Contemporary Earth Mama

home/water birth of twins

Today I should be writing about why I'm so excited to go on retreat an hour ago, but instead I am going to share with you a woman who is strong and empowered.

This morning as I left the post office I casually flipped through my latest issue of Mothering magazine, stopped dead in my tracks as I flipped back a few pages thinking, "I know that woman!", and "what beautiful photos!".  The amazing home water birth story in the Sept/Oct issue of Mothering is about a woman is active in an organization called the Childbirth Collective here in the Twin Cities years ago when I was.  The photographer for the story was the former production assistant right here at My Healthy Beginning.

Long story short, Sarah Biermeier is a homebirth childbirth educator and doula, and mother of five children.  She had three girls when she got pregnant with twins.  Her story shares the beauty and power of a woman's body, of time and age, of community and love, and of birth as a normal process.  You can read more about her at www.geneabirth.com.

She had these twin babies at home, in the water, surrounded by family and friends, supportive doulas and midwives.  She is breastfeeding these babies, and well, I give her a huge thumbs up.

If you have stories to share of empowering birth, feel free to share them here.

Let's talk Gratitude...20 things

Today I thought I'd share with you a list of things I'm grateful for:

-9 jars of canned Italian tomato sauce

-9 jars of canned pizza sauce

-2 gallons of roasted tomatos, onions and garlic

-the bedtime routine with my girls

-the opportunities given me via My Healthy Beginning

-the amazing people I've met along the way

-the support of family and friends

-alternative education:  Spring Hill Waldorf School

-yoga retreat with Swami in 20 hours and counting...

-friends who put up with my lack of support this summer

-the bonding time nursing my little Annie allows us

-craniosacral therapy

-the crafty ideas of SouleMama that are weaving themselves into gifts for the holidays

-brown rice patties from this blog

-for the quiet run in the woods with the pup

-for our morning family snuggle

-for the new books to read with Sunny that we scored at a yard sale on the way home from school...not to mention the pottery to hold pencils and the great basket...

-the giving, giving, giving of a garden

-the health of my family

for this beautiful life

-

Hyland's Teething Gel~ a review

Have teething babies? My girls are both teething right now (Sunny cutting two new molars and losing two bottom front teeth) and Fannie working on something as she can't keep her fingers out of her mouth. 

Though this teething is different than babies, I can easily recall those months of the "V" spot drool down the front of their shirts, resulting in multiple changes or bib wearing, every single day.  It's not hard to forget their clear and running noses, watery  eyes, ear tugging and mostly uncomfortable little selves.

Being a co-op shopper, I naturally went to the health/wellness aisle and found Hyland's Teething Tablets and Teething Gels.  The Hylands Teething Tablets were what I felt comfortable with as I recall teething gels being used on babies while babysitting as a teenager and into my twenties, and most babies weren't relieved of any discomfort.  My theory is that because it's a gel, it mixes in with their large amounts of drool/saliva and ends up numbing their throat instead of their gumline.  Again, totally my theory.  The Hyland's Teething Tablets work every time.  I say "work" versus "worked" because we still use them. 

I have been known to give my children the teething tablets in the car on road trips if they're having a hard time calming down to rest and still use them for Fannie, who is 20 months old and has a few more teeth coming her way.  They help to calm the children, to take the edge off and are not harmful in any way.  This is coming from a mama who has Infant/Children's Motrin in the medicine chest, but who needs to often check the expiration date as it gets used once in a blue moon and only after consulting with my team of wise women that includes an ND, a master of traditional chinese medicine, a mother of four and mama to many, a chiropractor, and an RN.

If you have experiences, good or bad with Hyland's Teething Gel or Teething Tablets, I'd love to hear about it.

grocery shopping tips

A few words on grocery shopping, because it's a topic I'm often asked about and a topic I can speak excitedly to. 

shop the perimeter of the store

Grab your cart, begin with produce and continue around the store AVOIDING the rows in the middle.  I say AVOID like it's the plague, but I mean AVOID them mostly.  These rows contain the packaged, processed foods that contain more of the junk we don't need. 

The perimeter of the store typically consists of:  produce, meat department/fresh breads or bakery, and deli.  This means you are buying fresh food...food with less additives and food with a shorter shelf life.

