It Was a Very Good Year @ EverythingMom.com

Tatiana’s Best Ever Roast Chicken Recipe

November 13th, 2009

Have you ever thought about what you’d like your last meal to be? I have. And mine would feature roast chicken as the centre piece. There is nothing so amazing, comforting, and downright delicious as roast chicken with crisp, yummy skin. And don’t bother denying yourself the skin! Live a little! Skimp on dessert if you must. You don’t want to miss the flavour that this recipe results in.

Tatiana’s Best Ever Roast Chicken

Time to table: 4.5-6.5 hours (1-1.5hr cooking, .5hr active prep, 3-5hr passive prep)
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
2 tbsp thyme
2 tbsp olive oil
2 lemons (and their zest)
salt (kosher or sea salt for brining, you can use regular table salt for seasoning)
Dishes & utensils:
Sharp chef’s knife
Roasting dish
Meat thermometer (they’re like $10 at Ikea. No excuses!)

1. Spatchcock (butterfly) your chicken. If you’re squeamish, this can be a pretty horrifying process. You can get away with just cutting out the backbone and ignoring the breastbone, but it’s worth the effort of getting the breastbone out of your chicken as well.

2. Brine your chicken for at least half an hour, preferably a whole hour, but not more than 2 (for a 6-7 lb chicken). This means you want to submerge your chicken in water that has salt and sugar in it. I use a ratio of around 1 gallon of water to 1/2c of sea or kosher salt to 1/4c of white sugar, and scale it up from there (we generally brine in our sink).

3. Rinse your chicken off under cool running water, then dry it thoroughly, front and back (I use paper towels). Salt and pepper front and back. Set skin-side up in a roasting pan. Put in the fridge, uncovered, for two to four hours. You can leave it in there for a shorter or longer amount of time, it won’t hurt your chicken, but remember that the drier the skin is, the crispier it will end up being.

4. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

5. Zest your lemons and halve them. Mix zest, thyme, and olive oil together.

6. Tuck the halved lemons, cut side up, beneath your chicken. Coat skin side with your flavouring.

7. Put chicken in the 450 degree oven for 15 minutes. Turn heat down to 400 after that. Your chicken will cook pretty quickly, between 30-45 minutes (depending on how many times you open up the oven to look at it!)

8. Your chicken is finished when a meat thermometer inserted into the breast reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit or, in the case of my grocery store chicken, the thermometer pops. Grocery store chickens will be taken to a whole new level with this spatchcock, brine, and dry method, but if you can get to a farmer’s market and get a fresh chicken, do it.

9. You can now easily halve or quarter the chicken. No more wrestling! ENJOY!

Posted in Cooking, Mom Influencer Exclusive | 2 Comments »

72 hours

September 20th, 2009

It’s been 72 hours since the last time my daughter nursed.

I’m coping; not all that well, at times, but surprisingly well at others. I’ve sobbed and buried my face against her hair, begging her, “Just try to nurse, just one more time”… but I’ve also laughed and watched her drink from a bottle, telling her, “You’re such an amazing big girl, I can’t believe you’re growing up so fast!”

My husband is being amazing through all of this. We’ve had a lot… A LOT… of issues with our marriage since the baby arrived, like I think most couples do, and I’m coming to realize that as often as I’ve blamed him for it… a lot of it was probably me refusing to let him help as much as he would have liked. If I could go back to the me of seven months ago, cradling her newborn, I’d say “Let Chris help you! You REALLY do not have to do it all alone!“ I wanted to spend time with my daughter so desperately that I repeatedly told him no, I don’t need you to help, no, I don’t want you to take her, no, I’ll hold her, I’ll feed her, I’ll change her…

I just wish I could remember the last time she nursed, in detail, that I had watched her and drank her in with my eyes, rather than (most likely) reading, as I usually do. I wish I had more pictures of her nursing — I have only one.

Sometimes it strikes me how there is absolutely no way to be prepared for motherhood. Every day is different, and every week presents a new challenge. Last week, serious separation anxiety. This week, nursing strike and mastitis. Next week… walking?

