Monday's Juice

So I haven't been completely following the recipes I printed offline.
I've actually been having a lot of fun just being creative and throwing things together!

I have 1 apple and 1 carrot with each juice, and then throw different veggies in. I want to make sure that I get my daily apple in! Plus it and the carrot are very sweet, which knocks out any odd flavors from the veggies. I've found a new love for cucumbers as well thanks to juicing.

With our baskets we got these Oro Blancos, which is a type of grapefruit.

I hate grapefruit.

And oro's are even more bitter than a ruby red.

But I have, since I was a child, always heard that there's something about grapefruit that is so crazy healthy for you and benefits weight loss.
Now, I cannot eat a grapefruit. There's just not enough sugar in the world for me. And by the time I even TRY to add enough sugar, then what's the point of eating the fruit in the first place?

I was thinking that I would try to add them to my juice, thinking maybe the veggies and other fruits will negate the flavor of the grapefruit.

So this is what I came up with:


Monday's Juice

1 clove garlic
1 thumb ginger
1 Oro Blanco
1 apple
3 romaine lettuce leaves
1 handful spinach
1 beet
1 cucumber
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
5 grape tomatoes

Now, I knew it would happen.

I knew that it would eventually happen.

This juice

This juice right here.

Was DISGUSTING.

I tried SO hard to add enough produce to mask that awful grapefruit bitterness.

And it didn't help.

It SO didn't help.

I couldn't drink it.

I gave it to the dogs.

And I've sworn off grapefruit.

Forever.

JUICE!

Thanks to Bountiful Baskets I have become interested in juicing!


They offered juice packs last week so I got a couple, because I have a juicer that's been collecting dust for the last several years.

I did some googling and found some "recipes" and learned that what I was thinking about juicing was pretty different than what 'real juicers' think about it.




So I bought 3 juice packs from Bountiful Baskets and have decided to have at least one glass of juice per day.




I was reading that the old saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" is pretty true. People who eat an apple every day are healthier than people who don't. My kids eat apples every day because they love them. I only do occasionally. So I add one apple to my juice every day.






I have tried adding kale and spinach to my juices and I guess my juicer is too old or not powerful enough to properly juice green leafy veggies. So I stick to more solid veggies like carrots, cucumbers, beets, celery, and tomatoes.







I also read that juicing actually removes all of the fiber from the produce, which makes sense because it seems that most of the time the peel is shot into the garbage dispenser in my juicer. Again, it could just be my juicer, but it does make sense. Maybe better juicers are able to keep more of the peel/fiber in the juice, I don't really know... still researching.



So for now I will add about a tbsp of ground flax seeds to my juice (to the glass of course).


Eventually I would love to get a new juicer. And I figure if I keep my juicing up for 1 month then I can start looking.

I actually googled my juicer, since I got it about 5 years ago off Craigslist, and found out that it is made and sold in UK and not even intended for USA or 110v. I have no idea how it got a USA 110v plug, but that could explain why it doesn't work super great. Weird.






I found this 'arthritis soother' recipe that is supposed to be full of anti-inflammatory properties, which would be helpful to me with my spondylitis and allergy to ibuprofen. So I tried it.
I was a bit nervous about adding EVOO to my juice to be honest. I've only ever cooked with EVOO, so I don't actually know what it tastes like!
But I'm so glad I did! It was delicious! And for at least 2 hours afterward I had this very sweet, oily taste on my lips. It was awesome!

I have decided to leave the greens to healthy smoothies, at least until I get a new juicer. But I'm so far very happy with my green juices!

Christina's Chili

I love chili on a cold day. The funny thing about Montana is that you get used to being in the mood for chili pretty much any time of year. Even in the spring it's still cool enough that chili isn't insane to eat. So far, since we've been in Texas, it didn't actually get cold enough to eat chili until after Christmas. Unfortunately, life has been crazy since the beginning of December, so I wasn't in any kind of mood to make a menu (or even think much past what I would do the next hour). But today was a chili kind of day.
Chili is easy and takes very few ingredients.
Last week I made hash brown tacos and had some leftover ground turkey, ground pork, and chorizo. So I tossed those in a skillet and cooked them up.
Back in Montana I did some label reading on cans of red kidney beans. I learned that there are basically 3 different types you can get- regular, no salt, and organic. Back then I didn't even look for organic items, so I compared the regular to the no-salt. I could not believe how much crap (including HFCS) is in no-salt beans. Really? Really!! Why can't it just be beans without salt? I have no idea. In the regular beans there are beans, water, and salt. I decided that I would take the extra salt over the HFCS and other ingredients I couldn't sound out (they cost the same!)

