Wonderful, Easy, Fresh Salad

This salad was so delicious.  It is fresh greens and spinach from my garden.  Broccoli sprouts, sunflower seeds and Kumato cherry tomatoes.  I made a light dressing of olive oil, 1 minced garlic clove, 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, juice from 1/2 lemon, salt and pepper to taste.  Whisk until thickened.

This really hit the spot today!

P.S.  You would be surprised what you can raise in just a flower bed.  These different lettuces are so delicious. You can order them from Johnny's Seeds in Maine.  You can order a catalogue on line and they have a full page of different lettuces.  And you can also order seeds for broccoli sprouts that are so healthy for you.  They are great in salads and sandwiches.  I made vegetable sandwiches recently and put them on the sandwich instead of lettuce. 

Attachment - The Biological Roots of Love

Dutch and I are taking an infant message class.  Much to my surprise, I'm learning so much more than how to massage this little person.  It is our second week and I'm thinking where was this woman and this information when we were raising our children.  This has answered so many questions for me regarding connecting with your child.  The lady teaching the class, I'm guessing is around my age, has four children that are grown, and she did infant massage on her last two children. She credits the infant massage and learning about attachment to the self confidence her last two children display.

It wasn't until my third child that I realized there was more to raising children than keeping them clean, feeding them and teaching them manners.  Isn't that sad! I sought out help and was never able to find the help I needed. Most of the counsel I received was let them cry and don't spare the rod.  When my first child was born, I knew nothing about bonding and to be very truthful I was not prepared for the demands of a baby.  I really didn't have a clue.  I remember telling my mom, that she prepared me for marriage but not for having children.  In thinking about having a baby, I thought about how cute they are and how much fun they are to play with.  I never realized I would be up all night, or how hard it would be to take a shower let alone a bath.  The first trip to the grocery store was a night mare.  She started crying and wouldn't stop.  I know,  I didn't know what I was doing with our first child, I knew nothing about the significance of attachment.

I found this very interesting.  That up until a child is two years old the gene pool is still changing and adapting.  The emotional development of the child will dictate what genes open and what genes will stay closed. Attachment or bonding is the cornerstone of infant development. This process will guide our children to their highest potential.  The theory of attachment is scientifically proven by studies of the brain and the development of the brain.   It's a lot of information that I couldn't begin to relate to you here.  But if you are young and have children it is worth your time to check it out.

The massage is a great time for mother and baby to connect and it is very soothing to the baby.  There is specific upper body and lower body massage and then it is tied together.  Good technique on the stomach that would help baby to pass gas and also help with constipation. 

Infant massage is an ancient custom and has been used by many civilizations.

Dutch and I are having fun learning all about this.  One day he didn't want to lie down and have his massage and I told him, "he may not want to do this now but when he is older he will want someone  giving him a massage."  LOL

Having a lot of fun being little Star Dutch's  "Honey" !

If you are interested in infant massage contact:
Patti Harvey, Certified Educator of Infant Massage
719-287-1670

Greens from the Garden

I was pleasantly surprised to find these greens growing in the garden.  They came back from last year.  Red Romaine and Butterhead.  These will make a great salad one night this week.  We had such a mild winter, the roots didn't get killed.

Busy, busy trying to get everything planted.  Still looking for some of my favorite heirloom tomatoes. The weather has been wonderful for being outside.

Veggie Fajitas

I was making fajitas for the guys and I didn't want chicken so I decided to make some veggie fajitas for me.   My daughter had told me about using the giant mushrooms and slicing them and using them for fajitas.  She has done it several times and said it really was good. So I decided to try it.  They are very good and very easy to make.   I just sliced the mushroom as you can see above and sprinkled a little liquid fajita seasoning on them and then tossed them and let them marinate for a couple of hours. In a large skillet, I sautéed 1/2 green bell pepper, 1/2 yellow bell pepper and 1/2 red bell pepper, as well as 3 or 4 jalapeno pepper, 3 poblano peppers, 2 Anaheim peppers and 2 onions cut in half and sliced. I sliced all the peppers and I left in most of the seeds but you can remove the seeds if you don't want a lot of heat.  Then I grilled the mushrooms on a hot griddle about 2 minutes on each side.

My spinach is huge!  I don't think I have ever since spinach this big.  So I took some of the spinach leaves and put the mushrooms and the sautéed veggies with a little cheese and salsa and rolled up the spinach like a tortilla.  It was great!

Fresh Fruit

My sister was getting rid of some of her Tupperware that she doesn't use anymore and I grabbed up this piece.  I have been putting fresh broccoli, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower and then making ranch dressing for the middle.  Gary loves these raw veggies and if I already have them fixed he will eat these for a snack and it helps me stay away from the potato chips.  :)

I found these fruits while shopping and they were really good and tasty and the blackberries were huge.  I decided to make up a fruit tray with them and it has turned out to be a success also. 

Just a little idea that might help keep us a little more healthy.