whole grains
Betsy is the first of our MamaCoach Bootcamp troopers I’m highlighting this summer – she rocks and so do her simple, delicious recipes. So get to know Betsy, and get to know her yummy summer wheat berry salad (recipe below).
Tell us a bit about yourself and your business.
I am a busy mama to an active 17 month old toddler, Madilyn. I am married to my best friend, Brian. We are celebrating our 5 year anniversary on June 3rd. We survived! We live in the Pittsburgh, PA area. I help busy mamas like me find the time for themselves, make themselves a priority for a change as well as get them out of the McDonald’s drive-through and get back in the kitchen making real food. I love taking my clients on grocery store tours as well as making food planning and shopping a breeze through meal plans.
Hear that, Pittsburgh folks? Betsy will help you grocery shop your butt off!
Working with busy moms, the area I find that is the most important thing to focus on is re-learning how to make mama a priority again after years of self-neglect. The transformation is amazing. Once mama makes herself a priority again, it seems like the rest follows suit: eating better, exercise, reduced stress, etc. Being a mom is a damn hard job. Self-care is crucial. “When mama isn’t happy the whole family isn’t happy!”
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June 3rd, 2011 | recipe, vegan, vegetarian, whole grains | 12 Comments »
Welcome to 21 Days of Detoxing! Whether you are one of our amazingly motivated participants or just interested in eating clean, whole, real food – boy do I have some recipes for you! From now ’til May 21st I’ll be featuring a delicious detox-friendly recipe each day. (And if you want to join in and get the whole detox manual, cookbook and access to our online forum, it’s ok to start a few days late – click here and sign up!)
When I asked my friends for some great detox-friendly recipes I knew I get a bunch of quinoa dishes. See, health nuts love quinoa. We also like flaunting how we know how to pronounce it (Keen-wah). But regular people like it too, that’s the good news! Wondering if your toddler will eat this stuff? I bet she will. What about your brother, husband or father? Yup, just tell them it’s like rice.
And it is. Like rice, I mean. Except more nutritionally dense, with a significant amount of protein. Now you can buy it in boxes at the grocery store, but it’s much cheaper in bulk bins at Whole Foods or your local natural food store. Cook it, sprout it, or just look at it – quinoa’s pretty neat.
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May 4th, 2011 | 21 Days of Detox Recipes, recipe, vegan, vegetarian, whole grains | 7 Comments »
I must have been lugging the drying rack full of cloth diapers out into the backyard when I spotted these beauties. They kinda stopped me in my tracks – something so simple and pretty, so effortless. They’d just appeared out of nowhere.
Stopped. Smiled. I might have even taken a deep breath.
Been kind of crazy around here, if just in my mind. I don’t know, something about a newborn keeps a mom on the edge of her seat. At least this mom. I’ve been appreciating more than ever the small things that bring a smile in between feedings, crying fits and poopy diapers.
A hot shower. A cup of tea. Gorgeous flowers in my neglected backyard. Mmmm.
And this. Popcorn.
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April 20th, 2011 | frugal living, happiness, quick and easy, recipe, spring, vegan, vegetarian, whole grains | 9 Comments »
I was inspired by a Whole Foods flyer. Sure, they’re pushing their new grass-fed beef offering, and I think that’s great. But truth be told, this is one of those recipe formulas you can use with any protein (ground chicken, crumbled tofu or tempeh, beans) and any vegetable/seasoning combo.
Meaning, tuck this one in your back pocket and you’ll never be lost for a quick, healthy, homemade dinner idea. S-weet.
Here’s the formula:
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April 10th, 2011 | quick and easy, recipe, whole grains | 8 Comments »
Recently I joined a local buying club for grassfed beef, pastured chickens, eggs and the like. Food comes fresh from a nearby farm each week and we pick up our orders at a member’s house. How cool is that? Here I am, a stone’s throw from a major city yet able to source food from a sustainable farm.
Excellent.
I suggest you look into something similar in your area. Just start talking to people, asking questions, and meeting more like minded folks. The secret of farm fresh food will reveal itself. And if that doesn’t work, check out localharvest.org or realmilk.com to see what they’ve got for ya.
This week I got bacon, ground beef, 2 dozen eggs and pork chops.
My mom used to bake breaded pork chops with Italian style breadcrumbs from the grocery store. They were always soggy. To be honest, I didn’t know what on earth I was going to do with mine, but I’ll be damned if I let such fine pork result in sogginess! I tapped into one of my favorite cookbooks for an idea. Voila! A few tweaks and I had my very own super crunchy, delicious pork chops. The secret? Homemade breadcrumbs.
