Paleo

{spinach, red bell pepper, parmesan, egg scramble}

Where has April gone?

I have made some changes this month that have occupied my mind and my hands.

I went to the doctor hoping to have some allergy and food sensitivity testing done.
What she suggested I do is a elimination diet similar to Paleo, call the Specific Carbohydrate Diet or SCD for short. After 2 months I will have the testing, and hopefully have a better picture of the foods that are causing me issues.
I am starting week 2.
I am feeling good, but there are some powerful cravings that nearly overtake me in the afternoons. I am hoping that these go away. A little snack of dates dipped in chunky natural peanut butter definitely helps.
I am used to eating whole grains of some sort throughout the day. Now there are none.
Instead of oatmeal for breakfast, I am enjoying 2 fresh eggs scrambled in a yummy assortment of vegi's. One day I had red bell pepper and spinach, the next salsa and avocado. Today I will saute up a bunch of mushrooms in butter. Yummy. I am really liking the breakfast changes.
I am so happy to still have my homemade yogurt. This is a staple in my diet. It can be used as is with a little stevia and berries, or to make dressings for my daily salad.
Lunch and dinner are protein-centric now. I was semi-vegetarian before, and I fear that trying the SCD diet with only plant proteins would put me over the edge of sanity and leave me feeling pretty weak.
SO.
I have stocked up on chicken, scd safe bacon & sausage, grass-fed beef, and I may indulge in some salmon this week. Albacore tuna is also wonderful to add to my daily salad.
I am lucky to have an SCD support group that meets monthly near my home. Folks get together and swap recipes and talk about their journey. For some this is a way of life. I feel fortunate that most of this will be only for a little while. I can imagine adopting these eating practices permanently if I knew that once in a while a girl could have a donut or a piece of pie.
There are so many pages on Pinterest with wonderful recipes to help. I started a Paleo board for myself and can't wait to try all the recipes.
Oh, and my beloved coffee. I am working on it. Right now I have it whittled down to one very weak black cup of it in the morning, and perhaps a decaf later in the day. I know coffee gives me a tummy ache. So it will go soon. I do love green tea. That will be a good replacement.

Well. I am off to tackle a very long day of laundry and cleaning, and try and squueze in a little reading.

Happy Monday.
God Bless, Tami

a simple feast.

During these dark winter months I love simple comfort food. For me, that nearly always means a soup or a stew. One of our favorites is Country Stew. I used a pound of grass-fed ground beef browned with onion, a large can of diced tomatoes, and cut-up potatoes & carrots. I let that simmer for a bit, then add celery, chopped kale, corn, peas, and green beans (I throw in whatever I have on hand). I add a little water to sauce it up. As the potatoes cook, they thicken the stew nicely. Season with a dash of balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. It takes just enough time to cook, for me to make a large pot of brown rice. I sometimes serve the stew plain with salad and bread, this time we had it over rice, garnished with parmesan cheese.
And for a special treat, banana chocolate chip bread (made with honey and applesauce). Yum.

Have a blessed day, Tami

in with the new

The decorations are all put away. We have resumed life post-holiday. It already feels like forever ago.

I am always very introspective during the first days and weeks of the new year. Making plans, making financial decisions, clearing out the clutter that seems to accumulate despite my best efforts. It is a time of looking within too, to see if my outward actions are matching my beliefs within. I think during the "birthday season" and the holidays, I take a break from my normal responses to life in order to just cope with the giant task of juggling it all. There doesn't seem to be any other way. I have read so many books on slow living, simplifying, hundred dollar holidays, handmade holidays, etc. Even with this vast knowledge under my belt, it just never changes.
So every holiday season, I juggle until my arms hurt, and every new year I am ready to get back to what I hold true. What I hold true seems to be all of the things I fail at during the holidays. I feel as though I am fighting a losing battle. I think I give in partly because I feel alone in it. Like I am the one who's doing it wrong. If everyone around me is fully engrossed in the typical holiday frantic consumeristic hoopla, then it must be right. Then why does it feel so bad for me. Clearly, I need a better support system of like-minded folks. If I were to choose one thing we did right, we gave more handmade and bought local this year. Okay, all.done. my token after the holidays rant.

Whew!

