2011 – Page 16 – a hippie with a minivan

Beef and Broccoli

This is a quick supper and has so much flavour…

First you will need:

1 lb thin cut of beef sliced across the grain into strips
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp raw sugar
1 tsp tamari
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda

I found the most amazing tip somewhere on the internet a while back. I usually don’t like beef strips because they often turn out tough and chewy, however, adding a tsp of basking soda to the marinade makes all of the difference. The beef is tender, soft and absolutely perfect! However, very important.. don’t leave it in the marinade for more than 30 min!!

While the beef is marinating, make the sauce and prepare 4-5 cups of broccoli florets.

For the sauce

4 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
3 tbsp Tamari
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp water

Add an 1-2 inches of oil to your wok for deep frying, and in batches, deep fry the beef for about a minute until golden brown and set aside.

When the beef is done, pour all but about 2 tsp of oil out of the wok and heat back up…

To the hot wok add 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced and one chopped onion and stir fry until the onion is translucent.

Add the brocoli and cook until it has changed colour but is still has crunch to it.

Add the sauce to the broccoli and cook down for a min or two and then thicken the sauce with a mix of 2 tsp of cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water…

Add the beef and you are done…

You can serve this on rice, as I believe most people do, but we like it on its own…

The "My Carry Potty"…

When I bought the Vital ID bracelets that I mentioned on the last post I saw this cool little potty on the website and had to get it.

One of the big components of EC is having a routine, which means that we potty Wilhelmina before and after getting her in/out of her car seat when we are out. Pottying on the go can sometimes get messy especially when you are somewhere that you can’t umm… dispose of the contents…

A cheap tupperware container with a soaker at the bottom has been what we have been using the most but now that Wilhelmina is bigger and is getting picky about her elimination location, it just hasn’t been working out as well so we have been needing to bring the potty… It is not always the ideal situation!

I know of a lot of people that use the “potette” system, but I kept on holding off as you need think of and buy bags and then dispose of them which doesn’t make sense to me when I want to put less in the landfills and honestly with 4 kids, I don’t want to have to think of yet another thing when leaving the house.

So when I saw the “My Carry Potty” I had to get it!

The idea is brilliant…

A portable potty that closes and seals and can be easily carried around…

From the outside it looks like a little suitcase with a handle and Wilhelmina loves carrying it around…

One the inside, it is a potty on one side and the seal the other…

The size is perfect and I can definitely see that it will be utilized by older siblings at times also…

The greatest part of course, is that if you can’t dispose of the contents right away, you can just close it up and do it when you can…

Nothing is getting through the seal and there is just enough resistance when opening it so that no “accidents” can happen with kids accidentally opening it.

You don’t really need much for EC, but there are somethings that make just a little easier…

Steps toward independence…

I love the idea of Free Range kids but I can clearly see that my kids do not have as much independence as I did at the same ages.

I am not a hovering helicopter parent, but my kids are usually not very far away from us…

The boys play outside around the house when they want, and Xavier often goes around the block on his bike and has started to go to the park by himself.

Colin is not going anywhere on his own yet but I am pretty sure that he will be by the end of the summer.

The first time that Xavier went to the park by himself, I have to admit that I was beyond nervous so I reflected on what made it so hard for me and I realized that it wasn’t that I was scared of strangers or anything like that, but I was scared that he might take a wrong turn and get lost or he might get hurt and not be able to get home. I was scared that something might happen and he might not be able to give his information. So I found a solution… Vital ID bracelets... (I bought mine here)

I had seen these online and had thought that it was a great idea for when we are in crowded places in case someone gets lost. The bracelets are simple, come in cool colours and have a small waterproof ID card slipped inside that you write their information with a permanent marker. You can write as little or as much information as you want including allergies etc.. I decided to put their names, medicare # and our contact numbers.

It is small thing, but since we bought them. they have really helped me let go of my fears and give the kids a bit more of the independence I believe they deserve and lets us to move onto other steps that are necessary on their climb to independence.

