Yummy lasagna, the way I make it.

It's not just my judgement, I've been told by other it's good. I sort of modified a recipe from Curtis Stout when he used to do "Take home chef" years ago. Anyways here is the final product



The ingredients are:
1.5 lbs ground beef (we use the organic from costco)
1 small or 1/2 a large onion
2-4 cloves of garlic (up to you how garlicky you like your meat sauce)
2 15ozs cans of peeled diced unsalted tomatoes
1/2 cup of red wine, I use Cabernet Sauvignon
1 or so cups of basic Marinara
3-4 Tbsp of butter
3-4 Tbsp of flour
3-4 cups of whole milk
10oz + shredded mozarella cheese
a few spoonfuls of shredded Parmesan cheese
Lasagna noodles, I get the kind you don't have to pre-boil
Some thyme, fresh or dry is fine
Salt and Pepper to taste
Grated nutmeg

If you have a lot of time then start the meat sauce early and let it simmer over low heat for a couple hours, the flavors will be amazing. I usually don't have that kind of time so I cook it about 45 mins total and that's that.
First sauté the chopped onion in some olive oil


When the onions are good and translucent add the garlic, I grate it. Also add the thyme, if using fresh 1 or 2 sprigs is plenty, if dry then about a teaspoon.


Stir that up and add the beef, cook until almost no pink is left then add the wine. Stir it in and cook until the liquid has reduced, about 2 mins. Add the canned tomatoes


Bring to a simmer turn the heat down and let it cook until the liquid is pretty much cooked out. The more time you have to cook it turn down the heat more, I keep it on medium low because I never have much time for it.


While the meat sauce cooks, prep your lasagna pan. Cover the bottom in a thin layer of your basic marinara sauce and put one layer of noodles over it.


After the liquid in the meat sauce starts to reduce start the bechamel sauce. Melt your butter in a medium sized pot. I never measure it to a "T" that's why it says 3-4Tbsp. Somewhere around there.


Once the butter is melted and started to brown start to add your flour 1 Tbsp at a time, stir it in well every time. It'll turn pasty


I like for this "paste" to be very dry, almost crumbly


Once you got all the flour you need in there cook it for about a minute, you need to cook that flour taste out of it. Then start adding your milk a little bit at a time, helps to prevent from too many lumps forming.


I usually end up taking a whisk to it to get the sauce smooth. Your proportions of butter/flour/milk should be about even so if you using 3Tbsp of butter then use 3Tbsp of flour and 3 cups of milk. I always eyeball it though.  Once you have all the milk added the sauce will be quite thin but it'll thicken up as you continue to cook it, over medium low heat. Also once all the milk is in flavor it to taste with salt and pepper and freshly grated (preferably) nutmeg. Since I grate it fresh I've never measured it, but I'm guessing about 1/2 tsp.



You don't want to boil this sauce so if it's starting to bubble before it's reached the thickness you want then turn the heat down. The thickness should be about runny yogurt, thicker than buttermilk but not by much.  Usually by the time I'm done with this the meat sauce is done too. Make sure to flavor that with salt and pepper as well, to taste. I also like to break up the tomatoes a bit with the wooden spoon. Time to start building the lasagna. I use a 13"x9" lasagna pan and end up with 2 layers of meat, so approximately put half the meat sauce into your prepped pan on top of the noodles.


Drizzle that with a little bit of the bechamel sauce


And sprinkle a little shredded mozzarella on top of that


Put another layer of noodles over that and repeat for the next layer. Cover that with noodles again and pour a generous layer of the bechamel sauce all over the top of your lasagna


Sprinkle that with a generous layer of mozzarella


And top it off with a light layer of parmesan, you can hardly see it in the picture, but I promise it's there.


Bake at 375 for 40 minutes, and voila!