On with the new.
Digging in deeper with our nutrition. I have been hearing a lot about what certain chemicals actually do to the human body. It is one thing to know that something is bad for you, but when I can get specifics, that does it for me. I have one child that seems to be particularly sensitive to chemicals in foods. If only for him, we need to get off all processed foods with anything artificial.
I am becoming increasingly unapologetic with my family for the food choices I am making for them. We have some family members battling serious health issues right now because of poor lifelong food choices. My hubby and I are entering middle age, and need to be even more serious with our diet. I am going to hear lots of complaining for awhile. (Nutrition also took a back seat over the holidays.) Just like other changes we've made......they'll get used to it.

Going minimalist. Not modern sterile minimalist, just nice cozy cottage minimalist. I have said before that we live in a 1500 sq. foot home. We have enough space to sleep and bathe, a plenty big kitchen, a dining room/library for homework and crafts, and a decent sized living room. It is enough. It begins to feel cramped when we are invaded by too much stuff. I work really hard to cut down on the things coming in. It is time to take it to the next step, and get rid of more. When I spend a few hours putting everything back in it's place I realize, it's still too much. Way more than a person needs. Too many clothes, shoes, papers, dvds/games, pieces of needless furniture, power cords, small appliances. These are the things that just come to mind. I feel bogged down by these things, the care and storage of them mostly. Too much. It is time for breathing space. (I just found this post I wrote nearly 5 years ago....*clearly* I have not found many answers.)

Being more consistent with reducing our impact on the Earth. Avoiding waste. Reducing packaging. Getting solar. Using less of everything.

Limiting obligations. Slowing down. Taking little getaways together. Summer picnics. Eating well and feeling well. Creating. Learning. Growing. Reading. Knitting. Noticing. 2013.

I am excited for what can be in 2013.
Maybe by next Christmas, I will have more ideas and more answers. I would love that.

Have a blessed day, Tami

a tomato year

Oh my goodness.
The tomatoes are rolling in nonstop.
We have had precisely 2 half days of rain in the last 2 months. With the lack of rain our tomato season has been really extended . It has also been in the 70's, also good for the tomatoes for sure. The rain is supposed to start in 10 days or so. It is my goal to get most of the harvesting done before then.

I have stopped watering altogether in hopes of getting them to ripen faster. It looks like, for the first time, I might actually put up enough tomato sauce for the year. This is a great savings to my family. To avoid BPA, I had been buying organic tomato puree in glass bottles that came from Italy. Ouch. $3.29 for 24oz. Ouch. And then there's the organic tomato soup in the cartons, expensive also.

I am going the easy route. I am roughly cutting up the whole tomatoes and tossing them into an 8 quart stock pot with onion, garlic, olive oil, and seasonings. I cook that down for several hours. After it cools, I use my stick blender to puree, and run the sauce through a mesh sieve to remove the seeds.

So easy.

I will freeze most of the sauce because I have space in my freezer, and can the rest.

I also have 4 big beautiful heirloom tomatoes (Old German), and more to come.
These beauties are destined for lacto-fermented salsa. Yum.

The rest of the garden is slowing down.
I found a ripe strawberry yesterday. Weird.
The raspberries are still going strong. The pole beans were a bust. Zucchini was so-so. Rhubarb excellent. Potatoes okay.

This is a tomato year.

Have a blessed day, Tami

harvest

We've been picking and harvesting bit by bit each day. Most of this yumminess gets eaten right up. The tomatoes are being stockpiled for my roasted tomato sauce. I think today is the day for that.

I have frozen a lot of the berries to enjoy in the winter months. We had beautiful raspberries this season. I have an everbearing variety and am picking the second harvest, and plan on freezing those as well. We let the chickens root around in the vegetable garden sometimes, and it is hilarious to watch them jump at the raspberries.

My big, heirloom Old German tomatoes are starting to ripen. I pray it happens quickly, the rains are sure to come soon.

My volunteer tomato plants ended up being Roma's. What a wonderful surprise these vigorous plants have been. They took over and entire garden bed. I decided not to stake them, but put straw under the fruit so it wouldn't rot. I love seeing their true habit, sprawling all over the ground.

We have a small espalier apple tree that didn't bear much fruit this year. Most of our apple picking came from foraged trees in our neighborhood. And the plums, same deal. Gotta love it!

I plan on spending most of the day in the kitchen, getting a jump on baking and cooking ahead. I love days like this, it makes me feel quite productive.

