Luckily, I’ve discovered some great childrens books to help engage them in fun activities that deliver the same messages without the blank stares.  Here are some of our favorites:

• Charlie & Lola: We are extremely very good recyclers by Lauren Child
• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
• The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
• Kids’ Fun & Healthy Cookbook by Nicola Graimes
• Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots by Sharon Lovejoy
• Jack’s Garden by Henry Cole
• The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
• The Busy Body Book by Lizzy Rockwell
• Oh The Things You Can Do That Are Good For You from Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library
• D.W. the Picky Eater by Marc Brown
• Thank You, World by Alice B. McGinty

What’s on your book list?

If you’re planning to travel over the holidays check out the Eat Well Everywhere tool on the Eat Well website.  Just type in your starting point and destination and you’ll get a map and list of locations to find healthy meal options.  You can narrow your search by restaurants, hotels, bed and breakfasts, farms, bakers, butchers and farmers markets.  How helpful is that!  Just bookmarked it and planned our Thanksgiving road trip.

http://eatwellguide.org/travel_map/

These posts won’t go into detail about why we choose the items on our menu (a topic I do blog about a lot).  This is simply a detailed menu for the day.  In the interest of setting expectations, I’ll reiterate that I’m not a “cook.”  Everything I make is pretty basic, very fast and requires a limited number of ingredients.  I would really appreciate any feedback on the relevance of these posts or how to make them more useful for you as readers.  If you have healthy meals or menu plans please leave a comment and a link.

Breakfast – We were going for quick and easy before heading out the door for Bam-Bam’s well check up. (Strong, healthy, and “quite the little talker” in case you were wondering about the check up.)

• banana slices with sunbutter
• whole wheat toast (Arnold’s bread) with pastured butter and cinnamon
• strawberries and cantaloupe

Cowboy Lunch – Today’s lunch was inspired by the boy’s sudden interest in cowboy’s.  They were asking all kinds of questions about how cowboy’s lived so I took advantage of the opportunity and tried to make a themed lunch.  We had…

• organic, nitrate free, grass-fed beef dogs from Applegate Farms
• baked beans with real grade B maple syrup
• fruit salad (cantaloupe, purple grapes, strawberries)

Dinner - I’m going to see Dr. Phillips speak on wellness tonight so the boys are really on their own. The house is stocked with lots of healthy choices so we’ll see what my husband puts together.  I suggested Ian’s chicken nuggets, cucumber slices and fruit.  I did make a pot of vegetable soup (the super easy way) before I left and ate that with carrot sticks and red pepper hummus.

• 1 box organic free-range chicken broth
• 1 bag of mixed veggies with broccoli, squash, carrots, cauliflower
• coconut oil
• sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Me and my boys - my inspiration for healthy living

 I guess is health and wellness or healthy living.  I cover a lot of topics under this umbrella from cleaning and beauty products to food news and healthy recipes.  Anything that impacts my ability to live a healthy, happy life fits.  I learned three things through today’s challenge that I wanted to share.

1.  I have a food facination.  I love to read about, study, cook and eat all kinds of food.  I’m fascinated by food’s ability to heal our bodies, change our moods, and bring us together as a community.  I realized that although I’ll never be the go to resource for new and exciting recipes (I just don’t have the cooking gene), I will continue to be a resource when it comes to learning about food and how it can help us live a healthier, happier life.  Most of the blogs in my reader have to do with food and I have more cookbooks than any one person really needs.  I’m a foodie at heart.  For those of you who like to cook healthy as much as I do…I’ve added a really cool natural food recipe search tool to my sidebar.  I came across it while exploring one of my favorite blogs…Deliciously Organic. 

2.  All of the blogs I love have one main thing in common (other than talking about food) – photos!  They are packed with beautiful pictures that compliment the writing and make the site visually interesting.  The photos draw me in and encourage me to keep exploring the site even after I’ve finished reading the post that orginially caught my attention.  I have to confess that I’ve simply been lazy when it comes to including good photos with my posts.  Because I’m always so busy with the kids I don’t take the extra time to photograph my recipes or search for photos to compliment my topics.  I promise to do better on this. 