When we went grocery shopping this week, it was late at night- a few hours before closing time- so many shelves were empty. I guess because of the cold weather other people had the idea to also make chili, because most of the red kidney beans were gone. And name brand or not, I wasn't buying "no-salt".
So I found these organic ones!

Beans, water, salt. AND organic! Awesome. $1.50 per can, which is almost twice the price of the "Great Value" brand, but since I'm breaking my WalMart habit (only been once since Christmas and that was to do a return!) I decided that it was worth it.

Sometimes I drain the beans, sometimes I don't. Hubby likes his chili with a little more liquid, and since I bought organic, I felt safe about using the liquid in the can.
I also like to put the beans in the crock pot before I put the meat in. I stir them up, but since the beans are uncooked and the meat is cooked, I'd rather the bottom most layer be beans, not meat.

After the meat cooks, I drain it, then put it back in the pan. I add some spices - salt, pepper, chili powder, oregano, paprika- then let it cook more. I do this because firstly, ground meat lets off a lot of grease/juice/fat when you cook it anyway, but chorizo is like 10x worse. So any seasoning I put in initially is just going to cook off. So I add it afterward so it cooks on the meat.

So there's basic chili. 

Now to make it goooooood chili.

1/2 an onion-diced, a clove of garlic-minced, some grape tomatoes (cause that's what I have on hand), carrots and celery.

 

One trick I learned about cutting onions is to rinse them under cold water after you cut them. I do this after I cut it in half, then into quarters.

This keeps the juice from making you cry.

I cut the tips off the celery and carrots (tossed those ends into the blender for the dogs) and as I was working a little carrot thief came in and stole one, so I went to the other fridge and grabbed 2 purple carrots to replace it, and decided to grab a stalk of kale and a bag of spinach.




 Have you ever seen a purple carrot?
They're actually a yellowish color on the inside.
They don't taste like an orange carrot either. They still taste like a carrot, but a bit different flavor than an orange one.


I'm steaming the carrots, celery, and kale. After they soften up I put them in the food processor with the raw spinach and grape tomatoes. Once this mushes up to a pulp, I will pour it into the chili! Added nutrition with no added flavor!

 I also decided to dice up a bellpepper and throw in there. 

Cause I love bellpepper.

I grew up eating bellpeppers.

They are so yummy.

 

Another fun little tool I got when my mom moved- her garlic press!

I use it a lot!

I'm not actually sure if I'm using it completely properly, but it works way better than chop/dicing the garlic, so I keep using it.

I put the rougher stuff left in the press after I squish it in the blender for the dogs.

Garlic is very good for dogs.

 

 After I added the veggie puree, I decided I needed to split the chili into two slow cookers, as it was too much for 1.

And I know I should probably retire my mom's old Crock Pot (that lovely avacado green one on the right there) because it probably uses twice the wattage as my new one on the left, but it cooks the food, and that's what matters to me!

I noticed the puree made the chili kind of thick, so I decided to add my one little can of Beef Consomme to thin it out a bit. 

I bought this for some recipe that I can't remember cause I lost the menu sheet.

It worked well.

Don't that look perdy?

Tasted perdy darn good too!

I let them cook on high for 2-4 hours. It tastes better the next day though, no matter how long you cook it ;)

If I had some cornbread that wasn't moldy, or had time to make the bread bowls, it would have been the perfect consistency. But we were stuck using crackers, so it was a little bit runny. Mmmm... bread bowls....

I'll be putting every bit that's in the old Crock Pot in the freezer, so when I use it again I will make bread bowls since I won't have to cook the chili!

Oh and the water that's left from under the veggies after I steam them- I don't let that go to waste!

It's very hard to see in a photo, but it is tinted green from the kale and veggies.
When I put the veggie scraps in the blender for the dogs, I have to add water, so I just use THIS water to puree the veggies!

All blended up, it's pretty thin, so I just pour it over a bit of kibble and it's instantly healthier and tastier for my pups!

Menu Day! Part 4- Creating the grocery list

After selecting my recipes, it's time to decide which ingredients I'm going to have to buy and make the grocery list.
I do this by using a blank sheet of paper for my list, and my inventory lists as well. I need to know how much of each item I wind up needing so that I will know if I need to buy more.
For example- I currently have 2 onions on hand. I need 1 for chili. So I make a mental note that I only have 1 onion left. As I go through the next recipes, when I find another one that needs an onion, I make a mental note that 'now I am out of onions'. So any other recipes that need onions I will have to buy more.

I also try and keep in mind that I want to do freezer meals this week. So I want to make extra of certain meals, including chili.
Normally I use 5 cans of red kidney beans and 1 lb of meat. This time I will use 6 or 7 cans of red kidney beans and 2 lb of meat.