Have a blessed day, Tami

Flowing Lake

 

We had never been to Flowing Lake before. It's about 30 minutes from home and straight into the country. I loved the drive so much. Winding country roads, little farms, weathered barns, deer signs, all matter of grazing animals.
We stayed (squeezed into) a sweet little cabin and slept on bunks. We ate camp food, and swam, and wandered. I relaxed and knitted. We were there with our best neighbor friends, and my 2 nephews came up for the day. The kids had a great time and fell into bed each night, totally exhausted.
What a beautiful place. We will go back for sure.

Have a blessed day, Tami

my week

I tried the pizza dough recipe with whole wheat white flour. It was edible, but just not the same. My hubby thinks I should just accept the fact that all purpose flour is the only way to go in pizza dough. I am feeling like he may be right, because any time I try WW flour for pizza it is just too bread-y. It was worth a try for sure. Maybe I can do half & half next time and see if that helps.

My rhubarb is going to good use. I am going to make a yummy rhubarb coffee cake next.

The one up side to the weather around here is, we are getting some beautiful rainbows. Yah, I know, there is no up side to constant rain and gray skies in June.

The kids are done with school tomorrow. It is a half day. After they walk home, we are going for a little treat at the local donut house. I can hardly wait.

Have a blessed Thursday, Tami

black bean & corn dip

Wait.....this doesn't look like black bean and corn dip!

I made this dip for a potluck last weekend and it was a hit. I have no photo, that's how fast it disappeared.
But here's a pic of some yummy chocolate cake I made..........the cake disappeared too.

Black Bean & Corn Dip
3 cups fresh or frozen corn, cooked and cooled
1 - 14oz. can black beans, drained
1 cup diced tomatoes, canned or fresh
1/2 cup plain yogurt (plus a couple tablespoons if needed)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
taco seasoning (I used 1/2 of the packet)
diced green onions

(you can substitute 1 cup of sour cream instead of the mayo/yogurt.)

Mix up the yogurt and mayo with the taco seasoning. I used 1/2 an envelope of mild taco seasoning and added a few red pepper flakes for flavor. If you make your own taco seasoning, just add enough to your taste.
Combine the corn, beans, tomatoes, and cheese in a large mixing bowl. Add mayo/ yogurt dressing. Mix in cheese. At this point if it seems too thick add in a couple of extra tablespoons of yogurt. Top with green onions.
We like it chilled and served with tortilla chips.
You could add in green chiles, jalapenos, salsa, olives, etc.
It would also be yummy warmed up as a hot dip.

Enjoy! Tami
BTW, today is my 300th post! Wow, it took awhile to get here. ;~)

update: I put this on my recipes page.

nourish

It feels like I haven't been nourishing myself very well lately. I have been busy. When I get busy, I forgo salad making, I forgo good food choices, I eat things that my body hates. Then I feel really bad, and it takes me a week or so of detoxing to rid myself of the bloat and gross feeling.
Why do I let myself get caught up in this vicious cycle?

It seems that unhealthy eating perpetuates itself. When I eat too many refined foods, my body craves even more. Then I am eating all the time, even when I am not hungry, my body craves this junk. I am getting off this crazy ride right now. I am sick of it.

I don't normally feed my family like the majority of society does. We are whole foods, homemade, simple nourishing food eaters. When I am in social situations, I try and make wise food choices, but sometimes I just get tired of people looking at my plate. I imagine them thinking that I am dieting or something, when I really just want to avoid the processed foods being served.  I have been giving in this last week, while volunteering at church, to a plate of yuck for lunch including about a billion cookies. I had no will power at all. I feel yucky just thinking about it. I really just should have packed my own food. Then we had a weekend family party. There were fruits and veggies, yes, and lots of chips and candy, and lots of soda and chocolate sheet cake. Ugh. Enough of this rant. Now onto what I am going to do about it.

I believe a little home prep can go a long way. If I have healthy food ready, it makes my choice easier. Last week, I had a load of fresh veggies cut up in the refrigerator. It was so nice to have them ready for snacking. And they went fast. I need to make a habit of this, instead of preparing them as the meal is coming together. We would eat so much more good stuff this way.

I was reading a blog post today. This very wise woman makes a hearty salad the foundation of one meal every day. I want to do this. My family would love it, I would love it. I feel good just thinking about it.

I am going to admit that diet soda has invaded my life - again. I am such a health freak, I can't believe I let this stuff pass my lips. I am done.

