Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds...empty wallet?

(This is my second Meal from "Jamie's 30 Minute Meals" )

I have been thinking a lot about this very subject recently:


http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-food/

Our grocery bill is so BIG!! I need to start keeping close track and see just how much we spend and on what. When I go to the store most of what is in our "trolley" is from the fresh section. We don't really buy junk. We buy tortilla chips but almost never any other chips. We don't buy sweets, carbonated beverages or premade/packaged meals.
Here is a picture of Sat. night's dinner before I started it. Most of what it consists of is fresh. There are about $15 + of tomatoes here. Plus 4$ of avocados and $3 of cilantro. the Baguette was from the local Patisserie for $3.90. (that I admit is a luxury. We don't usually buy these either.) Those are just a few of the ingredients, so as you can see this meal was actually quite expensive. Here is what I started with:


These are the roasted tomatoes.


This is my taste tester. She whines in the kitchen as I cook and wants to taste everything. She is chowing her second cucumber right here. She loves cucumbers.

The veggies for the meal. Guacamole and veggie sticks. It should have had fennel bulbs cut into quarters as well but I didn't have time to run to "Moore Wilson's" and the local groceries don't carry fennel bulbs. Also I would have served this on a nice wooden cutting board, but alas I don't have one currently. My kitchen is greatly lacking these days.

Tomato soup with Creme Fraiche and basil (sad wilted basil by the time I got the picture).

And there you have it folks here is the meal:

Here is the desert. Prune pudding cups. These were surprisingly really good. Very light and not too sweet. The prunes are on the bottom with a cake-like topping and a dollop of Creme Fraiche and a drizzle of golden syrup on top which you can't really see here.

This was a basic kind of meal but quite pricey.

A few weeks ago I made leak and potato soup and although I didn't price out the whole recipe the leaks alone cost me $10-12.

We go through so much fresh fruit every single day. The kids eat 2-4 pieces of fresh fruit every single day. I eat two + and Garrett used to eat two + until he started this job where he gets all you can eat fresh fruit and veggies every single day. Lucky him! They are all cut and prepared and ready to eat all day long. He loves it! So that is 8-12 pieces of fruit a day for our family plus carrots, celery, cucumbers, capsicum, and peas. Eating healthy IS A LOT more expensive when you are using fresh things and lets face it-food tastes better FRESH! You can eat cheaply on rice and beans, split peas, and lentils in the USA but in NZ even those things are VERY expensive. One 400g can of beans is 3-5$ depending on the kind. Dry beans can only be found at the Mediterranean Market and they cost and I paid $10.50 for 1 Kg. bag of pinto and 9$ for the same of Kidney and $8 for 1Kg. of black. The price of health is high.

If you have any recipes of healthy cheap food please let me know. I am on a search.

My Jamie Oliver Experiment

This is me making fish cakes for the first time. The recipe is from Jamie Oliver's cookbook "Jamie's 30 Minute Meals". I love that guy. His show is really fun to watch. It is one of the few regrets Garrett and I have for not having TV :) I read the beginning of his cookbook and was inspired by his ideas. He felt that he was spending too much time cooking during the busy week and doing too much clean up. So he decided that for the week night meals there needed to be something quick and still healthy and yummy. He and his team did a lot of work and made the "30 Minute Meals". He has explicit directions for step by step getting the meal done in 30 min. He tells you what to do first second third so that you have all dishes going at the same time instead of making it dish by dish. Since we aren't doing once a month cooking right now I was captured by this idea and dying to start trying. I want to learn the style of cooking he uses in this cookbook. So, I decided to cook my way through the cookbook much like the movie "Julie and Julia". I will probably start putting all of these things on a new blog so that those of you who are interested in how it goes can follow it, and those who aren't don't have to get on here and see it :)
Here is my first Jamie Oliver 30 minute meal:
Swedish-style Fishcakes, Roasted baby New Potatoes, Sprout salad, and Fresh Zingy Salsa. When I was shopping for the fish it seemed almost wasteful to go to a beautiful fish market and buy really beautiful and high quality fish-Salmon, Tarakihi, and Tuna and then plop them into the food processor and grind them all up. That seems like something you do with leftover fish, but that's not Jamie's style I guess. Just so you know...the fish alone in this recipe cost $50. Gasp! I know I know. But it was restaurant quality food and we got 2 and 1/2 meals out of it so that made it not quite so terrible.