 

 This is my grocery list post-shopping.

For my own brain dead reasons, sometimes I have to write next to the item why I am buying that item so I know which one or how many to buy. Hence the words in parenthesis. Otherwise I might forget why I have Craisins on the list, think I'm just buying them for a snack, and not get them to save money. But since I write on there (chicken salad w/flair) I know they are for a dinner and I must get them.

Unfortunately the HEB Plus we went to was out of ground turkey and serrano chilis, so I'm going to have to go to back later this week to get them (which I hate. I will wait until I am out of wine and have to go back. No woman should have to wait until their shopping day for their wine.)

I spent almost 3 hours at the grocery store on this dang list.
I read label after label.
We took the kids to the bathroom 3 times.
I had no idea there were so many options for EVOO now. Italian, Greek, Californian.. oh my. Even some cheapo stuff from about 4 different places. I was actually really torn on buying the Italian vs the Californian. I believe the Italian is going to be more authentic, but Californian is buying local...  I wound up going with Californian. Since I've only ever bought EVOO once before, I'm no connoisseur, so I'm not going to know the difference between olive oil from California or Italy when I'm using it.

Along with these items on my list, I bought things I forgot I needed, stuff I just wanted for breakfasts/lunches/snacks, and a few things that were such a great deal, it would be stupid to pass up!
Quinoa (organic weeee), butter (NOT margarine! HA!), ketchup (hfcs free!), whole grain pasta ($.98 on sale!!), a fly swatter, baby wipes for hubby to take in the truck, paper lunch bags for Bountiful Baskets, Dawn, some Hot Shot flying bug spray (cause the ACV is helping with the gnats, but it's sloooow), a pack of scrapers ($1! And I could finally throw away the ones I inherited from my mom that were half melted and warped!), nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, shampoo, M&Ms (for hubby. He's an M&Maholic), cream of tartar, vanilla beans (cause I've had two in vodka for about 8 months now and it's still too much vodka, so I needed to add more beans), a shower pouff for DD, and laundry soap (on sale to boot! I usually make my own, but since we've been in Texas I can't find everything I need OR a good deal on baking soda).

My budget comes into play while I am shopping. I wanted to stay under $200, and had I stuck to the list it would have been easy. I spent $225. Had I not strayed from the list, I would have spent $142. But I'm ok with $25 over my intended budget for what I got.

So, shopping is done for the next 2 weeks. Recipes will be posted as I create them!
Hope you enjoy making your menu, and hopefully something I have shown you will help you do so. Feel free to ask me any questions, I will do my best to help :)

Menu Day! Part 3-Selecting Recipes

Yesterday I discussed categorizing the menu.
Before, I would have taken my categories and searched for recipes to match those.
For Slow Cooker Sunday I would have dove into my slow cooker book and chosen 2 recipes, then written down the book, recipe, and page number on my calendar.
Then for Mexican Monday I would have searched specifically for Mexican dishes... and so on and so forth.
What winds up happening is I get myself confused. And God help me if I lose my calendar/recipe list (cause that NEVER happens...) then I'm totally up a creek. So far I haven't bought a 2013 wall calendar... shame on me. So I keep writing/printing out month by month and trying to use that, and it's just not the same. Yes, I need to just get me a new wall calendar. This is my old one--->
I lerved it so much.

So this time I'm doing something WAY different. And instead of just using a calendar, I'm also using my Home Management Binder. I've had a section in there for meal planning since I made it and haven't ever really used it to its potential.

I decided to go through one binder and choose my recipes out of there. If I can't find a slow cooker recipe I like or have ingredients for, then I will take out my slow cooker cook books and pick something from there. Then I will copy the page I want so that it's actually out of my book. Same for other recipe categories.

After each recipe is chosen, I will put it in a plastic sleeve and into my Home Management Binder in the "Meal Planning" section, in the order they are on the calendar. Fortunately for me, I'm very flexible with myself, but it will help me find the recipes easier/quicker in the event I want to do a Fancy Friday meal on what should be Mexican Monday!

So here are the recipes I selected:

Chili

Noni's Potato Pie

Chicken Posole

Enchiladas Raquel

Stuffed Peppers

Tacos

Green Chili Casserole

Ashford salad, potato salad, and Spinach Supreme

Chicken salad w/flair

Lasagna

Chicken n dumplings

Tamale pie

And how I put them into the calendar (Saturday is not included on purpose)

I also have pizza as a backup. If 7 doesn't eat all the pepperonis first.
I have my menu calendar set up this way because we get paid on Mondays, so Monday is grocery shopping day.  I love how perfectly my grocery schedule works out.
Based on this calendar, Bountiful Baskets comes in on Saturday the 26th, so I will spend that day updating my inventory. Then Sunday the 27th (Chicken n Dumplings day) I will write out my menu and grocery list for Tuesday the 29th-Monday, February 11th. Monday the 28th we get paid, so I will go shopping then. It all just falls into place so beautifully!

