Appreciation Can Save Your Sanity

I've talked about appreciation and gratitude before, and when I was in college I studied a little about its health benefits, but recently I found this great concise and convincing list. (I found this list in What Happy Working Mothers Know, and they referenced the info from What Happy Companies Know by Dan Baker & Cathy Greenberg and The HeartMath Institute)

• Positive attitudes in heart patients increase survival by 20% after 11 years.
• Positive talk between couples reduces stress by 15%, negative talk increases stress by 48%
• Appreciation reduces physical symptoms and medications, improves hormone balance, and increases production of antibodies.
• Appreciation syncs heart and mind, improves auditory discrimination, spatial awareness, and short and long-term memory.
• Thoughts and even subtle emotions influence the activity and balance of the nervous system, which interact with our digestive, cardiovascular, immune and hormonal systems.
• Negative reactions like panic and anger create disorder and imbalance in the nervous system.
• Positive feelings like gratitude create increased order and balance in the nervous system, which results in overall increased body and brain balance and function.

So the next time you're feeling stressed about something, think about something you're grateful for. It's better for your body, your overall well-being and it will help you to think more clearly.

BBQ Chicken and Wheat Salad

Ok, for those who haven't ever had something with wheat berries in it, just stay with me. You need to try this. Using your wheat can be so easy and very delicious. Last summer when I went to a presentation by Liesa Card, she introduced me to the wonders of wheat without a wheat grinder. First you start with this recipe:

To prepare wheatberries:

• 4 c. raw whole wheat
• 10 c. water
• 1 T. salt

Oil a large (4 quart or larger) slow cooker and fill with wheat, water, and salt. Cover and cook on low all night, 8-10 hours. Cooked wheat may be bagged and stored in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for months.

Now you are ready to make all kinds of easy delicious things (one of our favorites is wheatberry salsa) using something that is super cheap, (I got mine for 33 cents per pound at Costco) stores for a long time, and is high in fiber, folic acid and protein.

Yesterday I had success creating something new. I love it when that happens. :) I was inspired by a recipe that I saw in The Essential Food Storage Cookbook, but I made a few drastic changes, like adding food storage. Here it is.

Barbeque Chicken and Wheat Salad

• 3 cups of cooked wheatberries
• 2 cups of cooked chopped chicken breasts (I grilled mine with lime pepper)
• 1 (15 oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can of corn, drained
• 6 small green onions finely chopped (or 1/2 a red onion chopped)
• 1 large red bell pepper chopped
• 1 1/2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
• 1 large ripe avocado chopped
• 3/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 2/3 cup ranch dressing
• 1 Tablespoon of lime juice
• 2 cups of tortilla chips, crushed

Mix dressing, sauce and lime juice. Mix first eight ingredients in a large bowl with dressing. Store in the fridge for two hours before serving. (Trust me I tasted before and after and it tastes so much better if you let the wheat have a chance absorb the dressing, although it is still good to just eat it right after mixing.) Serve with broken tortilla chips on top.

 

I didn't mix the avocado in the big batch because my husband is severely allergic to them.

The Verdict: I love this salad. My husband liked it. My kids wouldn't eat it and had orange slices and string cheese for dinner. :S But then my children are unfortunately more picky than the average children.

Book Review- What Happy Working Mothers Know

I don't agree with every point in this book, but man I wish that I had read it years ago when I was trying to balance working full-time, as well as being a good wife and mom. What Happy Working Mothers Know by Cathy L. Greenberg, Ph.D and Barrett S. Avigdor J.D. offers a lot of insight whether you stay home full-time with your kids or you're a work-a-holic.
 This book talks about how happiness is not a luxury, it's a necessity. I believe this is true, it's just that sometimes we're so busy trying to get everything done that we forget this. People who are happy do a better job, are more efficient and take fewer sick days, thus being happy increases the bottom-line. (I really wish more employers would realize this.) The book talks a lot about finding a balance and making sure that you take time for your family. It also goes in depth on the idea that if you can find a career that you find to be fulfilling, that makes you a better mom. Being a mom gives you management skills that make you a better employee.  And don't let other people tell you what you need to do to be happy. (I really can get behind that idea. When I worked full-time, a good portion of my shifts were on a few Mother-Baby units. I was always so irritated when people would give me flack for working and not being at home more. If women, like myself, aren't the ones teaching post-partum mom's how to breastfeed, then who would it be? Do they really want men to come and teach them how to breastfeed?)

