 Photo Credit: National Cancer Institute on Unsplash.com Here's an audio clip so you can listen to the Mom Tip while you chop up veggies for a salad! Hi, I’m Regan Barnes from Momivate, and this is your two-minute Mom Tip empowering you to elevate your mothering experience. Ya know, I wouldn't mind feeding my kids if they would just stay full. But no matter how much love I put into a meal, how much effort or energy or planning... they're hungry again in just a few hours. Over the couple of decades that I've been studying motherhood, I've determined that if I can make homemade meals less complicated, the more committed I’ll be to the work involved, and our whole family can bask in the many benefits: health, financial, and familial. I now have happy meal planning sessions because I just focus on including three elements in each meal: a protein (plant-based more often than not), a grain (ideally a whole one), and a fruit or veggie (bonus points for fresh produce!). I have removed some pressure from myself by teaching these elements to my kids, and having them do a mental checklist as they feed themselves breakfast or pack their school lunches. We have a list posted on the inside of a cabinet door so they can choose from things that are generally part of each week’s grocery trip. Oh, how I'd love to have a week's worth of dinners neatly typed up every Sunday night, but that's a battle I have only won periodically. Instead, I aim to know by 10am what we'll have for dinner that night -- and that has been a more victorious way for me to meal-plan! One way I thin-out the myriad possibilities is by assigning a theme to each night and finding a recipe that fits the genre. International night! Pasta night! Chicken night! Beans & rice night! Potatoes night! Seafood night! Leftovers night! I don't *really* want my kiddos to stop eating. I know it might keep my kitchen cleaner, but I've observed that kids with full tummies behave better, not to mention the obvious gains in physical growth. So, these simplified systems help me stay committed to healthful home-based meals and endure with confidence my family’s continual need for nourishment. Mom, what are some ways you can simplify this task that takes place at least 21 times each week? Increase how often you eat meals at home by brainstorming ways to meet the challenges inherent in this duty. Then share if this practice elevates your mothering!
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 Photo Credit: Jewel Johnson on Unsplash.com Here's an audio clip so you can listen to the Mom Tip while you get out the ingredients for this recipe! Hi, I’m Regan Barnes from Momivate, and this is your two-minute Mom Tip empowering you to elevate your mothering experience.
There are beans in my fudge. Black beans. In my fudge. Ya can't taste 'em. The fudge is still quite fudge-y -- *plenty* of sugar... The kids love it. I was even honest with them about the beans and they didn't seem worried at all. I've been eating plenty of bean-y fudge and I can report that there are no gaseous side effects so far! I’d also like to report an analogy that Beanie Fudge has brought to my mind. 21st century life is sweet!! Sometimes sickeningly sweet (like fudge). We have so many modern conveniences, time-saving devices, luxuries that are so commonplace we don’t even realize they’re luxuries anymore… and entertainment options out the wazoo. When we hear about life even just one century ago, we moan and groan just thinking about all the work those poor people had to do. Work, after all, is a four-letter word! Work is like the beans in my fudge... Hey, bean is four-letter word, too! The fiber, vitamins, minerals, and protein of beans offer life-sustaining substance amidst the sweetness that corrodes our teeth and disables our immune systems. Admittedly, there is still approximately four times as much sugar as there are beans in this recipe. Maybe that mirrors our modern-day ratio of play-to-work? Back in our grandparents' day, it was mostly beans and maybe a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down... Sometimes, I worry about our current culture of work avoidance, and feel that my duty as a mom is to introduce some beans in friendly ways, maybe disguised a bit in cocoa… I don’t feel a need to eliminate the "sugar" altogether, but I conscientiously include *some* beans amidst the fudge so that if circumstances change and a reverse ratio of beans to sugar were required, it wouldn’t be a total shock to our systems! I want to raise my children with both beans and sweetness. Hopefully, just like we’ve happily discovered about Beanie Fudge, this metaphorical equivalent will also be flatulence-free! Moms, try making Beanie Fudge both in real life and metaphorically, then share if this practice elevates your mothering! The recipe is on the Momivate website under the Blogs tab in Two Minute Mom Tips BEANIE FUDGE 1 Can of Black Beans -- about 1 and 1/4 cups -- drained and rinsed 3/4 Cup cocoa -- rounded 3/4 Cup butter and/or coconut oil, warm enough to be mostly liquid 4 Cups powdered sugar -- scant NOW CHOOSE A FLAVOR: 2 Tbsps Vanilla OR 6-8 drops peppermint essential oil OR 3 Tbsp. peanut butter Blend in food processor or blender until smooth & creamy! Pour onto waxed paper and refrigerate at least 20 minutes before serving. Keep leftovers in the fridge -- if there are any! (Use at room temperature as frosting!)  Here's an audio clip so you can listen to the Mom Tip while you pack up your 72 hour kits. (Fair warning: this Mom Tip is actually 3 minutes long...) Hi, I’m Regan Barnes from Momivate, and this is your two-minute Mom Tip empowering you to elevate your mothering experience.
