I know everybody wants to see exactly what I eat every day, but I'm going to hold off. Today, I'm going to focus on a previously super artificial food that is really easy to make "real" -- coffee.
I love coffee. 'Nuf said. Burbanmom decided to give up coffee, but then changed her mind. I don't blame her. Yes, it's addictive. Yes, I'm addicted. But I'm okay with that.
So.... how was I messing this up?
Back in the days, I was drinking regular coffee (not free trade, not organic) that I got at the supermarket, not recycling the can I got it in, or buying coffee in a disposable cup from the nearest coffee shop.
No more! Now, I buy organic/free trade coffee, reuse the bag it comes in, and if I buy coffee outside of the house (which is an enormous waste of money, but necessary), I bring my own cup. Starbucks and WF will give a discount for BYOC. I think it's 25 cents at WF, which is pretty darn good.
Actually, this is not totally true, because I haven't bought any coffee in about a year. All my coffee has come to me, free. I can not reveal my sources, but it has been left over, so I guess I'm sort of a freegan! (It's not from the trash, though.)
Creamer
I hate that powdered creamer, but I do love half and half. I used to use fat-free half and half. Then, I decided that I only use a little bit, so why not use the real deal? I switched to regular half and half and finally figured out what it is -- on the fat free package, there are about a million mysterious ingredients. But half and half is half cream, half milk. That makes sense.
If you don't want to buy half and half, you can make it, and then make butter with the extra cream. This could be a fun experiment to try with the kids. Another option is just to use whole milk -- still pretty creamy (since I'm used to skim) and less expensive.
Sweetener
C drinks his coffee black. I wish I could, but I like it a little sweet. I was using Splenda. But after 2 days of sugar, I'm going back. Sugar is good, and not too caloric (again... I don't use that much). This is a strange change considering that I used to make fun of people for using artificial sweeteners, and then I became one of those people. (I blame Weight Watchers. I had great success, but started eating a lot of artificial stuff.)
Day 2 Review
I thought that I could rely on WF for my pastry fix. (I know, I have a serious problem). Did you know that many of their pastries contain seaweed products (I can't remember exactly what they called it on the ingredients...). It really cut down on my choices.
Pretty good day today.
Questionable food: tortilla
Triumph: made my own baguettes! And did not destroy the kitchen in the process. I used the dough cycle on the bread machine, then took the dough out, shaped it into baguettes (actually, into canes) and baked them in the oven. They were awesome. We had spaghetti for dinner (made my own sauce...no Ragu supplement) and, of course, chard.
I wonder what will be in the CSA box tomorrow. Chard? It's almost like Christmas.
Showing posts with label swiss chard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swiss chard. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
Eating Food -- Day 1
Right off, we had a problem on the first day of the "Eat Food Challenge". C bought chocolate donuts with sprinkles for the kids. Boo! That's okay though. It's the first day, and it's a little hard to get into the habit. Here is a rundown of what I ate today (what C ate is pretty close; the kids had the same except for school lunch, a popsicle each, and the very last of the graham crackers):
Breakfast:
oatmeal with raisins & milk, coffee
Lunch:
beans & rice, chard
chocolate
homemade bread with organic strawberry jam
Snack:
banana
Dinner:
baked tofu
couscous curry
salad with homemade balsamic dressing
more chard!
It was a lot of veggies, but it actually wasn't too hard. I came home to a chocolate donut sitting in the middle of the table, but since I had some happy chocolate in the cupboard, it was easy to resist.
I ate a ton of food today (as you can see), and discovered that baked tofu is the GREATEST -- it totally eliminates the problem of tofu squishiness that has previously turned me off. C and I polished off the tofu in just a few minutes (the kids had a taste & then opted out). I just marinated it in a sauce I made & then baked it at 400 for 30 minutes. It did seem like a lot of oven use for not very much food, however.
What was a problem? Salad dressing. I have a favorite balsamic vinagrette that I use, but it is full of weird ingredients. So I made my own. I just mixed up some balsamic vinegar, some olive oil, a little salt & some grapefruit juice. It was delish. I also got excited about DIY salad stuff and made croutons from some weird bread I made the other day. They were a hit.
