organic – Page 2

Organic For Less

Happy Monday from a very snowy CNY! I’m back from a “mid-winter break” and ready to get back to normalcy. Now, if I could only find the energy to match my enthusiasm. Eh, on with the show…

Every couple of weeks or so, I find myself hitting up our local Aldi (a unique grocery store with mostly generic-ish brands where you rent your grocery cart, bring your own bags, and may only use cash, or debit or EBT cards) before making my usual Hannaford haul. It helps to lower my regular food bill, and I’m ecstatic to see their choices in organic products is generally increasing. Woo hoo!

Now, before I share my budget-trimming selections, I’d like to briefly state our current eating philosophy. I wish I could say that we eat only fruits and vegetables; minimal quantities of organic, grass fed, humanely treated meat and poultry (and eggs); whole grains; and raw, grass fed milk and cheese. Period. But, we don’t. A great majority of what we eat is organic OR grass fed OR GMO free OR 5-ingredients-or-less, but we still consume processed foods – frozen pizzas, part-skim cheese sticks, breads, snack crackers, granola bars, etc. We try to eat minimal meat, but it’s still a part of most of our meals (most dinners, at least).

It is what it is. Our consciences are relatively at ease on the subject. About 90-95% of the food in our house is organic or at least GMO-free. That’s a heck of a lot further than we were a few short years ago. We don’t stress out over the occasional ordered-in pizza or diner breakfast or meal shared at a friend or family member’s house; they’re quite rare and we know the rest of the time we’re doing our best to put good things in our bodies. {And we’re still profoundly against fast food (I’m going to attempt to pack some appealing meals for our next vacation so we don’t fall victim).}

It’s an evolution that I’m not rushing. To force a thing means that it will be a stress rather than a pleasure to enforce in our own lives. So, for now, I let someone else make my bread. (Either an organic brand or a few-ingredient, locally made one.) And I sleep just fine. 😉

For some tips on grocery shopping for “whole foods”, check out this old post. I’ll have to do a farmers’ market one when things warm up. Yay!

So, anyhoo! I ended up spending a lot for an Aldi trip (less than $60), but couldn’t help myself. For once, I found so many new organic products, I felt like I was robbing the place. “Ohhhh, yessss!!” I shouted each time I spotted another. I’m sure folks thought I was crazy, but I know for a fact that crazier things DO happen…especially at this joint.

Organic For Less - image 2e98e-picstitch1 on https://megactsout.com

I’m showing my haul in categories – fruit ‘n veg (one organic pile – left, one non-organic – right) and processed stuff (bottom).

I still subscribe to a small extent to the “clean 15” list to cut back on cost (although it’s also a matter of supply/demand; if they supply an organic version, I’ll often buy it). So, at Aldi I purchased a pineapple ($2.49), mushrooms ($.99!), a trio of onions ($2.69; I’m a tad wary here; the last time I did this, I cut into them THE NEXT DAY to find they had soft/browning middles…happened recently at Hannaford, too, though), garlic ($.79!), green onions ($.79!), asparagus ($2.99…and already gone…I should’ve bought two), and a bag o’ potatoes ($2.99 for 5 lbs! But…on the dirty list, but it’s tough to find organic here :-P).

As for the organic produce, I FINALLY caught their fresh bananas (I think $.79/lb.), bag o’ apples ($4.49), spinach and spring mix ($1.99 each; if we don’t use the spinach by the time it starts to go, I can boil it quickly and flash freeze) and baby carrots ($.99; this is the price if you’re LUCKY for non-organic at Hannaford). Lots of “booyah!” and heel kicking in the aisles, I tell ya. Oh, and I grabbed two bags of frozen organic strawberries ($2.69 each) and one of blueberries ($2.99). If you want to count apple juice, I hunted down an organic container for $2.49 ($.50 – $1.00 less than usual).

Then we get into the more processed (yet organic) stuff. Diced tomatoes for $1.49, two boxes of $1.99 chicken soup, a box of $1.79 chicken broth, a box of $1.19 linguine, a $1.99 peppercorn ranch dressing, hormone- and antibiotic-free bacon (just like the kind we get at Hannaford, only $3.89…similar price, just want to check it out), $1.99 “toasted oats” (organic Cheerios, folks!), and TWO organic pizzas for $3.99 each (TWO DINNERS for $4.00 each! Yes, we’ll probably have salad, too, but c’mon…can’t buy a pizza from a local pizza place for that little, and they’re made with ORGANIC ingredients!!!).

Whew. So, yeah, minus a $2 bag that I purchased because I ended up finding way more than I had expected, it came to around $57.63. For comparison, I usually spend around $30 there. If only they’d start carrying WHOLE organic milk instead of 2% (don’t get me wrong — I was ECSTATIC to see that they even had milk).

On a final note, this is just an example of a random grocery trip. I’ve had some interest from folks to know what one of these trips looks like, how much we spend on stuff, and what selections we make. This is by no means a bragfest (although I was dancing in the aisles to see what deals I could find); it’s just putting myself out there to see if what I do might help any of you. 🙂

So, how about you? What are some ways that you find to eat healthier (no judgment zone: healthier doesn’t always mean organic; it’s just our personal philosophy) for cheaper?

We Share Our Food

I share plenty of our hum-drum meals around this joint, but it occurred to me that folks who have a hard time putting together a lunch for the babysitter (or to send to school) might be interested to know what we send along.

It’s important to remember that we’re super duper lucky. Our son’s babysitter is his very own grandmother (although she also watches his cousin — whom she’s not related to by blood — call her a saint, if you will, please!). So, she’s very willing to give him breakfast in the morning (he leaves the house by 7, so it’s darn near impossible right now to get him ready and fed and coherent, so she just feeds him when he arrives — it works) and cut up his lunch and microwave what needs it and so forth. Not everyone has the luxury of sending reheatable leftovers, and I get that. I do. We’re lucky ducks.

