Category: Self Care

Ease and Flow at Home (Part 2)

1/27/2020

Yesterday, I posted Part 1 of “Moving with Ease and Flow at Home."

At the request of a friend, today I’m posting Part 2 in which I share about creating efficiency and harmony around meals and the time spent in the kitchen.

Please comment with your own helpful hints about what systems you’ve put in place and how you’ve made your home especially cozy!

Home is the starting place of love, hopes, and dreams.

When I am in my kitchen in the evenings, that is my dedicated "me time." Service to others – through food preparation – I am pretty sure is part of my love language.

In fact, my husband recently bought me a couple certificates for classes alongside renowned culinary chef, Bob, at our local cooking school, EVOO.

Admittedly, part of my personality, too, is that I like to be productive and efficient!

For example, if I’m waiting for our dinner to cook, it's a perfect time to wash and cut up vegetables and put them in mesh bags in the refrigerator, and then use the cuttings to start a broth base to freeze later after its cooled. It's also an opportune time to get the Instantpot going with beans or grains. How easy is it while sautéing or waiting for water to boil to grate cheese and put it in beeswax wrap or do some other little task that will be a time-saver in the following days.

I have this thought: It takes longer to go out to a restaurant, so why not make our own “fast food” at home?

Another thing we have established in our home is that while we are eating dinner together, we’ll decide what’s for dinner the next day!

I have found the best time to consciously choose what to make is when I am partially satiated and not when I’m roaming the aisles of a grocery store trying to figure out what to buy.  After sitting down at the dining room table to eat, my memory is fresh with ideas after just being in the kitchen.

While my husband cleans up and loads the dishwasher, I’ll make sure we have everything in stock so that I know ahead of time whether or not I need to go to the grocery store the next day.

I’ve raised a lot of kids and I’ve been programmed to be the meal planner in the family.  Nowadays with everyone out on their own, even though I still feel a little pressure to perform, it’s more intentional for me to stay present during the day when I don’t even have to think about what to make for dinner.

If I know it’s going to be a super busy week, I’ll pull leftovers out of the freezer a day or two beforehand to defrost. I always try to make extra servings of dishes or double recipes so I can slip something in the refrigerator freezer on most nights.

I recently had foot surgery and was on a scooter unable to bear weight for 6 weeks. If you can believe it, we had 17 meals ready to go in the freezer for while I was out of commission!

I can’t express enough the added value of planning ahead!

In our home, we implement primarily a plant-based diet but we do also eat some fish, eggs, and cheese. Dishes that are our favorites and that are easy to make extras of and freeze are lasagna, enchiladas, soup, creamy lentils, and chili.

For another super quick meal, any combination of soup, salad, and/or sandwich is handy and healthy.

Other home-prepared “fast food” meal options I can suggest if you’re short on time or especially exhausted after a hard day:

strata using leftover or dry bread (savory pumpkin is a favorite)
frittata with winter squashes (delicata squash is especially pretty when mixed with purple potatoes and caramelized onions)
curries of all colors using up soft or “imperfect” vegetables
we firmly believe almost everything can be made into a taco or burrito
omelets
rice or grain dishes mixing in chopped vegetables and nuts, scrambled egg, or lentils as a protein source
vegetable hash with legumes

I hope you find these kitchen hints useful!

And now that you’ve co-created a super cozy home, have plenty of ideas to fill your loved ones’ bellies, and maneuver with ease and flow, here’s a quick side note to wrap up:

It is also VERY GOOD to have a location somewhere else outside the home that also makes YOU comfortable and happy: a friend or relative’s place, a bakery or coffee shop, the gym, a cabin in the mountains, even the library.

When all is said and done, home isn’t a place; it’s a feeling. It's ESSENCE.

Comments

7 Things to Do Today to Honor Your Growth in 2020

1/7/2020

Comments

If you haven't heard, it’s a new year and a new decade! Maybe you’re still trying to figure out your "word" for 2020 or busy making resolutions?

There can be all sorts of feelings that arise when looking back on how last year was navigated and also the excitement of what might manifest in the year to come.

I imagine, like me, you’ve had your fair share of challenges as well as celebrated accomplishments, experiencing joy alongside some difficulties and pain.

Here are just 7 things to reflect on, and to replenish and build up reserves for yourself as you start the year with 2020 vision!

1. Set Personal Boundaries – Know your feelings and where you stand on subjects. Be kind yet direct with others. Say yes to offers that inspire you and no to the ones that do not. Do you know what an “absolute yes” and an “absolute no” feels like for you? Are your heart, body, and voice in congruence?

2. Recognize Your Uniqueness – In this age of social media, please don’t compare yourself to others, especially what you see on the Internet. You have a special gift to offer to the world exactly as you are. Learn what true authenticity is that brings out your light to the world and what your core essences are -- don’t betray them!

3. Cultivate a Loving Circle of Friends – Hang out with people who accept you as you are, who you trust, and who you respect and respect you. There’s really only so much energy you can give to others, and your life will be richer for using discernment in who you choose to have around you and who you choose to be around.

4. Take the Time to Rest – Sleep. Meditate. Play. Breathe. What does “rest” mean to you? Take a walk in the woods, read on the porch, put a towel down at the beach, or do art. Feed your soul and your vitality.

5. Dream About the Future – Imagine what you want in life, what you’d love for your life to be like, what you want to do, who you want in it, and what goals you want to accomplish. My opinion is that visioning “pre-validates” what is possible.

6. Organize Your Life and Create Home Rituals – Clutter creates chaos. External chaos manifests as internal chaos. Keep things simple and create more space for relationships instead of stuff. Time spent looking for something is wasted time, so put personalized systems in place that serve your own needs. Celebrate all the little things. "Hygge" means cozy...Have a hygge life!

7. Create a Home Altar -- An altar is a sacred space set aside in the home for devotion. The word "altar" is derived, in part, from the word "adore." Altars are usually made of a flat surface and receive items placed upon them that have symbolism for the “theme”: candles,

flowers, stones, books or quotes, photos, and various other important tangible items and elements of nature. Choosing what to put on an altar is an intuitive process and connects you inside with people, things, feelings, and thoughts that are beloved.