3.  I can be really hard on myself when it comes to my blog.  I worry about how often I post.  Whether the topics I’m writing about fit within my readers expectations.  The quality of the writing.  The variety I offer.  The quality of the information.  And so on.  In exploring other blogs today I came to the realization that I’m too hard on myself.  I need to spend less time worrying about what I’m posting and more time simply being myself.  My favorite niche bloggers show their personality through their sites.  After spending time with them online I feel like I know them…like I could meet them for lunch and I’d have no problem talking to them for hours.  I think I tend to be somewhat reserved in my blogging.  Moving forward I’m going to work on letting more of me shine through. 

Nothing earth shattering, but I enjoyed the exercies.  Below is a list of blogs you may enjoy exploring, but before you go leave me a note and let me know what you like about Broccoli Cupcake.  What else would you like to see?

Deliciously Organic

Sprouted Kitchen

Tartlette

Green and Clean Mom

The Green Parent

Green-Lemonade

1. Start by saving money on non-food items
   One of the first remarks I always hear from people as a reason for not couponing is, “I don’t eat any of the things I find coupons for.” While I can usually find holes in that argument, my quick response is, “That’s fine, use the coupons for non-food items.”

                         
Even my healthiest, most organic friends typically don’t live 100% organic. You have to choose where to spend your money these days. So my advice: save money with non-perishables so you can put it towards purchasing your organic fresh foods.

Start couponing with paper products, condiments, toiletries and the like. For instance, I haven’t had to buy toilet paper since moving to Nashville. Between Publix frequently offering Greenwise Toilet Paper as their Penny Item and the plethora of $.50 Angel Soft coupons in the Sunday inserts (that gets doubled to $1 and they are often on sale for $1), you’d be surprised at how quickly the savings start adding up. Take the money you save on these products and apply it to your organic shopping items.

There are also a lot of freebies you can get that can be helpful towards others. Whether it’s free condiments that you can bring to BBQ’s or free paper plates & napkins that you can contribute to a birthday party, it always pays to have such necessities on hand before the time you actually need them!

1. Use competitor coupons
   Myth: “The things I really need, like produce, dairy and meat, never have coupons!”
   Fact: Almost every grocery store offers coupons in these areas and most grocery stores accept competitor’s coupons. So even if you don’t have every grocery store near you, it pays to sign up for their email lists so you can have their coupons emailed to you.

For example: Food Lion just emailed me a coupon for $1/$5 produce purchase. I don’t shop at Food Lion, but all the stores I do shop at accept competitor’s coupons. Publix also just offered a coupon in one of their in-store ads for $2 off a ground beef purchase. This is a great way to get your organic meat & produce for less.

1. Sign up at your favorite companies websites for samples & special offers
   Places like Mambo Sprouts and Horizon Organic have great eNewsletters and email coupons ALL the time. Go online to your favorite brands and look under their “Special Offers” tab – you’ll be surprised at how many coupons you’ll find. Wait until they go on sale and you’ll get a great deal!

1. Stock up on produce when on sale and freeze
   When organic produce goes on sale, stock up! Wash, prep, and cut it up, then spread on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer. Once frozen, you can double bag the produce and have it

on hand for when you need it. This is great to do with fruit for smoothies or veggies you want to use for stir fry or chili.

Whatever you do, keep my basic couponing tips in mind. Collect as many coupons for your favorite items as you can, then you can really stock up when they go on sale. Whenever possible, stack a store coupon (like from the Whole Foods Whole Deal) with a Manufacturer’s Coupon (that you’d received from the Sunday paper or online) to maximize your savings.

It is possible to save money and eat healthy – so get to it!

*Sami’s blog, http://www.econemicliving.com/ helps people live their dream life…for less! She makes it FUN to live the frugal life and takes advantage of making memories with her family whenever possible.

Disclosure: I asked Sami to write a post on this after a conversation we had that really helped me.  She did this out of the goodness of heart because she’s awesome like that!

