Paralysed by choice or lack thereof

Some have commented on my blogging hiatus, to give a proper answer, I decided, I needed to post.

When last I wrote, we had begun a journey into flexitarianism. All was going well at first. I was all aglow in optimism. As our family life became busier with school, work, and other commitments, my excitement started to fade. Without copious amounts of time to experiment, I found I was at a loss about what to prepare. Meals became very boring and lots of pasta and pizza were served.

My advice, now that I'm looking back: don't jump headlong into a new eating plan without... a plan. I didn't have enough quick and easy meals under my belt and I didn't have a meal plan. Although my husband is happy to ride along with me on this journey, he's mostly following my lead. Left to his own devices, he resorted to what he knew how to make: meals centered around meat.

As I explained to a friend today, I love cooking and have a large repertoire of recipes that I both enjoy making and are delicious. By removing meat from our diet, I essentially cut many of those out. I think part of my problem is that I was mourning  this loss. The other is that I had yet to build a new repertoire and was left both with little choice and too much choice.

A little confession here (no surprise to those that know me well): I'm competitive. I find I strive for more when those around me have similar goals. If they can do it, so can I! Well, a few of my friends are now changing their family's eating habits and pursuing vegetarianism. Enter my renewed enthusiasm! I also have others to share with and that is enormously important to me.

So what does my blogging future hold? Some book reviews (currently reading "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman), updates on this year's garden, and some green products I can't live without.

Now I'm off to the kitchen to make Golden Quinoa Salad with Mango and Walnuts. (I've updated the recipe with a much easier way to cook the quinoa.) This will be in our fridge for the next few days as a wonderful lunchtime go-to. For dinner, I'll be attempting Bittman's Rosotto with Vegetables and Herbs. For dessert, likely a green smoothie. We'll also try a "raw ball" (see photo below) courtesy of "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone and suggested to me by an aforementioned friend. I'll keep you posted!

 Do you have a favourite easy, meatless recipe? Please share!

Vegetarian Lessons

It seems that lately all I think about is food. I admit I'm a little compulsive since declaring us a flexitarian family. At lunch yesterday, I realised I had an overwhelming choice of delicious options in my kitchen - leftover butternut squash lasagna*, vegetable samosas, split pea soup, masala hummus (thank you Julie for introducing me to this!), green smoothie, etc. I chose a samosa, some sweet potato fries (my 2yo's choice), followed by a green smoothie. Learning to eat vegetarian is an adventure! Bonus: in over a week, I've started to look at vegetables differently.

Strawberry banana green smoothie

For example, DH and I had ordered  vegetarian versions of our fave Thai meals (me: coconut curry, DH: pad thai). When looking at the leftovers the following day, he asked, "are you going to finish your curry, or is it all vegetables?" I laughed and said, "it's all vegetables and yes!" In the past, I would have eaten some of the veggies, but focused on the chicken. This time, everything (except for the huge chunks of onion) had an equal chance of being eaten and enjoyed. We loved our vegetarian dishes, perhaps even more than the chicken versions. I was very happily surprised by that.

Valentine's Day was Monday and I learned a few things...

1. I already can't consume as much sugar as I used to without feeling pretty sick. (I also am convinced that the eczema on my hands is linked to refined sugar, since it starts to burn after I eat something sweet.)
2. My craving for sweets is more psychological than physical. My body doesn't want the sweets now, my brain does. I'm working on changing that.
3. Missing my green smoothie - which I did that day because of all the food being consumed - causes me to feel not only guilty, but also incomplete.
4. My husband is wonderful. (Okay, to be fair, that one I knew already.) He came home with dinner - something he never does unannounced - vegetable samosas, Indian split pea soup, 6 california rolls, hemp hermit cookies, and some incredible Green & Black's Carmel chocolate. He wanted to show his support for how hard I've been working to get our family eating better. I was in tears.

And the quinoa obsession continues... We've made two cookie recipes from Quinoa 365: Healthy Cookies and Oatmeal Raisin cookies. Here are some of the ingredients for Healthy Cookies:

Dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, sunflower seeds, rolled oats, flax seeds, coconut

Cooked quinoa

Before baking

Yummy Healthy Cookies

Everyone who has tried these cookies, young and old, loves them. They're not too sweet (1 1/4 cups brown sugar for 56 cookies) and are full of good things.

When I made the Oatmeal Raisin cookies, I had only a 1/2 cup raisins and so I used chopped medjool dates to make up the other cup. These are also really tasty and I prefer the dates - which are a new experience for me - to the raisins. Dates are very sweet, however, and next time I'll reduce the sugar to compensate. These cookies are gluten free as they use quinoa flour.

I've been doing some homework to make sure I'm covering my nutritional bases and to get some suggestions for a veggie newbie. I'm currently picking my way through the Vegetarian Starter Kit from Vegetarian Times. While I don't agree with everything (I'm not convinced of the safety of consuming non-fermented soy products, i.e. soymilk), here are some things that stand out for me:

• eating a variety of plant protein sources over an entire as a way of getting a "complete protein" rather than focusing on having it in each meal (the older way of thinking)
  
• better to focus on dairy-free sources of calcium and limit animal protein, a high intake of which encourages calcium loss from bones
• there is a link between type 1 (juvenile) diabetes and milk protein allergy
  
• using sliken tofu instead of sour cream in dips - can't wait to try this

 One of the best things to happen this week: I think drinking green smoothies prevented K (2yo) and I from getting F's stomach flu. Hurray!

Are you eating meat less or even never? Please share any lessons, tips, resources, or recipes you find helpful.

* I modified the linked recipe by using a combo of butternut squash and pumpkin that I had frozen and then mixing in some cooked quinoa. If you choose to do this, I'd say cook up about 1/2 cup dried quinoa and reduce the squash to 3 cups, otherwise it won't all fit in the baking dish (as I found out). I also used spinach lasagna noodles to give the meal some colour.

