Therma-Scan

Consider doing a Therma-Scan instead of a mammogram. A Therma-Scan does not use radiation and it does not damage the breast tissue. It is suppose to be as effective, if not more than a mammogram. Check out the link below:

Therma-Scan, Inc.
34100 Woodward Avenue
Suite 100

Birmingham, MI 48009 USA
Tel 248.593.8700

E-mail us at: info@thermascan.com

A Butter Tip!

This tip comes from my cousin/mentor, Kelly. Organic Valley is currently making cultured, pasture-fed butter. It is the butter in the green box. It is $6.99 for four sticks of butter. This price is much better than $10.25 for two sticks that Hicks Dairy Farm charges for raw butter. Organic Valley is only making this type of butter until September, so stock up. I bought several boxes and am going to freeze them.

Garden Fun

A few years ago, our resident green thumb/landscape architect (Stephanie) did a presentation at one of our mom's group meetings about gardening. She told us it was wise to plant seeds in March/April versus buying the plant at the store. It is more work but you save money and the kids get to participate in a fun science experiment. They love looking at our seeds everyday to see if they have grown. They also love watering the seeds. We just bought a simple kit from Lowes but I think Steph said you could make your own with egg cartons. Hopefully, we will have better luck with our garden this year.

Meal Idea: Mini Meat Loaf Cup Cakes

As you know, I steal ideas from my creative, smart friends. This one comes from Amy. I adjusted the recipe a little bit but basically followed the same guidelines. I really love this one because it was a huge hit with the kids. They couldn't believe we were having cup cakes for dinner. Here is the recipe:

Meat Loaf Cup Cakes:

1 lb. of ground beef
diced and sauteed onion and garlic (the acutal recipe calls for peppers)
2 eggs
taco seasoning
Celtic sea salt
cheddar cheese

1. Mix all ingredients except cheese.
2.Put muffin tins in muffin pan and spray with oil. Instead of canola oil, I like to fill up my own pump with olive oil.
3.Top with cheese. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes.

Parmesan & Dill Potato Recipe:

1. Peel and slice potatoes
2. Cover with olive oil
3. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, Celtic sea salt, Dill and finely diced onions.
4. Lay seasoned potatoes on a baking sheet covered with unbleached parchment paper.

Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes. Broil for a few minutes to brown potatoes.

(Four generations...I cherish this picture so much now.)

One in a million!

Sadly, my grandma passed this week and I am taking this opportunity to talk about one of the most amazing mothers to walk this planet. Marcella Stephens had 11 children, 47 grandchildren and 12 great-grand children. During her memorial service, my uncle Bob told a story that described my grandmother so well. While in the ICU, struggling to survive, my uncle had fallen asleep next to her bed and in the middle of the night, he awoke to her covering him with a blanket. On her death bed, she was more concerned about her fifty year old son then how challenging it was going to be to get her frail, weak body out of bed. I am so grateful to have known her.

Share your favorite trick?

What is your best technique/trick to get your kiddies to eat a nutritious meal? Kevin told me he was trained like Pavlov's dog to crave dessert after eating a meal. We are big on dessert in our house. I do try to offer healthy dessert options but I still don't think bribery is the best tool. But lets face it...a mom has to do what a mom has to do!

I do not expect the kids to clear their plate. The rule is to taste every item on their plate. I don't like the idea of stuffing kids and making them eat until they have a clean plate. I want them to be able to read their own bodies and be the judge of when they are content. With that being said, it is so frustrating when you make a nice meal and they don't even want to touch it. The other night I made quinoa stuffed peppers in the crock pot and the boys didn't want anything to do with it. Even my human garbage can (Lana) passed it up. I felt so defeated. My grandma said to me "What four year old eats stuffed peppers?" and laughed at my efforts. I thought to myself....why not? Why can't a four year old eat stuffed peppers. This was their first introduction to them and it was unfamiliar and weird...I get that. My hope is that if they see them over and over again, they will be brave and eventually try them. Yes...it will take a ton of patience and maybe some wasted food, but it is a battle worth fighting. Good eating habits are probably the most important life skill your child can have! I think it is hard being the mom to little kids who don't really get why it is so important to eat healthy foods yet.

My mom told me that I was the world's worst eater. I had maybe three different foods in my diet up until I was a teenager. In college, I took several nutrition classes and started to learn about the importance of diet and health. Overtime, I retrained my brain to crave healthy foods. I can honestly say I do crave healthy things now..food items I would have gagged over in my past. Don't get me wrong, I can sniff out a bag of M&Ms from a mile away. But overall, I feel my best when I am eating well.

