Research

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Okay so you know how I love a good challenge? I especially love ones that involve food. And lately I've had some conversations with other women about healthy alternatives from processed foods to other whole (affordable) foods and decided I wanted to do a little research on the subject:
1. Because everyone deserves to eat wholesome-real food.
 2. It shouldn't cost a family a small fortune to tackle this endeavor.
While researching for this topic, the biggest thing I noticed was THERE ARE A LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE OUT THERE questioning the same thing as me!!! If you google whole food recipes a ton of stuff pops up. And let's not even talk about Pinterest. Oh my word-talk about a foodie-vore's dream! I can't tell you how many recipes I have that are docked under 'healthy'. So let's do baby steps. You with me?? :)

What are some things to look for in food at the grocery store that you DON'T want to buy? (Hint: If there are names in ingredient list you can't pronounce it's a sure bet that it's processed).
1. High Fructose Corn Syrup
2. Trans-fats which are labeled under: palm, soybean or corn
3. Partially Hydrogenated Oil
4. Anything ending in 'ose' means sugar. Sucralose (also known as Splenda) is bad. bad. bad.
5. Nitrates (hidden in lunch meats, and other packaged meat such as bacon)
6. Food Dyes (blue, green, red 40)
7. Refined grains such as white four. Items containing wheat must say WHOLE wheat.
Here is a great list by Jillian Michaels that explains each of one of those in depth. 

Here is a short blurb on places I grocery shop and are local to the Charlotte area:
Trader Joe's
Earth Fare
Home Economist
The Bradford Store
The Great Harvest Bread Company

I love to read people's stories. Conquerors and failed attempts. Private and public. Since I'm a blogger, I read other blogs frequently. Here are a few of my favorite's regarding the subject of eating real food on a budget:

Kelly the Kitchen Kop- lots of meal ideas and healthy school lunch alternatives for children!

A website that I LOVE and frequent often is The 100 Days of Real Food website. There is SO much information regarding this subject. They are a local Charlotte family that decided they were only going to eat real food and nothing processed for 100 days. It was a challenge that they accepted. Like I've said before I love a good challenge!

The Fresh 20 - a recipe subscription for 5 meals each week using 20 ingredients for families on a budget.

52 Babysteps - another wonderful website of a family trying (and doing it well!) to eat real food on a budget. 

...there are so many more stories! If you read some of those blogs you will see that people are really succeeding at it! Once I cut out processed foods-I never missed the junk. And when I finally got to the place of REALLY reading labels, buying local, eating out of our garden, and shopping at grower's only farmers markets I began to FEEL so much better. I didn't realize the junk I was eating was actually making me feel worse!

It's baby steps though! 

If you decide today that you're not going to eat anything processed from now on-I won't hesitate to tell you that it may end up to be a failed attempt.  As one who LOVES creamer in her coffee I have a similar experience. This girl lives for the stuff. Every morning and evening I poured it into my coffee with a heavy hand. One day I looked at the back and realized I couldn't pronounce half of what I saw. So I switched to a certain kind that had 'natural' in the name and when I looked there were 4 ingredients! Cool! And I loved it! Cream, milk, sugar and natural flavoring. Not really sure what that 'natural' flavoring is but I had made some serious progress. Ha! Does that make sense? I hope you don't think I don't eat anything processed and fake. I do. Lord knows I'm not perfect. My weakness is queso made with the tubed cheese found on the shelf. And sometimes eating real food just isn't realistic for the situation I'm in. For example: am I going to pack WB's lunch every time we're away from home or make her eat off the organic food menu when we're out? No! It's just not realistic. Please know what I mean! :)  I'm just challenged by the idea and the way of life to eat better and eat REAL food. The cost of food is going up so fast it overwhelms me!!! But what if enough people started making enough noise to generate a response from our government on the unjust factor that junk food is cheaper than whole foods. Does it make sense that a box of cookies is cheaper than a fresh bunch of broccoli?? How is that??? So I challenge you to maybe think outside the box with me....for yourself, for your family...I don't know....maybe for the people that you're in charge of.  Start researching! There are food activists on Capitol Hill that are the front lines trying to make better sense of our food industry for the public. From the slaughter house to the chicken house start researching where your food comes from and what goes on in those locations! I dare you to google Concentrated Animal Feeding Locations otherwise known as a 'feedlot'.  Speak up to your school when classroom parties are full of sugary junk! I know it sounds crazy, but enough people spoke up to make huge changes in our school lunch program. This year the FDA approved new standards for school lunches throughout the entire country! That's huge-more whole grains, no HFCS, more veggies...yay, yay, yay!!!

