Contemporary Earth Mama

Gluten Free Energy Bars

The following recipe is what I have prepared for Sunny's soccer game snack this week.  This was ridiculously easy to prepare...maybe took me 15 minutes.

I did adapt this recipe from one in Family Fun magazine, and you can play around a lot with this.

Gluten Free Energy Bars:  Cherry-Apple-Walnut

1/3 cup walnuts (or whatever nut you'd like)

1/3 cup dried apples and dried cherries (or whatever dried fruit you'd like)

dash of cinnamon

Grind 1/3 cup walnuts in a food processor, empty into bowl and set aside.  Grind 1/3 cup seeded dates and 1/3 cup dried cherries in the food processor.  Add a dash of cinnamon, and pour the ground walnuts back in, process to blend.

Pour all contents into a bowl and scoop a bit out into your hand, shaping them into a small rectangle or log.  Line them up on a cutting board or small plate and chill for 15 minutes before wrapping or storing.  Because we are bringing them to soccer, I individually wrapped them in a little foil.

This recipe makes 6 bars, so double if you need more.

Let me know how your family or soccer team likes them! They taste just like a Larabar to me!

new soccer season

This year while waiting for the soccer season to start, we got an email from our coach in regards to snacks, game times, and general prep for the practices and games.  There was general emphasis put on how excited kids get about the snacks.  I thought a second about the snacks we were served in team sports as young kids and it was always something like fruit roll ups and a mini can of Shasta.  Gross.

As a health coach and the one in charge of keeping my girls immune systems in tip-top shape, I stepped slightly out on a limb and sent an email back to the coach whom I'd never met.  Taking the chance at becoming "that mom" on the team, I thanked him for taking this volunteer role, appreciating his time, effort, and energy before giving him my spiel that he may or may not have already been given from another mom.   I shared with him the food sensitivies our family has, and that Sunny is limited on the amount of gluten she consumes in a week, and that if she does consume it, I'd rather it be from a high quality, nutrient dense food.  Citing that we are likely not the only family on the team with some kind of sensitivity, I offered to create a snack list of options families can choose from when it's their night to bring snack.  Then, I pushed SEND.  Gulp.

What I got in a reply was so exciting...yes, I had talked about the current childhood obesity epidemic and the top three food allergens school age childred deal with, and the new co-op in town that gives us such great resources, but he was over the top on board.  Hallejuiah.  Not only was he on board, he gave me his full endorsement as I wrote a small educational piece on why these choices were important to make and model for our children.

As a team, we haven't had one single negative response from any of the parents, and have seen a couple great, healthy snacks come through.  Tomorrow I will share with you the recipe and snack we are bringing this week for our turn...and it's super easy.

How can you bring to attention the issue of quality and nutrient dense snacks for your child's sporting events this school year?

 

remembering t-ball

We started soccer with Sunny this fall...she was both excited and nervous, that's her M.O.  Once the practices were over and we were into game time, she's turned into a great player!

To boost her esteem a bit I shared with her my fear of playing t-ball.  Seriously, how easy is/was t-ball?  I never liked it, and never understood where I was supposed to be, why I was there, or what I was supposed to do.  I played shortstop and during one game where each player parted for their various position, I stood there giving my ginormous coach (not really, he was just SOO tall to me)a deer in the headlights look.  He finally lifted me up right onto his shoulders, walked me out to shortstop, set me down, looked at me, and said, "stay here.  catch the ball."  Got it.  Thanks.

What happened next was so embarrassing.  Here's the thing.  I had to pee.  And I had to pee before he brought me out to he field, but I didn't know who I was supposed to tell or where I was supposed to go.  I hung out there in the field and eventually wet my pants, so my dark denim jeans were completely dark and hot and wet all down the front and insides of my legs.  Someone became privy to the issue, and I recall my dad scooping me up and setting me down upon newspaper in the maroon cloth covered backseat of the Dodge Caravan we had at the time, and off we went for home.

To this, Sunny laughs and says, "I hope something like that never happens to me!"

Anyone remember anything like that happening to you?

ice cream anyone?

Today I ate the last GF ice cream sandwich ( homemade, ahem) from Sunny's birthday party, then ate 4 stalks of celery and took an extra dose of my multi-vitamin to feel better about the first choice, and now I feel great.

 

...and you?

 

 

 

homemade summer sausage...the recipe

It's done, it's awesome and I'll never let myself go more than a couple months again without making it!

For those of you who want photos, I'm too lazy to upload them.  Actually, it's more of a time thing and a Search & Rescue effort to find the camera after Sunny has hid her latest homemade music video.

