Comment #47
Emily R
Warm stripes is my favorite!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Winner!
The winner of the Thirsties Duo Wrap and Hemp Pre-fold is...
Congrats Emily! I have emailed you and you have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Our Journey to Real Food
During the months I was in chemotherapy, I had a zillion suggestions of how to change my diet to "fight" off cancer cells. I was told to eat "this" or do NOT eat "that". I decided to start researching food on my own. I mean, of course our diet could be healthier and what better reason to become healthier than to have a change in diet hopefully help keep me in remission. After doing months of research I finally settled on a course of action, and so our journey to Real Food began.
First off, I am not saying the food that everyone eats isn't real, but the direction we're taking is called "real food" or "whole food" because it doesn't include any processed foods and uses the freshest healthy ingredients you can find, and to make all your meals at home (eating out will be a rare treat for us now). Its great because I can adapt most of our favorite recipes to fit into this new way of eating. And after just a few weeks of doing it Joe & I both have said we feel amazingly better...more energy...less sluggish...and just plain better all around. And who wouldn't want to give their kids the healthiest diet they can?
Now we haven't made a complete and drastic change, somethings are going to take time (like trying to find a substitute for regular lunch meat which my kids LOVE and ice cream which I LOVE). We have switched our milk, we now drink lightly-pasteurized non-homogenized milk from antibiotic and hormone free cows (the growth hormones used in dairy cows has been linked to a rise in hormone based cancers like I had). We also haven't had to worry about switching our beef, since we get all our beef from my grandparents farm and I know it is hormone free. We've also cut out refined sugars. This is HARD! I've had to find alternatives for my coffee and baking, so this is still a work in progress.
As a big step towards eating only real food I cleaned out our 2 overflowing pantries. I threw out any opened foods that are not a whole food (most were almost gone or near expiration anyway), I put all unopened foods we don't want to eat in baskets to give to my sister, and I put all the foods we can eat back in (with the exception of some rotini pasta and Italian dressing...its just so easy to throw together a pasta salad at the last minute if we need to go to a picnic, and some canned soups for Joe to take to work-although once those are gone we won't buy canned soup anymore & a few other things).
So how did it go? Well, here's a visual for you...
Up next will be our spice cupboard and then our freezer (someone is going to love what they get out of there!).
First off, I am not saying the food that everyone eats isn't real, but the direction we're taking is called "real food" or "whole food" because it doesn't include any processed foods and uses the freshest healthy ingredients you can find, and to make all your meals at home (eating out will be a rare treat for us now). Its great because I can adapt most of our favorite recipes to fit into this new way of eating. And after just a few weeks of doing it Joe & I both have said we feel amazingly better...more energy...less sluggish...and just plain better all around. And who wouldn't want to give their kids the healthiest diet they can?
Now we haven't made a complete and drastic change, somethings are going to take time (like trying to find a substitute for regular lunch meat which my kids LOVE and ice cream which I LOVE). We have switched our milk, we now drink lightly-pasteurized non-homogenized milk from antibiotic and hormone free cows (the growth hormones used in dairy cows has been linked to a rise in hormone based cancers like I had). We also haven't had to worry about switching our beef, since we get all our beef from my grandparents farm and I know it is hormone free. We've also cut out refined sugars. This is HARD! I've had to find alternatives for my coffee and baking, so this is still a work in progress.
As a big step towards eating only real food I cleaned out our 2 overflowing pantries. I threw out any opened foods that are not a whole food (most were almost gone or near expiration anyway), I put all unopened foods we don't want to eat in baskets to give to my sister, and I put all the foods we can eat back in (with the exception of some rotini pasta and Italian dressing...its just so easy to throw together a pasta salad at the last minute if we need to go to a picnic, and some canned soups for Joe to take to work-although once those are gone we won't buy canned soup anymore & a few other things).
So how did it go? Well, here's a visual for you...
The throw out pile
The send to my sister pile
Our keeper foods
We completely cleared out 1 whole pantry!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Winners!
I have 2 winners to announce :o)
Lou Bugs Boutique winner is...
Comment #5 Kelly! And my favorite is the Green and Brown Minky Polka Dot Travel Pillow with Matching Car Seat Strap Covers
Bummis Swimmi winner is...
Comment # 106 Allison! I like bummis on FB
Congratulations to both winners! I will be emailing you & you'll have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
Don't forget the Thirsties giveaway ends tomorrow!
Lou Bugs Boutique winner is...
Bummis Swimmi winner is...
Comment # 106 Allison! I like bummis on FB
Congratulations to both winners! I will be emailing you & you'll have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
Don't forget the Thirsties giveaway ends tomorrow!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Strawberries
This year I took Girlie to go pick strawberries for the first time. She and Mister Man LOVE strawberries. I wanted to pick lots of strawberries to experiment with, but also didn't want to get so many I would waste them, so we picked 5 quarts of strawberries for $8. And what did I do with my 5 quarts of the sweetest strawberries I had ever tasted? I made jam!
My main problem with the jam recipes I was finding was the amount of sugar in the recipes...almost equal parts sugar & strawberries!! One of my food goals for our family is to cut out refined sugar in our house, so why would I take the time to make homemade jam if it had just as much sugar as store bought? I ended up trying 2 different recipes.
The first was a freezer jam (gets stored in the freezer). I found the recipe here and was excited that although it did use a sweetener, it was a natural one...honey. It also only used 1 cup of honey for 4 cups of strawberries. A much better ratio! The recipe was super easy to make, but its consistency in the jars is a little off (fruit near the top & "jelly" at the bottom. We haven't tasted this recipe yet (they're all in the freezer!).
The second recipe used no additional sweetener (recipe on the Ball No Added Sugar Pectin packet). This recipe was a little more involved because the mashed strawberries had to be cooked, but the consistency was so much more even. This recipe I actually canned (water bath method) and it is stored on my pantry shelf. We have tried iy (in fact Girlie has eaten almost a whole jar!) and it is super fresh tasting, not super sweet. I ended up with 10 jars of strawberry jam :o) I also froze several cups of sliced strawberries.
I am in love with the idea of canning more fruits and such this year. My next plan...raspberries (there are a tons of bushes on the land we're going to eventually build on). Do you make homemade jams? What's your tried and true recipe?
My main problem with the jam recipes I was finding was the amount of sugar in the recipes...almost equal parts sugar & strawberries!! One of my food goals for our family is to cut out refined sugar in our house, so why would I take the time to make homemade jam if it had just as much sugar as store bought? I ended up trying 2 different recipes.
The first was a freezer jam (gets stored in the freezer). I found the recipe here and was excited that although it did use a sweetener, it was a natural one...honey. It also only used 1 cup of honey for 4 cups of strawberries. A much better ratio! The recipe was super easy to make, but its consistency in the jars is a little off (fruit near the top & "jelly" at the bottom. We haven't tasted this recipe yet (they're all in the freezer!).
The second recipe used no additional sweetener (recipe on the Ball No Added Sugar Pectin packet). This recipe was a little more involved because the mashed strawberries had to be cooked, but the consistency was so much more even. This recipe I actually canned (water bath method) and it is stored on my pantry shelf. We have tried iy (in fact Girlie has eaten almost a whole jar!) and it is super fresh tasting, not super sweet. I ended up with 10 jars of strawberry jam :o) I also froze several cups of sliced strawberries.
I am in love with the idea of canning more fruits and such this year. My next plan...raspberries (there are a tons of bushes on the land we're going to eventually build on). Do you make homemade jams? What's your tried and true recipe?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
