Series- MOA Stop Buying Snack Foods

The darn stuff is so convenient but it's another thing that runs up the food bill and if you are looking for more ways to Make Organics Affordable then this is a great one to try. Store-bought snacks are super convenient but they get gobbled up quickly and they aren't cheap when you add them up.

I keep challenging myself to make snacks from scratch and freeze them. I do still buy some organic snacks when I can find them on sale or in bulk like at Costco but other than that we are staying away from store-bought snack foods. Funny thing is I realized that it made us, unintentionally, eat more fruits and veggies for snacks instead of bad carbs. That's awesome!

It helps to have that once a week baking day (and yes I struggle to make it happen especially with our current life situation) but it's worth it when I do. Think about how much cheaper it is to make some homemade granola or trail mix rather than buy a small bag of it. This is where having a baking day comes in super handy. It's a chance to get lots of snacks made and into the freezer. I have found that my family prefers my homemade snacks to the boxed and bagged store bought versions. Some of the snacks I make are:
granola
granola bars
muffins
healthy cookies and these oatmeal cookies and these secret cookies and these banana cookies
nut bars
healthy fruit bars and these apple granola bars
pickles
macaroons
pita chips
corn tortilla chips
trail mix

Some things I'd like to try making but haven't yet are:
fruit leather
beet chips
Parmesan cheese crisps
bagels
pretzels

Anyone have some great snack recipes to share? Post it in the comments or link it!

THANK YOU to my readers!

Hey, I just want to say THANKS to all the readers who comment on my blog! I LOVE getting your feedback and I SUPER LOVE hearing all the ideas you have to share too! You gals (I don't think any of my guy readers have commented yet but I know some of you are out there) are always inspiring me to try new things and to press on to eating healthier! Thanks for being a follower of my blog! I appreciate your input and ideas and even your experiences that you share with me and others!

If you have your own blog with blog links would you consider putting me as a link if I'm not already one of your links?

THANKS!
Jen
author of www.What'sCooking4us.com

Search Feature Added

I just added the Search This Blog feature on this blog and I've tested it out with recipes that I've posted and for some reason every once in awhile something won't come up. Does anyone have any insight on this feature? Usually it does pull up a good search of my recipes but sometimes it won't pull what I'm searching for up and I know it's right there on the page. I'd appreciate any words of wisdom concerning this feature! =0) I'll leave it up in hopes that it helps people search through the recipes better.

UPDATE ON THIS: apparently Google is aware of the problem but unwilling to fix it. Go figure. Well, for whatever it is worth, I'll leave it up in hopes that it works most of the time for you.

Caramel Apple Instructions

Dipping instructions have been added to the caramel apple post per request. =0) Enjoy!

Caramel Apples

I interrupt this series to bring you a very unhealthy recipe. Every once in awhile we take a break from our healthy eating and enjoy indulging in something not so good for us. But, I hear that if you eat healthy the majority of the time that your body can better handle and process (digest) the not so healthy things. Hey, that works for me! So hopefully our bodies were ready to handle flushing out this toxin.

So, I actually don't like caramel apples. What? Say it isn't so. Here's the deal, usually they are made with really big green sour apples. I don't like sour apples even to contrast the sweet stuff you coat them in and I don't like huge apples where I eat all the caramel off and then there is all this sour apple left to eat. So, here's what I came up with and can I just tell you, I'm craving more and it's been two weeks. These were so good!

I started with small organic gala apples. Gala apples are a dessert apple which means they are sweet to start with (how appropriate...dessert!). We washed them and stabbed them with the sticks. We melted candy caramels that we unwrapped one piece at a time....I'm a sucker for doing things the old fashioned way...no peel and stick caramel for me. Then we melted Ghirardeli milk chocolates (I heard that Ghirardeli has no hydrogenated oils and since I didn't have my organic chocolate with me at the time- we were at my mom's house we went with Ghirardeli), Ghirardeli vanilla chips (way better than white chocolate), and peanut butter chips (I have no clue what that stuff is made of but I closed my eyes and melted it).

We spread, we dipped, we drizzled, we dipped and drizzled some more. We put them on a cookie sheet with buttered wax paper. YOU HAVE TO BUTTER IT! TRUST ME! We set them in the fridge for about an hour and then, OH MY GOSH! YUM! They were amazing. What a way to go off the healthy eating kick!

Instructions:
~The caramel was really smooth so we dipped all the apples first in the caramel using a spoon to help spoon the caramel over the apples.
~Then we put them in the fridge for about 10-15 min. to cool and harden up the caramel.
~Next layer was the peanut butter because it was the thickest. I used a knife and spread a layer of the melted peanut butter chips on them.
~The chocolates weren't so easy to dip so we took a spoon and drizzled the chocolate over the apples next. Once the peanut butter and both chocolates were on the apples we put them in the fridge. The topping got heavy and started to slip off a little so next time I think I'd refrigerate for 10 min. in between every topping.
~Once all the layers are on refrigerate for about 30 min or until ready to eat.
~If they've been the fridge for a long time let them sit out for about 15 min. before eating.

To see more pictures of our caramel apple family night visit here.

Series- MOA Stop Buying Boxed Cereal

I'm referring to the boxes of cold cereal, not boxes of hot cereal. You know, the colorful boxes, the ones that you pour into a cereal bowl in the morning and pour milk over. Those are the ones I'm talking about. Now I know that you can get great coupons for this stuff and end up paying very little but since I refuse to be the coupon queen I was buying cereal full priced. BUT, it's terrible stuff anyway so in the eating healthy efforts I couldn't in my right mind keep buying it anyway.

Regardless, cooking from scratch breakfast every morning is not only way more enjoyable (I should write a post about how healthy cooking has helped us to enjoy our meals so much more!) it also saves a lot of money.

Typically we eat oatmeal and ricemeal (I know that's not a word, my kids made it up) most mornings. They are easy to make, super healthy, and an easy way to get detoxing food down the kids.

