Hobo Dinners. Fun fun!

When I was a kid, I loved going to my grandparents' farm. Especially if it was a bonfire weekend. Anytime there was any clearing of property, all the debris was piled up and set on fire. That meant we kids got to roast hotdogs and marshmallows outside. We would search the woods for the perfect marshmallow roasting stick. One that was forked on the end--and not just one fork--maybe 10 or so so that we could roast a whole bag of marshmallows at once. And one that was at least 5 feet long so that we wouldn't have to stand with our backs to the fire, arms extended behind us holding out the stick so the heat wouldn't scorch our eyebrows off. :P

There's definitely not room for a bonfire in our little backyard, but we did recently acquire a fire pit. And not long ago we cooked "hobo dinners," a meal my grandmother would prepare for us on bonfire days. It's basically a layer of sliced potatoes, carrots, onions, a ground beef patty, another layer of onions, carrots and potatoes, all salted and peppered and wrapped in foil. Then you stick the foil package directly in the bed of the fire and let it cook for 30 minutes or so.

Then when you open it up, you have a simple, hearty, super fun meal waiting for you! Everything about hobo dinners is fun. I sliced up the potatoes, carrots and onions then let everyone assemble their own packet, which was fun. Of course, anytime we get some good family time outside with no electronics on, we have lots of fun. But the very best part is probably the dessert. :) The Child Things used a single spear from our hibiscus bush instead of a multi-tined, extended handle marshmallow roasting stick, but from the looks of it, the results were just as good!

Ten Pounds of Strawberries

Busy, busy! Things around here have been busy. My sister, brother-in-law and niece visited from Italy! Then after that, one of my college roommates came to town to stay with us for a few days. It was wonderful having their company! Wonderful!

While my old roommate was here, we loaded up the kids and took them to a pick-your-own strawberry farm near our house. Everybody had lots of fun, and we came home with 10 pounds of beautiful, red, juicy strawberries. TEN POUNDS! That's a lot of strawberries! The kids just kept on picking till their buckets were overflowing. And the grownups kept spotting berries that looked too good to pass up, so we contributed to the excess, I must admit.

The strawberries taste as good as they look. We gave away quite a few of them, so I can't say for sure that none of the 10 lbs went to waste, but we definitely enjoyed the ones we kept, and we ate them all!

If you live to the south of Houston, you should definitely go to Froberg's Farm to pick your own strawberries. The child things loved everything about it. Besides the strawberry picking, there was also a picnic area, swings, smokehouse, and fruit and veggie stand. Great place! Hmmm...maybe we should turn our acreage into a strawberry farm!

Seven on the Seventh: Meals I Make the Most

This month, I am listing the seven meals I prepare the most. Not long ago, I didn't enjoy cooking at all, but I have learned to like it. Experimenting with new recipes is really fun, but these days seems like I pick foods that are quick to prepare, the child things will eat and are somewhat healthy. I just can't spend an hour of my time in the kitchen when there are little ones to tend to. So...here are my seven quick meals:
1. Spaghetti. We eat this every single week. Takes 20 minutes if you use sauce from a jar, the kids love it, and I use wheat pasta and serve it with green veggies, so...it's fairly healthy.
2. PW's Asian Noodle Salad. This is an AMAZING salad (three cheers for sesame oil). The kids also love, love, love the noodle part of it, and I'm pretty sure while they're gobbling that up, they also get some of those good, raw veggies.
3. Quessadillas. Doesn't matter to me what you put in them, as long as it comes with fresh guacamole. To make guac, I usually chop up some onion, garlic, tomato and cilantro (three cheers for cilantro), and mix it in the mashed up avocado with lemon juice and a little salt. But my brother-in-law says that's the way gringos eat guacamole. That doesn't bother me much because I am a gringo, but his way is delicious, too. Just avocado with garlic salt.
4.Chili. Not the healthiest thing on my list, but what can I say...I'm a Texan. I have used tons of different recipes for chili and haven't settled in on one that is my very favorite, but here's one from the Foodie Bride that's delish and different!
5. Pasta Primavera with Grilled Chicken. More of a summery dish, but it's got pasta, it's got veggies, so it's a winner at our house.
6. Baked Ziti. My sweet roommate made this a lot in college, so I always think of her when I make it. Pasta, marinara sauce and cheese. One of the kids' favorites.
7. Chicken Tortilla Soup. I love making this in the winter, and a big pot will leave enough leftovers so that I don't have to cook for days. :)