Rosemary And Lemon Infused Sweet Tea

This is for my friend Kari Beth who requested this recipe today when I posted this picture on Instagram. Her birthday is tomorrow so in honor of her bday I'm signing on tonight to give the recipe! Plus I hear she makes really cute clothes....shhh...don't tell her I told you. 

Last night the women in our small group met at a little parisian bakery called Amelie's. This little treasure trove is famous around town for having ahhhhh-mazing sweets and savories. When Ree Drummond -The Pioneer Woman came to the Queen City, she got a taste of the famous "Salted Caramel Brownie" and blogged about it. She even made a replica recipe. I've been many times to this special place and each time I get that extra special brownie with a cup of coffee and it is SO GOOD! Last night was no different! However.....

 ...my sister in law got a fun drink and I became quite obsessed with it after I got home last night. This morning I couldn't get it out of my head and by this afternoon-in the blazing heat I might add- I decided I HAD to make it. The name alone sounded like such a refreshing treat for my taste buds! It's called Rosemary and Lemon Infused Sweet Tea. It's made with a simple syrup invigorated by steeping rosemary stalks and mixing with steeped tea. And the flavors marry so well together. It's really easy and it keeps well in the fridge to pull out when needed! This would be so good for a shower, a get together or just a summer staple in the kitchen. Try it!

I have a lot of rosemary! Always looking to use it.

Make a simple syrup:
2 cups of water to 1 cup of sugar. Mix over med high heat until thick and clear. Turn off heat. Add several rosemary stalks and let steep for an hour or two.

After the rosemary has infused the simple syrup put 2 family size tea bags and 2 cups of water in a small saucepan and boil over high heat for several minutes Turn off heat and let steep for 10-15 minutes.

Mix simple syrup with steeped tea and add enough water to make 2 quarts. I'm awful-I never measure anything! I'm sorry! Once mixed serve over ice with a splash of fresh lemon. Garnish with a lemon slice and rosemary if you so please! enjoy! Happy birthday Kari Beth!!!!

Blueberry Muffins

In our quest to eat healthy these days I've found that one way we do that is by preparing meals and staying home to eat. We hardly EVER eat out anymore. So I've got to be constantly thinking ahead for what to make for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For breakfast we usually do protein shakes and baked oatmeal or an egg. But last week, to mix stuff up a little bit,  I made a HUGE batch of whole wheat waffles with cinnamon and nutmeg.  The recipe I used made about twenty waffles which I froze to be eaten anytime I want too! I also made a big batch of blueberry muffins to have on hand as well. I'm actually eating one right now getting crumbs all over the keyboard! They are so good! Having homemade healthy foods on hand to eat at all times is not an easy task. But I feel like we are so much better for it. Here's the recipe! You will love these!

Blythe's Blueberry Muffins
adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow's book "My Father's Daughter" (best cookbook ever!) 
Makes 12 muffins

8 TBSP unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 organic large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar plus 1 tsp
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups organic, fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with papers.
Whisk the butter, eggs, and milk together in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, the 3/4 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold in the blueberries. Divide among the muffin cups and sprinkle the muffins with the remaining teaspoon of sugar. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the muffins are golden brown, 25-30 minutes, Best to eat warm.

*These stay moist for a few days. Just put them in a plastic container with a lid at room temp.

Happy Spring!

Testing....1....2.....3....

This new blogger layout is interesting to say the least....I hope this entry makes it to the world wide web.

