hjshorter

Shall we do another menu? Something easy? I'm ready to do some cooking this week.

Seth, what kind of beer did you use? I made this last weekend with Guinness and while it was really really good, the beer overpowered the beef a little.

Boneless skinless chicken breasts sauteed in EVOO. Sauteed arugula with crispy shallots and balsamic vinegar. Diced, oven roasted Yukon Gold potatoes. EVOO, S&P. Some Saint-Veran or another pulled from the basement stash. Not bad. All prepared by my hubby while I was Christmas shopping.

Just got back from the mall with two more canisters of Toffee-ettes. Heaven help me. edit: spelling

Sausage and beans, from Marion Cunningham's Lost Recipes. I love this book. Onions and garlic, sauteed in olive oil. Add cannelini beans, white wine, red wine vinegar, a little brown sugar, and sausages. I used some Aidell's Chicken & Apple sausages; they were good but kielbasa would have been better. Steamed broccoli. Ice cream.

Had a consultant. Went to the meetings. Even joined a new mom support group. I still found it tedious at times, especially in the beginning. And it was painful, initially. I find parenting incredibly rewarding, but much of the day-to-day stuff is tedious and time consuming.

Rice. We buy 25 pound bags, and never run out. And canned tomatoes.

Nicotine is passed through breastmilk, according to a biochemist I know. I think it's a lot of each. I'm a stay-at-home mom, and found breastfeeding exhausting and painful initially, then tedious and time consuming afterwards, and it was for the most part my main duty. Throw a major stressor like poverty in the mix and I may have thrown in the towel if I even started at all.

The Octodog was number #1 in Dave Barry's holiday gift guide.

Do the hospitals in Illinois supply pumps to mothers who can't afford to rent? Hospital grade is what it takes to keep up a supply, and when I rented one it was about $60 a month. Buying a new one is $3-400. Plus, pumping milk requires the means to sterilize the containers, or the money to buy storage bags, the means to transport it, freezer space at home... and she has to not smoke, or drink. It's a tough issue.

There are work requirements now, aren't there? Plus, I would bet that in most low-income communities most of the women weren't nursed as babies, and have no one to show them how to do it, plus a culture that doesn't value it. It's not easy, it takes time and resources, and plenty of food. But if WIC benefits include formula, then it's much easier to start feeding that way, especially if you are being pressured to start working.

That being said, therdogg, nothing is guaranteed. Emma was nursed for 18 months (she self-weaned), no solids before 6 months, etc. To get this back on topic, most low-income mothers would find nursing exclusively virtually impossible. Yet another advantage that middle and upper class children have.

Itchy rash all over her body, trouble breathing requiring a nebulizer, or sometimes hives. yeah like fistfull said that's definitely systemic, with anaphylactic symptoms. wonder if the mushrooms and corn is a mold allergy at the root? and yeah fistfull - it does seem kids have more allergies today - i think due to the highly chemical dependent way we live now. She is allergic to mold too, so all of this may tie in together. No idea how that cat allergy fits in though. Ironically, it's believed now that the rise of allergies is due to kids not being exposed to enough germs.

Not to be a total geek or anything, but wasn't she Dr Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation? Yes...and mother of young Wesley =R= I guess I should be embarrassed that I knew that.

Not to be a total geek or anything, but wasn't she Dr Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation?

(There has undoubtably been a thread covering this topic, but two searches didn't find it.) I see this on every jar and bottle of stuff in my house. Mustard, ketchup, maple syrup, hot sauce, soy sauce...soy sauce? Does anyone refrigerate soy sauce? I'm sure this is a CYA measure just in case someone gets food poisoning from 10 year old ketchup. What actually keeps just fine at room temperature?

One more for me. Inspired by Kristin: Donna Hay's Off The Shelf: Cooking from the pantry, since I will be doing a lot of this kind of cooking in the future. It's gorgeous and so far I want to make everything in it.

Itchy rash all over her body, trouble breathing requiring a nebulizer, or sometimes hives.

I know you didn't mean that the way it came out. You haven't seen my local market, Art. I am not implying that all ethnic markets are dirty, but this one is.

The ground beef wasn't at Whole Foods, it was at Giant Food (local chain). I do shop at ethnic markets, but not for meat. Supermarket meat may not be the greatest, but at least I get the feeling that they clean the premises once in a while. The problem with a vegetarian diet for us is food allergies. My daughter is mildly allergic to milk, egg whites, mushrooms, tomatoes, and corn, so I try to limit her consumption of those items. We eat some meatless meals, but I have no interest in going vegan.

There are lots of stores here, some very close together, so that's a good point. I checked last night, and the "half-price" Super G (store brand, generic, non-organic) chicken breasts were still 2.49/lb, regular price $4.99. Regular 80/20 ground beef was on sale for $3.49/lb. The items I find to be outrageously priced are cold breakfast cereals, no matter where you shop for them. We eat a lot of oatmeal at our house.

Our grocery costs are way over the top, then, but our numbers include diapers, toiletries, and various copayments for my daughter's allergy, eczema, and asthma medications, including lotion that is $5 per tube, not covered by insurance. Where do you live? You can reasonably assume that groceries are not the same price everywhere. Edit: bacon is not an "extra" in my house.

It should be fine, but I find biscuit dough to be better when baked the same day.

It's that holiday time of year, and that means See's has set up a kiosk at our local (East Coast) mall. Their chocolates are good, but this year I tried something new, and I am now utterly hooked on the Toffee-ettes. Holy cow, these things must be full of crack. I've had to hide the canister in the pantry and dole them out - one per day.

That would be a trick. I really believe that with a little more knowledge, and a gentle push in the right direction, more people would cook for themselves. This makes a lot of assumptions: does the family have pots and pans, dishes to eat from, a working kitchen, electricity, or even a grocery store in their neighborhood? In one marginal neighborhood I lived in, the market was poorly stocked and dangerous at night. The nearest with a decent selection was a $2 subway ride away. And just an aside: If the kids weren't hers, and she made $5 an hour, that would be considered "working."