As I make each dish I will be putting it up here on my blog and coming back to this page to connect links.
Stay tuned!

Menu Day! Part 2- Laying out the Menu

I have tried a few different techniques to writing out my menu. They each get the job done, but I haven't found the perfect method for me. And I think that's extremely important for anyone who writes a menu. The process of choosing the menu items has to work for you and your lifestyle, or you won't do it.

I've been making menus for over 2 years now. Not always consistently, but very often. I actually hate when I don't have a menu, because my family doesn't eat as healthy, and food can sometimes get wasted (a BIG no-no for me).

It's been years since we have eaten a processed diet. After I saw how much cheaper it was to cook from scratch (and how much better it tasted) I pretty much stopped all of it. Now, we still do the occasional box of frozen corn dogs, and hot dogs. I even buy bread way more often than I make it. But I haven't bought a meal in a box in a very long time.

I'm not judgemental about them either. There are times- like super busy/stressful times that we eat more convenience foods, or eat out more often.
If I am hurting too badly it is very hard to stand in the kitchen for hours cooking.
If I am too depressed it is very hard to stand in the kitchen for hours cooking.

So there are times that we are grateful for a box of frozen Lasagna or a bag of premade chicken nuggets.

But I can definitely tell when we've been off our menu for a couple of weeks. Lately I've noticed my stomach not tolerating a whole lot of processed or restaurant food. The first and second day isn't too bad. But beyond that I get nauseous, my bowels are way out of whack, I get more irritable, and I get tired of the food to where I'd just as soon not eat anything at all. So for me, the menu is pretty important.
When I do my menu, there are a lot of things that don't work for me. But what DOES work for me is paper recipes. I've tried keeping track of internet links for recipes, and even files on my hard drive, and it just doesn't work for me. I'm not super technilogical. I only just bought my first smart phone last month! So the even the google calender doesn't really help me when it comes to my menu plan. So I have found printing everything out is just easier for me.

Then I either hole punch the paper or slip it into a plastic sleeve then put in a three ring binder.

What also doesn't work well for me-

budgeting while I'm choosing my recipes. 

Don't freak out on me.

The budget is VERY important. But, for me, it's impossible to attempt to think about how much each item costs while writing out my grocery list. My brain just doesn't work that way. I have to process one thing at a time, and I can't be looking at recipes and my receipt spreadsheet at the same time.
Here's what does work for me- I look at the ingredients of a recipe and if I only have to buy one or two items, I use my best judgement and try to estimate how pricey those will be. If I am missing most of the ingredients, or the ones I am missing are expensive, and unique, I set it aside. The only time I sway from this is when the missing ingredients are shared ones- such as a bag of spinach. I won't use a whole bag on one recipe, but I will use spinach in multiple recipes, several times a week.

There was this one recipe, it was pumpkin dumplings, and I had just pureed like 5 pumpkins, so I was wanting to try the recipe. It called for a radicchio. I did a little research on this veggie and saw that it was pretty unique in flavor, and couldn't really be substituted by cabbage or other chicory. I went ahead and put it on my menu, but when I went to the store and saw the size of the thing and the price attached, I nixed it from my menu. I will, eventually, do the pumpkin dumplings, only in a different soup where I do not need radicchio.

One thing I have always WANTED to work for me, but never have been able to is a categorized daily plan. Such as- meatless Mondays, chicken Tuesdays, crock pot Wednesdays- etc. Where the idea is that every Monday of that month you would have a meatless dish, every Tuesday a chicken dish, etc.  The purpose to categorizing is to keep it mixed up and fresh. This way you're not having chicken 6 nights in a row and getting burnt out. I believe the reason this never really worked for me is because my main cooking involves chicken, ground beef, and meatless. Also, the market makes a huge impact on my cooking- if chicken is on sale, I will stock up on chicken. If I'm broke, we stick with our Bountiful Baskets veggies as much as possible. I very rarely buy fish and pork, or any cow that's not ground beef. So fishy Fridays just isn't in my budget.
I have also tried categorizing by ethnicity- American Sunday, Italian Monday, Mexican Tuesday, Chinese Wednesday... but that gets hard (and boring) quick for me- and can be expensive!