100 things about me…

This is an updated version from the last one done in 2008…

1. My name is Melissa
2. I was born in Quebec but raised in Nelson BC
3. My dream is to one day go back to BC to raise my family.
4. I was raised by a single mom
5. My mom has been married twice
6. My mom had been widowed twice
7. My dad is still alive
8. My first step dad was gay and died of aids in 97
9. My second step dad died of liver cancer/cirrhosis in 2004
10. I was raised as an only child
11. I have both a step-brother and a half brother whom I don’t see or talk to
12. I have been married since May 8^th 1999
13. I met Simon through a BBS
14. I was 21 when I got married
15. I have a Bachelor degree with Honours in Religion
16. I am an Atheist
17. I have never believed in religion or a god
18. I love being a mom
19. I now have three amazing boys and a beautiful girl
20. Our little girl is our last child
21. No, we weren’t “trying for a girl”
22. I find that being a mom is both rewarding and a challenge.
23. I have given birth in the hospital after a birthing center transfer
24. I have given birth in a birthing center
25. I have had two unassisted water births in my living room (1 and 2)
26. I have had three posterior births
27. I have had three long labours
28. My easiest birth was my first unassisted birth
29. My easiest birth was my biggest baby
30. I find people reactions to UC a bit funny
31. I like getting people out of their comfort zones at times
32. I am not shy
33. I am a bit shy
34. We unschool our children
35. On our first date I told Simon that if I had kids I would homeschool
36. I advocate Natural parenting and living
37. We co-sleep
38. The kids co-sleep
39. I love babywearing
40. I have way too many carriers
41. I give babywearing workshops in Montreal
42. I give EC (Elimination Communcation) workshops also
43. We have practiced EC with three of our children
44. I have breastfed all of my children
45. I have been breastfeeding non stop since July 16^th 2002
46. I have tandem nursed three times
47. I have “triandem” nursed
48. Xavier weaned himself just before his fifth birthday
49. Colin weaned himself just after his fifth birthday
50. Khéna weaned himself at nearly 4 ½
51. Wilhelmina is my last nursling
52. I used to be a peer-to-peer Breastfeeding Counselor
53. We have never used a bottle
54. We have never had Formula in the house
55. I would never use artificial baby milk (Formula)
56. I was formula fed.
57. I was sick often as a child and as a teen
58. I avoid doctors
59. We don’t do “well baby visits”
60. We don’t vaccinate
61. I have asthma but I have not had many problems the last few years
62. I am very sensitive to scents
63. I love the smell of Patchouli and peppermint
64. 2^nd and 3rd hand smoke trigger my asthma
65. I refuse to be around people that smoke and am not shy about it
66. I hate wearing socks and shoes
67. We have a “no shoe” rule in the house
68. I don’t wear make-up
69. I don’t use any beauty products
70. I have two tattoo’s that I got when I was 16
71. I have a tongue stud
72. I love grey hair
73. I recently started finding my own first grey hairs
74. I love to cook
75. I hate bland food
76. I make most of our food “from scratch”
77. I bake bread
78. We avoid all artificial colourings and flavours for allergy and behaviour issues
79. My favourite food is Sushi
80. Most of the cookbooks in my home are Vegan
81. I am not a Vegetarian
82. I like red meat
83. I have only started enjoying vegetables in the last few years
84. We never did “baby foods”
85. I am trying to lose weight… again…
86. I have a lot to lose
87. I am lazier then I want to be
88. I lost 50 pounds with weight watchers before I got pregnant with Xavier
89. I am addicted to the internet
90. I write many blog posts in my head in the shower
91. My best friend lives across the country (we met on the internet 😉 )
92. I love to sew
93. I hate patterns
94. I have too much fabric
95. My favourite colours are red and orange
96. I love taking pictures
97. I hate cleaning
98. I like to wash dishes but hate drying them and putting them away
99. I listen to talk radio
100. I go to bed way too late every night

Dehydrated Curried Lentil Soup

Let me say this first, I don’t like Lentils.

I mean… at all.. but I do want to like them.

They are cheap, they are filling and they are healthy (and how can I call myself a hippie if I don’t eat lentils!) but each time I tried a recipe I ended up hating them even more.

A few weeks ago I picked up a bag of Lentils at the grocery store determined to try et least one more time.. this week I put Lentil soup on my meal plan.

Because the recipes that I have tried in the past never worked for me, this time I didn’t have a recipe, I didn’t have a guideline… I just decided to wing it… it worked. I loved this soup!

I used my pressure cooker to make the soup as I was in a bit of a rush and I will definitely be making it that way each time…

For the soup:

Chop up 1 Large onion and sauté in a bit of Olive oil.
Add a few minced garlic cloves
Add a few stalks of celery, a few carrots and a red pepper (all diced)
Cook down the veggies for a few minutes and add some salt and pepper, cumin powder, garlic powder, oregano and basil and a few tsp of curry powder.
Add about 8-9 cups of stock (Veggie or Chicken)
Add 1 small can of tomato paste
Finally add in 2 cups of dried red Lentils

If using a pressure cooker, bring to a simmer, put the lid on, bring to pressure and cook for 20 min.

If using a pot, cook for about an hour or until the lentils have given up their shape and the soup is all creamy and thick.

Adjust seasoning to taste…

This was our meal last night and the leftovers were put away in the fridge. That is when the dehydrating idea came into play.

I am loving my dehydrator and have been wanting to try dehydrating soup that can then be powdered and reconstituted with hot water. Great for a quick meal, snack or for when we go camping…

Using the non-stick sheets in my dehydrator, I lathered about 1 1/2 cups of the thick soup onto the sheets about 1/4″ thick, making 6 trays of soup.

I put the dehydrator at the temp that I usually use for veggies and fruits, so quite warm, and after about 1-2 hours I started seeing the thinner parts were becoming very dry and crumbly. After about 6-7 hours all the trays were completely dry, even the thicker parts.

Next, I put all of the pieces in the Food processor and made it all into a powder…

It was really that simple…

Of course we had to test it out. It took about 3-4 Tbsp of powder to get a good consistency in one cup of water… it is a bit thinner than the original soup, though I could be thicker if I used more powder, but the flavour was right on and Xavier brought it into the living room and ate it all up.. so it definitely got the thumbs up!

I am so happy that not only did I make a Lentil soup that I will be making again, but it also made a great instant meal for the whole family!