I'm Back!

I am a little behind because I am still catching up at work from vacation (as well as around the house). Here are some thoughts on feeding Ty on the road and our trip.

We took a 2 hour plane flight to Boston (from Ohio) to start our journey. Before we left I gave Ty a big breakfast/snack/smoothie to keep him full for the car ride to the airport (about an hour) and in the airport until we could get through security. After getting through security I bought Ty some milk at Starbucks. Now I know though that you can bring more than three ounces of milk through security without a problem, so next time we will bring our own organic milk.

The best thing I brought for the trip (which Ty consumed on the plane and throughout the car rides, etc.) was baby trail mix. This was a combination of organic Teddy Puffs, organic banana toddler cereal, organic raisins, and organic cheerios. I also brought along two different kinds of Mum Mum crackers (rice husk dissolving crackers). Ty ate these on the plane and was pretty well satisfied.

I also packed Ty a few meals of peas (he likes them raw and cold), steamed carrots, cucumber, banana, pear, Ty’s French toast, sunflower butter sandwich and cheese. He ate this at the airport in Boston, on the plane, and at the beginning of the car ride.

After landing in Boston we drove a few hours to Concord, NH. Thank goodness Ty slept most of the time. Once arriving in Concord and meeting SJ’s parents we ate at Panera. Ty shared my pepper sandwich and enjoyed pickles, onions, bread, and part of his lunch.

On the road to Beecher Falls, VT (which took at least 400 hours), Ty mostly ate his trail mix, although I am sure most of it ended up on the floor.

At SJ’s parent’s house Ty ate mostly bread (as a cheese sandwich, French toast, with tofu and cheese, or plain), fruit (a few cups everyday because his grandma likes to spoil him), tomatoes, raw green beans (he wont eat them cooked!), cinnamon tofu, and parts of what ever we were eating. I tried not to push new foods on him because he was already acting a little unsure of where he was.

We did manage to find (after going for a drive and going to a few stores) organic tofu, milk, cream cheese (not organic though) and smoothie making materials. Along with the organic baby oatmeal cereal that I brought along Ty had enough smoothies and food to last him the first week of the trip.

After another 600 hour drive to Lake Shore Farm Inn (check it out! Link below) Ty actually ate the food they served there. My guess is because it has a very high sodium content. Ty enjoyed everything from eggs to a giant slice of watermelon to a concoction of cream of celery soup, beef, vegetables and rice. Ty also tried a number of desserts, his first time, other than is birthday, of having sweets. With the smoothies I had brought from Vermont (and stored in leftover water bottles) Ty ate well!

The trip home was easy. We brought our own milk, Ty ate some muffin and bagel that was purchased at the airport and plenty of trail mix.
Once home Ty had a little rebellion, probably because he had much less grandma time, and would only eat frozen peas and smoothies for 3 days. But now things are back to normal and I am about to go poach him an egg for breakfast!

http://lakeshorefarm.com/

See you in 2 weeks!

I am off to Vermont and New Hampshire :)

Growing Our Food

Past:

Growing up we had a vegetable garden. When my parents moved into their current house they inherited a garden from the previous owners. Although I have little memory of this vegetable garden I know it had asparagus for a year, some very low producing grapes, and some other vegetables that they planted. They also had an entire hedge of raspberries!

This garden was pushed aside for a few tomato plants when their deck was built, and gardening was pushed to the side. The berries still existed but the gardening time was replaced by raising kids and other duties of running a family and household.

When I was in my early teen years I asked my parents if I could dig up a patch of the lawn and plant some vegetables. They funded everything! I dug up an “L” shaped plot and planted a few veggies with the help of my brother. I have no idea what we planted but I remember the joy of having my family eat the produce I had grown.

Present:

My father is now OBSESSED with his vegetable garden. I find myself on the phone with him frequently talking about pests, disease, and the newest techniques. As a family we talk about preserving, drying, and recipes when ever we are together.

I have my own vegetable garden. With the help of my husband we put in a raised box garden the first summer we lived in our house. We buried a few posts, used some wood, and created a box that contains a pretty large amount of food (see pics below).

Steve carried over a ton of soil to the back yard and I have spent countless hours researching what to grow, when to plant it, and how to make it as organic as possible. In this garden we place our herbs, because it is close to our patio, for easy access, along with tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini, and a number of other items.

This year we created another garden, which will be expanded a bit next spring, along the back of our patio. I have found that this garden is great for squash of all kinds and lettuce/spinach in the spring. I do have a “dead zone” in this garden where the dogs run through. I also have planted cabbage in this garden recently to grow in the fall and will be putting in my second crop of lettuce/spinach soon!

