Christmas!

I figure that so long as I post our Christmas pictures while it's still December, I'm not too far behind, right?

We actually celebrated our Christmas on December 23rd, because I was scheduled to work overnight on the 24th and 25th. Well, I actually ended up working the 22nd and 23rd as well, thanks to Matt's generous offer to cook the entire Christmas dinner (and clean up after himself!) and watch Eden all day. He did, and I can't imagine things going any better than they did!

Our menu for Christmas dinner was as follows:

Spice-rubbed roast beef
Country Potatoes
Green bean casserole
Buttered corn

The roast was one from the half steer we split with Pam's family earlier in the fall. The recipe we used was one from the Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook, an excellent and artistic book that contains all you need to know about cooking succulent grassfed meat (for example, cooking it "lower and slower" than you would grain-fed beef). This particular recipe involved rubbing the meat with a combination of spices (including cardamom and cloves, which we chose specifically because it seemed especially Christmasy!) and then roasting it at the super-low temperature of 180 degrees. It came out absolutely perfect--tender, juicy, medium-rare, and with just enough spice to lend flavor without covering up the beef's own deliciousness.

The Country Potatoes are a recipe that Matt's mom makes for get-togethers which Matt and I are absolutely crazy about.

Country Potatoes

2 # frozen hash browns (we used two pounds of peeled, cubed potatoes. They didn't cook up quite as tender as we would have liked, so I think next time we might boil them for just a few minutes before assembling the casserole)
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup (we actually just halved this recipe)
1/2 c. chopped onions
1 stick melted butter
1-1/2 c. corn flake crumbs (we used about two cups of torn bread crumbs, since we're all about croutons)
4 T. melted butter

Mix hash browns, sour cream, cheese, soup, onion and 1 stick melted butter together. Pour into 13x9 inch pan. Mix corn flake crumbs and 4 T. melted butter together and spread over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serves 12 (haha)

Utter deliciousness.

For the green bean casserole, we went the easy route and bought French-fried onions (though we've made them before) and used the recipe off the side of the can. We did make our own cream of mushroom soup, though.

We also had a delicious organic red wine with the meal, made better by Pam's introducing us to a wine aerator. It was a total revelation, especially to someone like me who in the past has had to work to enjoy red wines (not anymore!). It really mellows and softens the sharp, bitter edge that red wine often has to it, and we're definitely glad to have one of these on hand!

Here are a few more pictures from Eden's first Christmas:

All in all, we had a wonderful evening. It was simple, quiet, and shared with each other and one good friend. There were gifts, but no extravagance; there were also no obligations, no sense of "we should invite so and so" or anything like that. Just sincere, genuine, and heartfelt. While we missed our families, that was also allayed by the knowledge that next year we'll be nestled about as closely in the bosom of our families as possible, so we were able to enjoy this one quiet Christmas together, and appreciate it for what it was.

Cooking with squash

I've never been a big eater of vegetables. I've tried to browse the grocery store or farmer's market, and just pick up something in season (like hmm, kohlrabi? or so I hear it's beet season), and go home and cook it. Last time I tried that I ended up with the Swiss Chard incident, and there have been a number of other attempts that were equally unsuccessful.

So I'm not really sure what possessed me to pick up a butternut squash and bring it home, except that it seemed so robustly autumnal (this was back in autumn, mind you). Surprisingly enough, I ended up finding at least three uses for butternut squash that I liked quite a bit.

The first one was a variation on Easy Brown Rice Risotto, which was sort of a no-brainer because I've made it before and liked it with sweet potatoes. Here's how that went:

Butternut Squash & Brown Rice Risotto

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 1/4" cubes)
About 1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp rosemary
2.5 cups chicken stock
1 T butter
1 cup long-grain brown rice
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup walnuts, toasted briefly in a dry skillet
1 cup feta cheese

1. Drizzle cubed squash with olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary. Bake at 400 degrees 30-45 minutes or until roasted and tender.
2. Meanwhile, bring chicken stock to a boil. Add butter. Once butter is melted, stir in the rice and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook 45-50 minutes. The rice should be moist.
3. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Stir in Parmesan and roasted squash.
4. Garnish generously with toasted walnuts and feta cheese.