Green Smoothies

About a year and a bit ago, I was "inspired" to try making green smoothies.  I'd read a post about The Wonder of Green Smoothies. However, my fear both of drinking one and of making my little breastfeeding guy gassy prevented me. Today, my no-longer-breastfeeding guy and I made one.

This is what went in:

6 -8 leave romaine lettuce
2 cups water
3 cups chopped mango (I used thawed frozen mango)
juice from 1/2 lemon

I gave away my blender about a year and a half ago, so I mixed it using my immersion blender. The result was this:

A pretty vibrant green. My 2-year-old son K was watching the whole process and when I would give a taste before adding more mango, he'd ask for a taste. When I poured my (litre) glass:

he asked for one too:

And he had seconds, saying "I luh-uh-uh-uv juice!" Fingers crossed that what the author of Green for Life, Victoria Boutenko, says is true. She claims that the reason many of us (K and I included) suffer from indigestion, bloating, heartburn, etc. from greens is because we don't chew them enough to sufficiently break them down for digestion. When the greens are macerated in a blender, we apparently won't have that problem. I sure hope so. When he was still breastfeeding, K used to wake in the night screaming in pain if I ate a salad during the day. I eventually gave up eating greens, because I couldn't stand the guilt (and the night-waking).

Boutenko claims that all sorts of good can come from drinking green smoothies. She has testimonials from people who have had their warts, eczema, and asthma clear up. Drinkers have more energy, have lost significant amounts of weight, and cravings for junk food and sweets disappear. Further, Boutenko describes a walk in the woods where she found herself craving the greens growing along the edge of the trail! K currently has a cold and was feeling pretty rotten before making the smoothie. After drinking his two helpings, he was in much better spirits, his runny nose slowed, and he stopped coughing. He started playing and laughing again. Whatever the reason, I saw a big improvement in him.

But what did my green smoothie taste like? Pretty good. I found drinking it was strangely compelling. Despite the fact that I was looking to consume almost a litre of lettuce juice (remember, I don't particularly like vegetables), I had no problem getting it down. I'll be fiddling a bit with the ingredients to keep it interesting. My goal is to drink one a day for a week and see how it goes. I'll keep you posted. I may be growing a lot of lettuce this summer!

My Quinoa Obsession

Red Quinoa (dry)

Recently I discovered a book at Costco, which made me break one of my New Year's Resolutions. I had sworn not to buy any more cookbooks, due to my overflowing cookbook shelves (yes, plural). I'd seen this particular book before Christmas and had considered adding it to my wishlist - I actually took a picture of it. In early January, I found myself standing in Costco, looking longingly at the pile once more. Then something inside my went "crack", and my resolution was broken. All for the greater good (of my family), I told myself. (Yes, I can be weird about things. It only cost $17.39.)

The glorious book in question? Quinoa 365: the Everyday Superfood:

What the heck is quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah")? From the publisher's website:

One of the world’s healthiest foods, quinoa contains a perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids, and is a great source of protein, making it an increasingly popular food choice for those looking to incorporate superfoods into their everyday diets. Gluten-free, wheat-free, and nutrient-packed, quinoa is ideal for those who are health-conscious, vegetarian, or physically active, as well as for those with gluten intolerance, wheat allergies, and other digestive disorders. But that’s not all; you can eat quinoa guiltlessly knowing it’s free of cholesterol and trans fats, contains natural antioxidants, and is a source of vitamin E, calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium. In Quinoa 365 sisters Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming show you how to use this miraculous superfood in all your favorite dishes.

It is not a grain either, but the fruit of a broadleaf plant. All by itself, cooked quinoa is a great sidedish and alternative to rice. Since it's a complete protein (extremely rare for a vegetable or plant), it is an ideal meat substitute. But really, use it in all your favourite dishes? Yep. There are recipes in this book for salads, breads, cereals, stews, burgers, frittatas, cookies, and puddings to name a few. Flipping through the book, there are countless ways I see that we can incorporate quinoa into our new flexitarian way of eating.

White Quinoa (dry)

Until this book, my only other quinoa recipe was Golden Quinoa Salad with Mango and Walnuts. I got the recipe from the newspaper and was so smitten, that I made it for a family gathering at the end of the summer a few years ago. It was a hit and I (who hates cold salads) couldn't get enough of it.

Golden Quinoa Salad with Mango and Walnuts

There are many blogs with adoring posts about quinoa. I even found a blog by a mom admittedly "Keen on quinoa". It's a great source for quinoa recipes: How Do You Cook Quinoa?

My first dish from Quinoa 365 was the Minestrone Soup. I had all the ingredients on hand and felt like making something warm and cozy (because of what our weather has been like lately). The quinoa cooks with the soup, so there is no extra step. When I served this yummy minestrone, it looked like this:

Minestrone Soup

But after it had sat a little longer, the quinoa plumped up and became more visible:

Minestrone Soup - Day 2

I make a similar soup as part of my own repertoire, but I will now definitely add quinoa to it for a nutritional boost. In fact, I'll likely be adding quinoa to all my soups!

The other recipe I tried was Outrageously Quick and Easy Pizza Crust. In a word: fantastic. When we make our own pizza dough, I've used a recipe that came with our breadmaker. It's very good, but this is better. The quinoa is cooked and cooled first, then added to the dough. I found the dough a little difficult to work with, but I'm sure that will improve with practice - and I WILL be "practicing" this recipe.

Slightly Overcooked Pizza made with
Outrageously Quick and Easy Pizza Crust recipe

I was a little worried that the crust would be too doughy, since it puffed up when baking, but it wasn't at all. The quinoa (although practically undetectable) gives the crust an interesting and satisfying texture. It's hard to explain, but I'll say it was a HUGE hit with my family. I made the pizza vegetarian, save for the tiniest bit of crumbled bacon.

