No Dairy Necessary Hot Cocoa

 A mom's group I attend issued us moms a Christmastime challenge: celebrate each of the 12 (or 10 or 5) days leading up to Christmas by doing something special and unique with the family. I like the idea of creating special seasonal memories for my kiddos so I decided I'd give it a whirl. They gave us a list of more than 40 ideas, some simple and some more elaborate and set us off to work.

The kids loved the idea of a special holiday celebration each day leading up to Christmas, so we put stars next to the ones we liked and have checked them off as we do them. Our top choices included:

• Set up a nativity set and talk about baby Jesus
• Make & decorate Christmas cookies
• Make red & green play dough
• Have hot chocolate and toast before bed
• Perform one random act of kindness
• Listen to Christmas music
• Dance to Christmas music
• Watch a Christmas movie
• Read a Christmas book
• Drive around at night to see Christmas lights in the neighborhood

We haven't been all that structured about doing one every day, but we have managed check a few off the list in the past several days. Today, we arrived at "Have hot chocolate..." and I had to pause. Making hot cocoa may not sound all that monumental, especially in comparison to whipping up a batch of colored play dough, but Little Sister has a major problem with dairy, so hot cocoa is not something we've ever enjoyed at our house before.

Little Sister's dairy issue is not what would be commonly referred to as "lactose intolerance". It's more like a pre-anaphalactic reaction to the protein structure resulting from the high-heat pasteurization process in most commercially sold milk products...see what I'm saying...nothing to be trifled with. When she was an infant, her entire face would inflate, her eyes swelling to the point that she couldn't see...and that was second hand dairy, if you catch my meaning (yes, I'm talking about breast feeding). The dairy effect is cumulative, in that if she has a tiny amount by accident, she's usually ok. Two tiny amounts, and she starts to get red around the eyes and mouth, three, and well, it's off to the ER. Strangely, she has no reaction to raw, unpasteurized dairy, but we lack the financial resources to spend $13 on a gallon of milk, not including cow shares and dues, so, we just avoid milk all together for Little Sister, and do rice milk or coconut milk instead wherever possible.

In addition to the dairy problem, I'm not all that nuts about hot cocoa, but my darling Boy reminded me that this time of year is not all about me. He was strongly in favor of the "Have hot chocolate and toast" suggestion, so I finally agreed to look in to it.

I started my search in the grocery store where I read the ingredients on several boxes of commercially sold hot chocolate mix. Yuck. In addition to containing milk or milk products, most of them are also loaded with a long list of ingredients that we generally try to stay away from. So I hit the internet. After finding many recipes that made batches for a dozen or more people (do people have hot cocoa parties, or own chalets in the Alps where cocoa is required by law, or what?), I finally came across a recipe for creamy vegan hot cocoa, which appealed both because it used ingredients I readily had on hand, and it made just one cup. By making it in one-cup batches, I could make Little Sister her dairy-free version, and the rest of us could enjoy our creamy dairy filled recipe. I altered it as follows:

No Dairy Necessary Hot Cocoa

3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp rice milk, coconut milk, almond milk, or cow's milk (Why shouldn't I use soy milk?)
4 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa
Splash of vanilla extract (I used about 1/4 tsp)
Tiny pinch of salt
1 cup boiling water

Combine sugar, milk, cocoa, vanilla, and salt in a large mug. Pour in boiling water into mug and stir until dry ingredients dissolve. Top with mini marshmallows, and/or whipped cream (for dairy friendly consumers). Ok, I know marshmallows aren't exactly health food, but really, sometimes sacrifices must be made in favor of fun.

To me, hot chocolate is painfully sweet and this recipe is no exception, however, the flavor of this cocoa was wonderful and it was indeed creamy, as advertised. The kids got their fix of chocolate and sugar, and felt like mini-grown ups with their coffee mugs and toast. Overall, the chocolate coated smiles made it worth every minute of the resulting sugar high.

Snake day

Yesterday's weather was warm and overcast. Perfect snake weather, as it turns out. While next to the cow pasture, we spotted a small, quick olive green snake, that I think was either a Yellow Bellied Racer or a Smooth Green Snake. Then, over at the horse barn, no fewer than 3 bull snakes were spotted, two of which had to be removed from the barn so they wouldn't be a nuisance to the barn's inhabitants.