Hummus was next on the list. I actually didn't realize until after I'd made it that butternut squash was the first on the list of possible add-ins we'd listed for hummus way back when.

Curried Butternut Squash Hummus

1/2 butternut squash, cubed and roasted as above except sprinkled with curry powder instead of rosemary

Hummus prepared like this (or any other way)

Add the cubed squash to the hummus and process in a food processor until smooth.

I think my favorite, though, was butternut squash soup, even though I seem to have failed to take a picture of it. It was wonderful--silky, sweet but not too sweet. I had originally looked at a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, but found that it had too many ingredients I didn't have on hand. However, commenter #3 on the afore-linked post had just the ticket; I made very few substitutions except to eliminate the leeks, chives, and brie.

Butternut Squash Soup

1 large butternut squash, cut in half. Bake at 350 degrees/45 min.(cut side down on baking dish)
Chop 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 leek (white part mostly). Saute in butter in large pot.
Add cooked squash and 2 liters chicken stock to pot and bring to a boil.
Add one apple (peeled and chopped), one bay leaf, and one tsp. sugar.
Simmer 40 min. Remove bay leaf and mash/puree.Add salt and pepper to taste.

Next up I think I'm going to have to do a dessert round.

Snow!

We're having record snowfall in the Washington area today. We made the most of it and went out grocery shopping. As you can see, like a good Midwestern baby, Eden really enjoyed it:

Making our bed and lying in it

This is kind of a long story and sort of old news, but I thought it was worth reporting.

The takeaways from this rather long story, if you don't feel like reading on, are:

1) I (along with many in the scientific community) believe that the evidence shows that conventional mattresses are not safe and they contribute to SIDS.

2) A Guardsman mattress protection plan, like any warranty, is worth about as much as the paper it's written on. I paid around $70 for the original plan, so for my time and trouble I was compensated basically $55 toward a new mattress when I paid $350 for the original. Not a route I would go again. Our latex mattress does come with a limited warranty, but it's not anything we had to pay extra for. And, while they were super nice and responsive when I was scheduling a cleaning, they were suddenly very difficult to get ahold of when it came time to pay out.

3) Our latex mattress, while initially expensive, is comfortable, durable, customizable, and, we believe, safe--the safest option we've been able to find for cosleeping. This makes it a worthwhile investment for our family, who will spend over 1/3 of the rest of our lives there!

Here's how we got to this point.

Way back in 2006, I brought a Simmons Beautyrest mattress to our relationship that Matt and I have always been really happy with. I bought it in 2005, just before I graduated from college. It's a queen-size, which was always plenty of room for the two of us.

However, the bed was unfortunately about the only thing which did not escape our homebirth completely unscathed. Despite not actually giving birth in the bed--well, it suffered a little bit anyway. Enough said.

Luckily, I had purchased a protection plan from Guardsman which guaranteed that if anything ever made it through their mattress cover, they would replace the mattress. I contacted them to let them know that this was the case, and they politely informed me that they would first send a technician out to try to clean the spot; then if he couldn't, they would replace it.

The tech came and was very nice and helpful, but was unable to get the spot out with the first treatment. He informed me he needed to come back a couple of days later to try a stronger treatment which couldn't be combined with the first.

After he left, I noticed a strong ammonia-like chemical smell in the apartment, clearly a result of the spot removers used on the mattress. Coincidentally, while the tech had been here I'd been reading this article. Basically, New Zealand has eradicated SIDS for the past FIFTEEN YEARS (it's an older article) by wrapping their mattresses in polyethylene covers which prevent the interaction of toxic flame retardants (required by the government) and common fungus, which combine in mattresses to release poisonous gases.

They've attempted to share this research with the United States, where 8 babies a night die of SIDS, but despite the fact that it's a cheap, easy solution which can't hurt, the United States has basically said it's not interested. Why? The above article postulates it may be because admitting that government-mandated flame retardants are killing babies would be invoking a HUGE amount of liability, and because SIDS research is big business.