ACK.

Tags: breastfeeding, family, mastitis, nursing
Posted in Mom Influencer Exclusive | 1 Comment »

Our first — and last? — hike of the year.

September 11th, 2009

Today — why today, of all days, this day in September? — we went for a hike at a nearby municipal park.

dscn2376a Everything was so beautiful.

dscn2378a Chris wore Maia, who is almost seven months old now, in the Baby Bjorn and proudly stomped down the trail as I lingered behind, taking pictures.

dscn2385a We saw small, spindly trees, and full-grown, majestic ones that towered overhead, every one of their limbs larger around than my head.

dscn2381a We traveled down into gullies, and up steep mountainsides that left Chris and I both laughing, ruefully, over how out-of-shape we’ve become.

dscn2385a1

We admired black-eyed Susans, which I told Maia are some of my favourite flowers (along with sunflowers… I’m a sucker for their cheerfulness!)

dscn2398a But what did Maia think of all this fresh air and beauty?

dscn2394a SNOOOOOOOORE! She fell asleep somewhere along the way, although for the first fifteen minutes or so she was definitely interested in looking at everything. When we got back to the beginning of the trail, we unpacked our lunch. Maia woke up at this point — probably because Chris stopped moving! — and enjoyed an orange wedge.

dscn2401a Chris and I had a lot of great conversation while out in the woods, in the peace, just he and I. We laughed and shared that smile of genuine friendship that’s been hard to find with the stress of having a newborn and looking for work.

I know that next summer, Maia will probably outrun us on these hiking trails. I can’t wait!

Tags: family, marriage, parenting
Posted in Mom Influencer Exclusive | 1 Comment »

6.5mo, here comes tooth #1!

September 2nd, 2009

Today, we hit a milestone: Maia, at 28 weeks old, has her first tooth coming in. I noticed it when she was gnawing on my finger earlier today and have been freaking out about the fact that she is, you know, GROWING UP right before our eyes.

But then I started to think more about it, and I realized this caught us completely by surprise. How did I not know she was teething until I FELT a tooth? I researched the signs of teething:

Irritability
Drooling
Coughing
Chin rash
Biting and gnawing
Cheek rubbing & ear pulling
Diarrhea
Low-grade fever
Not sleeping well
Cold-like symptoms

Um. Out of ten, we experienced five, BUT, four of those are totally normal behaviour for Maia, and the fifth is only recognizable in retrospect.

Irritability: Maia’s been “irritable” any time I walk away from her lately, which would seem more like separation anxiety than teething. There was one time earlier today where she started crying completely randomly — she was smacking her hand against the table and I assumed she just smacked too hard and maybe jammed her finger or something — but maybe that was caused by an achy jaw?

Drooling: This child has been drooly FOREVER. We leave a bib on her a lot of the time so we don’t have to change her. So we didn’t notice any excessive drooling; she always drools.

Biting and gnawing: If she’s not drooling on her bib, she’s drooling on her hands and something in them that’s held to her mouth. She bites and gnaws on everything regularly.

Not sleeping well: I wouldn’t say that she sleeps badly, but, a few weeks ago we went to visit family that lives about an hour away and ended up getting home around 10pm. That same night, our air conditioner stopped working. She HAD been waking up only once a night before that, but she hasn’t done it again since. In fact, she’s been waking up three or four times a night, and I’ve just accepted that’s the way she is for now, so I didn’t think it was a sign of teething.

Coughing: Here’s the one that’s only recognizable in retrospect. I have heard her cough a few times lately, but thought nothing of it. She’s taken to making a lot of funny noises — growls, purrs, grunts — and I figured “cough” was just another one of them!

Now, one thing I HAVE noticed, remarked upon, and worried about is that it seems like her latch has changed a bit and on some occasions, nursing has been really uncomfortable. I called my local La Leche League International leader and she suggested that I might be getting back my period or Maia might be teething. Looks like the latter is a possibility!