Dude, I don’t care if you’re making pork or fish or tofu or zucchini. Bread it with this. You’ll thank me.
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March 30th, 2011 | groceries, recipe, whole grains | 9 Comments »
Disclaimer: it isn’t really a cobb salad. I just looked at my husband while we were eating this delicious meal and asked, “What would you call it?”
To be honest I have no idea where this recipe came from. Wait, yes I do! I was trying to create a protein-rich meal on the cheap. I wanted it to include animal protein, but not at the cost of a grass-fed steak or anything like that.
No, this wasn’t our weekend Valentine’s Dinner. (Note obligatory Valentines reference.) Though I got a little creative with the plating as if I were serving something fancy!
Have I mentioned how expensive groceries are in D.C.? Seriously. We lived in Boston, not Kansas. I did not expect the prices to go up as we moved south. Everything is more expensive here, even parking meters. My penny-pinching grocery moves have definitely come in handy.
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February 14th, 2011 | frugal living, groceries, organic, recipe, Washington D.C., whole grains | 15 Comments »
New and exciting around here includes: Ikea baby curtains and a fresh batch of Laborade prepped for the big day. We also recently got our co-sleeper set up, which I happily found on CSNstores.com and had delivered. (Have you shopped there? From baby stuff to Delsey luggage, they have pretty much everything.) But the coolest and newest thing to happen around here is that I baked bread with beans! Yah!
No, not bread and some beans on the side. Bread WITH beans. In it.
I guess I was inspired by trying to eat more protein, period. Growing a baby requires mad amounts of protein. But I wanted bread. Augh. What to do, what to do?
It got me wondering, could I cram some protein into bread the way I cram protein into cookies?
Sure can.
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February 3rd, 2011 | baking, beans, frugal living, recipe, whole grains | 17 Comments »
It’s baking time! Based on survey results I’m entirely making up, half of you are in the kitchen today covered in flour. Yay! What a fun time of year.
Baking Christmas cookies is not just about the cookies for me. I only bake my grandma’s cookies, and I only do it because Christmas doesn’t feel the same without her around. Ok, ok, I also do it because I LOVE cookies. But the best part is carrying on the traditions I remember from childhood.
Of course, I make some teensy changes to the recipes. If I’m going to eat a boatload of cookies, they need to be closer to real food – meaning whole grains and natural sweeteners. But honestly, I’ve found that using whole ingredients lends a more full bodied flavor to baked goods. White sugar is a hit of sweet on your tongue like cocaine to the brain! But pure maple syrup has true flavor. Think about it.
By the request of one of my friends, here are some tips for upgrading your holiday baking. Depending on how tied you are to the outcome, you might tentatively adjust the flours and that’s it. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous you can completely recreate your holiday favorites. It’s fun!
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December 21st, 2010 | baking, Sugar, try new things, whole grains, winter | 13 Comments »
Clearly I’m on some kind of a breakfast kick lately. Which is odd because I’m really picky about breakfasts. For awhile, all I ate was porridge made from quinoa or millet or teff – all of which make a fantastic meal – but we need variety, right? Read on for one of my cereal picks and a chance to win your own box.
Heck yeah, free breakfast doesn’t have to mean doughnuts!
I often mention Uncle Sam’s cereal as one of the few brands of boxed cereal I ever buy. Have you tried it? I like it because whole wheat kernels are the first ingredient, followed by flaxseed, salt, barley malt, and a handful of B vitamins.
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October 21st, 2010 | dairy, flax, groceries, quick and easy, whole grains | 40 Comments »
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Weekends are getting interesting around here. We started with Newborn Essentials – a class to teach us how to swaddle and take rectal temperatures. Oy. Next up is Breastfeeding Basics. And Hypnobirthing. And Stroller School. I suppose it might be overkill, but it really does make me feel calmer to learn from an expert. Anyway, to keep the weekend fun and relish our quiet time while we have it, I whipped up some delicious and filling pancakes that are way, way better than anything out of a box.
The win for me? Whole grains and no added sugar! Otherwise, pancakes put me directly into a sugar coma and I’d be starving an hour later.
The win for my husband? They’re so good he doesn’t even bother adding maple syrup. I couldn’t believe it, but it happened. (This is a man who adds maple syrup to a glass of milk to drink with dinner. What the…?)
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October 19th, 2010 | fat, pregnancy, recipe, Sugar, whole grains, winter | 11 Comments »
