On Saturday March 27th at 8.30pm Ireland will join the rest of the world in the 4th annual Earth Hour. We are urged not to just turn our lights off for an hour but to make a positive lasting change for our environment.
So turn the lights off on saturday night, open the curtains and let the moon and stars shine in. How romantic is that. Make it special.
Heres to joining 1 billion people around the world in helping keep our beautiful world for our children and their children to come.
Happy Earth Hour.
Baking with my little girl is such fun. Its all in the getting ready -aprons on (she has a cute chef hat) every bowl and utensil gets taken out of the cupboard. This is one of those times in my day where i let it all go. Both kitchen and us full of flour, jam, sugar or whatever other ingredient we are using. We pull the adult kitchen chair over to the work top and we add ingredients together, stir the mixture and have a sneaky taste. Its such fun.
Check out the muffins we made recently.
Heres the recipe we used from the wonderful Nutrtionist Jane Clarke from the UK. I tweaked it a little.
Makes 18 muffins
30g very soft unsalted butter
4 tablespoons honey
3 eggs
40ml sunflower oil
1 tablespoon Good Oil (optional)
50ml milk
480g wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
large handful of crunched cornflakes
2 teaspoons ground mixed spice
1 apple, grated
zest of ½ lemon
100g blueberries
100g raspberries
2 ripe bananas, squashed
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/Gas Mark 4.
In a large bowl mix together the butter and honey. Add the eggs and beat until smooth, then add the oils.
Put all the remaining ingredients apart from the fruit in another bowl in the order in which they are listed, mixing a little in between additions.
Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet, combining all the time but lightly as possible. The less you beat the flour, the fluffier your muffins will be! Finally, add the fruit and stir through.
Spoon the mixture into paper cups in a muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
I live close to a girls secondary school and every day at lunchtime or school home time I notice the traffic is so congested in my area. I always think to myself why are these girls parents collecting them from school?
They are, at the very youngest, 12 or 13, so surely they can get the bus or walk home from school with their friends. But then I began to notice that if its not the girls been collected by their parents. Its actually a lot of them driving themselves to school. I’m all for independence and of course learning to drive. But even if our teenagers have cars should we not be encouraging them more to walk or cycle to school.
Along with this I notice so many kids queueing up at take aways, spar delis (with footlong breakfast baguettes) for their lunch breaks. How did we get to this? What is wrong? Do our kids have too much money? Do we not have the time to help them prepare lunch? Teach them about healthy food?
What are we to do? We in Ireland have one of the highest rates of child obesity in Europe and its getting worse.
Well Done Jamie Oliver on your recent award. We need you to come here!
http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html
Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful mums out there. Enjoy the day and take all the kindness that comes your way. you deserve it.
“The most beautiful things in the world are not seen nor touched. They are felt with the heart.”
— Helen Keller
Some common compaints while pregnant but why do they happen –
Nausea for me was slight while pregnant, the first few weeks I felt a little off and somethimes pukey but after that it went away. I do know some pregnant mums who have been horribly sick and some all day. Is it as the “old wives tale” says a sign of a boy or a girl? Or is it to do with something else.
Believe it or not nausea is a good thing its your body’s natural way of keeping out the nasty things not good for you and your baby.
Eating small frequent meals, fresh fruit if you can’t face a meal. Avoid strong smelling and spiced foods and eat fresh grated ginger in salads or drink ginger tea. I love the pukka brand of teas and they do a ginger one. www.pukkaherbs.com
Some other common complaints that happen during pregnancy are constipation and indigestion. In the case of constipation this is caused by the increased pressure of the bowels from the uterus. Along with that a lot of women are prescribed Iron supplements which can be hard to digest. Drink plenty of water and try adding ground flax seeds to breakfast or salads.
Indigestion is caused as the baby grows and you increase in size it can put pressure on your stomach and other organs. Again eating small meals and not overly spiced ones should help. Do not drink water with your meal but afterwards. Also if eating fruit, eat it before your meal and not afterwards.
Sleep related complaints. For most of my pregnancy I had problems sleeping. Most nights I would go to bed about 9.30pm or 10pm. Totally exhausted and wake at 2am for some hours some nights, wide awake ready for the day ahead. I did try everything. All the relaxing aids. Cammomile tea, having relaxing baths. I also used one of the Bach flower remedies, they have some which are safe to use during pregnancy. www.nelsonsnaturalworld.com
I do think some of these things helped and making sure I was in a comfortable position, lots of comfy pillows.
Swollen and achy legs, lots of women suffer from this especially from the 3rd trimester on. I worked standing all day, so I did get into the habit of coming home and raising my legs up for 20 or so minutes. I did again get achy legs towards the end of my pregnancy. I wouldn’t say it was very painful just uncomfortable.
The swelling is called odema and is caused due to women retaining more fluid while pregnant.
Gentle exercise such as walking, swimming, yoga or tai chi are helpful. Don’t sit with your legs crossed. Also you can get some support stockings. I’ll admit I did wear these towards the end of pregnancy while working.
