Wishing you a blessed day as we celebrate motherhood.

Photo by Stacy Ziegler

One of my favorite subjects to write (or talk) about is yoga for children. I love watching my kiddos practice yoga, and I really enjoy looking back to see how their practice has evolved through the years. Yesterday I got a call asking me to put together a yoga program for at risk teenagers. It is a bit daunting, considering that is an age group I have really never worked with. I pulled together every article I had ever written on yoga to begin to find inspiration, and I came across this piece in Rhythm of the Home.

Perhaps it was the pictures that now seem so out of date, or Jacob’s incredible handstand (I am sorry, but I have some jealousy over this one) that made me want to share this, but this piece brought back so many great memories.

From my mat to yours, I hope that you and your kiddos are always able to find healing in the blessing of the breath.

From the 2010 Spring edition of Rhythm of the Home 

Since my babies were in utero, they have been doing yoga with me. A constant part of our daily rhythm, yoga is a way that we have ensured connection to one another. Starting my day out with my boys on our mats, seated and quiet, greeting each other and the world around us helps me to find perspective in my day ahead.

While yoga is amazing as a part of daily life, it is also one of the best tools that I have seen for both children and adults through difficult times.

When I first started working as a yoga therapist, I was lucky enough to be involved with a group of people suffering from chronic and terminal illness. The way that they responded to the effects of yoga and breath work, and the difference that it made in their quality of life, helped me to realize that by settling the mind, and deepening the breath, we have control over the way that the body responds to different difficult stimuli.

Children are sponges of what they see, hear and experience. After my oldest son was born, I trained in children’s yoga therapy, and as a storyteller. Through that work, I was able to witness children processing tragedy and hurt by finding their way into a safe enough space in their bodies to be able to communicate.

While hopefully very few of us will ever have to deal with our children experiencing large tragedy or grief, I have found that for my family, coming fully into the present moment, breathing deeply and allowing our bodies to move the way that they feel fit has helped us all be able to release in the tough times.

There are multiple ways to help children release, communicate or relax after a difficult experience (or just when they need to come down from over stimulation). The first is setting a rhythm for our children’s days. I have a son with a chronic motor tic, which is highly affected by food allergies and lack of sleep. When I know that a tough day is on us, I focus heavily on creating quiet, soft play, a lot of rest and connection, and always a yoga practice to suit his needs.

Talk therapy is not always helpful for kids, but play therapy seems to have a ton of success. Beginning a yoga practice with play can help any child to be able to enter their space in a more joyful way.

Coming to the mat, placing their feet together and standing tall as a mountain, and grounding themselves deep into their earthly roots

Stretching their arms over head to connect to something beyond themselves.

Allowing them to play through poses, laughing deeply, reminding them that life is not supposed to be serious, or painful. That they are allowed to express silliness and to simply be children.

Challenging them to find their strengths, to push past what they think that they can do, and to find within themselves the power of all their possibilities

It might seem strange to believe that yoga can help children with all of these things, but peace, faith, grounding, and achievement are all essential components to a healthy childhood, and are necessary if children are to experience healing from any difficult life event. Children learn through experience, and being able to relate their yoga postures to these qualities is a wonderful way for them to truly feel their power.

Talking with your child while they are in these postures, encouraging them, reminding them of the qualities you are trying to build is very helpful. Children do remarkably well by guided meditation, and that can certainly be a wonderful part of their yoga practice.

While the active part of yoga is so very important, creating warmth and nurturing is also an essential component of helping children heal. Laying our hands on our children, providing connection with those they love, and helping them to feel safe and understood.

The following is a practice that we use with our children for many different times in life, but is especially helpful through challenging times.

Set up a space for your child where they are fully supported. Their backs, arms, head, and legs should be supported, and an eye pillow, or towel should be placed over their eyes. Guide them to relax every part of themselves deeply into the earth below. Encourage them to breathe deeply, and with each inhale to bring something positive, something that they love into themselves. With each exhale, to release something that is bothering them. You can, of course, use different wording here, depending on the circumstances.

