What does a sugarfree Thanksgiving look like?

I forgot to take pictures of our pie party later in the day (though I did manage to remember the pie and cheesecake crusts), but here is what dinner looked like:

Madi's Brownies

In a food processor, grind until small, but not smooth:
1 cup of pecans
Add:
1 cup of dates
Grind until all pieces are small, but not smooth. Add:
3 Tablespoons honey
Dash salt
2 teaspoons cacao or cocoa or carob (my favorite is mostly 2/3 carob, 1/3 cocoa)
Optional vanilla (vanilla makes it feel oily, but...is super yummy!)
Pulse to mix. Pat into an 8x8 or equivalent pan. Chill in fridge for 20 minutes. May add additional pecans as desired.

Happy Halloween!

We are busy carving pumpkins! This year's pumpkin is Jacklyn, and we are prepping her for our Thanksgiving pie! These little pumpkins (decorated with removable vinyl lettering scraps) will be filled with sweet potato soufflé just before the event. Two events for the work of one!

What does a sugarfree Halloween look like?

Essentially, our is a celebration of family and harvest, like Thanksgiving, but lighter and more playful. Last year we chose our favorite treats, baked and prepared them together, and decorated together. The prep was as fun as the actual event--which was my favorite Halloween yet! Here in the South, we wait until Halloween day to carve the jack-o-lantern, keep him in the fridge when not in use, and steam, purée, and freeze him the next day. My daughter named him Jack, so every soup and sauce he went in was a grateful memorial service. We had our traditional chili and breadsticks dinner and went trick-or-treating! Yes, candy and all! We consider it an open house all our friends and neighbors are giving and go visiting! Later we packed the candy up and donated it. We used to do a "switch witch" or payment option, and that was good for a while, but now we just find a cause. We

are all getting our favorite treats anyway. We usually send it to a foreign country, for some reason that is very satisfying. Some friends had things like chips, stickers, and play dough. Then we returned to our lovely clean and decorated home, light candles, and enjoy our healthy treats to jazz lightly playing in the background.

We always do sesame honey treats. This year we will add chocolate PB Cups and possibly Madi's Brownies. Last year we spent several days experimenting with root beer, seeping dried herbs and infusing sweet elixirs into sparkling water. I was never very satisfied with the results and I finally had to come to grips with the fact that I never liked root beer much even when I did eat sugar, so why would I suddenly love it now? This year I just bought apple cider. Easy! We had apples with date caramels and a veggie tray with homemade ranch dressing. I can't remember what other small items we had. It was so peaceful and fun, though. A great day of family and friends, and the kids didn't even notice they were not eating the candy they were given.

I didn't mention the small accident we had while we were getting our costumes on. I was doing a little princess's hair when I heard a loud noise in the other room. I came into what looked like a murder scene, complete with a pool of blood and bloody handprints, though thankfully no corpse. It looked worse than it was, as head wounds do bleed a lot. I still don't know how he managed it. He has a significant scar on the back of his head, but it didn't slow him down a bit! Our own homemade Halloween scene! After the bleeding slowed down, it could only go uphill from there, right? I was so grateful the evening had a happy ending!

Raspberry Muffins

4 cups whole white wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 cup crushed pineapple with juice
1/3 cup honey or other whole food sweetener
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs or flax eggs
2 cups milk (any kind: cashew, rice, soy, raw)
Pint raspberries, fresh or frozen

Mix flour, soda, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, blend the banana, pineapple, honey, lemon juice, vanilla, eggs, and milk. Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir until just mixed. Stir in the raspberries. Bake in muffins tins at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes.

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Cashew Cream and Skim Milk

We have been using cashew milk for the past couple of months and I really like it, so I thought I would pass the idea along. This recipe here is good if you have a sweet tooth and plan on drinking it, but as I use it to pour on hot cereals or to bake with, I simplified it even further. I soak a cup of cashews for 4-6 hours, blend in a blender it with 5 cups of water for abut 3 minutes till smooth (a Vitamix would need a much shorter time, of course). Pour some of it to fill a quart jar and label it Cashew Cream. Then I add another 2 cups of water to the remaining and blend again, briefly to mix it in. I pour that into another quart jar, maybe add a little water to fill, and label it Cashew Skim Milk. I use the "cream" for my hot cereals or to make dressings or desert toppings and the "skim" to bake with. It separates in the fridge, so I just shake it up slightly before using each time. I don't know why, but the cashew milk makes the yummiest biscuits in the world. My 9 year old is now famous for them!

