Find Your Balance

Baby food is a whole industry. I think it should be called Baby fast food. Because, yeah, every once in awhile you need to just grab food that’s already prepared. I get it.

But surely you don’t eat fast food every day? (Fingers crossed over here.) Why should your baby?

Ok, ok, it’s not like a jar of Earth’s Best prunes is akin to a McNugget. The ingredient lists I’ve read on those jars are pretty darn clean, in fact!

Still. I’d rather not teach Danny that food comes in small jars with colored labels. I want him to see and taste some raw ingredients, see me in the kitchen, listen to the pots bang (and bang on some himself.)

It’s one of my core values, this home cooking thing. In case you hadn’t noticed.

Anyway, this whole idea of giving baby real food seems to confuse a lot of moms. I’ll outright admit that I am not an expert. Danny’s only been eating solids for 5 months. And there is no “right” way to introduce food to your baby.

But here’s a glimpse at some of what he’s been eating and why – and how to prepare it.

I promise it’s not hard. Please share this post with the moms you know – together we’ll change this culture of prepared, processed food! Continue reading »

Blending In Standing Out Teleseminar

Date: February 16, 2012
Time: 8:30pm ET
Location: Wherever you are!
Cost: Free for Mamacoach Circle members, $15 for non-members
Can’t make that time? Sign up anyway – we’ll send a recording to you after the call.

You look familiar.

You are the woman sitting in a food court with a Tupperware container you brought from home carrying brown rice and beans. Or maybe you get a burrito, but tonight you’re definitely having kale for dinner.

No one minded when you started taking yoga at the gym. But then you went and did that expensive teacher training, you bought a neti pot and began seeing an acupuncturist and a Rolfer. Next, a big chunk of your savings account went to holistic nutrition or massage school. You feel amazing and your loved ones appreciate how happy you are.

But now that you’ve chosen to build a business around holistic wellness, everyone thinks you’ve gone off the deep end! Continue reading »

Sweet tastes good. End of story. I’m reminded of this each day when Danny accepts his spinach or his beef but really lunges for his sweet potato. It’s a built-in craving.

Ok, so on that note I was in Target yesterday and decided we probably needed some cookies (oh geez, here we go Michelle). Since I wasn’t going to make it to Whole Foods, I figured I’d see what Target had. Like, a bag of good ol’ Fig Newtons must be fairly natural? Not too many weird ingredients, right?

Wrong! Fig Newtons are made with high fructose corn syrup, as are just about every other cookie on the shelf. Including the homemade-looking Archer brand I almost got fooled into buying. Only Kashi cookies were made with regular sugar.

(Which, of course, does not make them healthy by any stretch of the imagination. But I still bought them. I’m human.)

Anyway, the reason I’m talking about sugar and corn syrup is because we are all human, and we love our sweets. This is a recipe you will therefore love. All 3 of us did!

Cranberry Citrus Quinoa

For quinoa:
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup orange juice
1 cup water
big pinch of salt

2 Tbl. olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
1 cup butternut squash, diced
1 pear, diced
5 oz. fresh cranberries, chopped (although I suppose you could use dried)
1 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
1 handful fresh mint, chopped
1 handful fresh basil, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
Big pinch cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

First, rinse and drain quinoa. Then combine with OJ and water in a pot, bring to a boil and simmer until water is absorbed.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a big pan and add onion. Add a bit of salt and pepper. Cook until translucent. Add squash and pear. Mix and cover until they are soft (about 5 min). Mix in quinoa, then add herbs, lemon, and more salt and pepper.

*At this point, take out a portion for baby and set aside. At least, that’s what I did. Though in retrospect I think he’d have liked the cranberries if they were chopped smaller.*

For the adults, add cranberries, walnuts and cayenne. Mix well.

Serve over cooked or raw greens.

For the record, here are other things that Danny likes to try and eat:
Deodorant, christmas tree ornaments, my leg, the couch, his coat, my nose, the cat’s tail.

You’d think natural selection would have knocked out this dangerous need to eat everything by now! Or else natural selection is what gave mothers eyes in the back of our heads. Sometimes.

There are small moments of the day that are quiet. In that stillness, you can choose to let your mind run at top speed. Or, you can choose to relax and breathe into the space. Notice it. Take it in. Be present. Let it expand until it fills the room, fills your heart.

It’s how I bend time.

Kooky, huh? But it works. My days are “full” of lovely moments: nursing my sleepy son, sitting with my eyes shut and sun shining on my face, sipping hot tea, listening to the birds outside.

In reality, it probably adds up to all of 10 minutes, tops. But nevermind. They are exquisite. The rest of the day, I let all the annoying, stressful nonsense fly by.

Yes, I’m learning to appreciate the simple things.

Like a simple dish of beans, cabbage and potatoes. Continue reading »

This past New Year’s Eve wasn’t quite the drunken, push-your-sorority-sister-home-in-a-shopping-cart type evening I remember from, say, 1999.

It was more of an early affair this year, punctuated by baby’s bedtime and a glass of wine for mom. My husband and I sat on the couch and talked about our favorite parts of 2011. I asked him, what was the best book you read? He thought through the many books he’d gone through, finally choosing one.

He asked me, what about you? What’s the best book you read?

This was an easier question because in 2011 I proudly finished not one, but TWO books. Holy moly, between all the new mama chaos and confusion and sleep deprivation I am proud to say I read two full books cover to cover.