My goal is to continue to remind my kids why they need to eat these healthy foods and be consistent with providing them healthy options. I hope that they will eventually crave them like I do. I also like to ask them how they feel after eating unhealthy foods. For example, we go to a birthday party and they indulge in every tasty treat they see and end up with a belly ache. I like to remind/teach them that our body does not thrive on unhealthy foods and that is why they don't feel well.

My three tricks/techniques are the following:

1. Offer raw veggies and hummus to them before their dinner. I've notice that they are more apt to eat them when they aren't presented with several options at once.

2. As I have mentioned before, getting them involved seems to make them more apt to eat their creation! However, Kevin and I usually don't want to eat their creation after little kid hands have fondled our meal for twenty minutes. :)

3. Be a role model. It is so hard to choke down something you don't like...with a smile on your face. Unfortunately, I do think it is an effective technique. :)

I am looking forward to hearing other ideas!

Homemade Baby Formula

If I had to do it all over again, I would without a doubt use the link below and make my own baby formula. The more I learn, the more I realize how wonderful the concoctions below would have been for my babies. I am actually considering the bone broth formula for Lana now...to help boost her immune system. The link below has great information on homemade formulas and baby's first foods. One other interesting find on the link is that it says that egg should be the baby's first food at four months old. Of course that goes against the standard recommendations but I have a lot of faith in the Weston A. Price Foundation. All of the experts that I check in with or follow also abide by the WPF guidelines, which is comforting to me when I am making choices for my children. Check it out:

http://www.westonaprice.org/childrens-health/319-recipes-for-homemade-baby-formula#lbf,

Learning about trees...

Pretending to be a tree.

Drinking the Sap!

Tapping the tree.

yummy...MAPLE SYRUP!

So much to see and do.

We made Maple Syrup!

For just $7.00 we enjoyed a beautiful day outside at a nature preserve. We took a hike/tour around the preserve where we tapped trees and made Maple syrup. It was really fun and the kids got lots of fresh air and took great naps afterward. :)

By the way, it takes 40 buckets of sap to make one container of Maple syrup. Kevin and I finally understand why Maple syrup is so expensive. They also did a nice demonstration of the difference between store bought syrup and Maple syrup. It is composed of chemicals, artificial thickening agents, and HFCS. Maple syrup is just sap-- its natural and so delicious.

If you live in the area, be sure to check out the link below. This particular nature preserve is available for tours, picnics, summer camps, birthday parties, classes, etc. Thank you Carly for telling me about this fun activity! :)

http://naturecenter.bloomfield.org/

Sleep over with Maddie Cakes

Ever since the boys got their bunk beds, they have been begging me to have a sleep over. Sweet Maddie joined the boys for their first sleep over this past Saturday night. The kids had a lot of fun. Listening to three and four year olds conversate may be the most entertaining thing ever. Conversations ranged from the difference between boys and girls to reciting lines from Ickle me, Pickle me, Tickle me too. I finally had to break up the fun at 1:30 am. :)

Lactobacillius For Thought

After Lana's seizure scare, we decided to have a full work-up done to make sure she is at her optimal health. A Holistic Pediatrician tests for lots of other things, that a regular pediatrician may not check for, like vitamin deficiencies, etc. I had to submit a three day diet plan and go over Lana's health records before we could meet with the pediatrician. It was a wonderfully informative/motivating meeting. I learned about ways I can step it up in the kitchen to help boost my family's immune system. One lesson in particular that I walked away with was to take it down few notches when it comes to sanitizing. The nutrition expert explained to me that Lactobacillus (good bacteria) is not only in our food/supplements, but is also in the environment. So by wiping that grocery cart and scrubbing that fruit with fruit spray, we are actually eliminating bacteria that is helpful to our immune system.

I remeber Angelle telling our shopping tour that it took her TEN YEARS to get to where she was in her health journey. I think about that often because there are things that I am going to have to adjust to, SLOWLY. I am a germ-a-phobe to the core! I still put a shopping cart cover on the carts when I take Lana grocery shopping...it would be a huge step for me to throw her in the cart, cover free and without wiping it beforehand. The idea of her putting her mouth on that nasty thing sends chills down my spine. I know..I have a problem. So with that being said, I think it was great for me to hear that I am doing my children a disservice by sanitizing everything they come into contact with. I can't promise that I can dive into this one full steam ahead but I am going to try to take baby steps.

So next time you see your child lick something gross at the store or eat gum off the ground (that happen to us! :)) remember, they are consuming Lactobacillius!

Beware of CFL BULBS!

Read the link below. Wise Mama Christina sent this link out to our circle of friends earlier today and I read it to my hubby, who had just returned from work. He then proceeded to tell me a CLF light bulb broke on his head today!!!!!!!!!!!!! Based on this article, you should leave your home immediately if this happens because of the airborne mercury exposure. GREAT!!!!! Hoping this particular bulb didn't have any mercury. Check it out. Thanks C!