If you are going to cook like Jamie you can't be afraid to get your hands dirty. He mixes, stirs, fluffs, and kneads everything with his hands. After making the fish mixture into a ball you flatten it onto the bread crumbs that make your crust. Jamie makes his own bread crumbs in the food processor, but since I have a large bag of high quality wheat breadcrumbs I just used those.

This is what they looked like when it was time to turn them over. Some of them were a little dry from over cooking so I had to cook them less time that I thought they really needed.

Golden brown on both sides means time to take them out.

Roasted bennes with a little butter, salt and fresh rosemary. He used new potatoes but since it is benne season here, and since they are so delicious I used these instead.

Here is the food: fishcakes, salsa, and salad. The salad has sprouts, fresh mint, avocados punnet of cress (which I couldn't find although I finally figured out what that is), and crisp breads or carta di musica. Simple but very amazing when you get a little of everything all at once. LOVED IT!

There were some sprouts in there that were radish sprouts and those pack quite a punch. I would recommend just using alfalfa sprouts when feeding this dish to kids.
One of the best things about this salad is the drizzle of olive oil and squeeze of fresh lemon that are the dressing. It is fun to drizzle and squeeze your dressing right there at the table. The kids loved it too, and kept squeezing more lemon on their fish and salad.

The zingy salsa was FANTASTIC. We loved it. It has bell peppers, fresh red and green chillies, garlic, cucumber, red wine vinegar, lime juice, and fresh basil. It is so fresh tasting and we had lots of leftovers so I put it over scrambled eggs for breakfast and it was divine.

My sweet husband squeezing his fresh lemon. Doesn't he look like a pro squeezer?

Enoch's Early Birthday Breakfast

Lacey This is for you: Here is a picture of Enoch's early birthday breakfast. A French Stick (baguette) made into french toast covered in boysenberries and topped with whipped cream and powdered sugar. Very Very Yummy!

A Little Bird Taught Me So

Here is a pict on one of my friends that come to visit everyday and clean up after the kids. This one got stuck inside :(

So today Ethne hasn't been herself. She isn't roaming around doing her own thing. She isn't asserting her independence. She isn't getting into mischief. She is under my feet. She wants attention badly. I picked her up and held her and loved on her and she asked for food. I said Ethne you already had: fruit, cereal, pancake, water and popcorn. You don't need to eat. Do you want mommy to play? Her face lit up and she was so excited and she signed and said "PLAY!".
So I thought I would be tricky and take her outside to weed with me. It worked for a little while as a game and then she kept trying to snuggle and climb into my arms. She took me and made me sit on the steps by her and she folded her arms. (this is because Enoch sometimes takes her out on the front steps and gives her lessons on how to pray. Then they both come in beaming at me and tell me what they have been doing and I shower them with praise just like they want. It works for everyone). So I said Ethne do you want to sing songs? She said "Uh-hu". So we sang and sang until I was running out of songs she likes and then it happened. Something wet fell on my arm and I looked at my arm and then up in the sky and there was a tiny little bird behind.
I got pooped on. I went in and cleaned it up after making sure to show the boys at the window above us ( I knew Enoch would squirm in his skin at the thought :)
After cleaning up we moved to a new spot outside and played a little kick the soccer ball and swing on the swing. I thought about what a perfect metaphor for life that was. There we are just going along happy and minding our own business and then, metaphorically speaking, we get pooped on. And there we are with the decision to clean up and keep singing or fret and moan about how gross life is.
A good lesson from a little bird I know :)

The Songs We Sing

We do a lot of singing at our house. My kids and I LOVE music. We listen to all kinds of music (within the bounds that I feel is appropriate for developing young minds). We listen to classical and church music in the background when we don't feel so much like singing and dancing and when we do feel like singing and dancing we all agree that something with a beat is much better. I am a HUGE fan of oldies music, New Orleans old school Jazz, crooners, and lots more. We have our staple kids CD's and MP3's then we used to use Pandora a lot for the rest. No Pandora here in NZ so we are using YouTube a lot. We just though we would share some with you that we love. Some of you will notice just how many of these songs are Sunshine Generation songs. :) That brings back memories doesn't it.
Oh something Garrett and I laugh often about is how Enoch knows so many singers by name and voice-Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, The Beatles, Dean Martin and more.
And Ezra is always saying I like that trumpet mom or I can hear a saxophone. He is really good at picking out the instruments. Fun Times at the Fry Family Dance Hour!