That said, as Hadman gets older, grows beyond finger foods (read: is able to delicately spoon feed himself yogurt — snort), and starts eating sandwichy things, it might be helpful to see the evolution. Plus, I’ll throw in our occasional adult food-share to letchya know what Dave and I gobble down for lunches or the rare, wicked awesome “adult dinner”, or the even rarer vacation food. Y’know. Just for kicks.

So, on this particular day, the munchkin was sent with…

*da daa daa da daa daaaaa, trumpet fanfare*

Organic For Less - image 5c579-foodshare on https://megactsout.com

leftovers. (See awesome glass container to the right, to the right.)

*wop wop* (Lots of trumpets today.)

But, ho! (Who you callin’ “ho”?) These are not just ANY leftovers. These are what I have newly dubbed Miraculous Meat Muffins. Guaranteed to feed the pickiest non-vegetarian eater from 1 to 89. (I have yet to test the 90+ crowd.) I recently gave them to Had’s 2 1/2-year-old cousin (who, needless to say, doesn’t really eat meatloaf — which is essentially what these nuggets o’ goodness are) and she wolfed them down. THAT, my friends, is a miracle worthy of sainthood.

Guess I’m on my way.

HA! Right. (We had to call them “meatballs” since she does, on occasion, eat those. But she’d been in a highly picky mood recently, so I still call it a success. ;-))

Anyhoo, along with his mini-meatloaves (2), he had a pile of frozen sweet corn*, a cheese stick*, strawberry pancakes*, a banana*, and yogurt*. We also send along his watered-down milk* since we don’t think Grandma needs to be worrying about buying organic milk. (We do provide her with a big ol’ container of organic apple juice to use as needed, but this is way easier than sending milk and cluttering up her fridge.)

* denotes organic product (or made with organic ingredients). The meat for the meatloaves wasn’t organic (but it was humanely-raised, grassfed, which is fine by me), but all of the other ingredients were…so I’m not sure where it falls on the spectrum. Maybe 90-95% organic? The FDA would probably give me the “okay”, but they’re not very stringent. I’m lookin’ at you, Michael Taylor. You fraud. (Former head of Monsanto, people.)

A couple of things about cost. Every time I hit up the grocery store, I get ONE bag of frozen organic veggies. Just one. Since we hardly ever use a full bag in one sitting, we get a nice stock pile going, and throwing it in a container (even frozen in the morning) with even some pasta (with or without butter and/or some cheese) tides a toddler over pretty well. But, purchasing a bag here and there won’t break the bank; stocking up on 5+ at a time will. They’re also great to have on-hand as our veggie sides, or to throw into stir-fry or soups or, heck, anything.

I ALWAYS have bananas on-hand. They are by far the cheapest of all organic fruit — and the sweetness factor makes them one of Hadman’s favorite. Things. Ever. Like, up there with Pigeon and Ernie and “Melmo”. Fav-uh-rit. When I buy them, they’re usually 20 cents more than the regular ol’ bananas, which I figure as being pretty inexpensive. They’re also terribly toddler-friendly. Cut ’em, eat ’em, wash hands. (That last part is essential. Blech.) Less fear of choking than apples. Plus, if any go bad (not often these days), it’s time for banana bread/muffins/pancakes! Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.

The yogurt. Ahhh, the yogurt. Firstly, we only buy whole milk at this stage — and, honestly, I wish that Greek yogurt was a whole milk food (for Mama), but that’s a whole other bag o’ potatoes. (Just checking to see if you’re still paying attention over there. *wink*) I always, always, always keep a pint of Stonyfield’s organic whole milk PLAIN yogurt on hand. It’s good to cook and bake with (hellloooooo, sour cream substitute!), but also provides a fast, easy, low (as in “no”)-sugar snack for adult and child alike.

1/2 cup (or more) plain yogurt + thawed frozen fruit (cut up for the munchkin…okay, and Mama) along with any juice that may come from the fruit OR a bit of store-bought organic plain applesauce and cinnamon = yummy snack. If your youngin likes more sweetness (Had doesn’t care, but I do), drizzle a little maple syrup or honey, or the tiniest splash of vanilla – a little goes a LONG way. Bada bing.

This container stuff? That’s another story. I KNOW there’s other “stuff” in it. There’s sugar, yes. So, it’s kind of a rare treat. I search Stonyfield’s web site (their cows are pasture-raised and humanely treated, so we’re biased and buy all of our milk and yogurt products from their company, if possible) and signed up to receive deals in my email. Once in awhile, I go to their site and print off some coupons — for Hadley’s baby stuff (which is whole milk, vs. the toddler/kid stuff; it also has a tad less ingredients) AND for a handful of regular yogurt cups for Dave and I.

And considering that every time I open the refrigerator door, he runs to grab a yogurt cup — ANY yogurt cup — it’s safe to say he’s a fan. Use whatchya know.

Cheese sticks are his #2 favorite. I guess he’s into dairy? Hmm. Anyhoo, we also get Organic Valley for its support of farmers and general good-guy attitude. I recently discovered a cache of a no-name brand (there probably was a name, but I don’t recall one) organic mozz sticks at Aldi, which I piled into my cart, but I’m still up in the air whether or not they’re the same as OV or if OV’s practices are a little more to our liking. So, for now, I take the no-namers, he takes the OV. No big. Plus, it cuts the cost down big-time.