I have been out of the technology world for about a month and it has felt oh so good! I shut down my facebook, cleaned up my pinterest account to show only food boards and un-followed a gazillion people on twitter. I don't know why but lately I've been feeling so nostalgic....I want life to slow down a little bit. I've been overwhelmed lately with knowing too much. Do you ever get that way sometimes? It's almost suffocating. I know, I know...we live in the "information age" right?  But lately I've just wanted to be old fashioned and not know EVERYTHING about EVERYONE. And truth be told-I feel like I'm better for it. I eliminated the competition with my eyes. With comparing. With knowing everything. With wasting my precious time. Time that is now spent behind a book, or preparing meals, and playing with Willa! Speaking of Willa....

I've been making mostly all of her food since she was 6 months old when she started on solid foods. At first it was a little intimidating-but now I feel like I'm a wealth of knowledge regarding the subject! Ha! About twice a month I spend a few hours making my list, grocery shopping, steaming, mashing, roasting, pureeing, and freezing 5-6 BIG meals she can eat from. Intermixed with that she also eats avocados, quinoa, whole grain cous-cous and brown rice. She loves blueberries and yogurt! And eats a baked apple or baked pear with cinnamon and a pat of butter every morning. And thank goodness (fingers crossed) no food allergies yet.  She eats three times a day and at each feeding drinks 6-8 ounces of formula and THEN she eats real food. She is still napping twice a day and sleeping 12-13 hours a night. Holla. :) I've really enjoyed this stage of preparing and making all of Willa's food. I researched a lot before I started and became obsessed with it. I'm a research junkie and compulsive thinker so once I get on something-it's a tad bit ridiculous. And I don't do it out of pride, convenience (it takes FOREVER! plus I have to plan her meals around being home) or to save money (I don't save anything b/c I buy everything organic). When I first started it  I wanted the challenge! Because there are great food sources out there (earth's best/dr. sears/plum organics)  I just wanted her to learn about real textures and flavors and plus it has helped her skin, her bowels, sleep....everything. I challenge you if you have the time/energy-and want to learn more about it there is a wonderful website that can help get you started! Click here!

Onto other things....

I've been baking a lot lately.

Whyyyyyy?

I mean, bikini season is right around the corner.

Riiiiiiiight.

Note to self: "You're going to be in a one piece this summer Missy. You will have a one year old and you will be bending over/picking off sand and spending all of your sweet tan time in the water holding an itty bitty splish-splash fish wanting you to throw her up." Oh well.

I made a rockin' (crustless) strawberry skillet pie last night.  It was a sticky, gooey, hot mess completely full of itself showing off big time. So good. Go here to get the recipe!

Valentine's Day

Yesterday our little girl turned 7 months old! It is so hard for me to wrap my mind around. I think I resonate with other moms when I say that it feels like YESTERDAY that I was 9 months pregnant with my feet up, head in the freezer and waiting on the little one to get here. She started crawling yesterday too-it was so neat! William and I were both home to see it-I even got it recorded on video. She would take a few "steps" with her hands and knees and fall. But then she kept doing it over and over! Development is such a neat thing.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I'm a pretty big fan of this holiday mainly because I know I will sit down to a fancy, home-cooked dinner just the two of us once WB goes to sleep. I don't do it very often but I LOVE to cook fancy! I am so excited about what I'm making! 

• Pork chops with garlic and red wine
• Stuffed mushrooms
• Maple roasted Brussels sprouts with a balsamic reduction 
• Rosemary rolls
• Chocolate stout cake

Can we say mmmmm!?? I'll let you know how it turns out! 

I'm attaching a picture of Valentine's Day a few years ago when I transformed our kitchen into an "Italian Trattoria". That will go down as one fun experience! I had the checkered table cloth, the dessert was served in martini glasses and I used champagne to make risotto! So cool! If your into that sort of thing....haha. I do realize some people aren't!  Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 

