Happiness is... Part VI

Happiness is...
* Living in a walkable community.
* Darrell getting up on Saturday morning anxious to do yard work or home repair.
* The pitter pat of little feet upstairs (when Oaklen gets up from his nap.)
* The boys imitating the noise from the coffee grinder every morning.
* When everyone likes the meal that I make for dinner.
* Discovering that I can check out past issues of my favorite magazine from the library.
* Oaklen saying "a-waw-boo" (I love you.)
* Exercising to my own music with my own moves (I probably look hilarious, but it's fun!)
* Salem & Oaklen playing hide & seek.
* Darrell making a magnificent meal out of nothing.
* Getting on the bathroom scale and it reading "88 lbs" (but then Oaklen getting on and saying he weighed 1 lb; later it was fixed.)
* Darrell making waffles.
* Oaklen speaking in two-word sentences, or using adjectives ("shoe off, white cheese, daddy sleep, wash again.")
* Salem's drawings.

Oaklen's Birth Story

Today is Oaklen's birthday, he's 2 yrs old!

My friend Catey posts her birth stories on her blog when it's her child's birthday and I like that idea so I'm going to do it too! Warning: this is a long post, and has a lot of information, possibly even “TMI”, read this if you’re interested in birth stories, otherwise skip it! :)

Oaklen's Birth Story
First of all you'll need a little background. When I was pregnant with Oaklen (Okay Darrell, now is your time to chime in and say "you can't be pregnant with..."), I was working at Overstock.com.

My due date was June 9th and I planned on working through the end of May and begin working from home June 1st. That way I wouldn't go into labor with all my worried co-workers. :) Every day I'd leave work, my friends would wonder if I'd be back the next day; then when I arrived bright and early the following day, they'd all take a sigh (of relief since they didn't want me to leave!) For some co-workers this was their first experience dealing with a pregnancy so it was quite interesting. They watched my belly (and my nose) get bigger, I let them touch my stomach (don't listen to that HR department), they wondered "what on earth is she eating now?", they helped me think of names, and they placed bets to see if the baby was a boy or a girl.

Since it was my second boy, there was no need to throw me a shower but a bunch of my co-workers wanted to have a party/shower anyway. They talked to me and I decided to schedule it for Wednesday May 31. Monday would be the Memorial Day holiday and Tuesday didn't work since some would still be on vacation so we decided on Wednesday May 31 for the shower.

I went to work on Tuesday May 30 and had a great work day. For some reason, I had a feeling that I should bring home the laptop and a few work supplies "just in case." I figured I would just bring them back the next day.

I got home and Darrell was there with Salem, Candace, and Eli. Candace & Eli had come over to do some laundry at our house (since we offered) and then stayed to eat good ol' frozen burritos with us for dinner. I wasn't really feeling too well, but didn't really do much about it since my friends were over, I just put my head on the table and let my belly hang over and that seemed to help my discomfort. (Little did I know that those were probably mild contractions!)

After we ate, (about 6:30 PM) Salem wanted to go show Candace & Eli his new bedroom upstairs. By the time I got to the top of the stairs, I felt a rush, and then suddenly REALLY needed to go to the bathroom. I ran to the bathroom and sat on the toilet and thought that I “didn’t make it.” I thought that it was strange since that hasn’t really happened to me before. Then I realized “oh, maybe that was my water breaking!” I didn’t want to believe it; I wanted to fake myself out of it. Was this it? Was I really going into labor? ( I hadn’t experienced these things on my previous pregnancy since I was induced and had an epidural so I felt like I never had a real “labor” experience, I didn’t even know what a contraction felt like.)

After I realized what might be happening, I yelled “Um Darrell, will you come here for minute?” Darrell came in and I sheepishly told him that I thought my water had broken. Darrell: “What? Can’t you tell if you’re water broke or not?” Heather: “Well I don’t know… it’s weird.” Darrell: “Well what else could it be? You’re 9 months pregnant and it’s bound to happen!” So, Darrell finally convinced me that I was in labor. While I was changing into different pants, Darrell told Candace & Eli that I was in labor. I came out of my room and looked at Candace with a worried, unbelieving face and said “I guess this is it!” They collected their laundry and said goodbye and good luck. (One a side note, it’s funny that they were there when I went into labor because they were also there the night that I found out that I was pregnant. We had taken a home pregnancy test that evening and they came over 30 minutes later and Darrell, of course, had to tell them!)

