Low-Carb Chocolate Coconut Scones

I'm putting this here more for my own records because Josh liked them so much that he doesn't want me to forget the recipe.

1 cup coconut flour

1 cup flax seed, ground

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

¾ to ½ cup xylitol sugar

½ cup coconut oil

5 or 6 eggs

½ cup shredded coconut

½ cup coconut milk (use your judgment)

1 cup kefir (same)

chocolate chips

vanilla

Combine all ingredients and mix until the consistency is fluffy, moist, and thick. Flatten all the dough in a circle on a large cookie sheet, about 1/2 inch high. Bake at 375 until top and edges are browned.

Healthy Cheesecake

Normally, you might not think that the two - "health" and "cheesecake" - could go together. But if you are of the mindset that its carbs, not fat, that make people fat, cheesecake is your dessert of choice. Of course, when you buy it at a resturant, it's junked up with sugar. However, when you make it at home and follow this recipe, you won't be disappointed.

Filling:
1 tub (16 oz.) cream cheese (not the low fat stuff)
1 tub (15 oz) ricotta cheese (not low fat)
4 eggs
about 1/2 cup sugar (I use turbinado)
2 heaping tsps of flour
dash of salt, or two
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest from 1 lemon and a splash of lemon juice

Crust:
1 cup ground flax seeds
1 cup ground or crushed walnuts
1 stick of butter or 1/2 cup coconut oil
sprinkle sugar to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Combine crust ingredients and pat them flat in a cheesecake pan, or a traditional pie pan (if you don't like the consistency, add more flax)
Bake pie crust for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool
Combine pie ingredients. Make sure to use softened/room temp cream cheese and ricotta. Blend all ingredients until smooth.
Pour pie filling into pie crust
Bake for one hour at 350
Pie is done when the top is slightly brown and the center wiggles a little when you move it.
Let cool and serve cold from the refrigerator. 

You can also make a lovely topping for this with berries... I'm serving this for Valentines Day with a sauce of blackberries boiled in a bit of sugar, flour, and lemon juice.

"You have to pick your battles": Or, What chores to give up on as a mom

So I've been thinking that there are certain chores rendered pointless by the presence of small wild animals children in the house. On the top of my list are:

• Cleaning full sized mirrors. It's ok to clean the top 4 feet, but its better to leave the 2 or 3 feet closest to the ground covered in mini hand prints. Something about a clean mirror attracts little paws.
• Organizing the bottom kitchen cabinets. Or putting anything valuable or breakable in them. This is indeed a "pick your battle" situation. Do you want your kid running around, screaming, while you are making dinner, or is it just easier to open that treasure chest Tupperware cabinet and let them go wild?
• Folding any clothes in your kids' drawers. Maybe you are blessed with children who appreciated folded clothes, or maybe you are fortunate to live in a climate where children can go around naked. Neither applies to me. My kids love to empty their clothes drawers. Folding clothes is an exercise in futility in my house.

However, certain chores I have doubled up on since having children. These are easy to list because I do these chores ALL DAY LONG. Not kidding about that.

• Sweeping the floors. Omg, oh my freakin' gosh... I sweep floors all day. Between bread crumbs, chewed up apple peels, milk splatters, I have my vocation cut out for me. The best job prep for being a mom is to have worked custodial in a previous life.
• Picking up toys. Again, unless I want to twist an ankle or break a leg, I have to pick up toys all day long.
• Neatly organizing books on the bottom two shelves. It's an attractive nuisance. Something about "order" prompts my kids to induce instant disorder. So those two shelves are disproportionately empty in my house.
• Keeping the bathroom door shut and the toilet seat down. Joseph has a toilet fetish. I mean, he is obsessed with toilets. And everything that goes in them. And anything he can put in them. I'm sick of fishing him out of the toilet. So out of self-preservation, I've become very good at bathroom etiquette.

