Cheezy Sweet Popcorn, Midnight Snacks, Food Rules & Eating Late, Type A or Procrastinator?

Hi Gang!  What’s happening for you today?  I have had an action packed week.  Obviously just moving back to San Diego 8 days ago, and getting settled and unpacked and the move itself were exhausting.  But then I proceeded to hit the ground running with a trip to my friend’s house and pool on Monday, an Unschooler Park Day Tuesday, and yesterday I had the DMV all afternoon.

I can happily report that I got 1 car registered, 1 car is paid for and paperwork is done and almost registered, but had to be Smog checked.  I’ve got the paperwork in hand and have to bring it back to the DMV and then that car will be officially registered.  All these steps, lines, paperwork, it’s like a scavenger hunt!  ugh. 

And, the big highlight is that I got a California driver’s license.  They are mailing it and will arrive in 2 weeks or so, and til then, I have a flimsy piece of paper as my temporary license.   All this could have been avoided had I been a slacker and never even gotten Arizona plates or an AZ license, but Type A me was all over it and changed everything over from CA to AZ right after we moved there.   Pretty much just duplicating effort for myself 9 months later now that we are back in CA.  Oh well.

After the DMV, I swung through Trader Joe’s.  And picked up this new-to-me coffee

 

I picked up a few other raw ingredients because I am on a mission to make raw crackers and breads!  So, once I get done winging it with the recipe have the recipe constructed and try my hand and can vouch for the finished product, you all will be the first to know what else I bought at TJ’s that’s going to help me make raw crackers.

In the meantime, these have been working for my Cracker Fix

Previously in Phoenix, I had tried the Caraway flavor

Here in San Diego, I picked up the Herb

If you are familiar with what a Garden Herb Triscuit tastes like, something very dill-like.  Well, just quite “herb-ey”, these are similar.  

10 years ago I lived off Triscuits, Peanut Butter, and Vokda.   Not in that particular order.  I was a Triscuit connoisseur.  They say that people crave their allergens.  Well, I was in gluten overload and living in the bathroom.   Thank god I finally figured out my food allergies.  Just took me a quarter century.  

And thank goodness for Mary’s Crackers because they are fairly inexpensive, readily available, and not filled with salt, onions, and garlic, vegan, soy & gluten-free.  For me, they are the best store-bought option out there given those parameters.  Other than making my own crackers…that’s my next project!  Original and Black Pepper are my faves!

After we got back from our errands, I fixed Skylar a snack plate

 

And I dug into some broccoli.  I’ve posted before that I eat a broccoli crown a day, or just about, and just dip straight into the jar and devour.

I love broccoli!  Did you know that the nubs on broccoli clean your teeth, gums, and your intestinal tract.  I always think of of the broccoli as scrubbing my body on the inside.  TMI but it’s true.

From Yesterday’s post on Unschooling, thank you to everyone who commented and shared your thoughts and any firsthand experiences with homeschooling or unschooling.   120 comments on that post.  Looks like I hit on a popular topic with everyone!

Many of you had never heard of it.  I didn’t suppose many of you would.  One generally does not investigate schooling options for children, until you have a child.  So for my childless readers, totally understood and even for readers with kids, I know this is not mainstream and I didn’t expect many to be familiar.  But, I was pleasantly surprised when reader Naomi, Julie Lynn, Sheri and a few others not only were familiar, but also have homeschooled their own kids.  This is a great comment I wanted to feature from:

Lisa Raw on 10
I homeschooled/unschooled my kids off and on. It felt like all we did was have fun. There were no pressures or tests or that kind of thing. No bullies or cliques or yelling teachers. When my kids decided to got back into the public school, I kind of worried they may have missed something at home … it just seemed too easy. Well, my son, at age 9, tested at college level in reading, 9th grade math, etc. My daughter was at least a few years ahead as well … according to their standardized testing anyway. They had no problem transitioning as far as academics … except that they were way ahead of their peers and tended to get bored. I think unschooling is awesome and an excellent choice!

And Also Here was what Sheri Had to Say

Yay for unschooling! I”m an unschooling/homeschooling mama to 5 (soon to be 6), and I have to say that for us, unschooling/homeschooling is a lifestyle. Learning permeates everything we do every single day, there are so many teachable moments in life! We lead a relaxed unschool approach with the kids but do use workbooks and bits and pieces of curriculum as needed. I never force it on my kids and in fact, they LOVE workbooks and love to learn :) As they get older we move to a more structured way of learning and introduce some formal curriculum. My oldest is grade 8 and is using a boxed curriculum this year and loved it. It was a smooth easy transition. Our city is pretty homeschool friendly and with thousands of homeschoolers and tons of organized activities, we have more homeschool options than we could ever participate in. We call ourselves lifelearners and we couldn’t imagine learning any other way! Our kids are happy, thriving and constant ly learning. Wishing you a joyful homeschool journey with Skylar!

