Hi I'm your new SCOBY! Now what????

 

After baby and momma yoga

bevvy of Homemade

Kombucha brew!

  Welcome to the world of Kombucha! Homemade is so much better and tastier than commercial stuff, just like anything. Plus, you can love this little SCOBY knowing it found a wonderful home! So there's a few things you'll need to start your own Kombucha system. If you are lucky enough to have one of my OOLONG SCOBYs, all the better! Also remember to keep clean utensils including hands when handling your SCOBY and any Kombucha equipment. You do not want to introduce a bad bacteria.

1. Keep your SCOBY out of direct sunlight at all times. The "good" bacteria colony does not like the sun's powerful rays.

2. You'll need to brew your kombucha in a one or two gallon glass jar - with or without a plastic spicket without a fitted lid. I use a fresh napkin with a ribbon tied around the neck to keep debris out of the brew but allow it to breath.

3. The newly brewed green or black tea needs to be cooled to room temperature before adding that to the jar. The sweet tea mix your SCOBY will love is one gallon of tea and one cup of sugar. Also the water used must not contain chlorine like in municipal drinking water. I always use distilled or you will get mold on your SCOBY. (the bad bacteria will win the battle)

4. After about a week, dry out a taste of your brew....you decide when it's ready to bottle for the second fermentation. This roughly two day process, is when you add the fruits and delights that will make it wonderfully tasty and fizzy bubbly! You'll know when it's ready when you see little bubbles on the top line. We keep our Kombucha in a cupboard in glass jars. Never use plastic - it explodes and really isn't ideal for the Kombucha brewing process.

5. When you bottle for second fermentation, remember to love your new SCOBY and put it in your own hotel....mine is a box in the cupboard and I use plastic freezer bags to hold it with about a cup of kumbucha or 2 cups of fresh sweet tea mixture.

6. Always keep 10% of your Kumbucha with your SCOBY to start your new batch. If you happen to need to start from a fresh sweet tea mixture, it may take up to 2 weeks for your brew to turn itself into Kombucha!

7. Lastly, love this little colony of goodness! The vitamins and nutrients it provides is amazing! Peace Love and Namaste! Enjoy the process of the brew, new Brew Master!

Tuna Casserole for Hashi Warriors

   Hey everybody! Spring has sprung and we have assorted birds calling out to meet the bird of their dreams now! We are all coming out of the wintry conditions to feel the sunshine and smell the fresh breezes.

   Today, I'm going to chat a bit about how I manage my Hashimoto's Thyroiditis with something you need everyday...FOOD! Since my diagnosis, I have become quite a foodie and actually enjoy my food more than I ever have in my whole life! It's wonderful to eat and not feel lousy after I fuel my body. I have more flavor in every morsel than ever and I really do not have to pass on much except if we are at a community pot luck. There are diets to follow and it can really seem staggering to include all of those and convert to a Hashimoto's friendly atmosphere. While I won't go in depth here on the complete diet (click here to see what you can have!)  required for impact, I will share a tip or two on one of my family's favorite dish....Tuna Noodle Casserole. The topic of noodles cane up with our now afult daughter since she’s in her own and began cooking, so I thought I needed to share our noodle knowledge wealth! :)
   If you are like me, we discovered that gluten was a major trigger for my Hashimoto's. Removing gluten from your diet was tough at that time when labels weren't required to put GLUTEN FREE in bold, but these days, with the labels saying the allergens, it's so easy! That's the easy part....the tough part is saying good-bye to a few favorited food friends. I've always enjoyed my fruits and vegetables and rice as well. The important thing about halting the affects of Hashimoto's is finding the root or the trigger of your autoimmunity. Once that is pin pointed, you can stop your immune system from going whacky and attacking other important parts of YOU! OK, enough about FINDING YOUR ROOT CAUSE (click that link to start that journey!), and back to the chatter of yummy food!
   Not everyone in our family needs or has to be gluten free. But, I do the cooking so the majority of the creative genius meals are so we all can enjoy meals TOGETHER and not feel like outcasts in our own health journey! One of our favorite dishes is Tuna Noodle Casserole and we had to pull this from the menu temporarily while I was learning how to cook and bake gluten free. A good tip about gluten free noodles....always try to find corn and rice noodles to substitute for your old recipes. These taste and feel about the same as the wheat noodles. We have discovered that noodles made from other grains will feel like sand or the taste will be overwhelming and ruin an old favorite dish! I have substituted the corn and rice noodles and nobody was the wiser!

