buy dirt-cheap chicken legs and make a good dinner out of them and (c) I can freeze the sauce and use it in TONS of other recipes.

So here's how you make it:

1 cup soy sauce
1 cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 piece crushed ginger
2 cloves of garlic mashed
4 whole green onions
3 pounds of chicken thighs or legs, bone in

Mix ingredients in large saucepan, bring to boil, add chicken, simmer til chicken is tender (falling off bone--about 30 minutes). Then remove chicken with tongs. Allow sauce to cool then strain with collander and pour into ziploc bags to freeze for future use.
(The snack size ziplocs are the perfect amount of sauce for micowaving veggies--just put the veggies in a covered casserole dish with the frozen sauce and microwave for 3-5 minutes [or until tender--microwaves vary], stirring half way through. Carrots are so good if you cook them like this, and then drizzle with a mixture of honey and a little crushed ginger).

Here are some MUST HAVES (hot sauce & cruched ginger from Christpher Ranch--I love the CR garlic, too). We love them!(we have found that if food is flavorful, it's more satisfying--kimchi is a great example: lots of flavor, very satifying, but it's really just cabbage!)

Let Them Eat Dirt!

When I got adusted last week with my chiro/nutritionist, Dr. Doblebower, we talked about how I had been sick and that somehow my kids had not getten sick at all. I said, "The funny thing is that my healthiest kid is the one who eats dirt all the time." His eyes lit up and he told me he had just come from a nutrition conference and in one of the first presentations about asthma and childhood illnesses, they had an opening powerpoint slide that said something like,

"So what's missing from our children's diets?"

follwed by a picture of a kid eating a mud pie. Not unlike this, I suppose: Yep, there's my girl with super-immunity, who only gets SICK once a year!

(photo courtesy of Michaela Claar)

You can read some points about the rest of our nutrition/immunity conversation in this article, and this one, and this one.

So, to sum it up:

• 
  Early exposure to nature (dirt, animals, etc.) helps the body build up immunity and reduces allergies and asthma
  
• Early exposure to common viruses and bacteria does the same thing to help children resist or recover quickly from common childhood illnesses
  Use fewer chemicals in the home for cleaning (plain soaps, hot water, and vinegar usually disinfect just fine)
  
• To boost the immune system, include the following in your diet: Vitamin C and other antioxidants in fruits, veggies, especially berries, calcium in milk and in supplements, and iron in meats and beans. Zicam, Airbourne, or high-quality supplements containing Echinacea and golden seal (these are expensive but effective, and my nutrituionist recommends products form Australia where they are regulated) can help when you feel a cold or flu coming on.
• Let Them Eat Dirt!
  

Heidi & The Sugar Bug

Heidi had a dental check up on April 27th and Dr. Orton found a tiny sugar bug on a lower right molar (poor Heidi didn't get Daddy's super teeth!). So on Monday 5/14, she got the sugar bug out and a shiny filling in... Here she is wearing her "clown nose" to get some "giggle gas"
There's Dr. Orton doing her teeth...
...and Heidi's so happy when he's all done!
(Dr. Orton is great with the kids, and it helps that he's our bishop, too)

Dear Gabriel:

I had a great post planned for your birthday, I really did. Aunt Jill and I even talked about it. But you wanna know how we celebrated? Yep, Bowing to the porcelain god. Everybody over here got a wicked Norvirus and our tummies are still queasy! Shucks. But I hope it was an AWESOME day in your world and you can thank us later for NOT coming to visit you, cuz this virus stinks.

Happy Birthday, you big teenager!

Love, Aunt Jamie

Last Week: Photos

Heidi had her three-year-old check up with Dr. O'Hara. The doctor complimented me profusely on my kids' development, both physical and social, and on their health. She mentioned that it looks from their records that they are only sick a couple of times a year. We discussed my awesome parenting (AHEM) and pinpointed (a) the kids' varied but mostly good whole food diet and (b) the fact that I exposed them to every possible virus/ bacteria at an early age (like when James went to church when he was 4 days old--don't worry, we left right after sacrament before anyone slobbered on him) and that I often refuse antibiotics unless there is definite evidence of infection or urgent need (otherwise we tough it out naturopathically because I'm all Andrew-Weil that way).

I suppose it also helps that I wasn't in high school whenI got pregnant and my kids never come in contact with cigarette smoke. As far as their social development--well, she hasn't seen Heidi tired and we didn't talk about those days when I have computer work to do and they watch about 3 hours of Playhouse Disney while stuffing their faces with baby carrots and Ovaltine milk. Anyway, Heidi weighs 40 pounds and is 39 inches tall, and is one smart cookie.
James likes the fish on the doctor's wall... and speaking of James, he got checked up the week before and he weighs a few ounces shy of 23 pounds and is 29-1/2 inches tall.
Here I am rocking my boy...
...and watching Heidi build a tent out of pillows on the couch.
She's a busy little stinker!