New Beginnings & Finding Home through Banana Bread

I know I haven't been on my traditional blog page in months. Our family has had quite a huge period of adjustment and transformation.  In order to keep things balanced for us, I had to take a bit of an internet break.  Things have finally settled down... a bit so I'm getting back to doing what I love.

In mid February my husband received a job offer that was a complete surprise to us. it seems too good to pass up. As with any situation like this it had a catch.  We had less than 3 weeks to pack up what we needed immediately and move to Charlottesville, VA.  We have been ecstatic but also very stressed at the same time. My son had just turned one and the house was still recovering from his first birthday. All of a sudden I had to figure out what we needed to get started in a new city, pack it up by myself and take care of a toddler all at the same time.  Sometime in all the chaos we also had to keep returning to Harrisburg (about a 4 our drive) to continue packing up our home and put it on the market as soon as possible.

This is  a huge task for anyone and it was about to get harder.  We arrived in Charlottesville excited about all the new possibilities this new city offered.  After all, here is a city known not only for wonderful education like UVA, great hospitals, especially for children, lots of participation in the arts,  an area with a ton of American history and a proud tradition of locavore chefs.  (Guess what I was most excited about?!)  When we pulled up to the apartment we had found in a hurry it all went horribly wrong.  The space was not what we were told we would be living in at all.  It was a dark basement apartment with moisture issues, fleas  and a very funky smell..... not exactly where you want to live with a 1 year old.  We unfortunately didn't have anywhere to go and had to sign the lease.

After a few weeks of injuring myself in a kitchen that no one could cook in, cat acquiring fleas from the apartment and finding any excuse to get out to be around people &  fresh air,  we had had enough.  We had been spending every other weekend heading back to Harrisburg to work on packing up our home and getting it market ready.  My husband was settled at work and I'd been researching places to move to the entire time. Our son definitely was getting frustrated and all three of us started getting sick from the air quality in that awful living space (despite purifiers running 24/7.) We found somewhere we actually wanted to live that was available right away. The decision was made to break our lease (a very expensive move that I don't recommend unless truly necessary) and carry on.  I am happy to say that 3 weeks ago we made our move and today is the first day I truly can begin feeling at home.

For me, being able to cook comfort food for my family is how I begin to feel at home.  Today I am starting that process by making banana bread.  We had a ton of ripe bananas from running around so much (easy to carry in bag and purses, no refrigeration needed), so I'm making a double batch. I divided the batter in half. The first half I'm turning into mini muffins for my son. They 're convenient finger food for toddlers on the go. The second half I have added chocolate chips and walnuts to bake into a loaf of bread for my husband and I.   I have made a lot of different versions of banana bread over the years, here is my current favorite.

You will need:
1 2/3 cups flour ( I like organic whole grain white flour for this recipe)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp cardamon
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 cup coconut sugar
2 eggs (I prefer extra large organic)
1/2 cup oil ( if you don't mind a tropical infusion I love coconut oil. It also gives the bread a beautiful rich color.  Avocado oil is a great alternative to keep in your healthy fats without changing any flavors as well).
3 1/2 very ripe banana, mashed
2 Tbsp Organic Greek Yogurt
1 tsp Vanilla
2/3 cups nuts or fillers of your choosing***

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line the bottom of a loaf pan with parchment paper.  If making mini muffins, I like to use silicone molds and I spray them with coconut oil.  First sift together the baking soda, flour and spices. Set these aside in a bowl.  Then, beat the eggs and sugar in a mixer with the whisk attachment and run for about 10 minutes, until light and fluffy. Next, drizzle in the oil and add the mashed bananas, greek yogurt and vanilla. Fold in the dry ingredients and any fillers.  For the mini muffins bake about 40 minutes or if you're baking a loaf 45 minutes to an hour.  Let cool a bit and enjoy! If you have any left at the end of the day, the slices of bread and mini muffins freeze well for future grab n go snacks.

