Week 5: In Which We Think A Lot About Food and Mummify Some

I have a son who is growing into a man. He eats. A lot.

We do not eat junk food. I am not sure what you would classify us diet-wise, but it borders on paleo / primal because we do not eat many grains, but it isn't paleo because we occasionally eat rice and raw dairy. Aside from this, we also eat beans, soaked and / or sprouted. Therefore, all of these minor indulgences mean that we don't fit into any particular diet scheme except for "real food."

It may be easier to say what we don't eat:
- foods containing gluten
- refined sugar
- high fructose corn syrup
- meat that originated in a c.a.f.o.
- most grains, except basmati rice, buckwheat, and rarely, gluten free oats
- foods containing non-fermented soy
- foods containing nasty oils that tend to be high in omega-6 such as canola or vegetable oil.

What this means is that I have been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately. My son is probably getting ready for a growth spurt because he cannot get enough to eat, and everyone in the household is doing rigorous CrossFit workouts which keep the apetite up.

This week I made this recipe for breakfast twice, and you should too, because your kids will think you are THE BEST MOM in the world. I served it with bacon or sausage, and it was a great stick-to-the-ribs breakfast. Looks fancy, but it's super easy.

Dutch baby with apples and almonds. MMMM!

And, inspired by the new Food Network program Rachel vs. Guy Kids Cook-Off, I decided my girl was definitely old enough to start cooking dinner with me. So we did this. 

Meatloaf!

The growing man ate three full plates of this, his ultimate comfort food; meatloaf, mashed red potatoes and green beans. Wasn't exactly paleo, but hey, the kid must eat!

I also made yogurt, granola, muffins, and soup, and eggs, and bacon, and whatever...but it was a lot of time in the kitchen, and honestly it's not the making that takes so much time, it's the clean-up.

Please remember as you are reading this: This blog is my journal. I am not writing this to boast or to brag about what a great mom I am. But I will pause to make this point to you who may be reading this and thinking "Great, another perfect homesteader-mom who picks her own food and milks her own cow, then brags about how she lives in paradise with all the health and abundance." To you, I will say that while I was busy cooking, all my plants died. I even managed to kill my poor daughter's Nile-flooding project, which is kind of a no-brainer. I do not have my own cows, chickens or anything, and I have one hopelessly neglected garden. I can make up for being a crappy gardener by going to the farmers market or the store. I would not be able to make up for feeding my kids poorly, so that is where I put my efforts. I can't do everything and neither can you.

Also, I should note that all this food prep is not my favorite thing to do, but I count it as part of my job of being a good mom. I have friends for whom cooking is their hobby and delight. While I do enjoy aspects of cooking (mostly the eating part), it is not what thrills me. But in order to do this well, one must be at home. A lot. You must be at home to homeschool well, eat well, and rest well. Okay, back to our week...

We had co-op on Tuesday in which we

tested how sound travels through different substances

sent funny messages

mummified chickens

and named them, of course

and had week 3 TOG discussion with our peeps!

After our Tapestry discussion the kids ran out and engaged in an epic battle of capture the flag, boys against girls, the end of which I have not yet heard! They constructed weapons for themselves using craft sticks and hot glue, and battled it out in the woods. Fun! They plan a do-over this coming week and hope to find some new recruits.

We also watched a video called Exodus Decoded put out by the History Channel. I didn't realize when I rented the video that it was produced by James Cameron, so I was immediately suspicious, however, it was very interesting. I personally don't agree with all that they posit, but it was refreshing to see an attempt by a secular source to prove that something Biblical actually happened, instead of trying to tear it down. If you have a dialectic student and want to give them food for thought and debate, I would recommend this video. My son had his Bible out and was checking their claims against scripture to see how they measured up and questioned their positions through the whole video.

The kids did a great job of meeting the goals that we set out at the beginning of the week and managed to cross everything off!

On Saturday we all pitched in together and did a deep clean of the whole house and that makes me very, very, very happy. The best part of it, though, was that I began listening to the The Great Courses audio on The Iliad, and covered quite a few lectures while I was cleaning and scrubbing. It is my goal to study the Iliad and the Odyssey this year on a Rhetoric level, which is something I have never done (I am sorry to admit). The lectures were very interesting and stimulated my thinking in completely new ways towards classical literature and the study of ancient history, which to this point has not been my favorite era of study. 

Next week will be our 6th week of school all together and week 4 of TOG. Time is flying, but it's been a great term so far.