This menu I have decided to try that again, only I approached it a bit differently.
I did start out by writing out a list of what I wanted to categorize each day of the week, only I made it work more for ME. It looks like this:

I have always loved slow cooker Sundays because of church- when we go. I have been unable to for a little while and I miss it. But I loved getting everything ready in the morning, tossing it in the pot, and letting it cook while we were gone, then coming home to a yummy smelling house and dinner ready! (Cause I don't know about you, but wrestling kids for 2 hours in heels and a skirt wears me OUT!)

I incorporated Mexican Mondays because, well, we just eat a lot of Mexican food!! Not only do we LOVE it, but it's fairly easy, has many of the same ingredients, and we're in Southern Texas where the foods and ingredients are easy to come by. Also, on the nights that I don't really feel like making that enchilada bake I can just cook up some ground meat and we'll do tacos instead!

Casserole Tuesdays lets me be flexible, but stick with a specific kind of dish. It could have any meat, or none at all! And casseroles are GREAT for big families and small budgets!

Veggie Wednesday lets me dedicate a day to eating meatless, or at least mostly so. I figure we can use Wednesdays for totally meat free meals, or something like chicken salad, where it's MOSTLY veggies. This is also a way for me to use very specific veggies that I get from Bountiful Baskets that I may otherwise give to the dogs.

Big Pot Thursday means anything I would put in one big pot. Soups, chili, chicken n dumplings etc. I have this little cook book

(sometimes they're not 1 dish (or even a pot), but the idea is that everything goes into 1 pot/pan/dish before serving).

it works out well most of the time though.



Fancy Fridays is my creative outlet day. I LOVE to explore new recipes and ideas in the kitchen. I love to cook (and eat) Italian food, Chinese food, or try foods I've never tried before (Thai!) but they can take a lot of time for preparation. So I figure I'll focus on meals that take a long time to make for Fridays.
The cool thing is that Fridays are also our food days for homeschool, so I'll already be in the kitchen for that, we can just make this a part of it too! (Cause my kids do a lot of food prep and cooking with me)

And Something Saturdays is my free day. The night to eat left overs or easy food the kids can make themselves or with little supervision. While we eat a lot of left overs for lunches, I still wanted a night dedicated to leftovers, to make sure they do get eaten, and every other Saturday is Bountiful Baskets which takes up several hours of my afternoon, and wears me out, so I really don't want to (or physically can't) spend all evening cooking. So Something Saturday is my easy, peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese sandwich night!

Next up- Part 3; Selecting recipes!

Being a Christian can be hard.

As I'm sure you've read in other posts, we are a Christian family. We are non-denominational. We do not go to church very often. I have an incredibly hard time finding one that I like, agree with, and suits my spiritual needs, so I just don't go. For me, I'd rather not go and just keep God in my life, than go to one that I dislike or don't agree with. That just feels hypocritical to me. And when it comes to choosing a church, my most important issue is ME. I don't go for other people. I don't go just to fellowship (although that part is nice). I go because I need it. I do enjoy learning from the preachers, but I don't need to sit and be preached to about forgiveness. I'd much rather learn about stories in the Bible and the morals therein. I need my specific spiritual needs met, I don't honestly care at all about other people's spiritual needs when it comes to choosing a church for my family. If your church works for you, that is awesome for you and I am so happy for you. But I haven't found one that works for me.

So, we just do the best we can here at home. I don't read my Bible because to be honest it's just over my head. I do read children's Bible stories to my kids though, and that is nice!
 We pray a lot. Individually and as a family.

But mostly, we include God in every move we make. And that can be very hard.
God doesn't tell me what to do or which decision to make. I sure wish He did. But instead He closes doors, opens windows, and lets me figure out after the fact why He moved us down one path instead of the other.

And God seems like a procrastinator in my life. Nothing seems to happen, we're praying about a decision to make, and nothing is going on... then suddenly in the blink of an eye everything is happening all at once and changes are being made faster than I can sometimes handle. So it's like He just puts off and puts off and puts off... then realizes that the deadline is up and He has to move things around RIGHT NOW to get it done. LOL Kind of like I sometimes do in my life (flight of the bumble bee cleaning, anyone?)

Hubby and I are faced with another important, potentially life changing decision, and are seeking guidance from above... and as usual, there's just nothing.
Then some paperwork issue happened with his drivers license, so, as a Christian we look at that from 2 angles- angle 1: This is a test. angle 2: This is a shut door.

While I feel a certain way, I know I have to let this play out. People are going to be irritated at hubby, someone is going to be disappointed... but more importantly, our family will be hugely effected one way or the other. And our future really depends on this choice.
If he stays, we can follow through with our 5 year plan. In the mean time, he will be very absent from our family. There are things I can do, and DO to include him - nightly phone calls to the kids, driving out to see him and have dinner, etc. We will just miss him so much while he is at work.
If he goes, he will be home every day. But our 5 year plan will be gone, as his paycheck will be cut in half. We will likely not have a chance to leave this area for many years. Like Montana, we will be in the same place for 5+ years. We will not be able to buy a house. We will not be able to start our farm.