I called my mom and asked her what “water breaking” feels like and she said that yes I had probably broken my water. I called my midwife and told her what had happened. She said that she happened to be at the office (even though she took the day off) and to come in and get checked to verify that it truly was amniotic fluid. I then called my mom back to have her meet us there so she could take Salem home with her if needed.

We arrived at the birth center and Rebecca, my midwife, verified that it was amniotic fluid and I was in labor. She was excited of course, but the week prior, she told me that I "couldn't" go into labor on May 30 or May 31 since she paid for this midwife conference that she was going to attend and jokingly said that all of her patients weren't supposed to go in labor then. :) I felt bad that I was going to disrupt her non-refundable conference.

I still wasn't really feeling any contractions but since my water broke Rebecca said that if I don't have the baby within 24 hours that I'd have to be transferred to the hospital. She set me up on the fetal monitoring system for just a while to track my labor. She had to tell me that I was having a contraction! I thought "Oh, is that was they feel like?" I was thinking more about the juice that she gave me and my family than my contractions.

It was about 7:30 PM and we decided to head home to labor there and then call Rebecca when things started to pick up. (I didn't expect to call her until late morning the next day.)

My mom followed us home so that she could get Salem's overnight bag. I kissed Salem & my mom goodbye about 9:00 PM and then it was just Darrell, me, and my belly that was starting to look like a baby with a bunch of skin over it.

Darrell and I knelt together and said a prayer, and then I headed upstairs to "rest" while Darrell finished cleaning up the kitchen and living room. (He had the nesting instinct too!)

I knew that rest was a good thing that laboring women needed so I went straight to bed and closed my eyes to sleep. I thought that I could sleep through the contractions. I stayed lying down in the bed for a few of the first contractions but they were distracting enough that I couldn’t sleep. I then started to sit up when I had a contraction they lay back down (on my side) after it was over. The contractions were then coming closer & closer together so I remained sitting up. I instinctively started to rock my body from side-to-side and just breathe deeply when I had a contraction. (Later I likened that to when the Polynesians rock/sway side-to-side after they have eaten a big meal to help them digest their food. If it works for them, it’s got to work for helping the baby get in place too.)

The contractions were getting to a point that I no longer wanted to do it by myself and wished that Darrell would finish cleaning and come upstairs to help me. Luckily he must have heard my unsolicited wish and came upstairs in a timely manner.
It was about 11:00 PM by then and Darrell was excited that the contractions were happening. We sat on the bed together, he behind me, and I grabbed his hand whenever I started to feel a contraction. I didn’t really want to talk so the only way he knew I was contracting was when I squeezed his hand. He noticed that they were getting pretty close together so he grabbed a pen & paper to time the contractions. After a short while, I wanted him to stop writing them down and to focus on me instead of the paper. He kept telling me that these contractions were quite close and that we should call Rebecca. I was still faking myself out of it and thought that we still had a lot of time to go.

I decided that I should try to get up and go to the bathroom. As I was getting up, I had another contraction. Darrell was quickly right there, and got up so quickly that he stepped on the garbage can next to the bed and smashed a hole in it. (To this day, I haven’t gotten a new garbage can because it still works and does the job, plus it’s a fun memory every time I look at it.)

Anyway, I made it to the bathroom and after a few more contractions; I had the urge to push. Darrell ran to get the phone to call Rebecca. While he was dashing for the phone, I let out a yell for the first time and it felt good to use my vocals. I remember learning that when you think it’s getting too hard to manage, that it was almost over. I was now hoping that this was “it,” though I was still preparing myself for possibly more hours of intense labor.

Darrell arrived back upstairs with Rebecca on the phone. By now it was almost 12:00 midnight. I wasn’t in the mood to talk on the phone but Darrell wanted me to talk to her. I just yelled from a distance and said “I’m pushing!” I heard Rebecca say “Heather, don’t push, don’t push!” She wanted me to wait until we arrived at the birth center so she could see if I really was ready to push.