Click pics to see larger versions!

This is our main box garden. This is from earlier in the year when we had lettuce growing
Cabbage (ok cauliflower) patch baby
Jackson eating tomatoes, he picks them himself

This is our new garden this year and Cameron

Future?:

I love my vegetable gardens but have recently come to the realization that gardening is one of the biggest things that brings joy to my life. To grow and provide my family with healthy, organic, and someday cost effective food (there is so cost in building a garden) that gives me pride unlike I have known before.

My husband and I have talked about buying some land in the past but recently with friends buying a small farm and enjoying the taste of absolutely fresh produce that we know is organically grown, we have started talking seriously about this.

I would love to have a garden like the one you see below. A completely boxed “lasagna” garden (more on this to come, but google it if you want to know now!). This kind of gardening has few weeds, upkeep, and pests. I would love to have a small orchard, berry bushes, strawberry patch, a few chickens (layers and fryers), possibly some meat rabbits (for sale), and a steer.

I know those of you who have known me in the past will find some of those ideas to be odd, after all I was a vegetarian for over 15 years, but this would allow our family to pretty much stop eating overly processed, chemical/antibiotic, food which has been shipped thousands of miles.

The truth is, we will always buy some food: flour, sugar, bananas, citrus, and other staples. I would love to bake all our bread, make our pasta, and make most of our food, I realize that it is not realistic to be making everything

!

Obviously this homestead is in a different part of the country but the way it is laid out is wonderful!

Pic from http://susty.com/path-to-freedom-dot-com-urban-homestead-farm-internet/

Tyler's Menu Update

Because I stopped posting every little thing that Ty eats I thought I would update you on his typical day. Again Ty has water available to him all day (unless the dog has eaten all his cups…again). Tyler is now 13 months old!

Tyler’s Breakfast
These are Ty's foods that he usually eats. For breakfast I serve a combo of a few of these

• Whole grain tortilla with sunflower butter
• Ty’s French toast (egg and cinnamon with whole grain bread)
• One egg (scrambled, boiled, poached, sunny side up cooked in water)
• Baby oatmeal pancake with rolled oats
• Omelet (cheese and veggies)
• Whole grain tortilla with cream cheese and fruit
• Blueberries
• Watermelon
• Raisins
• Bananas
• Tomatoes
• Other fresh fruit
• Peas
• Green beans
• Broccoli
• Cucumber
• Other veggies
• Edemame
• Milk
• Cheddar cheese
• Cottage cheese
• Cream Cheese
• Bread (whole grain)
• Tortilla (wg)
• Whole oat “cheerios”

Morning Snack
Usually leftovers from breakfast and some fruit and/or cheese

Lunch
I serve him some combo of these

• Barley casserole
• Pasta with veggies and tomato sauce
• Tofu
• Stir fry (really poached)
• Edamame
• Peas
• Broccoli
• Spinach
  
• Beef/broccoli or spinach/cream cheese on wg (whole grain) bread/tortilla
• Tofu, tomato, cheddar on wg bread/tortilla

Afternoon snack
Vegetable, dairy, fruit, protein

Dinner
We are still trying to get the whole family dinner together but usually Ty eats what we are having (protein, vegetable, starch) with some dairy or fruit. Sometimes he has something similar to what he would be having for lunch. If Tyler is cranky that night and not wanting to eat (usually because of teething) Tyler also has a fruit/tofu/veggie smoothie after dinner.

Turkey Bacon Bean Dip, wrap up

And now for something totally different!

Turkey Bacon Bean Dip

Eat this with some chips, on a tortilla, on vegetable sticks, or on a taco!

• 1 can of refried black beans (use organic, no fat added, lard free)
• ½ can of black beans
• 1 pack of taco spice (reduced sodium)
• 6 strips of turkey bacon
• 1 jalapeno (minced small) use less if needed
• 1/3 c red onion, diced very small
• 1/3c green pepper, diced very small
• 1/2c fat free sour cream
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Handful of cheddar cheese

1. Heat pan non stick pan to medium
2. Cut up turkey bacon into small squares
3. Cook turkey bacon until crispy, this should only take a few min.
4. Cool turkey bacon on a paper towel
5. Mix up beans, spice, pepper, onion, jalapeno, salt and sour cream
6. Fold in turkey bacon
7. Top with cheese, enjoy!

Turkey Bacon

Turkey bacon would be good if they did not call it bacon. I have yet to find a turkey bacon that has the texture and crispness of pork bacon. The reason: Turkey bacon does not have all that yummy fat. It is a little tougher than normal bacon and has a slight flavor of turkey jerky.