Supporting our children, while encouraging them to relax can be very powerful. Putting them into a position that helps to open their bodies, like the forward fold above, helps them to learn that relaxation is possible through many different postures. The goal here would be that as they get older, and they chose to not necessarily always go into supported postures, that they can quickly move themselves into this same  forward bend, and find the same kind of comfort.

Putting our children in postures where they are supported, but their hearts are open, may truly have the greatest impact. Helping our little ones to open fully is when the release will normally come. Some children will back away from this posture, and this is a good indication that more support and care needs to take place. I would strongly encourage you to put your children into this posture through their healing process, and to see what comes, but never to push.

In this posture, you want your child to have most of their body on either a flat bolster, or folded blankets. The shoulders and neck should be off the bolster, but supported by a rolled towel or blanket, and their arms should be supported out to the side.

Again, deep breathing, guided meditation and a few moments of silence can help your child to get the most from this posture.

A favorite for young children is to place them on their side is a “cuddling” position, and press a bolster blanket or body pillow tightly to them. This creates a strong sense of peace and safety, guides them to hold onto to something or someone that they love, or brings them joy, and encourages them to hold onto that in times that they are scared or troubled.

Finally, Savasana. Considered to be the most powerful and important posture of any practice, Savasana helps to create a full letting go of ourselves. Moving the child onto the floor, their arms and legs spread, guide them through relaxing each and every part of their body, beginning with the top of their head, and ending with the tips of their toes. Allowing them to spend their final few moment in silence.

We end all of our restorative yoga sessions with either a warm bath or foot soak. Water promotes healing, washes away bad feelings, and completes the circle of the body’s ability to relax itself. Using lavender, chamomile or calendula is another wonderful tool.

Creating sacred space, healing space, and a sense of peace and calm can allow our children to experience the healing that they need, and can open the doors to better communication.

Once their bath is complete, you can use several tools to help them find their story. You can create an oral story that relates to what they are going through, but puts the experience in the life of another person. You can also encourage them to draw or paint their feelings, and you will be surprised by how much comes from both of these experiences.

Children need to heal, and they are not normally in tune with how to communicate their feelings through just talking. Providing them with a rhythm and experience that creates safety and warmth is essential to both giving them permission to heal, and alternative ways to express their feelings is key in helping them to move on.

Yoga for healing can be used for any difficult experience; from the loss of a loved on, to fear of the dark. Children’s fear, anger and sadness are a normal part of their lives, but helping them to understand that they hold the key to moving past these things will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Namaste

This was my lunch yesterday. I set my place at the table, poured myself a large glass of water, dished out my soup and my salad, and sat down to a good book. I did nothing for 30 minutes but read and eat.

The meal wasn’t consumed quickly. I had no one to talk to, no interruptions, and no place to be right in this moment.

It looks good, right? It looks like a luxury some might say, and they would be right. It is a luxury.

What you can’t see in the picture is the time spent all around these 30 minutes. The two hour conference call during Landon’s first nap, the 24 emails I have written, the play date that I have run Elwood to and picked him up from, the soccer practices I will soon drop them both off at, the lessons we have done and will continue to do, the breakfast and dinner made, the laundry folded (or perhaps just piled up waiting to be folded), the bathrooms that need cleaning, and the book outline that I need to complete. I could go on, but really I think you get my point.

These are my 30 minutes. Landon is quietly resting in my bed, the older boys are upstairs reading, something that I ask of them sometimes after lunch, so that I can enjoy mine.

This might be a luxury, the good meal that keeps me nourished and going, but this is also my sanity. My little slice of me time. I am a better mother after this meal.  A better friend, wife and daughter. I am refreshed and ready, and I can push through all the way to bed  time with just these 30 minutes.

