Bumble-Bee Rice Krispie Treat

Credit for this awesome idea goes to my mom.  She spent weeks trying to come up with a bumble bee birthday cake for John Paul.  Without dairy.  Without wheat.  Without entire jars of FD&C yellow #5 (apparently the only way to acheive a good bumbly-yellow frosting).  Not sugar free, but it is a birthday, after all!

So while this isn't a cake:

it is a bumble bee, and for John Paul, that was the important thing.

So, long story short, get yerself 1 box of regular, organic, gluten-free rice cereal, and one box of chocolate, organic, gluten-free rice cereal.  Find yerself some chemical-free marshmallows. 

 Substitute coconut oil for the butter.  Our chocolate rice cereal wasn't very brown, so I added about 1/2 cup cocoa powder for better color.

We formed the body in my oval crockpot crock.  The wings we formed in a Pyrex pie plate; the head and stinger, in a smaller Pyrex bowl.  (All well-oiled with coconut oil.)  Cut the wing circle in half and shape it a bit.  Slice a bit of the head circle off for the stinger. 

Very easy.  Very bee-ish.

HAPPY #3 JOHN PAUL!!!

"You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." 
~Desmond Tutu

sorry, no more entries being accepted

Ivy already won Cutest Baby in the History of the World:

mom, this is overkill... it's 65 degrees!

he got jealous of the pilot's cap...

"An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship." 
~Spanish Proverb

Ritual for a Mother

Rituals- toothbrushing and facewashing before bed, coffee and the paper at 6am- soothe the body and nurture the spirit. But the ritual of prayer, it does something even deeper.

It feeds the Soul.

Everyone has rituals. Even the people who claim they hate ritual.

Everyone needs rituals.

I used to be the maven of the bedtime ritual around here, but since moving here, myhusband has taken over. A big benefit of his new job is thathe is here, every night. Without exception.

So John Paul and I have a magical hour to ourselves, while Dad gentles Brother and Sister off to dreamland. After his bath, John gets tucked into his second-hand jogging stroller with a warm blanket (the nights here are already growing chilly), and off we trot.

I have a Rosary swinging from one hand as we glide down the hill to the park. A park here isn't much more than a patch of grass with a track around it, a far cry form the acre-after-acre-parks of our hometown, but it's all I need tonight. There are no park lights or street lights around here: when night falls, night falls.

And being in the mountains, the earth is dark while the sky is still bright. Prayer is effortless under the circumstances.

With every step the cares of the day peel away from my soul, a little bit more and a little bit more. The darkness feels like a pool where I come and wash my spirit.

The love of the Triune God is burning there, here, within, waiting. And when the words of the prayers open me, and I connect with that furnace, the past and the future are burned away leaving only the present moment. Flooded with Grace.

John Paul never lets me get too lost in my prayers, as he eventually points up the hill and cries, "Home! Night-night!"

And so we go.

Generally speaking, I don't 'find' time for prayer. But a priest told me once, you must avoid occasions of sin; you must create occasions of grace. Just as I order the environment for my children towards joyful learning, I strive to order my own environment towards prayer. We have little rituals- prayer before meals and each time we get into the car. In fact, I used to use my driving time as my Rosary time at times when home was so busy and so hectic, I'd fall into bed exhausted and realize I'd barely nodded at my God all day. Unfortunately, there just isn't anywhere far enough away from you in a small town to get much prayer done on a car ride!

This half an hour tryst with my stroller is my own answer to a mother's busy life, for now at least.

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."
-Mother Teresa

"Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer."
-Padre Pio

To my Children

...as things get even crazier around here.

I promise:

vegetables every day

stories every night

sunshine on your face when it's sunny

rain on your face when it's raining

plenty of time in the woods

plenty of time around the craft table

goofy songs when we pick up toys

silliness

less yelling

more laughter

less nagging

more motivating

and when it's all over, your first hike in the mountains.

Love,
Mom


"We've had bad luck with our kids - they've all grown up."
-Christopher Morley

Recipes for a Peaceful Night

Speaking of sleep...

Here are a few of the "recipes" we use at BreadwithHoney to wind down our days. Our schedule is always changing and we may not go to bed at the same time two nights in a row. We sleep and eat around daddy's schedule which makes any scedule virtually impossible.