I know some of you older and wiser moms are going to suggest that I get my kids to help me. Don't worry! I do. But they are 1 and 2 and there's only so much you can do at that age. How about you? What chores in your house are a loosing battle, and what chores are a daily staple?

Easy, stay-at-home workout

I promised to post doable, family-friendly, time-is-precious workout ideas quite awhile ago. Well, as you can see, it didn't happen because I forgot :)

But between writing up index entries for my latest editing project, I find myself taking a break to move around and work in a few, quick exercises. They're really simple exercises, but great for clearing your head, waking up, or getting your heart rate up.  All the normal disclaimers go along with this. Use common sense. Don't try any of these if you just had a baby, if you're in crutches, or if you're in ridiculously good shape ;)

Easy as 1, 2, 3 circuit

Stretch - First, do a few stretches (your choice) to warm up your arms and chest.
Push-ups - Next, using proper form (suck your stomach in, tighten your legs, keep your butt on level with your back, dropping down so that your arms make an L), do as many push-ups as you can in a minute. That can be 2 or 50, depending your fitness level. If you can't do them on your toes, drop to your knees.
Crunches - Work your abs. You can do leg raises, bicycle crunches, or sit-ups. Again, do as many as you can. Do it until your abs hurt. Try to keep it up for at least 1 minute. It takes a lot more movement to tire out your abs.
Cardio - Your choice. For 1 minute, do high knees, jump rope, jumping jacks, butt kicks, running in place, or some combination thereof (listed in order of difficulty). It's hardest if you stick to one move for the whole minute. Don't cheat and stop during that minute. 
Take a minute break to stretch and move around. Then repeat the circuit at least one more time, and then as many times as you feel like (or don't!).

missed me?

Haha! "How can I miss you if you never go away?" So says my dear husband to me on occasion. Well, I've been busy. My kids are getting bigger and naughtier, my editing business has been keeping me occupied, and what would happen to Facebook if I wasn't there to monitor it? Anyway, there you have it.

But I wrote a guest post for Natures Dose, an excellent, whole food blog run by a friend of mine. Check it out and be sure to read her other articles about whole food supplements, B Vitamins and much more. Here it is! http://www.naturesdose.com/natural-beauty-solutions-from-your-kitchen/

Falling off the wagon

Well, I certainly have fallen off the proverbial blogging wagon. Everything is fine, nothing life changing or catastrophic has occurred. I just got busier than usual and unfortunately, when you take a break from blogging, it's hard to get back to it. Kind of like when you don't talk to a friend for awhile and then there's that awkward, "getting to know you" again stage. But the longer you put it off, the harder it is to start.

So let's play catch up. First the kids. Greta is 2 and a half now. She talks more than ever and she never misses a thing. Words can't describe her and I'm too tired right now to try harder :) Joseph will be one year old next month. He just started walking this week and it's my prediction that he will never stop moving once he really gets going. He is such a tough, happy-go-lucky character. And he loves his mommy. His mommy loves him... except during those three times a night when he insists in waking up to nurse. I'm often as tired as I was when I had a newborn. Please God that this will end soon.

As for myself... well, I traveled a lot in October. Went with some friends to their "cabin" (if that place was a cabin, our house is a trash can) in Colorado. Just for the record, that is a very beautiful state! Then we went to Phoenix for a weekend with my mom, who'd come out to visit for a week. I flew home to Ohio with my mom and the kids. Ohio was lovely... exactly as I left it. Cold, grey, rainy, and I felt so at home in it. Seeing my siblings again was a treat. What I really miss about living far away from family is how much your family loves your children and how much joy you, as a parent, get from seeing your children loved as no one else could love them. After two weeks, I flew back with my dad and the babies. Words fail when I want to talk about how much I detest flying with the kids. Needless to say, we survived and had a delightful, but short visit with my dad here in NM. He left on Monday and I've been trying to get back to normal for the past week. It's odd how two weeks away from your husband will leave you with a period of adjustment... of getting used to each other again. I missed him. But he used wisely our time away and did lots of work on the house.