Other mornings we might mix it up by having:
homemade granola and yogurt
fried egg sandwiches
pancakes
bagel and cream cheese
applesauce and toast (applesauce recipe coming next month)
scrambled eggs
baked french toast

These are the basic things we work into our breakfast menu but sometimes we throw in something special like:
waffles
German pancake
breakfast strata
quiche or fritatta

Series- MOA Stop Buying Soda Pop

In order to make organics affordable for my budget there were things I learned that I had to cut out. They just plain old run up the grocery bill and aren't necessary especially when I'm trying to switch to healthier living. I'm going to focus on 3 of those things this week in my posting. The first is Soda Pop. I call it soda because I'm from S. Cal. but where I live now, they all call it pop. They all laugh when I say soda. You can take the girl out of S. Cal. but you can't take the S. Cal. out of the girl, right? That's how I feel when I say soda without thinking.

Sorry, I side tracked. Soda pop runs up the grocery bill and it's just a beverage. I won't even get into all the crazy stuff that is in soda pop and why we shouldn't be drinking it anyway!!!!!! but suffice to say it's not healthy and it's a waste a money in my opinion. We should be drinking WAY more water as a society.

It was tough making this change I will admit. Well, not for me, I weened myself off of the stuff in my early 20s, but it was tough for my husband. Still is tough. To make it easier, when I stopped buying it I did start investing in organic 100% juice to help his habit. Juice thankfully is cheaper. The juice is like the Nicorette gum of soda pop. So, save your grocery bill a few several dollars every trip and quit the habit.

Drink water!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

If you happen to be visiting my blog at the moment, it's under construction and will hopefully be complete soon.

Series- MOA Make Homemade Readymade

This one kind of goes hand-n-hand with cooking from scratch but it's the next level. I love easy and so if I can find a way to still keep "ready made" items on hand that are made from scratch then I'm feeling pretty accomplished. Some ideas for things you can make from scratch and have ready to grab are:

pasta sauce (canned and frozen)
taco seasoning (in a small jar in the pantry)
cookie mixes (this is something I'm hoping to try out soon)
cake mixes (this is something I'm hoping to try out soon)
pizza dough (frozen)
pancake mix (I have mine in a large jar in the pantry)
cream of soups (can and freeze)

Anyone else have ideas of readymade homemade things you can have on hand so that you can make buying organic cheaper?

Series- MOA Cook From Scratch

Probably the most obvious way to save on any food budget is to cook from scratch. Cooking from scratch does save us a ton of money on our food budget and since we are trying to eat organic which comes in whole foods form most of the time (as opposed to pre-made foods) I find myself cooking from scratch anyway.

Even some of the basic things that we think are cheap (instant oatmeal) can be made so much cheaper by cooking from scratch (and much tastier!). The thing I noticed that was kind of funny was that all this pre-made food and "instant" stuff really only saves us a few minutes usually.... think about it. Homemade oatmeal only has to cook for just a few minutes and it's done. Instant oatmeal has to sit for at least a minute so you're only saving about 1 min. And in that one saved minute you are sacrificing nutrition and taste!

Cooking from scratch can make for a lot of time spent in the kitchen in general though, which is where time-saving tips come in handy. Here are some things that have saved me a little time in the kitchen when I'm cooking from scratch.

* Use a crock-pot as much as you can!
* Do freezer cooking once a week or every other week (or some gals like to do once-a-month-cooking).
* Have a baking day once a week or every other week.

Anyone else have some cooking from scratch ideas or time-saving methods to share?

Series- MOA Buy In Bulk

Buying organic foods in bulk is one of the best ways to save on your budget. Finding organic foods in bulk is another story! Some of the places to look for organic foods in bulk are:

~food co-ops or shares

~farmers markets

~a local farmer (by directly from them)

~small markets (ask the owner about ordering in bulk through them)

~food through delivery (like Azure or a local delivery company)

~warehouse stores (like Costco, Price Club, Sam's Club)

You may have to figure out the best place for produce, the best place for dry goods, and the best place for meats, and then the best place for dairy. But if you are buying in bulk you won't have to make several trips to all these places and if you are getting some delivered to your door then you don't even have to make a trip.

You can locate some of these through the links on my left side bar like Local Harvest and Organic Store Listings.

Some of the items I buy in bulk are:

beans (5-10 lb bags)

legumes (5-10 lb bags)

rice (25 lb bags)

flour (5 lbs, 10 lbs, and 25 lb bags)

oats (25 lb bag although I'm ready to move up to 50 lbs I think cause we fly through these)

sugar (10 lb bags)

pasta (10 lb bags)

fruit when I'm canning it (up to 20 lbs)

cheese (5 lb blocks)

olive oil

coconut oil

chocolate chips

popcorn (5 lb bag)

cornmeal (5 lb bag)

soy sauce (I buy a huge bottle)

eggs (3-4 doz every 2 weeks)

tomatoes (up to 20 lbs)

cucumbers (up to 20 lbs)

seasonings (those huge containers at Costco that hold up to 4oz)

organic snacks (I buy a few when I can get them in bulk at Costco)

I also buy milk and butter when they are on sale and freeze them.

What I do with it:

-I grate half of the cheese block, toss it with a tbsp of flour and then freeze it. I slice the rest of it for sandwiches.

-I pickle the cucumbers

-I make pasta sauce and salsa out of the tomatoes

-I freeze a lot of the items, especially if I get a good deal on bulk poultry and/or meat.

-Fruit I peel and slice most of it depending on what it is and freeze it to use for cobblers. You can also make jam out of it. I have a 20 lb order of apples that just arrived that I plan to make applesauce with and freeze. (Here's a bonus tip: applesauce is a great way to get cold flax seed oil down kids!)

Anyone else have tips about buying organic food in bulk?

Did You Know?