Oh, and as for his breakfast stuff. Any time we have pancakes (once or twice a week, usually on the weekends), I make a super big batch. Then, I use a big spoon to make specific “Had-sized” pancakes. In this case, I used some thawed strawberries (I almost think the batter might have bananas in it, too…mmmm, strawberry banana-ness…) to turn them into a yummy treat. Other times, I’ll mix some plain batter with cinnamon and applesauce. Still other times, it’s blueberries. (The very rare occasion, all natural chocolate chips…very rare…let’s say, Valentine’s day, along with some strawberries.) Then, I stack ’em in threes or fours, put a tiny square of parchment paper between the stacks, and freeze them about five days’ worth per bag. (I wash and reuse the bags when I can. Yes, I’m a tad psychotic.)

So, that’s one day in our life of toddler lunchiness. I’ll try to share a handful of adult lunches (not rated-R lunches, but the boring stuff that Dave and I take along) if folks are interested in such a thing. Just let me know! If I hear radio silence, I’ll get the point. 😉

Have a great weekend, folks! Things are on the sad side over here. More on that soon, I’m sure.

Another Weelicious Treat

I made a yummy muffin from Weelicious back in September, and recently decided to try a different kind. I mostly make them for Hadley (because apparently he’s spoiled…who knew? As my husband recently said, “Well, he eats better than we do” to which I thought, “Huh. We eat well, but that’s probably true.”), but they’re great for grown-ups, too. Whether you need a snack to go with a cup of midday tea or coffee, or a quick breakfast option to send to the sitter, these tasty muffins have just the right amount of sweetness and spice to do the trick.

Weelicious is a site dedicated to feeding kids of varying ages, although are always seem to be some good family-friendly recipes (read: you don’t need kids to eat this stuff). Let’s just say that this post could pretty much be in the form of a love letter to the mom behind Weelicious — as well as a hope that she doesn’t mind my sharing HER recipe, tweaked (not to be confused with “twerked”) a bit. I’m all about giving credit where credit is due — this isn’t my recipe, it’s just the way that I made it. Here’s the recipe she created that gave me a jumping-off point.

And here’s what I made…

Organic For Less - image on https://megactsout.com

PicMonkey strikes again! (Not perked…by PicMonkey or Weelicious. Just a fan!)

These would be great with walnuts (or almonds, maybe), and I’m always keen on adding some clove and nutmeg to anything apple-laden. We kept it pretty tame for the munchkin since these are essentially his snack/breakfast muffins.

Oh, and full disclosure: For whatever reason, the muffins seemed to stick to the super-cute paper liners that I used. Maybe I didn’t wait long enough for them to cool before digging in (I tried!), or maybe it was just dumb luck, or maybe there’s a fully logical physics-based reason to the issue (I skipped out on Physics, so…yeah…). I’d just suggest a) greasing the pan as advised in the original recipe or b) expect this to happen and accept the inevitable. It seemed better the next day (not completely, but better), so it’s not like all your hard work will end up in the trash along with half of the muffin.

I also found myself (yes, folks) sniffing H’s muffin yesterday. Sniffing it. I have no shame.

What’s Good About Aldi

I’ve chatted with y’all about our Aldi grocery store before, but I made a recent stop and wanted to say that I just LOVE the place!

I haven’t been shopping there regularly, for various reasons. I was lucky enough to get a coupon for $10 off $40 spent, and with two different food drives going on at school (one for vets, another for families in need), it was more than worth a trip to see what I could pick up.

Since I last checked in with you about Aldi, they have begun carrying a handful of organic products. Sure, they’re only packaged items (no fruits or veggies), and they only pop up from time to time, but it’s better than nothin’. The occasional half gallon of milk, spaghetti sauce, or what have you. It particularly excites me because the Aldi in our area is utilized by many lower income families and elderly (and is often the only grocery store they’re able to visit), so the fact that there’s ANY availability to healthier* options gives me hope.

So, here’s what I found for my donating purposes on this particular day. When I buy for a donation, I do a weird thing (I think?) and imagine that I’m buying for one individual. Yes, yes, I know the stuff gets divied up, but that’s just how my brain works. This is for “the veteran”…

I like to buy the stuff for a turkey dinner in case they’re able to get a turkey, so I sent along stuffing and potato mixes, two canned veggies, cranberry sauce, and fruit cocktail (for snack or dessert). For a normal day, I sent a couple of cans of soup, 100% juice, granola bars, cereal, and some mini Snickers. I recently heard that veterans appreciate candy bars when overseas; not sure if it applies here, but I thought I’d try it. I know it’s not healthy, but we all deserve a treat. Besides, the fruit cocktail (in juice, not syrup), cranberry sauce (no corn syrup), veggies, juice, and Raisin Bran were all relatively healthy.

Here’s the stuff for “a family” (again, I purchased as if one family would get it all…I know they won’t, but play along, won’t you?)…

Again, I like to put a holiday meal together, again with veggies, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and, in this case, the makings of a chocolate pie (just add milk, which they’ll hopefully have). They also got fruit cocktail, 100% juice, two cans of soup, but also a couple of extra meals: buttermilk pancake mix with pure maple syrup (which will actually provide far more than one meal, woohoo!) and whole grain spaghetti with sauce. Additionally, I threw in some snacks: cheese and breadsticks (there was a time I would’ve been all over those), raisins, and graham crackers.

This was my first taste of the holiday giving season, and I’m feeling peaceful yet ecstatic to be able to give anything.

Oh, and of course I couldn’t leave without SOMETHING for myself. 😉

A few cans of insanely inexpensive organic diced tomatoes (the huge the big 28 oz cans) and organic spring mix, plus some non-organic asparagus (it’s on the clean list, and since I can never find it organic, I just go with it — I like roasted asparagus too much not to get it from time to time ;-)). Not bad for less than $40 (after the coupon).

As a side note, on this particular shopping day, I had to grab a couple of items at Hannaford, as well, to round out a fun “breakfast for dinner” meal I was making for my sister and her daughter that evening. Here were what I thought of as the GOOD and the BAD of the shopping trip…

Heavy cream? Bad. Horrible. Naughty. Baking powder? Great! Awesome. Nice.

