Culinary Experiments

My kids hate this picture. "What is it?" you may ask, in a tone of disgust. It is one of my weird culinary experiments. I have been experimenting with making water kefir. The jar on the right has the kefir starter in it along with 2 figs and a slice of lemon. The fruit gives the kefir starter the minerals it needs to stay healthy, and they eat the sugar in the water that I added at the beginning. The second jar is kefir water and juice. I am letting it ferment until it is bubbly. I love the taste, but even I have to admit that it looks pretty gross. I found the idea on a blog, but she  made it all look so much better. Here's how she posted it:

http://www.fermentedfoodlab.com/make-probiotic-rich-water-kefir/

It looks much prettier, and tastier looking too. It is very good for the digestive tract and has other possible health benefits as well. My kefir grains are now dead, so I have to order some more. They were given to me by a friend who used them for kefir made from milk, so I'm not sure that the water environment was really the best for them. You can buy specific water kefir starters so that's the next step. I think I will buy the mineral drops at the same time so my kids stop making gagging sounds whenever they see it; and secretly I will stop being repulsed by the look of it as well. :) Cheers!

Pupusas!

I like a lot of different kinds of food, but I think pupusas are my favorite. They are the national food of El Salvador. I first tried them on my mission. When I came home I didn't even try to make them, because I had only ever eaten them, and I had never seen how they were made.  We never lived in an area that had a pupuseria, so I couldn't even buy them! Then I found a recipe on the internet, and I decided to try it. The results were so-so, but closer than anything I could have come up with on my own. Finally, we moved to Minnesota and I convinced a sister, Maria Aguilera, in our ward to teach me how to make them. It made a huge difference! The final, and best teacher, was my friend Patricia. She helped me refine things and made them with me. I also watched a few youtube videos and that helped as well. It is wonderful to know that whenever I get a hankering for them, I can make them myself. I'm pretty proud of the fact that for a huera, I make a decent pupusa, and the yummy curtido that goes with it!

Below is a picture of Brent, Patricia and Milton after all the pupusas are cooked, the dishes are done, and the extras are wrapped up to go.

Patricia and Brent

Brent and Patricia have a good relationship and I love it. When he was born she posted a picture on Facebook of her holding him at the hospital with the title, "My grandson!" and her sisters in El Salvador all thought Brent was really her grandson. They all thought he was the son of her oldest boy, Alex. Now if you knew Alex, you would know that it would be next to impossible for him to have a son that looks like Brent, but nevertheless it made good chismando for her relatives in El Salvador. Alex will ask her every once in a while how his son is doing. It makes me laugh every time she tells me.

Patricia's "baby" Milton is sometimes a little jealous of Brent, but he is very sweet with him too. He told Patricia, before Brent was born, that we should name him Milton. Patricia told him that if he wanted the privilege of being the namesake then he would also have to cough up the funds to be the god-father as well. Milton decided it wasn't worth it. :)

Patricia started calling Brent "Tamalito" from the beginning because we wrapped him up tight in his blanket like a little tamale. It is such a cute nickname. Here is a picture of Patricia holding up the tamales we made together as well as the Tamalito.

Patricia as come up with more than one nickname for Brent and I love them all. She originally jokingly said she wanted us to name him Patrick after her. She now calls him Brenty, Tamalito, Chubino, Coqueto and few more I can't remember exactly how to say. 

When my youngest daughter Lucy was a baby, an acquaintance commented that she was like a "bon-bon" which is the Spanish word for marshmallow. She said she was, "chubby, white and sweet." Brent is a little bon-bon too.

I am thankful for Patricia's friendship, and the blessings that come from knowing her. I am also grateful to her, and all those who love my children; for the power their love has in shaping my children and their future in such beautiful ways. Recently, Lucy and I were making a list of kids she would like to play with during the summer, and she told me she wanted to add "Parisha" and "Julie Boolley" (another one of her adult "friends") to the list. I whole-heartedly agreed. What a gift to know how to play with a child, and to be worthy of the title "friend" to them. I'm sure Brent, if he could express it, would also put Patricia on his list of play pals -- and of the best kind of friends.

Chubino, Coqueto, Chub-a-Lubba, Chonchito, Brenty

John recently cut Brent's hair, and I just had to take pictures of all the cuteness. He is watching, "Peep and the Big Wide World," which has become a haircutting classic at our house. His little nose and pursed lip profile is so adorable, as is the rubbing of the eyes and nose. 

This is Daniel's favorite picture of Brent, and the girls love it too. It always makes us smile.

Here is little Brent in his Sunday duds; he's so handsome! I just love to smooch those chubby cheeks!

Daniel and Brent are hanging out a little more and I think Brent is becoming more of a brother, and not just a baby, to Daniel. They have their own playful physical rough-housing. I think that qualifies as a graduation from baby to little brother, don't you?

Pizza Guilt

This is a post about guilt; specifically food I feed to my kids and myself about which I feel a lot of guilt. Hopefully we will end on a happier note. I know topics like this are a big no-no for bloggers. We must keep everyone happy! Sorry, but without the guilt.

Pizza Guilt. Homemade Macaroni and Cheese guilt. Boxed Macaroni and Cheese guilt. Top Ramen guilt. Hot dog guilt. Orange chicken, breaded and fried, guilt. Cheese sticks. High sugar yogurt. Sweet cereal. Semi-sweet cereal. Fried scones. Peanut butter on pancakes, and even worse on waffles. Bread products made only with white flour. Anything with butter. Cookies, cakes, candy, pies, ice cream -- GUILT.

Surprisingly, I don't have the same amount of guilt for ice cream cones that I do for a bowl of ice cream. Weird.

These are not the only foods I offer my children, but they are the ones I feel guilty about.

Now, as a balancing portion to this guilt post, I will try to remember what I offered to our family in the way of food and meals yesterday:

Breakfast: Maple muffins and quinoa breakfast porridge with strawberries and bananas.

Lunch: Carrot sticks, hummus, pears, tortilla chips and salsa, cheese stick, cheese Goldfish crackers.

Dinner: Vegetable Gumbo soup, turkey/oatmeal burgers, carrot-ginger beverage.

Treat for FHE: fresh pineapple.

Not too bad! Hurray for me, and our whole family!

"Washing Dishes"

Ah, the time of life when dishes were fun. All of my children loved playing in water as toddlers, but I think this is the only time I caught it on film. It is just another one of those little gifts God has given stay-at-home mothers so that they can get dishes done. It isn't an efficient way to do things, but it works and it is the most peaceful one I've found so far.