So what do we pick? Instant gratification of being a complete family now? Or future security and missing him 2 weeks at a time?
So many signs point to the latter.  But then there's two or three that pop up and say "no, just keep pushing through and you'll be moved to the other job". UGH.

I wish God would just TELL ME what to do. Just TELL ME where we are meant to be. Drives me nuts sometimes. I'm content with either decision, I just need to KNOW which choice to make.


You Know Better Than I

I thought I did what's right
I thought I had the answers
I thought I chose the surest road
But that road brought me here
So I put up a fight
And told you how to help me
Now just when I have given up
The truth is coming clear

Chorus 1:
You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
For You know better than I

If this has been a test
I cannot see the reason
But maybe knowing
I don't know is part of getting through
I tried to do what's best
But faith has made it easy
To see the best thing i can do
Is to put my trust in You.

Chorus 2
For, You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
For You know better than I

Coda:
I saw one cloud and thought it was a sky
I saw a bird and thought that I could follow
But it was You who taught that bird to fly
If i let You reach me
Will You teach me.
(Repeat Chorus )

For, You know better than I
You know the way
I've let go the need to know why
I'll take what answers you supply
You know better than I

1 Year Pledge

Hubby and I talked the other day and have decided to make a pledge to ourselves.

We've already been 90% processed food free for many years. But we've decided to do our best to be 100% processed food free, and as much organic as possible (budget allowing), and as much natural food as we absolutely can.

I have decided that I will continue buying the non-organic Bountiful Baskets, because I know the founders do their best to make sure our produce is very high quality. (And I contribute for 3 baskets each time... that would be an extra $30 per week, $60 per month! I'd rather spend that on organic milk)

Based on price firstly, I have decided to not buy organic eggs. I will be buying brown, cage free though. The second reason that I would rather buy just cage free, and not organic cage free is because the organic ones all say the chickens eat a vegetarian diet, and I do not like this. I understand that they would need to be vegetarians in order to control their food intake to ensure organic quality, however chickens are supposed to eat bugs. And I'd rather eat eggs from chickens who are omnivores. I do not know if the non-organic ones are all vegetarian also, I have only seen one package that said they were also vegetarian, so I get the ones that are cage free but do not specify that they are vegetarian, as that tells me the chicken farmers do not try to control the chickens eating bugs.
I know I'd be better off getting eggs from a local farm, but I haven't found one yet, so for now this is my best choice.

The reason why we have set a 1 year 'goal' is for 2 reasons- #1 it's January, so it will be easy to remember when our year is up. #2 As I've stated, we've been MOSTLY processed free (and completely organic free) for several years and have not noticed any benefits to our health or weight. (In either us or our children)
I am testing our bodies and the 'organic' food market to see if there truly is a benefit in our bodies by making the switch.
I will read labels and make sure I'm buying food with real ingredients. I have already removed margarine from our home and replaced it with butter, and sour cream riddled with thickeners and other junk I can't sound out with real sour cream. I've made my own yogurt and will continue to do so, and won't buy any more bread- it doesn't take long to make a loaf with my bread machine, so I will just do that. I will make pasta when I can, but I do have some whole wheat pasta in the cabinet for back up. And I will continue to make mayo. I did most of the year last year, but bought a jar a while ago and just finished it up.
I'm also going in on a grass-fed beef co-op. And have been buying local, raw honey.
I will be weighing and measuring my kids and myself tomorrow so we have a starting point. Also going to take some undies only pics so I can have a visual (I want to try and take these pics at the beginning of each month as well to attempt to view progress).
And, thanks to Bountiful Baskets, I have started juicing, and will continue to do so. I am starting with 1 glass of juice per day. (This is home made, green juice, where you run your fruits and veggies through a juice machine.)

We'll see what happens!

Menu day! Part 1-Inventory

Last Thursday I took inventory of my freezers. I wanted to have a physical list of what I have on hand. Normally I have my fridge/freezer side-by-side in the kitchen, and my 2 stand up freezers for back stock. Unfortunately one of my stand up freezers is currently out of commission. Which is very sad. The good thing is that we were unable to go hunting this past season, so I didn't actually need the room. And I do have a second fridge/freezer side-by-side that I am using as well right now, so I'm OK on freezer space for the time being.

I was surprised at what I did and did not have.