***Note: a few optional fillers other than nuts that our family enjoys are raspberries, blueberries, strawberry pieces or chocolate chips. Sometimes I make a tropical version with macadam nuts, coconut chips and crushed pineapple.  The batter is fairly versatile.

Beat the Heat a Little More Naturally

The heatwave beating down on most of the country has gotten me thinking. I have had a number of friends and family that were without power for over a week. Someone at my muggle job had mentioned the other day that all terrorists would really have to do to take over our country is wipe out the power grid.  It makes me very sad to think he may be right. We as a society have gotten way too comfortable.  People on this planet have dealt with the heat of summer for centuries before air conditioning existed. Its time we learn how to take back the summer a bit and enjoy it more.

I am now the proud owner of a new home, without air conditioning. I am  also happy to report  that I haven't shriveled up and died, even when temperatures reached 100 degrees last week.  Here are a few tips I've learned to help keep cool without an air conditioner and helped me save a bit of money by keeping my energy costs down:

1) window screens are wonderful they keep the bugs out and if opened to create airflow across a house, really do help you keep cool, especially if you have a whole house attic fan like we do.
2) running cold water on your the pulse points of your wrists will really make you feel much cooler. A similar trick is to soak your feet in  a tub cool water for about 20-30 minutes. If you're outside this works with lounge chairs and your feet in the kiddie pool.
3) unplug as many small appliances and chargers in the house as possible when not in use. They not only raise your electric bill, but those tiny little clock timers also generate heat, which may not be much but put all those appliances together and that is extra heat you don't need in your home.
4) Run your big appliances like the dishwasher and laundry machines after the sun has gone down and things cool off a bit.
5) take a lukewarm shower just before bed. It will help you sleep easier.  Do not take a freezing cold shower. IT may feel better initially but afterward your body will work to raise its temperature and will make you more uncomfortable in the long run.
6) speaking of sleep, ditch the comforter and just use a light breathable cotton sheet. If you have a hammock or a floating type bed where air can circulate under you (as opposed to a heavy latex matreess) you will feel cooler. Also switch to all cotton breathable pillows instead of the typical foam ones until the heat is a bit more manageable. You can also put your pillowcases in ziploc bags in the freezer during the day and then put them on your bed just before its time to go to sleep. 
7)Eat lots of cooling foods like fruits and vegetables, they will also keep you hydrated.  There is a reason why watermelon and gazpacho soup taste extra amazing on a hot day. Stay away from heavy meat dishes. It may seem to hot to eat, but spicy food is also your friend, it will help you sweat.  Sweat is the body's natural air conditioning.
8) Stay Hydrated. I cannot stress this enough. Not a huge fan of plain water? Make a pitcher of cold water in the fridge and add some herbs and fruit to it. Let it marinate for about a day... do not add sugar.  We currently are enjoying pineapple mint water. Strawberry basil is another favorite.

These tips won't make your house feel like the north pole by any means, but at least they make what can be a very uncomfortable time of year a bit more bearable and productive. We're off to the eastern shore of Maryland to catch up with my family for a few days. I'll be posting about some great yoga classes I'm taking there once I get back. Hope you're enjoying the summer!

I'm Waging war on cute fluffy creatures

A few months ago I posted about starting my first real backyard garden (as opposed to the container gardening I've been doing the last several years).  This larger than expected undertaking is most of the reason why its been a month since I last posted.  In many ways it has been rewarding. I get some good zen moments weeding and digging in the dirt each day and am having fun watching my future refrigerator contents growing and becoming ripe..... not to mention creating recipes to enjoy them.

Unfortunately two major issues have halted my progress: a large groundhog and a very cute baby bunny. I noticed about a month ago my lettuce plants weren't thriving the way I expected and some of them had been munched down to the stalks.  The following morning I let a loud squeal as I viewed my first groundhog in super proximity. My husband thought it was hilarious. Groundhogs are not something I ever dealt with in Maryland and they definitely are much bigger than I expected.  I had no idea how destructive they could be either (his tunneling seems to be part of the cause of all the moisture in our basement too).