I'm starting a new feature/category for this blog called "Did You Know?" I hope you enjoy it. My first "did you know?" has to do with the season and the garden. We just had our first freeze of the season two nights ago and then it froze again the next night. Paying attention to the weather reports during this time of year is crucial when you have a garden. So, if you know a freeze is coming,

DID YOU KNOW that you can pick all of your green tomatoes even though they haven't turned red yet and they will ripen inside your house sitting out on the counter? Yep, most veggies and fruits won't ripen much more after picking them but tomatoes will. Even the small ones. They of course aren't as good as vine-ripened but at least you can get the last of your crop in.

side note- root veggies usually are safe during a freeze if you are pressed for time. Their tops will blacken and die with a freeze but the ground hasn't usually frozen in the first frost. So, you still have time to go gather up your root veggies over the next few days.

Anyone else have a tip for frost season?

Series- Making Organics Affordable

I'm going to dedicate the entire month of October to a series called

"Making Organics Affordable"

If you've concluded that buying organic foods is worth it because you can cut down on pesticide consumption, GMOs, refined sugar, etc. then the next thing to consider is the cost. Buying organics can be very expensive but there are ways to work around mile-long-cash-register receipts.

My biggest fear when I wanted to switch to organic foods was the cost. It takes time, research, and hard work to search out affordable organic foods and I won't lie that it's been a huge challenge for me. But maybe I and others on the web, can encourage you with ways to make it affordable. I've mentioned resources for organic foods a few times but I'll include them as points in this series as well for those that are searching for purchasing resources.

So, this series is going to highlight some of the ways that I've been able to keep my household budget the same. (I call it "household" instead of "grocery" because mine includes more than just food....ie. toiletries and cleaning supplies included.) Did ya hear that? The same.

Now, I should preface that by saying that I am not a coupon queen gal. I have a lot of reasons for NOT trying to get out of the grocery store working the coupon system (and trust me, I've tried it several times) but the main one is because coupons are usually for unhealthy foods. Feeding my family is one of the most important things I do as a wife and mom and I take that job very seriously. How we eat affects how we feel, how we sleep, how we digest, how often we get sick, what illnesses we catch (or don't catch!), how well we concentrate, how our internal organs function, and so much more.... Shouldn't the foods we put into our bodies be worthy of our spending money? I just can't take it lightly. I had to make a choice, I can invest in the food we eat because it's one of the most important things we can invest in or I could be a coupon queen spending very little on groceries while feeding my family junk. I know I'm not as eloquent as I'd like to be so read this incredible blog post for a well written approach on the topic. She has nailed it on the head as to how I feel about coupons verses a healthy food budget.

So, when I started shopping for organic foods, I already had a decent size food budget in place because I was already committed to buying whole foods for our family and not processed foods. The success was being able to switch it all over to organics without changing that budget.

Well, I'm excited to share this series with you. It has a lot to do with my journey to eating healthier and it's also just plain old fun. I love the challenge of hunting for the best price and the hard to find product.

So, happy Fall and hope you enjoy this series.

beyond vitamin C

It's October 1st and while I have a whole series planned for this month on a different topic I wanted to first post about the flu season.

So, flu season has already begun and I've been gearing myself up for all the ways I can prevent illness in our home. I know after reading this you'll think I'm a germ-a-phobic and I risk exposing my Nazi-germ ways, but let me preface this by saying that my daughter had immune system issues as an infant and her specialist made me this way! To be fair, I was also raised by germ-a-phobic parents. Seriously though, a lot of this started because I had to with my daughter but I quickly learned that these things REALLY DID cut down on how often she was sick. Her specialist was on to something. From there I learned more about how we eat and how that contributes to our body's ability to fight off illness.

These are things I've been doing and testing over the past several years and I'm happy to report that our family gets sick on average once a year. That means that some years we get a head cold twice a year and other years we don't get sick at all! To boot, I've also noticed that we are sick for only a short while when others that have the same thing are sick for more than 2 weeks. I'm all for a short duration! Now, our daughter does get sick more often than the rest of us because of her issues with getting sick so easily but I know that if I didn't do these things that she would be sick much more often like she was in the first years of her life. Now she will get sick just a handful of times through the winter with the stomach flu but the rest of us don't get it.

Here are the things I'm gearing up for that I already know WORK......

- Lysol.
you think I'm kidding? oh no, I'm not. So, here's the deal. I buy those little sample size bottles in the check out isle of Walmart and keep them in my purse. So, every time we go into a store with a cart, my kids are trained to not touch the cart till it's been sprayed. I know you are thinking "overkill!" but trust me, this works. I was SHOCKED at how much less we got sick when I started this scene-causing-practice. You know, there comes a point in life...say about 30 yrs old, when you just don't care what people think anymore! To save some face, I only do this through the flu season or when something is going around....uh, I guess that's almost all the time. Oh well. Now, I know that Lysol isn't the most natural chemical I can spray around my family but considering swine flu and other green nasty things I see coming out of kid's noses who suck on the cart handles....ya, I'm thinking we'll go ahead and suffer the effects of Lysol as opposed to stomach flu, influenza and swine flu. I saw such a significant drop in our illnesses when I started this practice that as crazy as it is, I keep it up. Oh and my kids only panic and scream every once in awhile when someone goes to touch a cart without me spraying it first. BUT having said that, it leads me to my next one.......

- shop online!
Yep, we've seriously cut down how much we go into the store thanks to doing our groceries through delivery! But that's not all you can get online. You can do tons of shopping on line through places like Ebates.com, Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, and many others. Watch for free shipping promotions and you save yourself a ton of flu season exposure by shopping from the comfort of your own home. Need to know where the deals are? Go to www.dealnews.com.

- don't go around sick people.
okay, duh. We'd probably all agree with this one but truly how often do we sacrifice fun and socializing because someone has been sick, might be getting sick, or IS SICK! There doesn't seem to be a general rule with moms like you'd think....you know, the "I won't get your kids sick with my sick kids" rule....Nope, I'm convinced there is NO SUCH understanding in the mom world. Thankfully, my friends know how Nazi how important this is to me and have been super about not exposing my kids to even the slightest possibility of germ sharing. Thank you friends!