Our days can go on forever if we let them. We can find ourselves at the end, ready to collapse into bed, wondering where it all went. For me, that is surviving, and no matter how crazy things get, I want to make sure that I am taking the time to not just get through it, but live it. I love the busy days that we have. As my kids get older, that is something that I knew would come. They love to live as fully as I do, and that means that sometimes days look the one above. They look crazy.

No matter how hectic the day is, there is still 30 minutes in it for us to say “This is mine, and I need it”.

Wishing you 30 minutes of peace today.

When I wrote the post last week on our journey with food, I was nervous about putting so much of ourselves, of our personal story out there. I had been balancing feelings of wanting to protect Jacob’s privacy with knowing that his story could help at least a few people who might be experiencing something similar. What I didn’t know was that the responses that we would receive would help us so very much as well.

Jacob and I have read every comment and email that you all left, and both of us are a little overwhelmed at how much was shared. I think that for me, it brought it all home how many people are living with food challenges, and even more important, how many of us are working hard to ensure that our kids are healthy and well. It was powerful to think about.

There is no good way to ever say thank you for such a thing, but I thought that I would give it a good try with some chocolate and strawberries.

Strawberries and chocolate. There really isn’t a need to say much more than those two words in my household to get my children to come running. I never tire of the combination of these two, and just about this time every year I find myself coming up with new ways to enjoy them together.

I recently discovered a recipe for tofu cream that I fell in love with, and adapted to suit my family’s needs. Now, to be honest, the idea of including such things as tofu cream in my kitchen repertoire was never high on my priority list. The words tofu and cream just didn’t evoke yummy thoughts  , but I will happily admit to my mistake here. Tofu cream is delicious, and a very happy alternative for certain recipes. When I first thought about making these bars I had been thinking more along the lines of a rich cream cheese substitute, so I adapted the recipe for tofu cream to make it a little bit richer.

The base of the bars is a baked almond crust, but one day soon I will have to try and replicate these with a raw crust as well, just to see how they differ. Almond meal, coconut, honey, and coconut oil combine for a rich but flakey crust, and a layer of chocolate is spread in between the cream and crust for an added treat. We use Enjoy Life chocolate, and love it. Having a source for dairy, soy and nut free chocolate is a great relief to me, because most people who visit us with any frequency have at least one of those allergies.

Strawberry season is coming, and I can not wait until the first picking at the farm. That is truly one of my favorite days of the season, maybe because it just reminds me that so much goodness is coming from the garden. Strawberries were the first food that Landon ever got his hands on, and he has been in love ever since (he grabbed a strawberry from my basket as we were picking last year, and got a quick lick in before I noticed him). I was lucky enough to find a container of strawberries that looked ripe and ready last week, so they topped off the bar with their sweet goodness.

Of course, if you have any left over berries, you can always save them for a scrumptious breakfast. Short grain brown rice cooked in almond milk, topped with berries, raw sunflower seeds and slivered almonds is a favorite in our household, and a good way to start the day.

Strawberry and Tofu Cream Bars

Printable Recipe 

Crust

1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp. coconut oil – melted
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping

Tofu cream

1 cup cashews soaked for 20 minutes
5 dates
1 package of medium silken tofu
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp no sugar added strawberry jam
1/2 cup chocolate chopped (or chips)

sliced strawberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the almond flour, coconut, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Whisk the wet ingredients together, and combine with almond flour mixture until incorporated. Press the dough into an 8×8″ glass baking dish. Bake until golden brown, 12-18 minutes.

Remove the crust from the oven and top with chocolate. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes, then spread evenly over the crust. Allow to cool completely.

For the topping, combine the cashews, tofu, dates, jam and honey in a high powdered blender and blend until creamy and smooth. Spread evenly onto the chocolate layer, and top with sliced berried. Allow to chill fully in the refrigerator, and serve.

Enjoy!

Sometimes there are posts that have been in my head so long, written and re-written mentally, that I am afraid to actually publish them for fear that they will never live up to my expectations. Today is one of those posts.

I have talked a lot in this space about my kitchen. It is a space that has been very important to my family, and a place where I spend the majority of my days. It is also the place where most of our healing has been found.