In my spare time (say, what?), I've been starting an online editing business. It's been fun to get back to the academic field. I edit college papers, some scholarly work from grad school acquaintances, and books from colleagues and former professors. Check it out if you're interested. MRS Editing

That's about it, friends. Show some love so I have more encouragement to keep this up :)

Coming soon!!

No, not a new baby... yet!

So. For you avid follower who was so concerned about my lack of sleep. Thank you. I'm happy to tell you I have a solution. Not a great one. But creative... at least, as creative as a sleep-deprived mother of two little children can be.

You've heard, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em?" That's what I'm going to do. I have a scheme (worked for 2 days so far) that pumps me up with as much adrenaline as my bouncy morning children (who are not so bouncy or joyful any other time of the day. Want to be awake to appreciate their over-abundance of zeal at the prospect of a new day).

Interested yet? First of all, credit where credit is due. This isn't an original idea. I got part of it from my highly motivated mom friends who wake up early and do things before their kids take over. I admire and respect that. But somehow, it doesn't work for me. I want to sleep, dammit! But if I have to be awake, I don't want to feel like absolute crap, as I do most days.

Ok, here it is. After a two day trial period, I found that I can speed up the waking up process by at least 2 hours if I do 5 minutes worth of some cardio exercise before breakfast. Just 5 minutes! Greta loves it. "Work out, Mamma?" as she stuffs her breakfast in her mouth. Joseph is highly intrigued by the sight of his pajama-ed Mamma jumping around, as he does his best to provide her with an obstacle course.

Once I set a date with my videographer (husband), I will put together my routine. It's made up of 10 easy, uncomplicated moves that you do for 30 seconds each. I'll do a few stretches for a minute or two, and then start the circuit. It definitely gets your heart rate up, maybe break a tiny sweat, but no doubt about it, you WILL be awake after this! 5 minutes... your coffee takes that long to brew. It's so worth it.

So check back later for the list of exercises and how to do them.

My baby has regressed

Dear Joseph! He really is quite a kid. He's nine months old now and just an adorable child. He has a big, full-faced grin that lights up a room. He has twinkly hazel eyes and curly lashes. His hair has the dearest way of growing in wisps over his forehead. His chin is as prominent as his nose. While I call Greta a "sturdy girl," I call Joseph a "wiry boy." He is longer and much thinner than Greta ever was, but he is strong. So strong! If he's not pulling himself up on something, he's pulling something down. And he's fast. He comes at you across the floor like a bulldozer, ready to take on anything in his path.

In anyone else's world, I'm sure he would rank as an "easy baby." From 0 to 8 months, he really was. Just a happy, loveable, contented little soul. But something's gotten into him recently. Perhaps it's because I'm so tired to begin with and because my attention is divided between two babies, but I've found myself so angry and frustrated with Joseph. He's stopped sleeping well at night.

He acts like a newborn... from what other people tell me. I was blessed with two very good newborns so I'm spoiled. But he is up several times a night to nurse and I'm having the hardest time falling back to sleep while he's nursing. I'm pretty sure Greta did something similar, but the key difference is that Greta would sleep indefinitely as long as I was nursing her. So we'd sleep in until 9 or 10 am. Not Joseph! He could audition to be someone's rooster based on how punctually he wakes up and crows. By 6:30 am, he is up. Not just up, but up and ready to play. It infuriates him to no end if his parents (what else are they supposed to be doing?) are not up and moving about or playing with him. We've tried a lot of things. But he's a smart kid (did I mention that?) and knows when he is being thwarted. If we put him on the floor to play in his toybox, he pulls on the sheets of the bed and yells until someone picks him up. If he was a dog, I'd give him away at that point. Fortunately for him, he isn't. His latest stunt is to stand on our pillows (or heads) and look out the bedroom window, which is at the head of the bed. He LOVES that window. He yells at the neighbors, the trees, whathaveyou for minutes at a time.

Any ideas? I need more sleep. The lack thereof is making me hate my life.