- hydration.
this is usually called "fluids" once it's too late and you're already sick. "Drink lots of fluids"...which, hey, is great, but seriously, if we drank more water to start with and our kids weren't running around dehydrated we'd fight off sickness better. I get my kids to drink distilled water to help detox during flu season. Besides detoxing, keeping our mucus membranes moist from hydration helps stop germs from going further and plain old helps our bodies function better. I read a study once that showed that most preschool children were dehydrated every day....which was the cause of many other ailments that they had.

- vitamins.
not from a bottle. Gotta get those germ fighting greens in. Power greens like broccoli, kale, spinach, etc. are awesome for ultimate health as flu season approaches. Don't forget everything that is packed into squash, green beans, and cauliflower. Pump up your blood with beets and almonds, and cream of wheat. Get your vit. C from citrus and red peppers. Fruit has got lots of vitamins and detoxes our bodies as well. Sprouts are an awesome food for good health.

- detox.
some foods that help us detox are brown rice, beans, barley, millet, quinoa, greens, cabbage, lemons, and fruits. Try to cut back on meats, dairy, and sugar.

- homeschool.
yep, believe it or not it cuts our illness I'd say at least by 75% from our friends that don't homeschool. Now, of course, this isn't the reason you should decide on what form of schooling you should provide for your kids but as an observer, I have to say this truly does cut down on exposure. Just a fact.

- change out hand towels often.
I try to change out the bathroom and kitchen hand towels more often as flu season approaches and during flu season. I also change sheets more often and try to air out the house from time to time....especially once I know we've been exposed or are coming down with something.

- wash hands after being out.
every time we come home from a store, I have my kids go in and wash their hands with soap immediately. I also carry handiwipes in my purse so that they can use them when we are out, especially before eating.

- train your kids.
train your kids to wash their hands regularly, to not pick up trash off the ground in public, to not put things in their mouths, cough into their elbows, etc. Kids are amazingly capable of meeting the expectations set for them. Prevention on this level is huge! I've noticed that a lot of parents do "damage control" parenting with their children and miss out on the benefits of training their children first. It's worth it to train them for prevention purposes. (Training them has other great benefits too but since this is a cooking blog I won't go there.)

- cut out refined sugar.
refined sugar lowers our immune systems. Cut out refined sugar and limit natural sugar.

- prevent mold and air out.
my daughter's infection specialist had us clean our daughter's room thoroughly regularly. Vacuuming daily even under the bed. Making sure there was no mold in her room (or in the house for that matter). Using allergy grade filters on our furnace. Wiping down her windows and sills regularly. Changing and washing her bedding often (all of it, dust ruffle, comforter, etc) and we used allergy covers on the pillows. Airing out the room with the window open every few days. These were all things that we did for her and then started doing with the whole house. This made a huge difference in how often we got sick.

- in the end, still make contact.
all of the above can sound very cold and unloving. Let me encourage you to still make contact with others, hugs, kisses, hand shakes, and gatherings. Fellowship and human touch are so important even through flu season. Just do it with discernment. Don't become so paranoid that you don't have any contact with the world outside of your front door.

Fried Rice

This is so easy to make and pretty darn healthy. I use brown rice which makes it even better for you. I can see why this is a staple in so many other countries. It's also a great way to use up leftovers.

4 cups leftover refrigerated rice
1 diced onion
oil (olive oil or coconut oil)
2 eggs
2-4 tbsp soy sauce to taste
1 tsp paprika
salt
pepper
garlic (1 minced clove or a dash of powder)
leftover veggies (peas, corn, chopped spinach, bell peppers, green beans, mushrooms, etc.)

Saute the cold rice, onion, and veggies in oil. Add soy sauce, salt, pepper, garlic. Push rice mixture to the side and crack eggs into the skillet, blending them as they cook. Serve.

Notes-
In the pictures I used spinach and green beans. This was not a big hit with the kids. They liked it better the next time I made it with carrots and corn. Use whatever sounds good to you. My husband and I really like this new dish.

Chow Mein

I wanted to attempt to make a Panda Express Chow Mein Noodles copycat and although I didn't have all the right ingredients on hand, this turned out so good. My husband was loving it and begged for all the leftovers. My kids loved it and I loved it. Yum. Here's what I came up with.
(Oh, and the pictures are from a few different times that I've made it until I had perfected it.)


1 package soba noodles (these are found in the Asian cooking isle)
1 can mung bean sprouts or 1 1/2 cups fresh mung sprouts
1 cup fresh snow peas
2 cups chopped cabbage (either Napa Cabbage or Bok Choy)
1/2 a diced onion
2 minced garlic cloves

(optional to add sliced mushrooms, diced bell pepper, etc.)

salt, pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp soy sauce (we prefer 2 tbsp)
olive oil

Directions: Saute all the veggies and beans in the oil. Cook the soba noodles in a pot of boiling water according to package directions. Once noodles are done cooking, drain and add to the sauteing veggies. Add seasonings and soy sauce. (Don't add too much salt because the soy sauce will be salty.) Pour more olive oil over the sauteing noodles and veggies. Saute the noodles with the veggies for a few minutes and serve.

Notes:
Not very healthy when it comes to the noodles since I'm yet to find whole grain soba noodles. But with the olive oil, organic high quality soy sauce, and all the veggies, this is pretty good for you! Of course, I haven't been able to find all of these ingredients organic so this is one of those "not eating the way we should be meals" that happens from time to time. You could easily substitute coconut oil for the olive oil which I plan to do next time, making this an even healthier dish. This is going to be one of our new vegetarian meals because it was such a big hit.

I've been making fried rice too and I'll share that recipe soon.


Anyone know where to get whole grain soba noodles or a healthier alternative? I'd love to know!

Why Does Restaurant Food Taste Better?