You can find a handful of recipes on the Quinoa 365 website, including Championship Chili (on my list of next-to-try), but I strongly suggest buying or borrowing the book, because once you get started with quinoa, it's pretty exciting stuff. Some other dishes on my list: healthy cookies, quinoa veggie bake, jalapeno chedder pepper scramble, pumpkin pancakes, black bean soup, tomato and basil crustless quiche, caramel date cake, chewy chocolate chip cookies, to name but a few. I did say I was obsessed!

Flexitarian Family

I've recently come to the decision that we, as a family (but especially DH and I), can and should be eating less meat (red, white, fish, etc.). I'm aiming for vegetarian-ish, which apparently is called flexitarian. This means that we will endeavour to eat vegetarian as much as we can. So far, so good.

Why not go "whole-hog" (if you'll pardon the pun)? Most importantly: DH and I love meat and I don't especially love vegetables. In fact, I'm a very reluctant vegetable eater and I've struggled hard to incorporate them into my meals. Give me boiled or steamed veggies (with a very few exceptions) in a pile on my plate and I'm unlikely to eat them. For this reason, despite the fact that I've long aspired to vegetarianism, I didn't think it was realistic and figured I'd probably starve.

So why on earth do I want to do this? Good question. Without getting into the many long and difficult arguments, I'll give you my main reasons:

• Ethical and Financial - The more I learn about how the majority of food animals are raised, fed, bred, and slaughtered I don't want to be a part of it. There are better alternatives, but doing things "right" costs much more money than assembly-line, corner-cutting factory farming. So either we find more money in the budget, or we treat meat as a treat. The big bonus to the alternative sources I've found is the taste - unlike anything I've ever tasted before and so delicious.
• Health - I want to eat delicious food. I don't want to feel that I'm missing out on meat. If that happens, this will end up as a short-lived experiment rather than a lifestyle change. So I've got to find great-tasting meals with lots of variety. It also means that eating out will become even more of a rarity. I'll be cooking more of our meals and by default, we'll be making better choices with our food.

What spurred this on? Mostly a lot of reading and a lot of thinking. About a year ago I read The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. Excellent books, great reads and really thought-provoking. I think they should be required reading. A month ago, I finally watched Food Inc. and my mom's group book club started reading Omnivore's Dilemma (at my request). I just finished the short and sweet Food Rules and have started our next book club selection: Eating Animals. But long before all of this, I took a first year university philosophy course on ethics, where we discussed the philosophical arguments for and against vegetarianism. The seed was planted then, so to speak.

So we've been at this for over a week, officially, and I'm thrilled both with how much we're enjoying our new way of eating and with how easy it has been. DH has been wonderfully supportive and on-board. He is a pretty adventurous eater and has loved sampling the new recipes like this 4-cheese Manicotti.

4-cheese Manicotti - unbelievably delicious

I followed the recipe, but for these exceptions: omitted the spinach - didn't have any, used our favourite Zarky's sauce (no extra anything in it, as close as you can get to making your own) instead of following the marinara recipe. I served it with a cheese garlic bubble bread. Words can't describe how tasty this meal was. I asked my husband at the end of the meal, "did you miss the meat?" His answer, "no way!" While the example may not have fulfilled the "healthy" motivation, it sure was encouraging and satisfying.

Which brings me to my next post... My Quinoa Obsession

Feeding the family during "Snowmageddon"

We'd expected anywhere from 30 to 45cm of snow in Hamilton yesterday, but didn't get it. What we did get was enough to shut down the city and we all got a snow day - yay! There was something about all the snow outside, the sound of snowblowers and shoveling, and being snug and warm inside that made me want to cook. I'd heard of people stockpiling groceries in the days leading up to the storm, but I was happy that we had more than enough to sustain us for several days (but probably more). We'd run out of raisin bread - the boys' favourite - and so I made a new recipe in the bread machine. It turned out great and so much better than storebought.

I still felt like baking - and honestly, bread machine bread can't really be called "baking" - so upon a suggestion from my sister-in-law to check my freezer for summer fruit, I settled on a berry buckle. It uses a handful of basic ingredients, plus frozen berries. The boys helped and it was fresh out of the oven when they and DH returned from shoveling the driveway.

For dinner, I'd already planned on making loaded baked potato chowder in my new Pampered Chef Covered Baker. (Aside: I recently had a party and stocked up on some stoneware and necessary cooking tools for next to nothing. I got $258 worth of stuff for about $19. I was thrilled.) The chowder is made in the microwave - I almost never "cook" in the microwave, just heat - and takes about 30min from start to finish, including prep. It tasted fabulous and was really easy - not to mention frugal!

So today, the bread is almost gone and I may just be making another loaf for tomorrow. The chowder probably has about 2 servings left and the berry buckle is about half gone. So what's for dinner tonight? Hmmmm... I'm on a quinoa kick after purchasing Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood (more in a post to follow) and am thinking of trying the "Outrageously Quick and Easy Pizza Crust". However, I only have bread machine yeast, not quick rise yeast and am trying to figure out how to successfully substitute. Fingers crossed, we'll have a yummy pizza for dinner.

Irresistible Zucchini Bread

Last night I dug out some frozen shredded zucchini. It was from our garden. In 2009! I thawed it, rinsed it, drained it, squeezed it (to remove some of the extra water), and it was just fine.

I used it to make a family favourite: Zucchini Bread. It's from my beloved Betty Crocker cookbook. I've had the book since about 1998 and it has so many good recipes.

Photo from BettyCrocker.com

You can see the recipe here. Modifications I make: reduce sugar by 1/3 cup to 1 1/3 cups; reduce cloves to 1/4 tsp (I'm not a huge fan of cloves); for flour, I use a blend (see below); skip the nuts (my boys don't like them).

