This morning’s breakfast was quick and easy because I was dawdling a bit. A whole wheat english muffin topped with some of the strawberry preserves I make this summer and some Ste. Maure Cheese from Pure Luck Farm and Diary (available through the Houston Dairymaids).
I love snacks like this. Take 1 apple and slice in chunks. Take 2-3 tbsps of cajeta and put into a small dish of some sort – I used a small jelly jar. Enjoy.
Regular Cajeta from Blue Heron Farm. They also make a bourbon flavored Cajeta as well.
When I came home from my 2.5 week jaunt around the midwest and southeast United States in early November, I figured that my fridge would be emptier than it was when I left. R and I’d been eating out of my pantry for the week and half before I left, and we’d made a pretty good dent. And since R was staying at the apartment to take care of the cat, I encouraged him to eat more from the fridge while I was gone.
When I came back, there was more food in the fridge than when I left. He had gone out for dinner instead of cooking and had bought the necessary items for sandwiches and kefir. I had food that I had carried back from the midwest because it reminded me of my childhood. As I looked at all that food, I started thinking about an article I’d read in Urban Farmsteading about food waste and I realized I wasn’t very happy with the notion of having to throw out all that old food even though I knew it needed to be done.
I sat down and started cleaning out the fridge to see what was left. It had been a while since I’d cleared out the old stuff in the fridge so there were a few science experiments waiting for me. I started calculating the value of the items I was throwing away in my head as I pitched. I estimate $200-300 worth of food that went into the trash. It made me realize that even though I have abundant resources in terms of local food purveyors at the market and my garden, I was wasting a lot of money and I didn’t like that feeling.
With Thanksgiving being around the corner, I’ve continued to explore my feelings related to food and how I waste it. I don’t want to be an average American and dump 1.28 pounds of food a day in the trash. I want to be a better steward of my food resources.
I’ve worked on changing my habits around food consumption. I’m buying what I need and I’m planning meals around what I have in my pantry, what I have left in the fridge, and what’s coming out of the garden (currently not a lot, but it’ll be back up to speed soon). I’m also working at not eating out as much and reheating leftovers as either lunch and dinner. Both steps will be kinder to my wallet. I’m also taking a look at portion sizes and making sure that I’m getting enough without overeating. Thanks goodness for veggies to help fill you up!
If it’s anything like my challenge to get rid of plastic in my life. Its going to be two steps forward and one step back, until I get the hang of it. Until then, I’ll practice, practice, practice, until it’s a part of my lifestyle.
Baking soda is a cheap and effective all-purpose cleaner, scouring powder, polish, and fungicide.
Not only can you use it for cleaning your sinks, tubs, and silver, you can also use to clean yourself. Baking soda can be used as a substitute for toothpaste. It can also be used as a deodorant for your arm pits (it won’t stop sweating though), a soother for bug bites and sun burns (mix it in a paste, apply and let dry), or as a mouthwash.
Here’s a list of 60 ways you can use baking soda every day for household chores and personal care. As a bonus, the cardboard box it comes in is easily recycled!
Apparently, my taste buds have changed. Not a little. A lot. Since switching to a diet where the majority of my food travels no more than 100 miles until its in my fridge, I’ve noticed a few things.
Overly sweet treats in restaurants that are laden with sugar and high fructose corn syrup don’t appeal to me. Give me homemade French Vanilla Ice Cream made with local milk, local eggs and a bit of sugar made from evaporated cane juice if you please. Top it off with some of my Grandma’s spiced peaches that I canned last summer and I’ve got a treat that can’t be beat.
The cows I get my milk and cheese from are treated humanely, and are not overly treated with anti-biotics or artificial hormones. I have creamline milk! And I’ve learned how to make my own yogurt, kefir, and cheese.
The chickens have a nice pen and spend their days scratching around eating bugs, garden trimmings, and living like chickens ought to live.
While Anthony Bourdain turns his nose up at grass-fed beef, I’ll take the rich, meaty flavor of it over corn-fed blandness any day of the week. It’s not that much more expensive than what I would pay in the store.
Growing my own veggies in a 38′x30′ plot allows me to pay for the extra expense of my meat and milk, while keeping some money in my pocket. And the money that I spend with the people I’ve gotten to know over the the past 2 years stays in my community and supports local businesses and local families.
GAH!!!! I feel like a total failure when it comes to plastic today. I went to the farmer’s market today despite the cold and still walked always with plastic. I was able to avoid fast food generated plastic at the Fusion Taco Truck, but I opted for it at the Houston Dairymaids’ Tent when I purchased one of the soft cheeses. It didn’t even register that I’d bought plastic until I was back at the office. I also had a similar experience with mindless plastic when I was clothes shopping this evening. I was out the store with the bag before I even thought about it.