One row/section that we need to include to shopping the perimeter of the store is the bulk section.  More on that later.

take advantage of the bulk section

Buying in bulk has  many advantages, the top five being:  cost efficiency, less packaging, more nutrition, freshness ( is that a word?) and variety.

Buying in bulk just makes sense.  For example:  buying quinoa in a 12 oz package is $5.79 and buying it in bulk is $1.56 per cup (8 oz).  Buying rolled oats in a package a 1 lb package is $2.79 and buying rolled oats in bulk is .36 per cup.  That is a significant cost savings and no packaging to waste.

The products you can buy in bulk are more nutrient dense because there are no additives or preservatives.  They are more fresh in that bulk is an ever evolving rotation of that item, versus not knowing how long that box of packaged oatmeal has been sitting on the shelf.

The other key is variety...our diets are in huge need of variety.  As a society, we eat the same bland things over and over, when at our fingertips are some really great options that cost very little to implement.  Think of the colors we see in the bulk section:  red lentils, black beans, spinach pasta, wild rice, orange dried apricots, dark and succulent dried blueberries...the rainbow is endless.  Jump on and go for a ride.

The produce section

the produce section also has much to offer.  Yes, it's produce and we've all seen it before, and yes, I will tell you to buy organic as much as you can.  Challenge yourself to the variety I spoke of above.  Challenge your family to eat one new vegetable per week.  Make it into a game to get your kids interested in what they eat ( not to mention how they feel when they eat what they do).  Stay away from the iceberg lettuce.  Choose frozen produce over canned ( unless you're home canning). 

When you return home, prepare some of the veggies immediately so they're easy to grab when everyone is hungry.  If you are short on time, there are options available to us today such as julienned carrots and broccoli that can be thrown into a wrap for lunch insteading of a wrap with no vegetables.  There are sliced apples and mangoes, prepared kits of veggies to use for soups or stir-fry's.  If intimidated by how to get more vegetables and fruit in, start there.

The meat department

Most grocery stores these days have lended themselves toward offering a more natural product to their patrons.  What I mean is that the butcher can tell you where and how to buy good meat.  You can buy hot dogs and deli meats with no nitrates, you have fresh fish options, and there are also options for the prepackaged cuts of meat for above mentioned stir-fry's and soups/stews.

Bakery and Deli

Your bakery and deli section are typically close to one another as many of their products go hand in hand...a fresh baguette with a bowl of soup and crunchy salad from the bar, a whole wheat scone to go with the warm mug of tea and fruit salad...you get the drift.  A hearty, wholesome deli can be just what you need on a night that preceeds a day where everything went wrong and you're not home in time to pull it together for dinner.

*I am a committed co-op shopper, though find huge advantage to plugging into Trader Joe's for other things.  We have wonderful grocery stores in the Twin Cities, and though I completely trust the quality of items from our local co-ops, one can shop healthfully at any grocery store as long as they know how.

Hope these ideas help and as always I welcome comments and questions.

 

 

 

birthday cupcakes/cake

We had two little birthday celebrations with Sunny in the past week...one up north with Oma and Opa and a small, simple gathering yesterday with sprinkler jumping, swimming and even a little baseball. 

Because the chosen treats (Black Bean Cupcakes for one and Golden Butter Cake-GF, for the other) chosen for both events were such a blast, I thought I'd share them here...yes, I think about food.  A lot.

Black Bean Cupcakes-adapted by egglesscooking.com

Sugar 1 and 1/4 cups

Prune puree 1/2 cup (substitute for 2 eggs) ( or 2 eggs) (or 1/2 c applesauce or baby food)

Water 2 tablespoons

Canola oil 1/3 cup

Black beans, drained, rinsed and pureed one 15.5oz can or
1 and 1/2 cups of cooked beans)

Vanilla Extract 2 teaspoons

All purpose flour 1 cup

Cocoa powder 1/2 cup

Baking powder 2 teaspoons

Baking soda 1/2 teaspoon

Yield: 12 regular size cupcakes and 12 mini cupcakes. (or 16 regular size cupcakes)

1 Preheat oven to 375F. Grease or line with paper liners 1 regular size muffin tin and 1 mini muffin tin.

2 Drain the black beans from the can, rinse it well under running water and puree it in a food processor/blender using approximately 1/4 cup of water. The puree should be very smooth without any lumps.