   Please enjoy my Tuna Noodle Casserole recipe and hopefully it will become your new comfort food! This dish with the dairy may not be everyone's cup of tea, and I do not have the nutritional content for it, but it was a welcomed favorite we had to put on hold for a while until I perfected the recipe. The old recipe had wheat noodles and Miracle Whip, both containing gluten.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2-3 foil packets of tuna 
2 12 oz boxes of gluten free rotini noodles made with corn and rice
1 cup sour cream
2 cups mayonnaise
1-1 1/2 cups milk or nut milk
4 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, stay clear of Iodized salt! (get iodine through kelp instead)
Freshly ground pepper to taste

  Cook the noodles according to the package. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together above ingredients in oven proof pan or dish. Bake covered for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for 10 minutes longer to achieve a golden top. Serve after briefly cooling a few minutes.

Blessings from our clan and enjoy your journey for health!

Old ways won't open new doors

IT"S 2018!!!
What a great year it is going to be!

I would like everyone to take a moment and think about this..........

Old ways

won't

open

new doors....

Many people like to start a brand new year off with hopeful intentions toward their life goals (New Year Resolutions) ....a house, maybe a spouse, weight loss, repair a damaged relationship, better health, learning to read, maybe not living paycheck to paycheck, achieving their diploma or starting a family....the list is endless. All that I've mentioned, incidentally,  is possible to anyone with the correct recipe.

I rarely make new Year resolutions. If I want something to change in my life, I can and will just  do it at any time, not just at the start of a beginning. My year is full of lots of beginnings, middles and ends. The cycle of things is what I love about life. The lows make the high moments even more memorable!

So let's get back to the saying "Old ways won't open new doors".

If you have a dream or a goal,
                                               realize it,
                                     recognize 
                                         and implement the necessary changes.

I would not be where we are today, had I not believed I could achieve my dreams or that I deserved them! We welcomed our little rainbow Finn as she entered our realm in our very own bed! In post partum state, I hiked over sixty-five miles with the majority being above 6,500 feet and with our 14 year old and newborn in tow! We had some amazing conversations! I am now producing enough thyroid hormone ON MY OWN that I am off all medications! I was chosen by a company to highlight my artwork on their apparel and accessories! I am 60% fluent in a aecondary language!  I kept up this blog and talk to people all over the world answering questions  about thyroid issues, fitness, energy work or just making a human connection that they arent alone with their health issues.

The following steps work with many scenarios - the only exception being repairing a broken relationship or anything to do with the free will of someone else. You cannot nor “should not” want to control other people. Nothing good or fulfilling can come from such an act. You can heal yourself from damaged relationships or change  the way you exchange with other people by acceping that it is futile  to resort to categorizing instances of being  “ right or wrong”. You can choose to argue or not argue and you can choose to be open or to just be passive aggressive, never being direct about your requests besides complaining  and allowing yourself to falsely believe that your behavior is giving you an edge. But those behaviors will not repair or rebuild. You continue to allow yourself to wear your mask.

So on to the positive lesson of wchieving your goals....realize. Allow yourself to explore your desires. Even if they seem unattainable or far from reach! Dream! It doesn't have to be big - maybe you've been quietly watching life all around you and you just want to participate! Maybe you've always been meaning to learn a new hobby. Maybe you need to feed your body different fuel to be healthier. Or you might want to learn a new language or take that trip you've talked about.

Recognize and rationalize the goal and visualize success. Look at all the parameters, obstacles and time associated with a plan. Read and explore. Be realistic. There may be several steps to make a little forward movement.

Lastly, implement those parameters that you need to achieve! THAT'S IT! Admittedly, saying it out loud is the first step...words have power! Believe! Now go achieve and celebrate all the small and big victories along the way!

So what new doors are you looking for in 2018?
Drop me a line and let me know! Connect!

From our family to yours....May your 2018 be everything you could possibly imagine!

Dancing in the weeds

   For days I've been waiting for my VIDA collection to arrive...every day waiting in anticipation....and yesterday it finally did! My daughter, Summer, and I held a LIVE broadcast of us looking at the artful swag on my Facebook group Crisawesomeness Designs.

Please join it for updates! Lots of times I hand down savings given to me by VIDA on there. We had so much fun, we decided to make a regular habit of it and include my You Tube channel.

      We are planning a runway project with local make up specialists and representatives as well as hair dressers. I really think that's going to be a great networking, fun and creative process for us! Good times lie ahead!  Look for more details of that soon!
   My fall line is being developed and you can look forward to rich tones. In the meantime, enjoy!

Blessings!

Goals, giggles and great things

   Well my fellow Hashi Warriors, thyroid peeps and the like....HI!

Yoga with my Finn while camping

Chica the husky was doing her own pose..downward dog, maybe :).

  It's again been too long since I've talked with you! Have no doubt that you have been on my mind as I thoroughly enjoy our little Finn girl. We feel so blessed everyday to be able to look upon her with wild fascination. We take no moment for granted, knowing that many of you wish so much for the same miracle to come into your lives. It's summertime in our part of the world so our days are filled with lots of great activities like hiking, swimming and gardening and our nights have campfires and hammocks...I love this life!