Any thoughts about coping with a teething baby, whether for the baby’s comfort or mom’s?

Tags: baby, family, Maia, motherhood, parenting
Posted in Cooking, Mom Influencer Exclusive | No Comments »

Do you hate making salad?

August 20th, 2009

Last week’s challenge: Cut out, or at least cut down on, any processed food. Shouldn’t be too bad, I eat well as it is, but there’s definitely room for improvement.

We were REALLY successful at this, because … it’s summer. This is prime season for all sorts of beautiful, fresh, CHEAP fruits and vegetables. If you know of a local farmer’s market, toss the kids in the car and head out — you’ll have a great time. We bring Maia to one every week, and some of the vendors have even begun to recognize us.

Our favourite way to shop to save money, eat well, and try to support the local economy is the following:
- on Friday, check out all the circulars for the best deals. We enter these deals into our iPod Touch.
- Saturday or Tuesday, depending on our mood/the weather/how stocked up we are, head to the farmer’s market.
- any proteins, fruits, veggies, grains that are cheaper at farmer’s market, buy them! also stock up on stuff like ground beef ($10 for 5 lb, lean and locally produced) if we’re out. Most signs with prices also list “product of USA” vs “product of Ontario” or “grown in Simcoe County”, so we tend to skip USA stuff. The whole point of going to the farmer’s market is to shop local and fresh!
- the next day, head to the grocery stores and pick up anything that’s cheaper there if it looks good. I’m pretty good with what’s in season and what’s not, so I won’t buy strawberries in the winter unless it’s for a special occasion, and if we see a pint of blueberries from Ontario next to a pint from California, I’ll buy the Ontario one.
- buy, sparingly, anything in boxes, bags & cans that we need, like cereal, beans, rice etc.
- if there’s anything in boxes and cans that’s not on sale at the grocery stores but we really want, we walk over to Wal-Mart and buy it there. This usually results in $10 a week, but some weeks it’s $0!

Now, you’ve got all these fruits and veggies, but what the heck are you going to do with them? You KNOW that at one time or another you’ve ended up throwing out a whole head of lettuce, a bag of potatoes, a soggy half-pint of berries that never got eaten, etc etc.

I find that the easiest way to avoid having that happen is to prep them as soon after getting home as I can. So my husband, Chris, keeps an eye on the baby when we get home from grocery stores, and I do the following:

- Take one red onion and one white, cut half of each into slices, dice the other half. Toss all the white in one plastic bag, all the red in another.
- Herbs and leaf veggies get wrapped in a moist paper towel and returned to their plastic bags (or for herbs, put into one) and wrapped up tightly to avoid any air getting in. I don’t recommend dicing herbs until you’re just about to use them.
- Melons get cut into slices and stored.
- I buy multiple pints of strawberries at a time. One pint gets hulled, quartered, and frozen. I’ll take a handful from another pint, hull and dice them (for topping cereal), but otherwise leave them alone (don’t wash berries & put them back in the fridge!)

Because I’ve done this little bit of prep — which honestly, I find to be very zen and inspiring — it’s easy to open the fridge and grab something that’s ready to snack on, or toss together a salad like this:

dscn2185a Baby greens, watermelon, strawberry, red onion salad tossed with balsamic vinaigrette

Diced watermelon (one slice from the fridge), quartered strawberries (I used four from the unfrozen pint), diced red onions (which I already had on hand!) and a handful of baby greens (or just roughly torn, washed lettuce). Splash balsamic vinegar on top, a little drizzle of olive oil, and a touch of salt. Toss together. The juices from the fruit (dice the fruit OVER the bowl so the juices fall into it!) mixed with the balsamic makes a great dressing. Because you’ve already done most of the prep beforehand, you’re getting a GREAT, HEALTHY, and very filling meal super fast! Enjoy!

Tags: food, recipe
Posted in Mom Influencer Exclusive | 1 Comment »

Change is in the air.

August 8th, 2009

Last week’s challenge: Become active on the LinkedIn forums for groups that I am a part of. Find two industry-related sites/blogs to explore and follow.

