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a blissful blizzard weekend and a random act of mom kindness

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Author’s note: I’ve decided to cancel 1veggiemom. Why?  Let’s face it, parenting is a huge part of who I am now and I was silly to think that I could work full time, be a mom, and have TWO blogs!  I’m moving the 1veggiemom posts here.  I’ll only add a maximum of one post over per day so that you are not bombarded with 1 veggie emails!  With every flake of snow that came down, we three got more and more excited as Nemo hit New England. Something about the promise of getting snowed in makes me feel like a child. No school! No work! Playtime! Sleeping in! Hot cocoa! What a lovely extended weekend it was. We woke up Saturday to a blanket (or a thick comforter, really) of untouched white. Then, the neighbors all started to peek out, wearing bulky coats and carrying shovels, chatting about the snow while trying to get snow blowers started up. I grew up in a rural location, so this idea of a neighborhood is something I don’t take for …

making baby food using dried apricot

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Apricots are so good for your baby. They contain Vitamin C and Vitamin A. They also have some iron and lots of fiber among other great nutrients. Did you know that your baby’s store of iron that he or she got from you while in the womb is depleted around 6 months? If you are giving your baby iron fortified formula, then you need not worry. If you are solely breastfeeding, you need to really pay attention to the amount of iron your baby gets from 6 months and on. Apricots also taste really good. I haven’t been able to get my hands on fresh apricots, so I’ve been using dried for baby food. Here is one important thing if you use dried apricots: make sure they do not contain sulfites. If they are bright orange, they likely do. Aim to find the brownish looking ones. I wanted to add a little extra veg in there, so I added spinach (plus spinach has iron). I also had three lovely organic apples that I wanted to …

good reads from this week

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Hello!  I haven’t had much time to write lately, so I’m pointing you to a few other great reads that I stumbled upon this past week.  I’m making it a point to take the time to read a few bits each day during lunch or my morning coffee. First, there are a few new posts up at my other site, 1veggie mom! A visual tour of my very favorite room, Anderson’s nursery, along with my suggestions for your baby registry.  HERE A few thoughts on the importance of a name and how Anderson’s name came to be.  HERE For you animal lovers and vegetarians If you don’t already know about Kris Karr, you should take a moment to visit her site.  She makes being a healthy vegan look very sexy.  I discovered an older post of hers via twitter that is meant to help you deal with friends and family if you are planning any big life changes (like going vegetarian or vegan for example, or giving up refined sugar, or quitting smoking, literally anything …

what’s in a baby name?

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Baby Center recently sent out the “Popular Baby Names in 2013.” Liam and Sophia sit at #1. I actually have mom friends with children named Liam and Sophia and they are both lovely names. It got me thinking about my child’s name and how it came to be. Anderson Douglas St.Hilaire It is a long name for a little man, but I love it. I wasn’t always confidant about it, however. Growing up, I didn’t meet another Cara until I was in high school. Cara was always a “weird” name among the many Jennifers and Christines and Amys. Actually, the #1 baby name of 1979 was indeed Jennifer according tothis. Michael was the #1 for boys. I kindof always liked that Cara was different. Nobody confused me. Nobody had to add the initial in my last name to be sure I was the right Cara. I didn’t have to rename myself Jen or Chris or Mike to distinguish myself from the others that share my name. There was no grand plan behind my name. My father found …

new magazine Mother Earth Living gets 5 stars

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How did I not know?  I’ve been a Mother Earth News reader for years, but I let my subscription lag this past year (baby+garden = neglected garden) and therefore I missed the big news.  Mother Earth News is geared to the homesteader.  I don’t really fit that demographic with my little postage stamp sized lot, but I learned some really important things like how to compost, prevent blight, choose humanely-raised eggs, and bake bread.  More than anything, it let me indulge in my dream of starting a farm with fields of vegetables as far as the eye can see.  My magazines are all disposable, but my Mother Earth News issues will never get thrown away. The same group that puts out this magazine that I love  (Ogden Publications) launched a whole new magazine in October that is, for lack of a better way of saying it, meant for me.  I still love Mother and Plan to resubscribe again this year, but…hello Mother Earth Living. I stumbled upon it by accident.  A friend of mine passed …