3 To this also add the sugar, prune puree, 2 tablespoons of water, canola oil and vanilla extract. Process/blend it again for another 2-3 minutes. Transfer it to a large bowl.

4 In a small bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.

5 Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in 3 parts. That is, first add 1/3rd of the flour mixture to the bean and prune puree, mix it well. Then add another 1/3rd and then the last 1/3rd of the flour mixture. Having some lumps is fine. I found that using a wire whisk to mix the batter worked well than using a spatula. The batter was in the consistency of pancake batter. Initially I felt that the quantity of the wet ingredients was way too much, but once I started mixing it to the flour I was relieved to find out that the proportions were getting right.

6 Fill the muffin wells 2/3rds full, around 3 tablespoons of the batter. For the mini muffin tin, just use 1 tablespoon. I placed both the muffin tins in the same rack. The mini muffins were done by 9 minutes and the regular size muffins around 14 minutes. Oven temperatures may vary so check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center and it should come out clean.

7 Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Slide a knife around the edges of the cupcake and invert the tin slowly. The cupcakes will fall down, cool them on a rack. Frosting is optional. I used a vanilla buttercream.

***Now that I have tried this recipe, I think it will easily convert to Gluten Free.  They are moist, protein packed and really, really good!

 

Golden Butter Cake -adapted from Naturally Gluten Free Cooking

Makes one 9 x 13" cake pan or 2-9"round layer pans.

2/3 c butter

1 3/4 c succanat

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 3/4 c GF flour mix ( I typically use a mix of brown rice flour, tapioca/arrowroot starch flour, & sorgum flour)

 2 tsp guar or xantham gum

 1 T baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 c milk (nut milk/rice milk/cow milk)

Oven to 350. Lightly grease pan.

In large mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla.  Mix until well blended, scraping bowl.  Add dry ingredients until well blended.  Bake in 9x13 for 45-50 minutes or in round pans for 30-35 minutes.  Cool before frosting.

With this I have successfully used a carob buttercream and chocolate buttercream frosting.

 

 

 

apple pickin'

To get some fresh air, though sticky and humid today, the girls and I drove out to the orchard for some apple and fall raspberry picking.  Gingergold and Honeycrisp were the variety on tap today, both so good and so different...and $60 worth of apples and raspberries should render us time well spent in the kitchen.

What might we do with all of these?

*raspberry jam with this really great method

*apple crisp as we are apple crisp junkies around here come fall ( I know, it's not quite here YET).  It easily qualifies as breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  My favorite recipe is from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook.  I'll include it at the end of the post.

*apple sauce...if you know me well, you know that I don't often follow recipes.  I do a lot of "a little of this, some of that, oh and this would be nice".  Sometimes it turns out and sometimes my husband reminds me of that one stir-fry, the one and only thing ( though I am certain there have been others, this one's just the point of contention )he severely disliked.  So, my apple sauce is a whole bunch of apples peeled and cored.  You'll need one of these.  I use succanat, cinnamon and chunky apples as I prefer chunky applesauce.  The pureed type applesauce only happens when I forget it's on the stove and have gone off to do things like rearrange furniture.

*baked apples

*apple pie...this one looks awesome.  Chad and I do love time in the kitchen together.  Since he can be quite particular when it's his turn to cook ( no kids, radio on with the oldies, LOTS of room in a kitchen that has no room, nobody in his way, etc.), this is a task best left for after the kids are in bed.  It all began when we were first dating.  We had a bake off one day...a whole Saturday devoted to first picking and then, Baking.  Apple Pies.  All Day.  I think we made like 9 of them.  Of course neither of us know what we're doing when it comes down to crust, so I'm always looking for a total-cheater-way to do a great whole grain crust, BUT, we have a great time.  We've only been able to do this once or twice since and pine for the day we can enjoy each other's presence (with no radio:  my requirement) and bake.

I'll keep you posted as to what we bake, but I'll leave you with photos from the orchard and the apple krisp recipe from Mollie Katzen.

