Food....

So lately I have really gotten into food. Yummy food. Brady and I have a new favorite show. It is called Diners Drive-Ins and Drives. Mmm. You should watch it. We may plan our next vacation based on fun places from this show. I also watch a lot of cooking shows because I have a little TV at my desk and not much is on during the day when I sit down to get a little work done. I definitely have some preferences.

Giada: Love her and her recipes. Have I made any? No but I have DVR'd a few episodes--just in case! She always uses lemon and I love using lemon and lime. Plus that smile--I totally wish I had her smile.

Ina--The Barefoot Contessa: She bugs a little bit although her recipes seem pretty good. I do watch the show but why does she bug? Not totally sure. Just her manner-a little superior and into herself and her garden and her husband. Why no kids? Plus, why is she called the Barefoot Contessa?

Ask Aida: She is ok. The format of her show is a little annoying with the guy at the computer throwing out emailed questions from viewers. Also, the cheesecake lollipops did not work--I tried them--Aida lied....

Rachel Ray: Sorry, can't stand her voice. It sounds like she is always on the verge of losing her voice. EVOOOOOOOOOOnoooooo.

David Rocco: I have only watched this show like once or twice. The Italian nightlife and yatch shots were a little freaky to me. It seemed like the free-wheeling 70s and 80s or something.

So, the main reason I don't make any of the cooking show recipes is because they all use tons of butter and cream and milk-filled products. It stinks. I know they aren't trying to be evil and I try not to take it personally. You can only go so far with Silk and Rice Dream and Earth Balance "butter" spread. I do have some vegan "cream cheese" to try. We'll see....

I'm trying little by little to be a better cook and make more interesting meals for my family. I for sure am a better baker than cook but I am trying. Proof? I printed out about 10 recipes from the internet today. Time will tell if I will actually make them but they sure sound yummy (Thanks Jaime for the suggestion to look at ourbestbites.com--I just kept printing and printing).

My goal this week? To make homemade bread. I read an article in the paper about how to improve your financial situation and one tip was to buy a bread machine because you get such an exponential return on your investment. Seriously, bread is like $4.00/loaf. Well, no bread machine but what the heck, I can make bread, right?

Yada Yada Yada

We started summer vacation yada yada yada and now the kids are back in school. That is how I feel about the summer. It went so fast and now we are back to the old grind. I feel like it is leftovers night for my blog. Little tidbits here and there that I need to get some use out of. Here goes...

The Bicycle Saga:

Today Penn and I took a bike ride to meet Brady for lunch. It was about 4 1/2 miles each way and so much fun. I feel like a kid who just got a bike. So for almost two years I have been working on taking family bike rides and I have run into a few road blocks (pun obviously intended) along the way.

Step 1-Get bikes--check (2 years ago).

Step 2-Teach kids to ride bikes (and enjoy it). This actually took Quinton awhile. I blamed myself for not getting bikes sooner. He eventually got the hang of it and even enjoys it now. Sophia just barely learned without training wheels earlier this summer. She is a pro now. Of course now they kind of need bigger bikes. Baby steps.

Step 3-Penn had be one year old to go in a trailer. So the spring of 2009 he was old enough and we decided on a seat on the back (like I used to ride with my Dad). It cost much less than a Burley-type trailer and I liked the fact that he could enjoy the sites right behind me. Well, we got the seat and Brady tried to install it when low and behold it was not compatible with my brakes. Ugh. So then I got discouraged. I have spent the last year or so looking for trailers on Craig's List but never got around to deciding on one (would it have all the parts, where would we store it, etc.). Plus, I felt like it was such an investment and I didn't know how long Penn would go for it (since by this time he is nearly ready for college). So, at the park last spring I saw a guy with this cool recumbant (sp?) trailer where the kid is strapped in like a car seat but can also pedal-but doesn't have to. Finally this week I got one! I just went out and did it. It is called a WeeHoo and I love it so far. It holds a passenger up to 60 pounds so I am hoping to get my money's worth here. And yes, Quinton and Sophia have both taken a ride to test it out.

