LOSING BABY FAT, PART 2

  Three months ago I was in a place where I had to lose 15 kilos in order to get back to my normal self. It seemed literally impossible, and I even doubted ever feeling the same way about my body as I did before this second pregnancy. Having gained over 20 kilos during those nine months, I wasn´t enjoying the reflection in the mirror. (Which is ridiculous, because my body had just worked wonders by making a baby.  The most wonderful thing in the world! That is truly something to be proud of.)

  Now, three months later, I´m beginning to recognize that figure I see in the mirror. I feel more beautiful and  womanly again.

Yippee, the fat is melting off!

Now this is the stomach I recognize.

  "The fat you eat is the fat you wear" is what popped into my mind. Wasn´t it Dr. McDougall who said so in the nineties...? A way of eating I had come across with back then, and somehow felt suitable. I had to check it out, and I was right.
  Dr. John McDougall speaks for starches as the staple food in our diet. Daring, I might say, during these days of fat and protein ruling our tables. But, we are still getting heavier than ever, so are we doing something wrong by consuming all that protein and fat? I can only speak for myself, and say that the current trend of eating isn´t for me. When I tried to reduce carbohydrates, I didn´t get the sense of satisfaction from food as I normally would. Adding fat and protein to make up for the carbs only made me irritated and restless. No thanks.
  This Litha I´ve leaned more heavily towards McDougall´s recommendation, and I´ve lost weight nicely. I must stress that I definitely do not diet now that I´m breastfeeding! I eat as much as I want, but have cut down fat. As a result, I now have only three more kilos to shed, and I´m back to my pre-baby weight! Yippee!   =)

BUG INSPECTION - THROUGH THE LENS

  It amazes me what we can do with our ordinary, everyday snapshot cameras these days. Having had a camera since the late eighties, as a child, I can but love the ease today´s cameras offer us.

  On a walk the other day I happened to bump into various insects. Perhaps they are always around, but now I just had my eyes open. And my snapshot with me.

This fellow greeted me on our garage wall.

No further than in my garden I caught him.

Bumble bees are easy to spot, but so lively that they are hard to focus on!

The common house fly doesn´t bother me as long as it stays outside the house...

Beetles are all just "beetles" to me, despite their scientific names and differences...  =)

  If these guys were big as birds, I´d hate and find them disgusting. But being small and not so easy to spot in nature, I´m glad there is still a place for all of us creatures on earth.
  I try to notice and enjoy every little happy thing in life I come across with. Small details add up to a big, happy life!

LITHA MENU

  This is my menu plan for one week.  I shall repeat it throughout Litha, for about six weeks.

Monday: 
breakfast: 1/2 liter green tea, plain
                 home made scones (4 dl wholemeal flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp seasalt, 2 tsp raw cane sugar, 2 dl water or soymilk, and some minced or shredded veggie or berry/fruit of choise. Mix all and form 5-6 round breads. Bake in an oven at 225 Celsius for about 15 min.)
                 fruit
lunch: 1/2 liter water
          young, fresh potatoes with Mother Nature´s Flavorite Sauce (spring onions and wild edible greens cooked lightly in a mixture of vegetable stock and soy milk, seasoned with black pepper and seasalt)
          wholemeal bread
dinner: 1/2 liter herbal tea with soymilk
            oatmeal made with water or soymilk (for variety I may mix 1/2 oat and 1/2 millet, buckwheat or rice), topped with pieces of fruit or berry kissel
dessert: a small ice cream cone (or two if I must =)

This kissel is made with red currants and strawberries.

The recipe for a basic, healthy kissel: 1 liter water, 4 Tbsp potato starch flour, lots of berries (about a liter, depending on the type), and sweetener such as agave or honey. Thicken the water with the starch by bringing the combination to a boil, stirring constantly. Puree the berries and add into the water and starch base. Sweeten to your liking. Can be eaten hot or cold, alone or with oatmeal/other porridge.

