Lightning quick steel-cut oats

I’ve already shared with you my recipe for a relatively quick, wholesome oatmeal breakfast. But because I have a penchant for figuring out the least processed food, I’ve become a big fan of steel-cut oats. (Note: There is in fact little nutritional difference between steel-cut oats & rolled oats, so if you prefer rolled oats, this recipe works measure-for-measure with rolled oats as well.)

The problem is that steel-cut oats take forever to cook. Who has an hour+ to cook breakfast during the week?!

But there is a solution to this problem: Soaking.

By properly preparing your grains, you actually come out ahead, both in time saved & nutrition.

It takes about 3 minutes of prep the night before & in the morning you can have breakfast in little more time than it takes to prepare instant oatmeal from a packet. Seriously!

There is also a nutritional advantage to soaking your grains. Apparently, oats are a big source of phytic acid, which is an anti-nutrient & will block the absorption of other good stuff in your oatmeal. This is something I’m still researching & learning about, so instead of botching a fuller explanation, I’ll point you to a few sources who appear to know a lot more about the advantages of soaking grains than I do: The Weston A. Price Foundation & The Nourishing Home. Regardless of the science behind soaking, I’m convinced by the serious convenience factor.

Lightning Quick Steel-cut Oatmeal, adapted from Nourishing Traditions

For soaking:
• 1 1/2 c. steel cut oats
• 1 1/2 c. filtered water
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar (or yogurt or whey)
• 1 Tbsp. raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 Tbsp. raw sunflower seeds
• 1 Tbsp. shredded coconut, unsweetened

For cooking & dressing:
• 1 1/2 c. filtered water
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 1 Tbsp. hemp seed
• cinnamon, to taste
• ground ginger, to taste
• dash of ground nutmeg
• 1/4 c. raisins
• yogurt or kefir
• molasses
• fresh or frozen fruit (bananas, berries, etc.)

Soaking
• Warm the water in a glass container or bowl until it’s warm but not hot. I do this in the microwave, but a tea kettle could work just as well.
• Add in the apple cider vinegar or yogurt/kefir/whey. Mix well. This is the acidic medium that will help take care of the phytic acid.
• Mix in the oatmeal, coconut, pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds.
• Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or cloth napkin. Place the bowl in a warm spot, if you can (e.g. on the stove if you’ve just finished making dinner or on top of the fridge if you’re tall enough).
• Let the whole thing soak overnight, at least 8 hours if you can manage. I usually throw this together after dinner dishes are clean or while dinner is cooking, if I think of it.

Cooking
• Bring water to a boil.
• While you’re waiting for the water to boil, drain & rinse oatmeal mixture that’s been soaking. Rinsing reduces any sour taste, if that’s important to you.
• Add the oatmeal mixture to the boiling water. Reduce heat, cover & (this is the best part) cook for 5 minutes. (Yes, you read that correctly… five minutes & your steel-cut oatmeal is done!)
• Remove from heat & add the spices, flax & hemp seeds, & raisins.
• Serve it up with yogurt/kefir (protein), molasses (sweetener & iron), & fruit. Or with whatever you want (maple syrup is, of course, a big hit).

Making her way

Check out this interview of Christine Beshar, Senior Counsel at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and her son, Peter Beshar, General Counsel of Marsh & McLennan

Highlights:

• Mrs. Beshar didn’t attend law school but studied for the bar & became a lawyer on her own. Pretty bad-ass, in my book! And then she became the first female partner at Cravath. Double bad-ass!

• Mrs. Beshar modeled her marriage after her own parents’ partnership: She & her husband were a team & worked together, in the beginning traveling together for the same organization. At first, I thought this was just quaint & antiquated. But then I thought of my own project(s) with MFA Dad & the husband-wife business ventures of some good friends. It can really be fulfilling to work toward a shared goal alongside your life partner! And it’s not something most couples have the opportunity to experience these days.

• She started an on-site childcare center at her white-shoe Wall Street law firm! There’s so much awesome about her story about this, including how she orchestrated the whole thing with the other (male) partners & the fact that it was always open to all employees of the firm.

• Mrs. Beshar talks about the sinking feeling you get when facing a childcare disaster. (Oh, boy, do I remember that feeling, too! … Nothing like having to call your tax prof the morning you’re on call to report that the nanny is MIA. …)

• What really struck me about Mrs. Beshar, though, was the sense I got that she expected a lot of herself but was able to roll with the punches. She comes across as laid back & willing to follow the twists & turns (& opportunities) life has thrown her way.

There are really so many wonderful things about her life story! (And in case it seems odd as you watch & realize she isn’t being interviewed with her son, stick with it – they are interviewed together later.)