Many of you know that my oldest son, Jacob, was diagnosed with celiac disease a little over 5 years ago. Since then we have found out that all of our children carry it, as well as my husband and I. What I haven’t shared, and what I even hesitate to share now, is the journey that Jacob and I have been on these past few years. I hesitate because the story is not mine, it is his. So I want to preface this by saying that Jacob has been a huge part of writing this post today, and he has expressed that in the future he would like to write a few on his own (that would be cool) that goes into even more detail. We both decided that we wanted to share his story after he was invited to talk on the subject to a group of young people who had recently been diagnosed, and who were struggling to change their diets to accommodate the illness. In putting that talk together, Jacob realized that his journey has actually been a lot tougher than he realized, but that the changes that we have made have truly given him a whole new outlook on his life and his future.

I grew up in a family that valued good food, which to this day I count as a huge blessing. My mom and dad tell stories of how they carried around tackle boxes of vitamins wherever they went in the 1960′s, and my brother loves to joke with my mom that he had to sneak Doritos, his favorite snack, because she was so against processed food. Our pantry rarely had a snack in it, and my mother insisted on cooking us meals, rather than giving us empty nutrition. I have to admit that I hated that as a kid, truly hated it. I always thought that life would be better if only I could have a Pop Tart in the morning.

In my early 20′s I became a yoga teacher, and at the same time I was struggling with my own chronic illnesses that were wracking my body. I saw every specialist that I could, had surgery after surgery, tried experimental medications, and things just kept getting worse. As I reached my late 20′s I became pregnant with Jacob. I struggled to keep my thyroid in control, my weight dropped, I developed eczema, and asthma, and I could feel my body declining. After Elwood was born, I developed severe post-partum depression, insomnia and PMS.  I began to see a naturopath who helped me to see the way that my body was attacking itself. I saw acupuncturists, massage therapists, alternative medicine practioners, etc. As good as they were, and as important as they were in the beginning of my journey, my symptoms persisted.

Then Jacob was diagnosed. He was 3 1/2, had not grown an inch since he had turned 18 months, was underweight, and was clearly experiencing mal-nutrition. I was dumbfounded. We were such a healthy family, how had this happened? I never once drank caffeine, took medications, drank alcohol while I was pregnant, etc. How had this little boy that I had done everything to protect and be healthy, how was he this sick? It was in that first appointment with his doctor after his diagnosis that I figured it out, or should I say that I began to figure it out. No matter how healthy we were, we were not eating the right foods.

Celiac is an auto immune illness that is triggered by gluten in the gut. In removing the gluten from the system, the celia are able to grab the nutrition from the food being eaten, and health begins to be restored. At first I thought that this would be the end of the discussion for us, that simply removing the gluten would provide all that we needed for Jacob to get better. That turned out to be anything but the case. Although Jacob’s overall health was getting better, he was beginning to grow, and you could tell that he was absorbing nutrients from his food, things were still off. He was developing neurological tics, anxiety, and other neurological issues that were impairing his happiness and ability to relax into his days. Any kind of excitement would trigger severe anxiety, even though we lived in a very calm household, strived to create rhythms that would bring about a sense of peace, and kept him away from such things as TV, the computer, and video games.

We took him to one doctor that said that he had Tourette’s, another that said that he had ADHD (although he was never hyper), another that said that he had transient tic disorder. I was honestly starting to lose my mind. This child who was so bright, and such a joy to be around seemed to be quickly fading away. My anxiety levels rose, and the stress in our household was palpable.

Although we were going through so many different diagnosis and paths, I also knew from my own experience the power that food could have. For at this time I had gone gluten free myself, and had made other changes to my own diet. From those changes, all of my previous illnesses, asthma, etc. had gone away in full. I was clear that food and health were interconnected, I just still did not have the answer I needed for my son.