But our bedtime rituals and our morning routines are the cues our family uses to ease the transition more or less smoothly- and yes, sometimes it is *less* smoothly- from sleep to day and day to sleep.

Since nothing soothes like warm water, the bath is a nightly ritual, right after the bedtime snack, of course. Sometimes bubbles (California Baby makes excellent bubble baths), sometimes and herbal soak (dried roses, lavender, and calendula in a muslin square, make a quart of strong tea and add to the tub), or our go-to lavender baby bath salts.

I prefer the lavender baby bath salts because the salt really aids the body in detoxification and the scent of lavender is a very powerful soother for jangled nerves- in child or mother!

The recipe is really too simple:

1 box of baking soda
1 box of sea salt* (just refill the box)
10 drops of high-quality lavender essential oil

Combine in your container of choice and shake well to distribute the oil. Use about 1/4c per bath. Double or triple if your child seems to be coming down with a touch of anything.
*PLEASE note: Under no circumstances should you use regular table salt in your child's bath salts. Ever. Table salt contains nasty chemical additives which will soak right into your child's system when his or her pores open up in a warm bath!

Of course the javelina needs a taste first.

Usually bath will be followed by teeth brushing and stories, then prayers and lights out. In reality, fights sometimes break out over whose book is first or even which side of the bed is *mine!!!*. When the hour is late and tired tantrums erupt, as they occasionally will, I like to whip out the Rescue Remedy Spray.

One nice thing about this spray is that it stretches the rather expensive homeopathic remedy that it calls for. This makes it a very economical way to use Rescue Remedy.

Rescue Spray
4 drops Bach Rescue Remedy
2 ounces distilled or boiled and cooled water
2 ounces vodka or brandy

Combine in a brown or dark blue glass spray bottle and shake well before each and every use. Spray 2 sprays on the tongue, on the forearm (rub in), in the hair, or even on the sheets or just in the air.

I used this spray earlier today when my daughter and neice pulled some shelves over on themselves in the shed. No one was hurt but they were, um, feeding off each other's panic and the situation was really escalating by the time I got to them! This spray really helps calm irrational freak-outs. (Again, in child OR parent!)

And finally, two recipes for mother. Great for those nights when you can't sleep or you just need help relaxing. The first is a recipe for Sleepy Tea. Those pathetic little teabags of "sleepytime" tea from the grocery, or even the health food, store? Don't bother. Trot on over to a health food store, i.e. a REAL food store, and gather the ingredients for this REALLY sleepy tea!

Sleepy Tea
In a dark or stainless steel jar, combine:
1 part valerian
1 part nettle
1 part raspberry leaves
1 part stevia herb (or add a pinch of extract after brewing)
3 parts cinnamon chips

To brew, place 1 teaspoon per cup in your vessel of choice, then add a hefty dash of pumpkin pie spice on top (this is optional, but it makes the tea go from ok to out-of-this-world delish) and add the boiling water. Steep, COVERED TIGHTLY, for 8 minutes up to 1 hour.

Drink. You've had enough when your body begins to feel just a touch "rubbery". You've had too much if you feel, um, drunk. Don't drink a quart of this tea before driving or using a buzz saw.

You can give a sleepless, cranky child*** over the age of 2 or so a teaspoon of this tea diluted in something else, or straight under the tongue.

(*** Please remember that when you choose to use any herbal formula, it is the herbalist's rule of thumb to check THREE sources before administering any preparation. Especially to a child. See any reputable herbal manual for how to perform a patch test on a child. I recommend .)
You can cut out the nettle and raspberry in a pinch, if need be. Oh, and a squeeze of lemon is nice, too.

The next recipe for mother is a calming perfume. I have never been able to wear store-bought perfumes. I've been unscented for years. Last Christmas, though, Ed went to the real-food store and sniffed every essential oil they had. He brought home plain 'ole vanilla. I didn't want to smell like a cookie... but I took the hint and figured out the (super-simple) way to make perfume.

Simple Scent
In a dark brown or blue spray bottle, combine:
2 oz. distilled or boiled and cooled water
3 oz. vodka
10 drops vanilla
10 drops essential oil of your choice (I used lavender and 1 drop geranium)
Shake well and before each use.

Lavender makes for a really relaxing perfume, so it is always my favorite.

"There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bedtime Bread

(Blogger was going nuts over the weekend and published this post before it was complete- sorry about that!)

is an Irish-style raisin bread,

also known as "lembas" during any given Lord of the Rings kick,

and the official bedtime snack over here at BreadwithHoney.