Rabbits already

Spring has barely sprung in my corner of the midwest, but the rabbits are already digging holes in our yard, preparing (I suspect) to expand their brood. Funny thing about gardening… Rabbits ain’t so cute anymore. Nor are squirrels or cats or mice (or rats… this is urban gardening, after all…).

So T & I dug the nesting material out if one particularly deep hole & I put him to work flooding & filling it. This may sound cruel but if we don’t nip it in the bud, we’ll come out to play in the backyard one afternoon & encounter a very scared mama rabbit who has just had a bunch of babies & then in an hour there will just be a hole full of dead baby rabbits (yes, that’s what happened past year). I’d wager that for the preschool set flooding & filling empty holes is much more fun than burying baby rabbits!

My garden is not in such great shape that it needs protecting, but I’m trying. We came out of a cold snap, which has stunted even my kale & chard (the supposedly hearty greens!) not to mention my motivation. There aren’t enough hours in the day, especially when you factor in the random (& somewhat terrifying) midnight wakings of a four-yoear-old.

We’ve got a big expansion underway & I just need to finish it so the rest of the seeds & seedling can get in the ground. It’s time! … Actually, it’s past time, but if I work hard this weekend, we’ll be canning tomato sauce in a few months!

Happy Food Friday & here’s to making some gardening magic! Anyone else have gardening plans this weekend?

What could be worse than a bloody nose?

I’ll tell you what’s worse:

… A four year old getting bloody nose at midnight… Being so tired that I do a half-a$$ed job holding the little guy’s nose for a minute but dream (since I’m still sleeping, really) that it’s been at least the requisite 10 minutes & then it starts gushing again… Getting said four year old all worked up because I can’t wake up to do a proper job of it… Having to do the job twice more before actually getting it right (holding the nose in the right place, using the right amount of pressure, singing the right song…). Then sitting up worrying about the possibility of having to make a second hospital visit (after having spent the evening visiting my lovely grandmother after she had surgery). Wondering, as I try to fall back asleep, how to acquire a cool-most humidifier & an air filter ASAP so this doesn’t happen again.

But then the good part:

Cuddling a finally calm (& not-bleeding) T to sleep. Feeling him cling to me. Sleep, sweet sleep.

Then the bad, again:

Waking up late, still under-slept, realizing there’s no way I’m getting out the door on time to get T to school & myself to work. Sheepishly begging MFA Dad (who also appears to be sleepwalking) to walk T to school so I can hop a train. Learning from MFA Dad that we still didn’t manage to get T to school on time. Double the effort, double fail.

This day will get better, right?! I know one thing… It will require some more coffee!

New pan

Happy Friday!

Woke up extra early this morning to break in our new cast iron pan. Bacon seemed like a relatively safe bet since I didn’t take the time to season the pan myself & indeed it was delicious. The rest of the morning was crazy rushed (probably because I’m not a great multi-tasker) but worth it.

I also read to T from Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma which is so, so compelling (Why I was reading it to him? He woke up really early (during my coffee & quiet time) & so we shared that time together). T was actually interested (it was a chapter on processed foods & cereal in particular).

T observed that’s not at all what we eat (saying our food comes from the grocery store & not a factory… which is partly accurate…) & that opened a conversation about food & poverty. We recently donated some healthy but non-perishable food to the food pantry, so it’s a concrete concept for him. It was a great way to talk about the problem of cheap, processed foods.

Over breakfast we also talked about food co-ops & why they’re way better than Whole Foods. (One may be opening close to us & I’m ridiculously excited.)

That’s our Food Friday so far & that’s a lot for one morning!

It’s over… Screen-Free Week, that is

Well, I’d say Screen-Free Week was a big bust in my household.

It’s the truth.

There was some good, but first, a confession.

I got bored. I was between books & craft projects. So I snuck in screen time in the evenings & mornings. I peeked at my Facebook feed for interesting links posted by friends. I devoured a few book reviews on Slate. I searched for recipes online (even though I have a small army of cookbooks in the pantry). I browsed the public library website for new books for my kindle (even though we have no fewer that four bookshelves filled with every genre imaginable). I looked up a few homemade remedies that I knew of but didn’t know how to execute. I watched a couple things on Netflix with MFA Dad. I watched a bit of T’s favorite documentary with him Friday night. I let him watch the rest on Saturday morning by himself.

Things I didn’t do: I didn’t research general food stuff. I didn’t follow the news. I didn’t update, blog, tweet or otherwise post anything on the Internet. I didn’t use the web as a gateway to self- or pseudo-diagnosis. I didn’t read any personal blogs. I didn’t check email or any socials media when I was with T (& I mostly didn’t when I was with MFA Dad, either).

Two good things about Screen-Free Week, though…

The world (both online & off) got along just fine in my absence when I went on total detox the first few days. I was energized & for stuff done!

Also, I trusted the world & people & being a lot more. I asked questions, thought things over in quiet. I just was.