Have you ever wondered that? I have and so I decided to do a little research, some brain storming, and share my thoughts with you. I'm not talking about McDonald's, I'm talking about your very favorite dish at your very favorite restaurant. You know, my son paid me the biggest compliment at dinner one night awhile back. He said, "Mom, this dinner is so good, it almost taste as good as a restaurant!" Well, I may never achieve restaurant quality but here are my thoughts on it.....

Restaurant food often taste better because:

1. They use a whole lot more butter. Butter is like the king of foods. Think about it. Butter is used in almost every course of your meal....the dinner rolls, sometimes the salad dressing, the main dish, the side dishes, the gravy and sauces, the desserts, and even some drinks (buttered rum anyone?)! Chefs in restaurants don't shy away from using large amounts of the creamy perfection which gives their foods a deep rich flavor that most home cooks would tip over in shock from. Yep, lots of butter.

2. Restaurants use a lot more seasonings. Home cooks often don't know what seasonings to use to compliment a dish let alone how much of it to use. Chef's are trained how to feature one seasoning in a dish to make it memorable. And don't forget salt. If butter is the king of foods, then salt is the queen. Most home cooks shy away from using spices and seasonings in general and usually use little salt for their own health conscience. But restaurant chef's aren't too worried about your health for that one night experience in their restaurant.

3. Perfection. Huh? Well, think about it. Restaurants have worked to create only their very best. They've taken the richest, the savoriest, most amazing dishes they can come up with and they perfect them, create their menu out of them, and create them night after night after night. I'd say that they get pretty darn good at making those same dishes all the time. Home chefs have to work with a much bigger menu...ya, we'd get bored of eating the same 10 things on a regular rotation and to boot, if they were all our richest, most savoriest, incredible meals then we probably wouldn't be eating very healthy. Home chefs don't get the practice of recreating a dish over and over and over again 50 times a night until it's pure perfection. Nor do we usually have all the ingredients on hand that we are supposed to have on hand.

4. Someone else made it. Yep, that alone makes the food taste better to me. If I don't have to make it, I automatically give it 4 stars!

anyone else have any thoughts on it? why do you think restaurant food taste better?

Comments and Challenge

Ladies,

I really appreaciate your comments on the post below! I'm really excited to share more posts about our changes and things we are learning. I have a post for Friday about why restaurant foods taste better than home-cooked sometimes and I'm working on a post about why organic doesn't have to cost you more (and how to make that happen)! I've been able to keep my grocery budget THE SAME! =0) I can't wait to share more with you.

It's exciting to see all the changes people are making to eat better and change our American ways! If you aren't in American you probably aren't facing such a huge challenge with eating healthy...but if you are, I'd be interested in hearing for you too!

So, it's been two weeks since the eat-out-of-your-freezer-and-pantry CHALLENGE! =0) How's it going? I'm happy to say that our freezer is looking about half as full now! Hurray! The pantry looks about the same unfortunately but that's mostly because I buy in bulk. Regardless, my fridge and freezers are slowly being emptied and it's a great feeling! I've only had to run to the store a few times to get fresh items.

The time it takes to switch to eating healthier

A lot of people feel like eating healthier is this huge monstrous mountain ahead of of them to conquer. Well, that's how I felt anyway. Maybe others are less intimidated by it than I was. At first the information overload was enough to do me in and I tried to sort my way through each thought as to what "healthy" is. Can you relate? Well, I want to encourage anyone else out there that feels this task is just too hard to accomplish and anyone that is plain old overwhelmed by it.

My journey to eating healthier began about 6 years ago. Yep, that's how slow this process has been for me. SIX long years and I'm still learning. So, 6 years ago I learned the concept of eating "whole foods". No, not that I only ate foods from the Whole Foods store but I learned what it meant to eat foods in their whole (complete) form. You can read this for a simple explanation of what whole foods are. And so, the journey began.

My biggest challenge was getting my whole family switched over. Switching myself was easy but alas I'm married with children. Thankfully I started this when my children were still very young and yet even then the transition was difficult. My son was 3 years old and was used to guzzling cows milk all day long, eating processed American cheese every day and his snacks were all processed foods that came out of a box in the pantry. Glorious was the day when I got him completely weened off of American cheese! And to think it was my fault to begin with.

You'd think that the kids were the hardest to switch over but no, my husband has proven to be the one most stuck in his eating habit ways. He's a typical guy (ie. is NOT that interested in seeking out the healthiest foods he can eat) and well, his habits are 37 years deep. Patience, patience, patience. I'll have you know that 2 years ago we became a soda free home! Yep, I won't buy it and he now drinks water or 100% organic juice. Now, he does get a soda when he's outside of the home from time to time but hey, I'll take what victory I can claim!

Whole foods naturally led into cooking from scratch more. That seemed to be the next big transformation during the 6 years of changing our family's eating. Cooking from scratch is a big adjustment. It means more time in the kitchen, planning, more time in the kitchen, more measuring, more time in the kitchen, and did I mention more time in the kitchen?

After discovering whole foods and starting to cook from scratch more the next phase happened....organics. I know, I know, what is all the hype about organics already??? If you don't know, you gotta start knowing. For a brief and very under stated explanation of what organic foods are you can read here. But then I'd encourage you to watch Food Inc. and/or The Future of Food.

Organic foods have not been at all hard for the family to switch over. In fact, they usually don't know the difference unless they are pleasantly surprised by how much better the organic foods taste. BUT, it has taken a long time to switch over to shopping for all organics. Again, this has taken patience on my part including diligence and research.

The last phase I went through which was recently was how foods heal. I read this book called Foods That Heal and was quite taken with it. If you like that book, you might like this blog also called Foods That Heal. Shortly after that book, I read this book, Nourishing Traditions, and well, the rest is history.