On Wednesday morning, March 11, 2020, my family was gathered for our morning devotional, and an odd, rumbling noise caused us all to pause. Instantaneously, I knew it was an earthquake, and said so just the millisecond before the trembling began. We all scattered to find a door jamb as quickly as we could, and about 20 seconds of 5.7 Richter Scale shaking later, we sat back down on the sofas to start processing together what had just happened. One thing we talked about was how grateful we were that, even though we had just experienced a natural disaster, we didn’t end up needing our 72 hour kits. We have had the practice of keeping 72 hour kits stocked and ready for an emergency -- and I can say how grateful I am that we’ve never had to use them. But having them packed and ready was instrumental in helping us feel a measure of calm in the midst of the quake. Would you like to feel one step ahead of the unpredictable? With all of the craziness on the news, from earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfires to locust infestations, knowing we can't control what happens can be an unsettling acknowledgement. But choosing to prepare for the just-in-case can help us handle whatever comes without feeling totally out of control. To build our 72 hour kits on a budget, I bought second-hand backpacks and small suitcases with wheels, making sure the zippers work. Once the food and other necessities are packed in there, it’s pretty heavy, so having the option to drag it rather than carry it is ideal since we can't predict how far we might need to walk. Some people might simplify the whole shebang by buying MREs. I've never eaten an MRE, but I've heard horror stories… so I decided on a different system. I acknowledge the reality that food is not just for nourishment, but also for comfort, and considering that the situation in which using a 72-hour-kit would likely be a time we need comfort, I pack ours with food that serves both purposes. My system may not be the most efficient but there’s a hidden function within that lack of efficiency. Because the food is only packaged to last around six months, it requires us to unpack and re-pack every six months (or so) which gives us a prime opportunity to review all the contents of the kits (not just the food) and have low-pressure discussions as to why each item is included and how it is used. The kids kinda like it when we pull out all these packaged foods to rotate because they get to eat items we don’t often include in our day-to-day diets but that they view as desirable. And hey, in an emergency, comfort in the form of food is a double whammy. Since our 72-hour-kit menu might be useful to fellow mamas who see a need to be a little bit “preppy” (that word used to have a whole different connotation back in the 80s), the list is on the two-minute-mom-tip blog, so log on and take a peek as you consider an emergency plan for your family! Then share if this practice elevates your mothering! 72 Hour Kit MENU: divided up according to the component of our E element in the RAISE acronym -- “Three Parts to Every Meal: Protein, Grain, and Fruits/Veggies. 72 hours is 9 meals, so each child packs 27 items total, chosen from these options: PROTEINS: tuna/chicken salad -- in little cans, boxed with crackers, from the dollar store trail mix Small packets of peanut butter beef sticks vienna sausages Pudding Protein bars and shakes FRUITS: apple sauce Raisins Juice boxes Fruit leather Fruit snacks Cans of corn, peas, carrots… (and a can opener if they’re not pop-top!) GRAINS: Crackers, with cheese or peanut butter inside Cheez-its granola bars sandwich cookies Pop-tarts (which have a little fruit on the inside) OTHER: Bottled water (we fit two to three in each backpack) bags of hard candy (to suck on to trick the mind about thirst)  Here's an audio clip so you can listen to the Mom Tip while you flip pancakes! Hi, I’m Regan Barnes from Momivate, and this is your two-minute Mom Tip empowering you to elevate your mothering experience.
I’m going to share a Halloween story but don’t worry it’s not scary... It features my now-eleven year old son, a precious memory from when he was just four. Our Halloween festivities started off with a “Trunk-or-Treat” activity in the church parking lot. This might be a local phenomenon so I’ll describe it briefly… participants drive their cars to a large parking lot and then open their trunks and decorate them. Then Instead of going door to door, children go from trunk to trunk, where the vehicle owner hands out their sweet offerings. My little guy greatly enjoyed gathering these goodies but the weather got pretty cold so we headed home once he was pleased with his amount of candy. At home, we had ghouls and goblins knocking on our door yelling trick or treat, and this is when things got really fun for this sweet four year old boy! He got so excited to have guests that *he* could give candy to! He opened the door and let them have candy out of his own loot bag! I figured he was just too little to understand Halloween, so I re-directed him to the bowl of candy that we had purchased to give away, but each time he heard a knock, he opted to give from his own stash until it dwindled away to nothing, which seemed to be his goal: he was thrilled when all his treats were gone! The joy on his face was the kind that only comes from selfless giving. His glow lit up the Halloween night! Better than any jack o lantern. It may have only been matched by my glow as a proud mom watching this innate sense of happiness derived from making others happy! I’ve tried to remember that example and apply it to my own life -- how selfless giving is the source of true joy. And hey, it might mean fewer cavities and calories, too! Mama, look for lessons you can learn from your child’s innocence, then share if this practice elevates your mothering! |
