The 6 O'Clock Scramble

My mother and father-in-law gave me this cookbook for my birthday. I heard about it while listening to the Meal Makeover Mom's podcast. It sounded right up my alley. I have used it the last 2 weeks for meal planning. So far I am loving it. All of the recipes are less than 10 ingredients. She sorts them by season so you can plan you meals according to what is in season and what you can find locally. The recipes are pretty quick and easy, which is a must for me. Plus there are lots of vegetarian meals.

Harper has gymnastics on Friday afternoon for 1.5 hours so I have been using this time to plan our meals for the next week. I had gotten out of the habit of planning our meals. It makes life so much easier knowing what we are having for dinner instead of me scrounging around at the last minute.

Here are some of my favorites so far:

Honey Sesame Spaghetti

Cool Tortellini with Artichokes and pepperoni (I used veggie pepperoni)

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Butternut Squash Muffins

Winter squash season has begun so I have been trying to come up with new recipes to use up all the squash we have been getting from our CSA. I made butternut squash muffins last night based on a recipe from allrecipes. Of course I had to tweak it to make it a bit healthier. Here's my version.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup pureed butternut squash (I roasted a butternut squash earlier in the week when I was cooking something else in the oven. I cut it in half and placed it cut side down on a cookie sheet and baked in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. I let it cool. Then I pureed it in my food processor.)
1 1/4 cup organic pastry flour (This is a whole grain flour that is softer and fluffier than whole wheat. I always use it when I am baking.)
1/4 cup wheat gern
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sucanat (you an read more about this sweetner here.)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup almond milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sucanat, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix together milk, egg and butter. Stir in squash. Fold the squash mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Add chocolate chips if you are using.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling cups about 3/4 full. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from muffin pan and cool on a wire rack.

The muffins were very moist. The kids gobbled them up so I am calling it a success.

Feeling Clean and Green

Recently I stumbled across the book Clean. It's a cleansing or "detox" program that is designed to rid your body of toxins. I have always be intrigued by these cleansing programs, but have never done much research into them. This program seemed different. It made more sense to me. So I ordered the book. Once I read the book cover to cover, I was convinced that I wanted to give it a go.

On Saturday I started the elimination portion of program. He includes menus in the book as well as a list of foods that you can and can not eat. You can not have wheat, red meat, dairy, sugar, caffeine (there are a couple of teas that you can have), or alcohol. You can not eat anything with preservatives, additives, nitrates, or artificial anything. Basically, you eat fresh organic fruits , vegetables, lean meats, fish, beans, and grains like brown rice or quinoa. There are also supplements that he recommends.

You do the elimination program for a week and then you do the cleansing program for 3 weeks. Going into it I knew that I did want to do the full program. My goal was to complete the elimination part. Doing the cleansing for 3 weeks is not realistic right now. It is a lot of work as far as the preparation goes, but I do know that there are certain things that I am going to change about my diet now which will help me to continue to be Clean.

Since I have been so conscious of the food I am putting into my body, it has made me more aware of other toxins that you normally don't think about. It has reaffirmed that there is a good reason why I choose certain sunscreens or lotions. There is a reason I want to eat organic and locally grown food. I buy hot dogs for the kids that don't contain nitrates for a very good reason. Sometimes it is hard to remember why we do these things. Now don't get me wrong. We are not perfect, but I know we are on the right path.

My Garden's Growing

My garden is really growing. We have had just enough sunshine and rain to get my herb garden growing. The Nasturtium has reached the point where it needs to be thinned out. This is the point I have been dreading. I was so happy to see the little plants emerge. I don't want to pluck them out, but it has to be done. The instructions on the seed package say to gradually thin to 18 inches apart once the seedling reaches 1 inch tall. So for the last couple of days I have been looking at my little plants and thinking about what I should do next.

I finally did it. I concentrated on the ones that were growing right next to each other. When I pulled them up, I could see how they sprouted from the seed that I planted. It was so cool. I couldn't just throw them out, so I replanted them around the yard. I am not sure if they will actually grow, but it will be interesting to see what happens. I know I will have more thinning to do and it will get easier.

Farmers Market starts this Saturday

Our Farmers Market starts this weekend and I am really excited. We decided not to sign up for a CSA this year. I think it would be cost effective and fun, but we wanted to try buying from the Farmers Market first. I have been reading about some of the farmers and it is inspiring to me. They are so dedicated to growing great food and I am proud we are going to help support their efforts. I am not sure what they will have this early in the season. I am hoping to get some strawberries, bread, and some salad mixes. I will just have to wait and see.

How will my garden grow?

Well, I have done it. I finally planted all of the seeds for my herb garden. I bought a kit with several different herbs and a design plan. This plan includes borage, purple basil, sweet basil, parsely, nasturtium, chives, and dill. I have never done this before so I am a little nervous that nothing is going to grow. I am also excited to see what happens.

I thought I would try herbs this year and see how it goes. Then maybe next year I will get crazy and plant some vegetables. Ok, Ok, I should not get ahead of myself here. Let's see if my herbs grow first.

Keep posted to see the progress (hopefully). If anyone has any helpful hints, please post a comment. I would love to hear from you.

Green is the new black

I recently read this quote on a bottle of vitamin water and it is so true. Green is definitely in and I have jumped on the bandwagon. It is amazing how aware I have become of the things that I need to change since I started this process. I am trying to make a difference and change my ways, but how do I sort through ALL of the information available to me? I have to worry about things like greenwashing. Is organic really better or should I concentrate on buying local? What are carbon offsets? I may buy something that is organic, but it traveled thousands of miles to get to the store. Should I stop shopping online? Where do I buy a "green" birthday present for a child? What do I use to wrap the gift? I could go on forever. Of course, these questions are the main reason I started this blog. I hope to connect with others that will help me on my journey. Maybe I will even help someone else while I am at it.