Now of course, we don't all end up at the same place when we search out healthier eating. This is just where my journey has taken me. The point of this post is that it takes time. If I had tried to make all the changes at once I would have quit in frustration. I just made little changes that seemed doable at the time. I bit off one bite of elephant at a time and am still slowly making my way through all the changes I'd like to implement into our family's normal eating habits. It's good to look back though and see some of the major victories, well, and even some of the small ones too. Six years and running. I do feel that I've reached a huge milestone recently....we are about 90% of the way switched over to healthier eating. If you had told me it would take 6 years I don't think I would have hung in there.

So, hang in there and if you are feeling overwhelmed by it, take it one step (one change) at a time, do what you can, and once you've gotten adjusted to that one change, then tackle another....you'll get there eventually and it's well worth the work, the time, the diligence, and the health of it!

Anyone else feel overwhelmed by the journey? How long has it taken you or is taking you so far?

Cast Iron

As I continue on this path to more natural living and cooking, I decided it was time to dig out my used-once-about-ten-years-ago cast iron skillets from the garage. They had to be scrubbed, spider webs removed, and re-seasoned.

Seasoning your cast iron:
Coat the pans completely with shortening. You can season just the cooking surface but I like to do the entire pan to help prevent rusting. Place in 250 degree oven for 2 hours. Put a cookie sheet under them to catch drips. Let them cool and then wipe them down with a lint free towel and store till ready to use.

It helps to cook greasy things in them the first several times to build up a nice black seasoning on them so that other items won't stick. After each use, wash with warm water but no soap. Soap will remove the seasoning. Dry immediately to prevent rusting. Then I place on my stove and brush it with olive oil. You can put it away after that.

How's the challenge going?

How is the eating-out-of-your-freezer-and-pantry-challenge going? Funny, I feel like I'm barely making a dent! I might have to carry this out for longer than 2 weeks....so far we've been able to eat up several things though and many of them were not-so-healthy items that I had bought long ago and now feel guilty eating so they would just sit there in the freezer never getting used. Now that I'm trying to eat out of the freezer we are slowly eating up all those things and it's nice to have them out of there finally. I've had to be creative about ways to use them in moderation and work them into our menu. But I can't stand being wasteful so I wanted to be frugal and use them. It feels great to get the out of the freezer and be done with buying unhealthy things!

How is the challenge going for you if you are taking the challenge?

Homemade Potato Salad

I made this up and it's soooooooooooooooo good. I think someone was asking for a recipe earlier this summer so I apologize for it being past the summer season but it's also a great dish for football season! =0) I wanted to create a potato salad that tasted like my Great-Aunt June's like I remember as a small child and watching her make it in the kitchen of her enormous house with an elevator. I think I successfully mastered it!

8 peeled and cubed yukon gold potatoes
8 hard boiled eggs
1/2 a diced onion
3 diced celery stalks
2 diced whole kosher dill pickles
2 cans sliced olives
1 cup mayo plus more till moist
heavy squirt of mustard (about 3 tbsp)
a douse of the pickle juice (secret ingredient!)
salt and pepper to taste (about 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper)

Boil the potatoes just till tender. Yukons are the easiest to digest but they also are a very buttery potato (making them a great choice for potato salad) so they can fall apart easily if cooked too long. Drain and run cold water over them till cooled completely. Refridgerate till chilled through. Peel and chop hard boiled eggs (be sure they are chilled ahead of time as well). Mix all the ingredients together.

Links

I've added some new links on my page under the "great links" section. I'm often asked about resources for special things and I want to share them with all of you. Be sure to check them out.

Some of the new ones are:

Tropical Traditions (organic coconut oil products-I've recently added coconut oil to my pantry and my recipes and my husband and I can't seem to get enough of it! They also carry organic coconut body products)

Organic Food Store Locator (I told you about this one earlier! Great page if you are new to shopping for organics)

Vita Cost (great place to buy discounted organic/natural products through mail order)

Vanilla Products USA (vanilla beans in bulk-While I don't see that these are organic on their main website their ebay store does have them in organic at an incredible price. I have seen organic vanilla beans at Costco but they cost much more.) Check out their ebay site here.

Organized Home (great website for home management including a blog)

updating recipes

On my journey to eat healthier I often revamp my recipes as I learn more. Some recipes I've made and finally taken pictures of. So here is a list of some of those changes.

Macaroni and Cheese (added picture)
French Toast Bake (added pictures)
Broccoli Salad (new picture)
Yogurt (changed recipe to be sweetened naturally)
Coconut Rice (added shredded coconut to the recipe)
Spanish Rice (changed recipe)

Garden Fresh Tomatoes

I wish I had planted about 10 tomato plants or maybe even more. These were so good and when it came to making pasta sauce I could have used a ton more tomatoes to supply us with pasta sauce till next season. We also cut these up for salads but would eat them as we were cutting them. There is nothing like a garden fresh tomato! It doesn't even taste like a store bought tomato.These are our Early Girl tomatoes. For some reason the bees didn't like our heirloom Mr. Stripey plant and refused to pollinate it. I even tried to manually pollinate the plant but it didn't work. We were so disappointed but maybe next time.

Some ideas for using Kale

Here's a good post about some ways to use Kale as a pesto. Check it out.

Christmas in September?

Yep, if you plan on making Christmas gifts homemade, now is the time to start thinking about getting started on those projects. Check my previous Christmas Craft post for tons of ideas! And don't forget this great gift especially with fall approaching....

anyone else have links to great homemade Christmas gift ideas?

watch next week for a recipe and info on seasoning cast iron!

Challenge

I'm challenging myself to shop out of my own freezer and pantry for meals over the next two weeks. I've got a new Home Management folder put together (it was time to resurrect the old thing) and in it I have a Meal Planning tab. This works because while we are showing our house for sale I don't want menu plans stuck on my fridge.

So, notebook in hand, I went to my deep freeze and listed meal ideas that I could make. Then I went to my kitchen freezer and found a few more ideas. Then I looked in the fridge and pantry for side dish ideas and lunch ideas. Here's hoping I can avoid shopping for more food (other than fresh produce and milk) for the next two weeks. I'm excited to see how much we can eat out of our deep freeze. Our deep freeze needs to be defrosted and I need to do that before cooler weather sets in!

