Category: health

Strawberries!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, gardening, health, shopping, tweens

Okay, the strawberries are here and Life Is Good! I have been lucky this year; I’ve been able to keep ahead of the varmints, birds, and creeping mold and get to most of my strawberries before the enemies did. We have 4 or more varieties, ranging from tiny, almost pin-head sized alpine strawberries to large, sweet…perfect strawberries.  

The first strawberries!

 

I managed to hold a few back for a picture before consuming them.  I even found a ripe blueberry in the strawberry patch. (Sorry, eaten!).  

My daughter wants to dip some in chocolate and I can’t blame her; the only thing with the potential to rival a fresh strawberry right from the garden is one that has been dipped in (preferably) dark chocolate.  

One problem though: how to keep from eating them long enough to dip in chocolate? Methinks that a trip to the farm stand for additional strawberries for dipping will be required. We’re in luck, because the Wells Rotary Strawberry Festival is this Saturday at Spiller Farm in Wells, ME.  

There will not only be strawberries there (and if memory serves, the homemade strawberry shortcake available for purchase was quite a hit with my daughter at last year’s festival) but also the grill will be fired up for the usual suspects (hot dogs, hamburgers). There will also be activities for your kids.  

The festival runs from 10am-4pm.  It’s a nice way to spend a Saturday. I’ll be there with my daughter buying (and eating!) strawberries.

Spelt Right Bagels at Hannaford

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, baking, family, health, italian, tweens
Spelt Right Sesame Seed Bagel

I was shopping at the new Hannaford’s in Kennebunk (at the site of the old Stop’n Shop). There were several of those tables set up throughout the store where a person is handing out samples of food items that are sold there, along with a coupon to further entice you to buy.

I am a fan of “try before you buy” and routinely stop to try what they are offering. On this day a woman at one of the tables looked familiar. Turns out, she was. I had seen her before, but in print and online; this was the first time in person. It was Beth George, the founder of the Spelt Right Baking, which is located nearby in Yarmouth, Maine.

Well, Beth was very generous with samples of her bagels. My 11 year old daughter and I were lucky enough to try the whole grain, the sesame seed, and the multigrain. She cut us a good-sized piece of each (read: 2-3 good-sized bites) and generously spread them with cream cheese. All three types were delicious, with or without the cream cheese. Beth was also very gracious to my daughter (don’t you just love it when people are nice to your kids?).

My daughter, who just that morning would not eat the Italian Bread I had baked because it had “seeds” on it, was enthusiastically munching down Beth’s sesame seed bagel, declaring it “delicious!” and asking for another piece!

Have any of you ever tried the Spelt Right Baking bagels? Please, if you have not, do! They are excellent. You’ll find them in the freezer aisle. Beth also has a pizza dough that you can find (along with the bagels) at Whole Foods, and she runs an online store as well, that includes breads in addition to the bagels and pizza dough.

You can read about Beth’s story on her website, www.speltrightbaking.com. You can follow her blog (where she posts daily!), The Lunchbox Chronicles.

Lunch and learn

by Karen, posted in education, good grief, health

The first Thursday of the month, Amy Wood Psy.D. presents a workshop series entitled “Lifewise at Lunch”. It’s held at the Kennebunk Free Library downstairs in Hank’s Room.

It kicked off last week on June 3rd. The talks run from noon until 1:00pm She began and ended this first one on time, so if you work in the area and want to pop in on your lunch break, it might be doable. There were around 20 people attending, ranging in age from a toddler (with his mother) to a man who was 89  (I know this because he announced it to the presenter). She handed out an outline upon which she elaborated a bit but,  for the most part, stuck to closely.

Some of these people had clearly attended her talks in the past, and therefore knew each other, but there were some first timers like myself. Amy was gracious and welcoming to us all.

The subject of this first talk in the series was “Getting Unstuck”. Amy welcomed questions from the audience throughout, and treated them all (including, “How do you not get to be 89 years old?) with dignity and respect…and some humor.

Other talks coming up in the series include: Improving Your Intuition, Thriving in the Face of Change, Overcoming Overwhelm, Emotional Intelligence, Boosting Your Creativity, What’s the Use of Worrying, Living From a Strengths-Based Perspective, and Letting Go of Self-Limiting Beliefs.

For you indecisive people and you last-minute people out there, you don’t have to register in advance; just show up.
Have any of you attended any of these “Lifewise at Lunch” talks before? What did you think?