My happy birthday this year

   News from my postpartum world is HUGE....my lifestyle changes have made a tremendous impact on my hypothyroidism. I am no longer required to supplement my thyroid with medication. I'm drug free so to speak! My body is producing enough on its own! I will continue to monitor my thyroidism to see if this is long-term. I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to find the root of your thyroidism whether it is hyperthyroid or hypothyroid and fix the issue. Be your own scientist. Be your own sleuth. We wouldn't have our Finn here with us if it not had been for my belief that you can in fact heal your thyroid. Especially if you are trying to conceive with little results, or have incurred several miscarriages as we did, you must get to the root of the problem. I read lots of books, like Root Cause by Dr. Izabella Wentz. Click on the link and check it out! If you'd like to know more about the changes I made, please email me-I love talking about this and helping others find their path!
   Now....back to our little Finn! What a joy! We are learning all about her - and have adjusted pretty flawlessly. We wanted her so much for so long. Our other children seem to have adjusted to her arrival as well. People have asked me if it is like starting over again with there being nearly 14 years difference between our now middle child with our youngest. It's not starting over to me. I'm still a mom and always was one. I would say I thoroughly enjoy every moment - even when she has cried solid for two hours. This time will pass and one day I will miss it. It has been an adjustment for all of us, but a welcomed one. We have two daughters, just out on their own, who come visit us more frequently to forge a relationship with their sister. It warms our hearts to see that. She started laughing last week and the little giggles bring our 14-year-old to her side every time.

Breastfeeding in the hammock!

   Most of the Hashi people I've met, are like me, they were always healthy eaters, big into fitness. That's probably because you noticed your weight fluctuated so much and you needed to stay on top of whatever was going on. My postpartum journey on that side of things has been trying....after Finn arrived, my midwife checked my abdominal muscles and I had a whopper five-inch abdominal muscle separation, also known as Diastasis recti.  Not a huge surprise since this was my fourth live birth and actually eighth pregnancy. Resting those muscles are crucial for a healthy recovery---no heavy lifting, abdominal work or engaging those muscles at all. It's a little tough at times.  It took FOREVER for it to fuse back (nearly 12 weeks) and I'm still working on complications due to the condition. My hips are continually misaligning themselves and my lower back is weakened because of it.

We can, however, finally get back into the pool after three months of diastasis recti Hell :) BRING ME MY SUPERSUIT....regardless of how much extra skin I have floating around my mid-section! Bodies come in all shapes and sizes and despite this journey, my body has really served me well. I'm breastfeeding and with my gluten free/ low dairy diet, it hasn't been hard for me to melt away. I have had to incorporate some Sunflower Lecithin for healthy fats so my milk isn't like skim milk but that's a topic for another day. In the meantime, let's get those muscles strengthened! Finn is ready to join us in the pool!

Blessings!

Baby drop: Lock and Load

   We past another week from this picture and are in the 28th week! It was a week full of surprises on top of being Yule/Christmas week. We had been looking forward to our December appointment for months---another ultrasound, and the start of bi-weekly on visits. The days preceding this appointment were let's just say uncomfortable. I haven't slept more than an hour at a time, having to do yoga during the night to simply be comfortable, and let's not forget about the breathing..I NEED AIR! And then over the course of two days, the baby dropped, my ribs quit aching and the pelvic pressure began...and so did some scary spotting....
   We've been here before, and I've had pre-term labor with one of the girls, this is not a picnic we're setting up for. We called our on immediately and had to come directly into the office....baby is fine, I'm fine despite the unexplained spotting and pelvic pressure. The baby is not under stress. The next day we had our regularly planned appointment with extra emphasis on our ultrasound to include a detailed look at the cervix.

The cysts on our baby's brain we've worried about for 8 weeks have disappeared! My placenta is just as it should be, and my cervix is closed and the length it needs to be....everything looks perfect! The baby is carrying really low however, and the time has come for me to hang up my working shoes and take life slow like the waddling turtle that I have become. The baby has dropped and the head is down....our little one is preparing to meet us!
   Our Wee Baby Ness is quite active with plenty of room for the time being. The baby love she our yoga sessions and I'm convinced we will have quite a time getting the nights and days switched around. I get kicked and punched the entire yoga meditation session....we are going to have the most enlightened baby! I've been reading Tibetan Buddhist passages to the wee one as well in preparation for an easy transitional birthing experience.
   Speaking of that, it's come time for us to center on our birthing plan. I've always done natural childbirth but this time I am open to a little help and that is a big step for me. Next month we have a birthing class and before you know it, it will be show time!........If only it really can go that fast. I've been on light detail for three days now and am already going stir crazy. 24 hour periods are long....I'm going to miss the Firehouse Brewing Company family, the regular customers and that aspect of my life. I truly just need to focus on this last home stretch of this incredible journey we are living.
We hope you enjoy your holidays, whatever you celebrate!

Blessings!