See what frustrates me? The cream was full of carrageenan (a known cancer-causer…and not Narraganset, as my spell checker insists) and several other hard-to-pronounce ingredients. What’s even more upsetting is that this is the only option I could find at the store; no organic heavy cream to be found. Wop, wop. How’s a girl gonna make homemade whipped cream for her hot chocolate and holiday desserts??

The fact that the baking powder was not only aluminum-free but non-GMO made my day. Generally, baking powder contains corn starch, which I tend to avoid BIG-TIME in my food. If I’m going out of my way to cut out the consumption of pesticides, GMOs, and the like, why on earth should I eat products laden with corn bi-products (some of the most highly contaminated crops we produce)? This is the reason that I (and many others) am so anti-corn syrup. So, here’s a HUGE win for me with this powder, considering I’ll be using it for many months to come.

So, how have you been with your food shopping lately? Or have you made any donations, small or large, lately? Give us the chance to pat you on the back for making a difference! 🙂

And how did your Thanksgiving festivities go? I can’t believe I haven’t shared any recipes for the holiday, but we have a tradition of going to one of our parents’ homes. Hoping to have my own mini-celebration soon, so keep an eye out.

*When I say “healthier,” I don’t mean it in the traditional sense. Some say that organic foods are not any different, nutritionally, from mainstream foods, but in the long-term and medical senses (not the forever-obsessed-about “Nutritional Facts” printed on the packaging), I disagree. What’s less healthy than eating a food that is known to cause chronic issues or serious diseases?*

Meat Muffins

We hope you and your family had an awesome Thanksgiving! I didn’t have the meal at my house, but I’ll have some holiday food posts for you in the coming weeks — so stay tuned! But, on with this week’s Foodie Friday…

Hee hee. I can’t stop giggling over that post title. But, yeah, I made some muffins…made of meat. Meat muffins.

Pfthwahahahaha!!!

I’ve made meatloaf and mini-meatloaves plenty, but realized that I hadn’t shared a recipe. Yet, every time I make a loaf, I find a new recipe to try. I finally decided to get on the muffin tin mini-meatloaf bandwagon. While it was generally the same amount of work, it was easier to just shove the mixture into an oiled muffin tin rather than trying to get a loaf to hold its shape on a sheet pan, or split it up into mini-loaves — yeck, math ‘n stuff. 😉

This is also the first time I threw in a carrot and celery…just because.

Mini Meatloaf Muffins

1 lb. ground meat (beef, in this case, but use whatchya got; this was grassfed from, of all places, Australia)
1 egg
1/2 c. oatmeal, uncooked
1/2 – 1 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 celery, trimmed and diced
Salt and pepper
Thyme and/or parsley
Worcestershire sauce
Ketchup

Topping (any measurements you like):
Ketchup
Mustard
Maple syrup (or brown sugar)

Place a few tablespoons of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once you can see ripples, add your diced onion, carrot and celery. Season with a bit of salt and allow to soften, 5-7 minutes.

While veggies cook, place meat, oats, egg, seasonings, a squirt of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Separately, mix topping together.

Add veggies to meat mixture and combine. Don’t overmix.

Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full (no need to smooth in your hands first, unless you want to). Use a spoon to spread topping on each “muffin.”

Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes (more if needed).

Serve with veggies and mashed potatoes (if you’re in a comfort food mood, which we were) or a nice light salad. Add a squirt of fresh ketchup if you like.

These are GREAT for little ones. Hadley adores his for lunch…or anytime, really. If your toddler or child isn’t a fan of veggies, this is a great way to get them to eat some carrots (and the rest of it) since they tend not to notice. But, we’re lucky, and Hadley likes veggies…he just prefers them wrapped in meat better. 😉

What’s YOUR favorite comfort food? A nice, meaty meal? A soup, stew or chili? Or is it all about the dessert?

I’m a Ham

Yes, yes. We all know I’m a bit of a ham — at least when I get on stage. Probably the reason Dave and I work well together. I don’t think I know anyone else who commands a stage (at times while admittedly overacting) quite like he does. His special talent, though, is for people to fully realize that he’s hamming it up — but to enjoy it and fall in love with him, regardless. Now, THAT’S talent, people.

But, I digress. This post isn’t really about how hammy we (and, so it seems, our son is). It’s actually about a ham dinner I made recently.

(crickets chirping)

Yeah, it doesn’t get much lamer than that. (And, yeah, it’s another “recipe” post. Neener neener. ;-)) But for those of you who wonder what our meals look like — you know, the GOOD, I had a little time and energy to put into them meals vs. the after-school-meal-grind meals — here’s an example.

We’re still doing pretty well with the weekday vegetarian thing, although we don’t beat ourselves up if we end up taking a turkey sandwich (because it’s all we have in the house for the “main”) for lunch or have the occasion meat-inclusive dinner on a random Tuesday. All things in moderation, people, especially moderation. 😉 But, yeah, for us, we’re doing pretty well with it.

However, this particular meal was made on a Saturday, so I felt I had a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. I had also thawed a pound of ground beef (grassfed, local) and a thicker-than-I-realized ham steak (also grassfed, local), so no matter what, meat was on the menu. (Needless to say, the beef was used that Sunday.)

All I had to do for the ham was heat it up (in this case using a grill pan) and maybe throw on a maple mustard glaze; quick and easy. It took far more time to prepare the sides, truth be told. You don’t need much direction on the rice — it was just regular, long-grain (non-instant) rice which we cooked while the broccoli was roasting. I’m trying to retrain my patience since I haven’t found any organic instant rice. ANYhoo…

Roasted Broccoli with Garlic

2 heads of broccoli (or 1 large head of broccoli) {side note: ours was organic}
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
Drizzle of olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon, juice of 1/2 – 1 lemon (depending on your taste)
S&P
Sprinkle or two of red pepper chili flakes (optional)

Heat oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut the broccoli to uniform sizes (as close as you can; don’t obsess) and place on baking sheet. Add the garlic, olive oil, lemon, and salt & pepper and toss well.

