Foodie Friday: A bit about food and more about life…

Chicken soup! Which I think was in a previous Foodie Friday. I love making it. From memory of a google search I did on how to… then tweaked to what ingredients I have and what I think tastes good.  It’s just refreshing to eat real food.

As for life… I’m feeling disjointed. We got our cat Stella a couple of weeks ago, but my oldest Kurt is so allergic to her that it’s now to the point that is cruel to him to keep her. And it’s breaking my heart 😦 I took her in with the thought that she was now part of our family and would be for many years and it tears at my heart strings that I have to take her back to the SPCA and hope that she find another family. She is an amazing patient, loving, playful cat. She’s perfect. My kids love her. My husband loves her. I love her.

I contacted a homeschooling group in hopes of finding my ‘tribe’ or at least starting to. The lady was helpful, she told me she would speak to the others about contacting me and sharing some wisdom. But then it seemed to just come down to ok we have meetings on this day and if you want to sign up its $20. It left me feeling like it was just another aspect of this town. Money. Instead of feeling that it could be a very organic community… I’m not sure. I guess the best thing would to stop trying to read between the lines of an email and actually go meet them and seek some connections. I just wish it was easier. Which is funny, because I know how outside the box most of what I want to implement in my life is. But I still wish there was a ready made community with mentors I could meet and speak with. Have their children play with mine. SEE how it’s done. Instead its winter. Bloody winter and I’m stuck inside with nothing to do that doesn’t cost money. Except for the library or sittign in someone elses house. I’m missing New Zealand like mad. I just want to be outside. I want my kids to be barefoot, to be with other kids. Big groups of us adults and children togehter, without the structure. arg.

I’m feeling alone.

Foodie Friday: Green Smoothies

So at the beginning of the year I discovered a website called Incredible Smoothies. It talks all about making Green Smoothies, which basically are smoothies with lots of spinach or kale or any other dark leafy green you’d like to blend into it! As a non-veggie lover.. this is kind of  miracle for me. So my smoothies consist of spinach, bananas, mangoes, some grated ginger and water. Believe me it taste really good, just like bananas and mangoes.. if it weren’t for the awesome green colour you wouldn’t even know that the spinach was in there! So me and the kids have one every morning, and I have noticed a huge difference in my energy which in turn means a difference in my patience and compassion with my kids.  Yay!

It also has helped with my sugar cravings, which plague me most of the day. I also bought a book called The Thrive Diet which is all about eating lots of plants and raw foods etc..  So I’m trying my best to incorporate as much veggies into our days as possible. It’s pretty easy with the kids. Kurt loves cucumbers, peppers and carrots. Keenin… eats anything! It’s just me and my stupid palate! But I’m getting there.

My MIL gave me a book for christmas a few years ago and it was all about how to put puree veggies into any kind of recipe so you and your kids get lots! I’ve read that a lot of parents don’t agree with this because it sort of reinforces people’s thoughts that vegetables are gross and should be avoided at all costs. But I think hidden in the meals and placed on the plate is good enough for our family. I’ve struggled to eat healthy my whole life… so I want my kids to eat their veggie whether they know it or not!

Do you like vegetables? How do you get your 5-13 servings of fruits and veggies a day? Do you sneak them to your children?

GreenMumma

Cooking :)

I’ve been cooking again. I forgot how much I truly enjoy creating new things that I never thought I could do. Yes I’ll admit most of my recipes need tweaking and taste more healthy than good… but it’s a start and I know in 5 years when my kids are old enough to remember what my food tastes like and give opinions I’ll be pretty good by then. I made chicken soup and biscuits. The chicken soup turned out amazing, although me and my husband both agreed it needed way more salt, but I think that’s just a product of eating too much store-bought soup. My biscuits tasted like flour, but I think that is just because I used generic Safeway “organic” whole wheat flour. Next time I’ll use Red Mill’s pasty whole wheat flour.  I also attempted crackers I found on LK Sister’s Vegan Food Haven. Again, the flour needs adjusting. But I feel good. Inspired. This week is all about setting the routines I want to follow for the New Year. Naps, meals, Bed times, house cleaning…. we’ll see how it goes. My stress gets the best of me a lot. Moment by moment. breathe.

ugh, sometimes it’s hard.

