Going Healthy

Going Healthy: Whole Grain Protein Beer Bread

03/01/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Hey there!

Today we’re visiting G-ma and hopefully having a great time.

I am pushing to see a lot of these…

And very little to none of these….

Next time I won't pop the balloon! — Next time I won’t pop the balloon!

As well as plenty of this at night….

But, babies are, in fact, babies, so lets just hope for the best.

When we have wonderful weather like here in Texas lately, I like to enjoy a good beer. And, I like to eat good food, so why not make something with good beer?

Beer bread is a favorite of mine, but I despise the enriched flour and crappy ingredient store-bought mixes. You always pay a price when you settle for convenience like fast food and pre-mixed packages so it seems. But this recipe is pretty simple and one you’ll be making more than once!

Whole Grain Protein Beer Bread

Ingredients

1 cup whole grain spelt (or other whole grain) flour

1 cup whole grain corn flour

1 cup unflavored protein powder; I use whey protein powder

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce or pumpkin puree

1/2 cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt

1 large egg and 4 large egg whites (I have used 12oz of pureed Mori-Nu Silken Tofu for a great vegetarian substitute)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 T baking powder

12-oz bottle of favorite beer at room temp

Optional #1: Add sweetener to taste (I used a packet of Stevia, but 2 tsp of brown sugar or honey would be good too)

Optional #2: Add herbs and spices like cumin, cayenne, garlic powder, rosemary, or dill to really make this bread stand out.

Directions

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan, square glass baking dish, 9-inch pie pan, or a 12 muffin baking pan with non-stick spray

-In a large bowl, beat eggs with a whisk, add all other wet ingredients and whisk to blend

-In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients stirring with a whisk.

-Add dry ingredients to the liquid mixture and mix just until combined.

-Pour the batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40 to 55 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean. Check for browning towards the end and cover with foil for the last 10 minutes if needed.

Hope you give it a try and enjoy. Please send any feedback (good or bad) as I’d love to hear how it turned out for you and/or ways to improve.

Going Strong

Going Strong: Peek-a-Boo Push-ups

02/27/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

I am always trying to figure out ways to fit in exercise should the time come when I can’t actually do as laid out in my current routine. With Avery, this happens more often than before, and it can just be difficult when you’re a tired parent to baby.

Being my stubborn self, I will be sure to find a way to work something in for the day. And hey, when there’s a will there’s a way; right?

That said, I wanted to share a pretty simple, but fun way to get some exercise and entertain your kid or kids. We all know the game Peek-a-Boo where we cover our face, ask “Where is (insert name or daddy/mommy)?”, and then uncover our face saying “Here I am!”

Sure, it’s fun for the kid (usually), and us parents/friends/relatives love to see their smiling faces. But, why not try to make it more fun for the both of you and get a little a exercise to boot? Enter “Peek-a-Boo Pushups”.

The thought just came to me today, and although I’m sure it’s not hard to figure out what to do, I made a little video to demonstrate with Avery…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBZ6KZ5WgMc?rel=0&w=420&h=315]

Yeah, I’m great at cutting my head off, huh? I could say I planned it like that, but I’d be lying. Hey, at least you get to see the cute baby. Avery is still not too sure about peek-a-boo, so hopefully her lack of enthusiasm will change as she ages.

Doing just push ups may not seem like much to some of you, but at least it’s something, and that’s better than nothing. Plus, with a little creativity, you can put together a good routine to work your whole body.

Try making it a great learning and playing time for your child, and a full body workout for you by doing burpees, lunges, push ups, and thrusters together.

Here’s a sample routine that includes burpees and baby thrusters as I demonstrated in videos from a past post.

Do 3 – 5 rounds (however many your kid will allow) of:

Burpees x 10 – counting out loud to teach numbers
Lunges x 10/leg – while holding your kid or having them watch
Peek-a-Boo Push ups x to failure or however long your kid keeps interest
Baby Thrusters x 10

There, by counting your reps you can teach your kid numbers and how to count, and playing peek-a-boo provides entertainment. I get this a very dependent on your kid being cooperative, but I am sure most will get a kick out of this. Plus, they’ll see their parents being active which will hopefully wear off on them!

Would you be willing to give this a try? Let me know your thoughts if you do or don’t do it, I’d love to hear results!

Parenting

Humming in Harmony

02/26/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

Do you have a certain way of putting your baby to sleep? Maybe a song, using a deep hum, or a soft “shhhh” sound?

humming, baby, babies, parenting, Sleep=Good — Sleep = Good

I normally sing random, made up songs using her name and a lot of rhyming. Sometimes the words I use to make the rhyme aren’t even real, but it works! Kelley sings as well, but she uses real lullabies; I should look into that. Nah, I love making things up on the fly. I just wish I could write some down, I’d make……….ummmm….probably $10 at the most.

Kelley and I also use humming as a sleep tool. The humming usually comes second after our singing did most of the work and Avery is mostly asleep. But, what if we are mostly asleep and trying to get Avery to go back to sleep?

It just so happens this dilemma occurred last night. For bedtime, Kelley will feed Avery one last time and lay her down to sleep in her crib right after her bath. Lately, Avery has been sleeping pretty long in her crib and when she wakes up hungry, I will get her and bring her to our bed so Kelley can feed her. Once she’s had enough, Avery usually will just go back to sleep with us in bed until Kelley gets up for work. Keyword, usually.

Last night, Avery woke up earlier than she has been and I brought her in to feed like normal. After she finished, though, she just laid squirming around with eyes wide open. Not too fussy (yet), just moving and awake. Us, on the other, ready for more sleep!

This happened once before, several weeks back, and Kelley and I both started humming in bed trying to get Avery to go back to sleep. We were both using our deep voice hum, but since we were half asleep, we were trailing off at the end. After 5 minutes of the both of us humming in harmony (we’d make a great barbershop ~~quartet~~ duo), we both just started laughing out loud. Ahh, just 3 months into it and parenthood is already making us crazy. Or maybe we already were crazy…..meh.

Anyway, that first time, Avery did go back to sleep, but last night she wasn’t having our hum. Kelley tried holding her to no avail, and after several other attempts, I ended up on the recliner with Avery in the front room. Mommy needs her rest for work!

From there, Avery just squirmed for about 20 minutes and fell asleep. Then she woke up and screamed and thrashed for a good 5 minutes; then back to sleep. This happened one more time and finally it was time to get up. Yay.

I love holding our little girl and have learned to just appreciate the screaming while holding her (she has great lungs!!!), but man is she getting strong. Soon her kicking might hurt daddy in certain ways that are worse than others; gotta figure that one out.

Let me leave you with the reward of a good night’s sleep…..