Goodbye Jan

Where did January go? With all the bread-making, pod-cast listening, baby-raising, grain eating and washer searching, time just flew! Did I mention our washer died before planned? Oh well, we got a great deal on a used Maytag front-loader and I can't believe how much quieter it is! It even has a cool light that turns on when you open the door! I feel so fancified.

The Frog is, of course, just as cute as ever, and we've tried to get him to sit in his little high chair when we feed him, as opposed to him sitting in my lap where I can't get a very good view of where all the food is ending up (unless, of course, it goes on my pants... and then I don't have to see because I can feel it well enough) Oh, and I finally got a shot of him where you can really see his teeth. He smiles at himself in the mirror a lot, so I used it to help me out :)


Sneaking the grains into all my meals has turned out not to be as hard as I was expecting... Lately I've just been cooking cracked wheat for breakfast and then adding the extras to my chili that night, or teff in the morning goes in mac 'n cheese at night, or oatmeal in the morning goes into spaghetti sauce that night... you get the picture. I've almost become bored because it's so easy to sneak in. The other day I added quinoa to our mashed potatoes. mmm.

So, I've been looking for another way to eat my grains and have recently been turned on to sprouting. I sprouted my first batch of wheat this week, and I'm amazed at how EASY it is. Apparently sprouting is some kind of super-version of the grain it comes from (some times it makes them 3 or 4 times more nutritious!) , and I'm excited to try it out on other things too. Probably I'll do chic peas next. To read about the wonderfulness that is sprouting and the how-tos, check this out. I just did it in an old mason jar with a piece of cheese-cloth (can also use old nylons) covering the end. Then it just sits on the counter-top, so I don't forget about it. Couldn't be easier!