A cup a day keeps the monsters away

Today is our first day of homeschooling "officially." I submitted our letter of intent to the state and now I need to withdraw the kids from the school they've been attending and we're ready to go. I also ordered the books we'll be using to start our curriculum. The first big shipment is due tomorrow, and we'll have more trickling in for the next few weeks. Fortunately, only one came back as backordered, and it's the B book to an A/B set, so we'll be good for a while without it anyway. Phew!

Additionally, I assure you I am not shirking my children. Ansel is sitting here working on an alphabet worksheet and Kadin is working on maps. We are rolling slowly along. I'm expecting some bumps and some chaos for a while, but we'll get the hang of it. I am a little intimidated by all the books I have coming my way, though. I'm going to need some quiet time to sit down and go through them and plot out how to get that whatever point I think we need to make it to by May and then divide through the weeks until then, and, and, and....

So what I will give you, quickly, is a small personal victory of mine. And it's about coffee.

I used to drink a lot of coffee. Really. a whole lot of coffee. So much coffee, it's hard to even say how much I drank on a given day. I wasn't exactly counting it, I was just consuming the heck out of it.

I guess, on an average day, there were probably about three cups in the morning. And then another cup in the afternoon. Sometimes some black tea. On especially challenging days, there'd be an energy drink. Maybe two. And if I left the house, I'd likely end up at Starbuck's, where my usual order was a doppio expresso with a pump of caramel and a venti iced coffee with milk, lightly sweetened. Oh my.

I cut back gradually. It was less painful than I had expected. I got it down to about two cups in the morning when I decided to cut the sugar, too. In years past, I had consumed my coffee with International Delight French Vanilla. It was lovely and it was convenient. When we switched to more whole foods, I moved to half and half with cane sugar. Then I tried using the MyFitnessPal calorie counter for a while, and I hated seeing my allotted calories getting sucked away in coffee. So I took the sugar out. I've actually grown to like it!

My daily coffee intake is a lot more reasonable now. I have a cup of coffee in the morning. That's it! But I promise, you will pry that final cup out of my cold, dead hands. I love it too much to let it go. I value it. It matters to me. The routine, the smell, all of it. It is here to stay.

It's just money, honey

So..... We've had some changes 'round these parts. Some employment changes, some education changes, some residence changes, some income changes, and so on. And some of these changes have been great! Like.... I love, love, love our current house! And some of them are less than awesome, like our income going down somewhat. Now, nothing dire, nothing dramatic. Just something where we need to be more aware and we need to cut back on some things. Now, don't get me wrong, I know that food is life and health and vital and what you put in is what you get back out and all of that. Believe me, I get it. Really, I do. But when I need to come up with money in our budget, well, yea, we can spend less on groceries.

The catch of that is that it doesn't mean I'm willing to feed my kids white bread and frozen pizza or anything like that. There'll be no "budget gourmet" frozen dinners or Chef Boyardee or anything along those lines. I just will not go that far. I will buy non-organic produce and I will buy non-organic dairy, but I'm still not going to buy "juice" made with high fructose corn syrup. Matter of fact, I won't buy juice at all because that's just entirely unnecessary spending. But that's neither here nor there. The point is, in the blogs to come for a while, there will be an absence of organics, so forgive me. It's not a misplaced priority, it's just the blasted economy.

So, to the point of the entry..... making good choices. Cooking from scratch, good choice. Avoiding convenience foods, good choice. Buying great products at good prices? Best choice! So it's a bit of knowing what is generally fairly priced, and it's a bit of ad watching and taking advantage of sales. When there's a great price on something, I take advantage of it, which is what I did today.

My regular grocery store is Kroger, which is very convenient to my house so I am able to get there often if needs be. This week they were advertising canned organic beans for $.89 a can. Um, yes! One can is the equivalent of a pound of meat when I convert meals, so that is a steal right there. I definitely did not just get these three cans(I got fifteen). And the tofu.... That one still has me flummoxed. It wasn't on sale, but we didn't have any tofu and I like to have at least one package on hand at any given time. So, I went to the far corner of the store where they have the 'natural' foods and grabbed a package. It was $1.50. It's organic. Again, this is basically the equivalent of a pound of meat, and it's organic and inexpensive. I'll take it!

I also visited my local 'natural foods' store today, Earth Fare. I don't get there much because most of the stuff is out of my budget. Not all, but I'm not buying fancy cheeses or organic everything, so there's not a whole lot I need to get there. But the chain sends out periodic coupons via e-mail. It's basically just a loss leader the store puts out there to get you in to buy more things. But I just go get the coupon item(s) and consider it a victory. This time, it was these awesome four pound bags of organic Valencia oranges for $2(!) a bag, limit four. Um, what?! Yes! I actually debated a fourth bag, but I know it would have ended up wasted. I'm already not sure how we're going to consume twelve pounds of oranges. We're going to have to put some work into it. They also had organic Hass avocados for $1 each. So, four avocados, done! Grand total of this all organic purchase? $10.30, increased tax included!