The Homebirth of baby #2

Once again I have neglected my poor little blog, oops. Well in July 2012 I got pregnant, we both knew that we wanted a home birth this time around. I started researching and interviewing midwives and by September was set on Sunshine, from Sunshine Midwifery, and we started prenatal care appointments. I had home visit appointments, they felt more like having a friend over for some tea and a chat. To say that the experience was different from my first pregnancy would be an understatement. The experience with the care I received through this pregnancy was out of this world. Having a kind, experienced, understanding, accommodating, loving midwife is something every pregnant woman deserves. I had a low key pregnancy, some nausea early on, a 20 week ultrasound that showed that "my baby is growing well" that's all I was told. They did want me to come back for a second ultra sound to get better pictures of her head, but I declined. Having at home prenatal visits made the pregnancy very low key, not having to rush to appointments, or try to arrange child care, it was easy, it was nice. 40 weeks and 4 days of this pregnancy seem to have flown by, and I did my best to enjoy them given this is probably our last baby. Well, without further ado here is the birth story...



The weekend after my due date passed I started being a little more active, and was surprised that I actually had the energy for it. All I did was spend a few hours walking the mall on sat. and on sunday. On sunday night I also ate almost a whole pineapple. At that point I was 40weeks 3 days, not too bad so I wasn't in any particular rush to evict the baby, just seeing what would happen. That night (or early monday morning) I woke up around 1:30am to a warm trickle down my leg, I freaked out thinking I was peeing my pants, jumped out of bed and ran for the toilet. Water was gushing out of me and flinging everywhere as I was running, quite comical actually. I was still convinced I peed myself, until I saw some chunks of mucous, then I realized that my water had broken. I got excited texted Sunsine, my midwife, and got ready to go back to bed. I glanced back into the toilet when I went to flush and realized the water was kind of dark, upon closer examination I realized it was greenish which meant meconium. At that moment I had a mild nervous breakdown. I got worried for the baby, thought that home birth was out of the question, a million things rushed through my head. I called Sunshine told her that there was meconium, asked if home birth is out of the question. She explained to me exactly what she can do for the baby, chance of complications, what the hospital could do that she couldn't etc. I sent her a pic of the water and she said that the meconium was fresh and moderate and said if I didn't want to go to the hospital then go back to sleep and try to get some rest because I'll need my energy. She said she'll come check on me and the baby in the morning and I was fine with that, assured me to call if I had any other concerns and she'd be on her way asap. I tried to go back to bed but the water kept gushing at the slightest movement so I ended up sitting on the toilet for a while until the gushes stopped. Around 2am contractions started up, they were about every 10mins and not too intense or painful, but I could not sleep through them. I stayed in bed for a few hours but gave up around 5am and just got up. I got online and talked to a few friends that work with midwives asking for advice and opinions I was also drinking tons of water, I know that the amniotic fluid replenishes so I was trying to flush the meconium out, I didn't know if this was logical or not but it seemed to be working. As the morning went on the water was getting clearer and clearer.

Sunshine came over around 9am to check on me, listened to the baby's heart rate for a good while and it sounded great, listened through a contraction and baby sounded like she was handling the contractions perfectly. She said she didn't want to check me to avoid introducing any sort of bacteria and possible infection, I was fine with that since I didn't originally want to get checked at all, and haven't yet at up to that point. She explained to me in more detail what the meconium meant, the risks etc and I decided that at that point I wanted to stay home, I took my temp every few hours paid close attention to baby movements and promised not to leave the house. She left me several tinctures for different things and left saying she'll be back later that day unless I needed her sooner than to not hesitate to call her. I went about my morning as usual, had a bit of an emotional roller coaster day, realizing that it was our last day as a family of 3 and wanting to give Penni as much of my attention as possible. We had a low key morning, then around noon Penni and David left for a couple hours so I took a valerian/poppy seed tincture and was able to get an hour of uninterrupted sleep. When I woke up from the nap Penni and David had returned with lunch (In-n-out! yay!), I felt pretty good and a bit more rested. Contractions were coming stronger but still 10mins apart. I decided it was time to bake baby's birthday cake and to make lasagna for the birth team. I started on those things, taking it slow and easy, contractions weren't too bad still and I was handling them fine on my own. 