Sad.

Lest you think this is just one of my hippie trips, one of the New Zealand researchers notes that the level of success with their mattress-wrapping campaign amounts to one billion times the amount of evidence needed to establish scientific proof.

Fortunately, these covers are available in the United States. Unfortunately, they don't come in adult sizes, and as we are firm believers in the physical, emotional, and developmental benefits of cosleeping, our baby sleeps with us in our adult-sized bed.

Clearly we had to do something.

I called Guardsman and shared the above with them, saying I was uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping on the mattress now that it had been impregnated with chemicals and preferred not to go through with the second cleaning. They demurred, saying the chemicals were safe and nothing could be done about the warranty until a second cleaning was attempted. The tech subsequently came back and could not remove the stain with a second cleaning. anyway After a number of phone calls to Guardsman, they finally said that since we had bought the bed at a store in Iowa which did not deliver to Virginia, they could either purchase the bed in Iowa and we would have to pay to ship it out here, or they could give us a "courtesy payment" of $125.

When I paid $350 for the original mattress, $125 didn't feel like much of a courtesy. But since we didn't actually want another queen-sized Beautyrest mattress, for both size and chemical concerns, we grudgingly accepted it and started looking for another bed.

Incidentally, we were able to sell the mattresses and frame on Craigslist for another $125 to someone who didn't care about the stain.

So with our nominal cash in hand, the hunt was on for a safe mattress. Chemical-free mattresses are available in the United States, but by law they must either contain a natural flame retardant like wool, or you have to have a prescription to buy them. After much research on the various options, their cost, safety, durability, and comfort, the route we chose to go was a natural latex mattress which contains a wool layer, thereby bypassing the need for a prescription. There are a number of discount latex mattresses out there, but we chose to go with a Savvy Rest because all of their ingredients--rubber, cotton, wool--are certified organic. We don't believe that organic certification is the be-all, end-all in any way, but it's a starting point, at least. We also read a number of reviews and managed to track down a Savvy Rest dealer--a chiropractor about ten minutes from us who had a full-size bed set up in his office. We got to come over and roll around on it with Eden, as well as try out the layers (soft, medium, and firm) in all different orders-- the order in which the layers are stacked affects how soft or firm the mattress feels. It's also split down the middle, in case your sleeping partner prefers a different firmness than you.

We were sold, and the chiropractor (Dr Bruce Short of Herndon) even threw in a SavvyRest shredded rubber pillow for us. I sleep on this now and it is THE MOST AWESOME PILLOW I'VE EVER FELT. We hadn't thought about pillows posing basically the same problems and hazards as a mattress, but once we thought about it, it seemed obvious. Matt chose an organic wool Holy Lamb pillow, which he has also been incredibly happy with.

We've now had the bed for about a month (after a few weeks of camping out on a futon and an air mattress while we waited for it to be delivered) and we're thrilled with every aspect of it. It was relatively easy to assemble (it ships as six separate latex sheets plus the organic cotton cover, which zips over it). We also opted for a wool "puddle pad" which helps protect the bed in the event of leaky sleepers (such as diaper-free babies). We are loving the extra room (plenty for two adults, an increasingly wiggly baby, and\ two cats) and find the bed and pillows exceptionally comfortable. While the price tag (around $2500) was originally a little tough to swallow, we found that any king mattress was going to be pricey, and the peace of mind and durability this one offered was well worth it. From what I understand, other customizable sleeping options (such as a Sleep Number Bed) are comparably expensive, without the benefit of chemical-free organic ingredients. Plus, we anticipate sleeping on it for pretty much the rest of our lives, as extreme as that sounds, and therefore the cost-per-use makes it actually a great bargain.

Baked potato soup

Baked potato soup has become one of our stick-to-your-ribs cold-weather standards. I've tweaked the recipe I found here (no low-fat ingredients in THIS household!), and we like to deep-fry the leftover potato skins in the bacon grease and then broil them with cheese, bacon, sour cream, and salsa on top. YUM! Real hangover food. All in the name of not wasting a thing.

