Join the
Six Ingredient Challenge hosted by
Hobo Mama and
Anktangle!
We're on a six-week path to eat more whole foods, guided by one simple rule: Buy foods with six ingredients or fewer. And we're blogging about our journey on the way.
This week we're answering the question: What has been the easiest part of this challenge for you so far? The most difficult part?
You can see all the responses to this question today at this link-up post at Hobo Mama and Anktangle. If you're a blogger who's published a response, please post the URL in the linky below so we can visit to read. If you don't have a blog or haven't published a response, feel free to provide your answer in the comments on this post on either Hobo Mama or Anktangle.
Next week's writing prompt is at the end of this post along with posting instructions.
To join in the Six Ingredient Challenge anytime during the six weeks, visit the sign-up page for a list of posts and to link up!
My answer:
The easiest part of the challenge was probably how quickly Sam and I adapted. I also was so glad he was in this with me, because I think (I know) trying to eat in a different way from my partner would have been really hard. Especially since he does the cooking!
I'm so chuffed to have a
guest post at African Babies Don't Cry about how to manage the
tricky but needful art of side-lying nursing. It lets you breastfeed but sleep at the same time! How cool is that?
I'd love to
chat with you in the comments over there!
As long as you're going places, I'm also pleased that
Reduce Footprints picked up our
Six Ingredient Challenge as their
Change the World Wednesday Challenge this past week! Glad we were inspirational. How's the challenge going for you?
Back to my breastfeeding tutorial:
I want to put a tutorial out there for how to breastfeed lying down, because it makes such a significant difference to how enjoyable cosleeping and breastfeeding will be for most mamas. If you want to get the best sleep while breastfeeding, I recommend cosleeping. And if you want to get the best sleep while cosleeping and breastfeeding, I highly recommend learning side-lying nursing early on! It can take a little time to get the hang of it, but once you've got it down, you can pull your baby in for a feed and then both of you can drowse, safely, back to sleep.
Read more at African Babies Don't Cry »
Can you believe it? We're already into the fourth week of the six-week Six Ingredient Challenge! How's it going for you? Amy and I posted our answers to the third week's writing prompt, and the linky there is still open for you to link up your posts about why you felt inspired to be a part of the Six Ingredient Challenge. Remember to post your answers to the fourth prompt sometime before Thursday. Even if you didn't start the challenge with us on February 1, it's not too late to sign up and join in now!
Today I'm bringing you a guest post from Sam, our family's resident breadmaker. He's sharing an easy recipe for making homemade semi-whole grain bread. It can be nearly impossible to find any store-bought grain products with six ingredients or fewer, and processed breads often have a lot of questionable additives, hydrogenated oils, and even high fructose corn syrup. Here's a healthier version that kids will eat — maybe because they don't realize how healthy it is! It's a family-friendly mix of white flour, whole wheat flour, whole oats, and whole flaxseeds. It takes just six ingredients (not counting spices), and it helps use up the whey from the homemade ricotta recipe Sam posted before.
Homemade semi-whole grain bread
Guest post by Crackerdog Sam
I'd been making the basic white loaves from the stellar book
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for a few months when Lauren suggested switching over to at least partially whole-wheat flours. Unfortunately, my first attempts were too dense and dry and I gave up.
It wasn't until I got into
homemade ricotta and had all this whey to use up, reading in various places that whey gave bread a "fluffier crumb" (the interior of the loaf), that it occurred to me that I might salvage the whole-wheat option. I've added flaxseed and whole oats for more whole fiber, and more hearty flavor. Mikko eats it up without complaint.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup + 1 Tbsp room-temperature whey
- 1/2 Tbsp granulated yeast
- 1/2 Tbsp kosher salt
- 1 1/3 Cups unbleached white flour (7.2 oz)
- 2/3 Cup white whole wheat flour (3.6 oz)
- 1 Tbsp whole flaxseeds
- 1/4 Cup oats
- Optional: dill, tarragon, finely diced garlic, etc.