If I can stay away from refined sugar long enough to get it out of my system, I will be good. Sugar is not my friend. Sugar makes me want more sugar. Vicious cycle ya know. I am done.

This looks like a good plan. No more church lady lunches, out with sugar and soda, in with big hearty yummy salads EVERY DAY!

I am going to take a break from a very busy week and be kind to myself today. I am going to take it easy, eat some restorative food, work in the garden, and knit. It will be heaven.

Have a blessed day, Tami

urban farm

I just finished reading The Urban Farm Handbook by Jill Cottrell and Joshua McNichols. I waited for months to get it from the library, and it didn't disappoint. What I really liked, is that it is written by folks from the Pacific Northwest, specifically Seattle. Hooray, somebody that can tell me how to do this urban farming thing where I live. And seriously, when she was writing the book, she had goats on her urban lot! She now lives on acreage outside the city.
They give wonderful recommendations for short season vegetables. This is such a help. Many types of vegetables fail in our area because we have a short and rather mild growing season.  I actually have planted many of the varieties that they suggested and had great success. Yes.
The book also had information about all of the happenings around Seattle including urban farming, CSA's, pastured poultry and meats, and loads of people doing wonderful things for this world.
The book is divided into seasons. I loved Jill's seasonal schedule and the recipes.
I am going to try the Whole Grain Crackers, the Whole Grain Sandwich Bread, the Apple Breakfast Sausage, and the Pan Roasted Baby Potatoes and Carrots. I think I will try the crackers first, since I am on a cracker kick lately.
This is a book I may actually buy. It seems like such a wonderful resource.
I can't wait for my garden to start producing more than lettuce. It will take another month of so. I can be patient. :~)
Have a blessed day, Tami

weekend

We had a great weekend. A little sunshine, a little baseball, and date night with friends.

We had pizza for dinner on Sunday. I used a new crust recipe that I really like. It is a typical recipe with a little sugar and a little cornmeal mixed in. The recipe also called for a layer of mozzarella directly on the dough before the sauce. It keeps the dough from getting soggy from the sauce. What a great idea, and it did the job. I added some wonderful uncured Canadian bacon and a cheddar/jack/mozzarella mix to top it off. YUM. I will use this recipe again, and because I can't leave well enough alone, I will have to try and healthify it with whole grain flour. I have to try....

Today I have more baking to do and yogurt to make. It's stay-home Monday and I love it.
Have a blessed day, Tami

food fight

Today is grocery shopping day. I decided to ease into a lower grocery budget, so this month I am spending $600.00 instead of $700.00 (including animal feed and health & beauty items).
Next month I will see about getting it down to $500.00. I have a feeling that this amount may compromise our nutritional standards until our garden starts producing. We will see!

I will do my monthly bulk shopping today. We did pretty well last month and I only needed to stock up on a few things. We didn't eat many meals with beans, so I will use those up this month. I need to make hummus, bread, and yogurt this week also.......this week is going by so fast.

After watching Food Fight, a wonderful documentary on Netflix last night, I am re-energized about our eating. Sometimes I need a little boost to keep it up. Although it is tempting, I really don't like to buy any highly processed foods, especially snack foods. I prefer to make popcorn, bake something, or give them fruits and vegi's. The last hold outs are pretzels, tortilla chips, and banana chips.
Really the only reason I still buy these, is to pack in the kid's lunches. I plan to come up with some alternatives. We will still buy tortilla chips occasionally, but the other stuff is unnecessary. The show that I watched really emphasized that big agro-business makes the bulk of their profits in convenience foods. They cram as much cheap food into the products as possible. Since agro-business creates such a surplus of crops like corn and soybeans, that is what goes into everything we see at the big-box grocers. Organic and GMO-free processed foods are so expensive (and they should be, they are using quality ingredients), I just prefer to stay away from them, they are budget busters, for sure.
I love when I am reassured of our food choices. It gives me the strength to continue making good food. It really does take strength and conviction. It is hard to fight against an entire food system. Sometimes giving in is enticing. I will press on because I know it is the right thing to do, and our food choices are our vote.

I am just so glad that we do have choices. Making the right choice, that's the struggle.