Roast in oven for ~20 minutes. (The garlic may brown quite a bit; that’s okay.) Taste and season with more S&P if needed, and add some chili flakes, if using. (We didn’t because any vegetables I make these days go into the baby’s mouth — a good thing — and I’d rather not pain him. ;-)) This is also yummy with some Parmesan cheese.

Maple Glazed Ham Steak

1 ham steak (size doesn’t really matter; make more of the glaze if you need, make less if you don’t seem to need it; cooking’s an art, not a science)
2 – 4 Tbsp. REAL maple syrup (not the “pancake syrup” stuff, please, for the love of God!!!)
1 – 3 tsp. dijon mustard
1/2 – 1 tsp. brown sugar (if you have it on hand; I didn’t and it was still fine)
Sprinkle or two each of ground clove and nutmeg

Heat your pan (grill or regular) to medium high. Prepare glaze using all the ingredients but the ham. You can either glaze the ham prior to cooking or while cooking (glazing both sides after each is cooked; this creates less burning and more “glazey” flavor than “hammy” flavor).

Either way, since this is a ham steak, you really only want to put a little color on the meat and heat it through (it’s already cooked, yay!), so use your judgement. It may need 4 minutes on each side…it may need 6 on the first and less on the second…or five on each. Just be sure to keep an eye on it that the glaze doesn’t burn (turn to medium if you’re worried about this happening).

* I also did a teensy drizzle of maple syrup over my rice and ham when finished. As Ado Annie says, I CAN’T SAY NO!

So, there you have it. One example of a Saturday evening meal in the ol’ hammed-up household. I try to keep it simple these days (since the moment the lil’ guy sees me cooking, he starts whining and fussing — he wants food, and he wants it IMMEDIATELY. We’re lucky to have such a great eater, but…), and it’s the little things — Dave loves (…wait for it…) rice. Rice with a meal (or, yes, even AS a meal) and salads, his two favorite things. Well, and maybe a wife who makes them for him without having to ask.

Why We Do What We Do

Monday, I posted a quick survey to see what my readers are thinking (and what they like/dislike/want to see more of on the blog). Here’s the link in case you haven’t had a chance to take it yet — and I promise you, I’m not selling your info or any weird thing like that, it just gives me a better idea of who you are and what you’re into!

Anyhoo, so far I’ve heard some wonderful feedback, especially when it comes to what people would like to see/hear more about. One that sticks out to me is hearing more about our change to a more organic lifestyle; the trials, tribulations, cost effectiveness, recipes, farmers market experiences (and what we bought!); also, DIY pieces with the “why” and ideas behind what we’re doing. And recipes. 🙂

(I’m pretty much paraphrasing the comment that I was happy to read!)

That being said, I thought it’d be a good time for a review and check-in about our decisions, our lifestyle, and even a few words about why I have a blog.

Some of this might be explained by a walk down memory lane (or, as I call it, my Archives page), but for those of you who don’t have the time to waste reading my oh-so-wordy accounts of days gone by, I’ll give you a quicker spiel.

I never had a huge goal when I started writing here. I didn’t want to practice writing more. I didn’t want to follow one set path or topic, since life doesn’t generally follow set structure (and I wouldn’t have stuck with it if I’d boxed myself in, anyway; I guess I’m a free spirit and am not a fan of feeling tied down).

I did think, however, that it would be nice to have a place to share my thoughts and try out some new things, and to be able to look back and say, “Oh, right, we got Beardslee that year! Oh, I forgot about that pumpkin place, what a fun day that was! Right, that was a yummy meal, I need to make that again.” Or, heck, to even be able to go back and remember our wedding a little easier. My memory sucks, by the way.

So, my very first post just so happened to be about something for which I felt uber-passionately in that moment (and still feel passionately about). It also just happened to coincide with Earth Day and related to Food, Inc. (a POWERFUL documentary about the state of the food that we eat…so powerful that we haven’t been able to bring ourselves to watch it since, we cried so hard and were so touched). I guess that laid a foundation for an environmentally-conscious blog!

Which I’m profoundly proud and happy about, please believe me! I love my teensy piece of the blogosphere. And I guess I would consider us to be conscientious greenies, in our own way. But we also live life and eat the occasional ordered-in pizza or doctor with traditional medicines (more-so myself than my hubs) and use traditional diapers (a mix; easier with the sitter). I try not to beat myself up that I’m not baking my own bread and making my own granola and soaking my oats (yes, that’s a thing) and raising my own chickens.

Plus, I have LOTS of interests outside of the green living realm. My favorite blogs to read have always been design/decor-based (namely DIY), and we’re huuuuuuuuge fans of old movies/radio shows and history. I love weird music and books; Dave loves his own weird music and comics. We’re all over the place!

I guess I’m saying that teaching our son (and future kiddies) about environmentally friendly practices, sustainable and healthy eating, and general awareness/kindness towards those around us (animals included) are some of our main priorities in life. If I’m able to build up to being a full-blown homesteader, great. But, odds are that we’re just going to keep working up to being as green as we can be, and be happy with what we can do.

After all, isn’t that really the meaning of life?

So, that being said, I hope to keep blogging about these things. When we get to a farmers market, I’ll remember that a few folks actually like to hear about what we purchased (and what we did with it! Recipes!). When we select a certain meat, I’ll try to remember to explain WHY grassfed is more sustainable and healthy than corn-fed (broken record or not). I’ll explain why we made the choice to eat one thing organic yet another item locally-grown but non-organic. Thanks for jogging my memory — just mentioning something once isn’t always the smartest thing, especially if folks haven’t been reading that long.