I begged my husband to try to come up with a humane way (most people around here just shoot them) of dealing with our unwelcome garden inhabitants.  They have taken residence under our deck it seems and enjoying each others company as roommates. After finding their entrance routes we tried blocking the area with stones and spraying the area with vinegar. My understanding is that if the groundhog is grumpy he'll go away on his own.

We thought this was working, no major munching for about 2 weeks and then I came out one day and my new broccoli plants had been eaten down to the roots. Apparently the ground hog love broccoli, while the bunny friend has been working on my newly sprouted cabbage leaves. I'm starting to feel a bit like Bill Murray in Caddyshack ( I know he was matchign wits with a gopher but it feels the same), constantly researching and trying new strategies to deter this groundhog as he seems to be getting fatter and my yard is paying the price.

Here are the latest tips I'm going to try I'll let you know how it goes:
1) groundhogs don't like areas with out a lot of cover so I'm making sure the piles of brush from our yard are to be moved elsewhere/ destroyed so its no longer near our garden
2) groundhogs don't like motion or noise so some pretty pinwheels and windchimes will be finding their way into my garden. Scarecrows apparently seem to help as well.
3) I'll be fencing in the lowest of my 4 raised garden beds (which I find frustrating but oh well. The taller beds are too high for the groundhog and bunny to get into, so those plants have escaped the carnage.  Fences should be about 3 ft tall and a foot deep into the ground from all the articles I've read
4) Groundhogs don't like the smell of epsom salts and apparently the plants in question like it. I'll be sprinkling them around hoping it will help deter the groundhog's healthy appetite.

Wish me luck! In the meantime I'll be posting some of my recent food experiment successes. It is summer so I am now officially craving crab and am a bit homesick.  Check out the blog tomorrow for my crab tostada recipe. It was delicious!

We're building a grocery store.... in the back yard

parsley, mint & rosemary

OK, so this post took me an entire month instead of a few days to get written.  About a month ago, I mentioned I was planning a garden. As life got busier and more stressful, getting the garden started has become my lifeline. Getting seedlings started, nurturing them to life and getting my hands deep in the earth really relaxes me. Plus, the warm weather showed up about a month early so I had some outdoor catching up to do.

My first task was planning out what we wanted to plant. I wanted to choose things we eat a lot of and really enjoy. The prospect of a much smaller grocery bill was really intriguing.  I also wanted to make sure everything I grew was an heirloom organic variety. This took a little research on my part to find companies that had seeds not only to meet those high standards, but also that would do well in our growing region.

I see blueberries starting to form! yay!

I settled on 4 different companies based on what each had to offer:
1) Seeds of Change- asparagus crowns, catnip, cucumbers, lettuces & marigolds
2) Annie's Heirloom Organics- 2 tomato varieties, celery, watermelon, carrots & golden beets
3) Shenandoah Farms- organic herb plants
4)True Vine Ranch - Organic blueberry bushes

Next once the seeds arrived I set up a little incubator area in my living room. I bought some organics seed starting mix, moistened it up and then put a small scoop in each of my biodegradable seedling containers. I placed each container on a tray covered them with plastic wrap and put a grow light above them. Then was the hardest part.....the waiting. I am definitely an instant results kind of gal so this has been really tough. I'd water my seedlings every day and finally after about a week and a half I started to see sproutlings.

A word to the wise, just because the sprouts are looking healthy does not mean they are necessarily ready to leave their warm cocoon yet. I made that mistake to early (like I said, I'm crazy impatient) and had to start the process all over again with my beets and cucumbers. 

one of the overgrown & neglected raised garden beds we inherited with the house

While I was waiting on my seeds to grow, I've had plenty of work to do to get the yard ready. First I had to clear out all the leaves, weeds & dead plants left behind by the previous owners.  I also cut back the existing raspberry bushes so they could get healthy again and have some breathing space (they were completely overgrown).  Next I had to empty out the raised beds of the old dirt and put in new, organic dirt, since I had no idea what had been in there before and I didn't want to contaminate my wonderful organic heirloom veggies. What I thought was a simple job turned into a very grueling week-long project. So yes, gardening is definitely hard work but it will be so worth it! (not to mention my arms are starting to look great form all the digging).