Failed at the first part of this, succeeded at the second. To be honest, this past week’s been kind of rough for me. I know that’s not necessarily an excuse, but between a fierce battle with insomnia, some deep misunderstandings with my husband, working on my new blog, my daughter learning to move — AND FALL — all over the house, and my dogs having digestive issues (ewww), well… it’s been crazy around here.

Let me write a moment about insomnia. I’ve always been slow to fall asleep, but Wednesday night going into Thursday morning, I could not sleep. I laid in bed playing out all sorts of horrifying scenarios in my head, things that would separate me from my family, things that would shatter my life. I’ve never felt like that before. I convinced myself I was losing feeling in my extremities, that my vision was going dark, that I was literally dying as I laid there.

I know this will sound strange, but I’m actually grateful to have found out, through talking with other moms, that what I experienced is fairly common. I’m glad I’m not alone. Although I wish none of us had ever felt that way, and I hope none of us do again, as my friends and family supported me I felt truly grateful to them. I still do. Last night I fell asleep without any trouble. I’m not going to say that my war with crippling insomnia is over, but I did win a battle, and I’m pleased with that.

My husband’s last day of work is on Sunday. On Tuesday, he has an appointment with a career counselor for the province of Ontario’s Second Career program, which we both feel is going to open a world of new opportunities for us. I hope that, whichever career path he chooses to follow, he is happy and fulfilled. I suppose we all want to feel that way about our job, though.

I certainly feel that way about motherhood. Maia will be six months old (!!) on Thursday. The last half year of my life have been the most incredible journey I could ever have imagined — I’ve attained the peak of happiness, tumbled head-over-heels into the depth of depression, and my relationships with friends and family have changed for the better. There’s nothing quite like seeing my siblings holding my daughter, or seeing her direct a big toothless grin at my mother, or even trying to stifle laughter when my father-in-law holds her and her face starts to turn red with anger at this strange man, this not-mommy-person who dared to show up in HER HOUSE and now is holding her in his lap without her permission.

My daughter has that much attitude already. I promise if you could read her mind, that’s exactly what’s going through it. Yes, I’m living in fear of her teenage years.

This week’s challenge: Cut out, or at least cut down on, any processed food. Shouldn’t be too bad, I eat well as it is, but there’s definitely room for improvement.

Tags: career, family, motherhood, parenting
Posted in Mom Influencer Exclusive | 1 Comment »

An unexpected side effect of breastfeeding

August 5th, 2009

It’s World Breastfeeding Week! To celebrate, each day this week I’m going to have a breastfeeding-related post.

When Maia first arrived, I wore a hair elastic on my wrist to indicate which side she had last nursed from. During each nursing session, whenever she delatched for one reason or another, I studiously swapped her to the other breast.

After a week, I stopped paying as much attention to which side she had last nursed from. I’d forget to switch my elastic to the other wrist, or take it off for a shower and never put it back on. To figure out which breast to feed her from, I’d just choose whichever one felt heavier. I was too damned exhausted, physically and mentally, to worry excessively about which boob to put her on. Also, at about the one month mark or so, we swapped to doing “cluster feedings”, which is when I nurse her on one side only for a certain amount of time — ie, any time within a two hour timeframe that she wants to eat, I put her on the same boob, and then for the next two hours, I put her on the other — because it helped quite a bit with her gassiness.

Well, now, twenty four? twenty five? weeks later… I have one BIG boob and one smaller one. Fortunately, she doesn’t seem to show a preference for one or the other all the time, although there are some feedings where she will simply refuse to nurse from one side — but I think that’s just her being picky.

I’m totally thrilled with the size of the big one… now if only the other one would catch up.

Tags: baby, breastfeeding, family
Posted in Baby Stuff | 1 Comment »

Nursing in public

August 4th, 2009

It’s World Breastfeeding Week! To celebrate, each day this week I’m going to have a breastfeeding-related post.

