ligurian farro, bean, and chickpea stew

1/4 cup olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, 1 crushed, 1 minced
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
3/4 cup farro or wheatberries, 4oz soaked overnight
1 1/2 cup chickpeas (1/2 pound soaked overnight)
1 dried red chile
1 1/2 cup cranberry beans (soaked overnight and drained)
salt and freshly ground pepper
freshly grated pecorino romano cheese

In a large pan heat 1/4 cup olive oil, add garlic and onion and cook for five minutes.
Drain farro and chickpeas and add to saucepan with chile, add water to cover generously. Bring to a simmer and cover. Cook over low heat until chickpeas are almost tender, 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and continue simmering until completely tender, 20 minutes.

While this cooks, in a separate pan cook the cranberry beans until tender, 2 hours. Transfer 2 cups of the cooked beans to a bowl and mash to a coarse puree and return to the saucepan.

Drain chickpeas and farro. Discard chile. Return to one large saucepan. Add cranberry beans with their liquid and minced garlic and simmer. Simmer with salt and pepper, stir well. Add a bit of smoked paprika. Serve in hot bowls passing olive oil and grated cheese.

So, this soup is nothing but beans, wheat, water, and some seasonings. It is so rich and wholesome and earthy, and I've got to make it again this weekend.

resolution number one--organic strawberries

January moves forward and I haven't really contemplated the traditional New Year's resolutions beyond those involving having a healthy baby. Topping the list though is strawberries and berries in general. No more conventionally grown fruits. I don't buy them at home, but I have often turned a blind eye in restaurants or other people's homes. The levels of pesticide found in these fruits has got to far outweigh the benefits of eating the fruit, and because the berries sprayed at different times in their development the poisons aren't rinsed off with a quick spray in the sink.

Peggy Mars of Earthbound Farms says," Although those conventional strawberries may look as lovely, there are definite differences. A typical grower of conventional strawberries may use methyl bromide, chloropicrin, Captan, malathion, Diprom, Vendex, Kelthane, and Avermectin to bring a crop of strawberries to market (371 pesticides are approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use on strawberries). Any of these may show up in your strawberry basket in the form of legally allowable pesticide residues. On occasion, residues are found to exceed even current legally allowable tolerances, the safety of which has been called into question by Consumers Union and other reputable groups, especially for children. "

There is a balancing game in this as well. I can just hear big girl saying, "I don't eat poisonous strawberries." She has a school friend who is not allowed to eat cake or snacks at birthday parties and I always feel a bit sorry for him to be so obviously excluded from blue cupcakes or sprinkles. Of course, my teeth feel like they are melting when I see my own children biting into those colorful swirls of processed and sugared fat. The mama I am thinking of tells her son and others that he is "allergic" to so many things that she has to bring "special", ie, organic, food for him. I'm wondering if there is a middle ground; I'll be offering to bring a platter of fruit to every party. I do like making those carved watermelon baskets.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll be able to buy a CSA fruit share this summer to go along with our weekly vegetables. Until then, there are lots of organic choices at the local supermarket. They do cost a little more, but isn't it worth it?

ob appointment

I had my first post pneumonia ob appointment today--very reassuring. All measuring well and with a galloping little heartbeat.

having a big time

Hope yall have been keeping up with Hillbilly Savants lately. I love this post about a local song played during this time of year. I was thinking about it today as I was trying to clear the house of wrapping paper and cardboard boxes.


Hooray Jake, hooray John
Breakin’ up Christmas all night long
Santa Claus come, done and gone
Breaking up Christmas right straight along
Don’t you remember a long time ago
The old folks danced the doesey-doe


I cooked my pot of blackeyed peas today and made some stewed tomatoes, Scott Peacock's recipe with the buttered toast on top from this month's Gourmet.

i'm going in

im going in, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Christmas, yes there was Christmas. Ella isn't in too many of these pictures because apparently she couldn't keep her nightgown down in the unwrapping frenzy. She was there, I promise.

Santa brought Ella the fairy treehouse that she had actually prayed for, but she was quite nonchalant about it. She says, "Oh, there is that treehouse that you love, mama". John got a wooden workbench and all sorts of wooden tools and a toolbelt. His word for it all, "BOB". Ella was thrilled to get a Quadrilla marble run and architectural castle blocks. I'm still wondering where it is all going to go.

stunningly quiet

John and Ella are with their grandparents in Washington DC for the weekend while we continue to recuperate. I am feeling somewhat functional, but I have absolutely no energy or stamina. I'm starting to understand why people buy recliner chairs and giant televisions. This morning I watched a girlie movie and several shows on HGTV. The moment I have any energy I am going to demolish our kitchen island and head over to Lowes to resurface it. If we are going to spend a few more years in this house we have got to have kitchen counters that are cleanable. I also need one of those heartless home organizers to come over and throw all my crap away. I was watching one of those sell your house shows and one of those heartless women actually made a hideous house look good by getting rid of most of the clutter and spending three hundred dollars on some simple updates.

ribs, no sauce, no slaw

This is just another "I am better post". Better with a side of broken ribs. Actually, I think three of them are broken. No, it wasn't skiing or ice skating. I broke my ribs coughing. Hacking.