Cereal debate, fail.

Did anyone see this about the cartoon characters on cereal boxes? There was a proposal to ban them, but, the government has dropped it.

Government softens approach to curbing junk food marketing to kids, food industry still balks

I wish they hadn't. I wish the ban had happened. I don't understand why we need to entice kids to eat food with cartoon characters. Why can the food not speak for itself? Will kids really NOT want to eat frosted marshmallow cereal if you take the leprechaun away? Or the tiger? Will they suddenly want nothing but All Bran if you do that? Oh! Geez. Would THAT be so bad?

At this point, we don't eat much breakfast cereal. We do eat some, mostly as a snack. And we buy it at our natural food store or at Trader Joe's when we make it there. Almost none of the cereal at Trader Joe's has cartoon characters on the packaging, and there's certainly no commercials for it. The one exception on the characters is this brand, Nature's Path Envirokidz. And you know what? My kids ALWAYS ask for those ones. I don't buy them because they're more expensive and they're gluten free, and we don't have gluten issues so I don't see the point in paying more. But once I tell my kids 'no,' they're more than happy to pick out Strawberry Yogurt Os or Crisp Rice.

I guess that's where I fall on this. Parents should be able to say no, and they should say no. But why not make that easier for them? And make it easier on the kids to make good decisions.

What a pilgrimage means to me

I am not a religious or spiritual person, so for me, what falls near and dear to my heart is different than what others might find is dear to them. We used to live in a large metropolitan area with a ton of various resources available to us. It was easy to come by organic foods, or natural products, or a community of like-minded people. About two years ago we moved south, to an area that still has a "city," but it is much smaller and the vibe is a lot different. I found myself struggling to maintain the same type of healthy lifestyle we were accustomed to.

One of the things I found myself missing most was Trader Joe's. You have to understand.... I LOVE Trader Joe's. And where we lived before, it wasn't an issue of whether there was a Trader Joe's, it was a matter of which one was closest to your home and which one you most frequently drove past as you went about your life. So I frequented four different ones, and I had my favorites.

And then we moved. And there was no Trader Joe's, and I was sad. When my parents came to visit, my mom would bring me some things from Trader Joe's. Once she even mailed me Trader Joe's things! And when we went to a city near-ish by that had a Trader Joe's, we would go there and bring things back. And when we drove up north to visit family, we'd stop by Trader Joe's and bring things back. But when your vehicle is already loaded with four people and a horse of a dog and all their things, you can only bring so much back. Add to that a 10 hour drive and you're pretty limited.

But as mentioned in my last post, I bought a chest freezer. And with all that freezer space comes all kinds of options. So what else could I do this weekend but drive to Athens, Georgia and hit Trader Joe's?! I mean, really. What else could I have possibly done with my day? It's not like I have kids or school or anything else. Geez.

So off we went. Coolers in the back, rear seats folded into the floor, we were ready! And we got there, and oh holy saints alive, it was amazing! It was like being home again! People with dreadlocks, Birkenstocks, and tattoos! And happy employees! And teeny tiny carts!(why do they do that??) I had a list in my head of a couple of things friends had asked me to pick up for them as well, because of course everyone I know understands the wonder that is Trader Joe's, even here in the deep south.

We made it, literally, down one aisle before I had to get a second cart and recruit Kadin to push it. The wonderful thing about Trader Joe's is that nothing they sell has HFCS or food dyes, so as far as avoiding these for Ansel, I didn't have to check a single label. (FWIW, the same is also true for the store I shop at here, Earth Fare.) But the plan was to stock up on things that I, first off, love, and secondly, that are cheaper at Earth Fare than elsewhere, so that I would be 'stocked' on these things for three months. Which means my next pilgrimage is planned for January! Woot! I can hardly wait already!

It's worth noting that a few things happened.... The two carts were piled so high Kadin couldn't see over either one, and I had to direct him. We also killed their cash register... it freaked out and froze, the receipt was too long to print and we killed their printer, and two guys had to each push two carts full of bagged items out to our car. On the way out, the one guy asked, "Do you have a Mac truck for all this?" To which I replied, "Nope! Just a minivan." Trader Joe's employees being awesome, they even helped me dig out frozen items to load into my coolers.

Was it worth it? Oh heck yes! All $528 of it! (No lie, really.) It was summed up almost immediately upon driving away, when each child was given a fruit leather to enjoy. Ansel said, "I like this candy!" I didn't protest, even though it's not candy at all, and is only fruit, no added sugar. Why should I argue?

As we drove away. Kids have fruit leather, I acquire coffee, and I bask in the awesomeness of all that I purchased at the beautiful place. If you have one near you, appreciate it.

When we got home, I had to take a picture of it all. The other angle just didn't take in the magnitude of it.

Excuse the weird orbs that happened with my phone pictures. I'm quite sure my house isn't haunted. It's just glare. Really.