I quickly learned about a month into my CSA membership that we could not eat all of the delicious, organic veggies that came in our Saturday bushel.  It didn’t matter how good my intentions were or how many vegetable heavy meals I planned.  I found myself throwing away rotten food, which to me, felt just like throwing away money.  So I had to adjust.  I couldn’t plan to actually consumer all of the produce before it expired.  I had to come up with creative ways to store things so that I could use them as I needed them.  Below are just a few solutions I found for storing what I couldn’t use right away to ensure that I was saving money, not wasting it.

1. I purchased a few boxes of Debbie Meyer Green Bags at the grocery store.  These really do keep fruits and vegetables fresh longer.  This extended the life of a lot of items by several days, which gave us enough time to eat them.  I especially like the bags for leafy lettuces.  You can’t freeze lettuce and not all types are good for cooking like spinach so my options were limited.  By extending the life of the lettuce in my CSA I could use it for salads over the course of about 10 days.  I also used it for burgers, tacos, and as a bed for chicken or beef dishes. 
2. I learned to wash, cut and freeze fruits and vegetables that I didn’t think I could use before they spoiled.  I make veggies with dinner every night, but we like variety.  We don’t want to eat squash three days in a row.  So I’ll keep out the squash I want to use right away and slice up and freeze the rest.  This also works well when things like blueberries are on sale.  This week I bought three cartons of blueberries on sale at Publix.  We eat them all the time, but it’s still hard to go through three cartons so I washed and froze a carton to use in our morning smoothies, yogurt parfaits, or as a topping on ice cream.
3. I found a great recipe for vegetable soup.  Sometimes I make the soup as soon as I get home with my share because I know we’re going to be gone a lot and the soup is easy to freeze and reheat later.  It’s also a great way to use up any leftover veggies toward the end of their fresh cycle.   I chop up whatever veggies I have on hand and cook them in a little coconut oil with sea salt, pepper and a little garlic to taste.  Once the veggies are cooked in the oil and seasonings I add them to the broth already warming on the stove.  I use Wolfgang Puck’s organic chicken broth (you can use whatever brand you like).  That’s about all.  It’s easy and really tasty.  To change it up I’ll add goat cheese for a new flavor or milk (almond milk, coconut milk, cow’s milk) to make it creamy.

These are just a few ideas.  If you’re looking for more tips to save money and still eat healthy you might check out Faithful Provisions.  I think I do an OK job of budgeting and saving considering how much fresh food we eat.  But after going to Kelly’s class tonight I realized I can do a lot more!  I can’t divulge all of her amazing secrets here, but you can check out her blog for yourself.  It’s full of great tips from years of experience.

What started as a garden center six years ago, grew into a landscaping business and this year has expanded into a personal farming venture as a result of the high demand for vegetables gardens, which are the new “in” thing.  According to Marcus, most novice gardeners (like me) believe that starting a garden is too time consuming or difficult.  At the same time, the more experienced gardeners are set in their routines using chemical fertilizers and pesticides because they believe it’s more difficult and less effective to grow naturally.  Turns out…both groups are wrong.  So here are a few tips from Marcus on growing a healthy, natural garden and more information on how Gardens of Babylon can help get you started.

• It’s all about the dirt, or what Marcus calls a “soil first attitude.”  Quality compost makes all the difference in transitioning your soil to it’s healthiest state whether you’re planting a brand new garden or transitioning an existing garden to be more natural.  Good compost inoculates your garden with beneficial organisms, naturally occurring chemicals and nutrients that plants need.  These are more effective than any chemical fertilizer.  “The soil has been doing it (growing food) on it’s own, biologically for millions of years,” says Marcus.  What makes us think we can do it better?  Try purchasing local compost or creating your own by collecting food scraps and reducing your waste.
• Raised beds are easy and effective for Middle Tennessee gardens because you don’t have to fight the poor clay soil.  They’re also great for folks who live in new subdivisions where all the quality top soil has been removed. 
• If you choose and in-ground garden, dig down about 10 inches and limit your tilling efforts to the first year.  Annual tilling will create a hard pan where the tiller doesn’t reach making it difficult for the roots and water to penetrate deep into the soil.
• Feed your soil with seaweed, molasses and fish products every 4-6 weeks.  This is a great alternative to manufactured “plant food” like Miracle Grow.  
• If you’re just starting your garden you’ll have the most success with squash, peppers, tomatoes, basil, melons, pumpkins and summer lettuce.  You can also plant any herbs (except cilantro) all summer long.

