Smoothie

Here is my Smoothie recipe:

1 cup homemade raw milk yogurt.
frozen berries.
2 raw pastured egg yolks.
1 Tbs ground flaxseed
1/2 tsp concentrace
1-2 Tbs melted coconut oil
frozen bananas

I put everything but the coconut oil and egg yolks into the blender and blend until smooth then I add the oil slowly and the egg yolks last.
All ingredients are optional but the yogurt and frozen fruit. The smoothie will be thick or thin depending on how much frozen fruit you add. Adding the oil thins it quite a bit so make sure its thick before you add it. You will have to experiment to find the ratio you like.
I break the bananas into bite size pieces before I freeze them so it is easier to add how much I want. I also take my cod liver oil with the smoothie but dont add it to it or it will taste nasty.
This smoothie is full of probiotics, healthy fats, minerals and vitamins.
I dont add the egg whites because raw egg whites have enzyme inhibitors and they are best eaten cooked. Egg yolks are best eaten raw but you dont want to eat store bought eggs raw, only pastured eggs. If you dont have homemade yogurt you can use store bought but it is not as healthy. Walmart has Dannon Plain yogurt that is a good alternative. Just make sure it is NOT the low fat version. If you cant find that, look for any yogurt that doesnt have anything in it other than milk and enzymes and make sure it is not low fat. Organic would be good too.

Soaked flour bread

I have been making the most amazing bread! I started with the recipe Sara posted for soaked flour bread and made a few changes and now my bread is even better than before I started soaking it. It is super moist and soft with very little crumb. For you purists out there this recipe is not 100% whole wheat but it is close enough for me because it turns out so much better. Here is my recipe: First I grind 6 cups of hard white wheat (Dad's) in my wheat grinder. I have not measured how many cups of flour that makes but it is probably about 10. I put the freshly ground flour in my mixer with 2/3 cup gluten and 2/3 cup sugar then I add 6 tablespoons Braggs apple cider vinegar to 6 cups warm water and add that to the flour mixture in the mixer. I think it is important to add warm water rather than cold because it activates the fermentation much better. I mix that together very well then leave it to soak for 24 hours. I have not soaked it for less than 24 hours so I dont know how big a difference less soaking would make. I assume the longer soak time is more desirable to achieve better break down of the anti nutrients and predigestion of the sugars and gluten. 24 hours later I melt a cube of butter in the microwave and add three tablespoons of instant yeast to it. Then I add the yeast and butter to the flour mixture and mix it in well. The heat from the melted butter helps to activate the yeast so that i get a better raise than just adding the yeast to cold dough. I let that rest for a while. Sometimes up to an hour or sometimes just 15 to 20 minutes. I seem to get a better final raise when I let it raise for an hour that first time. After that rest I add two tablespoons salt and start the mixer then I start adding white unbleached flour a cup at a time until it is the right consistency. last time I made bread it was about 3 cups of white flour I added. The consistency will be different than the unsoaked recipe, heavier and stickier at first but I still just add the white flour until it cleans the sides of the bowl really well. I have found that with the soaked flour you want to go for more flour than you think rather than less. Once the sides of the bowl are really clean I let it knead for 10 minutes. Sometimes after 7-8 minutes I will check it and the dough will be sticking to the sides again so I will add a little more flour. The dough is much heavier than my original recipe. It is very elastic and easy to handle. It reminds me of silly putty. While it is kneading I preheat my oven to about 180 degrees. When its done mixing I make it out into 5 loaves then turn my oven off and put the loaves in the oven to raise for 25 minutes. After 25 Minutes I turn the oven on to 350 and set the timer for 30 minutes and thats it. Sometimes I will get a better raise in the 25 minutes than others but it will catch up during the baking time. For those with a sensitive palate this bread is not as sweet as the regular recipe because during soaking the enzymes consume most of the sugar and starch. You cannot taste the vinegar and most will not notice the less sweet taste. I feel it is a worthwhile trade off to use part whole wheat and part white flour for a couple of reasons. First I believe you get a better more effective soak with the higher liquid to Whole Wheat flour ratio and by using white flour to bring it to the right consistency you are not adding in more anti nutrients because white flour doesnt have them. Secondly the white flour gives the bread more lift and a lighter texture and you dont need the dough enhancer and other stuff which I think the bread is healthier without. Some day I will try making sprouted wheat flour and using that instead of the white flour but for now that is more work than I feel like doing. Adding the 2/3 cup of gluten is very important. You will not get as near a good result without it but you dont need the dough enhancer or the lecithin.

Picture request

Hey there! About a month ago, I took THE CUTEST picture of Trey and Phyllis told me that I needed to put it on the sister's blog so that everyone could see it! It's probably my favorite picture of Trey that I've taken so far and it reminds me so much of Ben!
Here it is:

This is a picture of Michael as we were dressing him in preparation of leaving the hospital. He was there for a full week but he has been home now for more than two weeks and is doing very well.

After my last post Michael improved very quickly. They removed the ventilator on the Thursday after inserting it and he was released from the hospital Friday evening. We were in limbo all that time and weren't sure when we would be going home until an hour or so before we did, so when it happened it happened quickly. Then we were at home and I had my hands full again and I just haven't taken the time until now to post this update. He is strong and healthy and doesn't seem to have any lasting affects from his experience. He does have a bit of colic now, which is to be expected after the antibiotics, so I am working on getting more probiotics into him so that his digestive system will work well again and the fussiness and discomfort will go away. But in the meantime he is eating, sleeping, and growing well.

We are much more watchful and aware now of his breathing, of course, and perhaps even a bit paranoid. We look for any little sign of congestion and we continually monitor how he is breathing, but he continues to do great. I now know what signs should have allerted me to danger--working so hard to breathe and his color changing. I was looking for signs of congestion that would block up his lungs and prevent breathing. But he did not sound congested and his nose was not blocked at all. He coughed a few times and I could hear it, but the doctor had told me a few hours earlier that his lungs sounded fine and I couldn't tell that they were getting worse. Some of my other kids had been congested much worse and had never come down with RSV. The doctor later told me that sometimes the congestion in the lungs can only be heard with a stethescope. Michael had had labored breathing for several hours before he crashed so badly, but it wasn't constant and he seemed to recover from those difficult episodes. He would struggle to breathe and would turn quite pale, even gray, but then would start crying and be a beautiful pink again and would seem to be breathing fine for several minutes. Then he would struggle again. This went on for probably 4-5 hours. But now I realize that he wasn't recovering fully between the episodes of labored breathing. Though he seemed to be getting enough oxygen, the carbon dioxide was continuing to build up in his blood to very dangerous levels until it eventually caused him to stop breathing altogether. They can only check CO2 levels with a blood test at the hospital. Looking back, I wish we had taken him to the emergency room earlier that evening. If he had been there they would have been able to give him the help he needed sooner. I am convinced he still would have been sent to the ICU at Primary Children's and would have eventually been put on the ventilator, but I think we could have avoided the ambulance ride and the life flight because, though distressed, he would have been more stable when they sent him there. Also, I realize now that feeling the need to watch over him continually should have been a clue to us that he needed hospital care. The doctors can't cure RSV. The body must fight it as it runs it's course. But, if necessary, they can keep the baby alive with breathing support as it does. It usually takes about 7-10 days to get over RSV and apparently, day 4 or 5 is the most difficult time in the struggle. That is when the baby often crashes.

We appreciate everyone's love and support and your prayers on our behalf. We are very grateful that all this has ended so well, and we hope that by sharing our experience we can help others be more informed so they can make better choices under similiar circumstances. We love you!