Movie Review: Yanks

Another WWII movie. I'm rather on a WWII-themed-movie-with-girls-no-fighting kick. This one is about American soldiers (Yanks) stationed in England prior to being deployed to fighting on the continent. It follows roughly two romantic interests between American soldiers and English women. The one story of Vanessa Redgrave and William Devane was so-so. God! William Devane is one ugly SOB and he practically ruined the movie for me. I almost had to look away when he showed up or worse yet, opened his mouth to start romancing Vanessa Redgrave. Men that ugly should not be cast in romantic roles. It wasn't just his looks that I had against him. I disliked him for his home-wrecking abilities and his overall "skeeziness" of character. What lovely Vanessa Redgrave saw in him, I have no idea.

The other couple was Robert Gere and Lisa Eichorn. Adorable. She is SO gosh-darn lovely. I want to look like that when I grow up. Their relationship was much more edifying.

Overall, it was a pretty sappy, slow-paced movie with very little to stir the mind. However, it was a good story for a tired evening and the acting was pretty decent. With the exception of William Devane. Lord spare me another movie starring him! Unless he's the villain who dies early on.

Movie Review: The War Bride

This Canadian made movie really stuck in my mind. Set during WWII, it chronicles the story of a Canadian soldier who meets and marries an English girl. She gets pregnant. When he is sent abroad to fight, she goes to Canada along with all the other English "war brides" for safe-keeping. She ends up out on a prarie in Alberta. Her in-laws don't like her, but she keeps up her spirit and suffers through.

I liked this movie. The main actress was really good. She is kind of person I might like to meet sometime. It isn't a fast-paced movie or particularly stirring. But it was at the level of an intelligent chick flick.

My online book review

This was part of why I started a blog. I read constantly and I wish I remembered half of what I read. I would like to use some of the information I garner from reading in my future home-schooling pursuits, so with that in mind, I want to write a short synopsis or review of each book I read. These are going to be pretty rough and blunt because it's more for my records than for my readers' edification. Read on at your own risk! :)

Four Stories by Sigrid Undset

Writing in the early half on the 20th century, Sigrid Undset is a Norwegian author most famous for "Kristen Laveransdatter" (or so she was at my college). Her stories deal much with Catholicism in the world as exemplified in peoples' lives. Her portrayal of a life with faith is neither saccharine nor idealistic. In fact, it is often painfully realistic.


Four Stories is collection of 4 of her short stories set in modern times. The themes deal with loneliness in the single life, notions of home and children, the strange relations between men and women, and the futile hopes and aspirations of the average person. Really, they are rather depressing. But very poignant and thought-provoking. Reading them, you truly realize that every person is a mystery both to themselves and to those around them.

I would reread this.

Remembering

How do all of you more organized mommies keep track of your kids' memorable moments and funny stories? I had this grandiose idea of writing them all down in a baby book (diary). But this didn't work out. I'm horrible at journaling these days because it takes a lot time to sit down and handwrite anything. I've put off writing them digitally because I'm afraid the computer will one day devour all my memories in one mega-crash. So all my baby-lore is currently being filed mentally in this momma's head. As you can guess, this data storage base quickly goes into overload because of all the information it processes in a given day. Hence, I deem it an unreliable source.

My solution has been to open two Word documents - one entitled "The Book of Greta: 2 Years" and the other, "The Book of Joseph: The First Year." I keep them easily accessible on my computer and when something funny or memorable happens to one of the kids, I type it up in my "baby book." I will print these out and put them in binders for posterity or to humiliate the kids later in life.

So what do you do along these lines or would like to do? I could use ideas.

Oh, what to do when your child is two!

The "Terrible Twos," like many stereotypes, has been a bit overrated in my world. I actually like my two year old. (knock on wood) She is sweet, responsive, obedient, caring, understanding, and a whole lot of other things that I wish I was. (KNOCK ON WOOD) I keep trying to decide what exactly is supposed to be so bad about 2 year olds. Probably the fact that they understand so much, and yet are not quite capable of expressing all that they understand. Well, being the first time mother of one two-year-old girl, I can't speak with any confidence about patterns in childhood behavior. What I did want to share is my own experience with my 2 year, 4 month old daughter.