Tuesday:
breakfast: same as on Monday
lunch: 1/2 liter water
          veggie soup with peas
          wholemeal bread
dinner: same as on Monday
dessert: a small ice cream cone (or two if I must =)

Wednesday:
breakfast: same as on Monday
lunch: 1/2 liter water
          oven baked potato wedges (and other veggies if desired)
          shredded young cabbage and wild edible greens as a salad, grill/marinating sauce as dressing
dinner: 1/2 liter herbal tea with soymilk
            oatmeal made with water or soymilk (for variety I may mix 1/2 oat and 1/2 millet, buckwheat or rice), topped with cacao nibs
dessert: a small ice cream cone (or two if I must =)

Thursday:
breakfast: same as on Monday
lunch: 1/2 liter water
          vegan risotto
dinner:1/2 liter herbal tea with soymilk
            oatmeal made with water or soymilk (for variety I may mix 1/2 oat and 1/2 millet, buckwheat or rice), topped with pieces of dried fruit
dessert: a small ice cream cone (or two if I must =)

Friday:
breakfast: same as on Monday
lunch: 1/2 liter water
          meatless balls (cooked rice or potato, onion, garlic, any vegetables you like, salt, pepper, and other seasoning that suits your choice of veggies. Process ingredients coarsely in a food processor, combine to form a "dough". Roll out smallish balls and bake in a medium oven until slightly browned.)
          green saladdinner:1/2 liter herbal tea with soymilk
            oatmeal made with water or soymilk (for variety I may mix 1/2 oat and 1/2 millet, buckwheat or rice), topped with pieces of dried fruit
dessert: a small ice cream cone (or two if I must =)

Saturday:
breakfast: same as on Monday
lunch:1/2 liter water
         macaroni or other pasta with vegan margarine and ketchup, or pesto sauce (this is for my tastebuds, not my health...)
dinner:1/2 liter herbal tea with soymilk
            oatmeal made with water or soymilk (for variety I may mix 1/2 oat and 1/2 millet, buckwheat or rice), topped with coconut shreds
dessert: dark chocolate


Sunday: 
breakfast: same as on Monday
lunch: 1/2 liter water
          wild pancakes (Combine some soymilk, wholemeal flour, seasalt, little raw cane sugar, and finely chopped wild edible greens. Pour into a baking tray and pop in an oven at 200 Celsius. Bake until the top is nicely browned.) served with fruit or berries of some form.
dinner:1/2 liter herbal tea with soymilk
            oatmeal made with water or soymilk (for variety I may mix 1/2 oat and 1/2 millet, buckwheat or rice), with cacao powder and agave syrup stirred in
dessert: a small ice cream cone (or two if I must =)  

  This plan should save me money and time, and lose some fat. Let´s get going!

HAPPY LITHA!

  On Thursday we can enjoy the longest and lightest day of the year, the summer solstice. The peak of summer, Litha.

This picture was taken at 10pm. It is still a good while before it sets behind the horizon...

... only to get back up again at 3am!

  I have to point out that there is no picture manipulation done here. It truly is this beautiful in the real world! 

  Happy Litha everyone!

NETTLE SCONES

  Stinging nettle is one of the first wild edibles I learned to use. You can put it in anything, but I think it goes particularly well in scones and pancakes.

Fresh, soft sprigs of stinging nettle can be used whole, stems and all.

The plant looks so innocent, that it is hard to imagine it has such a powerful defense system.

Using thick work gloves makes the collecting easy.

I love to eat these healthy scones with a warm cup of herbal tea.

Surprisingly, the nettle made these scones fluffier than what they normally are.

  The recipe:

2 dl soy milk
a bunch of stinging nettles
4 dl whole meal flour (preferably naturally gluten free)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp raw sugar or honey
2 Tbsp olive oil

+ Process the nettle and milk in a blender until nettle has broken into tiny pieces. Add the remaining ingredients and fold in with a spoon. Add milk or flour if necessary.
  Scoop 5-8 clumps onto a tray lined with baking sheets, flatten slightly, and bake in oven at 225 Celsius for 15 minutes. Serve while hot.

  Stinging nettle is also known for it´s heath benefits . So enjoy these scones and your invigorating health!

