Books: For fiction, I am reading “Navigating Early” by Clare Vanderpool. It is a Mark Twain nominee and she is the author of a Newberry Award winning novel as well. So far enjoying the plot immensely. It is about a young Kansas boy who has been uprooted and sent to Maine for boarding school. He meets an odd friend named Early and the plot goes on from there.
For non-fiction, I have FINALLY received “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo. Who-wee! Well, she definitely has a way of wording things. I waited over 3 months to receive this book from the library. I hate to make judgements so early. I like how the main points are in bold font, so if I want to skip a section I can 🙂 I will defintely hit some pointers here. The last chapter I read said to never EVER roll up your socks to put them in your sock drawer. It stretches out the socks. Maybe this was good advice ten years ago. Ankle length socks are pretty much the only style available it seems like and what everyone is wearing… so it wouldn’t matter to them. I did agree with her point about people frustrated that their house is never clean even when they go by the advice in magazines. The advice you normally see is only do a little at a time, or do one room at a time. But I agree with Marie it isn’t the way to go if you are trying to motivate yourself to tidy up. I will read more and post her solutions more thoroughly in the next few days.
(photo credit: Traderjoes.com)
Recipe: I bought some organic chia seeds at Trader Joe’s the other day! What an awesome deal for 12 oz for $5. The bag is yellow. The old bag is purple, non-organic and actually cost $4.99 for 5.3 ounces. Chia seeds are super duper good for you as every nutrition magazine and website touts. They have a ton of nutrients in a few calories. They have lots of antioxidants. Yes, they have carbs but almost all of them are fiber (11 out of 12 grams). They have protein. They have lots of calcium and magnesium- All in some tiny seeds!
So what do you do with them? Well, some people mix milk and chia seeds to make a pudding. I tried a chocolate chia seed pudding from a popular recipe blog. It was like eating thick spit…. So, I advise against the “add chia seeds to milk recipes”. All 3 of us agreed it was pretty gross and I didn’t bother having hubby taste test it.
BUT – chia seeds are good in BAKED things. Baked things covered in maple syrup (or blackberry jam, or strawberries/whipped cream, etc.) 🙂 These waffles had 4 thumbs up!
Don’t have chia seeds? No problem. Your recipe will be just fine! I adapted this from my go-to waffle recipe and then just substituted healthy ingredients.
- 1 and ¾ cups almond milk (or regular milk)
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 egg
- 2 Tb. chia seeds
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 and ¼ cup white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup old fashioned oats
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon (more or less to taste)
- In a medium bowl, mix the wet stuff: milk, applesauce, egg, chia seeds and vanilla.
- In a great big bowl, mix the dry stuff: flour, oats, flaxseed, baking powder and salt.
- Add the wet stuff to the dry stuff and stir to combine.
- Let it sit for about 10 minutes while heating up the waffle iron.
- Spray the waffle iron with cooking spray and cook per the manufacturers directions.
- Eat while warm.
- For leftovers, cool completely and place in a freezer bag. When you want a waffle in the morning, simply pop it in the toaster or toaster oven.
If you want to make pancakes, then make them! They will taste great. The batter is thicker for waffles, so add about 1/4 cup more milk to the recipe to get a pancake-like consistency.