Some that aren't in video form that we love are:
"Popcorn Popping"-Ethne's favorite
"I am a Child of God"
"Jesus Loves the Little Children"
"Jesus Loves Me This I Know"
"When the Sun Is Getting Sleepy"
"What Did You Do Today Little Dog"
"Head Shoulders Knees and Toes"
"If You're Happy and You Know it"
and many many many more!

We hope you enjoy these songs as much as we do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpzArGYxmnE&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfiwDRDvgng


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FobvhVgZOCI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odAPNT_5NDg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbE9ZAfAvH8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MchhtofbgJI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F000UK_kUq4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOfyHjRONLo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwvazMc5EfE

Favorite childrens CD's right now are:
"Mary Rice Hopkins"
"Pop Fly"
"Snacktime"
Vacation Bible School songs
"Small Fry: Capitol Sings Kids Songs for Grown-Ups " (this one is really fantastic for all the old songs you can't find anymore. We love it!

I just found this one and loved it so I thought I would add it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXasKlTsjf8&feature=related

A Tribute To My Middle Child

This is my middle child. He is beautiful (or handsome if you prefer), smart, creative, assertive, silly, mischievous, sensitive, sweet, thoughtful, and empathetic. He is the first to notice when someone gets hurt and needs a kiss. He watches out for his sister to the point of spoiling all her fun ;) He loves her to pieces but is always worried she might be going to get herself into trouble. He LOVES sweets. He is motivated by two things primarily: 1. is treats and 2 is money.

He was fully potty trained for both night and day at an early age because of treats. He had some set backs when Ethne was born and couldn't wake up to go to the bathroom. He was no longer getting treats at that point either. Not too long ago he was starting to have accidents during the day due to not wanting to stop what he was doing and go to the bathroom. I was fed up and decided I had to speak his language. I offered either treats or money. Within a week he was not only having zero accidents during the day, but none at night as well. I am very grateful. The night time thing was due to a lot of prayer and fasting I think, but the day time was definitely the treats.

Ezra is by far my most openly affectionate child. He has NO reserve when it comes to hugging and kissing on his family-especially his mommy. He tells me over and over everyday "mom, I wuv you SO much." and "mom, you are my best mom ever". And other equally as sweet things.

He can also be very obstinate and stubborn. Not sure where he gets that from. It certainly doesn't run in MY family-very much :) He is open to learning and growing until his wall goes up. Once you have said the magic word and made the wall go up there is no penetrating it. Your only defence is to speak kindly and hug him until you can get him to lower it back down. If that doesn't work you have to give him a time out and let me cry it out a little until he has let go of his frustrations and then come back and try the kind tones and hugs again.

He is SO full of life and energy. He is passionate much like his mother and his spirit shines though his face and makes everyone happy. People tell me all the time how much they LOVE the way he talks and how serious and dramatic his expressions are.

He is his brothers biggest fan and it frustrates and hurts him deeply when Enoch is not nice to him. He is learning though to hold his own and some bad habits of crying to get his way. He has Enoch on his toes sometimes threatening to tell on him. I am working with them both for some healthier ways of working through their disagreements. Anyone have any ideas?

Ezra is also VERY expressive like his daddy. He can move many more mussels in his face that the average human I think. He most definitely gets that from Garrett.

Here he is telling me what he is playing.

Here he is picking on Ethne. He LOVES to take her toys away and make her scramble after him and scream. Very naughty!

Teasing Ethne again. Look at that menacing face :) He is so cute!

Back to being sweet. He is such a great kid most of the time. I hope he stays that way forever.

Our world is a much happier place with our Ezra. He makes us all laugh and wrestle and play. He is really starting to grow up lately as well. He has decided that he is really great at cleaning bathrooms and he gets the bug to clean them very randomly. He always tells me AFTER he has cleaned them. The other day he came in and said: "Mom, I just cleaned the bathroom and Enoch just went to the bathroom and now there is soap on the sink and he won't clean it up." He was very mad at Enoch and almost in tears and Enoch was insisting that he didn't spill the soap. It was a big fight between them.

A few weeks ago he also decided he was the flushing police. Enoch tells on him all the time for not washing his hands when he goes to the bathroom (Enoch is the germ police) and so I think that is why Ezra has become the flushing police. If Enoch doesn't flush Ezra tells him about it until he does flush OR he tells ME about it until Enoch flushes.

It is a crazy time in our life right now with them all so young and needy, but we just couldn't live without any one of them. They each add so much to our family. Thanks Ezra for being such a great kid and making our life a little sweeter.

A Snack is A Snack and THAT is Not A Snack!