We got off the phone and collected our things to go to the birth center. It took me a while to get from my bedroom all the way to the car in the garage. I kept crossing my legs, and holding my hand down there as I walked. I’m sure that the walking helped Oaklen get down into place.

We hopped on the freeway and went a little over the speed limit but not too much. When we exited the freeway and traveled down the street to the birth center, we wanted to go faster but there was a slow car in front of us. It’s quite ironic that the one time that we could warrant breaking the speed limit, we couldn’t because there was a slow car in front of us, at 12:15 in the morning!

We arrived at the birth center and Rebecca was already there. The nurse/owner, Susan, arrived shortly after. Months earlier, I had chosen “my room.” I chose the ivy room since the bed looked like our bed at home and there was a nice big tub. We went in the room and Rebecca was already starting to fill the bathtub. I started taking off my clothes to prepare for the bath and Rebecca looked down there and said “I see a head!” Heather: “Good!” Rebecca: “Do you want to push?” Heather: “YES!” They stopped filling up the tub and drained it since I was ready to push. I got on the bed and laid on my left side to push. It felt the most comfortable.

Meanwhile Darrell and I realized that we forgot the camera! I told him to call my mom to go get the camera. She woke up and left Salem sound asleep with John (my step-dad) and came to the birth center. She gave us her brand new digital camera still in the box and wanted us to use that one. I told her that I’d prefer to use our camera so we gave her our keys for her to go to our house to get it. She left for our house, I was pushing, and Darrell was fiddling with the new camera trying to see if he could get it charged. I quickly told him to forget about the camera, and to just come on the bed and be with me. (Throughout the whole labor I was proud of myself that I didn’t get too ornery and start yelling at people. I anticipated that I’d do that. You’ll have to ask Darrell for sure if I was as nice as I think I was, but I thought I did pretty well.)

I didn’t count how many pushes that I did, it was more than just a few but it wasn’t an hour like last time. Rebecca and Susan were really great and patient. They knew just the thing I needed at every moment. Darrell also was a great labor coach, I mainly just needed him beside me for moral support and to hold my hand or stroke my hair.

Oaklen officially arrived at 1:10 AM on Wednesday May 31, 2006, less than an hour from the time that I arrived at the birth center. My mom happened to come in with the camera just after Oaklen was born so we were able to get some “right-after” pictures.

The moment Oaklen was born, Rebecca laid him on my chest & belly, skin to skin, and draped blankets around the both of us. He stayed on my belly for a while then he nursed for even longer. My mom said congratulations and then headed home to finish her sleep. Darrell and I sat on the bed and just stared at our new son. After about an hour Darrell finally got to hold him and weigh & measure him while I got up and took a shower. Oaklen was 7 lbs, 10 oz and 20 inches long. After the shower, I came back to the bed and slept/rested with Oaklen by my side for the remainder of the night. Darrell tried to sleep there on the bed too, but since he has a hard time sleeping anywhere except his own bed, he decided to get up and go to another room to watch a movie. Rebecca went home to sleep and Susan stayed there and snored in the next room, loud enough that Darrell could hear it.

We got up about 7:00 AM. I called my mom to tell her to bring Salem to meet Oaklen. Rebecca came about 8:00 AM and gave me an exam to make sure everything was okay. She and I were happy that she could still make her conference that she paid to attend that day. :)

My mom came with Salem and he got to meet his new brother. He was very happy and gave us a rose from Grandma’s garden. I got myself and Oaklen dressed and our family of now 4 headed home. We arrived home about 9:45 AM. It was great to be home with the comforts of my own house.

Many people came to visit that day and by the end of the day, I was quite tired! My co-workers still threw me the shower even though I wasn’t there. They even brought over the presents that evening. Thanks!

Oaklen’s birth story will be an experience that I’ll never forget. It was amazing and there is nothing that I would have done differently!

Happy Birthday Oaklen, I love you!

Peaches

I love this song. I was opening a can of peaches and it made me remember this "Peaches" song. I remember recording it from the radio onto a tape, then listening to it over and over so I could learn the lyrics.

Buses, Trains, a Stroller, and a Museum!

