Monthly Archives: November 2011

Movie recommendations – Documentaries

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Documentaries have a bad rap for being boring. I’m sure there are plenty of dull documentaries out there, but we’ve enjoyed some funny and thought-provoking ones recently. These are all available on streaming Netflix since that is our main movie source.

Exporting Raymond – The creator and head writer of “Everybody Loves Raymond” gets a deal to create a Russian version of the series. Culture clashes and translation issues ensue. My favorite line from the movie goes something like, “I always thought these themes were universal. Maybe not.”

Waiting for “Superman” – A look at public school performance, especially in low-income, urban areas. It follows the stories of several students who hope to get into charter schools. This is eye-opening and depressing, but this is reality. My favorite line from the movie goes something like, “The US ranks toward the bottom of developed nations in math and science. They rank #1 in confidence.” So kids are being told they can be whatever they want to be but are receiving a crappy education. This looks at why.

Nursery University – This follows several families as they try to get their kids into competitive private preschools in New York City. Several families are absolutely convinced that their kid will be a failure in life if the “right” school falls through. Having worked at a preschool, I found this very interesting. Brett thought all the people were crazy.

Forks over Knives – Two doctors got together to promote a plant-based diet after doing a lot of studies linking current prevalent diseases to consumption of animal products. Their research is certainly compelling, and while I’m not ready to convert to veganism, I agree that the normal American diet is way out of whack and we should all be eating more veggies.

The Business of Being Born – Childbirth in the last century has changed a lot. Are all the “medical advances” really helping the process? And where are OB/GYNs getting the information they’re passing on to their patients? This is a reality check about how the 21st century woman views childbirth and how that should be re-evaluated. (I watched this while Brett was out of town)

Have you seen any of these? Please share your opinion. If you haven’t, they’re worth checking out.

Dinner tonight – Butternut squash risotto

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Brett loves squash. Especially “weird” ones: acorn squash, spaghetti squash and butternut squash. Since these are winter squashes, they’re in season and will be making more appearances on our menu, to his great pleasure.

There’s a small booth at the farmer’s market run by an Anabaptist family that we usually turn to for huge bunches of basil for only $2 and gorgeous, delicious Armenian cucumbers. We picked up a butternut squash from them this week, and I started the hunt for a new recipe to try. I found some arborio rice in the pantry that I needed to use up, so I narrowed my search to Butternut Squash Risotto.

I followed the recipe from Simply Recipes and just made a small change after reading the comments. Instead of sautéing the diced butternut squash at the beginning, I roasted the whole squash ahead of time. Then I diced half and pureed half. I added the diced squash right when I was finishing the onions, and I added the puree at the end with the butter and parmesan. I think this made for great flavor and consistency.

This satisfied Brett’s butternut squash craving. I liked it because it wasn’t overly-sweet or overly-spiced like many butternut squash recipes. And Hannah liked it, too! She called it “Quash Sotto.” Served with some whole wheat sourdough (also from the farmer’s market), it was a really tasty meal.

Dealing with the hard, tough-skinned squash can be the hardest part of a butternut squash recipe. They are renowned for being difficult to deal with. I took some advice I found online and cut the squash in half lengthwise, skin still on, scraped out the seeds and roasted it. After it cooled, I peeled and diced it. Really easy!

If you have a favorite butternut squash recipe, please post in the comments below. I’d love new ideas for this healthy, seasonal ingredient.

Hannah’s first wheels

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This story starts two years ago. We used to have neighbors next door who had two elementary-aged daughters. They were nice neighbors and would come feed our cat when we were on vacation. After 20 years in that house, they decided to “move up” to a nicer neighborhood and sold the house (to the “frat boys” as we refer to them”).

Anyway, as we were on our way to the hospital the day Hannah was born, we were able to share the exciting news with them as they loaded up their last few belongings and were leaving for good. We thought that was the last time we’d see them.

When Hannah was a few weeks old, I got a random knock on my door. There was Brian our old neighbor holding a tricycle. They had been going through stuff at the new house and decided the girls had outgrown it. Their sweet thought was to bring it for our family to enjoy in the future.

Recently, we rediscovered it in the shed and thought Hannah might be big enough to have some some fun with it. It was a family project: Daddy aired up the tires, Hannah cleaned it off and Mommy took pictures.

Then she was on her way. Her feet are a little too short to hit the pedals, so she needed some help to get around.

I guess this is her serious biker face. After some seat adjustment…

… Hannah was able to touch the ground with her feet and propel herself that way. And you can probably tell from the pictures which dog likes to stay close to her.

It was a pleasant afternoon, and she spent a long time maneuvering this thing through the bumpy backyard.

What a fun hand-me-down from a sweet family.

Dinner tonight – Okra gumbo

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Fall brings a smaller selection at the Farmer’s Market. Last week, we picked up what was available and I planned our week’s menu based on what we came home with: butternut squash, apples, zucchini, mushrooms and okra. These ingredients turned into:

  • baked pasta with mushroom sauce
  • Greek zucchini (recipe clipped by Grandma Ava) with quinoa
  • butternut squash risotto
  • gumbo with brown rice

I’d never made gumbo before, but I figured it would be a good way to use up a large amount of okra. As with most new things I want to try, I looked up at least five recipes online to get an idea about ingredients and cooking methods. Then I made something up with considerations of my budget and what I had on hand.