My sons helped me make the bread (which they prefer to call "cake") and love to eat it. What an easy way to get some veggies into them.

I've made the pumpkin variation before and am considering trying it with butternut squash.

When I harvest the zucchini from the garden (you can also buy it in season from a farmer's market), I wash and shred it right away. If you've got really picky eaters who will balk at a little green in their bread, you can peel the green off before shredding. I prefer to leave it on to keep the vitamins. I put three cups into a bag, mark it and pop it in the freezer. This way I can make a zucchini bread whenever the mood strikes. Even over 1.5 years later!

Flour Blend (from "The Sneaky Chef" by Missy Chase Lapine): Mix together 1 cup unbleached white flour, 1 cup wheat germ, and 1 cup whole wheat or whole grain flour. Once blended evenly, use instead of white flour in recipes. I keep mine in a glass jar in the freezer (so the whole wheat flour doesn't go rancid) and then measure out what I need for a recipe.

Mothering Matters Meeting Recap

I had the privilege recently of speaking at a Mothering Matters meeting about being frugal and green. There was so much to cover and I'm no public speaker so I jumper all over the place based on questions and comments.

As promised, here is a list of products and resources that I mentioned in my talk.

Products I'm using:
hair care - Kiss My Face, Whenever shampoo and conditioner (purchased at Fortinos)
toothpaste - Desert Essence, ginger (purchased at Fortinos)
deoderant - Crystal, all natural body deodorant, roll-on (for some great info about deoderants and anti-perspirants, see here) (purchased at Goodness Me!)

Companies I'm interested in:
Norwex - cleaning without chemicals (just got my supplies today, will post on my experiences soon)
Melaleuca - "naturally based products that promote wellness and vitality" (currently trying a sampling of products and will post results)
Shaklee - "creating healthier lives"

Books for inspiration:
"Slow Death by Rubber Duck", by Rick Smith, Bruce Lourie (see my post about this book here)

The Story of Stuff Project:
 These online videos are enlightening and made in an easy-to-follow manner. Especially good for teaching.
- The Story of Stuff
- The Story of Cosmetics
- The Story of Electronics

Once again, a big thank you for inviting me to speak. If you want to know more, please consider following this blog. Now that my life has "simplified" somewhat, I will be posting more regularly. :)

My 4-year-old's portrait of me, with a heart for me to love him (his words).

A Life Less Simple

Well, this is not simplifying at all: I've started a new business. I had no intention of working from home, but it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I am now a consultant for Usborne Books at Home, a company based in the UK that makes wonderful books for children and teens. As a consultant, I do home shows, exhibits, and promote literacy. Once I have a little experience under my belt, I aim to get certified to sell to schools and do literacy fairs.

I got hooked a few weeks ago when a friend of mine hosted a party and I was blown away by the quality of the books. I wanted them all. Better yet, they have a large French language catalogue. My husband is French and we are endeavouring to raise the boys bilingual. Trying to find French books for purchase (the library is pretty well stocked) in Hamilton is a losing battle. We're limited to a very small rack at one Indigo store. Usborne has almost 500 French titles in Canada. They sell very well in Quebec and I hope to find a wide audience in our area.
Recycling things to make and do
So why didn't I just buy instead of deciding to sell? My husband asked me the same question. I already have my hands full already with two little ones and a university course on the side. (Not to mention my poor, neglected blog.) Despite this, I was craving another challenge. I'm lucky to be surrounded in my life by small business owners and there's a part of me that has itched to try my hand at it. I attended my first Social Mamas mamapreneurs meeting this month and found a welcoming group of creative and talented businesswomen full of helpful ideas to get me started.
The Story of Rubbish
But how does my new job fit into my philosophy of simplicity, self-sufficiency, and frugality? That was my big stumbling block
- Simple? Not. My life and the life of my family will become more busy and complicated for sure. We will also have a lot more 'stuff' in our home, but books are something I make an exception for and we've already got a ton of them. A little more won't hurt and they are useful, reusable, beautiful, and educational.
- Self-sufficient? I will be providing access for my children to a wealth of high quality, engaging reading material for very little cost to us. I will also (I hope!) be bringing a little more money into our budget, thereby allowing us a little more financial freedom.
- Frugal? The initial investment was very very small and will be made back quickly. In return, I have LOTS and LOTS of great books. Assuming I would have been buying the books anyway in the future, this is a very frugal decision.
Le temps et les changements climatiques
Now, can I run a business in a way that supports and promotes my principles? This is where I'm looking for suggestions. Usborne itself has impressive ethical and safety policies, which pertain to the manufacturing of its products. But how do I advertise and communicate and package in an eco-conscious fashion? I'd rather not give customers their orders in plastic bags, so I'm trying to find a greener way to meet the need to keep the books safe from the elements. I'm not seeing many options yet. I've got a theory I'm about to test and if it works, I may have a solution. More on that another time. If anyone has any suggestions, please comment, I'm all ears. As for advertising and marketing, I'm relying on word-of-mouth and the internet. I've got a temporary website set up and will be making a more customized one myself (once I learn a little about web design). Facebook and Twitter are also becoming fixtures in my life as I learn how to use them as business tools rather than pure social networking arenas.

This is a strange new world for me and having done no research ahead of time, I'm scrambling to catch up. How do you balance your work life and home life and manage to adhere to your personal philosophy of life?

Update: find my new Usborne website here.

Behind the Times and Loving It

One could argue that it's because I'm getting older (though I'm only 33), or because I have two young children, but I believe that it's mostly because of our decision to simplify our lives and live a more frugal and sustainable life that has caused it. I never would have guessed that I'd become so out of "the know" regarding popular culture. I couldn't tell you what television shows, movies, songs, or stars are popular. I haven't the slightest idea. What's more: I don't care. How far I have come.