Today we went downtown to the church museum. We traveled using a stroller, buses, and trains. It was lots of fun. I decided to create a storybook about it, enjoy!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Nine - the dog

I have been trying for a long time to get Oaklen attached to something to use as a woobie. I've tried blankets, plush toys, a wig (he likes to pull hair), and even a small square that I crocheted. (First time learning.)

Finally he has taken a liking to one of the plush toys. It's a small dog that a lady in my ward gave him. He named it "Nine." I have no idea how that name came to be, but there's no question that Nine is the dog's name. It's interesting that my boys have both created names using numbers ,8A and now Nine. Maybe they're going to math nerds like their mom! :)

Every day for nap or bedtime he goes in his room and has to find Nine. The dog is small so sometimes it's hard to find, especially if Salem or Oaklen took it out of Oaklen's room. The sleep routine is that he holds Nine and I get to hold the blanket and another dog that Aunt Rachel gave him. He named that one "Dog." Most of the time the whole routine is cute but sometimes he doesn't like the way I'm holding the blanket or Dog and gets mad. He's showing his independence more and more. I'm now anticipating the "terrible twos."

But, after he's asleep, all my frustrations are alleviated with just one look at his cute sleeping face. Ahh...

Olive Juice

When I say the words "olive juice" what comes to mind? It reminds me of Jr. High. Being silly and immature teenagers, we were too scared to say "I love you" to our "one-week boyfriend" so we'd say "Olive Juice." (Look in the mirror and say "Olive Juice" it looks like you're saying "I love you.")

Silly, I know. But every time I open a can of olives, I always say "Olive juice" to myself and remember those silly memories. :)

Hydrogenated Oils & Trans Fats

Have you noticed the newer labels on food? The new hype to market for a product is that "This product has zero grams of trans-fat per serving!" As of January 2006, the FDA requires that all food manufacturers list the amount of trans-fat per serving. Because of this, I think some manufacturers have changed their recipes so that it doesn't include as much trans-fat, or they manipulated the serving size. Remember if it's .9 grams per serving or less, the FDA says that it can be called "0 grams per serving."

Bottom line: read the ingredients to see if the product has hidden trans-fat. The words to look out for are hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated oil, vegetable shortening, or margarine.

A few things that I do at my house to avoid hydrogenated oils:
* buy "Smart Balance" or "Canola Harvest" brands of buttery spreads
* use canola oil for most recipes instead of margarine or shortening
* make my own biscuit mix
* make my own tortillas
* buy natural peanut butter (Whole Foods Market brand, it's the cheapest, and tasty too!)
* read the labels! :)

So, now you ask what are hydrogenated oils and what is the hydrogenation process? Read on:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/T041300.asp#T041304

HYDROGENATED FATS

The nutritional "bad word" every label reader should be aware of is "hydrogenated." Zapping an unsaturated oil with high pressure hydrogen can turn the oil into saturated fat. (Hydrogen is forced into the empty parking spaces on the fat molecule.) This hydrogenation process is how vegetable oil is turned into margarine. Hydrogenated fats have two major economic advantages over natural saturated fats. They are cheaper and they have a longer shelf life. Hydrogenated fats and partially hydrogenated fats are everywhere in processed foods - added to cookies, crackers, and peanut butter, for example. Hydrogenated fats are also used instead of oil for frying in many restaurants and fast-food establishments because they stand up better to heat and can be used longer.

Hydrogenated oils are saturated fats and behave that way in the body. Crackers or cookies made with hydrogenated fats may proclaim themselves to be cholesterol-free, but a closer look at the label will show that the product still contains plenty of artery-clogging saturated fat. There's also a problem with these fats that the label won't tell you about.

Hydrogenated fats contain another kind of fat that falls outside of the saturated and unsaturated categories. These are trans fatty acids, or trans fats, so-named because the hydrogenation process transports hydrogen atoms across the fat molecule to a new location. Dr. Udo Erasmus in his book Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill aptly describes trans fatty acids as a "molecule that has its 'head on backwards'." Trans fats are as bad (or worse) for your arteries as saturated fats. A number of studies have shown that trans fats raise cholesterol levels in the blood.
...