And between them, this was my favorite: How to Get a Grip by Matthew Kimberley

I bought this book because Matthew somehow found me (via Twitter?) after my appearance in Lemonade. And he’s one hell of a hilarious dude, mixing good ol’ smarts and friendliness with a mouth any mother would want to wash out with soap. So he became a friend – a friend who lives in Malta of all places, as if I have any clue where that is – and a friend who published a book. All things considered, I had to read this book so I must have been one of the first 5 Americans who ordered it.

I was going through a fairly rough period.

This book made me laugh.

And laugh.

And shake my head and chuckle and get some friggen perspective on the shit in my life. Continue reading »

Taking Good Care of Business Teleseminar

Date: January 19, 2012
Time: 8:30pm ET
Location: Wherever you are!
Cost: Free for Mamacoach Circle members, $15 for non-members
Can’t make that time? Sign up anyway – we’ll send a recording to you after the call.

Working with other women in the holistic health world, I notice one thing again and again:

We aren’t exactly awesome with money. Continue reading »

Man alive. 2011 was a year I’ll never forget. For those of you who have been following along – thank you, thank you, thank you. For your presence, support, and continuity through a string of changes in my life and business.

Ain’t it funny how much can change, yet inside we’re still the same people?

My husband and I talked about it, and after a really chaotic year we are going to just stay put. Yeah. This year needs to be about stillness. Inertia. Just a wee bit. Gathering ourselves, catching our breath. Watching Danny grow and absorbing it all.

Are you a resolution maker? Regardless, everyone can benefit from a clean slate in different areas of life. A fresh start. Here are a bunch of different ways to go about it. Do something that will feel good, something that makes your heart sing a little zippy tune. Continue reading »

I’ve been reminding and reminding my clients to take time for themselves over the holidays. To not overdo it. To step away from work. To keep it simple.

There’s a saying, “We teach what we need to learn.” It’s so unbelievably true.

In honor of my own restful holidays, this post has been magically pre-programmed to shoot out to the Universe while I am hopefully relaxing with my family and eating something nourishing and simple, like this:

Sweet Potato, Beans & Apples
2 cups uncooked mung beans or lentils
2-3 sweet potatoes, washed and diced (skin left on)
2 peeled and diced carrots
1 onion
1 cup vegetable broth, divided into 2 half cups
2 apples, washed and sliced (skin left on)
1 tsp. dried thyme
approx. 1/2 tsp. salt & 1/4 tsp. pepper

Cook mung beans or lentils by bringing them to a boil with 4 cups of water. Reduce heat and simmer until tender.

Meanwhile, sauté in a pan drizzled with a couple tablespoons of oil over med-high heat: the chopped onion, diced sweet potatoes & diced carrots with salt, pepper & thyme. Cook about 8 minutes. Add 1/2 cup vegetable broth, cover. Reduce to medium heat and cover. Cook about 5 minutes or until carrots and sweet potatoes are tender.

Add mung beans or lentils to sweet potato mixture with the remaining 1/2 cup broth and cover. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Spoon into center of a plate and place fresh cut apple slices around edge of plate.

This dish is high in protein from the beans or lentils – there is no need to add meat. You can add a green salad as a side and this is a complete, satisfying meal. This makes at least 4 generous servings.

Thank you to Joni at Healthybodypeacefulsoul.com for the recipe.

Last week a friend held a Christmas party for all us moms and babies. Holy moly did she put out a spread – probably 15 different hor d’oeuvres and desserts! She had 2 Christmas trees up and decorated, her baby in a holiday onesie, and Christmas stockings filled with gifts for not just the babies but for all us moms, too. Including homemade soap.

It was so sweet, and we had a lot of fun.

But I suspect my lovely friend is not the only among us who is doing, doing, doing this holiday season! (And not sleeping much.)

So, I have to ask.

Is there a way to bring some simplicity in your holidays? Are there some things you don’t have to do? Tasks you could cross off the to-do list? Ideals you can let go of? Emotions you can release? (Oooh I snuck that last one in there. But yeah, the holiday season can bring up a lot of emotions that one might try and subdue with a plate full of brie.)

A lot of people let go of eating healthy food during the holidays.

That’s not the kind of letting go I’m really encouraging. A few straight weeks of eating anything and anything does not pay off in the long run, trust me.

But what if you could eat healthy without cooking a darn thing? Because I know you’re busy. I’m talking about the snack you have before a holiday party. The dinner you grab before heading out for last minute shopping. I know we all will eat some special holiday goodies – and we should! – but you don’t have to make every meal an indulgence.

Here are some quick, no-cook ideas. Continue reading »

Sometimes your day (and by “your day” I mean “my day”) consists of a little boy repeatedly unrolling the toilet paper, pulling stuff out the recycling bin, and methodically removing books from the shelves.

Or maybe you spend too much time on Facebook, too little time doing your hair, too much money on the heating bill and not enough on pedicures.

Perhaps you look in your pantry and see nothing except a bag of lentils.

Then you turn around and the little boy has a piece of kitty litter in his mouth. Again. Meanwhile, the kitty ate some kale out of your shopping bag and proceeded to throw it up all over the white carpet. Also the repair guy never came by like he was supposed to.

Well, shit. You’re not feeling very fancy today, are you?

It’s ok. Fancy is moments away. Continue reading »