If all of this sounds great but you’re too busy to build the raised bed or dig and till the soil you can call Gardens of Babylonand they’ll come out and be your personal farmers.  They have several options to fit your budget from consultation only to planting, weeding, watering and harvesting.  But their most popular offerings are the 2 high 4X4 raised bed and the 2 high 4X8 raised bed.  Marcus and his team will actually build the bed for you.  All you have to do is pick it up and assemble the soil and plants in your yard.  The package includes the preassembled bed, soil and plants for $187 and $240 respectively.  (I love this!  I’m seriously considering picking one up when my CSA share expires in October.)

You can find Marcus and the Gardens of Babylon team at the Nashville Farmer’s Market daily or at the Franklin Farmer’s Market every Saturday where they offer a planting station for the kids to try their hands at farming.  If you’re interested in starting a community garden, Gardens of Babylon can create a customized option and will spend a little extra time with your group on site educating everyone on the benefits and importance of growing food in a quality manner and tips and techniques for accomplishing that goal.

So a few months back  when we started our healthier nutrition plan, I threw away all of my vegetable oil, canola oil, etc.  I cook exclusively with coconut oil and flavor my food (including my salads) with olive oil.  That’s it.  So when I was having a big dinner party for a Girls Night In I decided to look for an oil and vinegar salad dressing I could put out instead of trying to make a triple batch of my own version.  I thought I found it.  It was Newman’s Own All Natural Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing.  I grabbed two bottles and everyone enjoyed it including me.  I continued to buy it and was loving it.  The bottled dressing was much faster than mixing my own and it tasted just as good.  Then one night, I hosted a Health Party with Dr. Jana (I’ll write about that sometime…it was fascinating)  I asked Dr. Jana if she had tried the dressing and she suggested I read the ingredients.  When I did I was disappointed, but not shocked, to find the second ingredient was canola oil.   So I hadn’t found olive oil and vinegar dressing.  I had found, olive oil, canola oil and vinegar dressing.  Bummer…it was back to my big bottle of oil and vinegar and mixing to taste.  But it reminded me that you can never trust the marketing on the package.  If you want to know what you’re eating you have to read the ingredients.  

I challenge you to pull one thing from your pantry that you buy because you think it’s healthy and read the ingredients.  Hopefully you’ll find that you were right.  But I’m guessing a lot of you will find ingredients like refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils,  white or bleached flour or a host of long words you can’t pronounce, which basically means it’s probably not as good as the marketing on the box says it is. 

I’ll leave you with a quote (edited to keep this PG) from a book I’m really enjoying right now…Skinny (rhymes with witch).  Authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin write, “It doesn’t matter how many calories or fat grams something has….You don’t need the government’s recommended daily allowances to tell you how to eat.  Just read the ingredients.  If they are healthy, wholesome, and pure – dive in.  If there is refined sugar, white or bleached flour, hydrogenated oils, any animal products, artifical anything, or some scary-lookig word that you don’t know – don’t eat it.  We can’t make it any simpler.  Just read the ingredients and completely ignore all the other gibber jabber…”