Truth be told, I LOVE Greta at this age. Totally my favorite age so far. She really is my little buddy at home. We are together all day long and I find myself looking forward to seeing her in the morning when she wakes up and after her afternoon nap. In between, she is generally very good and very busy. She really isn't a needy child. We've always let her and Joseph entertain themselves, so it's typical to see Greta sitting on the floor, reading a book to herself. Or she will be in the bedroom, periodically rearranging my underwear drawer. Or she finds her puzzles and puts them together (after a fashion). Or I'll find Joseph and Greta together, playing some game where Greta makes a funny noise and Joseph shrieks with laughter.

The real purpose of this blog post, however, was to talk about the ways I found to amuse Greta and teach her at the same time. I very much agree with Like Mother, Like Daughter that kids thrive on being useful. With that in mind, I try to include Greta and Joseph in my daily housekeeping activities. The down side of this is that you have to everything very slowly. If you're like me and used to doing 5 things at once and very quickly, this change of pace can be agonizing until you realize that you are not only doing laundry - you are teaching your child about colors. So you're really still multi-tasking :)

It seems to me that the developmental stage Greta is at now includes learning colors, learning commands, learning to identify objects, and learning to count. With that in mind, I try to incorporate these activities into whatever chore I'm doing. Here are a few ideas. Feel free to share your own. I'm always looking for more.


Washing dishes (she's sitting on a high stool next to the sink with me):
"Greta, pick up a fork, please."
"Greta, please put the cup on dishtray."
"Greta, where is the orange cup?"

Putting away dry dishes:
Hand her a  bowl and show her the shelf it goes on.
Sort spoons and forks (usually ends up messier than we started)
Hands me plastic cups/bowls, etc. from the dishwasher or dish tray.

Laundry (the best chore ever!)
Greta carries her little laundry basket to the laundryroom.
Greta sits on top of the dryer, while I hand her clothes, ask her who they belong to, ask her what color they are, and she drops them into the washer.
I pass clothes to Greta, who puts them in the dryer.
After a fashion, Greta hangs up small items on the drying rack.
Folding - not really! Greta passes clothes to me, tells me whose they are, and I tell her what they are ("Mommy's red shirt", "Daddy's brown shorts"). Not much folding gets done because Greta has to "fold" too. I've given up on having drawers of folded clothes. My kids are far too fond of reorganizing our drawers.

Making dinner:
Greta tells me, or I tell her, what vegetables and meats we are preparing.
Greta shreds lettuce, spinach, or kale.
With a dull butter knife, Greta will "chop" zucchini.
Greta will put vegetable parings in the trash (very useful skill and pretty time consuming).

Grocery shopping:
We shop at our local co-op for veggies, and the small size of the store makes it very kid friendly. Joseph sits in the cart, while Greta walks next to me.
I tell Greta what fruit or veggie we are buying. I hand it to her, while she counts them and puts them in a plastic bag.
I'll hand her milk or yogurt to put in the cart, and she tells me what they are.
When she takes things unasked off the shelf, I teach her the oh-so-useful skill of "put it back, please."

Tidying the house:
Pretty self-explanatory. I ask Greta to put a specific object away in a specific place. It doesn't work to tell her to "pick up your toys" because her attention span isn't very long, and I believe in asking for smaller tasks that she is more likely to succeed at. So I ask her to put her doll in her room, or to put her puzzle on the table. Then I thank her and ask her to do something else (or finish it myself).

Watching younger siblings:
Greta is invaluable. Joseph is almost 9 months and at an age where he is very entertained by faces and by interesting objects. If he's crying while I'm in the middle of something, I ask Greta to bring him a toy, talk to him, read to him, turn his music on. She never fails to quiet him (at least for awhile!). When he wakes up in his crib and begins to cry, Greta is the first to tell me "baby cryin'!" after which she runs to the room and climbs in the crib with him. Which invariably causes him to cheer up.