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110120/bc_olsen_cfl_hazard_110120/20110121?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Big Milestone!

The boys FINALLY transferred into their big boy beds this week. Poor Lukey rolled out of bed three times his first night but had a much better night last. The first night for Jake and Ben was very entertaining. They kept getting into each others bed, begging me to let them sleep in the same bed. I finally had to separate them because their silly shenanigans were keeping them up way too late. I am completely amazed at how quickly these little ones grow up. It seems like just yesterday Jake and Ben were cuddling in their little isolette together, as shown above. :)

Interesting Fact: Your immune system is suppressed for four to six hours after the consumption of sugar. You also increase the acidity in your body making you more susceptible to disease and illness.

"CHICK" This Out!

This might be one of my craziest ideas yet! Kevin and I are seriously considering getting chickens this spring. We love the idea of getting the kids invested in caring for the chickens and collecting the eggs. Hopefully, by getting them involved in the process they will gain respect and knowledge of the food chain. Plus, we will have fresh/free-range organic eggs everyday.

Each summer, we try to take on a new challenge. Year one was composting. Year two was gardening. Year three will be chickens. To be very honest, year one and two had their challenges. For example, we worked on six months of composting when a sassy raccoon came in, tore apart our composter and ate it all! Then our garden got neglected due to crazy schedules and didn't thrive as much as it could have... Kevin and I grew up in the suburbs and didn't know much about any of this when we first started. To put it bluntly...we don't have green thumbs! :) However, we are not going to give up. It is a learning process and we hope each year we get better and better at these adventures. I just hope the chickens have a better chance than the garden and compost.....

I will document my chicken adventures so if any other brave souls are considering it...you can:

A) be inspired by our chicken journey and try it yourself or

B) learn from us and say "no way in hell would I do that."

Here are my fears:

1. Our new pets get abducted/slaughtered by all of our wild life surrounding our home.
PLAN- To build a kick-ass coop that will not allow any nasty critters in.

2. I am going to be grossed-out by touching and/or caring for the chickens.
PLAN: Suck it up and try it for one year. I really want to get out of my comfort zone and try this. Hoping the positives of the experience out weigh the negatives.

3. I can hardly manage my big family of six...what makes me think I can add four chickens to the mix?
PLAN: Everyone tells me once they are set-up, it is as simple as a house cat. I hope that is true!!

So there it is...my fears about raising chickens. I will keep you posted. Wish us luck! :)

Mediterranean Lentil Soup with Sausage

This recipe is from Nourish MD. It is excellent and even better as leftovers. Nourish MD has cook books your can order from their site and just download to your computer. Their recipes are really good and very healthy.

1 cup of lentils (you can soak them or buy canned)
1 T. butter or coconut oil
1 cup sliced leeks or chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 cups of beef, chicken or vegetable stock (I mixed chicken and beef- 4 cups of each)
1- 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes or 2 cups of fresh diced
1 T. tamari or wheat free soy sauce
1/2 t. fresh thyme
1/4 t. ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
12 ounces or 4 links of nitrate free sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 t. Celtic sea salt
1/2 t. pepper

1. In a large soup pot, over medium heat melt butter.
2. Cook leeks or onions and garlic in butter until translucent.
3. Stir in lentils, stock, un-drained tomatoes, soy sauce, thyme, cumin and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Add carrot and celery and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 more minutes until veggies are tender crisp. Stir in sausage and heat through. Discard bay leaf.

Healthy Spaghetti

This is one of our favorite dishes.

Choose one: Whole grain pasta, rice pasta or sprouted whole grain pasta. Your family may like one of these more than the other but the one lesson I took from one of my shopping tours was to switch it up. I have used the rice pasta in a baked spaghetti dish before and my husband couldn't even tell. Try not to get in a rut with using the same thing every time.

Muir Glen is the sauce that was recommended to me by my nutritionist tour guide. If you read the label, you can see why it was the brand of choice.

Additions:

1. Finely chopped onions, fresh garlic, kale or spinach. You can really add any veggie...peppers, carrots.. I think the key is to chop small! If you are going to cook your sauce quickly, saute the veggies first. If you are going to let it simmer for an hour or so, you probably don't need to saute the vegetables.

2. I also add Turmeric. I don't love the flavor but because of its health benefits, I add it to everything. You really can't taste the flavor in the sauce.

3. Creswick Farm's Grass-Fed Beef. I like to add my own meat to sauce because I then know where the meat came from.

4. Either a splash of red wine or a dollop of cream cheese. Depending if you like your sauce zingy or creamy will help you make your choice. Cream cheese does add extra fat to the dish but it does not pose a high threat, like artificial sweeteners, fast food, food coloring and pop do. The cream cheese taste soooo good in the sauce...you will love it!

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!