It's a good thing my counters were clear when I got home.(Because I cleared them before I left, no magic cleaning elves here! Or ghosts.) There were a lot of wonderful things to sort.

I don't like their white cheddar popcorn at all. Why do you ask?

No, I do not dream of their amazing frozen pizzas on really busy nights when I don't have time to, or energy to, cook anything more labor intensive. Ok, fine, I do. Pair this with a quick side salad and it's a great dinner for us. Next to it, you can kind of see some frozen fish. I bought enough for us to have these once a week until January. Amazing!

Phew! That was fun. I am so excited! So far we've finished a bag of the popcorn, the kids have eaten about half a box of squeeze yogurts, and we're working on a box of amazing cereal bars that taste like real things! And aren't fluorescent colors!

Oh, and I feel like I need to say... The bags will not be wasted. I use their bags for my paper recycling storage until I go drop it off at the recycling center. Yes, I do usually use reusable bags, but Trader Joe's has always been my exception to get the bags for recycling.

Dun-dun-dun.... School lunches

Oh my, school lunches. Heated topic. Anyone seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? Or checked out the awesome blog, Fed Up With Lunch?(I've been following it for a while) There's tons of info out there on why school lunches are terrible. And they are. Where we lived in Virginia, they were pretty bad. But here in Georgia, I would have to say they are far, far worse.

For example, at my son's school today, this is their meal:

Choice of: Cheese or Pepperoni Pizza w/Garlic Breadstick, Manager's Choice, or PB&J

With(pick two): Pasta Salad, Peas and Carrots, Fresh Veggies/Dip, Fresh Fruit

And of course, milk or chocolate milk.

So, possibly, a child could get pepperoni pizza, breadstick, pasta salad, peas and carrots, and chocolate milk. That is a LOT of carbs and sugar. Wow. And the food is all so highly processed that it's scary. Needless to say, I send lunches to school with Kadin. He might on rare occasions buy lunch, but that's it. I think he's bought lunch twice so far this year, and his school has been open since the first full week of August.

I decided it would be fun to show you guys a week of what I pack Kadin for lunch. I will admit, usually there would be more redundancy, but for the sake of the blog I made sure not to have any repeats of main items. But I will vouch for the fact that this is representative of what I would send for him, and he does eat it. One day this week he didn't eat his apple, but that was because he said he didn't have time(he likes to talk). But other than that, all of this was actually eaten. Oh, and they don't have snacks at school anymore.

Monday:

This is basically dinner leftovers. Beef and bean burrito, salad with french dressing, white grapes, and water.

Tuesday:

Nitrate-free bratwurst on a whitewheat bun, green bell peppers, apple, and water.

Wednesday:

Greek honey yogurt, apple, pretzels(it's a pretty big bag, fyi), and water.

Thursday:

Ham sandwich on whole grain bread with lettuce and mustard, red grapes, rice cakes, and water.

Friday:

Peanut butter and Nutella sandwich on whole grain bread, apple, whole grain Cheez-Its, cucumbers, and water. I have no idea what of this he'll eat, but if I took any one part of it away, it looked naked.

What's your child's favorite lunch? What was your favorite as a kid? I used to look forward to tuna sandwiches.

So about that high fructose corn syrup thing

If we were to put this entire conversation really succinctly, I would simply say that I think that when foods are closest to their natural form, I believe they are healthier for us. I think when foods are highly processed, a lot of the nutrition and benefit is lost, and many times what is left behind is a dense version of the less desired parts.

For example, apple juice. Apples are themselves quite healthy. They contain sugars, but not an extreme amount of them. The skin itself contains roughage that is good for nutrition and digestive processes. The "packaging" is simple and the food is portable. Now, make it into juice. You concentrate the sugars. You lose the roughage and fibrous qualities. You make it difficult to transport, as you now have to employ a container. You also lose the sensation and practice of actually eating, which does not provide the same cues to our body that we have consumed calories. (FWIW, it is a rare day when my children drink juice of any kind. We don't even keep it in the house.)

So, with that example laid out, we now have high fructose corn syrup. As I mentioned in the last post on this, the corn used to make HFCS is not even the same kind of corn we would eat as corn on the cob or stewed corn. It is corn that has been genetically engineered to be higher in sugar. (We could go into a rant on genetically modified foods as well, but I'll spare you this time around.) So not only would you lose 'good' corn parts in the process of making HFCS, this variety of corn had less to begin with.

There has been some mixed opinion on whether or not HFCS is more unhealthy than regular sugar. To me, the answer is simple, yes, because it is further from it's original source. But I know that we all need more proof than that, and that's fine. Science, thankfully, supports my opinion on this one. In 2010, a study was completed at Princeton that compared the health and weight gain of rats when they were fed diets either high in HFCS or standard sugar. The rats who were consuming HFCS gained more weight than the other rats, especially in the abdominal area.

Read more about the Princeton study here.