My general observations about my two year old are:
Kids at two are very eager to do things.
They understand way more than they can communicate.
They learn very quickly if they aren't overloaded with information.


My reciprocal action as a mom is to:

- Offer lots of opportunity to learn small, everyday living skills.

- Speak distinctly and clearly. I have a natural slur or accent where I drop "g's" as in "stayin' " or "goin' ". When Greta talks now, I hear this repeated back to me. Uh oh!
- Don't say things you don't want your kids to say. Case in point, I cuss when I'm stressed. Result? Greta may or may not occasionally say "sh*t" when she drops something. It's since been changed to "shoot", but still....!
- Be very patient. You aren't actually going to get much help from your kid at this age. Any help you do get will be because of lots of patience and work on your part. But the point isn't to have help... yet! The idea is to start teaching your child skills that will help them in daily living and help you around the house eventually. Why? Because they really want to learn now and they enjoy it. What's there to lose? Chores done and children amused.

Thank you, God...

for my wonderful family. For Josh, his constant, patient love. His perpetual sense of humor. His genuine care and devotion to our children. For the way he loves me on my bad days. The way he puts up with my overabundant energy and need to improve everything. His smile, his little gestures of affection and concern for me. For his hard work and motivation to support our family and give us the best life possible. Thank for you for those little babies of ours. Thank you for Greta's cheeriness. The way she greets every day with enthusiasm and joy. For her protectiveness and care towards her little brother. For her love for me and the way she never fails to cheer her mommy up when I'm having a rough spot. For the adorable way she wipes Joseph up when he's dirty, without being asked. For her independence and interest in everything. Thank you for Joseph. His beautiful smile that never fails to wipe away my impatience. For his strength and inquisitiveness. For his health and good appetite.

Thank you, God, for all the family and friends who have blessed our home with their presence in the past 9 months. I know I've complained a lot about the "invasion" but I am and will be forever grateful for the ability to share our family's joys with others. Thank you for the love and care they have shown my children and myself. Thank you for this wonderful life and help me to always appreciate it. Help me to find small things in which to rejoice, whenever I'm in the midst of stress or frustration.

This is not to say I'll never complain again, but it's good to remind yourself once in a while to "count your blessings."

Much Ado about Nothing

I was having a conversation with a friend recently in which she chided me for belittling what I consider my "problems." That was nice of her. It's always nice to hear that your struggles are neither as big or as insignificant as you'd be inclined to think. However, it touched a chord with me because I live in this perpetual state of thanking God that my issues aren't worse than they are, while occasionally feeling completely overwhelmed and unappreciated. Sound familiar?

With that fine warm-up, you must be on tenderhooks to know what I'm talking about. Ah, sorry to let you down. It's not that exciting. I am just so sick and tired of having people live with us. We have had one family member or another or several living with us since Thanksgiving of last year. I'm normally a pretty hospitable person. I love having people over and around. But I like them to all go home at a certain time. I'm neither an extrovert nor an introvert. I get energy from being around people, but I also get the energy to socialize from being at home and by myself. The problem with perpetual houseguests is that you can't really get away from them. For any of my readers who may have been a houseguest, no offense. I'm not talking about anyone in particular, just everyone in general. Besides, none of my family reads this blog anyhow :)

However, the good news is that the last of the Mohicans goes home this weekend!!! For the first time in 9 months, it will be just Josh, Maria, Greta, and Joseph here. I can't even imagine what it will be like. I suspect it will be a combination of honeymoon and sheer boredom. But I think I can deal with that. Yes, I can definitely deal with having the freedom to walk around in my pj's if I want to, let the kids cry once in a while without feeling guilty that someone else has to listen to them, not prepare dinner on time, not feel guilty about feeding people leftovers, not feel like the house has to be 100% tidy 100% of the time, have a good argument with Josh and not worry about possible scandal to possibly scandalizeable ears... oh, the freedoms we take for granted until we lose them!