Here is the recipe which we have been developing for quite a while now:

2c whole wheat pastry flour (or regular whole wheat flour, but reduce by 2T)
1c rolled oats
1/2t salt
1t cream of tartar
1 1/2t baking soda
1/3- 1/2c organic raisins
optional, 1/4c walnuts
1c milk of your choice, or water, with a sqeeze of lemon juice added (or use buttermilk)
2T oil, coconut oil, ghee, or softened butter

Stir dry ingredients together. Whisk wet ingredients and add to dry. Combine with as few strokes as possible. Your dough should hold together, but it will be wet. Dump onto a greased, floured cookie sheet.

Pat into a round cake, about 2" thick, and score into 1/4's with a sharp knife.

Bake at 325* for approx. 30- 40 minutes, or till bread sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Transfer onto rack to cool. Serve drizzled with honey. (Drizzled. In my photo, the bread is *slathered*. Isaiah feels this is dishonest and unfair. We had a talk about aesthetics, which didn't quite convince him...)

We love this bread with a cup of red rooibos tea, a.k.a. a bedtime multi-vitamin in a cup. Red rooibos contains significant and bioavailable amounts of anti-oxidants, Vitamin C, Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc, Sodium, Copper, and Manganese. It got me to finally give up coffee; it is a very satisfying tea.
Happy bedtime plates:

A baby kept happy while mom bakes:

And the longest worm we've ever seen. Wow, kids that's great! Take him back to the garden now, ok?

"An Observant Child should be put in the way of Things worth Observing."
-Charlotte Mason

Three Bears' Porridge

Although I don’t need to convince anyone around here that porridge makes a yummy meal, a good dose of a fine Goldilocks storybook could go a long way to getting children interested in trying this delicious breakfast. There’s oatmeal, good, and then there’s porridge, really good! One of our favorite Goldilocks storybooks, which specifies the toppings used by the Three Bears on their porridge: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Start with Steel Cut Oats. Also called Irish or Scottish oatmeal. Place ¼ c per person in a bowl THAT FITS easily INSIDE YOUR CROCK POT!!!! Muy importante.

Add 1 c water per serving. Soak up to 24 hours. The soaking makes this recipes so easy to do.

I usually prep this after breakfast or lunch and leave the crockpot all set up to be turned on before bed.

(A note on soaking grains: most whole grains contain phytase, which can be broken down by soaking. Soaking whole grains increases their nutritive value and makes them easier to digest by breaking down the phytase. If this piques your interest, you can google it or read more in Nourishing Traditions- a cookbook I recommend with a grain of salt. It is not a beginner’s cookbook, but it does contain lots of information about nutrition.)

Set your bowl inside then pour water between your bowl of oats and the outer crock. You have effectively made a double boiler, or a baine-marie if you prefer French.

The real reason I like to soak our porridge is that it makes breakfast really easy. Stumble out of bed and Voila! Fresh, hot, ready.

Although if you forget to turn on the crockpot, it is a MAJOR letdown. Don’t forget! Steel-cut oats take forever to cook on the stove, so I pretty much only make them in the crockpot.
Close-up:

Another note: this crockpot set-up does NOT work with regular rolled oats, i.e. oatmeal. You will end up with a burned mess. Ya, I know, I tried it.

The real key to getting children interested in porridge or oatmeal is the oatmeal SUNDAE BAR. We use ground flaxseed, walnuts, bananas, frozen or fresh blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, sunflower seeds, and, on super-special occasions, Sunspire carob chips. Oh, and of course the homemade cashew, almond, sunflower, or sesame milk.

Shown here with a cup of Organic South African Rooibos.

Also, because I’ve already gotten questions about it, here are some general cookbook recommendations:
Whole Foods for the Whole Family- available from your local La Leche League, or used on Amazon
Feeding the Whole Family: Cooking with Whole Foods- my second choice, in print, which is why I’m making it a permanent button on my blog
Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition 4th Editionby Marilyn Shannon- the whys behind lots of healthier food choices *a REALLY IMPORTANT BOOK* which I plan to review in depth later

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday, Blessed John Paul, pray for us!

"No pains should be spared to make the hours of meeting round the family table the brightest hours of the day."
-Charlotte Mason