Cashew Cream and Skim Milk
2 cups cashews, soaked 4-6 hours
5 cups water
2 cups water
Blend cashews and 5 cups water for 3 minutes, set aside one quart, add 2 cups water, blend again. Fill  second batch with additional water to make another quart.

The Power of Positive Parenting

My favorite parenting approach, besides the Book of Mormon, is available free online! It is The Power of Positive Parenting by Glenn Latham. His book, Christlike Parenting, describes the underlying principles through a gospel perspective. Both books are fabulous. American Mothers, Inc. of Utah has used these materials for years. When I was a brand new mom, I met with friends every month and studied these materials, and later as part of the Utah and Alaska state boards. I still feel like they are the best materials available to parents looking for a behavioral description of a spiritual process.

It is awesome that the information is online. I met Latham's wife years ago, inviting me into her home as she offered her husband's books to our chapter of poor college student wives at a discounted rate. He had passed away a few years before, but she was carrying on his work that she felt so strongly and was such a partner in. The book is still for sale here and on amazon. Really, everyone should have this book in their home!

Hand Ground Peanut Butter

Peanut butter! Take peanuts, mash, like a drum, grind, stirring motion, with mortar and pestle. Takes just a minute for a small amount. This amount, about a cup, took about three minutes, but it was coarsely ground, for our oat groats breakfast. When there was just a small amount left, a few quick strokes turned it to fairly creamy goodness. Is this even a recipe? The best foods never are!

Here is our new old fashioned appliance. I told my kids that Adam and Eve probably used this!

What are we reading FOR?

Do we want a reader? Read to your child! A lot! Do we want our child to love reading long term? Mentor them into the love you have for reading: model it, share it. Do we want reading to be an integral part of who they are? Well, you can hardly help it. When we consider how books become part of us, what we read becomes essential, as discussed a couple of weeks ago.

"...to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God." 2 Nephi 9:29

If we read the verse that come just before this one, we will give more careful consideration to the way you teach your child! And yet children are constantly learning, whether we teach them or not--and if we don't teach them, the world certainly will and we will not be happy with the results. Teaching children to hearken to the counsels of God should be the goal of every parent. So, what does this have to do with learning to read? Well, reading, like any tool, can be used for good or for evil.

When my daughter was 2, I started teaching her to read. I taught her mmmmm. I taught her eeeeeeee. I taught her mmmmmeeeeee. ME! It was amazing! She could read! Just a little word, but it was a start. And when she was older, she became a reader. She read first thing in the morning. She read into the night. She read during school time. She read during her free time. But when I found her reading during job time, I put down my foot. Too much reading! Yet, that was just what I had taught her to do! And then we were in the car. I spot a bumper sticker with unsavory words on it. Suddenly realizing that she could read that, I gently press the breaks and change lanes. There was a word I did not want her sounding out. Reading became a burden--not one we were not willing to carry, but a great responsibility, a tool to wield with wisdom. And it starts at day one. Whenever our children are reading, it should be for good, for goodness, to help them become a better person. The years we have when our children are little are so precious, so important, and so short! And excuse me for being blunt, but there are so many books out there written for children that are just not worth reading.

Really good education takes a lot of time, an immensely greater amount of time than the many shortcut versions that pass for teaching, but are really only producing a cheap product in a short amount of time. Any good idea taken out of context is dangerous. Sharing? Good idea! Forcing everyone to share...well, that is another post I will probably never write, but you get the idea. Reading? Good idea IF equal footing is given to what we are reading. The danger is, as the scripture says, that our wisdom is foolishness and we will not profit from it. The blessing, on the other hand, is that our reading can bring us in contact with the greatest minds in history, and even better, the greatest minds in eternity! What an amazing blessing!

