Reframing the Gimmies

This blog really spoke to me today.  In many ways, Eric and I have been contemplating our upbringings and what we intend to pass on to our children. 

Rage Against the Minivan - Let’s bring the holidays down a notch

Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny were a big deal in our house.  My parents did a great job of hiding presents at Christmas, covering all of their tracks, and convincing us they had nothing to do with them.  Easter was just as fun... Easter egg hunts with real hard-boiled and blown eggs we decorated the night before.  Easter baskets from the Easter Bunny with a book, some candy, maybe a Pez dispenser and a few more home-decorated eggs.  Dad telling us every Easter that he caught the Easter Bunny and we were going to have rabbit stew for lunch (followed by shrieks of dismay from the four girls and laughs from the two older boys).

Holidays like St. Patrick's Day got us some more attention to our outfit that day and a shamrock-shaped note in our lunch box.  Valentine's Day was a box of last-years' clearance Valentines and MAYBE a Jolly Rancher scotch-taped to it if it was a big year.

Quote:

All of them woke up and came into our room like it was Christmas morning.

Did a leprechaun visit?
Can we search for him?
Did he leave a pot of gold?
Let’s go find the gold coins!
I bet he left chocolate!

So. Many. Expectations.

This actually brought me back to Christmas, and what our church Jacob's Well does for the Advent season.  The Advent Conspiracy website explains the concept pretty well.  Don't overspend beyond your limits, and spend on gifts that matter and will be appreciated and remembered.  Focus on Christ's coming during Advent rather than stressing over gifts you can't afford.  Giving more to those around us of our time and presence, not just presents.  Giving from the financial excess of our lives to those truly in need - in our case, the Pokot region of Kenya.  

I've been wondering how to bring our children into this alternative way of thinking about Christmas with all of the pressures of our society.  And I remembered this.

In the month leading up to Christmas 2011, I bought a huge set of Thomas train die-cast toys and tracks from a mom in our church for $10.  She was apologetic because they were so well worn.  My son, however, was about 1 1/2 years old and was thrilled.  He had no idea they weren't brand new and didn't care.  He's playing with them right now.  They are still his favorite toys.  And my friend's son had chosen those toys to sell "in hope of Christmas booty."

So I have a proposition.  Advent 2013, I'm thinking about hosting a "Toy Exchange."  Very similar to a clothing exchange... bring toys chosen by our children to pass on, spread them out in a room like a garage sale sorted by age, and everyone gets a fair opportunity to chose.  Extra toys get donated.  In my mind, this has several advantages.

1.  Children get to participate in dealing with the reality of excess in our culture by choosing toys to pass along- we don't need more toys... but it's really nice to have "new to us" toys!

2.  Some toys are barely used before they are outgrown and never touched again.  This is especially true at young ages - but I'd love to hear input from parents with older kids on this one!

3.  No dealing with all the excess packaging on Christmas morning.  This has bothered me for a long time.  Not only are we spending on things we really don't need or sometimes even want, we also end up with garbage bags full of trash of twist ties, styrofoam padding, plastic packaging, cardboard, and wrapping paper to go to the landfill.  Something about this just has me imagining Jesus scratching his head.

Now, let me be clear... there's nothing wrong with new toys!  But perhaps we can be a bit wiser with our financial, environmental, and time resources this Advent season.

So, who's with me?  November 2013.  I'm already excited.  

Upon reading this, Eric started singing Derek Webb's "Rich Young Ruler"  Enjoy!

"Almost Stonefire" Naan Recipe

I have been trying to get this recipe right for weeks.  I am in love with Stonefire Naan (Stonefire Naan Website).  We get it at Costco, but it's still a decent chunk of our food budget.  Especially with my addiction to naan with hummus for every snack.  Yummmm!!

So, I've been trying to perfect a homemade naan recipe that doesn't taste like soft pretzels or sourdough bread.  Disclaimer - I have never had authentic naan and wasn't trying to get as authentic as possible.  I've also never purchased ghee. I was going for a homemade version of my store-bought delicious flatbread.  There are a million recipes online that I tried and tweaked, and here's my final product.  I am pretty satisfied with the result, although if any bakers out there have any ideas on how to tweak this to get even closer, let me know!

Naan is a little labor intensive, so I typically have Caleb help me mix up the dough before lunchtime and then let it rise while we eat and get ready for naptime.  I then take care of the rolling and baking during naptime so I can focus.

Homemade "Almost Stonefire" Naan

Time required: 15 min to prep, 1 hour to rise, 45 min to bake (bake time is all hands-on)

1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 packet yeast, dissolved (follow yeast instructions)
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp oil
1 cup hot water

Mix the above ingredients well, until mostly smooth.  I mix with a whisk.

 Add to the mixture the following
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 cups flour (or more)

Add sugar and flour until dough can be turned out and kneaded.  Should be a little sticky but still kneadable.

Note on the flour:  I used ultragrain flour from Costco.  Tried with Aldi all-purpose and it turned out much too chewy.  From working in flour manufacturing, this doesn't surprise me at all.  If you're making cookies, all purpose is a great flour to use.  For breads, you really should think about getting a better quality flour.  General Mills makes a Gold Medal Better For Bread flour, or the Ultragrain flour from Costco worked really well also.