Spring thaw!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, health, raising chickens

This is a great time for a “see what’s in  your freezer” week. Start now. It’s the kind of thing you may never get to if you don’t, or if you think about it too much.

  • Sunday: breads, english muffins, bagels….all those packages of  “there’s-only-one -or-two-left-but-it’s-close-to -the-expiration-date-so-i’ll-stick ’em-in-the-freezer-before-they-go-bad”‘s. Find them all. Be ruthless. Either make some french toast, bread pudding, or feed it to the chickens (or fill in the blank with your housepet/garbage disposal of choice). Here’s what I found: 3 half loaves of bread, 2 cranberry thomas’ english muffins, 2 whole wheat english muffins, half a loaf of pumpkin whole wheat bread…half of above were freezer burned (read: tastes gross).
  • Monday: frozen bagged vegetables. Mixed green and red bell pepper strips (became Chicken Stir Fry). Broccoli,  2 packages (one of which became Chicken, Broccoli, and Rotini). Peas. Corn. Also used package of frozen chicken leftover from a rotisserie chicken for the chicken, broccoli, and rotini recipe, and pasta from the pantry! nothing to buy.
  • Tuesday: chili
  • Wednesday: homemade Italian Sausage, Potato, and White Bean Soup.
  • Thursday: homemade chicken and rice soup. became my supper for work that night.
  • Friday: all sorts of frozen berries, frozen bananas, ice cream…made some smoothies
  • Saturday: Some small, unidentified chunks of frozen meat (maybe beef or port); will get thrown into the spaghetti sauce to make a big “sunday gravy”

This is just one week of discoveries. I have much more space in my freezer now, and am resisting the urge to fill it back up. Shopping at local farm stands for perishables rather than the supermarket is helping.

How do you keep the clutter down in your freezer/fridge/pantry?

hula hooping for beginners

by Karen, posted in family, fitness, health

after i wrote my prior post about hula hooping, i took things one step further and actually signed up for the WOCSD class, Hula Hooping for Beginners. it runs for 6 weeks on monday evenings and started may 17th.

when i called to sign up they said it was a big class. it was; there were 17 other brave women like myself who were daring to do something different, and risking looking like a fool for the sake of  fitness.  we ranged in age from twenty-somethings to over fifty-somethings. we all dropped our hoops and bumped into things, but it didn’t feel foolish, it felt…FUN!

the instructor, Christine MacDonald, is engaging and encouraging. she brought everything we needed, which turned out to be the hoops and the tunes (on her ipod). oh, and the enthusiasm!

you know how half an hour at the gym can feel like half a day? well, an hour of hula hooping for beginners felt like ten minutes.  so, if you are feeling like trying something different and coming out of your comfort zone, consider hooping.

Christine MacDonald teaches…well, wherever you are, most likely. here’s her website: http://www.missfithooping.com/

plant the “dirty dozen”

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, gardening, health
3 planted raised beds

What is the dirty dozen? they are the most pesticide-ridden foods at the grocery store, according to an article in the Portland Press Herald ‘s food section last week. if you’re a gardener, why not consider this a call to action?

if you have been contemplating planting vegetables, maybe this article will give you the nudge off the fence and into the yard for which you’ve been waiting.

for me, this is very motivating. scanning the list, i was happy to see that some of the plants are already in my garden: strawberries, spinach, cherries, grapes, apples. some i am planning to plant: potatoes, spinach, and bell peppers. some recommended vegetable varieties for maine gardens can be found on this website:

http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/2190.htm

a word of warning: we live in maine~wait until after memorial day to plant your seedlings outside. remember that night last week with the frost? you know, the one that came after those 70 degree days?  ‘nuf said.

have any of you gamblers put your seedlings outside already?

summer wish list Top Ten

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, books, family, fitness, gardening, health, restaurants, shopping, tweens

Remember every fall when your new teacher would ask you to write an essay on “what I did on my summer vacation”? and you could never think of a thing? Well, how about getting a jump on things this year by writing “what I am going to do on my summer vacation”!

Inspired by Laura Dolce’s column in the York County Coast Star this past thursday, who was talking about her summer wish list, I decided to put together my own. I actually do this every year, but not usually this early.  see if you can notice any recurrent theme in my list.