I was feeling particularly generous, kind, and motherly one afternoon and decided to make my kids a filling, tasty, and lovely at the same time, kind of a snack. This is what I prepared:

These are bennes and they are only around here at this time of year from what I am told. They are tiny little potatoes and they bake up so yummy. They are really fantastic-really fantastic.
I added some freshly grated parmesan, fresh rosemary from my herbs, cherry tomatoes and some salt and pepper. This is what they looked like when I served them to my children.

Now tell me that doesn't look fantastic.

This is the conversation that took place:

Ezra in a whinny voice: Mom, why did you make that? You said you would make us a snack.

Mom: I did make you a snack.

Ezra all happy: Oh, where is is?

Mom: This is it.

Ezra: No, that's not a snack.

Mom: yes it is? Why do you think this isn't a snack?

Ezra whining: Because a snack is a snack and that's not a snack.

Mom: Ezra a snack can be anything. It is just a small amount of something that is too small to be a meal. You guys have been so hungry all day long that I thought I would make you a substantial snack. Something more than just fruit and popcorn.

Ezra: But that's not a SNACK! I am NOT going to EAT THAT!

Spoiled? Sounds like it!

At the Jousting Tournament-oh wait nope!

Two things that Ethne is serious about-apples and ice cream. How fitting that she should have one of each at the same time :)

click on these pictures to see them enlarged. You can see that my boys are having a huge effect on Ethne. She is also being influenced by living in Wellington. Notice she is walking around barefoot. I can no longer keep shoes and socks on her for very long at a time. tisk tisk!

So Garrett found out there was a medieval fair going on about 30 min. from Wellington and we decided to go. He needed pictures of it and the kids were really excited. We invited people to join us and offered to take a few kids that we could fit in the van if they were interested. There was a lot of interest and it ended up that we picked up Eddie (14) from his house and the Jonah (6) from his. We set out and then when we got there there was nothing going on at the park. We drove all around, we asked people-nothing!. Garrett got on my phone and looked at both the websites advertising the festival and he found a second address :( That address just so happened to be 1/2 a day's drive away so we opted not to run off with other peoples children chasing it. When we got 3/4 of the way home we got a call from one of the families we invited. They were there too-oh man I don't think I need to tell you how horrible that we felt for them packing up their 5 kids and driving 30min to find something that wasn't there. We didn't waste the day though. We played at the park there before driving to Weta and taking everyone to the Weta Cave that is part of Garrett's work. They LOVED it. They we got them ice cream and took them all home. It was a fun day and we found out that the festival will be at that park sometime in February so we promised to take them back then :)

My Surfer Girl

Well, I have come to the realization that I will be able to vicariously reach my dream of being a surfer girl.

From the time I was little I always wanted to learn to surf. I would watch people doing it on TV (since there wasn't a beach anywhere around) and I would wish so badly I was out there too. Bungee jumping has no appeal to me, jumping out of airplanes has maybe a tiny bit of appeal but surfing or kite boarding-now THAT I want to do. There are people out here that stop everything they are doing when the waves get big. They literally flock to the beach in wet suits-running from their cars to the water and paddle out waiting for the next big one to come along. I want to be one of them BUT with a husband who always works and 3 kids who can't tie a shoelace without me...It's not going to happen. BUT Ethne is going to be my surfer. She loves the ocean waves and just can't get enough.



Today we walked to the park by the beach and I said Ethne do you want to go swing? Her face lit up and she climbed over the anchor chain and booked it for the water. I caught her up and said no honey I said swing NOT swim. She was so mad. She threw a big fit and cried and cried that we weren't going to swim. She really loves being in the water and has no fear of the waves.



One night the kids and I took a walk on the beach before dinner and it was too cold to get in, but she insisted. She was jumping in and trying to run off without me. I had to fight to keep her on her feet in the waves since the tide was coming in. I finally decided to stand really close but let her get knocked off her feet a few times so that she wouldn't fight me so hard and she would know I was just trying to keep her safe. It didn't work. She was slightly more cautious, but she just kept going back for more. I had to fight her in my arms and buckle her in the stroller to get her home. She cried and threw a fit until she knew it was of no use and she gave up the tantrum.

I love her excitement, I love her daring and her passion and her determination. I love that she will be my surfer girl, but I pray that she can be safe and survive her childhood as well ;)

New Baby Ariving-What's His Name?