Summer Goodness of the Edible Variety

I don't know about you, but I hate eating when it's hot outside. Cooking the necessary three meals a day turns into an hour long trip to purgatory. Not only is cooking unenjoyable, but my appetite is off. A while back, my friend Sarah over at The Happy, Resourceful Home posted some smoothie recipes. I liked the idea but never went anywhere with it because frankly, I'm terrified of my blender. Thank my mom for this - I have this subconscious fear that I will forget to unplug the blender and chop my finger off, electrocute myself, or accidentally grind up my wooden stirrer. Oh, and to add to all that, I'm scared of cleaning it, too. Those blades! Way too close a proximity to my fingers. Well, the happy end to this story (and the purpose of this post) is that I overcame my fear of blenders (small round of applause) and am smitten with a smoothie-making craze.

Smoothies are the BEST way EVER to eat lots of veggies and fruits and never know it! For those of you with kids... I have never cajoled Greta into eating so much spinach except under the guise of a spinach-strawberry-banana smoothie. So get out your blenders, clean them up, hit the grocery store for a refridgerator's worth of fruits and veggies, and get ready for summer smoothies.

First of all, basic smoothie making techniques. I credit a few of these to Sarah. Start by blending your softest and wettest ingredient first or your blender will jamb. So start by adding your yogurt, coconut milk, fruit juice and blending that with the next softest ingredient (usually bananas or spinach). Next add your harder ingredients, like berries. Then put in the apples, carrots, pears, etc. If you like a really smooth smoothie (i.e., no chunks or grittiness), blend all this together on the "liquify" setting until the consistency is as you desire. Last of all, add your ice to taste and blend it on the "chop ice" setting. If you "liquify" the ice, it melts and your smoothie becomes watery.

All-purpose smoothie:

* As many handfuls of spinach as you want to stuff in your smoothie maker (spinach has next to no flavor and practically dissolves in the blender.
* A ripe banana or two
* Strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries; or peaches, nectarines or plums
* A serving of whole milk, unsweetened yoghurt or a cup of unsweetened kefir AND/OR
* A cup of coconut milk if you want to make the smoothie lactose-free
* A teaspoon of honey (Optional)
* About 2 handfuls of ice cubes.

Blend the yoghurt, kefir or coconut milk with the spinach. I usually use the "chop ice" setting or the "pulse" setting. Add the bananas. Add the berries. Add the honey. Blend on the "liquify" setting for a few seconds. Add the ice and let the machine pulse until the ice is blended. Pour into cups and enjoy!

Breakfast smoothie:

Just tried this out today and it was a hit with the husband. You can add whey protein or some sort of protein powder if you like that stuff. I can't stand the taste :) With this one, unless you don't mind gritty carrots in your smoothie, you should leave the blender on the liquify setting for longer before adding the ice.

* 1 cup yoghurt
* half a cup coconut milk
* 1 banana
* 1 chopped up apple
* 2 chopped up carrots
* 1 teaspoon of honey
* a pinch of cinnamon
* ice cubes to taste

Adults only smoothie:

* Simply Lemon lemonade, about half a cup
* lots of berries, raspberries, blueberries or strawberries are good
* chocolate syrup to taste
* a shot or two or three of rum
* ice
It's also called a daquerie :)

MIA

MIA... you know, "missing in action." For me, not in the military sense, but in the literal. I have quite literally disappeared these past few months into the never ending action of summer living. Oh, there's so much that has been going on here lately and therefore, that much more to blog about if I can just kick the writer's block.

So where to start? It might be helpful to recall where I left off, but it's been that long that I no longer remember. But as you all know, lack of a good or coherent topic has never stopped me from writing, so here goes. Let's see... so from about December when Joseph was born, to March, I went through some pretty awful postpartum blues. I wouldn't go so far as to call it depression, but it was bad enough. Then I remembered my chiropractor back in Ann Arbor, Michigan and gave her a call. She is also a naturalist doctor and had given me some very helpful supplements after I had Greta. This time around she ran a few tests and determined that my hormone levels were non-existent and I was deplete in all sorts of minerals, all of which indicated a thyroid problem. The happy part of the story is that the supplements she prescribed worked in weeks and thank God! I've been alive ever since then.

