Why is making dinner such a trial?

This one is for you Jeff, I know I left a cliff-hanger about how my new attempt at Swedish rye bread turned out. I think it turned out well as the entire loaf has now been eaten. I still have the second loaf in the outside refrigerator awaiting your return from California. It had a nice texture, although it still did not rise as high as I would have liked. This time I definitely cooked it long enough.

The same day I repeated my Swedish rye bread experiment, I became very brave and decided to make my boys' favorite Chinese food for dinner. The outcome was horrible. Of course Jeff liked my orange chicken, lo mein noodles and rice (he is always very supportive of my attempts to try new foods) but the boys did not like the end result because it tasted nothing like Panda Express.

This is my ongoing problem with dinner. The kids are tired of the same old thing, but they don't like anything new! I am slowly adding variety to my dinner menu, but I am impatient. Hits this week have been broccoli and cheese soup, and barbecued ribs (bone in) with mashed potatoes. Tonight it is chicken noodle soup as Michelle has been sick and will be able to keep it down.

I have found the best way for me to motivate myself to make a nice dinner is to begin in the morning. If I wait until the afternoon, which is my low point in the day, I have a hard time planning and following through with cooking.

Happy Cooking!

Swedish Rye Bread (recipe mid-post)

My daughter, Michelle, came home from a diving meet the other day and was describing her new friend, a German exchange student. Her friend could not understand America's obsession with sharing that they are a quarter German or a half Swedish. In Germany, you are just German.

I thought long and hard about this, because I am very proud of my Swedish roots. So many of us in the United States are either second or third generation Americans, and our European roots are very important to us. My daughter, however, only thinks of herself as American. She does not obsess like I do on Old World traditions.

My maternal Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather both came to the United States from Sweden in the late 19th and early 20th century. They married, and began a family in the Swedish community of Montgomery County, Iowa. My grandmother grew up bi-lingual, speaking both Swedish and English. Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents and my great grandmother from Sweden, but as most children, never appreciated the history and traditions I was exposed to at that time.

As an adult, I am fascinated by the traditions of Sweden. I am also fascinated by the history of Swedish food and how it has evolved in the United States. When my Grandmother Buckley passed away, I inherited some of her cookbooks. Most of them are community cookbooks from local factories and churches around Red Oak, Iowa. I love it that one of the recipe names from the "Union Carbide Employees' 20th Annual Cook Book, Red Oak Plant, 1968," is "Spaghetti Which George Harshaw Won't Eat". You can pick up so much about people and communities just by looking through titles in a cookbook!

However, reading through these cookbooks (as well as my own mother's yearning for some Swedish Rye Bread like her grandmother used to make), prompted me to try my hand at one of these old recipes. Although there were six recipes for rye bread in the "Union Carbide Employees 20th Annual Cook Book," I picked Helen's Swedish Rye Bread because it used caraway seeds, which my mom remembered from my great grandmothers bread.

Helen's Swedish Rye Bread
A
2 c. boiling water
B
1/4 c. quick oatmeal
1/3 c. brown sugar
1T. salt
1/4 c. fat
1/4 c. molasses
1 T. caraway seed
C
1 pckg. yeast
D
3 1/2 c. flour
E.
3 c. rye flour

Pour "A" over "B", cool to lukewarm. Add "C". Add 2 c. "D". Beat and add "E". Add 1 c. of "D". Let stand 10 min. Knead 10 min. Let rise until double in bulk. Knead again. Let rise until double. Make into 2 loaves. Let rise ad bake at 375 degrees, 40-50 minutes.

I failed miserably at my first attempt at this bread. Although the outside looked done, the inside was still not fully cooked. I put it back in the oven, but the result was extremely heavy thick bread. It tasted okay, but I think it will end up in the garbage.

Today I have already mixed up a new batch of this bread and have it rising. I will post tomorrow about how it turns out.

A New Year

Here it is, 2010, and I realize how very truant I have been in keeping up with this blog. Actually, so much has been happening with my family, this is the first time that I have felt like have an opportunity to sit down and write coherently. This fall I began coaching high school gymnastics for the first and last time. It was a very useful experience, but not altogether positive. Zachary, my 10 year old with EE, has continued his monthly infusions in Denver and has added many school activities to his repertoire of things he likes to do. Joshua, my son with an arachnoid cyst etc... has been doing so well in school that I have been called to see if the school could move him from active special education to consult. David has become significantly more active with music and his social life.

My decision to coach high school gymnastics was based on the fact that I have spent so much time and energy on my younger two children's health problems, that I needed to be involved with Michelle and what was important to her. The flaw in my reasoning was that Michelle really did not want to compete in high school gymnastics her senior year. She has done gymnastics since she was three years old, with a three year break beginning at the age of six. At the end of her Junior year, she was burned out and the head coach she adored had retired in June, moving to Wisconsin. I have to admit I pressured her to finish out her Senior year as I did not want her to look back and wish that she had participated in high school gymnastics all four years. She ended up doing very well, but her unhappiness permeated the experience and it was very bittersweet. For myself, the daily practices coupled with frequent gymnastics meets, left me with little time for myself or my household duties. Writing was completely left to the wayside.

Zachary's food allergies seem to have become more prominent over the past several months, even though he continues to go to Denver for an infusion of research medicine, once a month. He has missed more school in one semester than he is technically allowed all year. This has not stopped him from joining the Lego Robotics Team, Odyssy of the Mind and being elected to Student Council. He also starred as Santa Claus for the Namaqua School play, "Santa's Shopping Network" this year. This January we are going to go up on his dosage and see if that helps eliminate some of the pain he has been feeling.

I seem to always worry about Joshua socially and academically, I was so surprised to get the call from the special education department that he was doing so well. He has gone from being extremely behind in school, to passing all the standardized tests at grade level or above, with the exception of writing. This is a very positive thing to happen, but I worry that if the extra help is removed, will he be able to maintain his success? My gut feeling is to at least let him try by moving him to a "consult only" basis and watching him very closely.

My 15 year-old son, David is maturing like a caterpillar emerging from a cocoon. He has really found his niche in music. With the addition of the medication Vyvanse, he is able to focus in school and he now has an active interest in learning and cares about his success. This is such a relief as he has felt so lost in the past. He has developed new friendships and is active in his youth group at church. Can you feel the relief just sliding over me?

2009 has been filled with many poignant memories. The daily activities of an active family of six has left me filling like I have neglected many activities that are important to me as a person. This leads me to the most important goal I have for 2010, to make sure that every day includes some time for me to read,write, exercise and continue to nurture my interests and hobbies. I will try and record how all of it works out.

The best to all in 2010 and here is to a prosperous and healthy New Year and new decade,2010.