So it’s not that Screen-Free Week was a total bust, but it was hard. And definitely far from perfect.

I think it would be more meaningful if my whole family was involved. And if T were a bit older. As it is now, T just gets conflicting messages & MFA Dad & I are in different places.

And, finally, screens are ubiquitous. I look at my iPhone to set a timer or check the bus schedule, in addition to all the stuff I was avoiding. My library has really good books for the kindle. My friends discover all sorts of important & interesting things in the world & share them on Facebook.

Detox is necessary, but so is a good dose of restraint practiced on a daily basis. Until next year’s Screen-Free Week, restraint (especially with hand-held devices) will be my goal.

Screen-Free Week 2013

Well, it’s here again, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood’s Screen-Free Week has arrived & I’m gearing up to power down.

I need it this year.

I’ve been too distracted, too obsessed with my smart phone, when I’m with T. Checking Facebook. Checking email. Checking message boards. Checking blogs (including my own).

Time for a break!

I can’t wait, actually.

During my commute, I’ll read. At work, I’ll work (duh, but even so… the distractions seep into all aspects of life). Before bed, I’ll read something on paper.

Most importantly, when I walk through the door after work, I will focus totally on being home. Playing with T, connecting with MFA Dad, cooking, brushing my teeth… Whatever it is, I want to do it without distraction.

And when I’m home, no screens for T. Including next weekend. (Hopefully the weather will cooperate so T’s not house-bound, with all that entails.)

Like I said already, I can’t wait. Seriously. I need some detox.

I won’t be perfect. Dear, no! There’s no such thing as perfect.

If T’s watching Bob the Builder when I get home from work, I’ll join him. If we want to look up a bird, I’ll try to remember to use a book, but I might instinctively reach for my phone. MFA Dad & I will probably watch Mad Men on Netflix.

You get the idea.

So take the following with a grain of salt & know I write it without judgment.

See, I recently (& timely) read Hanna Rosin’s recent article from The Atlantic, “The Touch-Screen Generation” & I think it’s total hogwash.

What starts as a critical look at the use of touch-screens by toddlers ends up being just a rationalization for why giving iPads to preschoolers is ok.

Tellingly, Ms. Rosin reports that at a conference for developers of children’s apps, many of the developers she spoke to set strict limits on their own children’s use of touch-screen technology. She continues by reporting on the state of the research on children’s (particularly toddlers’) use of touch-screen technology. … Basically we have no idea what touch-screen technology does to our children’s brains (as I’ve written before … and Ms. Rosin ignores the research that is a bit more damning of our preschoolers’ use of touch-screens).

But Ms. Rosin doesn’t stop there. She ends by focusing not on the effects of this new technology on our children’s well-being, but on what kids really want from touch-screen games.

She discusses one particular company developing apps for the toddler set, arguing that the open-ended play their games encourage are just what kids young children need from an app. Moreover, she thinks that these sorts of apps (specifically apps by Toca Boca… the article is virtually an ad for this particular game developer) are simply fun for preschoolers.

But Ms. Rosin doesn’t convince me that any of it is good. To the contrary, her argument is based on anecdotes & her own family’s experience.

I agree that a game that encourages free play is better than a game that merely advertises to our children. But I’m still not sure it’s worth my $0.99 at the iTunes Store or worth T’s time. (Though maybe it’d be better than another episode of Thomas? A discussion for another day…)

There’s clearly no avoiding touch-screen technology. To ignore it & our children’s interactions with it is naïve. Eventually, they will need to become literate in this technology.

A researcher quoted in the article suggests it’s unrealistic to try to protect our children from media, even at young ages. The researcher’s take is that we need to “take advantage” of what new technologies can offer our children.

I don’t know. Television has been around for a long time now & the research is pretty clear that it does nothing for our kids. So just because the technology exists doesn’t mean that young children need to know how to navigate that technology. Just because it exists doesn’t mean there’s some advantage to be had for our preschoolers if we can only figure out how.

Ms. Rosin’s overall point (I think) hits the nail on the head: Why kid ourselves. These apps aren’t “educational”. At best, they’re fun, a welcome distraction.

Because trust me, I was relieved when my sister-in-law whipped out an iPhone app for my son & nephew when we were all at a restaurant a couple weeks ago. (I don’t have any children’s apps on my phone, something I sometimes regret, especially at restaurants…)

That’s it. A moment of quiet.

That’s what we get from all these new (experimental) fun & educational apps. Let’s not kid ourselves or rationalize.

So please join me (& many, many others) this week & tune out. It’ll be fun! It’ll be a challenge! It’ll be… something!

I’ll be back next week to let you know how it went. And please leave a comment with your own successes & challenges!

Happy Screen-Free Week!

P.S. Traveling? Travel is possible screen-free. Ideas here.