Now, I'm going to show you my inventory list.. but I warn you- it looks like chicken scratch. I'm only showing it to you to give you an idea of how easy it is to do.

 

The items I put the lines through I used this weekend or decided to throw away. I also picked up a few items while I was out at the store on Friday and added those in (black ink).
Now I'm going to input these into a spread sheet, print that out, and hang it on my freezer doors so that I can keep a constant, accurate inventory of what I have.

Saturday was our Bountiful Baskets day, so I took inventory of the produce I got from there.  I went ahead and did not list the items that I have set aside for juicing, and a portion of the items that I know will get eaten fresh. I also added in the produce that I purchased from the store this past week because it was SUCH a great price I would have been an idiot to pass it up.


Produce Inventory

Spinach x 2 lb
Celery x 7 stalks
Carrots x  10 multicolored
Brussel Sprouts x 4 lbs
Sweet mini peppers x 2 lbs
Grape tomatoes x 2 pints
Avacados x 9
Green bell peppers x 8
Red bell pepper x 1
Lettuce x 1 head
 Onions x 3
Garlic x 1 head
Strawberries x 2 pints
Apples x 20 lbs
Bananas x 10 lbs
Oranges x 2 lbs

I went ahead and added the fruits at the end, after substituting about half of them to be eaten fresh, and juiced, because I may want to make more yogurt or a special dessert or something.

Next up- dry goods!

I really don't have many. It's been a long time since I bought canned veggies.

Canned goods:
Whole Tomatoes 1 family size can
Sweet Peas 1 can
Tuna 2 cans
Beef Consomme 1 can
Broccoli Cheese Soup 1 can
Cream of Chicken soup 1 family size can
Hunts Pasta Sauce, Four Cheese, 2 cans
Chicken Broth 1 box
Sweetened Condensed Milk 4 cans (I have no idea why I have these)
Evaporated Milk 4 cans (also have no idea why I have these)

Pasta:
Penne 1 small bag
Manicotti 1 box
Lasagna 2 boxes
Fetuccini 1 box

Rice and other grains/dry items:
Steel Cut Oats 1.5 jars
Grits 1 jar
Long Grain White .5 lb (eek, I'm almost out!)
Short Grain Sticky >1 lb
Brown Rice >1 lb
Spanish Rice 1 box
Corn Husks 1 bag
Pinto Beans appx 10 lbs

Ground grains:
White Flour 2.5 containers appx 25 lbs
Whole Wheat Flour 1 1/4 bags appx 7 lbs
Corn Meal 1.5 containers appx 7 lbs
Masa 1.5 containers appx 7 lbs
Sugar 1 container appx 9 lbs

Spices: (appx measurements)
Salt 1 can
Pepper 1 can
Ground Cumin .75 jar
Ground Thyme .25 jar
Rosemary appx 4 tbsp
Parsley Flakes appx 3 tbsp
Paprika .75 jar
Caraway Seed 1 jar
Fennel Seed .60 jar
Ground Coriander Seed .30 jar
Mrs. Dash Chipotle appx 1 tsp
Ground Cloves >1 jar (more than I'll use in a lifetime I'm sure)
Whole Cloves >1 jar
Dill Weed 1/2 can
Ground Allspice .30 jar
Ground Mustard appx 2 tbspCurry Powder .75 jar
Crushed Red Pepper .75jar
Chili Powder .5 jar
Ground Cinnamon .25 jar


So many times I've gone to the store, came home, and realized I didn't have certain spices on my list.. oregano, nutmeg, and cream of tartar being 3 main ones that I always forget until I need them. So on the list they go!

I've never inventoried my food like this before. It's quite revealing. And in doing so I now have first hand realization of the importance of doing so. I've always read about other menu makers doing it, and I've just never bothered. I'm very glad I did!!

Next- part 2; Creation of the menu, categories and laying it out

Cheesy Cauli-Carrot Soup!

I'm going to be completely honest.
I wasn't prepared to post this here before I started cooking tonight.
I've had this dish on my menu for about 1 1/2 weeks now, and finally did it tonight.
And I just wasn't prepared for the awesomeness.
So I don't have super great pictures.
But I DO have a super great recipe!!
So- enjoy!

Cheesy Cauli-Carrot Soup!