Apple Krisp ( on page 186 from the original Moosewood Cookbook)

***I have made this the Mollie Katzen way and the flourless way, so I'll plug in details as needed.

6-8 servings ( or 3 servings if you eat it like we do)

8-10 medium cooking apples

juice of 1 lemon

2 cups raw oats ( me:  2 1/2 c)

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

3/4 cup flour ( me:  almond meal)

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup orange juice

1/3 cup honey

Peel, pare and slice the apples.  Drizzle them with fresh lemon juice.  Spread half (me:  ALL) of them into a large, oblong pan.  Melt the butter and honey together.  Combine the oats, flour, nuts, seeds, salt and spices.  Spread/crumble 1/2 this mixture onto apples in pan.  Pour OJ over the top. 

Bake 40-45 minutes, uncovered at 375.  Cover if it crisps too quickly.

*you can substitute pears or peaches for the apples, but reduce the time to 25 minutes for peaches.

*****and scenes from the orchard******

who moved my cheese?

I did.  I moved my cheese, then I rearranged the living room...and Sunny's room and Fannie's room and the basement play area, too. 

When a craniosacral session releases so much stagnant energy, namely, that of my buckled ( if you will) sacrum from Fannie's birth twenty months ago, things shift.  And move I did, my cheese, that is.

Do you rearrange furniture or bedrooms to reorganize your brain?  Works for me every time.  Rearranged and vaccumed until 1 a.m.  Silly, I know, but oh so fulfilling to see that the living room now calls for new curtains ( and paint).  Rearranging my cheese, though this cheese remains yet to be identified, was a sudden and spontaneous leap of faith that I was doing the right thing. 

The cheese remains yet to be identified because my intent in the work I do is to connect with families, on many levels...nutritional counseling, complementary and alternative medicine, parenting, mothering, birthing, developing and adding meaning to their lives and I'm not so sure I had placed my cheese in the right basket. 

The past four to six months has found My Healthy Beginning manifesting in ways I never expected with opportunity I would never have thought possible.  I got on the cheese topic because of an email someone sent this morning in which she couldn't drop something off at my house because her cheese had been moved already today.  This made me laugh and allowed me to reflect on the movement of my own cheese...thanks, Sharon!

whoops, a few missed links for your snacking pleasure

I forgot to add links in the past post, so here they are:

Ames Farm-honey, bee pollen, beeswax candles

Back to Basics Popcorn Popper 

Nourishing Traditions

Naturally Gluten Free Cooking

it's snack time

To aide in your meal planning for the week, I'd like to share a few of our favorite snacks.

Crispy Rice Balls

 

½ cup chunky peanut butter (or other nut butters)

½ cup honey (bought, of course, from the farmers market…Ames Farm to be exact)

½ cup chopped nuts ( we use walnuts)

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

2 cups crispy brown rice cereal ( think healthy Rice Krispies)

 

Mix nut butter, honey, nuts, vanilla and cinnamon together in a bowl.  Add cereal and stir gently until cereal is well coated. Place a dish of water near the bowl and using wet hands, form the mixture into walnut-sized balls and place them on a lightly oiled dish or wax paper.

 

For variety, roll them in shredded coconut, chopped nuts, or sesame seeds. (we use sesame seeds).

 

Refrigerate for a bit, they’re great right from the cold shelf!

 

Sweet Popcorn-adapted from Nourishing Traditions

 

We have a Back to Basics popcorn maker, which is so fun and makes it all part of the experience.  Thanks to Nana a few Christmas's back!

 

1/4 c popcorn kernels

2 Tbsp olive oil

 

Put in popcorn maker over medium high heat and turn crank (or shake/rattle& roll) your popcorn maker for up to five minutes.

Heat 1/2 cup coconut oil or melt 1/2 cup butter and 1/8-1/4 c real maple syrup to a melty yummy oily/buttery mess.  Pour over finished popcorn and add a dash of salt.

 

* we ate this for late afternoon snack yesterday with a handful of carob covered peanuts.