First, the pre-to-do list (it’s short):

  1. Read the Tourist News every week. it’s not just for tourists anymore.
  2. Check out the local library for summer programs for your kids. they’re free, and fun!
  3. Get online and google the dates of the annual events

Now, here’s what i want to do this summer (this is the top 10):

  1. Big Daddy’s in Wells for a Kahlua  Browie ice cream cone.
  2. Mini-golf at Wonder Mountain in Wells…although a friend told me about Shaw’s Ridge in Sanford, which we may be checking out instead
  3. The (annual) Strawberry Festival in South Berwick. Every year we mean to go and never make it. this year it’s on saturday 6/26, and it’s been on my calendar for 2 months already.
  4. Scarborough Downs Family Fun Day on sunday august 8.
  5. Congdon’s Doughnuts at least once, for blueberry donuts (me) and blueberry turnovers (my daughter) for breakfast.
  6. Ogunquit Playhouse; there are shows for adults as well as for children all summer. note: please do not bring kids to the evening adult shows…nothing will cramp the style of the actors more than a bright-eyed 12 year old front and center when he is trying to say his risqué lines.
  7. Kennebunkport, to walk and poke around in all the little shops.
  8. Kennebooks…visit the bookstore near me as often as possible!
  9. Go for a trolley ride…
  10. Old Orchard Beach for pier fries.

This is my jumping off point. I will add to it as necessary, and hopefully not have to cross too much off from it!

Do you make a summer vacation ‘to-do’ list?

hula hoops; not just for kids anymore

by Karen, posted in education, family, fitness, health, tweens

who knew? hula hooping is now being touted as a way to get aerobic exercise and stay fit, even to help aid weight loss efforts. 

if you are thinking about trying it, you will find that there are options.

  1. the color, the size, the heft of the hoop…all can be predetermined by you, depending on your goals (have fun? lose weight? Have fun with your tween or teenager? ) and your budget (extra colors can cost ya).
  2. if you’d like to order your own custom made hula hoop, check out HoopaLula! or maybe you’d like to try making your hula hoop yourself? here’s online instructions from hooping.org.
  3. if you investigate, you probably can find a hooping class to “try before you buy”. there’s one upcoming in Wells offered through WOCSD Adult Ed: Hula Hoop Fitness for Beginners.
  4. are there risks? well, if you have any history of back problems, you may want to check in with your doctor before trying this. check out the mayo clinic website fmi.

have any of you out there over 12 years old tried hula hooping lately?   what did you think?

the 80/20 rule

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, health, italian

who invented this? well, one source credits an italian with is inception. being of italian descent myself, i am of course predisposed to be enamoured with this idea.  ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle fmi). i have always heard of this rule in regard to food and dieting: follow your diet plan 80% of the time and then eat what you want (within reason) 20% of the time and you won’t gain weight. i had an epiphany today when  it occurred to me that this rule may likely apply to exercise too! as in, exercise (do SOMETHING) 80% of the time, then be the lump on the couch (fondly known far and wide as the “couch potato”) if you want for the other 20%. i was very surprised to learn that the rule is actually was originally referencing land ownership in italy. well, since food comes from the land (well, some of it anyway), i guess it is not too far a reach to apply the pareto concept to eating habits.

does the 80/20 rule work for any of you in regard to eating and/or exercise and weight management? if not, what DOES work?

this is what worked (and is still working) for me: http://www.weightwatchers.com/Index.aspx

yoga workshop with Doug Keller

by Karen, posted in education, fitness, health, no fear, yoga

Doug Keller came to give a series of workshops at Newburyport Yoga Center ; i attended one last night.  the schedule includes 4 workshops friday4/30  through sunday 5/2.  as i headed there with a friend, i realized that i didn’t even know what the title of the workshop was; i had chosen it because it was the only one of the four that my scheduled allowed me to attend! in the end, it really didn’t matter; i was going to meet him and find out why my yogi friends speak so highly of him and to see if i agreed with their assessment. i DO.

reasons to take a yoga workshop with Doug Keller

  1. it will pull you out of your comfort zone.
  2. the price is really reasonable
  3. he is not threatened by questions from the class
  4. Doug is a very mellow, calm, kind teacher
  5. do the thing you (think you) cannot do

here’s Doug’s website: http://www.doyoga.com/

if you are interested in attending a workshop, there may still be some space: contact Newburyport Yoga Center fmi:  http://www.newburyportyoga.com/index.php