In 2009, a study found that almost half the tested samples of HFCS contained mercury, and mercury was also found in almost 1/3 of the brands tested for it(which also contained HFCS). Mercury is not something that I want to add to my, or my children's, diets unnecessarily. Because I feel that some foods which contain mercury(like some kinds of fish) hold significant benefits of their own, I make a choice to consume and feed my children controlled amounts of these fish, in order to reap the other benefits, but not to overdo it with the mercury levels in mind. I would not expect or account for there being mercury in, say, our breakfast cereal. (For anyone who might need a quick refresher, mercury is dangerous for any number of reasons. It is actually a toxic substance, and it can affect your central nervous system, lead to brain injuries, damage your kidneys, and so on. It is especially toxic in children, who are more sensitive to small levels of it in their bodies.)

You can find more information on the mercury link here.

Additionally, the presence of HFCS often is a marker of a poor quality food item. HFCS is less expensive than sugar for manufacturers(thank you government corn subsidies!). It is also in some cases easier to cook with because it is more readily absorbed by the food. It is pretty simple to walk through a grocery store and compare what food items and brands contain HFCS and which do not, though in some stores it may be hard to find some products without HFCS(I recently I had to figure out how to make barbecue sauce when one grocery store close to me did not have a single variety of it without HFCS). Products with little or poor taste are often 'enhanced' with HFCS because it is far less expensive than adding nutritive herbs or spices. It is also a taste that is familiar and appealing to the palate of Americans(and people of many other countries, though the US is by far the worst offender on this one).

More general information on why to avoid HFCS.

All of the above reasons are why HFCS should be avoided by people in general. For the sake of my entire family, I was avoiding most HFCS. But recently I decided to avoid all of it, 100%, because of Ansel. As I mentioned, Ansel is a "spirited" child. He's always been loud, super active, off the walls, prone to lack of restraint, and a real handful. I had heard for years some people mention that their children's behavior improved when they eliminated HFCS and food dyes. Let me say, I do not believe that this "cures" anything. I do not believe diet cures autism. I do not think diet cures ADHD. I do think that it can help some people. That is all. And I also think there is little to no harm in doing this with a child that is not already on a restricted diet and who is not a picky eater and is easily able and willing to consume a balanced diet, as, fortunately, both my children are.

So. I wish I could link you to some amazing study here, but to my knowledge there isn't one. I don't know that this is scientific fact. I know I have read plenty of anecdotal tales of how this worked for someone's child. I know there's hardcore activists saying this is the end all be all of childhood cures for anything that ails you. I know that if you Google it(as I have) you'll find all kinds of blogs that address this. But studies? I don't know of any studies. There might well not be any studies.

But what I do know is that Ansel has calmed down, a lot. I know that he is much faster to respond to directions and corrections. I know that he will more readily recognize his own fault in situations. I know that he is quieter, kinder, and less destructive. I know that after a couple of weeks of a total elimination of HFCS and food dyes, he and I were in a situation that forced us to wait in a VERY long line(about 5 1/2 hours) unexpectedly. I did not bring activities for him. I didn't bring a lot of snacks for him. He only got to go to the bathroom once(fortunately, he only asked that one time). And by the end of that awful day, I had two strangers compliment me on how well behaved my son was. And that has never happened. Ever. And that weekend, we were at a party with friends that have known us for quite a while, and they all commented on how different Ansel's behavior was, and were very impressed. And I am still very impressed.

I have allowed him one 'cheat' occasion, the ice cream truck, which very rarely come down our street They of course didn't have any "safe" options. Also, at the above mentioned party, I brought snacks and treats for him that were ok. I picked up a cupcake from a bakery that doesn't use HFCS or food dyes, and we brought that with us so he could eat it when the other kids had cake. He's also hooked on the same seltzer I drink so I brought that in lieu of fruit punch and soda, and that worked out just fine.

Has anyone else eliminated HFCS from their or their kids' diets? Did you find any foods that were especially difficult to obtain without HFCS? Are there some things you simply cut out of your shopping because you couldn't find alternatives?

Fresh mountain spring water!

Or.... Water from the tap. Yea. Let's go with that.

I am on a mission. My mission is to drink at least two liters of water every day. I am not counting non-water beverages in my daily intake, so in addition to this water I am drinking about two cups of coffee in the morning, one to two cans of seltzer, and occasionally a glass of iced chai.

Why am I doing this? Well, hard to say. For one thing, everyone says you're supposed to drink water. I'm trying to get my weight loss back on track. I'm trying to increase my weekly exercise. I'm trying to get more restful sleep. I'm trying to avoid EVER having a UTI again(cause those things, man, not fun). I'm trying to avoid eating because I'm actually thirsty and just not reading my own cues right.

But really when it comes down to it, why not? What do I have to lose? Unless I get to the point of dealing with water poisoning(which is such a farfetched possibility it's not even on the radar) I have nothing to lose by doing this, I only stand to gain.