But, I hope not to come off sounding like this is what any of you should do. If it gets your wheels turning and considering where your food comes from and how it may give you better health in the long term, WONDERFUL!!!! If you’d just rather read those posts to see how we spent our weekend (and could give two hoots about whether the bacon was treated kindly), that’s great, too! I’m not here to preach. I’m just here to share my thoughts.

I’m proud to be a green blogger and writer, but there’s more (and going to be more) here than an enviro-blog. Since I’m into decor, DIY around the ol’ house and even some crafty stuff, I’ll be doing such. But I’d like to incorporate the Three R’s into as much of it as possible, whenever possible. And, of course, I’m first-and-foremost a mom, so any mommy thoughts will definitely find their way into posts. Again, there’s no right/wrong way to raise a child (unless you’re abusive…that’s unacceptable and I’ll smack you through the computer for that).

This might or might not have explained why the blog looks as it does, or it might just be yet another random-thoughts tangent. (Sorry!) Reading through some of my early, early posts might help describe the journey to where we are, currently, if that helps. And, as always, a HUGE thanks for reading! It makes it way more fun to write when I know folks are reading. Writing for crickets? Not as much fun.

Oh, and I do plan on sharing more of our shopping visits for all the world to see, if I can remember to take more pictures while wrangling a now-active toddler. 😉 Same goes for writing down recipes. I’m just so much of a “eh, throw a handful of this in…then another handful of that…” cook that I need to get better at…um…taking measurements and jotting things down.

Oddball

Organic For Less - image blogger-image-762841710 on https://megactsout.com

This past week, I schlepped the baby “up north” to the awe-inspiring Adirondacks for some quality time with my family and some ducks…and a deer head named Lois (although “she” was clearly a 7-point buck) which my son was sadly enamored with. I’m telling you, people, it was a good time.

Dave was only able to make it up for one dinner, so we missed our third musketeer horribly, but it was altogether a fun-filled, generally relaxing chance to get away from my daily summer routine of non-funness (boring ol’ everyday) and spend time with all three of my siblings (it’s rare to have us all together at once) and their respective families. We took walks, played some games, fed some duckies, illegally fished off the dock (oops…karma’s a bitch, I only caught seaweed), toasted a few marshmallows, mercilessly made fun of each other, and I even kidnapped my can’t-believe-she’s-a-teenager niece into canoeing across the entire lake. And, for the most part, I ate “normally.”

I had prepped myself mentally (if not physically, ugh) for this last piece. My mother, who is the ultimate planner/worrier, brought all the food (although my sister-in-law’s family brought a ton of goodies, too, since they were bringing up five people vs. two; I thought it was nice of them). It’s not that my mom eats crap; she buys the good cold cuts, the name brand yummy peanut butter, soda, bread, etc. Considering how much she has done for us over the years with an insanely low budget (HUGE Sunday meals, always healthy in the meat-and-potatoes sort of way; technically lots of “real food”), she still makes it a point to buy less but save for the best, even though we’re not under her roof anymore. It kind of brings a tear to the eye, really. Heck, maybe she thinks we’re not doing a good enough job of feeding ourselves. Could be.

But, I know that she and the rest of my family are, for all their strangeness, normal. I’m the oddball. Which is why I prepped, mentally, for the food, but more so for the comments.

I wasn’t about to drag out a week’s worth of my own natural food options. Didn’t want to disrespect the cruise director, plus she had brought more than enough food for everyone. I figured that, for a week, I could put my massive amounts of research and reading about the benefits of an organic, “real food” diet (or, at the very least, HFCS-free eating) aside and just be “one of the group.” No weekday vegetarianism, no looking at the label for naughty things. The one place that I differed was when it came to the baby. It’s relatively easy to keep that under the radar with his jars and pouches of baby food, but the organic cheese sticks, applesauce, apple juice and yogurt I tried to conceal in the fridge gave me away…and the bunch of bananas sitting strangely next to the ones Mom had brought.

The second I put a chip in my mouth, Mom made mention, sarcastically, of her “organic girl.” It actually didn’t hurt my feelings since I knew what she meant by it and it was one of the first times she had really ever made mention that she knew how I ate. She has eyed my grocery store cart when we bumped into each other at Hannaford, and she may or may not read the blog. She knows. The snide-yet-harmless comments (from a sibling or two, as well) continued in drips and drabs for a few days, but mostly they were about the stuff Hadley was eating. Whew. Bearable. For the most part, folks didn’t say anything at all; the chiding I did get was just a continuation of what I’ve heard since I was a little girl.

See, I’m used to the comments, for the most part. Our family is a group of teasers; always has been, always will be. I fall victim to the “Let’s gang up on Bill” mentality at times, myself, too. (Always remembering that I’ll probably be at the center of the next bout.) There was a time that my too-sensitive (not to mention dramatic) nature took them to heart. But, not seeing much of these close family members helps most of the comments bounce off one’s back and remember childhood fondly.

And it’s not like I’m not used to being the oddball, anyway. We’re each pretty weird in our own ways, but apparently I was a tad more “off” than the rest of them. It was the same way in school, so by the time I had weirded my way through high school, I had grown into my skin. Monkees-lovin’, tennis-and-oboe-playin’, non-drug-doin’ hippie as I was.

And, y’know what? In a weird way, this trip helped to remind me of who I am. I’ve become such a worrier of what others think of me that I had forgotten how comfortable it was to just be myself. Sure, I’ll probably always be a tad self-conscious around others (especially when in volatile situations…well, doesn’t THAT sound mysterious?), but the occasional reminder that it’s okay to be an oddball is refreshing, isn’t it?