Note: Breadmakers actually weigh their flour instead of measuring it, because you can get different amounts in a cup depending on whether you sift, sweep, or pack the flour. The cup measurements I've listed are based on my typical method of reaching a scoop into the bag and pressing lightly against the side of the bag when filling it, which slightly compacts the flour.
Welcome to the Sunday Surf, a tour of the
best blogposts I've read throughout the week.
Mikko specifically wanted me to show off the food in his mouth with this photo.
You're welcome.
Time for some weekend reading!
I’d never heard the 5-Second Rule applied to anything but eating food that’s dropped on the ground, but this makes so much sense:
The rule is this: “If you can think of it in five seconds, I can think of it in five seconds.” That is, don’t give obvious advice or ask really silly questions about something a friend has told you until you’ve given it more than five seconds of thought.
If the only thing someone can think to kneejerkily ask about homeschooling is “But what about socialization?” maybe you could ask that person to give it more than five seconds of thought … since as a homeschooler, I certainly have!
So. Incredibly. Impressed. I am never this articulate when someone’s being a snot to me!
Ladies and gentlemen, I was hot under the collar at this point, but I wanted to be nice. “I understand fully what age appropriate means”, I said, “and I am sorry that you have an issue with my children attending mass. It is in no way inappropriate for them to attend with me, and I will continue to listen to their needs and attend mass as long as it works for our family.”
On setting limits when breastfeeding isn’t working well anymore for the mother.
Balanced interpretation of Aletha Solter’s work (author of
The Aware Baby, which encourages letting babies and children whose other needs are met to cry in arms to release stress).
When I first heard of her position, I was nervous because it seemed too close to encouraging crying-it-out and discouraging breastfeeding (or I feared that’s what people would make of it, which as you point out, can be the case). However, the flip side is it has given me chances to examine what makes me so uncomfortable about my children expressing emotion and realizing that I don’t always need to respond with the breast. For instance, now I often hug or offer verbal comfort first, talk through the situation, and let my toddler ask for the breast if that’s what he needs instead, rather than assume he wants to nurse, as if having him nurse is the fastest way to shut him up and turn off the crying. The younger the child, of course, the less talking-through can happen or be useful, but reading her work did offer me some reassurance and lead me to this self-reflection of when I was using the breast perhaps inappropriately.
However, my little ones have always nursed a LOT, including comfort nursing, so I think any reading of the book should be taken with common sense and compassion in mind, even as some of her lessons might be beneficial.
As Olive approaches 2 years old, and as I look back on two years of nursing her, and as I look forward to what is bound to be at least a little more time of continuing to nurse her, I am struck by how easy it has been to decide to keep going.
Before I had a kid, any breastfeeding I saw was unusual, and nursing toddlers seemed so big to me. But when it was my kid, he just looked like — my kid. Who needed nummies just like when he was a newborn, until he eventually didn’t anymore. I do like for it to be gentle and nonjudgmental like that, where people know it’s just a child seeking comfort and nutrition and a mother responding. I stopped feeling comfortable in public at some point, though, so I know there was a time when I decided it was best to keep it private, that I knew there were strangers (or not strangers) who would judge us. My second nursling is 20 months, and he just seems so much like a baby to me still — it’s hard to imagine that nursing him is odd to anybody.
Guest posting:
I'm happy to share my post on
"Side-lying nursing: A breastfeeding tutorial to give you more sleep" at African Babies Don't Cry!
We continue to be delighted with the inspiration and wisdom our Carnival of Natural Parenting participants share, and we hope you'll join us for the next carnival in March 2013! (Check out
January 2013,
December 2012,
November,
October,
September,
August,
July,
June,
May,
April,
March,
February,
January, and a summary of all our
2011 posts if you missed any.)
Your co-hosts are
Lauren at Hobo Mama and
Dionna at Code Name: Mama.
Here are the submission details for March 2013:
Theme: Tough Conversations: How do you address challenging topics with your kids (death, race, sex, injustice, etc.)? Recall a tough conversation you had, share your thoughts or tips on how parents can handle these challenges with grace, or find your own way to tackle this topic.