So my Brother and his wife are at the hospital getting ready to have their baby. We are all super excited on the edge of our seats but we are also really sad we aren't there for this. It is their very first child and expected to be a boy. They are only about 4 hours away from his birth, but they are still mulling over a few prospective names (sound like anyone else you know?) and they aren't sharing those names with anyone for now. So here we are miles and miles away at our breakfast table thinking of what the name could be.
Ezra said "I think they should name him Pirate Max (that is the name Ezra gave one of his webkinz last week).
Enoch said: "no They should name him BABY Pirate Max. Then when he is older they can change it"

I love those boys. They were so serious about this and really believe this is the right choice of name for new little baby Anderson. This boy is a special one because he is the very first to carry on the Anderson name in our family. Hurray for your arrival baby Anderson.

Oh another interesting fact is that today is Dorothy's (my sister) birthday. But in the states her birthday is tomorrow. So for me this baby is born on Dorothy's birthday but for everyone else in the family this baby is born on the day before Dorothy's birthday.

So it will be Jan. 23rd Baby Anderson
Jan. 24th Dorothy's birthday
Jan 25th My birthday
OK I was wrong about the birthdays and need to correct. Darryl and Spencer's b-days are also the 24th. Not the 26th.

Grafiji

Last week sometime we were at the park with friends. When we left I was asking the kids what they liked best about the park and one of them said "the Grafiji" They were is a super silly mood and giggling about what sounded like very random things to me. I heard "naked" and "peeing" and I can't remember what else. I was concerned at this since I have almost never heard my kids using potty humor and they know that it isn't appropriate.

I said the what?

"the gra-fiji".

Hmmm, what is grafiji?

"You know the stuff you read"

Hmmm again. (Mom thinking) Oh Graffiti?

"Yeah-grafiji"

Why were you guys reading graffiti?

Enoch: "I just asked them what it said and they were just reading it to me".

mom: What did it say?

Ezra laughs and says: "naked bodies ha ha ha"


I will spare you the rest of the conversation but what it came down too was that the older kids were reading the graffiti to all the children as per Enoch's request and it was full of potty humor apparently. Great right?

So, we had a talk about how we shouldn't read those things because people who write them usually write bad things that are full of potty words and potty humor and it isn't uplifting and good. They said ok and we talked about what to do if someone is reading them in the future. AND that they shouldn't ask other kids to read them at all.

That was the end of that until yesterday when they were outside together having a snack. Enoch came running inside saying:
Mom, mom, Ethne is doing gra-fiji. Hurry hurry Ethne is doing gra-fiji.
Ethne had found a pen and was coloring all over the deck-crazy kids!

another new one Jan. 7th

Christmas holidays has been posted as a back post as well. It will show up under January. Published on the 7th and titled Christmas Holidays.

Something New on the Blog

There is something new on the blog but you have to go back to Jan. 6th so that you can find it. I started it then and so it publishes the post back when it was started.

A Tribute To My Youngest And in Some Ways Oldest Child :)

This is my Girl. She is my youngest and like I said in some ways she is also like the oldest. She organizes the whole family and gets us going out the door or back in depending on where we are. She is as fast, quiet and accurate as a viper when she strikes, so she is frequently in and out of trouble before I can catch up with her. She is also sweet and concerned when someone is hurt or needs help. She LOVES her family and is at her happiest when dad walks in the door and we are all together. If someone tries to leave she squeals and pulls them back so that we stay all together.
Ethne LOVES water. Sink water, bath water, pool water, or ocean water. Dirty water or clean water. She has had a blasts at the beach lately. She HATES the sand. She doesn't want to play in it or let it touch her although I am working to condition her for it. She isn't, however perturbed by the cold salty water in the sea. Last Friday we were playing at scorching bay and a little boy around 6 (from our ward) was holding both her hands and helping her walk around in the ocean. She was getting splashed by freezing cold waves and she was loving it so much she wouldn't let him bring her in even after 20 min. She was freezing. Her lips were quivering and she just couldn't make herself come in. I went to free him and bring her in to warm up in a towel and I said: Ethne do you want to wrap up in a towel? She said "nah-uh". She never says no! Just Nah-uh. I played with her some more in the waves and she giggled and gasped and played and she cried and cried when I forced her to come in and warm up. she was so so fun!

This is her mom, I am going to get you laugh.

This is her: I am getting you laugh while pounding on me.

This is her: I really want the camera and you will not give it to me so I am going to fake cry look.

This is her: I am already over it look.

This is her indignant look: Brothers touched my phone-the cardinal sin in her world.

This is her: I am happy to be with my big brothers look.

This is her: I dont' really know why everyone is running around like crazy-did I miss something? look