What My Kids are Eating That They Don't Know They're Eating

Avocado hidden within smoothie.

Usually, I make a smoothie with a banana, strawberries, raw honey, raw egg yolk, melted coconut oil, orange juice, yogurt or kefir and a teaspoon of vanilla. The kids love it and I'm able to freeze the purposefully made left overs in plastic popsicle forms. The kids are having a breakfast popsicle right now!

This last time, I slipped in a half an avocado too. Unlike the time I ambitiously put kale in and made sure it was properly liquefied so you couldn't see a speck of green, they have not noticed the additional ingredient. They are happily eating their popsicles without any realization that they are also getting the good stuff from a half avocado that Mom sneakily mixed in.

I am a huge proponent for honesty with children. That sounds ridiculous, but I know lots of parents that aren't. They'd much rather take the easier road of lying, shading, and omission with their kids. Obviously, communication must be age appropriate and children are not our confessors--we don't need to tell them everything. That's a burden for them and unnecessary. But, being passive aggressive, instead of clear and straight forward does them a huge disservice, I think. I don't lie to my kids. When they are upset that the DVD they hoped to watch is not here, I tell them that I put it out into the mail--my bad. When they ask for something, I tell them "no" if the answer is no. Not "maybe", I don't equivocate (unless the answer is maybe, and I'm still thinking about it). I afford my kids the same kind of decency and respect I have for adults. Although, if adults were running around chasing each other with Star Wars light sabers when we were trying to get ready and out the door to go to their tap class, I might raise my voice at them too...

Must I tell my kids every ingredient I use when I cook?! Do I have to share when I put in an extra grinding of pepper or use lemon instead of vinegar in a recipe? I think it's fine to sneak in extra nutrition in ways that don't effect taste. If they don't taste it, it's not affecting their popsicle joy. Who is harmed in this transaction?

I don't do this often because my son's palate is too sensitive. That's a really bad thing these days. It would have been a handy skill to have and he would have avoided poisoning as a cave man, but zucchini is not poison, all grimaces to the contrary.

Query: Can broccoli ever make its way into a cookie? Recipe anyone?

Is it Kefir, or is it a Pet?

My son, through a long and increasingly earnest list of comprehensive questions, has discovered that kefir is a living organism. Oh my God!! That is soooo exciting. He has decided to brew his own jar. Yesterday afternoon, I gave him some of my grains and I showed him how to gently swirl it in the milk and explained that in the morning or early afternoon, the milk will have converted to kefir. Amazing!

Later in the evening I asked him if he'd like to swirl the jar. "No. You can do it. Thanks." And he went back to happily playing with his sister.

Typical.

He even drank a glass of my kefir, not hidden in a fruit smoothie as usual. I was so impressed. Kefir can be quite tangy and not at all sweet, unless you sweeten it. Which we did with honey, maple syrup, and then flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. He liked it and thinks he will be able to drink kefir more often. (!!!!!!!!!) My daughter tried it and didn't like it, but didn't mind eating a grain, which will also impart good stuff to her gut.

I have Kefir Kids!

Now, how can I get them to eat liver...

The Ultimate Field Trip

I'm getting more and more nervous as I'm trying to get us all ready for our trip to...Mexico!! My Mother-in-law has invited all of the family on my husband's side to go down with her to Cancun. Who are we to refuse such an offer? I might be buying new things down there--we'll see. As it is, in getting ready for the trip, I got a sheer, flowey blouse--great with a skirt or shorts--a kicky colorful printed skirt, a simple cotton brown wrap dress all from Goodwill. I felt very lucky to find things that will work, and they will work! I had to get a pair of sandals as my leather strappy sandals that I did have finally broke and I think that with the cost of the repair, it would make more sense to buy a new pair. So, I did.

I had those sandals for at least 20 years. I bought them from J. Crew back when I bought things from J. Crew and they were very well made and lasted me for all of those years. They were a classic hippy design that didn't go out of style in that it was so not trendy it could be classic. My look.

The area we're going to is not far from Mayan ruins--the kids are getting very excited. We're going to go there, we're going to explore the jungle, we're going to hang out on the beach for days. It will be extraordinarily decadent and exactly the kind of place that I find appalling. We'll be staying at a resort area full of demanding Americans who can't speak a lick of Spanish, lo siento. And where we will be, there is no "there" there. We will be surrounded by other resorts and no towns or locals or museums or interesting street life. We will be segregated from reality.

It will be a wonderful time with our relatives and we will all have fun in the sun and climbing the ruins and exploring the jungle. I love my mother-in-law for being so generous in this. So, that's what I'm going to think about and enjoy while we're there. I won't think about the incredible waste and arrogance of going to another country and then setting yourself up in a compound separated from the very people who inhabit the country you've gone to visit; especially a country where there is so much poverty and corruption.