When buying turkey bacon make sure you look for the usual: organic/free range/no antibiotics, and nitrate/nitrite free!

Wrap up

Sick of beef, want something new, go turkey! Cook turkey breast cutlets like you would chicken. Replace ground beef with turkey. Just substitute turkey in for your regular meats. Super lean and full of vitamins (and cheap!) turkey is a great choice for changing things up in the kitchen.

My Weight Loss:

Down again this week! I lost the exact amount of weight that I wanted to!

I will be out of town for the next two weeks starting on Thursday. I am not sure how many posts I will have next week but I will be back!

Turkey Sausage Meatballs and another turkey tip!

Turkey Sausage Meatballs

Add this to your favorite pasta and tomato sauce, serve as an appetizer, or form into patties for breakfast! I would use dried herbs in this, or cut down the amounts if you use fresh.

Ingredients

• 1lb ground turkey
• 1t each of sage, fennel seed, thyme, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, salt
• 1 egg
• 1c of bread crumbs
• 1/3c Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oven to 350
2. Heat a non stick skillet to medium high with 1T EVOO into pan
3. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and form into 1in balls
4. Cook in pan a few at a time until brown on the outside
5. Place in glass cook pan (one layer) and bake until cooked through
6. Enjoy!

Turkey Tip
You can use turkey in place of pretty much any ground meat there is only one kicker: it is dry as heck! So when using ground turkey make sure you are using it you add some sort of sauce or extra fat (turkey is very lean, so sometimes adding fat helps).

• When making turkey meatloaf add some bbq sauce and a few slices of bacon on top
• Turkey is excellent in chili because of the sauce
• Turkey is great with pasta sauce. Cook it up in a pan and add your favorite jar sauce
• Turkey sausage from the store is good because it has fairly fatty turkey meat in it and the juices are kept in the casing. If you can find "free" or uncased turkey sausage it tastes great in lasagna. You can also remove the turkey from the casing before cooking!
• Turkey is great in shepherds pie! Put it on the bottom of the pot so the juices from the vegetables coat it
• Make sure you season turkey well or it turns out very bland!
  

Zesty Turkey

Zesty Turkey (with mushrooms, optional)

• 1 ½ lbs turkey breast, chunked
• 1/4c chicken broth (see notes on broth below)
• 1 red pepper, cut into strips
• 1/3c apple cider vinegar (I would actually use this type of vinegar in this recipe)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, cut into thin strips
• Dash of red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper
• 1 lg pack of white button mushrooms, sliced (optional)

1. Heat up a non stick skillet on medium-high heat
2. Cook turkey in broth until cooked through
3. Add mushrooms, pepper, vinegar, onion, garlic, salt, pepper until peppers reach your preferred softness
4. Serve!

Mushroom Preparation

I know that you are just supposed to lightly brush the dirt/poop off the top of the mushrooms before you cook them but I have issues eating poop. Instead I very quickly wash them off just before I chop and cook them. Because they are not sitting around in water or sitting wet they don’t have a lot of time to soak up all the extra water.

I also don’t really like the woody stems of mushrooms. It is your choice when cooking with mushrooms if you want to use them or not.

Don’t like mushrooms? Give them another try! Cook them long and slow to get rid of the raw mushroom texture (something else I don’t like!).

Apple cider vinegar

Don’t buy into the old folk tales of this “cure all.” Apple cider vinegar is probably just another food. Although some studies have show that acv can actually lower glucose levels, control hunger, and decrease some cancer risks, other medicines and products work better in every case. Acv in large doses has actually been shown to increase certain cancers (as does everything, so don’t knock it out of your diet yet). The truth with this product (as of now), is that it is a food. Use in moderation to add flavor and a zesty kick to salads or recipes.

Broth

I am so sick of hearing professional chefs on tv telling me to make my own broth because it freezes and does not take that long. The truth is, it takes all day, requires many ingredients, and honestly can be replicated with a high quality broth or bouillon.

I suggest using organic when ever possible and either freezing or using the rest of it within a week. Many stores, such as Trader Joe’s, now offer a more condensed form of stock in order to save on bulky packaging.

My absolute favorite broth is Better Than Bouillon. It is condensed, comes in a recyclable jar, and tastes great!

http://www.mothernature.com/shop/detail.cfm/sku/37552

Turkey, Dijon Turkey, and some bonus recipies!

The wonderful world of Turkey

This week I want to explore the wonderful world of Turkey. It’s not just for Thanksgiving anymore! Turkey is an inexpensive way to get your protein and B vitamins without eating a lot of fat.

Turkey Parts and what they are good for!