Have a blessed and healthy day, Tami

edible landscaping

We are focused this Spring on increasing the amount of edible landscaping we have.
Last week, I planted a 4-in-1 semi-dwarf pear tree. I love this combo tree, because it is self pollinating. It is small but will produce lovely fruit for us in a few years. I would also like to plant two columnar apple trees near our kitchen patio, and maybe another dwarf fruit tree of some kind. We have a young 3-in-1 espalier apple tree and an ancient Italian plum tree in the yard already.
I have been trying to find shade tolerating berries for our front yard. We have a wonderful little local nursery that carries mostly native plants and trees, as well as local organic seed. So far, I am planning Evergreen Huckleberry, Red Huckleberry, Wintergreen, and Red Currant. These are all native to our area and should do really well. I have also heard that Hazelnuts do well here, I would really like having those. I would like to take up quite a bit of the grass in our front yard, it doesn't grow well anyway and will make for a more interesting yard. We'll see if I can get the Mister to play along. :~)
I have been wanting to try something called Poly-Culturing. This is where you scatter 6 or so types of specific seed in a smallish area, and just see what happens. The plants need to be beneficial for each other to make it work. As the season progresses seedlings are added to fill in the gaps and successive planting is also used to prolong harvest. I first heard of this is a book called Gaia's Garden. I'll need to read more about it, then I'll give it a go!

Have a blessed day, Tami

grocery challenge

{frugal breakfast - homemade yogurt & granola}

Have you ever seen how low you can get your grocery budget without sacrificing nutrition? Measure, weigh, calculate, and price out what meals really cost. Cut the junk completely, bake furiously, and plan everything down to the beverages.
I thought I would try, with careful planning, to see if I could participate in a $400.00 grocery challenge. I went to the Hillbilly Housewife's website to look at her emergency food budgets to get an idea of where to begin. For sure, if we were in a emergency, I would use it as a guide. For my purposes, I want to basically do what I am already doing nutritionally, but simplify it to the bare bones minimum cost. Call it an experiment.
I am sad to say that for my family of 6 in the area that we live in, it in near impossible. A $400.00 budget gives me about $13.30 per day to work with. Ouch. Even if I have a strict budget of a $3.00 breakfast total for 6 and $5.00 total for sack lunches, (popcorn for snack is under 30 cents)that leaves me $5.00 or so for dinner. This is not impossible, but really difficult. If we were mid-summer with the garden producing full swing it would be much easier. This is definitely a case for a big garden and putting up as much food as possible for winter.
I spent a few hours putting all these numbers together and quit because I got frustrated that we couldn't do it. But I am feeling a renewed sense of determination to be able to do this with a full garden. I think that maybe I will reduce our food budget to $500.00 and see if that is doable right now. Just for a month I want to see. In the summer, I will try again for the $400.00.
I like a good challenge.

Have a blessed day, Tami

real food

my favorite chocolate bar - it does say all natural :~) 

As I get older, my body is less tolerant of what I eat. I would consider myself above average in the healthy eating department, but there are certain times of the year (Christmas) that I fall into the habit of eating a lot of sweets. It takes me months to get back on track, and then my birthday hits (April). I indulge in a few pieces of cake, a few meals out, and so on. I love the social aspect of food. I usually save my indulgences for get togethers or celebrations. I struggle to balance eating the way that makes me feel the best, and joining in when we are out or in social eating situations. I don't want to be that person that is so rigid that I don't enjoy myself at gatherings because I am thinking too much about the food. On the other hand, I almost always feel yucky the next day. I just don't feel good when I eat a lot of refined foods, or salt, or sugar. Maybe I need an attitude adjustment regarding food, even in social situations. This whole pep talk I am giving myself right now is because my birthday is coming up and I have all of these wonderful treats planned.....my very favorite pizza, perhaps a little pie......
I have a decent amount of will power and use it most of the time to stay on track health-wise.

Feeling good is a strong motivator also.
I feel the very best when I am eating real food.

What works best for me is a semi-vegetarian diet, with modest amounts of dairy in the form of yogurt, eggs, nuts, and bits of meat/poultry for protein, healthy fats, whole grains, and lots of whole fruits and vegetables. I drink mainly water, coffee, and tea. Right now I am getting off caffeine (again). My body really doesn't like caffeine. I love to eat in season, and stay away from processed sweeteners. I really like Stevia when I need a little sweetness.
Now that I have put this recipe for feeling good down in writing, I should probably refer to it often. It really does make a difference in my quality of life.
I will take April to get myself back on track. When the sun comes out that will give me an extra boost of energy and wellness too.
Have a healthy and blessed day, Tami