I am also aware that many of you expressed concern over learning things like math and sciences and I agree, these are important and may not happen quite as organically or naturally as other subjects or topics may happen in ordinary life.  However, for younger children, I do not believe that overly structured environments foster learning and growth in the best sense.  Children learn best, in my opinion, with the freedom to play and dabble in this and that, to explore in a fairly unstructured way, not in a strict classroom environment.

And at age 5, we are not teaching chemistry and logarithms.  Counting 5 apples, 4 oranges, and 1 cucumber and putting them into the veggie drawer teaches math and cooking and household organization and real life skills.  So, while she’s young, unschooling is a perfect path for us.

And as she gets older and her need for math and science is beyond what I can or want to give her, then she can take college classes, classes at charter schools, community colleges, or she can go to the neighbor’s house who is a scientist for NASA or what have you, and learn from others in different settings.

There are no rigid rules; we are taking things a day at a time and being respectful of her choices and also balancing our choices with what we foresee she will “need to know” to exist as a competent and productive member of society.  We are not so “loosey goosey” and hands off that we feel we are doing anything that makes her unprepared for life; but not so overly structured that it plays into what I already suspect is her innate drive for perfectionism.   She’s a Chip off the ‘ole Block and relaxing the rules will do her some good.  I know it would have for me as a kid!

Anyway, thanks for the great comments on the Unschooling Post and Park Day Fun Times we had!

Moving on to my Midnight Snack: Cheezy Sweet Popcorn


Popcorn Dredged in Nooch, Stevia, Cinnamon, and Coconut Oil

 

1. Chocolate Coconut Oil Protein Popcorn

Gym & Weights Workout Today From This Tab:  Upper Body Workout

Tip of the Day: Benihana Restaurant (i.e. shrimp flying through the air) offers a $30 coupon on the month of your birthday.  Sign Up Here!

Questions
1. Are you the type of person who’s “all over” a task or project?  Or are you more of a do it later, ahem procrastinator, type?  Or does it depend on the situation?
From driver’s licenses to unpacking my house in 24 hours to paying bills to researching things online, you name it, I am all over things.  I can’t just wait around.  I need to do, accomplish, achieve.  Right away.  I can think of nothing that I procrastinate with.  Even in school, I had my assignments done way in advance of when I needed.  Sometimes this actually causes a bit of a “make work” whereas if I just slacked, I may actually just avoided a certain amount of work. What type are you?

2. Do you have a fave snack?  Do you have a favorite midnight snack? 
I definitely crave different things throughout the day.  I have no desire for things like popcorn in the middle of the day just as a bowl of raw green beans at midnight doesn’t sound good either.  My food cravings are time-of-day-dependent.  Some people like to eat breakfast for dinner.   Do you like to mix up foods/time of day like that?

3. Eating Late.  Do you have any food or meal rules?  Do you have rules about time of day and when you eat?
I read so much about everything from no carbs after 7pm, must eat last meal at least 3 hours before bed, must drink water throughout the day, must eat every few hours, must not eat after 7pm, must eat breakfast, must not skip meals, must eat protein with every meal.   It goes on and on and I don’t play by any of them!

I eat when I am hungry.  I am not usually very hungry in the morning.  I drink coffee, have some fruit, have something light, whatever strikes me, but really, I am just not that much of a first half of the day eater.  But then.  Oh boy.  By the middle of the day and afternoon I start going to town on veggies and then I have dinner and then I eat fats and carbs, late.  From midnight to 2am I eat carb and fat-heavy foods.  And then I go to bed and sleep like a baby. 

I drink water all day, but that’s about the only “rule” I follow.  Other than that, I just listen to my body. 

Regarding breakfast and mornings, Raw Foodies would say that juicing is perfect because you get the nutrients from juice, but your digestion isn’t stoked.  Since it’s a lot of work for the body to keep the digestive fires going, it’s good to get the nutrients from juicing while allowing your digestion to rest.  This is great in theory but since I hate juicer cleanup with a passion I don’t juice that often.  

Do you have any rules you trying to break?  Trying to follow?  Any rules that you think are particularly ludicrous that you have read or admit to following?

4. Skylar’s Question of the day…What’s in Dirt?
Off the top of your head, what’s in dirt?  Anyone want to tell me that unschooled kids don’t strive for knowledge?  She’s 3.  Her little brain is always.going.nonstop.

5. Have you ever made your own crackers or breads?  Raw, vegan, or otherwise?
I never made bread before going GF and don’t have a desire to learn how to make GF bread, but I do like the idea of “raw” breads and also crackers.  I have a batch in the dehydrator right now…once I am sure they “are keepers”, I will post the recipe….Raw Vegan and yes, you’ll be able to make them in the oven.

 
Stay Tuned For A Give Away for Bars with an Island Theme…

I also wanted to say that I love responding to everyone’s comments but lately I have been spending just as much time responding to comments as I have been creating my posts and in an effort to continue to reduce my desk and computer time, I am going to try to scale back on comment replies a bit, too.  I love having the dialogue and just can’t help myself from typing out replies...but all of a sudden, I realize I have spent 90 minutes..poof..just replying to comments.   And I want to be outside playing with Skylar.  So that’s what we’re off to do now…bye!  Have a great day!