Eco-Friendly Friday

Today is a beautiful day here in Houston! It's hard to believe sitting with the windows open that only a week and a half ago I was afraid our water pipes might burst and that we had a nice coating of ice on everything outside those same windows.  What this warm weather does mean is that it is time for me to start sewing the seeds for this years vegetable garden.  Last year I had my husband build us a small raised bed vegetable garden. We got a few carrots, some cherry tomatoes, parsley, and a huge amount of basil out of it.  It wasn't the best bounty ever, we had a few problems with bugs and rabbits attacking various plants, but it wasn't a total loss at least.  We hope this year will be better and that we learned from our mistakes. 

This year we are planning to grow carrots, bell peppers, hot peppers, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, basil, and maybe try scallions again. I did a simple web search for "when to plant vegetable garden" and found a great article in the local paper with a listing of when to plant various vegetables.  This is the page I found for my Houston peeps...http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/gardening/features/6871773.html. Burpe's website also had a lot of growing information for all regions and if you put in your zip code will tell you what you should be doing in your garden each month.

Having your own garden is a great way to go green and potentially save some green.  So, plan that garden and get out there to play in the dirt!

Eat To Live - A Book Review

I have struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. The funny thing is that I know how I should eat and the health consequences for not. I recently read the book Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. at the suggestion of a local midwife I had met. The book touts on the cover that you can lose 20 lbs. or more in 6 weeks and hosts numerous endorsements by other medical doctors and diet experts.

Honestly, I found the book a tedious read. The first seven or so chapters speak to the state of the American diet and the consequences of it with titles such as “Digging Our Graves with Forks and Knives: The Effects of the American Diet, Part I”. The book gives background and data supporting the nutritional benefits of his proposed diet and is smattered with real life success stories of his patients. I am sure there are some people that really do need to read all of the effects and the reasons to eat healthy foods, but I am not one of them and felt that I was being whined at for most of the book. I agree with everything he had to say about nutrition based eating and he does support his work with scientific data (which the chemist in me loved!) The rub comes when you put his plan into action. I managed to stick to his “plan” for 2 weeks and it was tough. The basics are to eat a vegetarian diet consisting of unlimited vegetables, fruits, beans & legumes. He does want you to limit cooked starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, and avocado. If you are on the most aggressive six week plan you also eliminate all dairy, meat, snacks, fruit juice and dried fruit. Seems easy enough, but it was nearly impossible for me to stay within the plan anywhere away from my house!

I did have success on the plan and lost 12 pounds in the course of two weeks (7 of which I have kept off after going back to my semi-normal diet) and I do hope to go back on the less aggressive plan. My biggest hindrance at this point is my kids. They will not (and did not) touch the meals I ate while on the plan and had to make something for myself and for them at every meal. That gets old real quick!
Overall, I think the book is very informative and boasts a plan that will work if you can manage to stick to it.

*Note - I have not in any way, shape, or form been compensated for writing this and have no ties to Dr. Fuhrman or his publisher.*

Menu Monday?

I've been trying to decide what to write all day.  I wanted to come up with a fitting tribute to the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. but alas the writing bug did not bite.  The only thing that came into my mind was..."Hmmm...I wonder if anyone would be interested in seeing a Menu Monday?" This would be a feature on Monday's where I post my plans for dinner during the week and possibly link to recipes that are online.  So does that interest any of you?

Table Food Baby Food

Now that our little Logan is 9 months old (which I can't believe!) we are moving from baby food and onto table food. He seems to be quite happy with this shift, as he screams at us if we are eating and he is not. We still puree or grind up most of his food, but are making it thicker and more textured as we go. Here are some sample meals that he enjoys:

Breakfast

• Banana and Toast strips
• Cooked rolled oats mixed with fruit (banana, apple, pear, or peach are the usual)
• Pancake with blueberries and apple sauce mix

Lunch - I tend to use pre-made veggie and fruit puree cubes as quick lunches, just thaw and serve

• Sweet potato and peas
• Carrot, Parsnip and apple sauce
• Sweet potato and green beans
• Carrot, leek, and potato (sweet or white)
• Potato, cauliflower, and peas

Dinner - A pureed version of our normal meal (everyone in the family eats the same food)

• Shepherd's Pie
• Chicken, sweet potato and grapes
• Hungarian Goulash, peas and noodles
• Chicken, corn and green beans

He has loved all of our dinners, screeching if we don't feed them to him fast enough! He's done very well with the spices added to these meals (I just leave out the very hot spices in his). We had done jarred baby food with my older son, and he would not eat the normal versions when we stopped the jarred food. I am hoping that he will continue to love all these meals and not baulk at them when he gets the full un-pureed versions in front of him.

Labor Day 2009

Today is traditionally a day of rest in the United States. A day for workers to enjoy the end of the summer. One of my favorite activities for labor day is the family barbecue. We actually grilled last night, under threat of rain - though did not see more than a sprinkle. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of BBQ chicken, stuffed bacon wrapped jalapenos, fresh sweet corn on the cob and roasted asparagus. Even the kids enjoyed the meal (minus the jalapeno!) with Logan wolfing down a pureed version of the feast.

The chicken was done by pounding three chicken breasts with a mallet until there were an even thickness. Seasoned with salt and pepper then grilled until cooked through. Then they were coated with BBQ sauce on both sides and and grilled until the sauce started to brown and get crispy in places.

