Awesome Vegan Snack: Roasted Chickpeas

by eileen on November 28, 2012

Please excuse the blurry pic (complete with toddler foot)–I didn’t think I was going to blog about this, but then I decided I couldn’t keep it to myself…

Here’s my new favorite toddler-friendly snack: Roasted Chickpeas.

As a mama of a picky eater who is always looking to get some protein into him, I get downright giddy when I watch him gobble these down. (Ahhh…it’s the little things.)

Anyway, these seriously could not be any easier. In fact I feel a little silly writing up a “recipe” for them but here goes…

Roasted Chickpeas

  • Chickpeas
  • A high-heat oil, like Canola or Safflower
  • Salt and spices to taste

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Grab a can or box (or cook your own from dried) of chickpeas. Rinse and drain, then place them in a bowl. Add some oil, salt, cayenne, cumin, and garlic (either garlic powder or chopped fresh) and toss to coat.

I’m not giving specific quantities because it truly doesn’t matter, just do it to your taste. And you can substitute or eliminate the spices to your taste, too. Really the only necessities are the chickpeas, oil and salt.

Lay out on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until crispy on the outside and tender inside.

~ Enjoy!

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Love Bites #22: Celebrate good times edition.

by eileen on November 26, 2012

A weekly list of things I love and what’s going on with me.

Last week was all about celebrations–Z’s second birthday, my husband’s birthday, and of course Thanksgiving. It was wonderful and all I have to say now is phew!

I can’t believe my little guy is two. A couple of days ago I gave him his first haircut–not even a haircut really, just some snips of a few of his more unruly locks. Now without his mad-scientist-curls he looks more…earth-bound. As if he no longer inhabits as much of the ether around his head.

It was time, and it feels right but oh…there’s just a little bit of sadness too.

I’m having all sorts of thoughts lately about what I want to do with 2013. You’ll forgive me for being a little early on this one, but 2011 and 2012 have been full of some not-great stuff for our family, and we’re ready to get out of survival-mode. That means creating the life we want to be living, not just getting by every day.

Tangentially related to this: I want to take and print and enjoy more photos! And my friend Tara has me even more inspired with this post on “Project Life.” I’m not sure that I need an official system but I may have to borrow heavily from these ideas.

Also, if you are remotely crafty and in business for yourself, you must know Tara. Read her book, take her classes, join her Starship. Your business will thank you! And then you can thank me. (You’re welcome!)

I adore this post by my friend Darrah–Everything I learned in my first year of motherhood (Hint: not much). You said it, sister!

Maybe it’s just me but I am seriously over the idea that anyone knows anything about parenting. All of us, and I mean all of us, even if you’ve written a parenting book about the Perfect Parenting Style (maybe especially then!) are making this shit up as we go along.

I loooove to hear insights and war stories from fellow mamas, but I am pretty much over the idea that anyone is an expert on this topic.

(It’s possible I’m just doing a little ranting here, since I am about six months in to my “recovery” from attachment parenting dogma. But that’s a topic for another post…)

I have always loved Kylie’s blog, but she is especially speaking to me lately. This is not an inspiring story is real and beautiful and shows directly into her heart…and I can so totally relate.

And then, almost as an antidote, she offers How to sit with your emotions. A truly helpful meditation on…well, how to sit with your emotions. Something so important that so many of us struggle with. If you have a quiet moment, watch her video.

And if you live in the Northwest, or any other early-darkness part of the world right now, you’re going to want to read Darkness: How to survive the winter in Seattle. Since it’s Emma, I pretty much just take notes and do whatever she says. Girl knows her shit.

All right, I think I have cursed and ranted enough!

How was your thanksgiving? What are you celebrating these days? If you’re in the northern hemisphere, how do you plan to make it through the winter?

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Help.

by eileen on November 21, 2012

Recently I made a blurb book out of my instagram feed of Z’s first year (turned out beautifully, btw).

Since I had my phone with me at all times back then, those little square photos are so intimate, they perfectly capture so much of that time–the feeding, the cuddles, the unbelievable littleness and newness of it all.

They also make me a bit sick to my stomach. Which got me thinking about  postpartum despression…

(Giant caveat: Of course I’m not a doctor, I’m not a healthcare professional of any kind…so basically, I know nothing. And I absolutely understand that postpartum depression is a real chemical thing that happens to many women, this is not about that and I am not passing judgment on anyone’s situation. However…)

How much of what we call postpartum depression is just being in a shitty situation with no help?

I hear over and over women describing how they are alone all day with their infant (or an infant and another child! the mind reels!**)…up multiple times at night nursing, or alone on the weekends with very little help…

And for some reason (!) this gets them down. And they’re wondering if maybe they have postpartum depression because they just seem to really hate life lately.

**and you mamas of multiples? I don’t EVEN. Wow.

Yeah.