Media unplugged: It began with not listening to the radio, when I became a stay at home mom, as I was no longer commuting to work. I also no longer watched the news in the morning as I prepared for the work day. With a young baby who was very sensitive and needy, we quit going to the movies, because he couldn't take being away from me for very long. When my son started paying attention to television and began to react to what he saw, we stopped watching many things when he was in the room. We then realised that there was little time or energy to watch these things when he wasn't in the room. Eventually we cancelled our television service. When my beloved newspapers started piling up after having our second child, I cancelled the newspaper too. I recently received some magazine subscriptions for my birthday (at my request), but I can't keep up and don't want them renewed.


Shop less: As finances got tighter, shopping lessened. I found one of the best ways to save money was to not go shopping! I started to fall out of fashion (not that I was ever terribly "in fashion"). The latest technical gadgets became far out of our reach. Flashy cars (not that we'd ever really coveted those either) were an impossibility without going into debt. The big house was too expensive to buy, decorate, and maintain. The "better neighbourhood" was too far away from my husband's new job and to live closer cost less so we moved. (BONUS: We love our current house, neighbourhood, and city much more than the last.) Without television urging us to "buy, buy, buy", we don't even know what we're missing.

Have you seen...? Have you heard...?: No and no. I keep somewhat up to date with current events via the internet, and I overhear friends discussing current entertainment. Aside from that, don't know, don't care. For my Christmas wishlist, I ask for DVD box sets of the next season of some of my favourite tv shows (many of which have long since ended) and throughout the year I slowly plod through them. I really enjoyed The Sopranos, but I still haven't finished the final season. I adore LOST, but please don't talk to me about it; I still haven't finished last season. Every now and then I borrow a season of Big Love or Weeds from the library, but I only get to watch a few episodes before it goes back and I'm on the waiting list again. (I should 'fess up here and admit that I am pretty aware of what is popular in the preschooler entertainment world. Somehow, we haven't escaped that!)

Don't you miss it?: I never thought I'd say this, as I used to be quite the pop culture junkie, but absolutely not. I am more aware now of advertising and marketing. When watching television at someone else's house, I feel assaulted by the commercials. "Leave me alone! I don't need that!" I feel.


What do you do with your time?: I've found that I have more time and energy (and money) for other pursuits. I cook more. I read much more. I spend more time with family. I play with my children. I vacation in the backyard. I socialize more. I blog. I grow my own food. I can and freeze and dehydrate homegrown or local produce. I research ways to save money, eliminate chemicals from our home, be more self-sufficient. With out the busy-ness of keeping up with popular culture, I live at a slightly (since I have two very young children) slower pace. The best part: now that I am not so distracted, I have and take the opportunity to savour simple pleasures and share these with my husband and children.

"...The positive psychologists confirmed scientifically, in other words, what simple-living advocates have been asserting for so long anecdotally: a life lived with less emphasis on acquisition might have the effect of leaving more time for richer, less resource-intensive life awards, making both the planet and the people happier." from "No Impact Man", by Colin Beavan.

CSA - Yay!

I picked up my first ever CSA box today - what an thrilling experience! It's like Christmas, opening up that box and not knowing what you're going to find inside. (I kept saying "this is so exciting!") I was pleasantly surprised with the bounty I found. (More on that later.) I've been eagerly anticipating our first box for several weeks, so it's a wonder how I managed to forget to pick it up yesterday. Thankfully, we had 24 hours to pick it up before it's given away. So on the way home from preschool, with my 3.5-year-old and 11.5-month-old in tow, we picked up our lonely box. (Technically it had 2 other boxes to keep it company - clearly I wasn't the only one who'd forgotten - but there was a tall stack of empties sitting next to them.)

How did I get here? Well, I've been kicking around the idea of joining a CSA for some time now and after reading "The Dinner Diaries", I was inspired to finally take the plunge. A few weeks ago. I signed up with Plan B Organic Farm in Flamborough. According to their website: "Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) is a system of growing and distributing organic produce that restores the link between the farmers and city dwellers." Basically, you pay ahead of time and then every week you pick up a box full of produce from a local depot. Plan B is a multi-farm CSA, so the summer produce comes from 12 organic farms in southern Ontario. In fall and winter, it comes from "local and imported origin" although you can choose just local (that would mean slim pickin's in the dead of winter). Go to their website to see all the yummy goodies you can get in a box.

I only signed up in September, so I did a single share for Fall 2009, which spans Oct.13-Dec.31. It amounts to $25/week for 12 weeks. It's a real bargain for organic produce and saves so much effort trying to locate a good variety of local food every week. A single share is: "One week's worth of fruit and vegetables - approximately 8-10 items/week, enough for a household with 1-2 adults." To be clear, 8-10 items does not mean 1 apple, 1 pear, 2 potatoes, 1 head of lettuce, etc. Take a look at what came in my first box!

FrugalMaman's Fall CSA Box Week #1
3 red cubanelle peppers - 431 g
2 onions - 521 g
4 small potatoes - 435 g
6 beets - 558 g
5 carrots - 408 g
2 heads of broccoli - 740 g
1 bunch of spinach - 421 g
1 small bag of salad greens - 159 g
1 extra large butternut squash - 3.5 kg
1 small bag of mushrooms - 136 g
7 apples - 869 g
5 pears - 435 g
5 bananas - 728 g
Total Weight - 9.771 kg

It looks like I'm going to be kept on my toes planning meals around all this fresh produce! I know what to do with these fruits and vegetables, and luckily my family eats everything we received. (My 3.5-year-old son is very excited about all the fruit and was begging to dig in as soon as we arrived home.) I am looking forward to some delicious salads and soups over the next week. I must admit I'm a little nervous, though, about one day finding a lot of strange looking root vegetables in my box. At least this is the easy part of the season!

I intend to track how we fare with our fare. Should it work out well, I'll be signing up for a winter share.

