Black Bean Quinoa Salad

This is super easy - and tasty!!

Quinoa
Sprouted Black Beans
Chopped Lettuce ( My choice is Romaine )
Cherry or Grape tomatoes cut in half
Green Onions
Mushrooms
Bell Pepper
Cucumber
Olives









Quinoa -

Soak 2 cups of quinoa for about 15 minutes while you bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Turn off heat when boil is reached. Drain and rinse quinoa then put in boiled water, cover with lid and let sit about 20 - 30 minutes.

Sprouted Black Beans -

You can find directions in the Whole Foods Binder by Elisa Wadsworth. You can purchase that here - Whole Foods Binder

Salad -

Take the rest of the ingredients and chop the way you like for a green salad.

Cook the Quinoa and warm the beans. Place in bottom of bowl and top with Green Salad. Drizzle with your favorite dressing and your done!

Can I lean on you?

How often are we busy, focusing on important things or simply want our children to leave us alone for a minute to breathe? More often than not is probably the answer.

I had a little wake up call yesterday as we sat in church..... a place where we teach our children to sit reverently and let us listen.

My 4 year old daughter was sitting by me and tapping on me. This usually is met with " not now" "no talking" "stop" " let me listen" or something along those lines. I turned to reply to her and she looked up at me and said quietly

"Can I lean on you?"

Instantly my heart melted and swelled - what a simple yet profound phrase coming from my child. To me it meant more than what she was implying, to simply lay her head against my arm while I listened. It went deep into my heart and I asked myself "Can she lean on me?" Am I showing up for her so she knows I am always there for her and my other children? Am I getting caught up in all the "adult" things and responsibilities I have and neglecting this part of my role?

Even in living a homemade life, it is easy to get distracted and make other things priorities that would still serve well being farther down on the list. That is why I love simple reminders like this to keep everything in perspective and in the correct order. To make sure my children know that YES, even if I am doing something, they can still lean on me as their mother, no matter what I am doing.

Take a minute or a whole day to make sure that those who you love most in your life - children, spouse, siblings, or parents and let them know that they CAN lean on you and that they are an integral part of your life.

Fear - It doesn't need to run your life.

Do you have anything you fear? To others does it seem irrational or simply an excuse? Does this fear paralyze you from being able to do the things you want to do?

I have a fear that I have had since I can remember. It has been so bad at times that I have been physically sick, paralyzed and often in tears just at the mention of it. In fact writing this is really hard for me because it is making me think of it.

First of all, because you have a fear does not make you less than anyone else. Even if it is so severe it can be considered a phobia. Telling yourself there is something wrong with you because you have that fear actually feeds the energy of fear.

The key is recognizing it for what it is, and then taking steps to move forward and release that fear. Here are a couple of tips that help me, have a made a huge difference and have actually lessened the "symptoms" of what has been my fear. In a lot of cases the fears have even been turned off like a light switch turns on and off the light!






TIP #1 - Tapping. I am ok no matter what happens, everyone is ok no matter what happens, everything is ok no matter what happens. These phrases are probably the hardest things to think of when you are in the middle of true fear. As soon as your fear has presented itself, begin tapping over and behind your ears saying these 3 phrases until you feel a shift, then do it at least one or two more times. This helps to reset your fight or flight response and calms your nerves - it helps to reprogram your  negative reaction to allow you to give a positive response.

TIP #2 - Breathe. Fear triggers our fight or flight response and can cause lots of stress on our bodies. Changing that initial response will make a huge difference. Of course if it is something that is startling you migh react at first. Recognize it, then begin breathing long slow deep breaths.







TIP #3 - Ground Yourself. Step outside and put your bare feet in the dirt or grass and feel the sunshine on your face. The earth is very healing and will actually absorb our stress from our bodies, and center us so that we can see, feel and think clearly. If you don't have the option of going outside, Essential Oils are a great alternative - they are the essence and healing power of Mother Earth in a bottle. Great grounding oils are Green Organics.



TIP #4 - Prayer. I always say a silent prayer for strength and faith to replace my fear. You cannot have them present in your being at the same time.