Step 4-Go on an all-family bike ride. Nope, haven't done this yet. Oh, did I mention someone borrowed my bike in March and we haven't gotten it back yet? Yeah. Long story. So, I am riding Brady's bike with clip-in pedals (with normal shoes) no clipping in for me yet. We are still one step away (its like a nightmare when you just can't get everything done).

Here is Brady taking Penn for a test drive. Notice no shirt on Penn. We keep it classy.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not a "cyclist". I am totally cautious going down hills and don't like to get crazy on the mountain bike trails. Also, the trailer is great--it gives me an excuse to ride on the sidewalk/greenbelts rather than the busy streets which is scary to me. I did feel the love from some "cyclists" today. I got the friendly waves and enjoyed that. What I really love is the freedom of a bike. I like thinking about the possibilities of where I can ride to. This mostly involves food--like riding to lunch today. It also reminded me of riding to DQ and MiniMart with Lysa before we could drive. Brady and I rode to dinner a couple of times while dating. Just a fun way to do something that is otherwise normal. I'm totally addicted! I hope winter comes slowly.

In other news...

Things I Learned at Priest Lake:

1. Food always tastes better after a day at the beach. I come home each year with many meal ideas but they just don't taste the same.

2. Using leftovers is an art.

3. Away from the hub-bub of everyday life, planning and cooking meals takes on a much larger and enjoyable role.

4. Old Velveeta boxes are great storage devices.

5. Shower caps work well as plastic wrap substitutes for leftovers.

6. Coffee filters work well for covering food in the microwave.

7. Costco is a life-saver.

8. Lemonade at dinner is yummy.

9. My kids love pancakes and I should make them more often.

Last But Not Least...

To Minivan or Not to Minivan? That is the question.

We have been looking at cars. Ugh. Although the Audi seats 7 it is not very practical. The 3rd row is almost impossible to get to (especially with a car seat and booster seat in the 2nd row) and Brady is worried that it will only get more expensive to maintain the longer we have it. I can see his point there too. Also, we have been going back and forth about my part-time work for awhile now. My employer pays for my car (I'm not trying to brag, just the facts man). So, if I don't work then we will have less income AND a bigger car payment. So, a minivan is the practical answer right--and not one of those fancy souped up ones either.

So the other question is, why do I have such a hard time driving a minivan? Well, I think it goes back to my upbringing and I'm not dissing my parents I'm sure they would have loved to drive fancy cars back in the day but... Do your remember the Lead Bullet? I do. It was a silver, diesel, station wagon. Huge. Do you remember the sound a diesel car makes? Especially one circa 1985? This is what I had to drive upon getting my license. Then there was the DTV--you know, the Damn Tan Van. Fun times with that one too. Finally I got a cool car of my own. Sure, it was a 1979 Toyota Corona (not Corolla, look it up) but it was small and that was all I cared about. My BFF Melanie got to drive a cute yellow bug and occasionally her Dad's Porsche. No fair. Oh well, as I look back it taught me humility and gave me character (or so I tell myself). After the Corona was Grammie and Bompa's Mercury Marquis--gray with red interior. I was thankful for a car to drive. The car's nickname (Sex on Wheels--scandalous) acquired during my first years at BYU was definitely ironic. Did I mention it was rear wheel drive? Oh and the ceiling fabric hanging down was icing on the cake. I did have many fun times in that car though--driving back home to Colorado with various siblings listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers mix tapes on my boom box situated between the front and back seats, the music turned way up because the windows were open because the A/C didn't work...

So, after working for about six months at my first post-college, full-time job I was itching to buy my own car. Well, at least lease it. I settled on a gray (I see a color trend here) Honda Passport. It had 4-wheel drive and I loved it. I felt pretty rugged. Then came the Honda Accord, the VW Passat, Volvo 850, VW Passat Wagon, Toyota Sienna (disclaimer: I only had 2 kids back then, why did I need a minivan?) and finally the Audi Q7. Well, I think we may be back to the minivan and I think I maybe mature enough to accept it. Really, what is the big deal with cool cars anyway? (Well, I will really miss the best heated seats in the world and refrigerated glove box which is actually very handy, oh and the awesome panoramic sunroof...)