More from the Plan B website:

Why buy produce from Plan B in the fall instead of the supermarket?
- The best selection & value of local and imported certified organic produce
- Plan B "puts local first" in the shares, with stored root crops, local greenhouse greens, and local apples all season long.
- The imported foods in your share are as fresh as you can get. They don't sit out on a store shelf losing valuable nutrients, they go straight from the cooler to you.
-Support Plan B in their ongoing work of developing a local organic farm business by buying from us year round!

My whole family is in Detox

As one of the characters in my son's latest DVD obsession ("Thomas & Friends: Hero of the Rails") says, "slowly, slowly, gently, gently." That's my motto right now as I attempt to remove as many toxic products as I can from our personal care regime. I've been reading "Slow Death by Rubber Duck" and "Ecoholic" and am learning all kinds of nasty things about what's in our medicine cabinets. My motives are twofold: to remove unwanted chemicals from our lives (and bodies) and to save money in the process.

So I embarked on a journey, filled with perhaps 'too much information', to find better choices for everyday products like shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, hand soap, hand cream, moisturizer, baby body wash, etc. I began by visiting www.cosmeticsdatabase.com to look up the ratings of the items we're currently using. The result was pretty scary: just about everything turned up high on the hazard scale. From what I can tell, the more heavily marketed brands and the ones always offering free samples and coupons are pretty toxic. Even the stuff for babies is bad! An easy rule of thumb is if it's heavily scented or brightly coloured, it's bad news. After that, you're dealing with specifics and the issue becomes more challenging.

Here's a sampling of our bathroom cabinet contents and their ratings on the Cosmetics Database.

Product Name - Hazard Level (out of 10, 0-2 low, 3-6 moderate, 7-10 high)

Neutrogena T/Gel Shampoo Original Formula - 8

GilletteSatin Care Shave Gel Dry Skin - 8 (in 2007 was 10)

istyle "i'm flexible" molding wax - 8

Pampers Kandoo Foaming Handsoap Pump, Magic Melon - 7

Pampers Kandoo Flushable Wipes, Magic Melon - 7

Glysomed Hand Cream - 7

Gillette Series Shave Gel for Sensitive Skin (men's) - 6

Garnier Fructis Style Curl Shaping Gel Spray - Curls & Shine - 6

Sesame Street Finger Paint Bubble Bath - 6

Huggies Naturally Refreshing Wash for Hair & Body, Cucumber & Green Tea - 6*

Gillette Satin Care Shave Gel Alluring Avocado - 5 to 8*

Banana Boat Kids Dri Blok SPF 30 - 5

Banana Boat Kids Dri Sport SPF 30 - 5

Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo Color Resist - 5

Garnier Fructis Fortifying Conditioner Color Resist - 5

Avon Bubble Bath, French Lilac - 4 to 6*

Gillette Antiperspirant and Deodorant ClearGel, Wild Rain - 4

John Frieda Collection Frizz-Ease Hair Serum - 4

Avon Feelin' Fresh Original Roll-on Antiperspirant - 3 to 6*

Avon Tranquil Moments Roll-on Antiperspirant - 3 to 6*

Dove Beauty Bar Unscented - 3

Thentix Skin Conditioner- not found

* Approximation since specific brand not listed

Observations:

• The kid stuff is all between moderate and high on the hazard scale! I mean, come on, children are the most sensitive and there aren't regulations to protect them from scary chemicals being slathered all over their growing little bodies?
• We've got nothing in the low range.
  
• The colour green does not mean "green"!

So having discovered we've got a cupboard full of baddies, I've got two options: turf any unused product right away, or use up what is left and find a nicer replacement. I'm opting for the first one since none of us is showing any adverse effects and I don't want to be wasteful.

Next choice: do we really need to replace it? For the most part, we've trimmed a lot of unnecessary products already, but it's always worth reexamining something. For example, do I really need a hairspray for curly hair? Or an anti-aging serum? Or does my 3.5 year-old need a special body wash and shampoo? The answer to all these questions is no, but those are the easy ones. What about: coal tar dandruff shampoo (for a particular scalp condition), or antiperspirant, or shaving gel?

What do we replace it with? That is a toughie. I've searched through the cosmetics database for products on the low end of the scale in different categories. That part is easy enough. The hard part is finding a place in Canada (the database primarily lists American products) that sells what I want.Comparison shopping for price adds another level of difficulty. Good times! To help me in my quest, I used Well.ca and printed out my shopping cart to bring with me to my local stores. Well.ca has free shipping, but their prices tend to be a little higher. If I can't find something near me, I'll order from them. I have yet to buy a single item, but I'm going shopping today. Wish me luck!

I could go on and on about how it seems utterly insane to me that finding products for my family that aren't possible carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, bioaccumulative, etc. should be this hard. Some would argue that there isn't hard proof in the form of human trials for some of these claims. Perhaps, but do we need it? I don't want my family to be lab rats. If there's a better way, I'm looking for it. I'm trying to find a balance (on of my favourite words) between simplicity and convenience, ecological and economical. I'll post my findings as I continue my quest.

Locally delicious or how much do you know about your meal?

I just finished the most wonderful meal. It was simple, quick, inexpensive and sooo delicious. Now, I have to admit that part of the reason it was inexpensive was that my mother had given me some of the ingredients most of which were bought from local growers at the Milton Farmer's Market, but even if I'd bought them myself they wouldn't have cost much. I sauteed some onions, added lean ground beef which I seasoned and browned, then threw in some fresh peas and chopped red pepper. I served it with some of my mom's delicious potatoes baked with cheese and onion. Nothing fancy, extravagant, or high in fat or calories. My 3-year-old said, unsolicited, "mama, I like this burger." My husband said, "I could finish everything that's left, it's so good." I was proud.
So, what's the big deal? First of all, most of the ingredients (onions, peppers, peas, beef) were locally grown/raised. Second, and perhaps most important, the beef was grass-fed. What's the difference and/or who cares? Well, until recently, I would have said the same thing. Lately I've been reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals", by Michael Pollan. I'd done some research and decided that it was a book I needed to read. That is a huge understatement. I'm about halfway through and if I had all the time in world, I could have read it all in one sitting it's that fascinating and spellbinding. (Granted, not everyone is as interested in where their food comes from, but he is an excellent writer and the book is anything but dry.) I can tell you this from my reading so far: just about everything we eat is made from corn. Really. Unless you grow your own organic vegetables and eat whole foods, chances are excellent that corn factors prominently in your diet and your body. But, as I say so often in my blogs, that is another story.

