Mothergood®

How do you make your dreams a reality while having kids? Emmy Award winning filmmaker Crystal Avila Floeder chats about how she has continued to make films while having two children under two years old, and is currently in the process of launching her own film production company. Her documentaries have appeared on Amazon Prime, and she filmed her latest documentary while 8 months pregnant. Crystal shares practical tips on how she is able to be both a present mother and make time for her filmmaking.

Do you struggle with keeping your temper in check while parenting? Deborah Davis, parenting coach and author of How to Keep Your Daughter From Slamming The Door, discusses practical tips for parents to better control their own emotions when faced with testy tantrums. Deborah is an award-winning author, speaker, and coach with over three decades of experience in middle and high school education. Founder of The Awesome Mom Tribe and a mother herself, Deborah now applied her experience in education to coaching parenting skills. Armed with a sense of humor, a B.S. in Education from the University of Massachusetts and a M.Ed. in Supervision from Emory University, she provides guidance and encouragement from moms to help them foster positive and healthy relationships with their families.

How do feminism and motherhood go hand in hand? Leah Libresco Sargeant talks about the shortcomings of mainstream feminism, which accepts the premise that women and children are stuck in a zero-sum game, and proposes an alternative kind of feminism that acknowledges the humanity of both babies and women. Aspects of this other feminism Leah discusses include: how an important aspect of feminism is to not pretend babies are manageable, how we should value care work, how women are excluded from medicine, plus more.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF LEAH AND EMILY CHATTING HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLO2VZ_tzao

Join Leah's Substack discussion HERE: https://otherfeminisms.substack.com/

Ever wonder how difficult raising twins is? Try quadruplets! Justina Kopp chats about her surprise when she and her husband found out they were expecting quadruplets, what her pregnancy was like, what her delivery was like, and like with toddler quadruplets. Her advice is also applicable for moms with singles as well, so you won't want to miss our conversation.

Is meal planning not your jam? Are you tired of throwing away unused food? Culinary artist Ally Hieronymus (@amhieronymous) shares tips and tricks on how to make meal planning super easy, delicious, and fun. She also shares some of her most favorite recipes.

Here are the recipes mentioned for reference:

Chicken & Dumplings

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food

• 1 whole rotisserie chicken, meat taken off the bone, shredded
• 4 cups chicken stock or water
• Salt and pepper
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 1 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 2/3 cups plus 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup partially defrosted frozen peas
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup whole milk

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, potato, and thyme. Cook, stirring, until onion is translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup flour; cook 30 seconds. Gradually stir in broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer 2 minutes. Stir in chicken & peas. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, whisk together remaining 1 2/3 cups flour, baking powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Cut in remaining 4 tablespoons butter. Stir in milk until dough holds together. Drop 8 heaping spoonfuls of dough on top of chicken mixture. Cover and simmer until dumplings are cooked through, about 12 minutes.

Beef Stroganoff

• Approx 2lbs cubed stew meat
• salt and pepper
• 1 24 oz box mushrooms, sliced
• 1 32 fl oz box beef stock
• 8 oz condensed mushroom soup (my favorite is from Trader Joe's)
• 1 cup of red wine (wine you would drink)

Season meat with salt and pepper

Brown meat in heavy bottomed pot like Dutch oven

Remove meat

Cook mushrooms

Remove from pot

Set aside

Make roux with 4 TBSP butter and 4 TBSP flour, cook to med brown color

Add stock, soup, wine. Whisk until smooth

Crockpot preparation

Add browned meat and cooked mushrooms into crockpot insert

Add stock mixture

Cook in crockpot for 8 hrs on low

When the meat falls apart, it's ready!

Serve over buttered egg noodles

Chili

• 2 pounds of ground beef
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp chipotle powder
• 2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup frozen sweet corn

Optional:

• Frozen diced butternut squash
• Frozen spinach

In heavy bottomed pot, brown the beef. Once browned, season with paprika, chipotle, salt and pepper.

Add beans, tomatoes.

Cover and let simmer 20 mins.