Its very important if you do suffer from swelling to tell your doctor.
These are just some complaints and I guess most of the time you forget about it as they are only minor. I think with all of them it is important to eat a healthy balanced diet, drink plenty of water, get some exercise and be good to yourself. Put the feet up when you can, have a massage, go for a swim or take a relaxing class and bond with your little one growing inside. Enjoy…
My sister in law is a wonderful mum and a fantastic cook. She recently passed this recipe on to me for my little one and its yummy. So here goes. Let me know what you think. I made a big batch and put some in the freezer. enjoy.
Enough for 3 or 4 toddler portions.
VEGETABLE RISOTTO
15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 red or yellow pepper, chopped
1 courgette, trimmed and finely sliced
85g risotto rice
350ml vegetable stock
handful of frozen peas
Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and peppers and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
Add the courgette and continue cookin for a further 2 minutes.
Add the rice and stir over the heat for a minute or two until the grains have become translucent.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add a little extra liquid if necessary.
Add the peas and simmer for a further 5 minute until the rice and vegetables are tender.
Extra notes:
add crushed garlic with the onion.
add frozen sweetcorn along with the peas.
At the end, season and add a decent knob of butter and grated parmesan cheese.
How interesting is this!
As everybody goes around spending a fortune on hand sanitisers and big corporations pocket the profits, heres an interesting article I recently read.
Anti-bacterial soaps do kill bacteria and microbes — but so do plain soap and water. A U.S. FDA advisory committee found that use of antibacterial soaps provides no benefits over plain soap and water.
The main reason to avoid anti-bacterial soaps is its active ingredient: triclosan (and the related triclocarbon). Triclosan is an anti-bacterial chemical found in many consumer products, and it’s nearly ubiquitous in liquid hand soap. It is linked to liver and inhalation toxicity, and even low levels of triclosan may disrupt thyroid function. The American Medical Association recommends that triclosan not be used in the home, as it may encourage bacterial resistance to antibiotics.
It also affects the natural environment. Wastewater treatment does not remove all of the chemical, which means it ends up in our lakes, rivers and water sources. That’s especially unfortunate since triclosan is very toxic to aquatic life.
Knowing what ingredients to avoid is important, but identifying safer alternatives is an equally important next step. We recommend “plain” soap and water for the most effective and least problematic hand washing.
Always check the ingredient list! When you’re at the store, read those labels. Fragrance, triclosan and triclocarbon will be listed, making it easy to leave them on the shelf and find safer soaps.
Liquid and bar soaps
There are liquid and bar soaps and hand sanitizers that don’t contain triclosan
Hand sanitizers
If you like the convenience of waterless hand sanitizers, alcohol-based sanitizers are a better bet because they don’t contain triclosan or triclocarbon.
Remember: Hand sanitizers don’t prevent hand-to-mouth chemical transfers as well as soap and water, because their purpose is to kill bacteria, not to remove the dust and dirt that can harbor chemicals. Also, when washing with water, product ingredients are partially washed off, whereas all ingredients in hand sanitizers are left to fully absorb into your skin.
When I was pregnant we thought a lot about what skin products to use on bump and baby. My lovely brother in law also an amazing editor had worked on a documentary about cosmetics and what hides inside them. During a visit he told us about the documentary and recommended checking out the American Environmental Working Groups website. Its a fantastic site www.cosmeticsdatabase.com you can type in any product and it gives you the lowdown on all ingredients within. Be warned - you will change what products you use!
So after a lot of research we decided to use only natural eco friendly products on ourselves and our little one. We use chlorine free, biodegradable nappies and wipes. The negative impact disposable nappies have on the environment was a big concern for me and it was great to find nappies that were kind to my baby’s skin and biodegradable. The two brands I use and would recommend are Nature Babycare from Sweden www.naty.com and Moltex from Germany www.moltex.de
One of the most amazing things to me holding my tiny little baby girl was how beautiful her skin was. I hope by taking care of it and been conscious of what we put on it, it will remain this way.
I didn’t plan to write on swine flu as I do believe the media are giving us plenty of coverage on this topic. But having chatted to friends and family I do think its a big concern and one that may increase over the coming months here in Ireland.
While pregnant there is a whole lot to be concerned about and at the moment swine flu is a big concern pregnant or not. We know that pregnant women are in one of the high risk groups for swine flu. As in pregnancy the immune system is naturally suppressed and therefore pregnant women are more likely to catch flu of any type. Therefore its important to keep well by keeping your immune system well. Eat fresh foods, rest as much as you can and have plenty of nice walks in the autumn sunshine.
If you do experience any flu like symptons, high temperature, sore throat, cough, runny nose, vomiting/diarrhoea, aching muscles contact your doctor immediately.
The HSE have advised this week that pregnant women in Ireland will be one of the first groups to receive the swine flu vaccince from the middle to the end of October. www.hse.ie
For now keep well and enjoy this special time x