My mother had always taught me that when something feels overwhelming, let it all go and go back to the basics. I took that advice and began to look at the fundamentals of what we were doing in our days, and in our kitchen. Joel and I decided to go back to the root of it all, and start again with his food. We removed dairy, that helped. We removed every ounce of processed sugar, that helped. The tics began to dissapate, the anxiety became a little more under control. Jacob suffered from horrible insomnia, and that began to subside slightly. We could see some definite changes happening.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was the beginning of an answer. I spent countless hours researching food and health. It was confusing because there are SO many theories on food and diet. Everyone believes that they have the answer. From Paleo, to GAPS, to Eating Right for Your Blood Type, to Macrobiotic cooking. I read it all, dismissed what did not feel right, and then began to put some new things into place. I remembered in my doula training that high protein diets were considered to be a huge benefit to women for not developing pre-eclampsia during pregnancy, and I had heard that protein could help with tics. I took the target of 100 grams of protein that we suggested for pregnant mamas, and fed that amount to Jacob  everyday for about a month. It was instantaneous. Within weeks every last tic was gone, the insomnia disappeared, the nose bleeds ceased. It all just went away. This child who had struggled so bad for so long, was literally someone new.

Now, before I go on, I want to make clear that this worked for him. I am not suggesting that exactly what we did would ever be a cure all for everyone. The idea of what occurred here, in our kitchen and in our lives, is that we looked at our food as healing, and we were determined to make the changes that we needed to get our son, and ourselves better. We did not follow any one diet, but instead realized that Jacob was different from anyone else, as were each of us, and that what he needed to eat needed to be as individual as he is.

That was July of 2011. We still continue, daily, to look at the foods we eat and how they heal us (or harm us). We have continued to make changes, and I am sure always will. In a funny twist of fate, I have followed in my mom’s foot steps and we keep all processed foods out of the kitchen. That makes for some long days, and a lot of good menu planning, but it is worth it. Knowing where everything that we eat comes from, and feeling a greater sense of connection to our food helps me to understand what is best for each us.

I am a baker, a lover of food, and certainly someone who wanted to keep the joy in eating with my children. Even though we made a radical shift in diet over the past few years, I really want to convey that we certainly did not take away yummy eats. I still bake, daily, and my children still enjoy everything from scones to cinnamon rolls, we just do it with alternative ingredients and added protein. We cook with almond flour, use coconut oil and milk, use small amounts of agave nectar and honey, rather than sugar, etc. It felt a little overwhelming at first, but really once I knew what they could each eat, I was able to adapt most recipes to suit their well being.

There is a lot of discussion right now about food elitism, and how only the wealthy can afford to eat well. Nothing breaks my heart more than hearing that. The local food movement, the drive to bring healthy food back to the table is anything but elite. It isn’t an easy shift, and it does take some very creative budget planning, but health and well being is something that we all deserve and can achieve. I think that more than money, eating well takes time and patience. The amount of times that we have had to go back to the drawing board feels ridiculous. In the end, it has been way cheaper for us to make all of our food, as well as grow it, rather than buy it.

There are countless doctors (including Dr. Sears), nutritionists and scientists who are currently researching and bringing to light the connection between food and children’s health, especially in the areas of ADHD, Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder, and Tourettes. I have a strong feeling that as time moves forward, we will see greater discussion on this subject. However, I think that it is the parents that will have the greatest impact. Those of us who are determined to help our children recover and be the healthiest versions of themselves will help to show that food has a strong impact on some of the major problems that little ones are combating today.

A few months back, when Joel and I made the switch to leave processed foods out of our diets, I told him that what I was most afraid of was running out of ideas for cooking. If I was going to make every meal, every snack, every beverage, I needed some good resources. At about the same time those words came out of my mouth, Heather announced she was holding an online course on Whole Food eating. Heather’s work centers around creating a healthy kitchen, plant based/whole food nutrition, and individualized enjoyment. She has a wonderful way of drawing you back to the kitchen, of drawing you back into a joy of food. We have spent the past 10 weeks eating from her course, and once again jumping into a new way of looking at things.