veggie chick’n pot pie

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It was so beautiful when we woke up this morning.  Everything had a few inches of fresh, untouched snow.  Cold + January = comfort food.  I confess, this recipe isn’t low cal. I also confess that I didn’t make it tonight.  I opted for family time and spaghetti with jarred sauce!  Not that veggie pot pie takes a ton of time to make, but Wednesday nights somehow lend themselves to whatever we can make in 10 minutes or less. veggie chick’n pot pie ingredients top and bottom pie dough (you can save time and buy pre-made dough) faux chicken/turkey (I usually use the Quorn roast or any brand of the “chicken” patties) 1 large or 2 small potatoes 1 onion 1 carrot 2 stalks of celery 2 pats of margarine 1 veggie bouillon cube 1 tbsp dried or 2 tbsp fresh parsley 1 pinch of thyme (dried) or about 1 tsp fresh 1 cup of veggie broth 1 pinch of poultry seasoning 2 tbsp flour 1 can of cream of celery soup salt and pepper …

nursery tour and things for baby registry

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I have several expecting friends and I’ve been asked to give thoughts on baby registry items a few times lately.  These friends have inspired me to give you a visual tour of one of the most precious rooms in my home.  This post is dedicated to nursery and bath.  I’ll write about other items later. A few things to keep in mind.  First, I’m a pretty much a minimalist and my style is pretty wabi-sabi (click here for more about what wabi-sabi means).  Second, our nursery is small, so we don’t have a lot of room for extra stuff.  Finally, your needs are all going to be different and the opinions and suggestions here are my own.  There is no judgement if you want to go all out with fancy crib bumpers (breathable!) matching curtains.  You may want a co-sleeper or you may want a high end video monitor.  These are things we didn’t opt for. Anderson’s room is my favorite room in the house, largely due to emotional attachment I’m sure.  I’ve been looking forward to …

poop disaster – a funny story

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Originally published on 1veggiemom, now officially folded. Look, being a momma is not all snuggles and smiles.  There’s spit up, boogies, pee, drool, and poop.  LOTS of poop.  I posted a recipe here for a lovely soup I had while visiting with friends.  Here is what happened behind the scenes. I was looking forward to seeing both of my friends on a Thursday that I was home with Anderson (how I love my Thursdays home with him!).  I hadn’t slept well the night before.  I was also full of stress.  The following day, my mother was having major surgery.  I was burned out from working long days (December in the publishing industry can be hellish).  I had a screaming headache.  I was also in the middle of making a decision about a major career change.  Calgon take me away, right? I was sitting on Diane’s kitchen floor with Anderson.  I was saying to Diane, “I need just a few minutes to myself to regroup sometime soon.  A few minutes where I’m not needed.” I was fantasizing …

butternut squash soup (creamy and clean!)

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I have a dear friend, Diane, who is the queen of soups.  When I was pregnant, ill, and barely able to keep any food down, she made me two huge mason jars filled with soup that soothed my tummy.  When I visit her home, she somehow always manages to have soup (and good coffee) on hand for our lunch.  It is really representative of her personality actually…warm, soothing, and calming. My friend, Joanna, and I went to visit Diane recently.  I was far from cheery and perky that day.   It was the day before my mom had major surgery and the worry was weighing me down.  What did Diane make us?  You got it!  Soup.  It was seriously amazing.  I couldn’t get over how creamy it was with no cream added (love you, cashews!). She loves using her Vitamix blender. Have any of you used one of these things?  If ever you go on a raw food diet, this thing is a must.  She was able to puree cashews that had only soaked for …

2012 in review

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I received an end of year report about 1 veggie and it made me smile.  What a year it has been. From the WordPress helper monkeys: “600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,400 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 12 years to get that many views.”  There are 13,000 views total. Not too shabby for someone who hasn’t had a whole lot of time to blog.  I am honored that I have written things worthy of a click and a moment of your time. The top posts were:  building a cucumber trellis leaning string bean trellis best and worst from June 2012 sun dried tomato pasta salad, thanks to Finding Vegan amazing bruschetta (no cheese needed), again thanks to Finding Vegan The top referrers were: Finding Vegan Facebook Pinterest (you can follow me on Pinterest here) Where are the readers from? 91 countries visited my blog, the most frequent being the U.S.  But, …