Page 66 - Winter2008

Living a batch of oatmeal that I re-heated for several days. to maintain just that one process during these

traditional Not that soaking oatmeal at night is difficult, but busy days so you can include it with at least one
the point was to eliminate a few things from my meal a day.
food to-do list that might just make my brain less full Organ meats were still on my menu and on
lifestyle goes of “stuff,” which is especially useful when I am page 65, you will find one of my fast favorites—
beyond running on sleep-fumes. On egg-veggie scramble Carrot Hash—which makes a decent amount to
day, I tripled the amount and we ate it reheated last a few meals.
buying the for two or three days wrapped up in a tortilla Finally, if you are going to have Dad stop
right foods or with a few slices of cheese tossed in. off to pick up dinner on his way home, make
When you have two minutes of “spare” it somewhere that uses fresh ingredients, such
having time in the kitchen, use it to get things started as Chipotle or the deli at the local health food
the best for the next meal. This might mean taking out shop. And if on one of your more frazzled days

cookware. the pot you need to warm the leftover soup or you end up throwing together almond butter and
chopping a few onions and carrots for the next jelly sandwiches for dinner, do it with a guilt-free
meal. Knocking off even just a few steps to an conscience; just try your best to get something
evening meal can sometimes mean the differ- raw and fermented into everyone’s mouth before
ence between a relaxed kitchen experience and the meal is over and let it go!
hair-raising craziness.
What is your family’s favorite fermented or STREAMLINING FAMILY LIFE
cultured food? Is it ginger carrots or apple butter? Cooking nourishing meals, making formula
Maybe water kefir? Whatever it is, make a large every day, and keeping up with the bare mini-
amount before baby arrives or make it a priority mum of house maintenance is trying at times.

MY BABY-FORMULA-MAKING PROCESS

When making the formula for baby number one, I had different resources available to me (see my process for baby
number one at westonaprice.org/children/formula-faqs.html). This time around I changed things a bit with the formula;
here is what I did:

• Added colostrum (approximately 2 tablespoons liquid or 1/2 teaspoon powder) up to about 6 months of age (length
of time is arbitrary, it really is up to you).
• Added about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon butter oil.
• Replaced approximately 1/2 cup milk with dairy kefir to give it a bit of a probiotic-boost and introduce the tart
taste to baby.
• Replaced barley water for some of the water in the formula during teething time—I froze it into ice cubes and
added it to the water/lactose/gelatin mixture while it was cooling. (See the article titled Questions and Answers
from Wise Traditions Summer 2008 for more on barley water and teething.)

I didn’t freeze the whey or cream this go-around. I made my own whey from kefir, which stays fresh in the fridge for
up to six months, and my new farmer consistently has cream. Below is my general process that has worked wonderfully for
me and Chase.
Fill a measuring cup with 2 cups water and scoop out 2 tablespoons (which leaves 1 7/8 cups). Pour half the water in
a pot on the stove top on medium low heat and add the gelatin and lactose. Stir until dissolved. Meanwhile, pour the milk
into a large mixing glass container (8-cup glass Pyrex works well) or right into a blender with measuring markers and add the
remaining ingredients (oils, whey, powders, etc) except the coconut oil. Once the water/lactose/gelatin mixture is dissolved,
pour in the rest of the water to cool it off a bit (and barley water cubes if using). Then add the coconut oil and allow it to
melt completely. Pour the dissolved water/lactose/gelatin/coconut oil mixture into the glass container or blender with milk.
Blend everything for about 3 seconds. I find that if I do not blend the formula the oils do not distribute evenly.
Then I pour the formula either into glass bottles (cap off) or a large canning jar and place them in the fridge. Once I
take a bottle out of the fridge or pour a new bottle from my well-shaken jar of formula, I use a bottle steamer unit to take
the chill off and melt the coconut oil enough so that it blends back in thoroughly.
66 Wise Traditions WINTER 2008