Trans fats have found their way into most of the packaged foods bought by uninformed and unsuspecting consumers. Butter, which has gotten a bad rap because of saturated fat and cholesterol, has been replaced by margarine, which may also be bad news for cholesterol levels. True, foods made with hydrogenated fats are cheaper and last longer, but consumers pay a larger price in the long run, since trans fats provide little nutritional benefit to the body, except as an energy source. What's good for business in the short run is often bad for the body in the long run. When manufacturers chemically change a food, all sorts of unanticipated problems may result. This is especially true of hydrogenated fatty acids. Here's a summary of what literature has said about the problems of hydrogenated fats and trans fats:

• Hydrogenated fats act biochemically in the body like saturated fats.
• Trans fats can elevate blood cholesterol levels, similar to the cholesterol-raising effects of saturated fats.
• Trans fats raise the levels of LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol.
• Trans fats reduce levels of HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol. Raising the bad cholesterol and lowering the good cholesterol in the blood spells double trouble.
• Trans fats have been shown to decrease the body's ability to produce natural anti- inflammatory prostaglandins.
• Eating a diet high in nutritionally worthless hydrogenated fats may lessen a person's daily intake of other fats, especially essential fatty acids that are important for growth and function of vital organs, such as the brain. This is a concern especially in children and frequent fast food consumers whose daily diet is high in processed and deep fat-fried foods and snacks.
• Trans fats or hydrogenated fats may interfere with the ability of the cells of the body to metabolize the fats that are good for you. This may damage cell membranes of vital structures, such as the brain and nerve cells. Cell membranes contain receptor sites for fat molecules, sort of like parking places that are specifically designed to receive certain molecules. When the right fatty acid arrives, it fills its assigned parking spot and contributes to the health of the membrane. However, trans fatty acid "cars" may also come along and squeeze into a space that doesn't really fit these biochemical impostors. A sort of biochemical traffic jam occurs, and the right cars cannot get to where they need to be. Or, think of cell membranes as having millions of tiny locks, which nutrient molecules can enter like keys. Changing the shape of the molecule, which is what happens when a fat is hydrogenated, changes the shape of the key, and it doesn't fit properly into the lock. Two problems can occur. Either the molecular misfit key is left to wander throughout the body, causing damage in other places, or these misfit keys keep pushing their way into the locks, damaging them, so that the right keys, the natural nutrients, no longer fit. At least in theory, hydrogenated fats can weaken cell membranes, keeping out needed nutrients and also allowing harmful ones to leak in. This may set the body up for chronic, degenerative diseases. This is why fake fats are becoming known in the medical community as "the silent killer." We can take a tip from Mother Nature that trans fatty acids are not good for the body. Both the placenta and the brain have a biochemical way of filtering most trans fatty acids out, although the protection is not complete. If a diet is not overwhelmed with TFA's, it can deal with a bit of them by metabolizing these fats as energy sources before they have a chance to do any cellular damage, and then use the good fats (the essential fatty acids) as healthy nutrients for the cells. Perhaps, a bit of trans fatty acids (which may occur naturally in some foods anyway) won't harm the body but, like all other fats, excess will.
• Trans fatty acids may be linked to other health problems as well, including decreased testosterone, abnormal sperm production, and prostate disease in men; obesity, immune system depression, and diabetes.

Here are some commercial foods that are notoriously high in hydrogenated fats:

• cookies
• airline snack foods
• some crackers
• french fries
• pies
• shortening
• pot pies
• deep-fried burgers
• pretzels
• fried chicken
• doughnuts
• fried potatoes
• muffins
• corn chips
• stuffings
• spoonable dressing
• potato chips
• some peanut butters
• candy bars
• fast-food shakes
• nondairy creamer
• some cereals
• cakes
• margarine
• biscuits

Don't fence me in

We put a fence in our yard this weekend. The purpose was to separate the front yard from the back yard and so the kiddies don't run into the street. The boys thought it was fun until Darrell put up the chain link part and found out what was really going on! :)

Darrell did a great job. After he put in the fence I planted some flowering vines so we'll have a gorgeous "green" fence with pink flowers! Yeah!

Salem's Preschool Graduation

Last night was Salem's preschool recital called "Spring Sing" and today was Salem's preschool graduation. All went well. I can't believe the year is already over and he'll be in Kindergarten next year!