At least, it’s what I hope to teach Hadley. After all, who’s more in touch with who they are than babies? Don’t lose that, son! Don’t you let it go.

What about you? Are you proud of your weirdness? What makes you especially crazy? Go ahead, let yo’ freak flag fly!

Mini Revolutions

I was fully intending to celebrate Food Revolution Day last Friday in a small way — dragging the baby to a local farmers’ market, since Dave was out of town for an awesome workshop. The illnesses floating around school put a stop to that.

So, while I did do a quick grocery shopping visit (one of my Aldi/Hannaford runs), I felt like the day was a dud. I ate locally for a meeting I attended in Utica, but the food was far from healthy. At Hannaford, most of my purchases were organic, though, so I told myself that would have to be good enough, as I tried to get my nose to stop running. (Side note: I bought fiddleheads (I was ECSTATIC to find them at the store…and I think people thought I was nuts) and kale for the first time!!! Can’t wait to try it.)

However, Saturday afternoon as the baby napped in my arms, I decided to hit up our Wii for some Netflix streaming. I can’t even guess the last time I did this. My hope was that “Gilmore Girls” would finally be available (what else can a girl wish for with her husband out of town??), but since it wasn’t, I typed “food” in the search area in hopes of finding a cooking show. Instead, I found my re-education and a way to celebrate Food Revolution Day, delayed though it may be.

A French documentary named “Food Beward: The French Organic Revolution”, yes in 95% sub-titles, showed me that the organic craze isn’t just a fad, and isn’t just an American trend. The rise of cancers, particularly among French children, were the origins of major concerns of the state of food production in France. To take a progressive, proactive approach, a rural mayor decided to change the school menu to organic and mostly local foods.

Here’s the IMDB movie description: “Food Beware begins with a visit to a small village in France, where the town’s mayor has decided to make the school lunch menu organic and locally grown. It then talks to a wide variety of people with differing perspectives to find common ground – children, parents, teachers, health care workers, farmers, elected officials, scientists, researchers and the victims of illnesses themselves. Revealed in these moving and often surprising conversations are the abuses of the food industry, the competing interests of agribusiness and public health, the challenges and rewards of safe food production, and the practical, sustainable solutions that we can all take part in. Food Beware is food for thought – and a blueprint for a growing revolution.”

We get to sit in on school lunches (“Organic bread tastes better.” And, Philippe! Eat your damn carrots!! Sheesh.) and follow students to a garden, which their teacher uses as a learning tool, from teaching science and the enjoyment of nature to math (“use your rulers to measure the lettuces’ growth” “that’s impossible!”) and cooperation (“Hugo gave me his parsley. Here, you can have some.” Awww.), as well as the evolution of adult thinking on organic.

At one point, the mayor meets with local farmers, calling it something of an occurrence (rather than something more aggressive…a fight?) and a chance for organic farmers and more traditional farmers to discuss methods and reasons for doing what they’re doing. I found this to be an interesting example of the fact that adults are able to debate an issue in a respectful manner, in addition to the fact that the information they were sharing can be directly linked to similar views in the U.S.

Overall, I was dismayed, informed, entertained, and finally uplifted by this flick. Often, the American-made docs tend to be downers (or so aggressive that it does nothing but inform and upset…and enrage…and then come the tears….), so this was an awesome reminder of our renewed reason to work on eating organically and locally — Hadley.

Next year, I’d like to have a bigger Food Revolution Day, with the hubby in town and the baby old enough to eat, like, EVERYTHING (he’s already a little foodie, I can’t get him to stop trying to devour my food; don’t get me wrong, I love that he loves food and I don’t mind that he wants to eat off of mine (after all, I’m a mom!), but his diet is still relatively restricted at this age). So, whether it’s a foodie get-together with friends or just a family visit to a farmers’ market followed by a special meal, I’m looking forward to it!

No matter what it is, it’s all about the mini revolutions, isn’t it? The small attempts at better things on a boring ol’ normal day?

A Tailor-made Meal, Cooked Perfectly

See what I did there? “Tailor…” “…Cook(ed)”? Yeah, you know this is gonna be good.

This year for my “birthday dinner” (observed the Saturday after my birthday), I opted for something a little different. Usually, our go-to meal would involve Beardslee Castle, a venue that acted as the sight of our wedding reception (delicious food — can’t wait to get back there and offer up a review!). Actually, Dave even said, “Want me to make reservations at Beardslee?” I had to stop him with a different suggestion.

The Tailor and the Cook is a Utica restaurant that’s been open shy of one year. It’s a unique place in more ways than one; not only does it feel like an eating experience straight out of a larger (more modern) city, but many of the ingredients used by the talented chefs are locally sourced. We’ve heard nothing but good about the place, so I’ve been itching to get there. It’s one of those “demands reservations” joints, so Dave hooked us up, and our mouths were watering and minds were wandering in anticipation.

Upon entering, one can tell that the experience would be special. Located in a newly up-and-coming area of the city, the bare brick walls are accentuated by local art and reclaimed wood trim. Edison-style bulbs dangle precariously above tables with mixed long, shared booth-style seating (which creates an intimate, yet still open and private atmosphere). Three large barrels (wine or whisky? Does it matter which?) have been repurposed into light fixtures for the front bar, which double as conversation pieces. The mix of modern and earthy is well-executed from front door to back bathrooms (which, before I even get to the food, I must say were incredible. The ladies’ room held an antique Singer sewing machine with vintage cookbooks, stark black-and-white industrial photography on the walls, a plethora of lotions and a sink that could double as an art installation. Yes, it was THAT worth mentioning).