10 mins before serving, add corn and other add in's.

Serve over rice or put in a tortilla for a burrito

Apple Cider Cake Mix Donuts

• 1 white cake mix
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1 cup or 2 pouches of applesauce
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup milk (or apple cider or water)

Mix all ingredients together

Bake at 350F in greased donut pan

5-7 minutes or until donut springs backs to touch

On wire rack with sheet pan, brush each donut with melted butter, both sides

Coat with cinnamon sugar topping

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

• 1 stick of melted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 TBSP cinnamon
• Baked Oatmeal
• 4 cups rolled oats (3 cups rolled 1 cup steel cut)
• 1 1/2 cup milk (sub almond milk, coconut milk, etc)
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Add mix ins:

• Chopped nuts
• Dried fruit like raisins or chopped dates
• Frozen berries (layer the batter and berries so it doesn't turn grey)
• 2-3 mashed bananas
• 1 cup pumpkin purée
• 2 chopped apples
• Greased 13x9 brownie pan
• Mix together all ingredients
• Add mix ins

Bake at 350 for 35-40 mins or until firm

Do you ever wonder how motherhood has looked since the beginning of time? Emily Kearney and Melissa Wetzel chat about how Motherhood has changed and taken may different forms throughout centuries and how the concept of "stay at home mom" is a recent/modern/privileged phenomenon, in order to help reduce mom guilt for mothers who feel like they do not do enough for their kids or spend enough time with them, etc. They take a look at ancient history of motherhood, how it evolved in modern times, and mom shame.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iCN6EnaAL0&t=61s

Research mentioned in episode:

• New York Times Opinion piece, "Early Motherhood has always been Miserable" by Jessica Grose: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/09/opinion/sunday/babies-mothers-anxiety.html
• Washington Post Opinion piece "A brief history of how we think about motherhood: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-brief-history-of-how-we-think-about-motherhood/2016/05/06/a8a1af86-12df-11e6-81b4-581a5c4c42df_story.html
• Britannica Encyclopedia entry on "Women in the Workforce" https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-work-organization-648000/Women-in-the-workforce
• "Hunter-Gatherer Women" entry in the Anthropology Oxford Research Encyclopedia: https://oxfordre.com/anthropology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190854584.001.0001/acrefore-9780190854584-e-105)
• "Women's Work in Ancient Egypt" Encyclopedia: https://www.ancient.eu/article/1058/womens-work-in-ancient-egypt/
• Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World, entitled "11 things about women in Ancient Israel you probably didn't know" https://blog.oup.com/2016/10/women-ancient-israel/
• Women in the Middle Ages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_Middle_Ages

Ready to shop for your "mom car?" Want to know what kind of car is best for your family in the future? Kelly Stumpe, aka the Car Mom, discusses what features to look out for in a mom car, how to choose a mom car that will grow with your family, what to consider when trying to fit one or more car seats in a car, how to negotiate the best deal, her top new and used mom cars, plus more. If you want to pick out the best car for your family, then you can't miss this episode. You can find Kelly on Instagram at @the_car_mom and join her extremely helpful Facebook group as well by clicking here.

Want to learn about alternatives to hormonal birth control? Want to learn more about the fifth vital sign, your period? Dr. Jolene Brighten, author of Beyond the Pill, is a prominent leader in women's medicine and the emerging science of Post-Birth Control Syndrome. In this episode, she talks all about periods, why millennials are rejecting hormonal birth control (HBC), the risks versus benefits of being on HBC, how HBC shuts down your hormones, alternatives to HBC, plus more. You can learn more about Dr. Jolene Brighten at www.drbrighten.com

Do you have an identity outside of motherhood? If not, is that something you desire? LaWann Moses chats about how finding an identity outside of motherhood enriched her life and made her a better mother.

Do you want to start your own business or side hustle? Priscilla Huerta started The Little Catholic, an artisan online jewelry shop, almost three years ago, and has been very successful. She shares her tips and tricks on how she created a successful online business, how she was able to transition to working for herself full-time, plus more.