Happy Sunday, and a belated Shana Tova to those who celebrate. :)
I'm sure a great many of you have seen this recipe circulating around on social media. Maybe you've tried it. Maybe you've been meaning to. If you fall into the latter category, my advice is get crackin'! These cookies are GOOD!
I made a few little modifications to the recipe and it came out even better, if that's imaginable. Here is the recipe as I made it:
Ingredients
-3 mashed (ripe) bananas
-1/3 cup applesauce
-2 cups oats
-1/4 cup almond/coconut milk mixture (Almond Breeze makes a great unsweetened one)
-1/4 cup dried cranberries
-1/4 cup raisins
-1/3 cup shredded coconut
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 tsp cinnamon
Directions
-Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
-Mix mashed banana, applesauce, almond/coconut milk, raisins, cranberries and vanilla in large bowl, set aside
-Mix oats, coconut and cinnamon in a separate bowl, add to banana mixture
-Stir well
-Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray
-Drop dough by tablespoonful onto cookie sheet
-Bake 15 minutes
-If not done, bake in 2 minute intervals until cookies are solid
-Transfer to wire cooling rack
No added sugar, no oil or butter, sweet enough and totally delicious. Enjoy!
Good Morning! :)
I was sitting at the table this morning, drinking my coffee and enjoying that specific quiet that only comes before 7:00 am, and it occurred to me that, hey... this is important!
Even before I was a mom, I had a hard time understanding why, on airplanes, when they're giving the pre-flight safety speech (that most everyone ignores because they've heard it a thousand times and already know how to buckle a seatbelt!), they say to put on your oxygen mask before assisting others.
Put yourself first? I would think. Who DOES that??
Certainly now, as a mother, it seems to go against my instincts even more! Mind you, I've never been in a situation on a plane where the masks were needed but in my mind it seems ridiculous sometimes to even imagine putting my own oxygen mask on before my daughter's!
The reason is pretty simple: without oxygen you cannot function. The chances of someone becoming hypoxic in the few seconds it would take you to put your mask on before helping them with theirs is pretty slim. But if you try to put someone else's mask on before yours and run into a problem, you might become hypoxic in the meantime! And then, if that happens, that child or person that is depending on you would really be on their own!
And I realized just how often I think this way! And I also realized that this idea applies to more than just oxygen masks on airplanes.
As a person, not just a mom, I need to take care of myself in order to be able to do the things I need to do in life. Whether that be showing up for work on time, taking care of my daughter, doing my share of the housework, keeping commitments to friends, etc.
In my mommy-life, I think of it less in terms of oxygen and hypoxia and more in terms of sanity. If I don't take 5 minutes here and there to do something for ME, I'll lose my sanity! If I don't let the baby cry in her crib for 10 minutes and walk away and do something else, I'm going to go crazy. If I go crazy and get angry, how can I be a good parent?
Oxygen and sanity are both very important.
So take the time. Take 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes. Do something to keep yourself sane. If you need help, ask. It's not a shameful thing to need help. Nobody can do everything all by themselves!
Oh, and if you're ever on an airplane and the masks drop down... stay calm, and put your own mask on first! Even if that seem to contradict everything you think you know about altruism.
Happy Wednesday!!!
One thing that never ceases to surprise me about myself as a mother is the variety of things I have discovered I can do one-handed. Another thing that surprises me almost as much is the variety of things I can't easily do one-handed or while holding a 24-pound child!
Here is a list of things I've found to be difficult to do while holding a baby and the solutions I've found for them:
1. Eating. Realistically, eating just about anything is hard to do one-handed. I've definitely had to base my food choices around whether or not I'm holding a baby (or nursing a baby) at the time of eating. I usually try to eat when I'm not holding the baby, but sometimes that isn't an option. In my experience, eating things that you can either cut up beforehand (or have someone cut up for you) and then just grab and pop into your mouth is the easiest route. Things like cut-up veggies, grilled chicken, hard-boiled egg white, apple slices, etc. Solid things that you can hold in one hand away from the baby and then take bites of is the next easiest. Things like string cheese, protein bars, bananas, celery or carrots, and so on.
2. Carrying groceries into the house. It wasn't until my daughter was about 4 months old that I had an epiphany about this one. At my baby shower, someone had given me one of those gigantic carabiners that you can clip onto a stroller or whatever and hang your purse or bags from. I took this thing, clipped like 5 or 6 grocery bag handles onto it and picked it up in one hand, no problem! Now I never leave home without it. That thing comes in handy in so many situations it's not even funny.
3. Vacuuming. Once my daughter started crawling, it became clear to me how incredibly important it was going to be to keep the floors clean. She has a habit of crawling over and finding the ONE PIECE OF DIRT I managed to miss while cleaning. So vacuuming regularly became a must. Enter the giant backpack child carrier my friend gave me. Meant for hiking, this behemoth backpack can fit a child up through toddlerhood! It's a little cumbersome but it keeps my kid happy (mainly because she can yank on my hair) and gives me both hands free to operate the vacuum. A Moby wrap, Ergobaby carrier, Baby Bjorn or any other child carrier will work, although it's easier to have them on your back for this.