So for now, I'm keeping this handy pitcher in the fridge and filling it up at night prior to going to bed so it's full and cold for me to get started in the morning.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Now realizing just how long it has been since I actively posted, I realize that I left you with my older son, Kadin, being a vegetarian. Well, that didn't last. We had a single incident where we went to Outback(as a whole family plus a friend), and upon being presented with shrimp, ribs, AND steak, he folded. And then it all went from there.

He seemed to be pretty ok with that. I had grown increasingly frustrated with his demands. He wanted non-meat items, fine, but then he got particular about WHAT non-meat items. And I was not at all ok with simply replacing meat with fake meat products. I don't think that's healthy, nor is sustainable long-term. So now, Kadin is in 4th grade and is an omnivore again.

He does, occasionally, ask about being a vegetarian again. He tells me he likes animals, and he doesn't want to eat them. But at the same time, he sometimes asks me if we can have steak for dinner, or can we make shrimp, and so on. Admittedly, I don't want to go back to it. It got old fast. It was a lot of extra work for me, and it got tedious explaining it to people all the time. My in-laws thought it was awful, my parents thought it was crazy, and can you blame them? My husband and I both come from meat loving families, and Kadin has always LOVED meat!

I guess we'll see what happens. Only time will tell. The question I have to ponder now is one that Kadin posed, "So.... when can I be a vegetarian again?" Hmmm....

What's in my freezer?

Here's your second opportunity to snoop in my kitchen, the freezer!

Because we use so many whole items, I end up freezing a lot because the lack of preservatives gives things a short shelf life. I'm pretty ok with that. I also try to avoid canned products, so I freeze more than I otherwise might.


Here it is! Again, not a very exciting appliance, but it gets the job done! There is much less of a system in my freezer than in my refrigerator. I work on that sometimes, but nothing seems to stick because the contents vary so much.


Top shelf: In the back is a meal-sized serving of green beans and red potatoes, on the other side is a meal-size serving of taco soup, a single size serving of coconut chicken with rice, in the front is chili on the left, and on the right are two two-cup containers of chicken stock.


The top shelf here is basically my "breakfast" section. When I make breakfast items, I try to make extra to freeze. So we have french toast, waffles, pancakes, cooked sausage and bacon, and parathas(not cooked, these are a dough you fry to make a breakfast bread). Oh! And bagels from Panera.

Below that is a whole bunch of naan that I bought already made. I'm working on getting back to making everything from scratch, but I decided to cheat on naan. Then sausage patties, half a bag of wheat flour, and behind that is about half a carton of three-chocolate organic ice cream.

Next shelf is another scattered one. The two big containers in front hold spaghetti sauce and pinto bean soup. Behind that is several packages of fish from Trader Joe's, next to that is a container of macaroni and cheese, and the butcher paper is a half pound of shrimp.

The bottom is the bagged produce. There's broccoli, spinach, peas, mixed vegetables, blueberries, strawberries, and mixed berries.


The doors! Three pounds of butter, fruit juice popsicles, ice packs, and frozen basil.


Then finally.... One chicken breast(raw), two chicken sausages, paneer, deli ham, and then below that is nothin' but nuts. Walnuts, pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, and so on. To keep these fresh for baking, I freeze it all. Works out great!

Maybe once I get the pantry in working order(which it is NOT right now, lemme tell ya) I can show you that. Then there would be a complete picture of the food we actually keep in our house. Exciting!

Good thing I practiced?

So.... About a month ago, my older son, Kadin, who is 8, decided to be a vegetarian. Now, this doesn't come to us as a total surprise. Kadin has always been fond of animals, and he has voiced concerns about meat consumption for years. But when it boiled right down to it, he didn't want to give up eating meat.

Then in mid-October, the husband watched Food, Inc. Kadin watched part of it with him. Apparently, though I don't think the intent of that movie was to turn people off meat consumption altogether, that was the conclusion that Kadin drew. He decided he wanted to become a vegetarian. It took a couple of days to put into practice on his part, but he's now been a vegetarian for a month. He had one 'slip' that I know of, and that wasn't even his fault. Someone(not me or the husband) gave him something to eat that had chicken in it. He didn't know and he ate it. He told me about it later. I told him I was sorry, and we both moved on.

This has been.... somewhat challenging. We eat quite a bit of meat in this family. We've cut back a lot over the last six months or so, but it's still in our diets almost daily. Kadin used to really, really like meat. Steak, chicken, fish, you name it. And he would eat a lot of it if given the option. This has been adjustment for all of us. I've been making separate meals for him, getting creative with his packed lunches, and so on. He can no longer buy lunch at school as an occasional treat because there are rarely vegetarian options. That's ok, though. We're also all learning to like cheese pizza.

I am really proud of Kadin. He saw something he didn't agree with, and he decided to do something about it. He doesn't feel eating meat is right, so he's decided he will not do it. He mentions sometimes that he'd like us not to eat meat, too, and I have to say.... his dedication is inspiring. The idea of eating animals doesn't sit well with me, but I admit I just like it. Maybe I'll develop some conviction.