BUT, the summer sausage is beautiful, smells amazing and tastes really great.  It's a fun one, reminds me of sourdough starter because it needs a little TLC every day for a few days until it hits the oven.  I got this recipe from my husband's best friends mom...thanks Margaret!, who will have nothing to do with the internet, so here goes:

::Summer Sausage

5 # 80% lean ground beef ( for me that just means 5# of grass fed organic ground beef from my farmer)

5 rounded tsp Morton's tender quick salt

2 1/2 tsp mustard seed

2 1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 rounded tsp hickory smoke salt

Day 1:  mix the ingredients thoroughly into the ground beef.  Refrigerate in covered container.  I plunk it ( yes, that is a word) into a big 9x13 glass Pyrex with a cover.

Day 2:  Mix & store again.

Day 3:  Mix & store again.

Day 4:  Mix & form into 5 "logs", put on broiler pan in lowest part of oven, bake for 4 hours at 175 degrees, turning once each hour so all sides are up once.  Cool and refrigerate or freeze.

I keep one log out at a time, but sometimes they get eaten up in a day, depends on who's around!  This sausage, cut into chunks with cheese sticks, a vegetable and fresh fruit make a perfect lunch for the expecting mama who needs lots of extra protein.

Share with me your favorite way of serving your homemade summer sausage!

Today she's 7.

 
Today she is seven.  This means a lot of things, like I am about to turn thirty-four, and Annie is about to turn three and Campbell ( the dog) is already 8, and Chad feels like he's 75.

As I sat down to write her annual  Birth Day letter, for the first time I didn't cry.  I wrote and scribbled and scratched desperately of all the trials and tribulations she and I have gone through this year as mama/daughter.  Surely this has been my toughest year ever...emotionally/mentally/spiritually/business/marriage/socially, and it has all trickled onto my energy sucking sponge of a daughter.  That is not a derogative comment, but a comment so real as this child picks up on any ounce of energy around here and it becomes hers, which then becomes mine to work with...nice how it all comes full circle, right?  So I said that for the first time I didn't cry, I really rejoiced in the new day that is hers today.  She starts First Grade.  Sunny, today, starts first grade.

 
(fuzzy self portrait...she better thank her lucky stars I didn't include the music video she shot with my camera which had me in hysterical tears and that followed this photo) 

She will assert her independence with someone other than me, if only until 3pm five days per week.  I will welcome the break to build up my energy so as to greet her fully at pick up and meet her more than halfway until 7pm each evening.  As it goes in Waldorf schools, this is her year to read.  As I've shared here before, this child nearly eats books for meals and has this intense innate ability to pick out words and put together their sounds and an uncanny knack for just spelling words she's never seen before...and I've never "worked" with her on reading or writing specifically.  We have read to her and read to her and read to her and she has developed this love for letters and has developed an intense relationship with the words on a page, and "reads" to our dog every night after we tuck her in, from chapter books, as if she has a photographic memory, which wouldn't surprise me.  When I ask her what she wants to learn in first grade, I all but get that spit out before she is right there with her answer:  "to read and knit".  Though it's funny, she has been itching to read for a couple of years and every time I meet her with a mini lesson that lasts no more than five days before she's bored with it...which tells me she really isn't as ready as she thinks....until now, that is.  She is ready for Ms. Bene to teach her reading by storytelling and by creating her very own textbooks from her beautiful wooden desk in First Grade.

 
This strong and able leader, this high spirited girl of mine is so very ready for this next change.  I do believe there will be tears sometime throughout the day, but so far I find myself in meditative reflection about what she will experience today and how she'll translate it to me when I pick her up.

 
 
This 7 year old, who has grown a deep love for good food and mostly for preparing, baking, cooking and being around the kitchen when anything food-like is going on (hm, apple doesn't fall far from the tree, right?), has taken to making breakfast of overeasy eggs and toast on the weekends with a smidgeon of supervision.

 
This child right here, who insists on holding full fledged birthday parties for all critters turning four this summer (sorry, Cheetah...I still can't get past your gaudiness, let alone realize you had a birthday), and who steals into my room after kindly reminding me to give her some privacy, and who minutes later, comes out dressed as Miss Hannigan from Annie...one of six movies she has seen in her entire life.

 
This child who so badly wants to live on a small hobby farm and who planted, has maintained and grown her own garden this summer...this seven year old child came from me and is of me and I am feeling very ready to let her out into the big world of First Grade wholeheartedly.

love you sunshine.  okay, now I'm crying.

those GF bagels

I have to say I love bagels but can't recall the last time I had one with the exception of walking  across the U of M campus and through Dinkytown after class sometime in the fall of 1996.  Of course now that I say that I have a few more memories, but certainly more from long ago than any time in the near past.