Deadline:
Tuesday, March 5. Fill out the
webform (at the link or at the bottom) and email your submission to us by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time: CarNatPar {at} NaturalParentsNetwork.com
Carnival date: Tuesday, March 12. Before you post, we will send you an email with a little blurb in html to paste into your submission that will introduce the carnival. You will publish your post on March 12 and email us the link if you haven't done so already. Once everyone's posts are published on March 12 by noon Eastern time, we will send out a finalized list of all the participants' links to generate lots of link love for your site! We'll include full instructions in the email we send before the posting date.
Here we are already, at the end of week three of the
Six Ingredient Challenge! Remember to
link up your responses to last week's writing prompt and
read and reflect on the fourth writing prompt sometime before next Thursday. Even if you're joining in today, it's still not too late to
sign up and participate!
Today at Anktangle, Amy shows us how simple it is to make another cooking staple: butter. Making homemade butter is easy and fun — a great project to involve your kids in the kitchen. Plus, you know exactly what goes into it, unlike many of the "butter-like" products you'll find in your grocery's dairy section.
Continue reading at Anktangle »
Join the
Six Ingredient Challenge hosted by
Hobo Mama and
Anktangle!
We're on a six-week path to eat more whole foods, guided by one simple rule: Buy foods with six ingredients or fewer. And we're blogging about our journey on the way.
This week we're answering the question: What new foods or recipes have you tried or discovered?
You can see all the responses to this question today at this link-up post at Hobo Mama and Anktangle. If you're a blogger who's published a response, please post the URL in the linky below so we can visit to read. If you don't have a blog or haven't published a response, feel free to provide your answer in the comments on this post on either Hobo Mama or Anktangle.
Next week's writing prompt is at the end of this post along with posting instructions.
To join in the Six Ingredient Challenge anytime during the six weeks, visit the sign-up page for a list of posts and to link up!
My answer:
One thing that's been a plus during this challenge is how much we
didn't have to replace. It's lovely to keep your comfort foods and feel like you're already taking a lot of strides to be healthy.
That said, it's been an adventure to try out new tastes, and here are a few of the ones we've discovered:
It's already week
three of the
Six Ingredient Challenge! Are you learning new recipes? Trying new foods?
Amy and I want to hear all about it, so remember to
read and reflect on the third writing prompt sometime before Thursday. Even if you're learning about our challenge for the first time today, it's not too late to
sign up and follow along!
Today at Anktangle, Amy is sharing another great whole foods recipe, this one
sure to satisfy even the most tenacious snack attack:
chewy fruit and nut granola bars! These granola bars are rich in protein and high in fiber, so they'll fill you up with wholesome ingredients. Plus, unlike many of their store-bought counterparts, Amy's granola bars are completely free of refined sugars, gluten, soy, and corn!
Continue reading at Anktangle »
Our sickness tally this month has risen. I finally caught the illness the boys had, and then we went on a trip with sniffly friends, and Alrik succumbed, again.
The good news is that having a minor cold doesn't have to mean being miserable. I'm pleased to be writing a three-part series on the topic of sick days and kids for Children's Mucinex. My first post offered my go-to tips for helping your family survive cold and flu season, and this post and my next one will share some of the fun home activities we've indulged in while under self-imposed quarantine. The bonus to these activities? They make the kids feel better, too!
1. Snuggle and nurse
I have to admit, I eat up all the cuddling I get in when the kids are sick. There's nothing like a loving parent's lap and a gentle hug to make little ones feel secure and comforted — and it boosts my serotonin, too! Mikko's not always the cuddly sort, but during his recent bouts of illness, he would willingly crawl into my lap and even (gasp!) hold hands as we walked outside (something he wouldn't do even as a baby).
 |
| On an ill-advised outing before the kids were well, Mikko climbed into my lap at the aquarium, all the limbs and heft of his five-year-old self curled into a little ball. |
 |
| We gave up on the aquarium and went to a restaurant. Only I ate — both boys just leaned against me (hard to wield utensils, but I tried…), and Alrik nursed. I love that the word "nursing" has a double meaning that's perfectly suited to seeing little ones through a minor illness: comforting supply of fluids along with Mama's antibodies! |
 |
| That's one sad baby, but at least he feels comfortable and loved! |
Welcome to the Sunday Surf, a tour of the
best blogposts I've read throughout the week.