The night before he started preschool, I was scrambling around the house trying to get everything ready and then stopped to realize that my baby was going to school! It was an emotional night for me. I got on the computer and wrote Salem a letter. He'll be able to read it when he's older and cherish it. I wrote another letter today and hope to remember to write letters to my children on special occasions just to tell them how special they are.

Here are pictures from the preschool events:

Graduation Roll-ups & more

If you know me, you'd know that I'm not that crafty. I think crafts are cute, and many people do really cool things but when I do them I'm either too cheap or too lazy to do them as cute as everyone else.

Well...Salem's preschool teacher asked if I would bring some food tomorrow for his graduation. I debated about what food I should bring. Something healthy? Chips? Veggies? Cookies? Hmm...then I had some ideas! :)

Here is what I ended up doing:
Graduation Roll-ups
A tortilla roll-up with peanut butter & jelly. Then I tied some red yarn around it to make it look like a diploma!
I realize that I could have purchased some twizzler ropes and used those for the bow instead of yarn, but I didn't want to go to the store. You could also use curly ribbon, but I already had the red yarn. I was going to use whole wheat tortillas, but it didn't look as good so I opted for good ol' white flour tortillas. Although these treats aren't the #1 best health food, at least it's better than a cookie with 2 lbs of frosting on top. (Do you want a cookie with that frosting?) I opted for the classic pb&j since I knew the kids would like that. Otherwise you could fill the tortilla with just about anything if you wanted to do this for a graduate with more taste flexibility.

Here's another idea that I had in my brain, but I thought the roll-ups were a better idea:
Chocolate Graduation Hats
Put some chocolate Hershey's kisses in the microwave or oven to slightly melt but so they still hold their shape. Meanwhile dip Snyder's pretzels squares (they look like a grid) in melted chocolate. (Or any small square cracker.) Take the somewhat melted kiss and push the dipped pretzel a little bit onto the kiss and let cool.

Now you've got graduation hats! You could put frosting on top to make a little tassel if wanted.

What time is it?

What time is it? Time to fix your watch!

Oaklen put my watch in the dishwasher months ago and I have never gotten around to fixing it. Today I took it over to Stroud Jewelers and got it fixed. I never thought it would ever work again since it went through the dishwasher but with a new battery, it's good as new! So, now I have a really clean working watch!

The start of the garden

This is the garden from last year

The garden is in and I'm excited to see things grow this year. My friend Jodie and I team up to do the garden in my yard. Last year was our first time and I think it went rather well. We have used the square foot gardening method.

These are the things we have planted:
Tomatoes
Corn
Muskmelon
Zucchini
Banana Squash
Crookneck Squash
Pumpkin
Cucumber
Beets
Cauliflower
Carrots
Onions
Chives
Garlic
Cilantro
Oregano
Sage
Parsley
Calendula
Poppy
Carnation
Columbine
Alyssum

Songs that remind you of me

Every time I listen to a song it reminds me of someone or an experience. I'm going to turn the tables a little bit and instead of me listing the songs that remind me of you, I want you to comment on this post and tell me what song(s) remind you of me! :)

(Then maybe I'll let you know of songs that remind me of you.)

Have fun!

Success!

I was at another Home Depot location last night and they had a fridge lock! Yeah!

It's installed and Oaklen is curious, but so far so good! :)

Put your wheat to bed

A few nights ago, I put my kids and husband to bed, then put my wheat to bed! :)

Here's how I did it:
Cooked Wheat Berries - the easy way!
In a pot, soak 1 cup dry wheat in 3 c water for at least 8 hours. Bring to boil with lid on, then put the pot to bed! (Wrap in a blanket or put in a bed for about 8 hours, it will cook and still be warm.)

(I'm sure this would work for many grains.)
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I could go on and on about the wonderful world of wheat, but since I hope most of you already know how wonderful it is, I'll just give you some reminders. Here are a few things that I dug up:


Whole wheat flour is the foundation of good bread-making. It is an excellent source of Vitamin E, the B vitamins and others. It contains the highest amount of gluten of any grain. This becomes the elastic part of the dough and holds the yeast bubbles within the bread causing the bread to rise. The gluten in wheat is the only gluten that can be removed from the rest of the grain.