When we got home from visiting our cows, Boy hopped out of our car and immediately shrieked in fear as he nearly stepped on a snake sunning itself on the driveway. Excited, but admittedly very scared, he described the snake as "small and black with a yellow stripe." A garter snake, I deduced.

I used to see little garter snakes all the time when I was growing up, and found them beautiful and non-threatening. Relieved the snake now reportedly hiding in my patio garden wasn't something big and bitey, I suggested Boy guard the spot where it entered the garden until his daddy came home. He thought that was a good idea and set about watching the flower bed intently for the next several minutes.

A few minutes later, I heard the Hubby pull up in his diesel truck. He was as excited about the snake sighting as the Boy was, and grabbed a stick to gently move apart the leaves of the perennials to search for the hiding serpent. A few more moments passed, and I poked my head out the front door to check progress of the two serpent hunters, and came face to face with the largest garter snake I had ever seen, mouth agape and body coiled around my husbands arm.

I don't love snakes. I appreciate their role in the ecosystem, but they do make me a bit uncomfortable. My brother LOVES snakes, and every other creepy crawly reptile and amphibian. As a kid, he caught and kept all varieties of snake, frog and lizard in numerous terrariums in his room. As an adult, he actively searches out encounters with reptiles, hoping to capture and photograph them. Even with the amateur herpetologist in my family, I felt a mild sensation of nausea sweep over me, as I considered that the beast my husband was now wrangling was easily within striking range of my children without me even knowing it.

I asked my wide-eyed boy if that was the "little" snake he saw, and he shook his head, so I couldn't help wondering what happened to that little garter he claimed to have seen...was it still in there? Or was it consumed by this hissing behemoth that my husband was now handling? I may never know.

We gave each child a chance to pet the huge garter, and then we released it back into the garden to keep up its duty of eating the critters that eat our plants.

Though I may not love the idea of snakes all around me, they are a simple fact of life in the country. They bring far more benefits than detriments to our farm, as they control pests of all types. And in the 10 years we've lived here, I've seen fewer than a dozen snakes. So all in all, they make better neighbors than many of the human nuisances we have about.

I do have to admit, this particular snake sighting does make me a little more wary about poking an un-gloved hand into any dense undergrowth here on the property.

The Palisade Peach Pilgrimage

I won't lie. I was in desperate need of a couple of days away from the family to rest and return rejuvenated. So when I checked online and found that this weekend was the Palisade Peach Festival on the Western Slope of Colorado, I recruited my good buddy Cathy and we planned a mommies-only road trip to the other side of the mountains.

After an excited, chatty 4 hour drive through the Rocky Mountains, we rolled into the charming town of Palisade, CO to find a historic main street featuring few quaint stores and a lovely art gallery. We picked up a brochure for the fair at a cute boutique and attempted to navigate our way to the peach festival on foot, but Cathy and I are both navigationally impaired (my husband thinks it's related to our shared hair color) and we wound up miles from the fair and ultimately had to take a shuttle to get us back on track. (We did however get an interesting, albeit sweaty tour of parts of downtown Palisade.)

Once at the peach festival, we found it lacked some of the excitement we were expecting from the peach capital of Colorado. At one point, while we munched our overpriced fair food, a voice burst over the loudspeaker to announce that the entry table was in desperate need of $1 and $5 bills, as the Palisade Bank had been robbed that morning and was thus unable to provide them with change. On the bright side, there was a textile arts fair taking place at the same venue that captivated our attention for over an hour, as we got weaving demonstrations and chatted with llama experts about raising fiber animals.

 

We left the festival and began the trek to procure the peaches we would be taking home with us. Once in the growing region, it was clear why this is such a great place for fruit! The trees were gorgeous, the topography unique and compelling, and the climate hot with abundant water. Vineyards and orchards were everywhere and the fruit stands dotted the side of the road, each one urging travelers to stop and try their home-grown goods. We felt compelled to acquiesce.

 

We cruised from stand to stand, chatting with growers, sampling fruit and haggling prices. One stand had a variety of peach called Roza, which was the most delicious peach I've ever tasted with its intensely sweet nectar soft delicate flesh that simply fell off the pit. They are a relatively large peach, and we even came across one that likely weighed over one pound! We decided we'd come back Sunday for our 10 or so boxes of ripe fruit at $15 per box.