After being politely seated and informed of jaw-dropping specials, we were offered sparkling spring water or tap water. We shot the moon (don’t usually drink sparkling), but I was equally as impressed that they reuse (cleaned) wine bottles filled with chilled tap water which stay at the table. It sounds simple, but the efforts to reuse items and the simple air of class that the stylish bottles gave to each table struck a sweet chord with us.

It took some doing, but we finally decided upon our meals (I considered going vegetarian, but this was a special occasion and it was a Saturday, so…I went for it): mine, a glass of Newman’s Own organic Chardonnay and the pork chop meal; Dave, a glass of Ommegang’s Three Philosophers brew and the hanger steak (which his curiosity taught us that this is the cut that butchers used to bring home to their own families without offering them to customers). We opted to share a cheese platter, and our entrees came with salads.

Okay. Let me stop right here. Saying “Dave got steak, I got pork” sounds mundane, boring, average. This was anything but. The meals were served as courses; not dumped in our laps while our waiter juggled a dinerful of other patrons. We were brought each item in a royal fashion, each plate constructed lovingly as if by a doting father. It was far from your average experience. Even our bread was brought to us by a guy carrying a basketful of the stuff (from Old Forge), doling it out one at a time on our plates with a delicious honey butter.

The cheese platter was one of the specials (which usually means you’re paying more for it), but it was reminiscent of a cheese platter that we shared during our Vermont honeymoon and anniversary trips. Only better. There were five cheeses, each from local farms — a bleu cheese, a smoked gouda, a goat’s milk chevre, a cheddar, and I totally forgot the last. (Sorry!) Alongside these were a couple of dried fruits, apple slivers, honeycomb (yes, on the comb…how do you even EAT that? Who cares, we had fun with it), grainy spicy mustard, cornichons (baby gherkins!) and rustic crackers. They were all impeccable and we had a blast sharing combination of flavors and choosing our favorites. Rather, I chose my favorite (that gouda was da bomb); Dave couldn’t choose. Oh, and we clearly didn’t get a picture.

Even our salads were impressive. Everyone had the same molasses vinaigrette (it wasn’t that sweet or heavy-tasting, really) and local hydroponic greens topped with sunflower seeds and beans. It was the first time that we realized how salt (and pepper) can heighten the flavors of a dish SO MUCH. I’m pretty sure it was a fancy schmancy type of salt, but a sprinkling brought out a taste that we couldn’t devour fast enough.

Here’s where things get embarrassing. Have you ever eaten something so good that you make noises you wouldn’t normally make in public, no apologies? Yeah. It happened. I should also say that we were the only folks in the place losing our cool enough to do this. Still not apologizing. We don’t go to a restaurant like this for the “scene”, or to BE “SEEN”. It’s for sharing in a special experience and, in this case, the best meal we’ve ever had in the Mohawk Valley. Onlookers be damned.

So, Dave’s meal was actually the pan roasted hanger steak with fingerling fries, fresh arugula, Gorgonzola butter and a red wine demi glace. Yeah. It was insane. (C’mon, steak with bleu cheese AND fingerlings? Shut the front door. One good thing about humans is that they’ve come up with seemingly CRAZY food combinations that can change a person’s thinking.)

I got the pan roasted pork rib chop (medium) with braised local ramps and celery, hazelnut and barley risotto, and rainier cherry gastrique.

***I had gastrique and I liiiiiked iiiiiit…the taste of that cherry saaau-aaauce…”

Even after trying a bite of Dave’s meal, I had to declare mine the winner. (Not sure he agreed.) Man, do these folks know the meaning of “complementary flavors.” The impeccably cooked chop, the excitement of the first ramps of the season (and the surprise of the evening: braised celery as a side vegetable? Delish!), creamy nutty risotto with a sweet-but-slightly-bitter cherry sauce to pull it all together? Doubly insane. Seriously, all I could tell the waiter when he checked on us was “Insane. Just insane.”

Since we were shooting the moon, we grabbed dessert — Dave enjoyed the Jones Family Farm cheesecake (we LOVE their cheeses, and I just happen to have their daughters in school; it’s awesome to know that it wasn’t a 100% selfish act in eating here; we were also supporting local farms who deserve the heck out of it!) and a Utica Roasting Company’s Drip coffee (they just happen to be TTATC’s neighbor; talk about local!) while I got buttermilk panna cotta with a blueberry sauce and DELICIOUS graham-style cookie, plus a decaf cappuccino (also courtesy Utica Roasting Company).

Ultimately, one of my favorite parts about this meal (aside from the flavors, the execution, the incredible service, the local sourcing) was the conversation it brought up. Since this meal was obviously costlier than most (like, a once a year sort of meal), we discussed what we were actually paying for. Simply put, it’s costlier to ensure that your ingredients (all the way down to the herbs) are quality and responsibly sourced. The lives of the animals that we eat have value beyond that of a dollar value menu. The food deserves to be respected as it’s grown, as it’s prepared, and as it’s eaten.

That being said, we’d give this joint a 5 out of 5 possible spoons. It was THAT GOOD. (Maybe we could take off half a spoon for price, but we think it was worth the splurge.) We even told the hostess (whom Dave knows from work) and our knowledgeable waiter that it was the best meal we’ve ever had in the valley. Makes some of the usual local fare seem like heavy loads o’ crap. (Yes. Yes, I said that.)

If you’re interested in visiting “The Tailor and the Cook”, find out more at their website. You can see their menus (and cost) as well as their sourcing practices. Oh, and as for one of those challenges that folks face more than we’d like to admit: Dave wore jeans with a button-down shirt (he brought a blazer along but didn’t wear it) and I wore a nylon skirt, top and 3/4 sleeve sweater, although we saw a complete range in clothing — from shorts to preppy orange/coral/pink slacks (on a gentleman) to dressy. So, I guess anything goes, but keep it classy, folks. Not that I have to tell you that. 😉