Heather’s class brought me a lot of joy at a time that I really needed to see food as not only healthy, but fun and delicious. It is in that spirit that both Heather and I would like to give back to all of you.

Heather’s new class, 30 Day Vegan opened for registration a few weeks back, and I signed right up. At the time Heather was kind enough to be offering a Bring a Friend discount. I emailed and asked her if it would be ok if I gave the spot to one of my readers in a giveaway. She not only agreed, but offered a second spot!

The giveaway is simple.  Leave a comment here and we will draw two winners on Sunday afternoon. I will email Heather your name and she will send you what you need for registration. We would love to also hear what changes you have made in your kitchen that have brought healing. Sharing those stories always gives me inspiration to keep moving forward in our quest for health and well being.

This is not the end of the story for my family. Life is not one sided, and many things contribute to one’s overall health. For us, food plays a major role, and if what we eat is off balance, everything else seems to go with it. My hope in writing this post today was not to assert the idea that food always changes everything, but simply that food and health are interconnected. Jacob’s story will continue to go on, but I am confident that even at 8 years old, he has learned what health feels like for him as an individual. That, I suppose, is all that I could ask for as his mama.

Congratulations to the two winners who were chosen though the random # generator (thank goodness for that thing, because I never could have chosen a winner from all of the amazing comments)

Heather Green 
Loved this post! I strongly believe that food and health are connected. It’s no surprise to me that the countries who often have the lowest cancer, autism, alzheimers, and other disease rates are often countries that eat primarily whole grains, non-processed foods, and minimal meat. Though I am blessed to not have any allergies in my household, I am always looking for ways (preferably easy) to incorporate better choices. I garden, I cook with whole ingredients when possible, research food often (latest is bringing chia seed and coconut oil to ourdiets), make all our soap/shampoo/lotion and am always on the lookout for ways to avoid toxins. I often am challenged with a lack of inspiration and perhaps training in the kithen…behind unhappy with foods that don’t abound with flavor. My husband is Sri Lankan, and spices and flavors are a must. Though I stay home with my kids now, when I was previously working, my kids were in daycare…where they (unfortunately) developed a taste for processed bland food. I struggle with getting them to enjoy whole foods, and would so appreciate a dose of inspriration! Thank you, Heather, for sharing your family’s journey….what a blessing to have such a clear voice to put to words so beautifully what you experience.

Lisa
It is with thankfulness I post a comment here. Sharing your story helps those of us that pursue a healthy walk in our kitchens to know that we are not alone. Others are struggling with issues, bigger than ours, and doing it with those we love in mind. I too struggle with auto immune issues and much pain. Because others depend on me I must press on and fight this fight in order to nourish myself and them. Thank you for the encouragement, inspiration and keeping it real. 

Having a babe in my arms these past 13 months has been incredible. Landon has given all of us, the boys included, an opportunity to relive the joys of raising a young child. Although I never want to see any of my kids grow up too fast, and even though I have loved every minute of Landon’s infancy, I have to say that secretly I have been waiting for this moment since the day I knew I was pregnant with him.

Watching a child explore their own creativity, the world of wonder through colors, paint, clay, nature, paper, and pencil can bring joy like very little else.  I remember my feelings of awe as Jacob and Elwood took paint brush to hand for the first time. I have saved every piece of art that they have ever created, and I hope that I have given them a sense of accomplishment at even the simplest of pencil drawings that they have shown me.

I believe that every child deserves an incredible education, an abundant amount of time to play, and the space to find themselves through creativity and art. A blank canvas, even for a 1 year old, is pure magic, and I wish that you could have seen Landon’s eyes as he smeared that red paint and watched that square of fabric become something else entirely.

As Jacob continues to explore who he is through his art (and to his mama’s pure joy, his writing), it is neat to watch him interact with Landon. He has taken on the role of teacher with a sense of pride, and he sees it as being his full responsibility to help his little brother learn how to properly use a paint brush, sketch book, and sculpting needle. The two of them, side by side, enjoying the moment fully. That is so fun to watch.