What happens when this girl's energy level is normal? Stuff gets done :) I've spent the last month or so making a home in my front yard. When we first moved here, it was a very nice yard for old people, which makes sense as the previous owners were in their 80's. However, the over-abundance of red gravel and pinon bushes were neither friendly to plant nor family life. A good part of May I spent hauling gravel out of the yard. Even now, I shudder when I see a yard full of gravel. I HATE GRAVEL. There. That feels much better. Moving on.... Then Josh and I dug out the pinon bushes and put in a patio area. I dug out a garden plot in front of the patio. I bordered off areas along the fence in preparation for privacy bushes. We built a dog kennel and fenced out our neighbor's yard. After gravel, I hate that neighbor. But that will be a story for another post. The fun really began when we planted tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash in the garden; lilacs and honeysuckle bushes, along with irises and day lilies went along the fence line. Just within the past two weeks, we laid sod. Out here they call it sod. What it is back home is beautiful, beautiful green grass. It ranks as child abuse to deprive kids of grass to run, play and tumble in. I tell Josh we "did it for the kids" when really (as he knows, I'm sure) we put in grass so this Ohio girl won't feel quite so desert bound. The grass really is beautiful. Whatever unhappiness I'm feeling just vanishes when I'm in my yard, watering things, hoeing things, planting things... but never weeding things. Unless it's a thorny, pokey plant, I leave all living green things to grow. After all, it's a veritable miracle that they grew in my yard at all.

Joseph has just saved you all from further ramblings about my garden. Lucky for you :)

Jillian Michaels, Part 2

Back in March, I wrote a post talking about three of the Jillian Michaels workout dvds that I had been using up to that point. Since then, however, I've acquired three more and wanted to make my first post a little more comprehensive.

Yoga Meltdown consists of two workouts, each 30 minutes long. Level 1 is a little easier and involves yoga moves that are traditionally done lying on a mat... camel, that impossible pushup, downward dog. True yoga gurus aren't going to like this dvd because, as Jillian puts it, it is a "hybrid yoga." Instead of only holding static poses, Jillian incorporates cardio with the moves. I enjoy it. When I need a quieter, more relaxed workout, I use this dvd. It's still a workout. The static poses really work your legs, shoulders and abs. I do think that it is more effective if you already know yoga and understand the breathing techniques.

Shred -It with Weights is Jillian's kettlebell workout. The tutorial is very important here. Kettlebells are to weight lifting what sprint workouts are to running. Instead of slowly lifting weights, you use your own body weight, the speed of the moves, and the momentum of that speed to lift heavier weights. The effect is that you introduce more cardio to the action. This workout also consists of two workouts, each thirty minutes, and each of different difficulty levels. The second level introduces more jump-training (plyometric) moves to the workout, upping the intensity. The caveat is that an adjustable kettlebell such as JM uses is expensive. The good news is that you can use a 3 to 8 lb. weight and get pretty much the same effect. Because you use momentum to lift the weight, you can start with a weight heavier than what you would normally curl. I typically use 5 lbs. for all the workouts, but for this one, I use 8 lbs.

6 Week Six-Pack follows the same format as the above two. I like this one a lot. My crazily athletic sister also does, too, and if you know how crazily intense she is about running and soccer, you'll know this is a compliment to this workout. This dvd aims at shredding weight and toning your mid-section. There is a lot cardio, which consists of plyometrics and plank-style moves. These are interspersed with ab-specific moves, like bicycles, crunches, leg lifts.

Joseph is teething!

And my life is about to end... or at least, the happy-newborn-infant part of it. Enough said. More later. Uggghhhhh!