THE END. You never know when I will get to posting again so soak it all in. Just kidding. I woke up and could not get back to sleep so this maybe very funny in the morning.

Food Conundrum

So, in case you didn't know Penn is allergic to milk, peanuts, tree nuts and sesame seeds. And it totally sucks. We already knew about milk (immediate vomitting) and peanuts and tree nuts as a category. Last year when they tested him he was only tested for a few nuts (almonds, walnuts) and had a reaction so we were told to stay away from all nuts. This year I wanted to test more specific nuts in the off chance that he could tolerate any of them. I guess not. Some of the biggest welts above are from cashews, pistachios, peanuts and milk. What a rip off that he will miss out on those the health benefits and delicious yumminess of nuts. We were sent home with a prescription for an EpiPen and a referral to a nutritionist (my request). Good luck with that!

Food allergies stink big time. I'm not sure what Penn's reaction to peanuts or nuts is since we have avoided them for the last year. It could be anaphylactic or it could be throwing up (like with milk). But that is the thing. I don't know just how freaky to be with this whole thing. I think I may ask to have a test where they give small amount of the offending allergen to see what happens. As Penn gets older this will be more of an issue (he has been invited to a play group and now I am thinking "do I have to train all the Moms on the EpiPen?"). Seriously.

Penn broke his arm in June and had a cast for a month. It was totally easy compared to having allergies. Food avoidance consumes our lives. I remember the good old days when I knocked on wood (it doesn't work) and said "I'm so glad my kids aren't allergic to nuts. I don't know what I would do, I love nuts". I remember when I wasn't the lady who is always asking about specific ingredients (is there milk in that hamburger bun?), and the lady who is constantly going on and on about milk substitutes and hidden milk in french fries and chicken nuggets. I am the lady who has to explain the difference between lactose (sugar) intolerance and milk allergy which includes whey, casein, etc. I am the lady who is mad at the maker of dairy substitutes that are just lactose free but still have milk products in them.

So last night I was up looking up food allergy related information. It is scary. I know you can't believe everything you read but pretty much it sounds like bad food is making our kids sick with allergies, asthma, ADHD and autism (why do they all start with A?). So, I probably did this (inadvertently) to Penn by drinking Diet Dr. Pepper and eating GMOs--you know Genetically Modified Os (I think Organisms) because they are bad. There is a reason (I'm not totally sure of the origin) that kids have so many health issues these days compared to our day and I don't believe it is because we are better at diagnosing them. Allergies have to do with proteins and they are making artificial proteins and they are messing up the immune systems of kids. Also many websites say stay away from corn and soy. Evidently a protein in GMO soy is very similar to a protein in peanuts. Great, soy is Penn's main dairy substitute and source of food at this point. I am hoping that Silk is ok (it was on the non-GMO list). Also soy has some sort of estrogen in it and should be limited especially in boys. Why didn't anyone tell me until I asked? It is very confusing and frustrating. I hope I didn't totally screw up Penn's life in the last year.

No one has told me what to do. I don't think they know. When I was in the allergist's office I thought "they don't want to figure this out because it keeps them in business". I tried the voodoo doctor (acupuncture/frequency) and it didn't work and I really wanted it to. I had already resolved to make more of our family's food rather than buying processed and prepackaged food. Now I really feel an urgency to do this. But seriously, you could go crazy. It could be a full time job just trying to figure it all out. And I will probably need a full time job to pay for it.

Last night I went to bed (at 3:00 AM--not my most rational time of day) thinking that I had to do a total food makeover. That is not totally realistic but I will try to do baby steps. I need to stop drinking diet soda for one (after I finish the pack I just bought at Costco). I have started watering down Penn's Silk so he is not ingesting so much soy. I need to meet with a nutritionist who cares. I need to be grateful for the health that we do have. This is manageable, just overwhelming at times. I'm not going to go all Suzanne Sommers or anything like that.

By the way I was right (according to one allergy website). Last year I asked the allergy doctor if boys are more likely to have asthma and allergies because most of the people I know that have these issues are boys. He said no but one study I read says yes. Ha!

On a much lighter note (don't you love it when they say that on the Today Show?), its a new season of Project Runway---yeah!