Infant Formula Rant

Just the other day my little boy turned a year and a half so today we went up to our health clinic in town to get his shots. Now the office is filled with all sorts of awesome toys, the kind kids really learn from, and I love going there because my little boy gets a chance to play with all the new things for a little while before we go home. But not only that, the office has all sorts of interesting facts spread out on the walls about baby's teeth, growth charts, pregnancy facts and what caught my attention today, a sheet about breast milk compared to formula. When I say sheet, I mean a 6-7 foot tall "sheet" comparing the two. Now the only thing it was comparing was what was in breast milk and formula, nutrient-wise. I am not exaggerating in any way when I say the list for breast milk was taller than I am, which is only about 5'2", but at size 14 or 16 font, it was a very long list. The formula list was about as long as my forearm and was filled with things I recognized, like palm and coconut oil and safflower oil, instead of the naturally labeled fats named in the breast milk list such as omega 3's like DHA. And when I looked for calcium on the formula list, I couldn't even find it because it was under the name calcium chloride, which is actually a salt, and I quote directly from Wikipedia "It has several common applications such as brine for refrigeration plants, ice and dust control on roads, and in concrete." Now, while it is veiwed as a safe food additive, who wants to be putting this into their newborn baby's body? Even if it wasn't made from chlorine which we all know is a poison, it's still a salt, which is hard on a new baby's kidneys, which everyone needs to filter out toxins from the body. No wonder there are allergies and cancers more now than ever. We would all be better off if we just took an interest in what we were putting in our bodies and the bodies of our children. Now I by no means even scratched the surface of how much better breast milk is for baby and mom, but if the subject affects you, please research it. There are literally hundreds of other reasons to choose breast milk.

A website that shows a comparison of the two can be found at askdrsears.com or here.

Also, I do understand that for some women it is impossible to breastfeed and I can't even imagine how horrible I would feel in that situation. But when there are no other options formula is all you can do, but if you have the option, please give breastfeeding a chance, and stick with it, it's a lot better for your baby, and for you(and in my opinion a lot easier and more convenient :P)

Creamy Garlic Herb Rotini

I realize the picture is visually boring, but trust me, this tastes really good, it can be vegetarian/vegan, and it's super fast to make.

Ingredients:
1 500g package of rotini pasta(I guess it doesn't have to be rotini.. it just holds in the sauce better that way but use a different kind if you must)
1 Tbsp veggie oil
3/4 cup sallots finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups mushrooms sliced
1 545g package medium tofu(The package of tofu I got was a bit smaller, it doesn't matter as long as its close)
1 1/2 cups veggie stock(sub chicken stock if that's all you have)
1/2 cup fresh basil chopped

Cook the pasta till al dente.

While its cooking, saute your shallots and garlic over medium heat for one minute, then throw in your chopped mushrooms and saute for another minute. Puree your tofu and stock in a blender till smooth, then pour into your mushrooms, and stir in the chopped basil. Cook till hot through, then add your pasta and toss well. :) Simple, easy, yummy.

Thick Soft Fruit Leather

First off I have to say that I'm greatly impressed with my little point and shoot camera as it has a manual focus on it which I just discovered. Doesn't work the greatest but at least my photo is clear. This recipe here is from Lottie and Doof which you can find here. I have to say I was really disappointed in my jellys. They weren't very jelly like, in fact. They turn out kind of like really condensed apple sauce. While they were hard enough to cut, they were still really squishy. I dont' know why but I expected them to be.. well... Jelly like! Lol. Anyways, there are a number of things that could have gone wrong including the types of apples I used, time I cooked the batch with sugar, etc etc... But I made two batches, both different and the one I did my way turned out better in my opinion. If you'd like the original recipe(which is in the picture above), click the link above. For my method.. read on.

I started with about 2 pounds of apples. I had two different kinds, Macintosh and Sunrise. Like Lottie and Doof I washed quarted and cored all the apples, threw them in pot with enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, so about a 1/2 cup. I also added a squirt of lemon juice because the Mac's like to turn brown really quickly. Then I cooked them till they were completely soft. At this point I took my immersion blender and blended the whole mixture, peels and all, till it was all blended and only a few small chunks of peel remained. I should mention here that I made sure to get all the core out when I cored them otherwise you'll have gross bits in your jellys, although.. I wouldn't name my apple surprise "jellys" either.

Now that the apples are all blended(you can use a blender, I just love my immersion blender to bits) add the juice of one lemon, turn it to medium low heat and let it simmer. Its going to need to simmer for at least an hour, probably an hour and half . Near the begining you don't need to stir as much as there is a lot of liquid, but later on you'll need to stir very frequently so the bottom doesn't stick to the pan and burn. It should get so thick that you can scrape it all into a pile in the bottom of the pan and it will stick up like a mountain without spreading out. You can always test a little bit on a plate in the freezer to see if its gelled enough. If it has, you need to put it in a small container. Lottie and Doof suggest a 8x8 pan for 3 lbs of apples with 1 1/5 cups of sugar added, so use your judgement. You can always use more apples and use an 8x8 pan... Or what I did was put the mixture in one corner of my 8x8 pan and only spread it out half way. The mixture was so thick that you could form it however you wanted. Either way you should put parchment paper inside the pan/container and oil it with canola oil, then put the apple into the pan and spread it out flat. Leave over night. The next day flip it out of the pan and leave with the bottom side up. Leave out till dry, which might mean overnight again. Then cut into small chunks.

Now I have to warn you, my version is not like Jelly either, but its a lot firmer, almost like Fruit leather but thicker, softer and not chewy. Also, depending on how sweet your apples are, it will probably be a little tart. I used very sweet apples, and it's sweet but a little tart from the lemon juice. And these are a much darker red than the ones above as the apple peel is still in them which also keeps all the nutrients from the peel in the "candy". Also it's only got the natural sugars from the apples, no added processed sugar to make you feel bad about eating them. Enjoy if you're feeling risky enough to try them :)