Guess What My Kids Are Eating for Breakfast

Go ahead, guess. No, it's not eggs. Nope. Not oatmeal either--we had that the other day. No, they are sitting in front of the TV watching Animalia and eating...chocolate ice cream!

Have I lost my mind? No. I haven't.

First, I got out the peanut butter dip that I had made the other day and had them dip apple sections in. When they were done with that, I gave them each a small bowl of homemade chocolate ice cream.

We made the ice cream a couple of nights ago and it is filled with co-op farmer goodness. Well, not that it's filled with farmer--just the goodness they provide.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Ice Cream

3 egg yolks
1/4 cup cocoa
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 cups raw cream
1 cup raw milk
a giant slosh of maple syrup (maybe 1/4 cup or more)

Note: Usually, I use raw honey in this recipe, but the honey has crystallized and I didn't feel like slowly melting it in a water bath. Maple syrup works well in its place and is full of manganese and zinc too.

Whisk everything together and make according to the ice cream maker's directions.

I must report that I've seen TONS of ice cream makers at Goodwill. You can have a fun addition to your diet and easily get the tools you need from a thrift store, or as always, on E-bay, or Craig's List.

This is a delicious, smooth ice cream. It has the raw ingredients that supply loads of enzymes. It has unpasteurized raw milk and raw cream which also supplies Vitamin C as well as easily assimilated minerals. The cocoa has anti-oxidants and the egg yolks supply an additional bit of protein.

It may look like goopy sweet junk food, slowly melting in the bowl, but in fact it is a fabulous boost of healthy nutrition for my kids. Plus, they get the treat of eating ice cream in the morning! How decadent can you be?!

The peanut butter dip is great too. Is that too boastful for me to say that? Well, it is great though!

Peanut Butter Dip

Giant glop of peanut butter--maybe a 1/4 cup or so
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. raw honey, or to taste
1 Tbsp raw milk, or enough to make a smooth, easily dipable consistency

Use as a dip for apples, grapes, celery (not that my kids would, but yours might). It tastes very close to caramel apples when you dip the apple in.

You can also fill whole grain pitas with the peanut butter goop. Or, you can spread it on whole grain English Muffins, or bagels.

It is nice to have on hand in the fridge.

The peanut butter supplies protein and the raw honey gives a boost of Vitamin B and is anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal. Any time I can sweeten with raw honey, I do.

I am just sitting here having coffee. I better go get something to eat too. Hmmm. What will I go get?

Go ahead. Guess...

OK. I Can't Help Myself...

I know I said I was off of politics for a while. I did. But, I can not help myself. This is just too mind blowing for me not to comment on.

I homeschool my kids for various reasons, not the least of which is that I want them to learn things that I think they skip in school. For example, I think they still use the Mercator Projection Map rather than the Peters Projection Map and its equal area representation of the world. In terms of geography, not only do I want my kids to learn the countries, regions, continents of the world, I also want them to learn about the relative sizes of the countries.

The Mercator Map, that we're all so familiar with, shows Greenland as almost the same size of land mass as Africa...that's completely wrong. Greenland is much smaller. Africa is much bigger. There is a dilemma for cartographers as to how to accurately represent the world with the least distortion in size or shape when converting the globe to a two dimensional map. Distortion happens.

Cartographers have always corrected the distortion in favor of shape over size. Africa has this shape. Greenland has this shape and so on. But, the shapes have been the wrong size--completely out of proportion. The Peters Projection Map corrects that. It distorts in favor of size and the shapes get a little wonky. But, unless you're going to try and negotiate the coastline of any of the countries represented, maybe shape is not as important as size when considering the world. At least, many charities think that way and use the Peters map as does
Europe...

So, I want my kids to see it too. That is why I homeschool--so my kids can learn about the world. It's important to know things. You know?

It has just come out that Sarah VP-wanna-be Palin...are you ready for this? I almost can't type it, it is so appalling. OK. Here I go. Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent and not a country!! I wish they were freakin' kidding us, but they're not. SHE DIDN'T KNOW!!

Oh. My. God.

Having heard this about Sarah Palin made me curious about my own Peters Projection Map loving kids. This exchange between me and my 8 year old daughter happened a couple of minutes ago:

Me to my daughter,

"Is Africa just a country, or is it a continent with lots of countries?"

My daughter to me,

"It's a continent with lots of countries."

Yep. You betcha. You got that right, daughter.

Thank you American electorate. Thank you for voting for Obama/Biden who both know that Africa is a gigantic continent with several countries and is the cradle of humanity. Thank you for voting for reason and hope instead of ignorance and hate.

OK. Now no more political posts...I think. At least until the next mind blowing revelation.

Poem From My Daughter

Recently, I gave my daughter a book of poetry for kids (used--got it at Half Price Books). There are short poems from many different writers and there are cute, whimsical illustrations.

My daughter has always liked words and sounds and patterns. She's been enjoying this book a lot.

So, today she came up to me and said,

I want a Penny,
I want a Dime.
I want a little thing
That is all mine.

I asked her where she got that cute poem. "From my brain!" she reported enthusiastically.

I love when my kids get things from their brains!

Obama Won!! But, I Don't Want to Talk About It...

Obama won! He is our President Elect and on January 20th we will all welcome in a new way to deal with our problems and with the world. It is thrilling and reassuring to think that America voted for such a man as Barack Obama. He is brilliant and we are all very lucky he focused his attention on serving all of us. He could have chosen a very different, smoother path.

But, you know what? I'm tired. I'm tired of politics. I'm tired of fights. I'm tired of worry. I'm tired of anxiety. I want to just trust in Obama and let him handle it all and not pay close attention and just politically coast through the next couple of years. "It will all be good.", is what I want to say. And yet...

I voted for Obama because I thought he could lead us out of this impossible morass that Bush drove us into. I cared about the issues facing us all and still do. So, I can't really let go of that. The issues are still there. I'm hopeful that Obama's policy positions will lead us towards better times, and better relationships. However, people still need to be vigilant--it doesn't matter that it's Barack Obama leading the charge. We all still need to be there behind him, watching him, urging him on, voicing contention, voicing agreement--Right On!

After 8 years of Bush, we especially need the next president to know that all of the trashing of the constitution needs to stop and be rolled back. I know Obama believes this too, but we The People need to make sure it happens. That only happens when the electorate is awake and paying attention. Except for me...

I'm taking a vacation from blogging about politics. I'm taking a break. I'm not going to talk about Obama's appointments. I'm not going to talk about the partisan fighting that will come. I am at the end of my rope here. I'll still pay attention in my own way, but I can't write about it any more. At least, not for a while.

Until I get so enraged or elated about something, in which case, I'll post about it tout de suite.

Congratulations, President Obama! Well done. I'm very proud of all of us right now.

Yes we can!