These are demand photos. You know, the kind you take when your kids insist?
This is Mikko posing dramatically on the floor of the bouncy castle.
Because of course that's how one poses in a bouncy castle.
This next series is titled "Keeping Alrik Happy" because we kept taking pictures of
everyone at the table to show him the results.
Hi, Alrik!
Let's get reading!
In honor of Valentine’s Day, a lovely and true poem:
The funny thing about love
is that you have to
keep saying
YES.
I think I’ll try this! I’ve even had trouble getting Mikko to memorize 911. (I know! 3 numbers!) He keeps thinking it’s 991. For many reasons, let’s hope he never has to dial it!
You see, in an attempt to meet my toddlers needs, every time he asked for my attention while I was trying to do something, instead of continuing with my task while meeting his needs, I would quickly give up, thus teaching him that nothing I do is as important as he is. That might sound like a nice thing to do, but it was not only giving him an unrealistic view of the world, but it was also giving him a role model who had no pride in her work. A role model who did nothing interesting to observe, but cook and clean and focus entirely on her child. In essence, although I hadn’t started out this way, I was becoming more and more child centred, and my own needs were no longer being met.
Thoughtful article with an update at the end.
We're nearing the end of the second week of the six-week Six Ingredient Challenge! Amy and I posted our answers to the second week's writing prompt, and the linky there is still open for you to link up your posts about how the Six Ingredient Challenge is going. Remember to post your answers to the third prompt sometime before Thursday. Even if you didn't start the challenge with us on February 1, it's not too late to sign up and join in now!
Today I'm bringing you another guest post from Sam, our family's chef extraordinaire. He's sharing an easy recipe for making homemade ricotta soft cheese. Some cheeses have a lot of ingredients, but this one has only three — and it's simple for you and your kids to whip up at home and flavor to your liking.
Homemade ricotta cheese
Guest post by Crackerdog Sam
Making homemade ricotta cheese is extremely easy and fun. Traditionally, ricotta is made from the whey left over from other cheesemaking recipes (the word literally meaning "recooked"). This simpler version is
great for making with kids, or for
using up larger quantities of milk in your fridge that you think you won't finish before it goes bad.
The only ingredients you need are
lemon juice, salt, and milk (whole milk yields more cheese, but you can also use 2%).
Hint: Save the whey when you're done for a bread-making recipe coming shortly.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 Cup lemon juice (the juice from one large lemon)
- 6 Cups whole milk
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
Equipment:
- large pot
- kitchen thermometer
- cheesecloth or strainer
- large mixing bowl
Dietary/allergy notes:
Vegetarian, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free. Contains dairy!
Directions:
1. Pour milk into a large pot and turn the heat to medium-high.
Join the
Six Ingredient Challenge hosted by
Hobo Mama and
Anktangle!
We're on a six-week path to eat more whole foods, guided by one simple rule: Buy foods with six ingredients or fewer. And we're blogging about our journey on the way.
This week we're answering the question: How is the Six Ingredient Challenge going for you so far?
You can see all the responses to this question today at this link-up post at Hobo Mama and Anktangle. If you're a blogger who's published a response, please post the URL in the linky below so we can visit to read. If you don't have a blog or haven't published a response, feel free to provide your answer in the comments on this post on either Hobo Mama or Anktangle.
Next week's writing prompt is at the end of this post along with posting instructions.
To join in the Six Ingredient Challenge anytime during the six weeks, visit the sign-up page for a list of posts and to link up!
My answer:
I'm going to answer as if I'm back in time, one week into my first foray into the world of Six Ingredients. (I have a time machine, so this is totally legit.)
I've found that eating the Six Ingredients way is mostly just dandy, which is great. There are a lot of substitutes for things we used to eat that had more ingredients, and I really like the way we're cleaning up our food sources. I also love that Mikko's gotten into the program and understands that we're shopping a new way.
Downsides and challenges, though:
I'm Lauren Wayne, writer and natural parent. I embrace attached parenting with an emphasis toward green living. 