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Wheat - More than Just Bread

Yes, most people do just think of bread when they see the word "wheat," yet this is only one of hundreds of uses for the most versatile of all grains! Yes, it is considered the most important grain crop in the world -- providing 40-60% of the available energy and protein in developing countries. Because it stores so very well, it also is key to long term food storage. The purpose of this knowledge is to get you to understand the importance of having whole wheat in your diet. There are many reasons beyond the basic terrific nutritional benefits, but one of the most important is this: by adding high fiber whole grains to your diet will improve your health. Besides the nutritional benefits it is also tasty and good for you.

There are several types of wheat, but the most used are the soft and hard wheat. Hard wheat have the highest protein content and are best for bread making. They can either be winter or spring wheat, red or turkey or white (golden) in color. Soft wheat is best for quick breads, pastries, crackers, and cookies where protein content isn't as critical. White hard wheat makes exceptionally good bread -- a lighter loaf than the hard red wheat.

Whole Kernel (a.k.a. wheat berries). Soak wheat overnight then boil it which gives you soft wheat kernels. Prepared this way, they can be used for many things such as bulgur, popped wheat, pilafs, tabbouleh, meat extenders, cracked wheat cereals, bean substitutes, rice substitutes and noodle substitutes. Sprouted, wheat can be added to casseroles soups or stews, breads, muffins ... you name it.

Wheat conversions:
1 cup uncooked wheat = 2 cups cooked wheat
2 cups whole wheat = 3 cups ground flour
1 LB whole wheat = 2 1/4 cups wheat berries

Cowboy Caviar & Wheat Berry Salad

My friend Haley made this delicious salsa type dish. She calls it Cowboy Caviar. Here is her recipe:
Cowboy Caviar

6 TBS. red wine vinegar
2 TBS Hot Sauce (not Tabasco)
1 TB. Canola Oil
4 Cloves minced garlic
1/4 tsp. black pepper

(Mix above ingredients and set aside)

Drain and mix together:
1- 10 oz. peg corn
1-10 oz. black-eye peas
Add:
1/3 Cup green onions
2/3 Cup Cilantro
1/2 lb. chopped roma tomatoes

Mix all ingredients together. Best made a day ahead
Add 2 large avocadoes (chopped coarsely) right before serving.

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I loved the dressing so much that I figured that it would work for other things too. I made up this wheat berry salad and used the same recipe for the dressing. I changed a few of the ingredients or measurements for the rest of the recipe since that's what I had on-hand and in my garden. This recipe is versatile and you could put anything in there! :)

Wheat Berry Salad

6 TBS. red wine vinegar
2 TBS Hot Sauce (not Tabasco)
1 TB. Canola Oil
2-4 Cloves minced garlic*
1/4 tsp. black pepper

(Mix above ingredients and set aside)

Mix together:
2 cups cooked wheat berries**
1- 15 oz. can corn (drained & rinsed)
1- 15 oz. black beans (drained & rinsed)
3 green onion stems (chopped or cut)
1 handful of Cilantro (chopped) (about 1/3 cup)
2 roma tomatoes (chopped)

Mix all ingredients together. Chill at least a couple hours before serving.

* Add garlic according to your taste, tolerance, or your plans for that day! Serve this salad with gum or breath mints if needed! :)
** I used red winter wheat berries since that's what I have for most of my food storage. If you still don't know what I'm talking about, they're just the cooked wheat seeds. Most people use them to grind into flour. Here's one way to cook the wheat: in a pot soak 1 cup dry wheat in 3 c water overnight, after ~8 hours of soaking, bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 50-60 minutes. I'll do another post about more info on wheat.

Happiness is... Part V

Happiness is...
* my downstairs bathroom faucet, I love that it's big so you don't have to hug the back of the sink
* taking a shower with actual hot water and no screaming children behind the curtain
* finding cilantro in my garden from last year
* Oaklen climbing onto his bed with a book and saying "nuggle" (snuggle)
* getting a Britax carseat for $50
* when Darrell offers to give the kids a bath and help them get ready for bed instead of me
* doing Tae-bo with my kids and Salem saying "Go mom!"
* second-day hair
* getting breakfast in bed
* listening to Oaklen learn how to pray
* having Salem make up a poem that I have to write down
* watching Salem run to 1st base in tee ball, then doing a little dance when he got there

The search goes on...