I hope these tips can help you as they have helped me. They are good not only for sudden bouts of fear, but any type of low vibrational, negative thinking and even overcoming addiction. Use these tips in place of giving in to addiction, anxiety, depression, and anger.

5 lbs to go!!

I am not a very big person - physically. I am 5 foot and normally weigh about 110 pounds. With my first 3 kids it was super easy to get back to weight after having them, I didn't even think about it. I ate what I wanted during pregnancy and afterwards. Well 4 kids and 8 years later, I am noticing a difference!

Last week I posted on my facebook fan page that I had 5 more pounds to go and then I would be at my pre-pregnancy weight and then it was time to start sculpting my amazing muscles!

Well I wanted to share with you how I am consistently dropping the weight and how I will keep it off.

This last pregnancy started out differently than what I desired - SICK! And the only thing I could eat without being horribly sick and losing it, was processed food. I am normally an avid whole foods eater - foods that you would pick out of your garden and not a box or can. So this was a big change for me. I felt gross eating it, but didn't really have much of a choice. That set me up for my eating habits through the rest of the pregnancy. Although I did pretty good, I still wanted lots of sugar and butter. Thus I baked a few times a week each week and ate most of it! I did good on my weight gain though, only gaining about 35 pounds by delivery time. However it was sugar and butter weight instead of healthy vegetable weight!

So I have baby and lose 20 pounds right off the bat, I was thinking yay! it will come off like the others. Well over the next 4 months I went down another 5 pounds and plateaued. I was still baking a few times a week - sugar cravings were SO bad. I had to have something everyday, if not multiple times a day.

Now when I am talking sugar, I'm not talking white refined sugar. I only use Turbinado or honey and I don't use wheat. And I do it homemade except for maybe a little treat on a date with my hubby. So these cookies and things were full of flax, coconut oil and other healthy stuff, but it was still sugar and fat. 

I was having a super low energy ornery experience and I couldn't remember feeling that way for years. My other pregnancies were full of healthy food cravings and I hadn't felt that addicted to sugar since before my whole experience that took me down the healthy path.

I drink green smoothies every morning for breakfast and they are always really good about getting me through the day. I was still having a hard time because of the sugar I was having. I was telling my husband one night about my issues and he told me to start adding our Smooth Vitality Protein and Yerba Mate herb to my smoothies. I was already doing lots of greens and Green Vitality which were good ( I can't imagine how I would have felt not having them)

So, I started adding the protein and yerba mate to my smoothies AND doing my liver cleanse consistently every morning about 20 minutes before my smoothie. WOW I will tell you, not only did I do some major cleansing but it was pretty much instantly that I no longer was craving the sugar! In fact I didn't make any treats for 2 months, and then that was some honey cookies for my students finals. 

I am now down to 5 more pounds and then I will be focusing on building lean muscles and toning. I am SO excited!! My plan is, with my new barefoot shoes, to walk/climb hills for half an hour every morning for the next month (get my feet and ankles ready to start running in them) THEN once that is done, I will start again the Couch 2 5K program and then begin incorporating more muscle training activities.

This protein and green mix have been SO instrumental to me being able to cut the cravings and have the energy I desire for all that I do, I can't even express my gratitude for them. I have tried proteins before and this is the only one I don't get sick on and it actually gives me energy :)

Smooth Vitality is a dairy, GMO, soy, gluten, whey, casein free nutritional shake. It is RAW and 100% organic! You can't get better quality than that.!

Green Vitality is a RAW organic blend of 25 different greens, turning your body into a vibrant alkaline environment from a deadly acidic one.

I won't go a day without these two!

I'll keep you posted :)

If you want to get your own you can go here - Green Organics

the HomeMade MOM

 Homemade - Grandma's, aprons, clothes, bread......warm and fuzzy. What do you think of when you think of homemade?

I think of quality, individual interest and care. This is the feeling that I want to inspire in everyone. That they have a life that is quality, individual and full of care. I also want to share what I do in my life to have those things!

This blog will be a fun way for me to share those things with you, and inspire you to live your own HomeMade life.

Welcome to a life of Warm Fuzzies!