Healthy Life Lessons

Weird thing, but I have a dirty dark secret: While on the surface of things I look like a very tidy, together person (people often comment on how tidy our house is), if you open my drawers, you'd see another side.  I don't know what it is, but I have never been good at organizing.  I just fling things in drawers so you can't see them.  I am forbidden from folding or putting away anyone's laundry but my own because I just roll things into balls and stuff them in.  My desk isn't horribly messy, but open the drawers and things are disasterous. Lately, however, this tendency is starting to have consequences, and now that I'm running a business, it is important for me to be organized.  I am great with my client files, but other things have still been sliding, and the truth is, all the disorganization makes me anxious. One area of our home that's been quite a mess for some time is our storage room in the basement.  We hadn't cleaned it out in 7 years and w...

Okay, this cannot really be considered 'healthy' given the fat and calorie content, but it is vegan, and does not contain any refined sugar.  Oh, and it is beyond amazingly and ridiculously delicious, which makes it worth the occasional splurge.  Coconut sugar has such a caramel-y taste, that this actually tastes more like dulce de leche than plain sweetened condensed milk.  But that's not a bad thing in my book. If you refrigerate it, it will harden into a fudge-like consistency...which can be a good thing!  If you want it spreadable, you have to keep it at room temperature and you might want to use 1 cup boiling water.  If you want it pourable, you will want to add additional boiling water until you get the desired consistency (about 2 cups). The potential uses for this are endless: coffee drinks, candy, chocolates, frostings, squares, etc. Vegan Sweetened Condensed Milk/Dulce de Leche 1 cup coconut milk powder 2/3 cup coconut sugar 3 tbls cr...

I bet you've never heard of Kangoo Jumps, right? They are a fitness phenomenon, of sorts.  I discovered them at the CAN FIT PRO conference about 6 years ago.  Believe it or not, I actually own a pair.  As you can see from the photo, they are like ski boots with springy things on them.  They supposedly allow you to perform high impact activities while providing much more cushioning for your joints than regular footwear.  This is why I initially purchased them about 5 years ago.  Having fallen in love with running after Big A was born, and then developing runner's knee, before I gave up on my new-found activity, I bought a pair of Kangoo Jumps to see if they really work. I purchased them for $300 on Ebay - and no, Adam was never thrilled with this whole idea.  Admittedly, I wore them 2-3 times before I put them in a closet and kind of forgot about them.  My knees still felt achy afterwards, so it didn't seem to be the cur...

Happy Monday!  How was your weekend?  Ours was good, thanks.  Big A had a big night out Friday.  She went to a kids movie night at a local community centre with one of her friends and it didn't end until 9:30pm.  She got home at 9:45pm (I was already in bed reading), and didn't get to sleep until 10pm.  This was all very exciting for her.  Despite sleeping to 7am Saturday, she was bagged, and after a busy day and another late night (we went to friends' for dinner), she passed out in the car on the way home.  Little A had an awesome day on Saturday.  She was the happy, delightful Little A that I feel like we haven't seen much of lately.  Sunday we had a Purim party which was lots of fun.  The only downer this past weekend was that on my way to teach my spinning class Sunday morning, I lost my cell phone.  Since it is the primary way clients reach me, I was in a big panic.  I went out looking for it, but in the snow,...

Although all 3 of the women in this house are totally thrilled to have Adam back, I wouldn't say it's been all rainbows and butterflies in this house since his return Wednesday night.  Thanks to Little A.  While she's been over the moon to have daddy home, it didn't stop her from having one of her hysterical screaming fits yesterday morning.  I am literally at my wits end with her and I really am starting to believe that it's so genetic thing, that Adam and I just produce children that are destined to be impossible for several years early in their life.  I also HOPE this means that when they are teenagers, it will be a breeze.  Ha! I spoke at length with Little A's daycare teacher and she reported - as has generally been the case - that at daycare, she is perfectly capable of controlling her emotions and has the ability to calm herself down when she gets upset.  THIS IS NOT THE CASE AT HOME AT ALL!!!  Her teacher suggested a bunch of things, all ...

  Pastrami is a classic Jewish deli food.  But I don't think I've had it since I was a kid.  I am not much of a Jewish deli lover.  It's not healthy, and for the most part, it's not even food that I like that much.  So I don't know how I came up with the idea of making mushrooms seasoned like pastrami (maybe I was thinking of ways to make Adam love a vegetarian meal?), but boy I'm glad I did, because these are delicious, and they make a mean Rueben style sandwich! Do they taste like pastrami? No, of course not.  Your Uncle Moishe won't be fooled.  They taste like super delicious mushrooms.  And  really, is there anything better? Portobello Pastrami 1 lb portobello and/or oyster mushrooms, sliced 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1/4 cup vegan or regular worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup spicy or garlic pickle juice, or additional vinegar 1 tsp paprika 1 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp celery seed 1/...

Adam gets back tonight (insert big sigh here!).  The girls are still in one piece and I'm still standing, although I've developed an eye twitch, possibly lost some weight and gained a few more wrinkles in my forehead. I'm still certain that if I was a single mother, my children would be filthy, toothless, illiterate, delinquents. Ha ha!  I only missed one bath and a few days of flossing, but I forgot about brushing the girls hair after bathing them most nights.  Big A had quiet the rats-nest going by last Saturday.  Yeah, I know, I'm mother of the year!  Fortunately, after spending the night with my in-laws, the girls were delivered to me the next day with glossy manes.  Getting Big A to read every day was as difficult as I thought it would be, but I managed to push her through it for at least a few minutes most days. I'm trying to accept that Little A is going through a difficult period, much like Big A did between the ages of 18 months and 5 years, an...