 Throughout the book there are happiness tips, given below:

1. Love yourself as much as you love your friends and family
2. Life happens. What you choose to focus on becomes your experience. Choose to focus on the positive.
3. Forgive yourself and others.
4. Happiness comes from a full, balanced life that includes hard work, time with family and friends, exercise, celebration, and even solitude. Withhold any of these ingredients and your recipe for happiness will fall flat.
5. Half the battle in life is finding something that you love to do. The other half is rejoicing over your successes along the way.
6. Realize that you're not perfect and allow yourself a few mistakes.
7. Set the same expectations for yourself that you give to your loved ones. Don't be too hard on yourself.
8. Know when to say "no" and learn to do it without feeling guilty. It will increase your satisfaction with life.
9. Life may not turn out exactly the way that you planned, but the detours are worth it because we learn more from our failures than our successes.
10. Happiness starts when you realize that you are loved and appreciated for who you are, not what you do.

I would recommend this book to every working mom out there (which really is every mom, even if you are at home seven days a week you still have a very important job) and anyone else who is trying to have a little more happiness and balance in their lives.

Everything I Know About Plants & Gardening

Water, weed, good dirt is necessary, um that's about it.

Today would have been my grandma's 86th birthday and I've been thinking about her lately. She had an amazing green thumb. Her house was always full of plants and she could revive almost anything. Once she grew a plant from a cutting that overtook her entire living room. She called the LDS Church office building to see if she could donate it to them. They asked "Well, is the plant healthy?" "Yes, that's the problem." They had to remove her double doors and carry the thing out on a large plank of wood to get it out of her house. Then they hauled it away on a flatbed truck. I'm sure that she had lots of botany secrets, but the one I remember was hair. Whenever she cut her kids hair she saved the trimmings and buried them in the dirt of her pots. Hair is full of protein and nutrients that will be eventually broken down by bacteria in soil and made available for absorption by the plants. So a few days ago when my mother-in-law trimmed my son's hair, I saved the hair in my new compost bucket. In the next few weeks I plan on planting a tree in my backyard. Hopefully the fruit peels and hair clippings will help it out.

Giveaway Winner

 Congrats to Sarah from Indiana, who won the giveaway for February. I do apologise to everyone who was unable to comment on the website because of technical difficulties. Better luck next time. I'll be having another giveaway in a few weeks, so stay tuned.

Just A Reminder

If you are having one of those days where you are really frustrated with your life just remember:
"The way that mothers nurture their children may make babies smarter, healthier and better able to deal with stress. These are qualities that will carry through their lives and into the lives of their own children." -Louann Brizendine, M.D. and neuropsychologist
What you do as a mom is so important!

Pantry Challenge Review

In the past couple weeks this is what we have been eating: Navajo Tacos, Chicken Fajita Pasta, Beef Stew, Noodles and Company, Chili, Banana Oatmeal Bread, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Orange Buttermilk pancakes (made with powdered milk), Toasted Ham and Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato Soup, Beef and Wheat Enchiladas and lots of leftovers. And eating food storage for lunch is easy because every day my kids want "Ramen doodles" or Mac & Cheese. I have to be very persuasive to get them to eat anything else. :S I've learned a few things from this challenge.

1. I don't know if I will ever be desperate enough to drink powdered milk. I can
   cook with it, but I won't drink it.
2. When I washed out the chocolate milk jug and filled it with water and hot chocolate mix, my kids didn't even notice. That one can save me a lot of money the way my kids go through chocolate milk.
3. I really can live off my food storage!
4. I can get away with spending only $10-15 a week on groceries, without even clipping any coupons.
5. I got to the point where making homemade bread wasn't that big of a deal. And I don't own a bread maker.
6. I have more food in my pantry than I thought I did.

I do have to confess that I cheated. Saturday night my in-law's were in town and they had promised a few months ago that they would take my daughter to Pirate Island Pizza the next time they came. No food storage that night, but does it count if I didn't have to pay for it?