But.... dinner caused a kitchen explosion. I used a ton of bowls, pans, and the chopping board was like a veggie explosion.
The homemade bread may seem like over-achieving, but it's really easy. I feel like a cheater because I use a bread machine. It takes maybe 2 minutes to put the ingredients in and then 3 hours and 10 minutes later -- awesome bread! We started making bread because we were inspired by some friends of ours. We couldn't believe them when they told us that they don't buy bread at the store. Now... neither do we! The breadmaker has been totally worth it even if only to make pizza. The pizza that we make at home is better (not to mention healthier) than most delivery pizza and is very economical to make. What's also nice is that we almost always have the ingredients -- bread stuff, some sort of tomato sauce, cheese, and random veggies.
What's funny is that a lot of the things that seem way out there to me (like making all my own bread) are pretty normal for a lot of other bloggers. It just shows that you can be an example to others--maybe even somebody that you don't know. After a while, what seems weird starts to seem normal, and hopefully the world gets a little greener.
That's a lot of chard
Yep. Sure is a lot of chard. We still have some more to eat. And artichokes (all 7 of them)... and more lettuce... and cabbage. Tomorrow is going to be another veggie heavy day because we have another CSA box on Wednesday. I'm still up in the air about continuing CSA after this trial month.
How much does CSA run in your area? Do you think it's worth it? How much more are you willing to pay for local food?
Kids
I think this challenge is pretty hard with kids, unless you love to cook. We are out of snacks now, except for pretzels. So, it's either fruit or toast or .... fruit. The morning is tough too -- the kids are addicted to Honey Nut Cheerios. We'll see how tomorrow goes.
Breakfast:
oatmeal with raisins & milk, coffee
Lunch:
beans & rice, chard
chocolate
homemade bread with organic strawberry jam
Snack:
banana
Dinner:
baked tofu
couscous curry
salad with homemade balsamic dressing
more chard!
It was a lot of veggies, but it actually wasn't too hard. I came home to a chocolate donut sitting in the middle of the table, but since I had some happy chocolate in the cupboard, it was easy to resist.
I ate a ton of food today (as you can see), and discovered that baked tofu is the GREATEST -- it totally eliminates the problem of tofu squishiness that has previously turned me off. C and I polished off the tofu in just a few minutes (the kids had a taste & then opted out). I just marinated it in a sauce I made & then baked it at 400 for 30 minutes. It did seem like a lot of oven use for not very much food, however.
What was a problem? Salad dressing. I have a favorite balsamic vinagrette that I use, but it is full of weird ingredients. So I made my own. I just mixed up some balsamic vinegar, some olive oil, a little salt & some grapefruit juice. It was delish. I also got excited about DIY salad stuff and made croutons from some weird bread I made the other day. They were a hit.
But.... dinner caused a kitchen explosion. I used a ton of bowls, pans, and the chopping board was like a veggie explosion.
The homemade bread may seem like over-achieving, but it's really easy. I feel like a cheater because I use a bread machine. It takes maybe 2 minutes to put the ingredients in and then 3 hours and 10 minutes later -- awesome bread! We started making bread because we were inspired by some friends of ours. We couldn't believe them when they told us that they don't buy bread at the store. Now... neither do we! The breadmaker has been totally worth it even if only to make pizza. The pizza that we make at home is better (not to mention healthier) than most delivery pizza and is very economical to make. What's also nice is that we almost always have the ingredients -- bread stuff, some sort of tomato sauce, cheese, and random veggies.
What's funny is that a lot of the things that seem way out there to me (like making all my own bread) are pretty normal for a lot of other bloggers. It just shows that you can be an example to others--maybe even somebody that you don't know. After a while, what seems weird starts to seem normal, and hopefully the world gets a little greener.
That's a lot of chard
Yep. Sure is a lot of chard. We still have some more to eat. And artichokes (all 7 of them)... and more lettuce... and cabbage. Tomorrow is going to be another veggie heavy day because we have another CSA box on Wednesday. I'm still up in the air about continuing CSA after this trial month.