In some ways, I feel militant about breastfeeding — or perhaps more accurately, I feel militant about my right to breastfeed, any where and any time. In Ontario, nursing in public is protected as a human rights issue.

I nurse Maia anywhere that she wants to eat. This means we’ve tried it in a sushi restaurant (which didn’t go over too well with her… I ended up having to take her out to the car, where it was quieter), at a festival (which was just lovely, out in the fresh air, music playing), in a stadium (she fell asleep here, despite the fact that we were watching my sister graduate from university and people were cheering and clapping all around us), and on the patio at a restaurant.

On the patio, there was a little boy, maybe two years old, beside us. When Maia snuggled against me and began to nurse, I saw the little boy watching us. I smiled at him and the two women he was with, then continued eating my nachos (pro tip: not a good food to eat with one hand and a baby). Later on, as they were leaving, one of the women came up to me and said, “He’s never seen a baby nurse before. I told him the baby was eating, and he was really interested in it.” Her broad smile left no question that she found it amusing and endearing, so I just laughed and said something about being happy that he was curious.

I know there are people who have issues with nursing in public, whether they’re a participant or a spectator. To the latter, I say “Look away!” but to the former, I want you to know that I — that all breastfeeding mothers and lactivists — support you doing whatever makes you comfortable. If that means you’re wearing a nursing cover, or facing away from people, or even going into another room, I’m fine with it; you need to be comfortable.

I have yet to see a public place where there’s a space dedicated to a nursing mother’s comfort — that is, an area with couches or chairs, soft lighting, maybe a quiet atmosphere. I’m picturing a corner shaded with gauzy curtains, fluffy couches, throw blankets and burp clothes folded atop a table, a changing area available… you know, someplace that, when you’re there, your husband is totally jealous that he’s sitting on a hard restaurant chair or an uncomfortable mall bench or whatnot. I do NOT want a nursing mother to be “confined” to that space, but I would like spaces to be available if a woman desired a bit more privacy or comfort while nursing (I would have loved something like this in that sushi restaurant, since my only options for a relaxed place for Maia to eat were in the washroom or outside).

What are your thoughts about nursing in public? Have you seen any sort of “nursing mother” areas in public places?

Tags: breastfeeding, family, motherhood
Posted in Baby Stuff | 3 Comments »

How we established breastfeeding

August 3rd, 2009

It’s World Breastfeeding Week! To celebrate, each day this week I’m going to have a breastfeeding-related post.

I’ve written in detail about my birth experience, but I haven’t really mentioned anything about establishing breastfeeding. I felt like my nursing relationship with Maia was just as easy as everything I read during my pregnancy led me to believe it would be, and that it didn’t really warrant writing about; yet now, I realize that establishing breastfeeding is not necessarily easy, and that a lot of women struggle with it.

After I held Maia for the first time, my midwives said that they needed to evaluate my tearing. So I passed her to Chris and, feeling like a superwoman, walked into the bedroom to be checked out. It turned out that I needed to go to the hospital at some point, but of course I immediately said, “I need to breastfeed my baby first.” My midwives smiled and agreed.

So they helped me hobble out into the living room again, where I settled into a corner of the couch and held my daughter. The midwives beckoned Chris over as I clumsily pressed Maia to my breast, trying to put her round little mouth around my nipple. She grunted and whined, making a motion that I later recognized as rooting. I felt a momentary panic — why isn’t she latching on? doesn’t she love me? can’t I feed her? am I broken? – before the midwife showed me how to do it: put Maia’s nose level with my nipple, hold her close, and stroke down her nose and over her lips with it until she tilts her head back, opens her mouth, and latches on. But she didn’t, not right away, and she rooted against my breast furiously, her little cries growing more and more angry.

“You might need to help her with this, Daddy,” said the midwife, as she and Chris bent their heads together over me. With the tip of a finger, she stroked Maia’s cheek gently, then as Maia turned her head in that direction, the midwife pushed her against my breast. Maia latched on.

