Miss Amelia turns one!

the way we eat: recipe resources

After reading The China Study, I was all fired up and ready to try the plant-based diet experiment. But I was used to the traditional meat + starch + vegetable dinner. Looking forward to planning a month of no-meat, no-dairy, no-eggs meals felt like peering into a dark abyss. But something toward the end of the book was useful: a man who was skeptical about the plant-based diet got one recipe from his sister, a delicious vegan chili. So he made it and he liked it. What a great and EASY first step. So that's what I did. I checked out some recipe books from the library, searched "vegan" on allrecipes.com and just made ONE meal. And then one more, and so on. Some were NOT good and we ended up eating cereal (with soy milk, of course).

The thing is, there are tons of vegan and vegetarian meals that try to substitute "regular" foods with soy milk, nutritional yeast, Boca burger crumbles, etc. (Holy expensive!) But the recipes I really ended up loving didn't feature the meat look-alikes or the cheese stand-ins. They were mostly simple beans, grains, and veggies arranged in totally delicious ways. I ended up modifying some of my old favorite recipes with beans or veggies instead of meat and loved them just as much. And eventually, of course, the cheese and sour cream and yogurt sauce definitely came back to our table and were welcomed wholeheartedly, though in moderation. And for snacks: apples! almonds! broccoli! No processing necessary.

So, enough of my soapbox. Let's talk turkey. Or, tofurkey, as the case may be.

My very favorite recipe resources:

Perry's Plate: Oh my, has she got the touch for combining normal foods in remarkable ways! And her eating habits are pretty similar to ours: not much meat, lots of fresh foods. This one is vegan and this one is vegetarian, vegan if you don't use the sauce (but use the sauce). She also introduced me to The Roasted Vegetable and The Bold Vegetarian Chef, which are great cookbooks.

Joy the Baker: Such a funny writer, such delicious food. I make variations on this one a lot.

Pinterest: Do you pin? I follow a couple of people on Pinterest who keep pinning such delicious-looking recipes that I actually say, "Stop it!" out loud as I scroll down. It makes me hungry. I am particularly excited to try this one that I pinned this morning. Here is my pinboard.

The All New Good Housekeeping Cookbook: We got this for our wedding, and I have so many recipes in here that I come back to time and time again. My mother-in-law searched for it in bookstores and ended up buying it online because she liked so many things I'd made from it. Huge compliment to me, huge endorsement for the cookbook.

And a few strictly vegan recipes, if you're wanting to venture that way:

Veggie Pot Pie

Blueberry Banana Bread (my lovely and brilliant friend Marinda really likes this blog--I've tried the bread and I'm excited to try more recipes)

Alfredo Sauce

Totally unrelated: Millie loves her shoes soooo much. And black leggings on babies! I die!

I'm always interested in expanding my pool of recipes. What are your go-to resources for meal planning?

happy halloween

the ghost, the spy, and the kitty

we also sometimes called her Renesmee

No really, these are funny costumes. No really, I won't be attending the midnight premiere of what's-it-called part 1. But really, I have the BEST husband ever.

the way we eat: books that changed my behavior

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
I read this in April 2010 with my excellent book group (I miss you, ladies!). It's a documentation of how Barbara Kingsolver and her family lived off the land for a year. They ate only local food and whatever they grew or raised themselves. It lit a fire under me. I wanted to do the experiment myself, to live it. I wanted my own plot of land in West Virginia. I couldn't believe I had never learned anything about what foods grow in which seasons. Why is this not taught in schools? Or is it now? It was because of this book that I grew my first garden that summer and am committed to growing something whenever I can, even while I live in a tiny, sunless apartment.

The China Study by T. Colin Campbell
This was recommended to me by a nutritionist friend and again by a marathon runner friend after they'd heard my thoughts on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. (To me, anyone who can run nonstop for longer than three minutes is worth listening to, maybe even worthy of worship. Does this reveal anything about me?) It's fairly scientific and admittedly I skimmed some of it to get to the good stuff. But good science is very convincing to me and as far as I could determine, this was very convincing. It's a "plant-based diet" book. I went vegan for a month last fall because of this book and I loved how I felt (AND it wasn't nearly as expensive as I thought--we actually spent a bit less on groceries). Since then we've been eating meat maybe once or twice a week on average. I also try to be careful about the amount of milk and cheese we consume, because the book seems to make out dairy as being even worse than meat, but I LOVE cheese. Hmm.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
I would say this wasn't quite as transformative as the other two, but what I really loved about it was the section about Joel Salatin's farm. I wish the farm was next door to me. I wish all of our food was produced this way. I even wish, sometimes, to have a farm just like that one. Because of this book, I went and found farms nearby that sold 100% grass-fed, sustainably-raised beef. I have plans to take the kids to the farm, educate them about where food comes from (not just magically fabricated, packaged, and delivered by the grocery fairies to a Kroger near you), and maybe pick out "our" cow. It's not fun for me to imagine looking into the eyes of my future hamburger (those gentle, innocent eyes!), but how can I truly appreciate the blessing of delicious meat unless I understand its true and cosmic cost?