Our cat, Isis, seems to enjoy all the outside activity too. She's never been an outdoor cat before, but with the security of a nice fenced in yard, we can't seem to keep her inside. She loves being out in the garden, and munching on leaves of my raspberry bushes (when she thinks we're not looking).

Another related project we started is a compost pile. I bought a nice stainless mini bucket for my countertop, complete with charcoal filter so it doesn't stink up my kitchen.  I place all my vegetable scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds in the pot. When it gets full, I empty it into a a bin my husband rigged up out of an old storage tub. He just drilled some holes into it the mixture could breathe. We have plans to get a big double barrel composting bin, but this was an easy to do free way to get started.  Once the mixture breaks down, it becomes a natural and effective fertilizer for my garden crops. No chemicals needed.

After the the little shoots get some bigger leaves on them and the ground is warm enough you can plant them in a pot, raised bed or a traditional garden bed. Be sure to keep watering regularly and to cover your plants in the event of a chilly night since it is a bit early in the year to be planting in some parts of the country.

I'll follow up and let you know how the garden is progressing. I also will talk about natural pest control.  Hopefully you'll be inspired to start your own garden. The food really does taste so much better when you grow it yourself!

My food battle plan.

I am fighting a war. A war against junk food. I am a busy professional with a home that requires a lot of love & attention...not to mention a husband to keep happy. When a soldier goes off to war they have weapons and armor. My greatest weapon is my weekly plan; My armor is all the vitamin rich food my body takes in to stay healthy. Sound a bit dramatic right?!

I feel it needs to be. If I don't think about the coming week ahead and figure out a meal & chore plan for the upcoming week, I've found that I get short on time, am more stressed and will occasionally opt for the easier meal solution, like takeout Chinese.

I do eat pretty healthily, but I can always do more. The core of my coaching clients are busy professionals with families. So what better way to make sure the strategies and meal plans I suggest work than to try them out with my own family first? Taking just 1 hour each week to make a food plan is a great way to reduce stress and ensure you're family eats healthily. I made mine last night while we were watching tv.

I love digging up new recipes and have a ton I've wanted to try. Often times I find them surfing the web or in the latest issues of my favorite magazines. I then file them, either on a bookmark file on my computer or in a folder, by the season their ingredients are available.

When I sit down to make my plan for the week I open my current season folder and I have a ton of new meal ides at my disposal. I try to coordinate recipes so I can use leftovers for lunches or use recipes that share some of the same ingredients. I also make sure 1 or 2 of the dinners for week can be made in advance, such as a casserole or a crockpot meal. Once I've picked my meals then I make my grocery list of the items I don't have in the pantry already. After doing this planning a few weeks, you'll find that you will also have a list of family favorites to work off of as well.

When I go grocery shopping I make sure to stick to my list. Iq so try to only shop the perimeter of the store where the main staples like the produce are found. By avoiding all the junk food in the center aisles I'm not even tempted to buy them. Out of sight, out of mind. I am always pleasantly surprised when I hear the total. Shopping this way not only makes my time at the store shorter, but also saves a ton of money.

My plan this week has a few new squash recipes and some yummy homemade snack foods. I'll let you know how they turn out  and share the recipes for the successes. I hope you all have wonderfully low stress week and keep warm. I'm now off to the gym and then the grocery store to put this week's battle plan into action.
It sounds like a lot of work but it truly only takes 1 hour each week.

Green Spring Cleaning

The weather is turning warm and I can finally open the windows & air out the apartment. we've been clearing out & cleaning room by room.  Both my partner & I find that we are much more relaxed when our home is a more open space, free of clutter.  I got slightly distracted while straightening our office/guest room this morning by this wonderful article on spring clenaing on the gaiam website. I think you'll find it helpful, I sure did! A guide to green spring cleaning

Really feeling inspired? Check out one of my older posts about how to make your own natural cleaning products.  Homemade Houshold CleanersHappy Spring cleaning!