Olive Oil, Canola Oil and Vinegar

Have you heard of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?  It’s basically the principle of matching up local consumers who want fresh organic produce (me) with local growers who want a stable market for their produce.  The local consumers support the local farm by purchasing, in advance, a portion of that farm’s seasonal harvest.   I researched a few farms and talked with friends who participate and we decided to go with Delvin Farms in College Grove, TN.  Since our family is small we purchased a half share, which means we pick up an overloaded 1/2 bushel every other weekend.  We all piled into the car this past Saturday for our first pick-up at the Franklin Farmer’s Market.  We wanted the kids to see the stand of fresh, organic fruits and veggies and we made a big deal about how our family is helping to support Delvin Farms and in return they are giving us some of their harvest.  This week’s 1/2 share was loaded with strawberries, spring greens, lettuce, turnip greens, broccoli and onions.  The kids were so excited.  They couldn’t wait to get home and try the strawberries and they finshed them off in two days!  I tried the turnip greens and learned that there is actually one vegetable that I don’t like.  I gave the rest of the bunch to my babysitter for her mom.  And I think you can guess what we did the rest of the veggies.  They went into a giant salad that we shared with friends at our Memorial Day picnic.  So far we are enjoying our decision to participate in the CSA.  It gets the kids excited about fruits and veggies, they are more willing to try new things, and we are saving money and helping our community by eating locally grown organic foods.  Win, win!

I’ve included a list of a few other local farms that participate in the CSA program.  Also, if you aren’t ready for the CSA, consider the many local Farmer’s Markets as an alternative to the grocery store.  You can pick out only the foods you like, spend whatever your budget allows for that week, but still have the opportunity to get out and have some fun with your family and teach your kids something new. 

If you’re still dreaming of a beautiful backyard garden, check back later this week.  I’ll have an interivew with Marcus Kerske, Co-Owner of Gardens of Babylon.  They offer several services to help families who want the experience of growing their own food, but don’t have the time or the know-how. 

CSA Programs:

• Delvin Farms
• Avalon-Acres
• Fresh Harvest LLC
• Rocky Glade Farm

Farmer’s Markets:

• Hardin Alley Farmer’s Market – Friday nights, June – August, Downtown Main Street in Spring Hill, TN
• Nashville Farmer’s Market - Everyday, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m., 900 Rosa Parks Blvd. in Nashville, TN
• Franklin Farmer’s Market - Saturday’s, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m., 230 Franklin Road, Behind The Factory in Franklin, TN

1/2 Bushel of Organic Farm Fresh Veggies

Yogurt Parfait- This takes 3 minutes to put together and about the same amount of time to eat.  (It’s adapted from a recipe in Dr. Jana’s cookbook.  See the link to her website on my blogroll.)   I think we can all find 6 minutes to start our day with a healthy breakfast.  You can also make it the night before and just grab it out of the fridge in the morning.

Layer the following ingredients:

• Organic whole milk yogurt (plain or vanilla) – you can also use goat’s yogurt if you don’t eat dairy
• Fresh fruit
• Sunbutter or peanut butter
• Optional: cinnamon, honey, agave to taste.  You can also add granola from the homemade recipe below
• Repeat until your cup is full and enjoy

 Homemade Granola – This recipe is adapted from one found at http://healthyhabitscoach.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/healthy-granola-recipe/.

Dry Ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
2-3 cups of raw almonds or pecan halves or other nuts.  (I left the nuts out since my kids are too young for nuts.)
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (or sunflower seeds)
¾ cup sesame seeds
½ cup ground flax seed.
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
½ cup dried fruit (add after cooked) – I used a mixture of dried blueberries, cranberries and raisins.

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup agave nectar (I used pure maple syrup and it was really good)
2 Tbsp butter (you can also use coconut oil)

Preheat the oven to 300°F.  Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix the wet ingredients together, and then stir into dry ingredients.  Stir well to mix thoroughly.  Spread the mixture into two baking dishes. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until evenly golden brown.  Stir every 10 minutes to ensure even browning.  Stir again when removed from oven to keep it from cooling into a solid mass.  The granola will crisp as it cools.  If you use fruit, stir once it is cooled.  Store in the refrigerator in a large zip lock bag or other airtight container.  Makes about 10 cups.

Granola uses – add milk directly to the granola and eat as cereal in the morning.  Try mixing it in your yogurt parfait.  Or shape teaspoons of sunbutter into bite size balls and roll in the granola mixture.  Store in the fridge to keep the sunbutter solid and the granola fresh.  I give these to my kids as “cookies” and grab them on the go when I’m in a hurry, but need something to hold me over for awhile. 

Send us your fast, healthy snack ideas.  We’ll try them out and post our favorites.