This evening, when I was out running errands, I was faced with the litter box dilemma. Simba likes the Arm & Hammer Corn based litter. It holds down the odor quite well. However, its packaged in plastic. I had options for Fresh Step, and Swheat! but do you go for an unknown with a finnicky cat? Then there are the considerations of the mining that happens for clay litter. I opted for the arm&hammer. I know they have other kind of litter in boxes, I’m not sure why this one isn’t. Maybe I need to write them a letter.
Last week, Rodale.com started promoting Plastic-Free Month in February. As someone who is continually battling plastic in her life, it’s annoying that it pops up everywhere. I think the thing that annoys me the most is when I have a single item, and the clerk wants to put it into a plastic t-shirt bag. When this happens to me, I look at the clerk and say “No thanks, I don’t need that bag.”
When I started going plastic free, I focused on my kitchen first because that’s where it was most obvious with the Ziplock and rubbermaid containers. But slowly I’ve become more aware of plastics and how they have infiltrated our lives. I think it really struck home when I started thinking about food and plastic. You can’t buy milk in glass bottles any more (not in Houston anyway), it’s all in paper cartons with a plastic mouth on the side or it’s in plastic. Cottage cheese and yogurt no longer come in waxed paper containers. Cooking oil. Candy Wrappers. Cookies. Breads. Microwave foods. Sour Cream. Juice. Cheese. Deli Meats. All can have some sort of plastic involved. Even with canned goods (whether they be from the store or homecanned) may have some sort of plastic involved. Even my free-range beef and chicken come encased in plastic. About the only thing that still comes in glass is booze.
Rodale.com laid out three basic laws for the challenge:
1. No buying or acquiring new plastic.
2: No cooking with plastic or storing food in plastic. (this is not my issue, but my boyfriend seems obsessed with putting things in plastic)
3: Minimize all other plastic use.
Some of the food ones I’ve figured out, but what about yogurt? Yogurt’s a staple in my diet. Is there any place in Houston that sells yogurt in something other than plastic?
I can see this is going to be an interesting adventure. Let me know here, on facebook, or on twitter if you want to join in.
In my effort to eat more locally, I’m really thinking about what I can and cannot have in terms of food. I’m really looking for food that is grown or made within 100 mile radius of Houston. That being said, there are a few things that maybe more than 100 miles from where I am at.
I’m not foresaking flour, coffee and sugar – however, I would be eternally grateful if anyone knows of Texas grown and ground flour that’s available in the area – but things like Diet Coke and cheapo hamburgers from Wendy’s are off the list for sure.
So here’s what I have figured out for my sources of local foods:
I have a confession. With everything going on at work, I’ve been substituting fast food for local food. I’ve made it my goal for this month to eat out of my pantry and to eat locally. Today I was hungry because I didn’t stop for a snack at one of the numerous places to get junk food at. I’ll have to get better about making sure I have enough snacks packed with me.
The interesting part of this self-challenge will happen later this month when R. and I travel back to Iowa. We’ve already discussed cooking a roast or something before we go on the road because neither of us like the idea of eating in the chain restuarants while on the road. When we travelled to Iowa a year ago in August, we ate lunchmeat sandwichs all the way up along with cut fruit and veggies.
Janice selling some of her fabulous Pimiento Cheese Spread
This morning’s breakfast was a couple containers of yogurt that I had in the fridge. Part of my lunch was salad left over from dinner last night and Black Bean Tamales from the City Hall Farmer’s Market. Tonight’s dinner was BBQ hamburger with leftover bread from last night.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do for tomorrow, but I’ll figure it out. I’ve got oatmeal in the pantry, some dates, and some cream. I think I’ll slice a couple pieces of bread for lunch tomorrow. I got a tub of Pimento Cheese Spread from Janice Schindeler of Words and Food at the market today and if I pair that with a salad, I’ll be in great shape for lunch tomorrow. I’ll post my progress on this little self adventure.
BTW, Janice’s Pimento Cheese spread is really the best stuff around and it’s totally addictive.
Yesterday while I was weeding, I came across a Monarch Butterfly chrysallis laying on the ground. I wanted to gather it up and put it in a jar, but my boyfriend asked me to leave it in nature. He said that the butterfly would be better off living out it’s natural life cycle. So while we were looking at it, R. had the idea of tying the chrysallis to the butterfly bushes with a piece of string. And he did just that. So for right now, I can go into my garden and watch the transformation.