Slow Cooker Gumbo

  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 lb. smoked sausage, sliced
  • 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
  • 2 1/2 c. chicken stock
  • salt, pepper and cayenne to taste
  • 1 lb. okra, sliced

Put all ingredients except okra in slow cooker and mix. Cook on High 3 hours or Low 6 hours. After that cooking time, slice okra and put in a microwave-safe bowl, cover and cook in the microwave for 2 minutes. Add to slow cooker and cook for an additional hour. Also within the final hour, add some cooked rice (leftovers would work great).

I certainly don’t claim that this is an authentic recipe, but it ended up being an affordable, filling soup and a tasty way to use some okra. I think sliced okra is such a happy food; it looks like a star or a flower, that’s just fun!

The B word

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It seems like a word being thrown around a lot in mommy circles is “balance.” Countless times, I’ve heard fellow mothers talking about how much better life would be if they could just find some balance.

Do I have balance? Should I be yearning for it along with everyone else? Let’s look at a recent day in the stay-at-home life of yours truly.

My Tuesday:

  • get up and shower while the super amazing Brett gets Hannah up and fed (he does this every day!)
  • play, explain that it’s not Halloween any more
  • grocery shop
  • put groceries away (team effort)
  • make lunch and eat
  • clean up can of Coke Hannah spilled on the floor
  • Hannah naps – I prep for a Bible study I’m leading, upload photos, write a blog post, change my blog theme, write emails
  • snack, explain again that Halloween is all done, video chat with Brett
  • play, change the dolls’ clothes ten times
  • unload everything from back of car so the dog can ride
  • take Bingley to vet, entertain toddler in small room for 45 minutes
  • quick playdate (with Bingley) at Meghan and Cody’s house
  • Hannah eats dinner – I cook for Brett and myself
  • play
  • Brett comes home!! (then he does bath and bedtime while I run out to see Twilight in the theater)

And squeeze potty training in there as well. This is not necessarily an average day, obviously I don’t go grocery shopping or go to the vet every day, but it certainly was a full day.

Is this balance? What the heck is balance anyway? When I hear most people say, “I just need more balance.” I feel like what they’re really saying is, “I want to do everything and put my kids in every activity possible, but that’s not working. Instead of saying ‘no’ to activities once in a while, I’d rather just gripe about how my life is out of balance.”

The definition of this elusive balance seems to be that we can all do whatever we want and not feel busy or stressed. Sorry, ladies, it ain’t gonna happen.

At my MOPS group a couple weeks ago, the women’s director Marilyn talked about balance and encouraged the better perspective of “margins.” You can schedule your time and have some activities, but you leave yourself margins for rest and flexibility. On this Tuesday I outlined above, I started the day with eating, sleeping and the grocery store on the schedule. Then I had to add the vet – no problem since my afternoon was open. And when Meghan invited us to an impromptu popcorn party, we were able to bring Bingley (still in the car from the vet) and have some fun friend time.

So I basically started the day with no scheduled activities (gasp!), but what happened – I was productive, I spent quality time with my daughter, she had quality time with her Daddy, everyone had home-cooked meals, I had some Bible time, Bingley got some medicine, we hung out with sweet friends and I had some “me” time (with Bella and Edward). That actually seems pretty “balanced” to me.

This buzzword of balance needs to go, at least with the popular definition. I don’t know who started this idea of Supermoms using their magical powers to somehow fully commit to every possible activity. Instead, families need to take some stuff off the schedule and let the margins fill in with quality time, spontaneous fun and meeting needs that come up.

My lifestyle is a gift; I want to enjoy this time and spend it helping my family and blessing others, not running around in a perpetual state of stress while bemoaning my lack of balance. I’m sticking with my margins!

Halloween ups and downs

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This is Hannah’s third Halloween but the first she has a vague idea of what’s going on. Her preschool did a Pajama Day today, and she got to wear what she calls her “bone jammas.”

I took this picture later in the day when we were at the park. This was the moment she saw Cody coming, and she was so happy. :)

The day before, we introduced the idea of trick-or-treating by saying that neighbors would be coming to our house and we would share pretzels with them. She got really excited about this. Unfortunately, on Halloween night we had to wait a while before anyone actually came to the door, and it ended up being some teenagers drenched in fake blood. That made Hannah much less enthusiastic about the doorbell ringing. Some little kids came later and got a much better reaction.

(backing up – we tried to dress her up as a fairy, but she thought I said “prairie dog” and refused to keep the wings on, I didn’t even get a picture)

She seemed very confused and overwhelmed by everything, so we decided that going out ourselves was definitely not a good plan. We had four or five groups come to the door in an hour, then it was her bedtime and we turned our light off.

So Halloween got a mixed reaction, but Hannah is very excited about fall in general. She is a big fan of pumpkins, and we are all enjoying the pleasant weather.

Happy Fall!