The jalapenos were sliced in half and the seeds and ribs scrapped out (you might want to wear gloves - hubby didn't and ended up having his hands burn). They were then filled with a cream cheese spiced with Armadillo Rub (Texas steak rub - basically paprika, garlic, onion, and various pepper powders mixed together). The peppers were then reassembled, wrapped with bacon and secured with a toothpick (make sure you soak the toothpicks so they don't burn on the grill!). Grill until the bacon is crispy and the pepper is soften and slightly charred on the outside.

The asparagus was done one of my favorite ways. Wash the asparagus then pat them dry. Snap or cut the woody ends off, then peel the outer skin off the bottom section. If your cooking with kids you could have then help with the snapping of the stems (Aidan was too busy playing Wii to want to cook with me!) Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. I actually cooked mine in my Foreman Grill but you can do them under the broiler or in a vegetable basket on the grill. Cook until bright green and softened.

The corn was done simply by boiling for about 6 min in a lightly sugar seasoned water. Another good place for kiddos to help is with the shucking of the corn - though you might want to check them over for silk strands if your dealing with young kids.

We are using this day to get caught up on some of our household projects. This morning I finished planting a small garden we added to the side of the house and my husband is outside currently moving a few plants around in our front garden and mulching. I am hoping to get started on building our compost bin this afternoon - a segment a will photo blog and share with all of you!

Well, I am off to labor on this labor day. I hope you enjoy your Labor Day festivities (or rest as you should!)

Baby & Kids Food Resource

Shortly after the birth of my first son, I received the revised (2004) edition of Annabel Karmel's First Meals. This has been a go to book for cooking for my children, and some family meals as well. She has some great baby food flavors and creative ways to entice young children into eating healthy meals. Granted, my son was not often fooled by the healthy food shaped as faces. There are sections for different aged children, family meals, weekly menu ideas, along with information of weaning your child and ways to introduce new foods.

I recently discovered (while researching for this post) that the author has a website with a lot of recipes freely given on the internet! She is from the UK, so the recipes will be in grams and indredient names might be a little funny, but it's still a great resource. There might be a way to switch it over to the English system of measurement by the "select country" but that was not working for me. If you would like to check out what she has to offer, go to her website here. You can purchase her books through amazon (where the image on this post is from) , or at most other books stores.

Some of Logan's favorite foods from this book are:

Chicken with grapes and sweet potatoes

Cheesy Leeks with Sweet Potato and Cauliflower

Mixed Berry Puree

As I have discovered, making your own babyfood doesn't take a lot of time. There are added benefits too: you are assured that there are no artifical ingredients, you control the consistency, and best of all - you save money! It usually only takes me about 15-20 minute. start to finish, to make a large batch of any given vegetable for Logan. And a lot of it I am able to do along with our normal dinner! I will make extra sweet potato, peas or squash and puree it up for him in the hand grinder or blender then spoon it into an ice cube tray. Once it's frozen I just put all the cubes of the same food into a labelled freezer bag until I need them.

So, instead of reaching into the pantry for an expensive jar of prepared baby food - give making your own a whirl!

Eco-Friendly Friday

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the "Dirty Dozen," the top twelve fruits and vegetables found to have the largest amount of pesticide contamination. I referenced the term "Organic" in that post, which can actually mean a few things. The USDA created the "National Organic Program" which, according to their website is:

The National Organic Program (NOP) develops, implements, and administers national production, handling, and labeling standards for organic agricultural products. The NOP also accredits the certifying agents (foreign and domestic) who inspect organic production and handling operations to certify that they meet USDA standards.

I am going to highlight some of the information on their website as an overview of what the term "organic" means when it is on a product.

• "100% Organic" - contain only organically produced ingredients (except water and salt)
• "Organic" - must contain at least 95% organically produced ingredients, the other 5% must be non-agricultural or agriculturally that is not available as organic
• "Made with Organic Ingredients" - contain at least 70% organically produced material

Producers of organic material that have a gross income from organic sales is below $5000 are exempt from the certification process put in place by the USDA. Otherwise, you will see the certifying agents information in the information panel on the product. There are quite a few chemicals that are allowed under certain conditions that will still allow for an organic certification. If you are interested in that list please click here.

To me, the government seems pretty good at providing loopholes. I am, by no means, an expert in organic food or farming. I do what I can to keep my family healthy, happy, and with the least chemical exposure possible.

We are a family on a budget that tries to eat as much whole food as possible. That means that I shop mostly to the "outside" perimeter of the store. We buy a lot of fruits and vegetables, some meats, dry beans and pasta, bread, eggs and dairy. I don't shop exclusively in the organic section, it would take too much of our food budget. I have to be thrifty living on a single salary, so I shop the produce that is on sale, always trying to buy local produce when I can. I do clean all of my produce before consuming it under running water and discard the outer leaves of lettuce. I have made a spray bottle of "Veggie Cleaner" for next to the sink. It is just equal parts water and white vinegar. You spray it on, let it sit a minute, scrub (if a hard skinned fruit or vegetable) then rinse well under running water.

I do believe that it is more important to eat fresh fruits and vegetables than worry about pesticide contamination. Even the non-organic produce is monitored and there is a "safe" threshold it cannot exceed. So, eat your fruits and veggies - organic or not - and make sure they are washed!