Anyone else want to take the challenge????

Using Radish

A friend and I were talking the other day about ways we can use radishes. She threw out a few ideas and I decided I would challenge myself to come up with some more ways to use radishes in our diet. Not only are they healthy (lots of vit. C) they are easy to grow during the spring and fall.....

whole dipped in your favorite dip
in coleslaw
in green salad
in three bean salad
in potato salad
in pasta salad
in texas caviar salad
in soups
blended in dip
in rice salad
on sandwiches
grilled radishes
as a soup (using the tops even!)
in asian lettuce wraps
in crab salad
in chicken salad sandwiches
in tuna salad sandwich
in egg salad sandwich
steamed as a side dish
served mixed with other veggies like green beans
in cucumber or tomato (quinoa) salads

I can't wait to try some of these.

Anyone else have ideas or recipes they love using radishes?????

Where to buy organic?

This is a very helpful post about where you can get organic and natural foods! If you are at a loss for where to begin looking, besides the organic section of where you already shop, do consider this post. I was also amazed to see how many products you can get through amazon.com. I had no idea!

Thanks Heavenly Homemaker for sharing this post with links!

Costco Finds

Now, I didn't buy all of this in one trip nor did I buy all of it. Some things are just stuff that catches my eye and I thought you might like to know...like the canning books for example. They looked awesome but I'm not canning for now but I know some of you are.

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Organic Sugar (evaporated cane juice)

Organic Spinach Artichoke Alfredo (yum!)

Environment Friendly Dish Soap by Kirkland (this is what I use now)

Environment Friendly Dishwasher Detergent by Kirkland (jury is still out...I like it but it clumps in the box because there are no anti-caking agents in it) I wish they'd make a liquid version.

Little Girl Dresses (always a deal at $12-$18 each)

Elizabeth Gaskell DVD box set for $29! Score!

Organic Strawberry Jelly

Organic Peaches

Organic Quinoa

Organic Animal Crackers

Organic Annie's Bunny Grams and Cheddar Bunny snack packs

Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving

William Sonoma Eat Well

William Sonoma Essentials in Asian Cooking

Stackable Glass Bowl Storage Containers with lids (I've been looking at glass containers for quite some time now and the trouble with them is that they don't stack! Until I found these today and hey, they stack! Not only that, but you get more for HALF the price of the rectangular/square set that Costco carries.)

Classic books for kids....you get a set of 4 for $5.49!!! The print size is exceptional and they even have a few tiny pictures here and there...something my kids love. This will save me some trips to the library when it snows!

The Future of Food

Here's another must see. This is another documentary about food in America. Only one word comes to mind....SCARY! This film is by far much more boring compared to Food Inc. Food Inc. was done in a more entertaining way as far as films go but this film has a lot more information in it about GMOs (genetically modified organisms). If you don't know what GMOs are, this film is for you. The fact that GMOs in High Fructose Syrup are known to cause tumors, birth defects, and allergic reactions among a long list of other problems, it's no wonder our nation is having a health crisis. In addition to that, the political side of this conspiracy is shocking. The hype about helping starving nations when in reality the same people are the ones not allowing other countries to use their "patented seed" is just about as hypocritical as it gets. Also, why is it that we think in our minds that if poison kills a bug, and if the person spraying the poison has to be covered in a hazmat suit, that we can spray it on our food and eat it?!?!?!? Are we that brainwashed? I have been. Clearly brainwashed.

Okay, now I'll try to calm down. I'm getting carried away. I know I risk losing some readers now that I'm becoming a food Nazi. But seriously people....if only everyone could grasp what is happening.

Okay, back to the film...it's called The Future of Food and you can watch it free from the comfort of your computer on Hulu. Just click here. Thanks, Katey, for telling me that it was on Hulu.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMER!
BUY ORGANIC!
DEMAND ORGANIC!
when you can, VOTE AGAINST GMOs and the patenting of life!

EDUCATE yourself about the food crisis!

Favorite Gadget Thingy- Food Storage

Now that I'm buying food in bulk (especially pantry items) I decided to invest in these rolling air tight storage containers. I'm trying to move away from plastics and so I know it looks hypocritical to then store my food in plastic but I'm finding that using dry pantry goods out of 25 pound bags can be a bit difficult, messy and well, not as sanitary as I'd like. I'm picky that way. So, I researched the different types of "food safe" plastics and then found this container that is made out of the top rated food safe plastic. This container holds a 25 pound bag perfectly and with the wheels, it makes rolling it out of your pantry a breeze. I put the food still in it's original bag into the container. It's designed for pet food but it seems companies are more concerned about pet's health when it comes to plastics rather than the health of humans. Go figure.

Where to get it?
I found it on Walmart.com. They don't carry it in my store but just online. It was $13 when I bought it. I ordered them to be shipped site-to-store so that I wouldn't have to pay shipping. I bought 3 of them to get me started and I'm super happy with them.

Gourmet Veggie Wrap

My good friend (who needs to start a cooking blog) made me lunch one day this summer and it was so good! She's a health nut like me and she always finds and makes the most amazing food! This recipe was from a magazine (one that I'd like to start getting a subscription to EatingWell) and one day I tried to make a copy-cat version using what I had on hand. Here is my take on it but below you can link to the original recipe. Now I love using the bean/avocado spread for just about any sandwich or wrap.

1 can or 1 1/2 cups cooked white northern beans
1 avocado mashed
1/4 tsp taco seasoning
dash of salt
dash of pepper
sprinkle of garlic powder
pinch of dried minced onion
2 cups shredded cabbage
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp poppyseed dressing
2 tbsp italian dressing

Mash the beans and avocado together. Spread the bean/avocado mixture on the tortilla/wrap. Mix the remaining ingredients together. Make it into a wrap using any of the following...

tomatoes, spinach, red bell pepper, olives optional.....
whole wheat tortilla or other wrap

This is SO GOOD!


link to original recipe

MIA

Is summer over already??? School has started for us and here sits my cooking blog. I guess that means my break is over and actually I sure do miss this blog. But, here's the deal, our summer has not gone as we expected.