Landon is still so very young, but watching him explore this creative side of himself makes my heart melt. These moments of paint, of water, of color and bonding seem to have given Landon a sense of himself that I had not seen before. He seemed just a tad bit more grown up when this painting session was done, just a bit more sure of who he is and what his place will be.

If only I could bear witness to all his moments and milestones.

Natural dyes, flower baskets, egg vases, buckwheat pancakes, chocolate bunnies, and happy babes. It was a good, good day.

For anyone who knows me, you know I love my weekends. They are the cherished space where my family gathers and takes a collective exhale. During this time of year, our schedules slow (except during soccer season), our days are spent outside, and our mornings always begin with something yummy to eat.

My boys, especially Jacob, live by what comes out of the kitchen. I am asked daily what they will be eating, and I am often surprised about how strong their feelings towards food can be. We are a family making radical transformations in our diet (more on this next week), and having my children play an active role in their food is important to me.

As the spring season is now thoroughly upon us, fresh and easy meals are the ones that we love to both cook and eat. This weekend will see two of my favorites hit the Saturday brunch table: Orange and lavender scones and baked eggs with herbs.

Baked eggs have been all the rage lately, just search those two words on pinterest and you will see what I mean. I am a fan of the egg cup baked in muffin tins for a quick weekday breakfast, but come Saturday morning I like my eggs served up extra special. Fresh eggs, cream (we either use raw cream or coconut cream), herbs and parmasean cheese bake together to create a yummy and healthy treat. I layer ramekins with a tablespoon of cream, three eggs, and top it off with herbs and cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven until set, and serve with a slice of toast.

As for those scones, well we have a new recipe that has recently crossed our path that my boys can not get enough of. Elana’s chocolate chip scones are a favorite in my house, and I do not hear the end of it if ever I run out. Almond flower, grapeseed oil and a touch of agave nectar combine with chocolate chips to create a low sugar, high taste combo.

For Spring, however, I wanted something with a touch of orange and a hint of lavender. We took Elana’s original recipe and added in orange zest, lavender blossoms, and coconut oil to give it just the right spring feel. Of course, you will need to be careful about little hands stealing your scones and crawling off to eat them in their entirety. This seems to be a common problem in our household, and may account for why they disappear so fast.

Orange, Lavender Scones
adapted from Elana’s Almond Flour Cookbook

2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (we grind our own from blanched almonds in the food processor)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup coconut oil – melted
1/4 cup agave oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp lavender blossoms
1/4 cup orange juice
Orange zest from one orange

Preheat the oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine your dry ingredients together. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, eggs, agave nectar, orange juice and orange zest. Add to the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in the lavender blossoms. Drop the batter in scant 1/4 cups 2 inches apart, onto the baking sheets.

Bake for 12-18 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool for 30 minutes on the baking sheet and serve with honey/lavender whip cream (just whip your cream with a tbsp honey and 1/4 tsp of lavender blossoms)

** Please note that these scones are not traditional in their sweetness. They are made with a small amount of agave nectar to keep the sugar content down. For added sweetness, you can dust the top of the scones with sanding sugar before baking. If you want to make a more traditional scone, simply add the orange juice, lavender blossoms, and orange zest to any traditional recipe.  

What would eggs and scones be without a bit of tea? I love to use fresh or dried herbs to make my own teas, and this combo actually can go from my dresser drawers (sachets), to my tea cup. A little roobios, lavender, chamomile and spearmint combine for a blend that smells delicious and tastes just as good.

The boys call it their weekend cocktail, and it works to begin the day as well as to end it.

For the boys, Saturday mornings are always craft time. This was a tradition that was started years ago, and admittedly was a way for Joel and I to get a little extra sleep. With Landon here, that is not a real possibility any more, but Jacob and Elwood still love coming downstairs to see what awaits them to create.