I can’t describe to you how I felt, nursing my baby for the first time. Confused, proud, amazed, scared… the cocktail of newly post-partum hormones surfing through my body, the thunderous rhythm of my heartbeat echoing in my ears, and the completely unfamiliar feeling of this amazing, new little creature feeding from me all combined to leave me overwhelmed and humbled. I remember my hair kept falling in my face, and Chris kept pushing it back, watching. He asked, “How can Maia breathe?” because she was so squished against my breast, and the midwife explained that Maia breathed through her nose, then went over the signs to show that we had a good latch.

I have smallish areola, so they don’t show if Maia is latched on properly. As a newborn, her chubby, squished cheeks pressed against my skin. We could see her jaw moving, working as she drinks, and hear her swallow.

For twenty or thirty minutes, the midwife sat beside me and watched Maia nurse, talking with me about how I felt and making sure that I recognized a proper latch. When Maia delatched, as she did frequently, I learned how to help her latch on again. When she stopped suckling and looked sleepy, I learned that by stroking under her jaw I can stimulate her to continue. I credit that time with being the main reason our nursing relationship has been so easy and remains strong.

Every time the midwives visited over the next week — they came on day one, two, four, and seven after her birth — we talked about nursing. They made sure we were doing alright, and helped Maia and I take to the side-latch to get more sleep.

Of course, for the first week or so, my nipples hurt. Badly. I’d rub lanolin wax on them and that helped, but it seemed like as soon as I applied it Maia wanted to eat again, so I’d clench my jaw and put her to my breast. I found that I might be in pain for half a minute but after that my body simply acclimated itself to her, accepting that this was its work. At times, I’d intentionally put her on the breast that hurt the most, to remind myself that any amount of pain is bearable for her. Fortunately, I never bled (it would have really disturbed me) nor peeled, just ached and ached.

Although we’ve begun experimenting with solid foods around here, they’re really just for amusement (and all three of us have fun!) Breastfeeding remains the primary way Maia receives nutrition, and I’m aiming for it to be that way for at least a year. I’m planning to let her wean when she’s ready. Even if she’s eating solids by day and only nurses to sleep at night, I’d be fine with that — whatever she wants!

Please share your story about establishing breastfeeding.

Tags: breastfeeding, motherhood
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6 things I dislike about breastfeeding

August 2nd, 2009

It’s World Breastfeeding Week! To celebrate, each day this week I’m going to have a breastfeeding-related post.

6 things I dislike about breastfeeding

1) I can’t wear whatever I want. I have to wear clothing that’s easy to whip my breast out of. This isn’t usually a problem, but I do have items where it would be either VERY inconvenient or downright impossible to nurse while wearing.
2) My husband can’t do it instead. Wait, isn’t this one of the things I loved yesterday, that breastfeeding is our special time? Well, there’s still something intensely frustrating about my inability to pump milk (I don’t know if it’s a supply issue, a pump issue, or whether I’m just so uptight about it now that I can’t relax enough for my milk to let down). I want to know that when I find work, my daughter is being fed breastmilk. I worry that she’ll be fed formula. I know it won’t kill her, but I want her to be nurtured by MY body.
3) Sometimes I just want my breasts to be mine again. This rarely crosses my mind, but when I feel this way, it’s in the middle of the night and I am just exhausted. Sometimes she won’t side-latch, so I have to sit up and wait for her to finish, which means less sleep for me. Obviously I can deal with that, but I also sometimes think, “My breasts are nothing but an extension of her mouth,” and it frustrates me.
4) The way my breasts feel after an extended nursing session. “Floppy” doesn’t even begin to describe it. I weep for the perky breasts that I didn’t appreciate. WEEP.
5) When I am engorged and she won’t drink, it’s a horrible feeling. I have these rock-hard LUMPS on my chest that are hot and achy. This is when I can grab the pump, but usually I’m so busy being miserable and trying repeatedly to convince Maia to nurse that I forget.
6) Stretch marks. I don’t think I need to say anything else.

I couldn’t come up with any more things I dislike. What about you?

Tags: breastfeeding
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It Was a Very Good Year @ EverythingMom.com