Mojito Fruit Salad... YUM

Courtesy of vegetariantimes.com

Inspired by the Cuban cocktail, this breakfast brain booster is full of tropical flavor. Yogurt contains tyrosine, an amino acid that supports neuro-transmitters, resulting in improved communication between neurons. Ground flaxseeds are a rich, vegetarian source of omega-3 fatty acids, which help improve memory. And papaya is a great source of vitamin C.

Ingredients
Serves 4

Mint Simple Syrup
1 cup packed fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 cup sugar

Fruit Salad
1 1/2 cups cubed fresh pineapple
1 1/2 cups cubed fresh papaya
2 kiwifruits, peeled, halved, and sliced
1/2 cup fresh blueberries or frozen, thawed
1 Tbs. lime juice
2 tsp. lime zest
2 cups vanilla low-fat yogurt or soy yogurt
2 Tbs. chopped fresh mint leaves
4 tsp. ground flaxseeds

Directions

1.To make Mint Simple Syrup: Bring mint, sugar, and 1 cup water to a boil in saucepan. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and steep 15 minutes. Strain syrup, and discard mint leaves. Cool.
2.To make Fruit Salad: Toss pineapple, papaya, kiwifruits, blueberries, lime juice, lime zest, and 1/4 cup Mint Simple Syrup in large bowl (reserve remaining syrup to sweeten iced tea or coffee). Divide among 4 bowls. Top each serving with 1/2 cup yogurt, 11/2 tsp. mint, and 1 tsp. flaxseeds

I will be pouring this over some angel food cake tonight *wink wink*

Ode to Mamas

Ahhh... me and my mini me (p.s. my son, Shamus, refuses to take a picture with me! he's 10). She looks and acts like me (uh oh!). Tomorrow I will awake with my two babies and I am so thankful. Thankful for their health and for their happiness. In all that is life, there is so much to be thankful for.

We will go to where my mother rests peacefully tomorrow and say Happy Mother's Day for the first time with out her spirit on Earth. I bought her a hydrangea plant today, it looks just like the one she gave me last year for Mother's Day. She always honored me as a mother, that was the type of mother and woman she was.

Tomorrow is a day for honoring. Gifts are lovely... but tomorrow I am thankful. Thankful for gift of motherhood and having been blessed with having her in my life.

May the light shine upon you and within you. Jai Beghwan.

In the Organic Spirit

In the organic spirit of spring... I would love to share some organic tips and favorites!

greenrainbowshop.com offers the best organic and earth friendly spirited offerings for spring and Easter. Add some Eco-Dough to your baby bunny's Easter basket! Eco-dough is a molding dough handmade with flour, salt, cream of tartar, organic rosemary oil, vitamin E oil, soybean oil, coconut oil, potassium sorbate, citric acid, natural and organic fruit, plant and vegetable extracts from beets, spinach, paprika, carrots, purple sweet potato, red cabbage, blueberries and tomatoes.
Whowww!!!
Conforms to ASTM D-4236. CPSIA compliant.
By eco-kids.


While food shopping today, I was excited to find some fruit that I'd forgotten with the winter snow. We all want so much to be able to provide 100% organic diet for our little ones. Organic fruits and veggies can be very expensive and lets face it, many of us find it difficult to buy EVERY fruit and veggie organic. Well, let me help lift some guilt off your perfect mama shoulders!

Here.... are the "Clean 15", lowest in pesticides
Onion
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Mango
Asparagus
Sweet Peas
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Papaya
Watermelon
Broccoli
Tomato
Sweet Potato

You don't have to sweat buying these fruits and veggies not organic. Happy Spring!

Ode to Surrender

This quote popped up during one of my many facebook surfing sessions:

"Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable.”

Did you know this? Really know this? I guess it seems pretty obvious once read, but I wonder how many really live by this... I know it is a certain struggle for me. As the one of the many daughters of a generation of divorce, I imagine this is easier said than done. I suppose I am referring specifically to the vulnerable part.

Manipulation probably depends very much on your personality. However, over my short adult life (I am 30) I have observed a good portion of the population reacting to others.

Much of what I've observed is in effort to change (or manipulate, as the case may be) the environment to fit the need of the individual.

"Surrendering completely to love, be it human or divine, means giving up everything, including our own well-being or our ability to make decisions. It means loving in the deepest sense of the word. The truth is that we don't want to be saved in the way God has chosen; we want to keep absolute control over our every step, to be fully conscious of our decisions, to be capable of choosing the object of our devotion." - The Witch of Portobello, by Paulo Coelho

"If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves." -Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953)

And, ummmm how well does that work out? Not so much.

Om shanti.

Wholesome sweets for the most wholesome sweets in your life...

Vegan Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
courtesy of...cookiemadness.net)

1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour – spoon and sweep, don’t pack
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons applesauce
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup natural type peanut butter (Jif would be fine too)
1/4 cup peanuts (salted is fine)
1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or 1/3 cup chopped up good quality chocolate

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Grind oats in processor. Add flour, baking soda and salt and pulse to mix.

Stir oil and both sugars together in a medium bowl. It’s okay to do this with a spoon – no need to pull out the electric mixer. Beat in applesauce, peanut butter and vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in peanuts and chocolate chips.

Using about 2 tablespoons of dough, form dough into balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake until edges are golden brown, about 12-14 minutes, Cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool completely. Cookies will firm up as they cool.

Makes about 6 cookies


NO BUTTER! Non-hydrogentated.... sweeten these cookies more with organic products. YUMMY!

The Return

.... Well, I'm back. It has been 6 or so months since my last blog post. babybe's life was put on hold for a while to tend to my mother, for whom I have dedicated some of my previous posts. My mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer some 4 years ago. The cancer began to take her physical body fiercly in August of 2009.

I am sad to say that she was not able to win her fight... although it has brought me so many life lessons. As with all challenges that universe and mother earth commands, so comes the beauty of life. The beauty of the exposure of the purest form of love and emotion. The kind that I didn't know really existed until now. For that, I am thankful. I can only hope that each of you are able to experience that at some point in your journey.

Let this be the beginning of a new babybe journey.

Ahhhh!

Your Vegetarian Pregnancy, by Dr. Holly Roberts.
Ahhhh! It IS possible to be vegetarian and have a healthy pregnancy and baby! LOL! Of course! But how wonderful to have a book to guide you.

Enjoy!

babybe Summer 2009

The Summer Line for babybe is sooo yummy. The new designs for the summer are:

Sweet Peace, a cupcake is our symbol for each baby being a Sweet Peace of the world.

Om, this lime green design on bark fabric is eye catching and artistic. The sanskrit mantra, "Lokah Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu (May all beings be happy and at peace)" is exactly what we all want to instill in our babies.

So Hum, the sanskrit mantra that means " I am you... you are me". This can be interpreted many ways; as mamas we are literally one with our babies during our pregnancies and we are all part of the universe and infinitely connected to each other.

Love + Bliss, two elephants link their trunks to form a heart , while Love + Bliss dance behind them.

See the collection at babybe.etsy.com

Infant Massage

As a part of the Spring 2009 mama and baby yoga series, we've incorporated an introduction to infant massage, which I am so excited about. As a mama, just another tool for you to sooth baby and ultimately self.

I am so excited to see how the babies respond to their mother's touch. Babies are pure inspiration... their ability to be with whatever is for them at that moment. Somewhere along the line, that gets lost. Yoga is about getting back to that point. To allow what is around you with the acceptance that you have no control over any of it. Everything is... indeed perfect.

Ahhh.