If you have a blog and would like to join our little Seven on the Seventh group, go to this page and join the group or leave me a comment with your email. It's fun! Or, if you'd like to check out the rest of the bloggers' lists, click the link above and go to the links section.

Milk: It Does a Body Good. Unless it's Non-organic. Or Organic.

For years, I have been buying organic milk (and other dairy products when I can find them). I do this because of concerns about Bovine Growth Hormone present in American-produced milk that can increase chances of cancers of the breast and prostate and who knows what else. The issue became personal for me, however, when one of my child things was born with a birth defect that has been linked to hormone exposure while in the womb. Thank the good Lord the birth defect was minor, has no effect on every day life and needed no surgery to correct.

But the birth defect made me even more diligent about buying organic when available. My general belief on food is the closer it is to the way God made it, the better. I know with all this genetic altering, there's not much we eat today in its original state, but you can try, I guess.

Ever since I started buying organic milk, I noticed that the carton says "ultra pasteurized," but until recently, I had no idea what that meant for what was inside the container. I've been doing some research on organic milk, and most of the organic milk in the grocery stores is ultra pasteurized, which means it is heated to a much higher temperature than regular milk.

It's hard to find info on the Internet that is not skewed with opinions one way or the other, but I read this article on the Cal State website, and found out several interesting things about ultra pasteurized milk.

The very high temperatures, which kill the germs, also kill nutrients in the milk. Ultra pasteurized milk looses 10-20% of vitamins B1, B6, B9, B12, C and Thiamine. It also looses 50% of its folate, and most of its folate binding proteins (which allow us to absorb the folate). Because the very high temperatures alter the proteins in milk, we may not absorb the vitamins that do remain after the pasteurization process. And some believe that exposure to these altered proteins can cause life-long problems with the digestive tract.

Great! I thought I was doing something good and healthy for my children, but perhaps I was making them less healthy all along.

So as far as cow's milk goes...you either get regular milk and load your system with hormones, or you buy organic and your body doesn't get the vitamins and minerals it needs from milk. The only way out is to get your hands on some organic raw milk (not pasteurized at all) straight from the dairy. Hmmm...looks like I'm going to have to keep a cow in the backyard.

Which is better? Which is worse? Any opinions?

Snow Cones and Spam

It didn't take Scott long to immerse himself in the culinary culture of Hawai'i. He eats Spam musubi, a local favorite, for lunch several times a week. Me...well, I'm going to have to work on suppressing my gag reflex before I give the dreaded meat-from-a-can a try. For some reason I cannot fathom, Spam is very popular here, and Spam musubi is apparently the preferred way of serving it.

What is Spam musubi? As far as I can tell, it's a slice of spam topped with sticky rice and wrapped in seaweed. I'm not much of a seaweed fan, either. I'm one of those redneck non-sushi eaters; I don't even like California rolls.

So, since that delicacy is out, a certain 3-year-old and I gave another Hawaiian specialty a try today, one that is much more appealing: shave ice. Shave ice is similar to the snow cones I slurped up as a kid, but better! They put ice cream at the bottom (I had to skip that portion this time--still not cheating on the no-dairy diet), the ice is really shaved to a powder, so it is oh-so-smooth and not at all crunchy, and supposedly, many of the shave ice stands here make their own syrup. Yum! Those poor kids on the mainland (who walk a mile to purchase a bubble gum flavored snow cone from a rickety stand...not that I ever did that) just don't know what they are missing!