Baked potato soup

2 tbsp. butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4-6 baking potatoes (about 2-1/2 lbs.)
2/3 cup whole-wheat flour
6 cups whole milk
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sour cream
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

1. "Bake" potatoes in microwave until soft, about 8-12 minutes.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until soft, about 8 minutes.
3. Place flour into the vegetables; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes).
4. Add mashed potatoes, cheese, salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
5. Stir in sour cream. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil).

For a recipe for potato skins (pictured above), you can go here.

What we're up to

Eden's two teeth are making more of an appearance every day. At five months old, she's suddenly lots of fun to play with. Peekaboo is a favorite, along with any and every kind of roughhousing-- being thrown in the air, wrestled with on the bed, piled with pillows, hung upside-down. She's still really not eating any solid food, although we let her taste things on a pretty regular basis. Her favorites so far: butternut squash soup (more on that later), bananas, and chicken pot pie. She is also an incredibly fast army-crawler, so merits a lot of close watching.

This week and next, I'm off of school, so I've actually been enjoying some reading for pleasure (!!) again. Right now: Baby Hearts, Baby Signs, and The Grass-fed Gourmet Cookbook (thanks, Pam!). The latter is especially handy as we bought half of a grass-fed steer to share with another family this fall, so our deep freeze is full of steaks, roasts, and hamburger. We got an incredibly good deal on it and are enjoying incorporating a beef dish or two every week.

We're also preparing ourselves to move back to Iowa come September. While my preceptors haven't signed on the dotted line yet, we're not anticipating any complications and we're feeling like we've been called back in that direction. I'm actually hoping for a part-time job to open up at UIHC, and beyond that--who knows.

In the meantime, we're enjoying our last 50-degree Virginia December, and planning to visit Mount Vernon for Christmas since I work the holiday and so we'll be staying in town. Matt has a little time off and so I'll be picking up a few extra shifts and I'm sure we'll find a way to justify going out to eat once or twice as well.

All she wants for Christmas

Eden has TWO TEETH!! One showed up on December 5th and the other one the very next day. She doesn't really like anyone looking at or feeling them (let alone taking pictures of them), but take our word for it: they're here!

Settling back in

from Tristan & Isolde

After a few days of rough starts and not wanting to take a nap or nurse following our Thanksgiving travels, Eden seems to be back on track. Thank goodness! She usually takes a morning, afternoon, and evening nap and then goes to bed with us between 10 and 11pm and wakes up at 6 to go potty, then goes back to bed till around 9. Last night, she fell asleep around 9pm while we watched a movie (Tristan and Isolde--one of our favorites, for its beauty and simplicity and come on, how not to love someone with James Franco's versatility?) and slept through until almost 8am. It seems to have reset her somewhat because she woke up smiley and happy this morning, then fell asleep for a morning nap without protest (or excessive amounts of bouncing, back patting, and singing, which is what it sometimes takes).

On top of Tristan and Isolde, last night was also made special by the cooking of a fantastic batch of spaghetti and meatballs, which we've made before, and while this time the meatball mix seemed a little wet and ended up somewhat disintegrating when simmered in the sauce, it still made a delicious rich ragu to ladle over homemade spaghetti. We have this pasta roller and we like it quite a bit for simple, delicious, and relatively quick homemade spaghetti and fettucine. It's also by far the cheapest pasta roller we could find, but it works great for us. If you haven't made fresh pastas--I'd really recommend it! Ours calls for a recipe of 2-1/2 cups of flour (we use 100% whole-wheat) and 3 eggs (sometimes it seems like I need to add a fourth--probably depending on the size of the eggs). And--a bottle of red wine. We are unabashed fans of the $3.29 Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon from Trader Joe's, and last night felt like we might just have something to celebrate. I have been working for over a year to try to set up midwifery clinicals somewhere--Virginia, DC, Maryland, Iowa, Wisconsin, just somewhere! It now seems like it might be possible that I may be able to work something out with a midwife near Iowa City --you know, where it all began. My sentiments about this echo the same mix of sadness and excitement I had about leaving Iowa City in the first place--but then again, that's not news.