Place dough ball in oiled bowl and cover in a warm place, allow to rise for 1 hour.

After it rises, punch down and allow to rest for 5 minutes.  And here's a picture of my little helper.  He loves Naan!

Cut the dough into 8-10 sections, roll each into a ball and use rolling pin to flatten into a pancake.

Caleb loves to help roll out his own naan!

Here's where methods differ based on your available kitchenware...  I have a broiler oven and cast iron skillet, so that's what I use.  Other methods involve a baking stone in a really high temperature oven.  When I tried that I set off my smoke alarm in the other room during naptime (not a good thing, let me tell you!!), so I'm sticking with my cast iron.  :)

Using a well-seasoned cast iron skillet (so it won't stick), brown 1 side of the naan.  It will bubble up but stay doughy on the top.

When lightly browned on the bottom, transfer to the top rack of the oven with the broiler set to high.  The bubbles in the naan will brown on the top in a few minutes, but you'll need to watch it closely.   Remove from the oven when it browns to your liking.

This last step is really important!  Set on a towel to cool just long enough to handle, then place in a ziplock bag and seal.  Do the same with each piece of naan, putting it in the ziplock bag after it cools slightly.  Close the bag between each piece of naan.  This will help trap in the moisture and allow it to re-absorb into the bread, giving you the soft bread feel of packaged naan rather than having crispy edges from baking.

Wrap the bag in a towel after all the naan is finished and allow it to sit for at least 15 minutes.  I typically allow it to sit for about 2 hours before unwrapping and letting any remaining steam out.

Definitely a hit here!  Let me know if you have any feedback!

Entertainment Center Kitchen Set

Another pinterest idea!  This is actually a little old now, but here's the post finally.

This kitchen set is all over pinterest now, but here's the original pin that I saw a while back:
http://giggleberrycreations.blogspot.com/2009/11/millas-kitchen-handmade-by-papa-grandma.html

I kept looking at these posted all over the internet, but like most crafty things they can get really expensive if you are trying to make a specific "look."  I waited and waited to find an entertainment center for cheap, but even at $30 on Craigslist it would be less expensive to buy a used plastic kitchen set at a thrift store!

I had all but given up on this idea until our neighbor put out this entertainment center on the curb.  I went nuts, told Eric that we HAD to go get it.  He looked at me like I was completely nuts.  Here I was, 8 months pregnant, asking him to haul a side-of-the-road entertainment center into our already crowded basement.  His response - "We don't even have a TV!  Are you kidding?"  But, being the loving and supportive husband that he is, he obliged even though I'm sure he thought I was just having a surge of frugal and nesting pregnancy hormones at the same time.

After getting it in the house, I started looking at thrift stores and around the house for items to use to outfit the kitchen.
List of materials:
Stainless Bowl for sink: $4 at thrift store
Chair pads for stove knobs: $2 at Big Lots
Spice Rack: $2 at thrift store
Sheet for curtains: $3 at thrift store
Knobs for sink: Used Spice jar lids
"Burners" for stove: Ends of frozen orange juice concentrate
Hangers for curtains: $1 - Dowel rod
Decorations: Craft paint (I already had this, didn't use much at all)
Kitchen play dishes and food with tub: $5, garage sale


Here's the pictures:
Step 1: Paint entertainment center
I chose to leave most of the entertainment center wood we really try to have toys of all different materials, not just colored plastic.  Maybe it's just my effort to be more environmentally friendly, but I try to make sure we don't live in a completely plastic world.  Now to be honest, the entertainment center is pressboard so it actually isn't real wood harvested in environmentally sound ways or likely made with sustainable practices either... but it's the thought that counts in this situation.  :)  Upcycle, right?
I also cut the hole with our jig saw.  This part might be tricky if you don't have a good saw available to make a hole for the sink.

Step 2: Add burners, knobs, sink, spice rack
I used frozen orange juice concentrate metal lids for the 3 smaller burners and 1 large can lid for the bigger burner.  The knobs for the stove are non-marking chair pads.  The knobs for the water are spice jar lids, I painted one blue for cold.  Caleb hasn't noticed that there isn't a faucet.  :)
I put glue around the edge of the stainless bowl and weighed it down with a paint can while it dried.

Step 3: Finish painting details
Yep, not an artist here.  More creativity required on Caleb's part... no problem with that!  I sprayed a clearcoat of water sealer over the doors when they were finished.

Step 4: Sew, hang the curtains
I cut the sheet to fit and did a quick hem on the top and bottoms of each piece.  I still had enough left over from the twin-size sheet to fit his toddler bed!  Double score there.  He loves that they match.  Curtains are hung on small dowels attached with eye screws.

Step 5: Reveal to the little man!
Here's a picture the night we brought it upstairs and showed it to him.  He was so excited and played with it for about 30 minutes straight.

This was several months ago and he's still loving it!  Definitely the best toy in the house... and now that we have little sister to feed pretend birthday cake and super-hot bananas from the oven, the fun is sure to continue!