Eating mostly gluten free isn't difficult, though it does take some planning.  I get asked for gluten free recipes all the time, or at least for which are my favorites, and though I had never been asked for a gluten free bagel recipe, when I realized a friend had one and loved it, I jumped at it.  I knew my girls would love them.

This is adapted from a Living Without recipe.

1 1/2 cup brown rice flour

1 cup white rice flour

1/2 c potato flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons flax meal

1 tablespoon xantham gum

1 egg

1 tablespoon yeast

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1¼ cups warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

Brown rice flour, for rolling bagels

1. Sprinkle some brown rice flour on a cookie sheet.

2. Put dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk together.

 3. In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.

4. Using the paddle attachment of the mixer, slowly incorporate the liquid mixture into dry ingredients. Add more warm water, if necessary, to create smooth consistency. Beat for a minute or until thick.

 

5. To shape the bagels, use a large spoon to scoop out the batter. Drop a spoonful on to the cookie sheet sprinkled with the flour. Lightly roll dough in the flour to coat it and then shape into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly and using your thumb, create a hole in the center, and turn over rotating the bagel dough around your thumb.

 

6. Place each bagel on the baking pan.  Lightly cover bagels with an oiled piece of plastic wrap and place pan in a warm place for bagels to rise, about 20 to 30 minutes.

7. When bagels have risen, bring a skillet of water to boil. Add 1 teaspoon sugar to the water. (Sugar helps create a shiny crust.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 

8. Drop ONE BAGEL AT A TIME into the boiling water and simmer for 30 seconds, turn over and simmer for 30 seconds on the other side.  Putting more than one bagel or leaving them in longer than 30 seconds on a side will weaken the bagel and it will fall apart in the water. Using a FLAT SPATULA, remove bagel, drain away excess water and put back on cookie sheet. Once all bagels are boiled, bake them for 25 minutes in preheated oven. Cool on a rack.

 

I got 9 bagels out of this, with a few of them being broken up from attempting more than one bagel to boil at a time.  The result was far greater than I expected for the first time at what seems like a daunting task.  They were great with butter and a little honey along with soup and salad for dinner, and put in a sealed bag overnight, were ready for toasting this morning.  *NOTE:  my bagels did not rise much, so cutting them in half likely wouldn’t have worked, though I didn’t even try.

As I figured this would be a disaster and it was nowhere near that, I’d definitely try again…they were a hit with everyone!

moments before an interview

 This child...this child right here in her "lady hat", shoulder bag and Crocs on the wrong feet, locked herself in a bedroom just minutes before I was to be interviewed on the topic of kids and sugar by Maria Bailey for Mom Talk Radio.

My girls and I are staying up north at my inlaws for the week, and all was going according to planned (which should have been the first indication that my blood pressure was about to rise) as I took Fannie downstairs to get her diapered and tucked in to her afternoon nap.

Duh-duh-duh...that's the sound of impending doom I heard when she went running back into the bedroom as I looked for her blanket and heard the door slam.  This door, with the trigger lock on the inside, was now closed and locked, with a crying little one behind it.  Thank goodness I had just flipped the switch or it would have been pitch black in there, as my father in law gets it good and dark for her sleeping times with a blanket over the window.

As I am about to panic, yes, absolutely concerned about getting the door unlocked for her, but the question was, could I do it before Maria called?  I picked at the lock with a coat hanger than made my self chillax for a second as I stepped back to get a grip.  Singing to her while I plucked at the door again, Sunny came down to see what the ruckus was about and I sent her outside to talk with Fannie through the window.  Again, thank goodness I had slid the window open just a tidge during the night to let in the fresh and cool night air.  Sunny began talking with her, Fannie began laughing and I asked Sunny if she could see Fannie, who had climbed up onto the window sill and saved the day by sliding the window open the whole way.  This, of course, meant mama could pop the screen, climb in through the window, comfort the child, remind her that the door button is only for mama and Sunny, and get her settled into her nap just three minutes before the phone rang.

...and, we're off...talking about the topic of sugar and kids.  So I did make one little fib during the discussion.  I mentioned the black bean cupcakes for Sunny's birthday last year as being gluten free, and when I did a quick double check, I made them with all purpose flour.  That being said, I now want to give them a GF switcheroo.  Often when I make a recipe for the first time I will try my other 'healthy alternatives' before doing a GF switcheroo to make sure the recipe is going to work for my family, then I'll GF it.  These were awesome cupcakes and I can't believe I haven't made them since!

When the podcast goes live from today's discussion, I'll be sure to include it here!

Any last minute kiddo snafu's upon an important moment for you?