When Jared and I were in college, a religion professor of ours invited us to work on his farm on a Saturday. This event culminated with the beheading of a turkey by a couple of brave freshman boys. There was a tour of the turkey's living conditions, a last meal, a discussion of the meaning of life, a prayer of gratitude, and a very reverent, and very exciting, handling of the animal itself. Jared and I got to take it home, dress it, roast it, and share it with some loved ones. It might sound weird, but it was definitely special to have seen the whole process and know exactly what I was eating.

So all this is to say: we try to eat good food. To me that means mostly plants, animal products sparingly. Whole foods, real foods, whatever you want to call them. We grind our own flour, make our own bread, eat lots of beans, and we eat often to keep our blood sugars at a reasonable level. But we're not extreme about it. There is currently a large stash of trunk or treat Halloween candy in the cupboard which we fully intend to devour, and yesterday was spent making and frosting sugar cookies to eat and share with our friends. In my mind, all those healthy, veggie-packed dinners make up a little bit for the cookies and candy I don't want to give up just now. We do what we can, right?

So have you read any or all of these books? What are your guiding principles about food?

pictures for a Friday: Alpine Loop

[Thank you, thank you for your enthusiasm about food! :) There are definitely posts in the works!]

My mom and dad and sister live in Qatar, where autumn is very...sandy...and I know they're probably missing these crisp days and flaming leaves, so I had them in mind on our drive up the Alpine Loop this week.

The colors were truly spectacular. 

the way we eat

Cake. We definitely eat cake.

Last year when I was pregnant and feeling less than awesome, I encountered some books and some people who really changed the way I approach my eating habits. For instance, I no longer think a dinner must include meat to be a "real" meal. In fact, last year at this time I was a vegan. And I felt awesome. Now we eat meat once or twice a week and we're quite happy. (If I could curb my sweet tooth a bit more, I'd be even happier.)

It's funny, because my conceptions of what's "healthy" (or, I guess, "healthful") have changed so much in just 18 months. I guess I am easily influenced by nutritional science. At least I'm no longer easily influenced by food commercials.

So, my question is, would you be interested in hearing about the books I read, the people I talked to, and the recipes I've tried? When I tell people we eat very little meat, they always ask me, "So...what DO you eat?" I would have asked the same question a couple of years ago.

And I'm interested: What's your healthy eating ideal? And where does it come from? Your mom? Books? The food pyramid? Or does your body just tell you what it needs?

the double crown

The boys learned about ancient Egypt the good old-fashioned way, with paper and tape.

because we all need more Millie in our lives

first week of home education

We dove into our first week of homeschool (home education? home learning?). These children make it so fun. Of course I had the whole week planned out and structured to the half hour, but I learned quickly to relax a bit and enjoy. And oh! It's enjoyable! Here's what our first week looked like:

Games are a fun way to reinforce math and build brotherly kindness

A letter to some friends back in Colorado

Some dramatic play. I got to be a bird, a boat builder, a duck, and a wolf. Pretty good for my first week. :)

And of course, hiking! PE was NEVER this fun when I was in school!

Almost finished with summer pictures...hopefully!

Miss Amelia got loved on quite a bit this summer!

Thomas lost his first tooth! He did awesome and it made his smile, if possible, even cuter.

 People just love her, what can we say?

 Camping on the trampoline.

 Nature study at the Farmington Bird Refuge. Seriously, nature study was one of my favorite memories of this summer.

Starting solid foods! She was almost six months old here. Rice cereal was okay, but peas were next and she liked them WAY better.

playing catch up: the middle

On the Fourth of July we went...sledding! Ha ha! It was so burning hot in Salt Lake for our picnic, but up at the cabin at Brighton afterwards, we cooled down with the lingering snow. Good times. :)

It was so fun to be all together with Jared's family. We sure love them!

Ooh, and we saw this really cool bird. Any guesses as to what it is?

The next week, we went to a cabin near Brian Head with my dad's side of the family.Cedar Breaks National Monument was spectacular!

And there was snow there, too!

Thomas got just a little squish from the girls. :)

Back in Bountiful, we enjoyed the local rec center pool. Millie wore her swimsuit for the second time and then promptly grew out of it. :)




Abbey was an incredible aunt this summer as always! What would we have done without her?
Jared took the boys down for a tour of BYU campus. They were excited!


Millie is such a great hiker.
The second wobbly tooth...
...popped right out by Thomas himself! The tooth fairy had a busy summer!