Last weekend saw boxes, shells, and elmers glue. The boys made a whole collection of treasure boxes to give to friends (and keep for themselves), and it kept their little hands busy almost through until lunch.

Of course, one always needs to be careful about those sneaky little brothers. They are notorious for stealing your shells while happily eating your scones.

Wishing you many blessings, in whatever celebrations are  taking place in your home this weekend. 

 I am joining Linda at Creative Friday . Lot’s more Spring goodness to be found!

I had a conversation with my husband a few months back that went like this:

Me: “I found the perfect house!”

Him: “We’re moving?”

Me: “It is up near Carter Lake, has a ton of property, and it comes with 49 goats”.

Him: Blank stare. Dead silence.

Joel is a patient man, a good man, and certainly a saint in the making for marrying the likes of me. Over the past 10 years he has sat by patiently as I charged into the world of writing, and although he works tremendous hours he has little complaints when I hand him three kids and tell him I have to get out the magazine, knit one more row, write a blog post, or test a recipe. Having said that, I might have pushed him a bit too far with the issue of goats.

In just a little over a month we will have lived in our current home for ten years. 2012 is a big year all around for my family in terms of anniversaries, but this one really struck me as being huge. For some reason I never expected to stay this long.  We made the move to this house in haste, without much agreement, and with a sense that we would not be staying in the area long. Ten years later I find myself in suburbia dreaming daily of a small farm along the range of the Rocky Mountains.

The idea of a homestead is a popular one, and certainly there are many wonderful blogs that describe their daily life with beauty and grace. For me, I envision a small space where my kids can not only roam free and play, but also learn that their home can be a source of life for them, from the foods that they eat to the clothes that they make, etc.

So what happens when one of us sees goats in our future and the other does not? That is the question that has been weighing heavily on my mind for some time. The truth is I understand that right now, in this moment, our home and our three children feel like enough for my family, and that taking on something that we are not ready for is not healthy or wise. If we were to make such a move, it would need to be with the purest of intentions and certainly a bit more knowledge of what it would take to be successful than we have right now. I also, however, understand that sometimes the dream comes in stages, and that embracing the process is half the fun.

It was with that thought it mind that I started to look at my home differently,  and my community differently.

When we moved to this house, one of the first things that we did was put in two huge raised garden beds. Those beds are now tended by 5 sets of loving hands, and what we don’t have room for, we grow in our community garden less than 5 minutes from our home.

We don’t have chickens (yet), but the front of our house faces a county road that leads us to a raw milk dairy farm where we can purchase fresh eggs, cheese, milk, and local beef.

We don’t have bees, but the front range is scattered with those who do, and they will not only share their local honey, but as much info as you can imagine about the life of the honey bee.

We don’t keep farm animals, but we look out over a horse farm where the boys are always welcome to come feed and tend the horses.

As I stand in my kitchen and watch my children playing in our backyard, I see the space that we could use to keep bees, the small run on the east side of the house for chickens, the cold frame being built to house our veggies into the colder months. I see the possibilities. Our home is going to grow over the years, and we are going to grow with it. We may not keep 49 goats any time soon, but we have what we need to live in the sustainable manner we have always wanted. What we can’t do here, we are lucky enough to be able to find in our community, and that feels amazing. To get to know the local farmers, gardeners, bee keepers, permaculturalists has taught me so much, and I realize how it has shaped who I have become in my daily life.

We have enough in this space we call home, and right now that is just perfect.

Our days have been filled lately with abundant sunshine, simple pleasures, creative explorations, and new tastes. Jacob and Elwood are growing into their own and taking on tasks that just a few years ago seemed impossible, and loving every minute of it.

Landon wants to be a part of all that he sees, especially where his older brothers are concerned, and his willingness to try anything and experience everything fills us with wonder of all that he has become in such a short time.

As for their mama, I am sitting in the sunshine wondering if it is possible for April to be as beautiful and warm as March has been. I am not sure where this weather has come from, but I will certainly take it.

These days of ours are precious, and I want to savor every minute of them.