4. Laundry. Leaning over to grab clothes out of a washing machine is hard enough to do when you're not holding a baby! With a twenty-plus pound child in one arm it can be nearly impossible. My saving grace for laundry has been... a plastic laundry basket. $5 from Target. I put it on the floor, toss a few toys in it, set the baby in it and hold it in place with my foot (in case she tries to pull herself up on the side and it tips.) It keeps her busy for several minutes and I can switch a load of laundry with two hands (hey now..) But if your baby won't tolerate being set in the basket, the baby carrier will be the way to go. Many times you can use the carrier to hold the baby on your hip if they're big enough.
5. Exercising. Obviously going for walks with a baby is easy. But what about lifting weights and doing toning exercises? My solution: use the baby as your weight and get cracking! The internet is rife with baby-and-me exercises for parents. Some recommend using a baby carrier, others don't. Look around on the internet and see what appeals to you!
Don't forget... being a mom is already a superhuman accomplishment. Everything else is just icing on the cake.
In keeping with the theme of this blog... want an idea for a fast, easy dinner that you can throw together in 5 minutes? Behold the wondrous SALAD!
But......
Don't you hate wilted lettuce? It always happens to me where I buy a bag of salad mix and use some of it for a salad for dinner one night, and before I have a chance to use the rest, it wilts! Every freaking time!
Enter Tupperware.
If you divide the lettuce evenly between Tupperware containers, the portions you don't use will keep in the fridge nicely. Even up to 5 days! Another upshot of using tupperware for this purpose is that you can just throw your salad toppings into the Tupperware, snap the lid, shake shake shake and BAM! Evenly distributed salad dressing and toppings, and it's good to go, too.
Whoever invented Tupperware is a genius.
Happy September!
Where did the summer go? Is it really September 1st today?? Holy smokes.
As a busy mom and fitness instructor, I find myself relying on my phone for a lot of things: reminders, calendar, social interaction, GPS, music, etc. It's safe to say that without my phone, I would be royally screwed.
I have the iPhone 5S, and it is loaded (and I do mean loaded) with apps. I thought I would highlight for you the ones I find myself using the most.
1. The Calendar app. This is one that comes on the iPhone and I use it literally every day. I put every single appointment into my phone as soon as I make it, and I set one alert for the day before and the second alert for 2 hours before. I use this in conjunction with the calendar on my refrigerator. Between the two I manage to keep myself fairly organized.
2. The Weather app. This app comes in handy for me, especially since I live in Oregon. It's another one that comes on the phone automatically. Oregon is notorious for having weird weather, especially in the Spring and Fall. It's not unusual to have rain, sun, fog, wind and sleet/snow/hail all in one day here, so knowing what the general temperature will be beforehand is very helpful. The takeaway point here: be prepared and expect the unexpected!
3. Facebook. The Facebook app is sometimes kind of finicky. Some people call it "crashbook" because the app will sometimes close for no reason, but I rarely experience this. I use this many times per day, and it was a free app so... what's not to love about that?
4. Instagram. In my experience, Instagram has more glitches than Facebook on my phone, but that's not really saying much because I don't have much trouble with the Facebook app. I like Instagram because it's easy but it does annoy me that the pictures have to be square. Many times I've had to use one of my photography editing apps to make a picture the right shape or size to go on Instagram. #firstworldproblems seriously!
5. Skinny Mom. "Where moms get the skinny on healthy living." This free app offers an impressive drop-down menu, including a recipe index (which I use often!), a fitness section, a lifestyle section, a health section and more! I use this app mainly for the recipes, although I've been known to look to it for guidance when I need to change up my workout routine.
6. Bitmoji. While not a fan of the Bitstrip comics, Bitmoji does amuse me. My good friend and I send Bitmojis back and forth on a daily basis. Featuring your look-alike cartoon character (that really looks nothing like you at all, given the crazy big eyes and Popeye-esque forearms), there is a Bitmoji for every conversation! Some of them are pretty funny.
7. Jumbline 2. I'm a HUUUUGE fan of word jumbles. Whenever I get the newspaper I always do the jumble first. Jumbline 2 appears to have unlimited levels (since I'm at level 500-something and still going) and you can choose from 5, 6 or 7 letter words. Definitely an app for a scrabble lover! And it's free. :)
8. MapMyRun. Since my 9-month-old doesn't always allow me time to go to the gym, and a nap is never a given so I can't be sure I'll have time to hit my home-gym either, I've taken to running around my neighborhood with her in a jogging stroller. After the first time I went, though, I wondered how far I had gone. So I searched "free running apps" and this is the one I ended up with! Maps your course, keeps time, distance and split pace. It's great! Also allows you to share it to twitter and Facebook.
So those are my 8 favorite apps right now. I use them pretty much every day (if not actually every day). Check them out! If they don't appeal to you, something else will. Remember, whatever you need, there's probably an app for that!