Happy 2012

New beginnings are among us. New ambitions, new dreams, new opportunities, new vices.  Have you made a resolution? I made several but my favorites are "live small" and "live simple". I'll tell you how I came to those resolutes. I have always loved food. Duh. We know that. I love to cook, bake, eat, and grocery shop. The latter of those is what got me in trouble. I was always one of those peeps who just went to the store every week and dumped everything and anything in the cart. I mean, if I already had it when I got home-then it was no big deal. I knew I would end up using it right? WRONG. Our pantry, freezer and fridge were stock full of just so many items. So many items in fact it was just flat out ridiculous. 3 cans of spaghetti sauce, 7 cans of different kinds of beans, 6 different dry pastas and the list goes on and on. And I started to feel a teensy bit convicted over it. Plus there was no reason I should be spending an OUTRAGEOUS amount of money per month on food. I'm one of those that think you save money by not eating out. Well, we could have saved money had we JUST eaten out-haha. Anyways.  All that to say. I took stock of everything we had. It only took about an hour, but I wrote everything down and decided I would try and make meals ONY with what I already had on had. 

It had to work. It just had too. And for two weeks I didn't go to the store (well, I went to get milk) and it was awesome!!! I made do with what we had. And it turned out awesome! I discovered that items such as celery, carrots, onion and garlic were pretty economical b/c you can use them in so many different meals. And that pastas go such a long way! And that beans are full of fiber and protein so they could suffice for meat a couple times. I kind of got a little excited about my endeavor-saved a bunch of money and made myself proud! The cost of food has risen dramatically however I still believe we should eat as healthy as we can. But it's hard! I totally get that! And to eat well is a big investment. So if I can save a little money just by eating what we already have-and get creative by making meals that might not go together but good for you then that makes me happy!  Some other random things that make me happy:

• my new homemade (cheapo-depo) vinegar/water/peppermint oil counter spray. It makes my house smell like winter. 
• A new monthly calendar. I admit it, I'm a calendar snob. I can't do the daily ones and the hourly ones make me want to hyperventilate. I'm a monthly desk girl. And that's it and that's all. 
• Starting a new bible study next week. 
• This candle. It smells heavenly. 
• And finally-last but certainly not least my little Willa Bleu turns 6 months old on Thursday. Exactly 6 months ago tonight I went into labor. My oh my how our lives have changed only for the better b/c of that sweet girl. How we love her so much!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas on the week of! Today is the first day of old man Winter and the longest night of the year. To celebrate I have chipotle cheddar biscuits in the oven and a large pot of chili on the stove simmering away. My house smells of cinnamon and I have sprigs of rosemary, eucalytpus and holly berries in mason jars. Even though it doesn't feel like it outside-the quietness of winter has come to our house.

I've always deemed it important  to have lots of options when it comes to food around the holidays and buy stuff that I normally wouldn't buy any other time of the year. For about a week I've been perusing through all my food mags, Pinterest, blogs, recipe books and everything else in between while making my grocery lists of items to have on hand to bake goodies this week! Today I went to all the stores and checked every item off my list! I have promised myself not to darken the doorway of another grocery store until after Christmas! This week I'm making:
fudge
sugar cookies with amaretto icing
sausage balls
pumpkin bread
chips/homemade salsa
cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning
brownies
....and maybe a couple of pies??
All courtesy of Pinterest.
I love this time of year! It's when we celebrate Advent and the birth of Christ. We are celebrating Christmas day locally with William's family and I'm in charge of a dessert or two. Still not 100% sure of all what I'm making however I will be making this chocolate cream pie for sure. It's so good! I made it for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit! I also might make this because of my recent obsessions with citrus right now. All things green, yellow and orange! It has always fascinated me that in the dead of winter a bright fruit is in season. So today I bought an array of oranges for clementine cider or an orange spiced cake. Maybe even an orange torte. Who knows what I will come up with!

My little Christmas arrangement. It smells so good!

Our Christmas card corner!

Sidenote-can I just tell you how much I have LOVED Christmas this year with our sweet Willa Bleu. She is such a special gift. I love the way she adores the lights of Christmas, how she's discovered and loves the crinkly sound of wrapping paper, and kicks her legs to Christmas music dancing with her daddy every night in the kitchen. She's rolling all over the place and starting to sit up on her own. Oh! and most importantly starting to sleep through the night! Thank you Jesus! Haha! She laughs all the time and is such a joy!
I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas with family, friends and food. May you make new memories and go along with old traditions. And may we all remember the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas. "A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes ... and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent." 

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer