I’m officially obsessed. I am on a Nourishing Traditions e-list but truthfully I usually delete the digest. Just have a hard time getting excited about ferments. <g>  I saw a few posts about menu planning yesterday which caught my eye. My whole motivation for food lists is to shake up my menu. Alyss from that list definitely did that! She shared her Flickr lunch pages. Who would have guessed lunch could be this much fun?

Alyss sent a link to Laptop Lunches, home of the bento-style lunchbox of the new century. Wow! I remembered seeing bento boxes several years ago when we studied Japan. Those were very ornate however – wood and mother-of-pearl inlaid.They were beautiful but not something I could envision using. These laptop lunch boxes would be the IKEA version of bento. They are a high density plastic with multi-colored little containers that fit perfectly inside the box to store all the foods separately. Lunch never looked this good.

Now I am not normally in to one up-ing the Jones’ but the first thing that came to mind when I saw the Flickr pages was, "MY husband NEEDS one of these!" <g> And it really is more than just showing off. When I saw those little heart shaped cookies and the fanned oranges it occurred to me that lunch could potentially be an opportunity to minister to my husband, much like the early morning wakeup to make breakfast has been. I suspect by midday he could use a morale recharging as well as a physical one. Lunch has always been an afterthought, both the selection and presentation. It is usually slopped into the ubiquitous brown bag or better yet a Walmart bag. You’d need to look inside to know if it was the trash or his lunch. It is nutritious but uninspiring, a totally utilitarian enterprise. Perhaps those days are behind us! If he has to leave here to support us then our support will go with him – in a cheerful bento box. : )

If you have no need to pack a lunch you may still enjoy the Flickr pages a great deal for the menu planning ideas. Lunch around home has suffered from the same lack of variety and attention. We don’t need to pack our lunches but we do have divided trays that could well have the same effect presentation wise. Ok I am off and running here. Now if someone could just get me this excited about my countertop…..

…. and other dietary ramblings. ; )

Elizabeth called yesterday to relate the great news of an excellent postpartum checkup. (ck out her blog today for more of their family’s herbal explorations of late).  Her experience prompted me to write about my all time favorite herb – Red Raspberry leaf.  It has been such a friend to me I cannot imagine going through pregnancy and postpartum without it. I am apparently not alone, since it is estimated that 20% of pregnant women now use the herb. Despite that reported number, my personal experience has been that few of my women friends have made extensive use of it.  That is a true pity because I have yet to see it fail to net tremendous results.

Some history here: I had a short, horrifically painful labor with my first son, complete with vomiting and chills. Fortunately I was young and bounced back quickly.  Second son was enormous.  I had become a vegetarian in the interim between these pregnancies and I am not sure if the increase in carbs or just plain old recessive genes came into play but he was 2 and a half lbs heavier and 2 in longer than the first. Recovery went reasonably well but I was torn to pieces during delivery and he was plagued with colic afterwards. My third pregnancy found me riddled with viral infections and generally worn down. I hemorrhaged during delivery and for many many weeks afterwards.  Infections continued and eventually led to a complete physical breakdown. By age 24 my health was shot.

All my research seemed to indicate that an even stricter diet was in order. I became a complete vegan and embarked on an elimination diet to see if some food was triggering the massive problems. I reacted strongly to glutinous grains and corn. (which doesn’t leave one with a whole lot else!) Removing them brought about relief from many symptoms but I had become the Incredible Shrinking Woman. By my 4th pregnancy I was approaching 90 lbs. During this pregnancy I experienced some of my worst preterm contractions and various freakish muscle cramps (in retrospect likely due to the absence of adequate calcium source) I also was determined to try my new trick – Raspberry Leaf. As it turns out, I was induced without access to my herb. Allen brought me tea faithfully in the hospital afterwards however and the effect was near miraculous. If I took the tea, I had no pain or bleeding. If I quit, both kicked up again. By consuming it religiously I had a totally different postpartum experience.

With baby 5 I used the tea during pg and early labor. By the time it was clear that I was truly in labor and arrived at the hospital I was 6cm. Within 90 minutes we had a baby girl. The postpartum team was on alert since I was considered a grand multipara by this time and was "at risk of hemorrhage". Whatever. <g> It never happened. In fact female health, which was the only health I had at that pt, was excellent. Unfortunately my general health was still in decline. I would diagnosed with adult onset asthma within a year.

At this point we abandoned the vegetarian diet and added more protein. Things began to improve. I concieved my 6th child and embarked on Dr Brewer’s diet for pregnancy. No more infections!! I gained a lb a week which concerned me but I was strong enough to see my oldest through grueling neurosurgery in the late first trimester while my husband was out of state for 6 wks of military training. I was also able to tolerate a wider variety of foods that I had previously reacted to. Perhaps it was true – the protein and vitamins were rebuilding my health.  The pregnancy proceeded rather uneventfully. I added Squawvine herb to my delivery arsenal. The result? Labor at home from 1-4am. Arrived at the hospital at 4:40 am having walked from the parking lot to the second floor unit. At 4:50 I was 8cm. At 5:20 we had a big baby boy. Again, no hemorrhage, quick recovery, and this time no infections at all. In fact I felt better than I had in many years.

My health continued to improve in the following months and I became pg with number 7. We had some pressing family challenges during this pg but my health was superb. I again used copious amts of the raspberry and the additional squawvine as delivery neared. I woke up at 1 am at 39 wks with strong contractions. After an hr it appeared as though this may really be labor and I got into the tub to relax for what I expected would be a bit of early labor. My water promptly broke and we did not make it to the hospital. That’s right!  Surprise homebirth at 3am. After the shock wore off I was exhilarated. I felt wonderful and the recovery was as quick as the previous ones.

With Brendan, our last baby, Allen deployed to Iraq. It was by far the most frightening time to be pg – and alone on top of it.  Delivery was complicated by a bit of an odd presentation but nevertheless he was born after 3 hrs of labor. At my postpartum check I surprised the military provider who expected a far different exam of a woman in her late 30’s with this many children.

I had a dear friend locally who was also delivering her 8th child the same month. She also used the raspberry and squawvine for the first time with that baby. This woman, who typically went overdue and had long labors, also delivered her baby before the midwife arrived. Recovery was remarkably speedy. She was convinced!

I am technically full term today – 37 wks! I have followed the Weston Price and Brewer plans this pregnancy and we had only one bout of colds go through the house as fall set in. This time I was unbelievably free from the troublesome preterm contrax that have been a mainstay of my pgs. I attribute this to our goat’s milk as much as the general diet.

I am beginning my increase of raspberry today and will incorporate the squawvine which seems to act as a contraction regulator. The prospect of labor pain is stil intimidating. Probably always will be! But I am encouraged by all this past experience and that of my friends that it will not be insurmountable. I do not generally fear tearing or postpartum hemorrhage barring freak accidents either. The diet and herbs do incredible things for tissue health!

If you are interested in reading more check out these links:

Pregnancy.com on raspberry

Cmommies story ""

Babycentre on rasp and squawvine

Squawvine

Brewer Diet for Pregnancy

WAP diet for Pregnancy

If this doesn’t throw me over the top into pioneering womanhood nothing will. <g> My friend Mary down the road got ahold of some organic pork fat for us and this week was our first attempt at rendering. As it turns out there wasn’t much of a trick to it. Basically you cut the fat into one inch square pieces.  I ended up doing larger pieces simply because I have pitiful cutlery. The directions generally call for heating on the stove or in it for many hrs. It is too hot to heat up the stove right now so we tried the crock pot in the sunroom instead.  It just heats and melts and you skim off the liquid which then turns into lard. That’s all there was too it. Worked like a charm!

Its been 24 hrs or so now so we are calling it done. We had maybe ten lbs of fat to begin with. We finished with a half gallon of lard. In the end the consensus was that this was really easy and it didn’t stink. Do I hear a stampede of readers rushing to the butcher??  Ok probably not. <g>  But should you ever be so inclined rest assured there is nothin’ to it.

I found a couple links if you are interested and I have no camera since dh has it on their trip. So, the ones I found will have to suffice. Mine pretty much looks exactly like these anyway. I am told we can use the homemade lard to make soap so that is on my list of things I would like to try. It would have to be cheaper than the olive oil or coconut oil in so many soap recipes. The fat was about fifty cents per pound.

Next up is goat’s milk yogurt with our new yogurt makers. They are new to us anyway!

How to render fat into lard

lard vs trans fats

Lard article – funny

Tried something new today and thought I would share our success. We make almost everything here from scratch, less because I am a SUPER-mom and more because I am sensitive to corn and cows milk and you can forget buying anything without one of those in it.  Add to that the fact that I am SUPER-cheap.  Oh, and also rather taken with nutrition as a hobby. Put all that together and it makes for slow food.  That’s ok most of the time but we reached an impasse, my family and I, over breakfast.   They don’t like oatmeal unless it comes in little paper packages with labels like ‘Apples and Cinnamon’ or ‘Maple and Brown Sugar’ on the label.  Convinced, as I am, that there is nothing a person cannot find by googling, I surfed to see if some good soul out there had figured out a copycat recipe for same.  They have.