The whole enchilada: I really only like whole turkey once or twice a year at the holidays. I find preparing and cooking a whole turkey to be time consuming, and unless your brother and husband deep fry it, dry and tasteless (except with gravy).

Breast: At the grocery you will probably find turkey breast or turkey breast cutlets without a problem. These are white meat, so healthier, and easy to manage and cook with if they are cut to a reasonable size.

Drumsticks: Giant and hard to find, just pass

Ground Turkey: A wonderful and healthy alternative to ground beef and many times cheaper than ground chicken

Deli Turkey: Unless you are buying actual sliced breast, with no preservatives, nitrates, nitrites, antibiotics, ect. stay away from deli meat. It is surprisingly high in sodium and fat and can be highly processed. That said, I love real sliced turkey breast and so does Ty. He eats if for lunch by itself or rolled around a little cream cheese and vegetables.

Sausage: Turkey sausage is almost always lower in fat then pork sausage and can be spiced just the same. It is great by itself or in pasta!

Just a note to my vegetarian reader :) I will be putting up at least one vegetarian recipe every week and there WILL be a vegetarian week coming up (as well as tofu!).

Dijon Turkey Breast

Easy and simple this is a great light recipe for any time of the year! Serve with a green veggie and your choice of healthy starch!

• 4 Turkey breast slices/cutlets (found in your meat case at the grocery)
• 4T of your favorite Dijon mustard (honey Dijon is great on this!)
• 2T fresh parsley (or dried)
• 2 cloves of garlic, mashed
• 1c bread crumbs (watch out for hydrogenated fat in these, making your own is easy too…see note below)
• Chicken broth
• Salt and pepper

1. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat
2. Dredge cutlets in mustard of parsley, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper
3. Coat in bread crumbs (use some chicken broth or more mustard to get them to stick)
4. Cook over medium heat until done, about 3 min per side

Bread crumbs

Because many store brand bread crumbs are not really bread crumbs and instead are very fine crap filled with hydrogenated oils, make your own!

Toast up your favorite ww bread, put it in a food processor and go to town. You can also put it in a plastic bag (ONCE COOL) and mash it up! Make sure you toast them low and slow!

Bonus Recipes!

I made my husband a welcome home meal. After much thought, and way too much produce being produced in our garden, I figured I should make something with zucchini, squash and tomatoes.

Vegetable Chicken Soup (leave out the chicken if you are a vegetarian!)

Ingredients (remember to use organic where you can!)

• 2 cans tomato sauce, no salt (or use your own!)
• 2 cans chicken broth, one salt, one without salt
• 1 can of kidney beans (use fresh soaked if you are cooking all day, I only used one can but you could easily put in 2 or 3)
• 4 large carrots (sliced)
• 1 large onion (diced)
• 2 medium sized zucchinis (Diced)
• 2 medium sized yellow squash (diced)
• 4 large tomatoes (diced)
• 1/2c barley (pearled)
• Handful of fresh basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary (chopped)
• 3c of fresh spinach
• 2 large chicken breasts (I would add more next time)

To cook (just like everything from last week)

1. Brown chicken in pot
2. Add sauce, broth, beans, carrots, onions
3. Cook for a long time, until chicken is cooked
4. Add everything else, cook until barley is cooked and soft (about 45min)
5. Add more water, spice, salt, pepper as needed

Tomato Tart (take out the bacon if you are a vegetarian)

• 2lbs tomatoes sliced and cored (meaning scoop out the seeds and take of the stem)
• handful of fresh basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme chopped
• 1T cornsctarch
• 1c flour
• 1c cornmeal
• 1 1/2t baking powder
• 1/4t baking soda
• 3T cold butter cut into small pieces
• 1 egg
• ½ c buttermilk, plus more for kneeding
• 6 slices bacon cooked and broken into pieces
• Handful of cheese (I did not use this but I should have!)
• 1 clove garlic mashed
• Salt and pepper

1. Prepare tomatoes, mix in all your herbs and garlic (reserve about 2T)
2. Toss in bowl with cornstarch, salt and pepper
3. In another bowl mix cornmeal, baking powder/soda
4. Place butter in bowl, and working quickly smash butter with fingers into flour. Do not heat up the butter too much. If you do place bowl back in fridge.
5. Mix in egg, buttermilk, cheese, rest of herbs and garlic, a little salt and pepper. Add more buttermilk if dough is not sticking together
6. Mix bacon into tomatoes
7. Place tomatoes into greased deep dish pie plate
8. Top with spoonful of biscuit dough (make sure there are air holes)
9. Cook at 375 until golden on top and bubbling on the bottom
10. Place on a cookie sheet if you want to avoid a mess in your oven!