Oaklen is my little munchie and he (as you know) is a turkey also. That means that he is constantly in the fridge. He knows how to open up the fridge, get the food and give it to me to open. One time he even managed to get an egg out of the carton, but luckily he chose a hard boiled egg, so when it dropped, it only cracked the shell.

I have been searching for a refrigerator latch so that Oaklen won't be able to open the fridge door. I've been to Toys R Us twice, Home Depot and Shopko. None of them have it! Toys R Us is all sold out and the other two places don't carry it. I might buy it online since I know it's there. Right now we have pushed our table to be in front of the door so he can't open it and he's crying because he can't get into the fridge...what a turkey! :)

I admit I got a fridge latch for a shower gift when I had Salem, but I never thought I'd need it since there's nothing dangerous about a fridge, everything is edible! I never thought about using it to keep food safe rather than keeping children safe until now.

Tee Ball

Salem has started playing in a tee ball team with South Salt Lake Recreation. He's had one practice and one game so far. It was pretty cute to watch the little 4-yr-olds try to play the game with only one practice. Most of them didn't know what to do. The highlight for Salem was the treat at the end, capri sun and nutter butters. He'd never had nutter butters before.


They were supposed to have had two more practices but they got rained out, so we've had to improvise at home. I used a bucket, an umbrella stand and a steel pipe for the tee, and Frisbees were the bases. It was pretty fun!

Broccoli vs. Steak

Which has more protein, 100 calories of broccoli, or 100 calories of sirloin steak? (Think about it for a minute...)

The answer is broccoli! Now stop reading right now and go get your frozen broccoli in the freezer to see for yourself. I realized this information while reading the book called Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman. It's a great book that talks about eating nutrient dense foods. The way to fight disease is to eliminate the bad food with saturated fat and to replace it with tons of nutrient dense foods like fruits & vegetables.

After reading it last year, I started eating a lot more salads, but I admit that now I don't follow his plan as well as I should. I try to eat more vegetables but I still eat cheese and other things.

Here is the quote from his book:

"I see about twenty to thirty new patients per week, and I always ask them, "Which has more protein - one hundred calories of sirloin steak or one hundred calories of broccoli?" When I tell them it's broccoli, the most frequent response I get is "I didn't know broccoli had protein in it." I then ask them, "So where did you think the calories in broccoli come from? Did you think it was mostly fat, like an avocado, or mostly carbohydrate, like a potato?"

People know less about nutrition than any other subject. Even the physicians and dietitians who attend my lectures quickly volunteer the answer, "Steak!" They are surprised to learn that broccoli has about twice as much protein as steak.

When you eat large quantities of green vegetables, you recieve a considerable amount of protein. Remember, one 10-ounce box of frozen broccoli contains more thatn ten grams of protein."

Nutrients present in 100-calorie portions

	Broccoli	Sirloin Steak	Romaine Lettuce	Kale
Protein	11.2 gm	5.4 gm	7.5 gm	11 gm
Calcium	322 mg	2.4 mg	374 mg	470 mg
Iron	3.5 mg	.7 mg	7.7 mg	5.8 mg
Magnesium	74.5 mg	5 mg	60.5 mg	97 mg
Fiber	4.7 g	0	4 g	3.4 g
Phytochemicals	Very High	0	Very High	Very High
Antioxidants	Very High	0	Very High	Very High
Folate	257 mcg	3 mcg	969 mcg	60 mcg
B2	.71 mg	.04 mg	.45 mg	.32 mg
Niacin	2.8 mg	1.1 mg	2.2 mg	2.1 mg
Zinc	1.04 mg	1.2 mg	1.2 mg gm	.55 mg
Vitamin C	350 mg	0	100 mg	329 mg
Vitamin A	7750 IU	24 IU	10,450 IU	23,407 IU
Vitamin E	26 IU	0	32 IU	34 IU
Cholesterol	0	5.5 mg	0	0
Weight	307 gm	24 gm	550 gm	266 gm
	(10.6 oz)	(.84 oz)	(19 oz)	(9.2 oz)

This table is from http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-nutrient-density-of-green-vegetables.html