Back to the beef. You know how you sometimes see or hear "grain-fed beef", as if it's a good thing? It's not. Turns out cows don't eat grain. They eat grass. That's what they're supposed to eat. Cheap, easily grown, subsidized corn had to be used somehow and without getting into details, it fattens a steer up quickly, and humans are forcing them to eat it. Because it goes against their physiology, we have to devise all kinds of clever and ingenious ways to keep costs low and keep them alive until slaughter. Antibiotics, feedlots, e-coli, and hormones are a part of our supermarket beef because we are feeding cows something they have not evolved to eat.

All this brings me back to my meal... I was at Whole Foods in Oakville (great place, but not quite as good as the Organic Garage - a few blocks away) yesterday and spotted a package of grass-fed lean ground beef. It comes from Beretta Organics, a family-run farm located outside King City, Ontario. A little more expensive, yes, but there is another way of looking at it: regular supermarket beef is underpriced and unnaturally cheap. It didn't cost the world, by any means, so I snatched a package and was super-excited to try it out. The verdict? Mmmmmm. Ground beef never tasted so good. My husband said "it has a different texture!" True, it was not chewy, but instead tender and oh so savoury. I can only imagine what a grass-fed steak would taste like.

Having children has changed me, hopefully for the better. It has opened my eyes to so many things, including what I put in my body and how I feed my family. I am also much more sensitive to injustices and the more I learn about how food animals are treated, the more I am upset by it. I strive to grow better, buy better, cook better, and eat better. I live in the suburbs, but I still have a strong urge to grow my own foods and support better practices for growing and for raising animals. It's a process and it has take me years to get here. I have miles to go yet. I remind myself that I am a role model for my children and that I can make a difference by teaching them my values. I am nourishing not only their bodies and with every meal, I have another opportunity.

Want to know more about grass-fed beef? Try these links:
http://www.americangrassfedbeef.com/grass-fed-natural-beef.asp
http://eatwild.com/basics.html

Want to locate a source near you? Go here to find local sellers in Canada or the US:
http://www.eatwild.com/products/index.html

Hamiltonians can find info at the Hamilton Local Food Directory:
http://environmenthamilton.org/eatlocal/directory/index.htm

Other informative Books to try:
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, by Michael Pollan

The Self-Sufficientish Bible - cont'd

I have almost finished this excellent book. At first I thought I'd read bits and pieces of it, but it was so interesting that I'm reading it cover-to-cover. As expected, the "Bible" covers topics such as gardening, energy, recycling, composting, transportation, eco-minded consumption. I've read about all kinds of interesting ideas, suggestions, and projects.

I did not realise that regular cotton clothing had such a nasty side! It takes large amounts of dangerous chemicals to grow and the water and the workers become polluted. There is loss of habitat for many species due to re-routed water for irrigation and the corresponding increasing salt levels in the adjacent waterways. A 2005 study of Indian cotton farm workers over a 5-month period found 82 percent suffered from some symptoms of poisoning (mild-39%, moderate-37%, severe-6%). The WHO reports that over 20,000 people a year die from exposure to the agrochemicals used in cotton production. I had no idea. Buying used clothing helps, since it has already been manufactured, and hemp is a great alternative. I've begun sourcing hemp clothing in the Hamilton area and will post what I find.

Another surprise for me was the environmental impact of funerals. I'd always thought that cremation was pretty environmentally sound. Not so, apparently. Mercury from dental fillings can be release during the process of cremation and about 15% of mercury in the atmosphere could be attributed to this. Cremation is also energy intensive and a large amount of fuel is required, the authors say it could be the equivalent of a third of one person's average annual carbon emissions. This is not to say that burial in a casket is much better, the materials in coffins can include plastic and formaldehyde, which can pollute groundwater. (Not mentioned in the book, is the impact of the chemicals used in the embalming process.) Some greener options are suggested, including green coffins such as cardboard where the attendees of the funeral are given a pen to write a message to the deceased.

The Self-Sufficientish Bible is also cram-packed with nifty alternatives for everyday items. One of my favourites is the alarm clock powered by water. (I've been looking for a source for these, but they're not easy to find.) Or the solar-powered or crank charger for electronic gadgets (I think Canadian Tire sells one of these). Even better is the hand-crank MP3 Player (so far I can only find these in the UK). When I look around on the internet, I find all kinds of eco-friendly gadgets in Europe and the UK. As usual, they're way ahead of us and we'll just have to wait for the cool stuff to make its way over the pond.

(This once again raises the issue of where to find green products in Canada! I'm reading 2 other books right now, "It's Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living" by Crissy Trask [a US publication, but it lists some Canadian sites] and "Ecoholic: Your Guide to the Most Environmentally Friendly Information, Products and Services in Canada" by Adria Vasil. Hopefully they will provide some insight. I also just spotted a post on EcoSherpa that lists some "Canadian eco-merchants who offer online shopping".)