Pineapple Salsa

1/2 of one fresh pineapple, diced
1 jalepeno, finely chopped
1/2 onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Salt to taste
Two dashes of black pepper
Parsley, optional
Stir in all ingredients and allow a few minutes for flavors to blend. Serve with chips, pretty served in a half pineapple, as shown in the picture above.

Seek ye out of the best books

Last week I read one of my favorite talks to my children. It is Your Refined Heavenly Home by Douglas Callister. I enjoy the way he illustrates how the very best culture and education the world has to offer has a touch of the divine in it. I keep mulling over the phrase that Pres. McKay was quoted, naming great authors the minor prophets.

I was touched to see the impression it made on my oldest daughter, as she asked for a copy of it. She loves education, and I think opened her eyes to the why of many of the ways of our home. She is very naturally drawn to ennobling thoughts, and I believe she was able to appreciate how this quality in herself is part of her divine makeup.

This is another part of our home that is "sugarfree." While we encourage our children to read every good book, I have worked really hard to build up a library with only the very best books. Since the quantity of books in our house is limited, and there is no other entertainment readily supplied here, this nearly ensures that our kids read a great majority of the books I feel are most inspired! I feel like a book belongs on our shelves if (and only if) it can be read over and over again, each time learning something new. It also needs what I would call a touch of the godly in it. It need to uplift, and also to inspire them to follow Christ. There are a lot of great books out there that should be read. Why waste time with less than the best? Even a few minutes a day with the most civilized minds in history brings out the civilized in everyone, including and perhaps especially mom!

Today I was reading The Journal of John Woolman. He was one of the early advocates of emancipation in the Americas, but this lesson applies to all. He wrote, "All the faithful are not called to the public ministry; but whoever are, are called to minister of that which they have tasted and handled spiritually." My children will be more prepared to minister to more people in more varied circumstances as they spiritually handle the highest and greatest of every discipline, as the best books will multiply their experiences. I am so gratefully for the ennobling books that have come into my life and my home, and the lessons they have and will teach my children!

Coconut Pie with Carmel Syrup

My husband took me to the Bonefish Grill in Destin, FL. While we were there, he ordered a coconut pie. I have been making coconut pie for several months now, but this had a sauce that reminded me of  sweetened condensed milk, like the kind served over flan. My children did some fabulous service for me, pleading for coconut pie when I asked them for requests for a reward. I was happy to grant that, as coconut pie is "as easy as pie," but, really, easier. What is easy about pie? Eating it! We happened to have this variation of a buttermilk syrup in the fridge that my daughter made last time she made pancakes (she is a gifted homemaker), and it was the perfect combination. Here is the recipe!

Easy Coconut Pie

2 C milk             

1/3-1/2 C honey             
 4 eggs          
1/2 C flour        
1 tablespoon vanilla                

1/2 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Blend the above in a blender for 10 seconds. Scrape the sides and blend for another 10 seconds. Add 1 C shredded coconut (I use unsweetened I ordered for amazon) and blend for another 10 seconds. Pour into greased pie pan and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. This pie makes its own pie crust as it cooks!  Drizzle with Carmel Syrup

(Instructions adapted from http://rileyfavoriterecipes.blogspot.com/2013/05/easy-coconut-pie.html

Carmel Syrup 

(This makes a lot of syrup, as in it has lasted our family a month, using it on many breakfasts and desserts)

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups honey

3/4 cup buttermilk (you can culture your own by filling a quart jar with milk and about 1/2 a cup or so of buttermilk...just leave a half cup each time to keep up your culture start)

1 teaspoon baking soda

Stir all ingredients together, and boil for seven minutes.

Which garden will you cultivate?

Someone once asked Dad: But what do you want to save time for? What are you going to do with it? 

For work, if you love that best, said Dad. For education, for beauty, for art, for pleasure. He looked over the top of his pince-nez. For mumblety-peg, if that's where your heart lies.