It isn't as bad as all that. The first two nights were fairly excruciating, but I just propped myself up on some very fluffy pillows. Now I feel like my ribs went to the gym and lifted weights for a few hours. I can't really lift the little man, so I'm getting lots of help. Perhaps we are lucky that we planned on visiting family for the entire holiday season. The children can be lifted and entertained.

I'm at my mothers house doing little more than sleep and eat great food.The first night that I was here I slept for fifteen hours; Today I lay on the sofa under a quilt with my feet pointed towards the woodstove.

ella

ella, originally uploaded by ellajohn. This is from the last creative movement class of the semester. The parents were invited to observe the hour long class.

nose

clowny, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

soon

I know, you want pictures and tales of christmas children, but they are four hours away baking cookies and making messes. Even the doctor says that I am "better". Not well, just better. I'm taking it as a good sign that she didn't make me another appointment. Just more antibiotics.

With any luck we are joining the children tomorrow, so I'll see you in the New Year.

from morning sickness to pneumonia

Maybe I'm better. After all this time it is getting hard to tell. I didn't throw up today, and I hacked up lots of green stuff. Hopefully my tattered old immune systeme will finally slough off the lung bugs.

I let the children go to their grandparents house, and it is stunningly quiet here. I read 758 pages of Harry Potter in the last twenty four hours.

It is hard to actually write about anything when you have been moving from chair to sofa to bed for weeks on end. I go back to the doctor tomorrow afternoon, and hopefully she says that I can travel for christmas.

I'm fourteen weeks pregnant today.

er::bad bug

I've never been to the emergency room, but yesterday I couldn't even get comfortable in my bed, couldn't stop coughing, and couldn't breathe. I knew I wasn't in mortal danger, but I have this little baby in my belly and Christmas looming. Earlier in the week I had called my family doctor and told her that the cough syrup she had recommended wasn't doing anything. She said that I could try steam baths. (Insert laugh here)

So, the emergency room was fairly wonderful. I got this older hippy woman doctor who seemed smart and warm and funny. She seemed to be balancing the pregnancy with actually feeling better. She called doctor steam bath and my OB and talked to them. I did have a chest X-ray wearing a huge lead skirt and standing in front of a lead panel. She had the respiratory therapist give me a breathing treatment and put me on some prednisone for three days to get me functional again. I got to lie in a very soft albeit narrow bed for four hours. The woman next to me had sliced her hand while chopping chocolate for christmas cookies. It wasn't a bit like TV.

I actually slept last night. I woke up to hear the ice hitting the roof and then again when it rained hard this morning. The ice storm has left our woods very sparkley, but the sun is out and it is already dripping. There is snow predicted for this afternoon. Ah, mountain living at the top of a big hill.

So, it has been a strange holiday season. I haven't made anything. I haven't baked anything. I haven't been shopping. We do have two christmas trees up and have the children's seasons tree decorated with birds.

elfin'

This will give you a good laugh.

sick, week three

I'm losing my patience with mucus. Apparently there is some sort of battle going on between my nose and my lungs. The Puffs Plus are the only thing keeping my nose intact. I cough incessantly, and that either causes me to throw up or pee in my pants. You can see why I'm not really leaving the house much.

The fact that I'm typing this makes me think that I must be getting better.

Ella stayed home today, mostly because I think that she wanted to be with me, so we opened up the futon in the living room and watched movies and PBS all morning. Charlie Brown Christmas.

cat out of the bag

In my attempts to beg someone to work at the school I just sent half the school my blog address. Pull up a chair, make yourselves at home. It is a happy place. Ella doesn't know I'm pregnant, so shhhhhhh.

upright

I've been in the upright position since eleven o'clock, a record for the week. Earlier this morning I was cold and weeping, so I'm not pronouncing myself healthy just yet. The bad bug/morning sickness combination has literally kicked me to the ground. I have lost five pounds this week, so my first trimester weight gain is at minus five. The only food that has been good this week is hot and sour soup and grapefruit. The local chinese restaurant makes really good soup with lots of schezwan preserved vegetables and tofu. I added some chile and garlic sauce from the fridge and a spoonful of cider vinegar.

The small ones are snotty and coughy but restless and ready to get out of the house. John has been literally climbing the furniture and has had more than his share of time outs. John and Ella went out yesterday to get a Christmas tree, a Norway spruce with roots that can be planted in our yard. We are leaving on our Christmas tour of grandmothers, aunts, and uncles next monday. I haven't even started making my cards. I do have the supplies, but I haven't even attempted a photo of the children.

news from the couch

A few days ago I finally had to accept the fact that I was sick. Pretty much too sick to get off the sofa. I couldn't breath while carrying the thirty four pound man. I took him to the doctor, and she immediately wrote out three prescriptions. So here we are. Hacking. Hacking. Coughing. Blowing noses. Measuring medicines for little people.

tree swing

ella, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

I wish I knew how many hours I spent doing just this as a kid. Our grandparents lived next door and put up a swing like this in the woods behind their house. It was on a steep hill so when you swung out you were high above the ground.

self portrait by ella

self portrait by ella, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

dear santa

dear santa, originally uploaded by ellajohn.