When I was feeding my baby through a tube multiple times a night for months and months…

When my husband was helping as much as he possibly could while still keeping his job…

I wasn’t depressed–that shit was depressing.

I didn’t need a therapist, I needed help. Big-time help.

Not support–not “I hear you, sister” from a fellow mama-of-a-newborn in the trenches. Not “I love you baby, you’re doing great” from a partner heading off to work.

Support is critical, too, of course. But I am talking about honest-to-goodness, “here let me hold that baby while you nap”– H-E-L-P.

And I had no idea how to get it.

We didn’t have family in town, and most of the friends I had were other mamas who were going through the same thing, and we couldn’t help each other because we were all barely breathing on our own.

The quick answer is I could have hired a postpartum doula, or a nanny, or even a teenager mother’s helper…or I could have just asked a friend to come over once a week.

But it was more than the logistics that stopped me from getting help.

I guess it didn’t occur to me that it was okay for me to need so much help. I guess I thought that me and my husband were supposed to be able to handle it on our own. I didn’t want to ask anyone for anything.

I thought that since we decided to have this baby, we should be able to take care of it on our own. I especially thought I needed to have it all together immediately after the baby was born or I would be some kind of wreck of a mother. That other mamas would judge me.

But I am here to tell all you new mamas that the exact opposite is true. When I see mothers with babies under one, I want to cheer for them–you made it out of the house! you’re both dressed! congratulations! put your feet up! do you need a nap????

(I don’t usually, because I don’t want to sound patronizing. But I do it in my head.)

It gets better. Everything is different now. I have a group of mamas who I could call in a second for help. Now that our babies are toddlers, we have an extra hand to help if needed. Of course, now we need it less and less.

Mamas, that first year is going to drag you through the mud and back.

Get help when you need it. Better yet, line up some help ahead of time. More than you think you’ll need. Really. It’s okay.

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Two.

by eileen on November 19, 2012

Every night, as I lay down with Z before he falls asleep, I have two prayers.

The first is please let this go quickly.

Our bedtime routine is getting better but it’s still a long one. Between jammies and brusha-brusha and stories and nursing and songs and feet-rubbing and shh-shhh-shhh-ing…it’s well over an hour.

And when it’s 7pm and you’ve been awake and on since 5am, that’s one loooong hour. You can’t blame a mama for wanting it to go by fast, so she can put her feet up and watch an episode of Parenthood before bed.

And yet my second prayer is please let this last forever.

I feel like I am living in the past. I already know I will look back at photos of now and think about how magical it all was, how brief.

Here is this little love, so trusting and alive and open and with me all the time. And we are so in tune with one another, it’s stressful and beautiful at the same time. Just me, my simple presence, can make everything better for him.

I know it will not always be like this, and that kills me.

And I can’t wait.

Go fast, slow down. Grow up, stay little.

May you stay forever young.

 

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Emma’s Sauces #2: Fruit Compote

by eileen on November 13, 2012

Welcome to the second installment of a series on easy sauces by my friend Emma of  Your Fonder Heart. Emma is a doula who knows just about everything there is to know about birth, babies, and feeding the whole family a yummy whole foods diet. She’s going to share her five main sauces with us here, so that we can fancy-up our meals without spending a ton of time in the kitchen!

And in case you missed it: Emma’s Sauces #1: Balsamic Reduction 

…..

Compote is french for “mixture” and for today’s purposes I’ll be talking about fruit. Figs, apples, blueberries, raspberries all lend themselves well to compotes and this is an excellent way to prepare them in the winter months if you have frozen fruit but you don’t like to eat it soggy.

The Method:

You’ll need 3 things for compote:

  1. fruit
  2. liquid to cook it in
  3. something complex to shake things up – more layers

Pick your fruit (literally, use anything you have around – dried fruit is fine if nothing is fresh), then your liquid. You can use water, syrup, port, wine or other alcohol – the booze will cook off and all you’ll have is the flavor of it, so don’t worry about feeding it to children. Lastly, something interesting that pairs well with your fruit – orange zest, cinnamon, cloves, fresh rosemary, vanilla pods, whatever.

When you’re looking for how to put food together with herbs, The Flavor Bible is an excellent reference for taking any item in your repertoire and making a strong pairing with other food and herbs. It has never steered me wrong.

Just simmer until the fruit is soft, remove anything inedible (herbs or spices) and then blend the remaining mixture (however you like to blend: regular blender, immersion blender, food processor – do what’s EASY for you) until it’s smooth. Ready!

Uses:

  • Breakfast: over pancakes, waffles or oatmeal instead of or in addition to syrup.
  • Dessert: pour over ice cream with nuts or use as a layer between cake rounds
  • Toast: use it as fresh, warm jam!

—–

Thanks Emma! I am sooo excited to have a way to fancy-up my frozen fruit! That soggy, frozen mess totally gets me down. Anyone else going to try this?

~ Eileen

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