My husband has been out of work since the end of May. We had hoped to be settled into a new job and possibly moved by August but alas, our plans are not the Lord's. Our house has been for sale and we have packed most of our home up in anticipation of a move either for a new job or to down size while he does odd jobs.

In light of that, I've also been working a little as well. I've started a house cleaning business to bring in a little income for our family to help sustain us. These are tough times and being jobless in a recession is a scary place to be. Yet our God is big and loving and has a plan for us. It may be a plan that brings blessing and ease or it may be a path with much difficulty...we don't know yet.

So, I'm coming back but lightly. I will be posting sporadically when I can. Most of my attention will be focused on schooling my children (yes, we are still homeschooling), selling our home, and working. I've been cooking in survival mode through the summer but never more dedicated to healthy/organic cooking than now! So, pop in here from time to time and watch for new posts.

In the meantime, if my husband does get a job and we get more settled and my life returns as I once knew it, I will get back to posting regularly.

Enjoy cooking, live with passion and conviction and I'll hopefully see you back here soon.

kitchen flooring is done.....

There was a question asking if our flooring was done so here are some pictures since I'm still on blogging break. =0)We put new kitchen flooring in as a temporary solution to our flooring issues. We planned on putting hardwood floors in most of our downstairs but while we were saving up for it our floors were not being very patient. The peel and stick squares that the owners before us put in were peeling up and we were tripping over the corners of them. Lovely I know. The adhesive between them all was also turning black and impossible to clean. Take my advice and steer clear of adhesive squares for your flooring. Yes, they go down quickly and with ease but in a year you'll be wishing you hadn't! Ours were about 4 years old. We also had carpet under our table area which had some serious stains on it.
I picked the cheapest vinyl I could find and had it put down in the kitchen and the dining room (where the carpet had been) and I'm thrilled to be able to sweep my floors again and mop them with ease! Sometimes, it's been thankful for the little things. I hated the flooring when it went in but it's starting to grow on me.

You must see it....

I finally went and saw this! Oh my goodness, where do I start. It's a must! I got so upset during the film that I could hardly sit still in my chair. I didn't expect it to make me mad but it did. The film was great....although I think I could have added at least another hours worth of content myself but who am I? I just wish they would have explained a little more for those that are ignorant about the health effects. They touched on it but didn't go into it enough. I don't think the general public is educated as to the health effects of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and hydrogenated oils, etc. If you want to know why our family eats organic, watch this film! And then start supporting your local farms if you can!

Stores that sell organic foods

Just had to tell you about this cool site that has listings by state of stores that sell organic foods. How cool is that!

Feast Day

I wanted to share this with you. It's an article worth reading about frugal cooking and a special meal once a week. Click here to read it.

on blogging break

well, my friends, I need to take another blogging break....for a lot of reasons-

1. my kitchen flooring was torn out this past few days and well, with the stove unplugged and the fridge being moved into the hallway while new flooring gets installed...I can't seem to cook...ya, I'm not THAT good!
2. I've got a lot going on right now....I'll explain more when I come back...yes, I'm coming back.
3. I want to get my "what's cooking store" up and running.
4. It's summer and I'm anxious to have a break and spend some quality time with the kiddos and husband.

Those are my main reasons, and you know me, that doesn't mean I won't post something really important if it comes up even while I'm on break but for now, the plan is to take a break. As usual, I don't know for how long...I'm thinking for the rest of the summer. I know, I know that's a longgggggg time and trust me, I'll be missing this! But I will be preparing posts for when I return and I'll probably even check in from time to time. So, feel free to pop in and say HI.

I'll be posting sporadically on our family blog through the summer.....

May you enjoy many fabulous BBQs this summer and several lazy evenings sipping iced tea on your porch, if you have one, a porch that is. =0)

Answering Questions - Dryer Sheet Spray

I don't make a recipe for the dryer sheet spray. I just fill the spray bottle with a biodegradable fabric softener (I do not dilute it) and give my wash cloth (reusable dryer sheet) a few sprays (I have to saturate it at first but after that I usually only spray it about 4 or 5 times every other load or so.

Currently, I'm using this brand:
Simplicity
non-toxic
biodegradable laundry fabric softener

I figure I'm saving a ton money wise on dryer sheets and I'm not filling my trash with them! Oh, and no more "surprise" dryer sheets caught in your pant legs.

a laundry day gift....

I made up some of my homemade laundry detergent for my sister's birthday in the spring and put together this little "laundry day" gift basket with it.

Here's the recipe:
1 pretty basket
1 package natural color shred
1 batch homemade laundry detergent
1 jar and 1/8 c scoop for laundry detergent
1 spray bottle filled with all natural biodegradable softener
1 washcloth as a reusable dryer sheet (embroidery optional - it was embroidered with the words "Dryer Sheet" with some flowers on it)
1 cute little wood sign to brighten any laundry area
1 pair of super soft and comfy lounge pants
1 stack of yankee candle tarts
2-3 clothes pins stuck on the tags
ribbon and tags








Tags read:
"Homemade Laundry Detergent" "Chemical Free" "Suds Free" "All Natural"
(I also included a tag with the detergent recipe on it so she could make more)

"Reusable Dryer Sheet"

"Dryer Sheet Spray" "Spray several times per dryer load" "non toxic biodegradable"

"Once the laundry is in....relax with some smell goods"

"Laundry Day Lounging Pants"





To Assemble:
Place shred in basket. Tie ribbons around each item attaching each tag. Place items in basket. Stick the cute sign in the basket. Clip on a few clothes pins to the cards and wrap with cellophane and a raffia bow.