Penni got picked up for a sleep over at grandma's later in the afternoon, and I almost had a melt down, thinking it's the last time I see her as my only child, when she comes back she'll be an older sister. Silly I know, I think the hormones were doing a number on me. By that point I had to stop and breath through contractions, preferably while bending over something. I had baked the cake by then, and was finishing arranging the lasagna, Sunshine came back to check on me. I had a contraction when they got there and we waited for it to pass so we can talk, she again listened to the baby and everything sounded great, she said she'd rather not check me and I said that's fine. So she got ready to leave and I had another contraction, debated asking her to stay and wait for an hour or so because I thought things might be picking up. But given that my contractions were still mostly 10 mins apart I didn't say anything. Later she told me that she also debated staying a while, but thought that maybe she should go home and rest since we might be in for a long night. It was around 8pm at this point. I decided to take the valerian/poppy seed tincture again and see if I can take another nap. When Sunshine left I quickly finished the lasagna and was bent over the counter with an intense contraction. Next one came only a few mins later, and they kept coming 2-4 mins apart. David was helping me through them at this point, the hip squeeze was helping greatly. He also started filling up the birth pool at this point. After about 25 mins of those intense contractions I called Sunshine (she lives an hour away, so I knew she'd be only halfway home) and said that she should probably come back, she heard me have a contraction over the phone and said she was coming right back. Zhanna was texting me and I told her she should probably come over because things were picking up, she was suppose to be our photographer. I was sitting on the toilet at this point because I thought I had to poop. Contractions were coming fast and hard and felt like they weren't fully letting go in between. My whole back and pelvis were incredibly sore and I had the shakes. At some point I think the tincture kicked in because I was able to relax better in between contractions, they were still coming every 2 mins or so. David was trying to fill up the pool as fast as he could while helping me through contractions. When I was on the toilet he was pressing on my knees and it felt good to push against him that way. He suggested that I try and move to the birth ball so he can do the hip squeeze for me. We did that for a few contractions, they came on fast and hard. I was draped over the ball and he was squeezing my hips. One of those contractions had me screaming in pain, and when it was over I muttered "I don't know how much longer I can do this for" I immediately thought I was such a whimp, thinking I had hours of labor ahead of me and already having a hard time handling things. After a few contractions on the ball I decided to go back to the toilet, because I thought I was about to poop my pants. Back on the toilet David was pushing at my knees and I was pushing really hard against him because I felt the slightest relief from doing so. Zhanna came over at this point and wanted to know what she could do to help, I was so out of it and in the moment I had no idea what to ask for. A few mins after her Sunshine came back. When she walked up to the bathroom I was having a really hard contraction that I was having a hard time coping with, she started coaching me to take deeper and longer breaths I followed her advice but started feeling a burning sensation. I reached down to see if I was crazy or if the baby was starting to crown. I felt baby starting to crown, I couldn't believe it, everyone says that I had a crazy eye look at this point. I looked up at Sunshine while feeling baby starting to crown and she asked "what's there?" I said "the baby is coming!" She threw on some gloves squatted in front of me, asked me to stand up and a minute later the head was out, immediately followed by the body. Sunshine caught the baby and I tried to grab her, they told me to wait a second because baby had cord wrapped around her neck, then I was finally able to take my baby. She cried right away, I was in disbelief. I couldn't believe how quickly things went, Sunshine quite literally walked through the door and caught the baby. Talking it all over later we were saying that had I been planning a hospital birth I probably would have delivered on the side of the road because by the time I realized that things were that close I was mins away from birth. I never got any cervical checks, not during pregnancy or labor, one of the things I wanted. But I also didn't get my water birth, something I really wanted. But I wouldn't change anything for the world. Because baby came so fast I tore more than I would have preferred but I'm grateful for how everything went, proud of myself that I stuck it out, and if I ever am blessed with another low risk pregnancy I would most definitely have another home birth. Hopefully with the same midwife. Right after I was able to put my baby on my chest I checked her gender and announced to everyone "I told you it was a girl!" and she had a true knot in her cord too! crazy events.

Baby was born at 9:15pm, after just over an hour of very intense labor and 18 hours of early labor. She was 8lbs 6ozs and 20" long. We are now a very happy family of four :)

Her name is Coraline Ayla.

 Last few mins of labor
 “We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” – Laura Stavoe Harm

She is here! I did it! I can't believe all this just happened! loved this moment, love this picture.

Falling in love
"Babies are bits of star-dust blown from the hand of God. Lucky the woman who knows the pangs of birth for she has held a star." ~Larry Barretto

The pool that never got used
 

Pure bliss


Newborn examination


not impressed


8 pounds 6 ounces!