Success! (of more than one kind)

I finished Fast Food Nation! I didn't finish it last night, but I did finish it during lunch today. So, I was close to my goal at least. The husband wanted to turn in early last night, so I didn't get much reading time after the boys went to bed(none, I don't think). Ah, well. It's all good. And the book is DONE! It was really very informational. I can't say I learned a ton I didn't already know. It more or less elaborated on concepts I'm already aware of. It's sort of like watching Super Size Me. You already know fast food is bad for you, but the details and the explosion of information renew your zeal about it. If I'm being honest, I would have to admit that reading the book, at times, made me crave fast food. Yes, yes, terrible I know. And no, I did not indulge. And I do not plan to. Oy vey. I think I need to watch Super Size Me again.

And now I'm launching into reading something else altogether. I'm still plodding my way through The Omnivore's Dilemma. But I am also working on improving my overall way of thinking by reading something motivational, in this first case, This I Believe. I will readily and openly admit to being a huge NPR geek. I listen to it often. And now that I've finally figured out how to stream it on my computer such that I can play it on our multi-room stereo system in the house, I am golden! I used to primarily listen to it in the car, and to podcasts now and again(a special favorite is This American Life). This I Believe is something that NPR airs from time to time, and I have always very much enjoyed it. So a book seems perfect!

As for my other success, it was the meal plan for last week. I made my meal plan on Tuesday evening. I printed all my recipes, my grocery list, and the meal plan itself(which is posted on the refrigerator for the week). I went shopping on Wednesday and remembered everything I needed. And every single day I managed to prepare the meal that I had set out to make. So at no point in this last week did we resort to take-out or any other unnecessary anything. Yay! And even one night of the week that I ended up going out with a friend, I prepared dinner for the guys before leaving. As I sit here, the chili is in the crock pot. It's done, but is cooling off a bit before we eat.

Just for fun, here's last week's meal plan:

Wednesday - Garden Gumbo, Rolls

Thursday - Casbah Curried Chicken, Couscous

Friday - Mom's Meatball Stroganoff, Egg noodles, Corn

Saturday - Indian Spiced Chicken, Rice, Israeli Salad

Sunday - Mexican Chicken Stew, Corn muffins

Monday - Fettucini with Bolognese Sauce, Salad

Tuesday - Chili, Tortilla chips

I am also happy to say that we had no food waste! Well, I can't claim that everyone ate absolutely everything that was on their plate. BUT. On work days, the husband took leftovers from the night before for his lunch. In some cases, Ansel and I ate leftovers at home for lunch as well. And if there was still excess, I froze the leftovers as individual portions to use at a later date. So now we have six or seven individual meals frozen. Awesome. That'll help in a pinch. And it means I didn't throw money in the trash.

OK, now I need to get down to business planning this next week. I'm also taking on homemade laundry detergent. It's not exactly "crunchy," but it will be inexpensive. So that's something!

And because posts are better with pictures, here's a picture of the boys from three years ago! Wow! Time flies.

Attempting to educate myself

I have done a paltry job of putting anything on this blog except for stuff about food. I assure you, there has been more happening, but it's honestly not been as much the focus as food has. Food, for me, is a big deal. And being successful with such a big change is a big deal for me. And I have been overwhelmingly successful in my opinion. I have never been able to 'conquer' this one. And I haven't entirely. I still have my moments. But I am improving!

One thing that I have been working on is reading. I want to read more in general. But I also want to read more about healthy living and learn how best to feed myself and my family, and to do the best for us and our home.

I am currently reading Fast Food Nation. I admit, I have been 'currently' reading this book for two weeks tomorrow. It's a good book. It's great information. I don't dislike the book. But I'm having a hard time powering through it. I'm almost there! I have about sixty pages to go.

I am simultaneously juggling reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. This is my second time reading the book, but the first time I did not completely finish it. Again, for some reason, I have a hard time getting through it. It's a great book. I love the information. But I just don't feel drawn to, 'oh! I hope I can find time to read this book today.' And as such, I have conveniently not been finding that time.

I'm working on it. My goal is to finish Fast Food Nation today. I can do it!

Because I could totally be a vegetarian

There's a lot of different opinions on what healthy eating actually is. I happen to subscribe, at least at this point, to a pretty "whole foods" way of thinking. Basically, lots of fruits and vegetables, the fresher the better, some dairy, some meat, whole grains, that sort of thing. I'm not counting calories or carbs to plan meals. I'm just looking to find a balance of things, and to feed my family well.

One thing that we have agreed on is that we would like to consume less meat. We don't desire to cut out all meat, but we do want to eat a higher quality of meat, and less of it overall. As such, I've been working to plan one or two(or three) vegetarian dinners a week. These have resulted in varying degrees of success. Our general pattern thus far is..... if it's Indian, it'll be good. Anything else? Hard sell.

This meal was red lentils, palak paneer, and basmati rice. Pretty simple food!