Foodie Friday: Food for Thought…

This post isn’t so much about food. As thoughts. There have been a lot of ideas bouncing around in my mind. Mindfulness, ego, anger, positive parenting, Scream Free Parenting. Thoughts to think about.  To think of my emotions, anger, ego as things to step back from. Instead of feeling and acting on them. I’ve been doing better. Writing notes on my calendar on what I want to accomplish. Like “Today I am going to respect myself and my family by cleaning the house’. and ‘ Today I am going to try holding onto my own remote and not trying to grab for others’.  The last one has to do with your remote being your own emotions and actions. That if you try to tell someone else what to do, or how to feel, you have to put down your own remote to grab there’s, leaving your own up for grabs. So then they can ‘push your buttons’.  And holding your own remote relates to when you are angry and losing it. You are basically handing your remote to your children and saying ‘you are in control, you have to figure out how to control me’. These are from ‘Scream Free Parenting’. They stick in my mind very well. Giving me a tangible tool to remind myself of.  So I’m getting a good idea of how to control my reactive anger to my children.

Ego. Ego is getting easier to identify. I’m getting better at not letting my mind tell me stories about what is happening. Like my husbands tone sounded snappy, therefore he must be thinking such and such. I’m catching myself and reminding : No he’s not, that is your ego. So I’ve been able to let moment go. Just let them be what they be. I don’t have to listen to my own stories and react. It’s kind of fun. Like I found some inside track that most people don’t know about. I don’t have to be a victim to myself. Now to just find the thought process that is willpower…..

The more I look at anger, the more I see it in my son’s movies. Normal Disney movies I watched when I was a kid. They have a lot of back and forth. You made me angry so I must react and make you suffer . It bothers me. But I guess I can learn and then teach my kids how to see that as well.

I downloaded Anger by Thich Naht Han in audiobook form. It is very easy to listen and apply to your own thoughts. I’m enjoying it. I’ve started to take deliberate ME time.  And it may not look like me time, but in my mind I am stepping away. I don’t feel guilty for doing it and if you try to bother me I will quickly tend to you so I can return to me. It’s really only a change in my mind. But it’s a stepping stone. I’ve been taking literal me time at night after the kids go to bed. I stay upstairs and do some sun salutations, corpse pose and then sit on my giant pillow I made (insert pride here) and write in my journal. No guilt. I love it.

Kurt(2yrs) must be noticing the small changes because he has been hugging me more. Just spontaneously coming for cuddles and nuzzles. After a time out he comes for a hug. I think he likes the changes I’ve made to time outs. They aren’t staying in his room until Mum decides he can come out. They are short and sweet. Lets count to 10 together and then try again. Same with toys, toys that are used to hit or throw are put away for 10 minutes (instead of whole days) and then we get to try to play without hitting or throwing. Repeated time outs aren’t because he is being ‘bad’ but rather a reminder to not hit, throw, bite or stomp on his brother. Which most of the time outs are stemming from these last few days.

The food part of this post, is my struggle. I struggle to eat healthy. I can say there has probably been points in my life that I’ve gone 6 or more months without eating one single piece of fruit or vegetables. Not even a caesar salad. Most people would shudder and gasp I’m sure. But to be honest I’ve never liked them much and I don’t even crave them. So I’ve read many books on food, eating healthy, over eating etc etc… I know all the ‘logical’ reasons to eat healthy. I know the benefits, I want to model it for my children so that they don’t struggle as I have. But how? That is something… for another day

Bed time for babies!

GreenMumma

Foodie Friday: A look into our kitchen

Just a small look into our kitchen the last week. Haven’t tried anything new. Mostly incorporating as much vegetables in to every meal as I can stand. (I’m not a huge veggie fan).

In my funk that I found myself in the last few months. I wasn’t cooking nearly as much as I should or could. I forgot how much I missed the colours, smells and feeling of achievement at feeding my family yummy, healthy food.

Which leads me to another thought on ego. And the constant ‘keeping score’. Whether I’m a good wife/mother for feeding them. Or a bad mummywife for ordering in pizza. A lot of things that the ego encompasses. hmm….

Yummy garlic to add to our cottage pie. Some orange peels, coffee beans, cinnamon and clove to smell x-massy. Roasted veggies. mmmm.