 

Gluten Free Ginger Bread

-from Naturally Gluten-Free Cooking by Debra D. Smith

 

1 ½ cups Essential Flour Mix 

   (I use 1 cup brown rice flour, ½ cup tapioca/arrowroot/or potato flour, and  ½ cup white rice flour)

½ cup brown sugar ( I use succanat)

 ½ cup butter

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

1 ½ tsp guar or xantham gum

¾ cup hot water

¼ cup molasses

1 egg or 2 egg whites

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

 

Preheat oven to 350.

Lightly oil and dust, with rice flour, a 9 inch square baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whip the brown sugar and butter, until fluffy.  Add the egg and molasses and beat well.  Then add the water, and follow by all the dry ingredients.  Mix on medium for three minutes.

Pour into pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in middle of ginger bread.

 

Yum!  Super moist and sooo good!  Really great with slivered almonds, and a full glass of raw whole milk for dipping.

 

Yes, I do realize these are sort of (almost) fall-ish recipes.  However, I have to say, the maple trees outside our door are already changing color and leaving a soft floor under the swings in the sideyard.

 

 

 

 

menu planning

I am often asked how I get accomplished what I do in a day...from healthfully feeding my family, to publishing My Healthy Beginning, to making time for exercise, making time for fun, along with house cleaning, feeding the pets and all the other tasks we add into our day, whether necessary or not.

To be honest, the first to go is housecleaning.  I can't tell you the last time my house had a deep clean, the kind where its lungs can exhale in and out deeply and its breath left feeling minty fresh.  Don't have a clue.  What I do attend to are everyday clean ups...sweeping or spot cleaning wood floors, wiping down what needs it, tending to the bathroom as needed, etc.  You will likely find cobwebs behind the armoire, baseboards left to collect dust, and windows that need cleaning on the outside that leave my husband in a fit.  You will find our home nice, tidy, and organized, however.

It's all about time management, discipline and boundaries....and menu planning.  Seriously, think about how much time we spend wondering what to make for dinner, what to pack in lunches if needed and how often we wander aimlessly through the grocery store piling the cart with items only to find you can't find ingredients needed to make a dish once home.  Menu planning is the key to my sanity.  This used to happen on used envelopes, torn pieces of paper, leftover cardboard or the lucky piece of notebook paper where it would not get lost (unless I misplaced the entire notebook). 

Here is a sample of what we're working off of now that school has started and we need to be out the door by 8 am:  I welcome you to use it as need be as it's the result of a conversation over knitting about a year ago and is default mode during the school year.

Breakfast

Monday-pancakes w/yogurt or cottage cheese

Tuesday-hot cereal (corn or rice) w/ nuts and honey OR smoothie w/ protein powder

Wednesday-eggs (scrambled/overeasy) w/ whole wheat or sourdough toast

Thursday-waffles w/ yogurt or cottage cheese

Friday-oatmeal w/ nuts and honey/maple syrup

Saturday-pancakes (this is the day I make them in bulk so there are enough left in freezer to be toasted for Monday morning)

Sunday- egg day (quiche/scrambled/overeasy)

Dinner

Monday-Soup/Stew

Tuesday-Mexican night:  tacos/burritos/fajitas/quesadillas/tortilla pie/tostadas/enchiladas

Wednesday-Hot sandwich/salad OR pasta/grain based dish such as spaghetti or stir fry

Thursday-Roast/Crock Pot cooking

Friday-homemade pizza

Saturday-Whatever we're up for...in summer, usually grilling

Sunday-Soup/Stew ( when enough is prepped for dinner Monday and to be frozen for future lunches)

Lunch

Lunch is more flexible for us and is usually a left over from dinner the night before.  Default mode is yogurt/granola or muesli and berries.  We have beans/rice 2-3 times per week as we all love them.

Obviously there is room to move here, but this template gives me a place to start.  I know we'll have something Mexican on Tuesday night, so I know what recipe to search for based on what we've had previous weeks, what's on sale at the co-op and what I have on hand.  My options are whittled down to a few instead of the entire pile of 300 page cookbooks staring at me from the shelf.  This also allows me more time in that I can see when I need to take out grains or beans to soak, roast to thaw or berries to thaw for pancake topping the next morning.

This topic is just the beginning, as I could go on and on about eating, shopping, etc.  Expect more helpful tips to come.  Feel free to share with us your time saving meal ideas!