We did have luck the other day with a chickpeas and tomato pasta salad. The kids liked this one, too, so it will have to stay in rotation. And it calls for a lot of vegetables, which is awesome. I also love single dish meals for some really ridiculous reason, I'm sure.

And the finished product is quite attractive!

Tonight was another veggie success! Garden Gumbo. Well, the kids and I liked it. The husband went to bed really early after a very long day, so hasn't actually eaten it yet. I did, however, notice he stole a piece off the garlic knot rolls I baked. Those are not pictured because they were a first attempt. They tasted good, but, the aesthetics are lacking.

This recipe also had lots of nice, fresh vegetable ingredients! It also used one can of tomatoes.

And this is the closest thing you get to a finished product picture because I got busy with, y'know, life, and forgot to take a picture before we ate and I packed leftovers away. Whoops!

So in conclusion..... I could totally be a vegetarian because I made these three vegetarian meals and, like, ten others so now I'm an expert and could totally do it forever.

Or..... Maybe it's just nice to give the budget and the belly a little break from meat, and we'll go with that.

Edit: I am adding links to the recipes for these meals.

Red lentils and rice

Palak Paneer

Paneer

Chickpeas, Pasta, and Tomato Salad

Garden Gumbo

Its grocery Wednesday!

So my new grocery day is Wednesday, for a variety of reasons. So this morning, I spent about an hour planning the next week's meals, making a list, and crossing my fingers and hoping like heck that I would come in close to budget.

So off I go to the natural foods store, happy companion Ansel in tow. There were samples, he was happy.

And wouldn't you know it, I actually came in slightly UNDER budget! I mean, yes, that money did then get allotted elsewhere(what I don't spend on that week's "needs" I put towards staple items). And the great part is that the vast majority of our food this week, including meats, will be mostly organic, definitely "natural," and some local. No HFCS! Woot!

Here's the haul! $112. I promise you, it's quite a good deal for $112. What's hard to see is the four brown packages of meat, and the large bag of organic flour, and things along those lines. And that milk isn't cheap, but totally TOTALLY worth it!

I also have bread dough about to go into the oven, tomorrow I'll make cookies(promised Ansel) and banana bread(have overripe bananas). If I get on a good roll, I might go ahead and make protein bars, but we'll see. Can't put the cart before the horse!

It feels good to be back on the wagon!

Earth Day!

So, it's Earth Day. Yay! And, because my life is all kinds of crazy right now and I've been putting off some projects and thus had little to blog about, I figure I can post a bit on what I do to be earth friendly.

So, let's see.

The biggies..... We use cloth diapers. We didn't with Kadin. Heck, I had no idea they even really existed anymore. But we have with Ansel since he was born. And seeing how he's almost 3 1/2 now, that's a LOT of diapers we haven't thrown away. I won't lie and say I love it at this point. It's tedious. But I remember Kadin's last months in diapers being tedious, too, and all I had to do with those was throw them away.

(I will also add that Ansel wore this same diaper today, as a matter of fact. The color's lost some of it's brightness, but the diaper is every bit as functional as it was in this picture, when Ansel was a little over a year old.)

We breastfeed. Feeding artificial human milk(also known as "formula") creates a TON of waste. If you can possibly breastfeed, I highly recommend it!

This is about 3 days post-partum, our first outing.

I use reusable menstrual pads. I'll spare you a picture on this one. Really, you don't want to see. But I promise you it's NOT gross. And an unexpected plus of it has been that they're WAY more comfortable than anything disposable ever was.

One of our cars is a hybrid, and we LOVE it! It's fun and cute and spacious enough and gets great gas mileage! The blue one on the right. The grey SUV is my parents'.

We buy organic products and local products when we can. This is less strain on the environment, especially the local products. Organic products also reduce the amount of impact each crop has on the land itself.

There are a lot of other smaller things we do here and there, and a lot of other things we'd like to do, but at this point don't because of financial constraints or the time involved or other things. We're working on it, though, and doing what we can.

Holy weight loss, batman!

One morning last week, as I was getting dressed, I realized that my pants were fitting differently. Which then made me want to see just how differently. And so I checked. And lo and behold, I'd lost two inches! But we don't have a scale at the moment, so I had no way to track my weight. No major concern there, weight is just a number and if my clothes are getting looser, then hooray!


So today my husband sort of ambushed me into a personal training session at his gym. I did NOT want to go. Really. Fought it every step of the way. I don't like exercising, but I know I have to make myself do it. Which is why we own a treadmill. Now, I don't actually USE the treadmill, but we own it. I must have burned calories putting it together. But back to the point.... I hate exercising, but more than hating exercise itself, I hate exercising around other people who can see me and judge me. Yes, I know people look at me and judge me all the time, and I can live with that. But I am embarrassed by just how out of shape I am.


So, this morning I find myself at the gym, in the personal training office. And so of course they start by getting your measurements. Weight was first. Now, the last time I was weighed was a month ago at a doctor's appointment. And from that time to today I lost, *drumroll* NINE POUNDS!!!! NINE people, NINE!