PARTY DRESSES

  It has been insanely busy here lately getting ready for my baby´s name giving celebration.
  Naturally I wanted to make our dresses myself, and naturally I wanted the dresses to be the same style.  Breastfeeding added a level of difficulty when designing the model. It needed to be one that I could easily feed my baby with, without having to take half of it off. This design has a flap over the chest, held up by straps that are attached with buttons. Works well!

In true Beltane fashion the main color is light green, accentuated by a touch of pink. The weather suddenly turned cold, to which I was not prepared. Luckily I found this lovely lace scarf in my stowed-away box of  Samhain clothes!

There wasn´t much pink in the accessories, so I added it in make up. Blush, lip gloss, and eyeshadow all are in different shades of pink, making the outfit complete.

And here is my baby´s equivalent. Very unpractical and very cute!  This outfit is definitely one of those I will cherish as a memory forever.

This kind of finishing of the edges I have never done before.. It´s exciting to do something totally new every now and then. Especially when/if they turn out to be a success like this.

I cannot make shoes, so I had to buy them. A little baby´s outfit just wouldn´t be complete without a pair of cute booties. These ones I found from H&M.

  There will be yet another occasion to wear these party dresses to; a friend of mine is having a big birthday celebration. For once I don´t have a problem of what to wear!

BELTANE THURSDAY´S MENU

  Here´s what I´ve been eating throughout Beltane on Thursdays.

Breakfast: 1/2 liter of green tea, plain
                   Fruit salad with a big handful of nuts/seeds (I use whatever fruits and nuts I happen to have)

Lunch: 1/2 liter of water
            Fresh salad
            Pasta with soy minced "meat" (Textured soy protein is a long time favorite of mine. It is cheap, easy to store and cook, and filling.)
           

For the salad I use whatever I happen to have around. This time I had lettuce and tomatoes. No dressing needed, the main course acts as such.

 I topped the salad with gluten free spaghetti. And the spaghetti I topped with "minced meat": soak some soy granules in water for a few minutes. Meanwhile, chop up one onion and a clove of garlic. Saute them in olive oil, add the soy protein, and season with black pepper, soy sauce, and paprika powder. Can´t go wrong!

Dinner: 1/2 liter of herbal tea with soy milk
              Oatmeal topped with peanut butter and jelly (1dl of oatmeal+2 1/2dl water for the porridge)

Evening snack: 2dl Bulgarian yogurt (Usually I don´t much care for milk products, but for some reason I´ve started to crave yogurt nowadays. Maybe I need more calcium now that I´m breastfeeding, and this is my body´s way of telling me it... )

  I like to plan menus ahead for the entire sabbat time. It saves both time and money. The menus are for one week, and I simply repeat it for the duration of each sabbat, six or so weeks.
  The weight I gained during pregnancy is still dropping slowly, so I must be doing something right. Menu plan also keeps me clear(er) from impulsive eating of junk food. Nice.  =)

OUTFIT #1 - BELTANE COLLECTION

  This year I have surfed through Beltane with only one outfit. At home I wear more casual clothes, but this one I go visit people and places with. Just as I would at work.

  Each of my outfits starts as a sketch.

I always draw my designs on this simplified picture of a Bratz doll. That simply makes it look better than drawing the pieces of clothing only. This outfit I call "Sleeping Beauty". I like to exaggerate the features in my sketches to really point out the central themes in the look.

Clearly I wanted the climbing creeper to be less obvious than in my sketch. Otherwise the whole outfit would have turned into a costume.

The shirt is a bat-sleeved model. It is a staple pattern I use, and I always combine it with wide-legged pants. The shirt fabric has printed pattern on it, so I didn´t need to add separate roses to it, as is shown in the sketch.

The creeper is sold by the meter in craft stores, and is easily applied on by simply sewing.

Real world always fails to look as good as the fake Bratz model. But one does her best anyway, inspired by a make-believe-world.

Make up is applied as designed and shown in the sketch. A good way to wrap up the whole look is to adjust the colors of the make up to suit the clothes.

  Whenever I wear this outfit I feel so self confident, that I can actually forget about my appearance. I just go with the flow and enjoy the compliments and respectful behavior I meet on my way. The same goes for all of the looks conjure.