Freezer Friday: Rhubarb

That's right folks, Freezer Friday is back!  I've been on hiatus from this discipline the last couple months as I've been working on using up the stockpiled meals and produce that is in the freezer.  I've done pretty well.  Now, the garden is producing and summer menus are right around the corner!

First up - we have our first harvest of the season from our garden: Rhubarb.  You have to understand that HandyMan is the pie baker in the family and the rhubarb plant has kind of become his baby in the garden.  So, he started harvesting last night and we have two vacuumed packs (my new baby in the kitchen!) of measured out rhubarb waiting for pie.

Additionally, in order to prepare the freezer for the harvest to come and get ready for spring grilling, I am joining up with the Freezer Cooking Day going on this weekend over at MoneySavingMom.com.  I have plans to bulk buy and marinade meat for the grill, make hamburger patties and do some baking with some of the zucchini, squash and carrots that are still hanging out in the freezer.

We're still 6-8 weeks out from our summer crops so we don't need to use up everything in the freezer, but weeding it out will definitely be beneficial.

Iron Filled Molasses Cookies

One of the first recipes I found that used infant cereal was for a molasses cookie.  GBaby loves them and since we’ve been feeding her these “cookies” one of her first words is – you guessed it – ‘ca-kee’!

Iron Filled Molasses Cookies

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup butter

1 egg

1/4 cup frozen Orange Juice Concentrate, thawed

3/4 cup flour (can use whole wheat)

1/2 tsp baking soda,

2 cups infant cereal,

3 TBsp frozen Orange Juice Concentrate, thawed

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Grease a cookie sheet or spray with nonstick spray.

3.  Lightly cream molasses and butter. Mix in egg and orange juice concentrate. Add dry ingredients and mix all together at once.

4.  Roll into small balls (I used G's baby spoon to get a bit less than a tablespoon) and mash down.  They will bake in a slightly puffed out form of whatever you make them.

5.  Bake 10-12 minutes - until firm.  Cool and serve.

(Somehow I've made these 2-3 times and not taken pictures yet - oops!)

Pumpin' GBaby Full of Iron

Earlier this year after one of GBaby’s well-visits we were told that she had a minor iron deficiency.  “No big deal-LOTS of kids have iron deficiencies” the doctor said.  She continued “There’s a supplement you can give her, its brown and gooey and really nasty.”  Yeah!  Sign us up for that! I did some really quick thinking and asked my doctor if we could try for one month to adjust Gbaby’s diet and see if we could get the count up.  She said “Sure-I know you’ll be proactive about it” (this is why I love our doctor).  She calculated out how many milligrams of iron I needed to be getting into GBaby (about 30mg a day) and I was on my way to the internet.

First I found that the 30mg of iron prescribed by my doctor area actually over 150% of the daily RDA outlined on the nifty nutrition labels on food.  When I saw that I called the doctor back.  Sure enough, she said GBaby needed that much to replenish her iron stores and get the iron back in her system.

Then I studied up and learned about the different types of iron and how different foods interact with iron absorption (no high calcium foods with plant based iron sources, and vitamin C helps the body absorb iron).  Finally, I started looking at how much iron was in foods and how much I had to stuff into GBaby and decided that the iron fortified foods were our best bet and to treat them like a “supplement” trying to get the bulk of the iron needed through the fortified foods and then whatever was in extra meals was icing in the cake.

I realized that after GBaby started eating anything off of our dinner plates, we had not been giving her the whole grain infant cereal as often.  Since the cereal we use packs in about 8mg of iron per serving (or 45% RDA), we became much more disciplined about getting her a dose of cereal with fruit or veggie mixed in at least once a day – and often twice.  I also found some great recipes to use the cereal in baked goods that any kid would love!  I’ll be sharing those in the next few days.

We also switched to the whole grain version of the national brand –o cereal which has about18mg iron serving per cup: considerably more than the standard option.  Getting GBaby to gobble down a bunch of “O’s” is never a problem!  We also added scrambled eggs to the menu a lot more often.  “O’s” or “gooey brown stuff”.  Said a prayer that the O’s would work and let GBaby eat as many as she wanted!

We ran into trouble with many other foods high in iron, like meats, beans and broccoli.  Either she didn’t care for them, or they didn’t care for her.  So we didn’t press the issue.

After a month, we checked her iron again with the doctor and it was up!  We were told to “keep doing what you’re doing”.  So we are.

Please note: I am not a dietician and this is just our experience with managing our child’s iron deficiency.  Please consult with your family physician for the best course of action for your child.

Sunday Sunshine

Practicing contentment by remembering the graces of the week and practicing gratitude by giving.

This week has been filled with garden growth, miracles of answered prayers and smiles.  We were able to spend some time with my brother and his family this weekend and it's always such fun to see the GBaby with her cousins.

This week also marked the completion of the installation of new windows in our home.  We are so blessed to be able to make this investment in our home and in return reduce our heating costs.

I had a couple of days with good work time brought about by either good naps from GBaby or extra time from HandyMan or the energy to get up early.  It always feels so good to get a bunch of things crossed off the to-do list in a timely manner!

It is a rainy, Sunday afternoon and GBaby is soundly sleeping. I think I'm going to follow suit and enjoy a nap too.

It has been a good week.  I hope you can look back, and forward, to find the joy dotting your story!  Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” (James 1:16 -The Message) May the light of the Father brighten your week!