Quote from Cheaper by the Dozen

I have decided that time is more like a wild garden that needs pruning than a piece of tofu that can be cut into sort of wiggly blocks. Especially when you have children, so many factors really can affect the dynamics of the home. You know how you get on to check facebook and an hour passes even though you know it has only been a few minutes? Time management is so elusive! But anyway, when I have just a few actual set times, like mealtimes and bed times, and letting the rest of the day keep to routines and general guidelines for activities, it seems to work better than trying to schedule every hour for what I want done. So which garden will you cultivate, or, as quoted above, what are you saving time for?

We recently made time in our lives for a kitchen garden. We have tried with varying success in every state we have lived in, but this year the Lord gave me the desire of my heart. Even though I had just had a baby, and things were very busy, everything just worked out. The spot was carved out, soil amended, seeds grown. It was a lot of work, but it has paid off (unlike some other gardens we have tried to grow...) and every morning the harvest seems just right for the needs of the day. I imagined it would be the type if garden where lots of things ripen at once, then nothing for a while, and sometimes that happens, but for the most part, what I harvest that day is eaten that day, and it is enough. It is all that is needed to fill our plates and our hearts. It is a miracle how God chooses to meet the needs of his children and I am very grateful!

Happy birthday watermelon cake

One of my daughters has requested watermelon instead of a cake for several years now. I like this year's version, as it actually looks relatively cake-like. We used toothpicks broken in half to attach the fruit to the sides.

Flax Gel Egg Replacer

I am sure you have heard of replacing eggs with flaxseeds. They are very cool, but this is cooler! normally you grind up flax, mix it with water, and let it sit for 15 minutes while it mucilages. It is used as an egg replacer in every recipe except truly eggy ones like soufflé or quiche. But, it has lots of brown flecks, affecting the texture, it does require a 15 minute head start, plus the ground flax, which I usually freeze to keep some of the nutrients. Well, flax egg gel is even cooler!

This smells delightful!

Boil 1/4 cup of flax seeds in 5 cups of water for 20 minutes. It should boil down to 2 or 3 cups. Than, you strain out the flaxseeds and are left with a lovely egg replacer! Use 3 tablespoons to replace each in baked good (not like quiche or soufflé, of course, but muffins and pancakes and all that). We store our in a jar and write "3 T=1egg" with a permanent marker on the jar. It keeps in the fridge for up to two weeks.

These taste better than eggs, have the same holding powers, but don't change the texture or flavor like flax eggs.

Flax Gel Egg Replacer
1/4 cup flaxseeds
5 cups water

Place flaxseeds in water, bring to a boil and reduce on low for 20 minutes. Strain out and discard flaxseeds. Use 3 tablespoons of gel for each egg. Stores in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Peanut Butter Cookies (with Garbanzo Beans)

I could call these grain-free, sugar-free, vegan bites of peanut delight...but then my kids would never eat them. Which would really be ok, because I love them! Peanut butter cookies were always my favorite growing up, and our vegan friend brought these to my daughter. Do you notice how my best recipes lately have been personally passed to me from other people? What a blessing!

I used a recipe found at Texanerin.com, and for once made no changes. Well, except that I didn't use chocolate chips. There I go modifying again! Check out the original blogged post for tips if you want more info about these. They do require a food processor. Since I donated mine one day when I was attempting minimalism, I used the hand blender (which of course I acquired after I realized I would rather make my own mayo than have only 100 possessions). I suggest the food processor, as the
occasional Garbanzo bean chunk was not husband-approved. The rest of us, however loved the texture.

Peanut Butter Cookies (with Garbanzo Beans)
1 1/4 cups garbanzo beans, or chickpeas, patted dry with a towel(I soaked and cooked mine on low overnight, but canned would be fine)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix all ingredients until smooth with a food processor.  Form into golf ball sized balls. Place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a pizza stone. Flatten lightly, then criss-cross mark with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.

10 ways to spend time with your children

Because I love this talk so much, I am reposting it in full. It explains the essence of my ideals of sugarfree mothering: completely nourishing; requires our full commitment; and entirely devoted to a child's ultimate growth. True love!