And you know what's more? I haven't done anything at all except change how I eat, and pay more attention to how much I eat. I also don't eat after dinner at all. I even went to Disneyworld and ate less than wonderfully, and I've had a few slip ups here and there(like yesterday, when I was SO not in the mood to cook).


I feel so.... vindicated! The husband knew I was making good changes, but there were some things he didn't think I was doing right. And now, well, this kind of proves it, doesn't it? Woo-hoo!


And since every post needs a picture, here ya go, the cute picture for today. Ansel at around 18 months.

A few thoughts on eating at Disneyworld

It's not as bad as one might think.

Yes, there's all the standard stuff.... burgers, fries, hot dogs, and so on. But almost every restaurant, even the quick service ones, have healthy options. I did have a cheeseburger and fries one night(as did the kids). But the rest of the time we had healthier things.... like a grilled chicken wrap and apples in place of fries. I only had soda once, the kids didn't at all.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find a lot of fruit stands throughout the parks. They also had whole wheat pretzels.

One way we made our own lives easier was to bring food with us. Two of the days(out of four) we packed our lunch and snacks ahead of time. We rented a locker at the park and stashed our cooler there and some of the 'extras.' We kept bottled water and healthy snacks(apples, healthy crackers, etc.) in the bottom of the stroller, so we could have them whenever we felt like. This also saved us a LOT of money! And without all that bottled water, I know we would have had a lot more soda!

There is also no question that food is expensive, but the quick service stuff(as opposed to the full service sit down dining, of which we did NOT partake) is not as earth shatteringly expensive as one might think. It's definitely still best to buy as little as possible while there, but if you do need to(or choose to) eat, it won't completely break the bank. I think the reason it all seems so expensive is if you're entirely reliant on the park food for three meals a day plus snacks for the duration of your stay. Yes! That WILL add up, but we stayed off the parks, and had a whole kitchen in the condo we rented. We ate breakfast there every day before leaving, and that helped a lot.

So now that I've rambled.... It's expensive(sort of), but can be healthy pretty easily!

My weekly challenge

Every week, I get to solve a puzzle. The puzzle is how to fit this much stuff into two produce drawers. And lemme tell ya, it's challenging! Yes, we use this much fresh produce in a week, PLUS some! Not pictured are the week's pears, tangerines, bananas, and onions. (and frozen vegetables, which we eat probably twice a week)
The vast majority of this is organic, with only a few exceptions based on availablity and cost. Apples are always organic, because my kids eat so many of them. Potatoes always are, too, as I've heard they have some of the highest levels of pesticides among conventional produce. In this particular week, the strawberries were conventional, along with the cilantro and jalapenos. The tomatoes were local, but not organic.

And this is what we did, later in the day. It's Spring Break for Kadin, and this was about the most exciting thing that happened all week. Sad, I know, but we're(ok, I'm) still recovering from last week's time served at Disneyworld.
Ansel showing his true colors.

Snacking..... It never ends.....

My boys snack constantly. As soon as they finish one thing, they're on to the next. Ansel, who is 3, is actually the worst of the two of them. And his appetite for fruit is insatiable. For example, this morning he ate a pear, an apple, and two and a half bananas. And that was all before 11 am! It's no wonder I buy as much produce as I do.....

This is an example of a snack that Ansel ate one afternoon, and he did eat all of this, along with a cup of water(he likes a lot of ice in it). It's quite pretty, which I think I appreciate more than he does. But I do take some pride in being able to prepare simple, attractive foods for my family.

I like big buns!

I'm baaaack!!!! I feel like I've done more 'I'm back' blogs than I have anything else. I got derailed by hectic life events, a trip to Disneyworld, and a wicked stomach virus that attacked the smallest member of the household. The next couple of items are actually from before chaos ensued, but I never got a chance to blog about things. So I'll try and get a couple of quick entries up and then resume with things as they're actually happening.


Hamburger buns! This is another item from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The book raves about this recipe, and I was definitely skeptical. I'm not a huge fan of wheat buns. They seem to be distracting to me.... just too much going on. But, as a part of this all whole foods thing, I figured I'd give it a go.

They looked soooo good coming out of the oven! And they smelled amazing!

We grilled hamburgers outside, of course, which meant the boys got time to play outside. We have a dirt/rock pile off to the side of the house(no idea what it's from, it's just always been there) and they spent a good deal of time just digging.

I'm trying to get used to my new lens. This was fun for me to be able to stand on the patio and take pictures of the kids on the far side of the yard. Still needs work, but it was exciting!

And the husband doing his part. I do grill as well, but if he's available to do it, I am HAPPY to share the responsibility.

The buns got rave reviews! They used the same dough as the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread I've been making as our basic bread. It was remarkably simple, and there was no specific skill or technique necessary to get a good result. The book also gives instructions to make hot dog buns, which is very similar to making the hamburger buns. I don't think I'll be buying buns again! The taste was flavorful, but not overpowering, much better than any storebought wheat buns I've had.