Lolling on the beach for days is good. Playing with my kids in the pools is good. Visiting with relatives is good. Decadent ugly American behavior is bad, and embarrassing.

When I get back from our trip, I'll see how my kefir grains are gowing and I'll start sending them out to people who've requested them. Tamsen, I got your info--thanks.

I've got a new-to-me/hand-me-down camera for Christmas and I'll take lots of pictures while I'm there. I've already taken a few pictures here around the house, but I need a new cord to get them onto the computer. When I get a used cord from somewhere, I'll get more photos on here.

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose...or is it?

Occasionally as I write here, or in sending an e-mail, my computer thinks I've misspelled a word. It underlines it in red to signal me. Actually, I haven't misspelled the word, it just doesn't recognize the word. My computer has kind of limited thinking. Here is a list of words it does not recognize:

homebirth
La Leche League (it recognizes the "La" and the "League" but not the "Leche")
unschooling
deschooling
kefir
kombucha
probiotics

It does however, recognize these words:

homeschooling (it used to think this word is wrong too)
meditate
co-sleep (I think only because it recognizes the co and the sleep)
yogurt
cultured food
attachment parenting (again, I think it recognizes the separate words--it wouldn't know attachment parenting if it tripped over a slinging, nursing toddler on their way to the family bed)

Who are these people who are writing the software for computers? Do they not know these words? I guess that they don't--lots of people still don't know them, and yet an awful lot of people have found health and happiness in unschooling and drinking down some kefir. There have been millions of amazing homebirths and the mothers have gotten great support for their breastfeeding through La Leche Leaque.

If language is knowledge, what does it mean that these terms are not recognized? I guess you could call these things other terms, maybe a rose is a rose, but if you don't know the rose exists, an alternate term doesn't matter.

Here are the words again with links to find out more. Maybe they're new to you too. Here's some information and you can take away anything that you find interesting or helpful.

homebirth
La Leche League
unschooling
deschooling
kefir
kombucha
probiotics

The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.

Philip K. Dick, How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later (1978)
US science fiction author (1928 - 1982)

Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking.

John Maynard Keynes
English economist (1883 - 1946)

Kefir and Why You Want it.

Kefir: A fermented milk drink common in the Caucasus mountains in Soviet Georgia. Milk is cultured at room temperature with kefir grains that multiply and grow with each ferment. Here are some grains.




Kefir tastes like a tangy, slightly effervescent liquid-like yogurt. It has even more probiotics in it than yogurt. Where yogurt adds some good "bugs" to the gut, kefir colonizes the gut with a whole range. Here is a passage from the book Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon that is quoting from the book The Body Ecology Diet:

Kefir is a cultured and microbial-rich food that helps restore the inner ecology. It contains strains of beneficial yeast and bacteria (in a symbiotic relationship) that give kefir antibiotic properties. A natural antibiotic--and it is made from milk! The finished product is not unlike that of a drink-style yogurt, but kefir has a more tart, refreshing taste and contains completely different organisms...kefir does not feed yeast, and it usually doesn't even bother people who are lactose intolerant. That's because the friendly bacteria and the beneficial yeast growing in the kefir consume most of the lactose and provide very efficient enzymes (lactase) for consuming whatever lactose is still left after the culturing process...kefir is mucous forming, but...the slightly mucous-forming quality is exactly what makes kefir work for us. The mucous has a clean quality to it that coats the lining of the digestive tract, creating sort of a nest where beneficial bacteria settle and colonize...

You know how you make kefir? You buy some kefir grains, throw the grains in a jar with some milk and every once in a while, as you walk through the kitchen, you swirl the jar. Let the jar sit overnight and the next day you have kefir. That's it!

Dom's Kefir site helps with information on how to make kefir, and what to do with it once you've made it.

A really great book, Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Katz also has information and recipes for cultured foods.

Why am I telling you all about kefir? After all, what does that have to do with trying to not buy anything new for a year? The thing about kefir is that the kefir grains multiply. You can buy some grains initially and then give away your extra grains as they multiply. And then those who have received your kefir grains will give away their extra, and they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on. Perfect.

Here is a recipe for a kefir smoothie:

Into a blender throw in,

1 banana
1/2 cup strawberries
1 to 1 1/2 cups orange juice
1 to 1 1/2 cups kefir
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
honey to sweeten

Blend. With any leftovers, you can pour into popsicle forms and have them later.

If you start doing any reading about cultured or fermented food, you find there is a rich history of it in almost every culture and that we, our bodies, are walking collections of microflora. Cultured food, like yogurt, kefir, kim chi, sour kraut all feed and introduce friendly microbes to help your digestion and immunity. You can support that inner ecology, the good bacteria, and build it up for your good health by eating cultured foods.

As Stephen Wright says, "Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have."