Making some changes

I remember telling my husband a while back that once we move out into our own place I'm going to be a domestic diva. Well it took me about 6 months to attempt that but I'm making some changes and I'm loving it. I'm trying to eliminate processed foods, so I started making our own bread, I used the dry active yeast and got a good handle on it. Then decided to try out sourdough starter and it took me a few loaves but I think I got it now, the last 2 came out great! Sourdough starter also makes great pancakes and waffles, and now I got both of those in my freezer. I've started making my own ravioli and can't wait to buy a pasta attachment for my kitchen aid so I can make all sorts of pasta, it's so exciting! Started making my own butter, which is insanely easy since the stand mixer does all the hard work. I got some yogurt culture and now am making yogurt too, haven't perfected that yet. But a friend recommended this awesome culture that works at room temperature so there is no cooking the yogurt which is nice and pretty easy. I went grocery shopping and realized that I really only need the produce section, the bulk grains and milk. I've also decided I'm going to start buying raw milk except it's been a pain to find, today the guy from the dairy section at the store told me that the cows don't produce as much milk when it's cold. bummer. Oh I also started making nut milks, so easy and no preservatives or additives. pretty awesome.
On the non edibles I started making my own deodorant, which my husband still finds funny, and now I wash my face with oil. Just started that this week, very interested to see how it'll work out. I'm not sure if I'm suppose to still moisturize or not I'm running out of my moisturizer and would really rather not buy anymore. I'm seriously considering no pooing but am a little intimidated by the idea haha. Next challenge is making granola and calcium capsules from egg shells. It is ridiculous how excited I am about all this, I feel like a kid on Christmas.
Oh what inspired me to change the way we eat is the movie "Forks over Knives" although it does promote a vegan lifestyle it is still very informative and persuasive. We did eat vegan diet for a month and now we are eating animal products again but in my smaller quantities. My meal planning used to be based on what animal protein I had, now I base it on the vegetables I have and once or twice a week I'll cook meat too. I feel much better about eating this way, and physically have noticed a change in my body as well. I'll try to blog more often now do keep track of all these things.

I suck at this

I can't believe I only updated this thing once in the past year, that's pretty lame of me. In my defense I'm pretty busy nannying, knitting in my spare time, and trying to squeeze and adequate amount of playground trips in between.
We have finally moved into our own place, Penni now has her own room that she loves. After being in the same room with us for 2.5 years I thought she might have a rough time transitioning to her own space, but she did wonderful. I'm realizing that she is a pretty easy going kid when it comes to kid and adjustment. I think part of it is because we've always followed her lead, we let her adapt to changes slowly and never forced anything on her. I'm very proud of the independent little girl she is becoming. She turned 3 the other day, it's hard to believe that it's been 3 years since she's joined our family. She is now talking in long full and almost dramatically correct sentences. Strangers are understanding her better and that makes me feel really good, and of course proud. The day after she turned 3 some switch went off and now she wants to do EVERYTHING by herself, she screams at me "do it self! mama" it makes me laugh most of the time, but there are things like buckling herself into her carseat that I don't feel she can do herself safely just yet, so we are working on finding a balance with this "do it self" thing.
This year she is really into Christmas decorations and Christmas trees, we really need to get one, hopefully in the next few days we will. She gets so excited when she sees a house that's nicely decorated with a lot of lights, and any trees that has lights on it is a "christmas tree", it's pretty cute. We put up some lights on our windows yesterday and she says that they are "Penni's lights" of course they are darling.
She is really into Thomas and friends lately, we even had a Thomas themed birthday party for her (that she talked about months in advance). In the summer we went for a "day out with Thomas" in Santa Cruz, it was pretty awesome. At first Penni was terrified of the big loud trains, but she quickly got over and had a blast. Can't wait to go again next summer, well this summer actually I guess.
That's pretty much what our munchkin has been up to. As for me I'm busy with my shop, working mostly on custom orders and loving it. I did another fundraiser this fall, last year I did one for Leukemia and other blood cancers, this year it was for Histio disorders. Looking forward to helping another cause in the new year. I've also become more involved in the intactivist community so you might see a circumcision post from me in the future.
Not many pics, I got a new laptop and not much on here yet, here is a few from Halloween, she was Olivia the pig


She is trying to show off the spider tattoo she got on her hand