After our fruit exploration, we spent the rest of the day getting lost on our way to the hotel. At one point, as we chatted away, enjoying the blissful experience of being able to complete a sentence without a preschooler interrupting us for a potty break, we looked up to notice a sign saying "Leaving Colorful Colorado." Apparently, in our quest to reach Grand Junction where our hotel resided, we'd failed to get off the I-70 highway and wound up in Utah. A quick (illegal) U-turn on the highway got us back on track, but it made me think that maybe my hubby is right about the hair color thing.

On Sunday, we arrived at the first pre-screened peach stand ready to buy our 10 or so boxes of Roza peaches only to discover that the vendor had just 3 boxes left of the $15 a box peaches, but she was glad to sell us the firmer, less ripe boxes for $20 a box. Grrrr.

We hussled up to the other, emergency backup stand, where we had decided to buy our pears to see if they had any of the $18 per box peaches they advertised the day before, and as with the other stand, they were "sold out" but we could buy the "better" boxes (not Rozas) for $25 each. Well, we bought our pears there (pear price was the same as the one quoted the day before) and cruised back to the first stand to pay $20 a box for our favorite flavored fruit.

We loaded up the back of the SUV and headed back over the mountains, happy, satisfied and full of peaches and stories to tell the kids.

All in all, $20 a box for the best peaches in the state isn't a bad deal, nevermind the $80 in gas and $50 for lodging we each spent making the journey. Of course, $130 for a weekend of relaxation, fun, fellowship and a break from parenting was a darned good investment in my personal sanity if you ask me.

We did make a few notes for next time:

1. Buy peaches when the price is right and the inventory is there, and then store them in the hotel room if necessary
2. Don't go to Palisade Peach Festival weekend and expect to haggle for better prices on peaches
3. Buy twice as many boxes as desired and sell them for twice the price at home to offset the fuel and lodging expense

A well armed gathering

The hubby and I helped found our local liberty group in the wake of the 2008 elections. In addition to organizing the occasional Tea Party, or canvasing neighborhoods to motivate voter turn out in the elections, most of our purpose is to educate the placid, apathetic general public who get their news from Yahoo or MSN, and believe their rights come from whichever party is in power at the time.

 Admittedly, over the past 3 years, the movement has seen some highs and lows. Early on, our meetings were standing room only, as people were stunned, horrified and angry at the direction the country seemed to be headed. Our group was the sounding board for that frustration. But as the months went on, in spite of many of our fears for the nation being realized, people started going back to their lives, jaded, resentful, but lacking the fire and motivation to do anything about it. There are some of us, however, who can never return to the way it was, in the same way that someone healed of blindness never again wants to be in the dark.

Those of us who remain are, as a whole, fiercely loyal, painfully independent, and frighteningly well-educated on founding principles of our nation. We continue to work tirelessly in one capacity or another to restore or preserve the rights that our corrupt, power hungry government has usurped.

But sometimes, you just have to party. So, this weekend, our liberty group held and event to which we invited everyone who ever joined us in standing for a conservative ideal, and guess who showed up? Yep, the usual suspects. The event was under-attended to be sure, but it was a great reminder to me, at least, of what this country used to be, and hopefully will be again.

As I sat down to eat my delicious potluck food, I scanned the others seated around picnic tables and grinned. Of the 30 adults present, perhaps 5 appeared to be unarmed. Twenty-five well-armed citizens at a cookout...and no shootings! The mainstream media would eat its hat!

This observation led me to reflect on past eras when everyday folks wouldn't think of leaving home without their sidearm or rifle, the same way we feel naked and vulnerable when we forget our cell phone today. No one in that time believed it was someone else's job to protect their family, their home or their resources.

It's amazing when I stop and truly consider how destructive the gun control movement has been to our society. We have become a nation of sissies, all lawyered up and impotent to defend ourselves from any attack. Like the final hours in the life of a wounded African lion, once majestic, powerful, lethal, but now alone, defenseless, pathetic. The vultures circle...government, opportunists, lunatics, corrupt and morally bankrupt alike all salivate at the thought of feeding from the carcass of what once was a well-armed society.

But those of us who remain will fight to the end. My children will be armed and my children's children will defend themselves as well. I refuse to allow the weak and impotent dictate how I live my life, which is why I will never relinquish my identity as the Well-Armed Housewife.