Ten Ways to Spend Time with Children
By Pres. Spencer W. Kimball

Mothers in Zion, your God-given roles are so vital to your own exaltation and to the salvation and exaltation of your family. A child needs a mother more than all the things money can buy. Spending time with your children is the greatest gift of all.

With love in my heart for the mothers in Zion, I would now like to suggest ten specific ways our mothers may spend effective time with their children.

Be at the Crossroads. First, take time to always be at the crossroads when your children are either coming or going—when they leave and return from school, when they leave and return from dates, when they bring friends home. Be there at the crossroads whether your children are six or sixteen. In Proverbs we read, “A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame” (Proverbs 29:15). Among the greatest concerns in our society are the millions of latchkey children who come home daily to empty houses, unsupervised by working parents.

Be a Real Friend. Second, mothers, take time to be a real friend to your children. Listen to your children, really listen. Talk with them, laugh and joke with them, sing with them, play with them, cry with them, hug them, honestly praise them. Yes, regularly spend unrushed one-on-one time with each child. Be a real friend to your children.

Read to Your Children. Third, mothers, take time to read to your children. Starting from the cradle, read to your sons and daughters. Remember what the poet said:

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be—
I had a mother who read to me.
(Strickland Gillilan, “The Reading Mother.”)

You will plant a love for good literature and a real love for the scriptures if you will read to your children regularly.

Pray with Your Children. Fourth, take time to pray with your children. Family prayers, under the direction of the father, should be held morning and night. Have your children feel of your faith as you call down the blessings of heaven upon them. Paraphrasing the words of James, “The … fervent prayer of a righteous [mother] availeth much” (James 5:16). Have your children participate in family and personal prayers, and rejoice in their sweet utterances to their Father in Heaven.

Have Weekly Home Evenings. Fifth, take time to have a meaningful weekly home evening. With your husband presiding, participate in a spiritual and an uplifting home evening each week. Have your children actively involved. Teach them correct principles. Make this one of your great family traditions. Remember the marvelous promise made by President Joseph F. Smith when home evenings were first introduced to the Church: “If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them” (James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–75], 4:339). This wonderful promise is still in effect today.

Be Together at Mealtimes. Sixth, take time to be together at mealtimes as often as possible. This is a challenge as the children get older and lives get busier. But happy conversation, sharing of the day’s plans and activities, and special teaching moments occur at mealtime because mothers and fathers and children work at it.

Read Scriptures Daily. Seventh, take time daily to read the scriptures together as a family. Individual scripture reading is important, but family scripture reading is vital. Reading the Book of Mormon together as a family will especially bring increased spirituality into your home and will give both parents and children the power to resist temptation and to have the Holy Ghost as their constant companion. I promise you that the Book of Mormon will change the lives of your family.

Do Things as a Family. Eighth, take time to do things together as a family. Make family outings and picnics and birthday celebrations and trips special times and memory builders. Whenever possible, attend, as a family, events where one of the family members is involved, such as a school play, a ball game, a talk, a recital. Attend church meetings together and sit together as a family when you can. Mothers who help families pray and play together will stay together and will bless children’s lives forever.

Teach Your Children. Ninth, mothers, take time to teach your children. Catch the teaching moments. This can be done anytime during the day—at mealtime, in casual settings, or at special sit-down times together, at the foot of the bed at the end of the day, or during an early morning walk together. Mothers, you are your children’s best teacher. Don’t shift this precious responsibility to day-care centers or baby-sitters. A mother’s love and prayerful concern for the children are her most important ingredients in teaching her own.

Teach children gospel principles. Teach them it pays to be good. Teach them there is no safety in sin. Teach them a love for the gospel of Jesus Christ and a testimony of its divinity.

Teach your sons and daughters modesty, and teach them to respect manhood and womanhood. Teach your children sexual purity, proper dating standards, temple marriage, missionary service, and the importance of accepting and magnifying Church callings.

Teach them a love for work and the value of a good education.

Teach them the importance of the right kind of entertainment, including appropriate movies and videos and music and books and magazines. Discuss the evils of pornography and drugs, and teach them the value of living the clean life.