How much does CSA run in your area? Do you think it's worth it? How much more are you willing to pay for local food?
Kids
I think this challenge is pretty hard with kids, unless you love to cook. We are out of snacks now, except for pretzels. So, it's either fruit or toast or .... fruit. The morning is tough too -- the kids are addicted to Honey Nut Cheerios. We'll see how tomorrow goes.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Recycling Envelopes
Our apartment complex has paper recycling, but I had been told that we could not recycle envelopes. Turns out that's not true! I checked the website for the city and they accept envelopes -- even ones with windows. That still freaks me out a little, so I'll tear the window out, but that will really cut down on the trash.
Scented Candles
Recently I was talking with a friend about scented candles. I love the smell, but I started thinking that they must be causing indoor pollution -- after all, the candle melts, and where does it go? Into your lungs? According to WebMD, some candles with metal wicks can cause lead poisoning. I have a few candles, but they don't have metal wicks. But what about the other stuff? The EPA did a literature review on the topic:
http://web.ksl.com/dump/news/cc/series/candepa.htm
They found that: "When candles are burned, they emit trace amounts of organic chemicals, including acetaldehyde,formaldehyde, acrolein, and naphthalene (Lau et al., 1997). However, the primary constituent of public health concern in candle emissions is lead."
These organic chemicals were found to be at safe levels in most normal candle-using scenarios, but a "worst case scenario", such as burning 30 candles for several hours in a small space (your bedroom perhaps?) could result in harmful levels.
As much as I totally trust the government, and believe in the "acceptable" risk levels that the EPA sets, I think I'll opt out of the candles. Indoor air pollution is already a problem, so why add to it?
4 Bags unstuffed
Today was an awesome day in getting rid of stuff. My husband got involved and we have a HUGE bag of weird tools and household items to get rid of. I also threw in 2 years of Men's Health magazines and a cookbook that I haven't looked at since we got married (how to throw a cocktail party -- hah!)
C (my husband) says he has "divorced" the car. He rode his bike and took the bus to school day and was very happy with how it worked out. I rode the scooter to work and stopped by WF for some swiss chard (I'm addicted) and had to carry it around in my backpack with my students' papers because I forgot to bring my bag. Good thing it wasn't wet.
Car miles today: zero! :)
Scented Candles
Recently I was talking with a friend about scented candles. I love the smell, but I started thinking that they must be causing indoor pollution -- after all, the candle melts, and where does it go? Into your lungs? According to WebMD, some candles with metal wicks can cause lead poisoning. I have a few candles, but they don't have metal wicks. But what about the other stuff? The EPA did a literature review on the topic:
http://web.ksl.com/dump/news/cc/series/candepa.htm
They found that: "When candles are burned, they emit trace amounts of organic chemicals, including acetaldehyde,formaldehyde, acrolein, and naphthalene (Lau et al., 1997). However, the primary constituent of public health concern in candle emissions is lead."
These organic chemicals were found to be at safe levels in most normal candle-using scenarios, but a "worst case scenario", such as burning 30 candles for several hours in a small space (your bedroom perhaps?) could result in harmful levels.
As much as I totally trust the government, and believe in the "acceptable" risk levels that the EPA sets, I think I'll opt out of the candles. Indoor air pollution is already a problem, so why add to it?
4 Bags unstuffed
Today was an awesome day in getting rid of stuff. My husband got involved and we have a HUGE bag of weird tools and household items to get rid of. I also threw in 2 years of Men's Health magazines and a cookbook that I haven't looked at since we got married (how to throw a cocktail party -- hah!)C (my husband) says he has "divorced" the car. He rode his bike and took the bus to school day and was very happy with how it worked out. I rode the scooter to work and stopped by WF for some swiss chard (I'm addicted) and had to carry it around in my backpack with my students' papers because I forgot to bring my bag. Good thing it wasn't wet.
Car miles today: zero! :)
photo: www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org
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