This morning we mixed up our first batch of instant oatmeal and thus far it looks to be the same as the Quaker variety.  The basic recipe involves blenderizing 1/4 of the oats to a powder then mixing all the oats with sweetner and spices and perhaps dried fruit to mimic the boxed flavors. You then bag in 1/2 c measures into baggies.  Voila!  (I know you hate that word Jen!; ))

While we were on a food prep roll we also made up all the sandwich fixings into lunches for Dad this week and froze them so there is some hope they will still be available when he leaves for work. This isn’t exactly once a month cooking but doing little bits of food prep en masse whenever possible saves minutes (and lunch dollars) later in the week.

Here are the oatmeal mix recipes:

Plain Instant Oatmeal
Yields: 8 servings

3 cups quick-cooking oats: Blend 1 c of the oats in a food processor =
until powdery (if using a blender, blend 1/2 c @ a time). Leave the =
other 2 c as is.
You will need 8 plastic sandwich bags.
Optional flavor ingredients (below)

Into each sandwich bag: 1/4 c unpowdered oats, 2 TBSP powdered oats, and
a scant 1/4 tsp salt. Store in a box or airtight container.

To make:  Empty packet into a bowl/cup. Add 3/4 c boiling water; stir and
let stand for 2 minutes. For thicker oatmeal, use less water; for
thinner, use more water.
Note: For a creamier oatmeal: Mix the bag with 3/4 c cold water; let
stand 1 – 2 min; then cook to heat thru (or eat as is).

VARIATIONS:
Sweetened Oatmeal
To each packet, add 1-2 tsp sugar.

Creamy Oatmeal
To each packet, add 1 TBSP powdered dry milk.

Creamy & Sweetened Oatmeal
To each packet, add 1-2 tsp sugar & 1 TBSP powdered dry milk.

Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal
To each packet, add 1-2 tsp sugar, dash or 2 of cinnamon, and 2 TBSP
chopped dried apples.

Cinnamon-Spice Oatmeal
To each packet, add 1-2 tsp sugar, 2 dashes of cinnamon, and a dash of
nutmeg.

Oatmeal with Raisins & Brown Sugar
To each packet, add 1 tsp packed brown sugar and 1 TBSP raisins.

Wheat Germ Oatmeal
To each packet, add 2 tsp wheat germ.

Fruit & Cream
To each packet, add 1 TBSP powdered dry milk and 2 TBSP chopped dried
fruit.

(In addition to the above) To flavor, sweeten, & fortify bland oatmeal,
try:
Extracts: (1/8-1/4 tsp of 1 ext.) vanilla, almond, rum, etc; cloves,
allspice, mace (very strong spices; use as a ‘dash of’); instant coffee,
brown sugar, date sugar or dates, molasses, honey, syrups, dehydrated
fruit compote or fruit medley, rehydrated; crushed candies, Red Hot
candies (cinnamony); chocolate, butterscotch, or peanut butter chips;
mini marshmallows, any dried fruits (or a combo of any), instant drink
mixes/crystals/powders, instant cocoa (mixes), malted milk powder,
jams/jellies, yogurt (plain/flavored), flavored gelatins, pudding mixes,
seeds &/or nuts, fruit leathers, peanut butter (or other nut butter),
margarine (or Butter Buds), BacoBits, (meat) jerky bits, tofu "bacon",
tofu jerky, bits of mincemeat or pemmican, dried &/or candied
orange/lemon peel, Nutella, or anything from your gorp bag, etc, etc.

Try combining other quick-cooking cereals (cream of wheat/rice/barley,
Malt-O-Meal, etc) or dry cereals (granolas, muesli, Bran Buds, All-Bran,
etc) to the oatmeal packets.

*For an even creamier oatmeal, add 1-2 generous heaping tsp powdered
creamer (& it improves the taste of the dry milk, when used).
(recipes copied from Backcountry.net)

Here is a more basic version:

Instant Oatmeal

8 C oatmeal
1T cinnamon
1C dried fruit (raisins, dates, apples, whatever)
1C brown sugar

Mix together well.
To serve: put 1/2C cup oatmeal mix into cereal bowl, add 1C water and microwave 2 – 2 1/2 min. Let stand 3-4 min.