Okay, before I get too off-topic...there's some good ideas regarding celebrations and balloons. I had never considered the fact that expensive mylar balloons don't biodegrade, but cheap latex ones do. Another neat idea is to get together with a bunch of friends and buy (reusable) party supplies together to use year after year. This saves everyone money and reduces the amount of seldom-used stuff cluttering up our houses. I would have loved more info on gift-giving and how to make your own gifts. They do mention recycling greeting cards by cutting part or all of the cover off and pasting on a blank card, something I've recently begun to do. (I decided with my husband that we won't buy each other any more cards and instead we'll make our own by finding a nice verse and writing it one of our many inexpensive blank cards.)

All in all, this was a really enjoyable read. I loved the UK perspective, although there was some info that didn't apply to Canadian readers with respect to gardening, allotments, climate, and some available products for purchase. This book was light-hearted with great visuals. I have been inspired by their ideas on foraging for wild food and making your own cider. Best of all, they included some yummy recipes including those made with seasonal produce grown in your own garden, some of which I will be sure to try out (e.g, bread-machine apple bread, carrot cake, pumpkin and chestnut risotto)! Next, to investigate Andy & Dave Hamilton's website www.selfsufficientish.com.

My Edible Container Garden

I may have overdone it this year, but I was very enthusiastic and hopeful. I've got very little land that gets enough sun to grow an edible crop, so the vast majority of my edible garden is in containers. As of today, my edible garden now includes: lettuce, arugula, radish, beet, green onion, pea, strawberry, raspberry, red currant, chive, oregano, parsley, basil, mint, cilantro, chocolate mint, tomato, cucumber (straight 8 and pickling), bell pepper, cubanelle pepper. All but the raspberry and red currant are in containers!

I've got 18 sqft of "Square Foot Garden" in 3 planters attached to the outside of my deck railing. Despite all the claims by Mel Bartholomew in his book, All New Square Food Gardening, my plants have not done very well in them the previous two years. This year I added about 2 inches of compost to the top after planting and so far the plants are doing much better. Has anybody else tried square foot gardening? I was so excited about it after reading the book, but after a lot of money and effort, I've been pretty disappointed. Maybe it would be better if they were on the ground and were about to stay a little cooler or hold more water?

Since my hopes were sky high, I had to gather enough planters or pots for the rest of my babies. I've got alpine strawberries in hanging baskets, but everything else is in a pot or planter. I couldn't keep everything on the floor of my deck or we'd have no room for ourselves (although I think that is still becoming an issue), so I used some bungee cords to attach some pots to trellises I have on the driveway. I also got some window box brackets for two planters and nabbed an excellent deal on wall planters at 4 for $4 (reg. $6.99 ea). When I ran out of large pots for tomatoes, I used old drywall pails and drilled holes in the bottom for drainage. I managed to get a huge fiberglass planter for $15 at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Burlington (LOVE that place) which I'm hoping to use for a potted apple tree next year.

Everything is doing very well for the most part. I'm having to improvise as I discover problems, since my goal is to spend little to no money on the garden at this point. We've had huge amounts of rain, so I've had to water very little. When I do, I use the water from our at-capacity rain barrel. I spotted aphids on my tomatoes and have brewed a tomato leaf concoction to spray on the leaves, which should hopefully work. One pot of zucchini has fruit that is skinny at the blossom end (see pic below). I'm guessing it's because the terra cotta pot dries out more easily?


We did have a hail storm that tore holes in the leaves of practically everything, but they're all recovering nicely. My cilantro has bolted and now looked ridiculous, so I chopped it down. (I just read that this happens to cilantro in very et weather.) The lettuce and basil are still holding back and I'm trying to harvest as much as I can to prevent bolting. Something is eating my radish leaves, but they are still growing fine, so I'm ignoring it. I think my cat has been eating my green onion shoots although I haven't caught her in the act. Another issue I'm dealing with is finding space for my sprawling cucumber vines. I haven't figured out what to do for the planter boxes, but I've got to decide soon or they'll strangle my tomatoes and peppers! I think I'll let them trail over the railing onto a trellis and hopefully they won't burn where they touch the wood.

I decided to weigh my harvest for fun after I saw the weigh in at A Posse Ad Esse, but my less than 100g so far looks pretty silly compared to Paul Gardener's 48.22lbs. Next year I'll try pumpkins and really bring that number up!

My new favourite term: Self Sufficient-ish

I borrowed an excellent book from the Hamilton Library called The Self Sufficient-ish Bible: An Eco-Living Guide for the 21st Century  by Andy and Dave Hamilton (great last name). (Let me digress here to rant about the fact that new pulp-fiction novels and pop culture DVDs can be very hard to borrow from the library due to the long waiting lists. However the books I've just checked out regarding energy conservation and self-sufficiency have no waiting lists! That's really sad. Good for me, but sad.)

I've read a little already and absolutely love it. At first I was worried that it wouldn't be very useful for me since it's written in the UK and I was seeing a lot of products we don't have here and there were lots of words we don't use and references to climate that is different than ours. Well, happily I found with more reading that there's only a tiny bit that doesn't apply. What is wonderful about it being written in the UK is that there are so many new and fresh ideas. The different perspective is refreshing. Here are some fun things I've read about so far:

• hand-crank MP3 players
• putting foil behind a radiator to reflect more heat back into a room
• hay-box cooker (you put your hot pot of soup or stew into a box, surround it with hay, newspaper, or rags, then cover tightly)
• a solar cooker you make yourself
  
• pot-in-pot cooler (a way to keep food or beverages cool for up to two days, which consists of two nested terra cotta pots separated by damp sand and covered with a damp cloth)
• Bokashi composting (a Japanese method of composting indoors that uses Bokashi bran)

I'm only about 50 pages in, so I'll post more nifty things as I continue. Oh, and the term "self sufficient-ish" refers to ways in which anyone can live a more self sufficient life without having to go all the way. In other words, you can have a balcony edible garden and a worm composter and reduce your energy consumption and reduce your chemical use, etc. while still living in the city. Every little bit helps. Great reading and full of photos and diagrams.