Yes, mothers, teach your children the gospel in your own home, at your own fireside. This is the most effective teaching that your children will ever receive. This is the Lord’s way of teaching. The Church cannot teach like you can. The school cannot. The day-care center cannot. But you can, and the Lord will sustain you. Your children will remember your teachings forever, and when they are old, they will not depart from them. They will call you blessed—their truly angel mother.

Mothers, this kind of heavenly, motherly teaching takes time—lots of time. It cannot be done effectively part-time. It must be done all the time in order to save and exalt your children. This is your divine calling.

Truly Love Your Children. Tenth and finally, mothers, take the time to truly love your children. A mother’s unqualified love approaches Christlike love.

Here is a beautiful tribute by a son to his mother: “I don’t remember much about her views of voting nor her social prestige; and what her ideas on child training, diet, and eugenics were, I cannot recall. The main thing that sifts back to me now through the thick undergrowth of years is that she loved me. She liked to lie on the grass with me and tell stories, or to run and hide with us children. She was always hugging me. And I liked it. She had a sunny face. To me it was like God, and all the beatitudes saints tell of Him. And Sing! Of all the sensations pleasurable to my life nothing can compare with the rapture of crawling up into her lap and going to sleep while she swung to and fro in her rocking chair and sang. Thinking of this, I wonder if the woman of today, with all her tremendous notions and plans, realizes what an almighty factor she is in shaping of her child for weal or woe. I wonder if she realizes how much sheer love and attention count for in a child’s life.”

Mothers, your teenage children also need that same kind of love and attention. It seems easier for many mothers and fathers to express and show their love to their children when they are young, but more difficult when they are older. Work at this prayerfully. There need be no generation gap. And the key is love. Our young people need love and attention, not indulgence. They need empathy and understanding, not indifference from mothers and fathers. They need the parents’ time. A mother’s kindly teachings and her love for and confidence in a teenage son or daughter can literally save them from a wicked world.

Blessings of the Lord upon Parents

In closing, I would be remiss this evening if I did not express my love and eternal gratitude for my sweetheart and companion and the mother of our six children. Her devotion to motherhood has blessed me and our family beyond words of expression. She has been a marvelous mother, completely and happily devoting her life and her mission to her family. How grateful I am for Flora!

May I also express my gratitude to you fathers and husbands assembled this evening. We look to you to give righteous leadership in your home and families and, with your companions and the mothers of your children, to lead your families back to our Eternal Father.

Now God bless our wonderful mothers. We pray for you. We sustain you. We honor you as you bear, nourish, train, teach, and love for eternity. I promise you the blessings of heaven and “all that [the] Father hath” (see D&C 84:38) as you magnify the noblest calling of all—a mother in Zion. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Date cookies

A friend made these for us. She said:

You get 3 ripe bananas and mash them up.  Then add 2 cups of regular oats, 1 cup of dates, 1/3 cup of applesauce, a dash of salt, and 1 t. vanilla.  Mix all the ingredients together and let it sit for about 10 minutes.  Then drop by spoonfuls onto a non-greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  

We made them, added coconut, cinnamon, and a dash of salt. Super easy and everyone loves them! My mom said she could go sugarfree if she made these occassionally.

Strawberry Pie

INGREDIENTS:
2 (9 inch) pie shells, baked
2 pints fresh strawberries
3 cups white grape juice
2.5 tablespoons cornstarch
2 T gelatin

DIRECTIONS:
In a saucepan, mix together 2cups of the juice and the corn starch; blend corn starch in completely. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Meanwhile, add gelatin to remaining juice and let stand one minute or more. Add gelatin mixture to corn starch mixture and stir until smooth. Place strawberries in baked pie. Pour cooled gel mixture over strawberries. Refrigerate until set.

More defense for wheat

To back my opinion that wheat really is good for you, here is an article stating that it may be the lack of vitamin C (and I insert my own opinion that this is dietary, not supplements) that is causing the body's difficulty with gluten.  Think about it! If we had scurvy, we would probably also be having issues with digesting wheat.  It is probably both more subtle and more involved, but I am sure we would all be happier with a couple of organic oranges added to our day.