Ingredients:

2 heads of cauliflower
1 lb. bag carrots
4 cups chicken broth
6 green onions or 1 yellow onion; diced
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter
1/4 cup flour
4 cups half-and-half
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt; 1 tsp pepper

Tools:
baking pan
large dutch oven or stock pot
medium sized sauce pot
Stirring spoon
Whisk
Knife
Cutting board
Food Processor (or blender, I haven't figured out the difference yet)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F and move your baking rack up to the slot above the middle. (cause if you're like me, it pretty much always stays dead center.)
1) Cut cauliflower heads into chunks. Discard greens into compost. Lay chunks on baking sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes until soft.
2) While those bake, pour broth into large dutch oven or stock pot. Bring to a soft boil. Add onions. Continue boil on medium heat.
3) Transfer baked cauliflower to food processor and puree until all the small pieces are even sized. (do not add water)
4) Add cauliflower puree to pot of broth. Turn heat down to low, cover, and simmer.
5) Cut tips off carrots and lay on the baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes until soft.
6) While carrots bake, melt the coconut oil in the sauce pot. Add flour and make a roux. Whisk constantly and don't let it burn! One cup at a time, pour the half-and-half into the roux. Whisk to break up the clumps. Let it get hot before adding the next cup. Continue whisking until sauce begins to thicken and all clumps are dissolved. Pour into cauliflower pot, stirring to incorporate. Add cheese and mix to melt. Add salt and pepper. Cover and keep on low.
7) Transfer carrots to food processor and puree. Stir pureed carrots into soup. Remove from heat, serve immediately.

For a smoother, less chunky soup, steam the cauliflower and carrots instead of baking them.

Pregnancy- Week 31-32

This is an old post that never got published.... would have been written in early April of 2011.

So I've lost count, as usual. But I'm somewhere in there.
I spoke with hubby, again, about homebirthing 7. The first time I brought it up, I asked him if he would be OK if I didn't wear the contraction and heartrate monitors during labor, if I had 7 in the hospital. His response was "IF you go to the hospital? Where else did you plan on having the baby?"
The second time I brought it up, I told him I was reading up on homebirth, just in case. "Just in case of what?" he asked me. So I explained to him- he works at least 1 hour's drive from the house, and the time it takes him to just get out of the mine to a phone is undetermined, then he has to get a ride home, which can take an hour or so. So if I was to try and rely on him getting home and helping me pack up the kids, then driving me an hour to the hospital, we may be in the same situation we were in when Nicky was born, only this time, I won't stop myself from telling him to pull over.

Welcome 2013!

Well, it's only January 7th and I've already had some pretty exciting events this year!

My grandfather is now in his own apartment.

Bountiful Baskets is this week, and this is our first week for the year! The organization took a break
for Christmas week and New Years week- which were both of our weeks (since we only do bi-weekly contributions) so it's been like 6 weeks since we had a co-op!

I FINALLY have all of my Christmas decorations down. They are not all put back in their boxes, but they are all on the table ready to be packed up.

And I've taken on a personal 30 day challenge to drink only water, coffee, and carbonated/flavored water I make with our new Soda Stream. I buy the little squirt packs of water flavoring and use those in my carbonated water from the Soda Stream and they are pretty darn tasty. Maybe I will work myself down to only water, but for now, I know I will get burnt out on nothing but plain water, AND I LOVE my coffee. I have 2 cups in the morning, every morning. And I figure, if that's all the 'bad stuff' I consume all day, then I'm still doing good.

With such a huge amount of stress being gone from my life, I'm excited to be back to my super scratch cooking, real food eating, and menu planning. In the last week I have spent an amount of money that I am afraid to even add up on an amount of fast/processed/restaurant food that I am afraid to even think about. With my back acting up, and 3 long distance trips, Bubby's birthday, spending a few precious hours with daddy, and the money being "there", I've allowed myself and my family to eat out a lot in the last 2 weeks. So I've banned eating out again. My body/stomach has let me know how much it is effected by the 'food' I've been feeding it as well.
So I'm extra happy that I'll be getting Bountiful Baskets this Saturday as well to help me get back on track with the raw fruits and veggies. Buying that stuff from the grocery store is so much more expensive! And I love the variety I get through the co-op.

I also plan on making tortillas, bread, and pasta this week. I am out of wheat flour though, so I'll be using unbleached white flour, but I figure it's still a notch above those products purchased at the store since mine won't have the preservatives.

And I WAS going to make my menu this week for 2 weeks, but I have decided to just use what I have on hand through this week and wait until Saturday to do my 2-week menu. This is for 2 reasons- #1, Bountiful Baskets; the fruits and veggies in the baskets are a surprise. We never know what we'll get until Saturday when the truck delivers! So I do my best to plan my menu around the produce I get through them. And #2, Pay day is the Monday following Bountiful Baskets! So I can make my grocery list on Saturday, and go shopping on pay day!

I made a craft and homeschool calendar too, and I'm going to work on getting that going this week... I made myself goals for last week, but I just have to face facts that last week wasn't a good week to do ANYTHING! Now it's time to get back to the nitty-gritty! :)