Where does your produce come from?

"Most produce in the US is picked 4 to 7 days before being placed on supermarket shelves, and is shipped for an average of 1500 miles before being sold. And this is when taking into account only US grown products! Those distances are substantially longer when we take into consideration produce imported from Mexico, Asia, Canada, South America, and other places."
- LocalHarvest

Now that we know loading up on fruits & veggies is extremely healthy for you, let's focus on the grocery store produce section.  The apples are shiny, the lettuce is firm, and the large variety is hard to resist.  Did you know that your produce travels, on average, 1,500 miles from where it's picked to your plate, when you buy from a grocery store?  Why is this something we should be cautious of?

• Shelf life: The type of preservatives loaded on your fruit & veggies to give it a longer shelf life is something to be concerned about.  Is it really normal for a tomato to be able to travel across the country (and yes, sometimes around the world), sit in the store for a few days, and still be able to look as fresh as it does a week or more after it has sat in your refrigerator? I don't think so.  When I grew up, we had a beautiful, large garden on the side of our house and the moment we picked a ripe tomato, I gave it about 5 days before it started to look iffy.  That shouldn't be any different from the produce you buy.  It's not normal for produce to not go bad 2 weeks after it's been picked.
• The further produce travels, the less nutritious (and yummy) it is. Most produce picked to be shipped across the country, to be sold in your grocery store, is picked prior to being ripe, which gives them less time to develop all of their vitamins & minerals.  And if you think produce is yummy from the grocery store, try a bite of a freshly picked fruit or vegetable.  You'll taste a world of a difference.
• To travel as far as produce does, we are wasting an absurd amount of natural resources that are only more harmful to the environment. "By adding transportation, processing and packaging to the food system equation, the fossil fuel and energy use of our current food system puts tremendous stress on the environment. For example, between production and transportation, growing 10% more produce for local consumption in Iowa would result in an annual savings ranging from 280,000 to 346,000 gallons of fuel, and an annual reduction in CO2 emissions ranging from 6.7 to 7.9 million pounds." (sustainabletable.org) How incredible just 10% makes!
• Buying within season: Something just doesn't seem right when you're able to buy a large batch of shiny, red strawberries mid January when you're dealing with 15" of snow on the roads.

What can you do to make sure you're getting the most fresh, and more importantly, nutritious produce you can? BUY LOCAL.  If you do your research, you can find some type of local farmer's market or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) (for a yearly fee) where you can get the most recently picked, most nutritious, and, often times, organic produce.  Produce travels far  less to get to your local market (usually less than 90 miles) and you'll be getting the most nutritious, ripe, and in season produce you can find.  The benefits of supporting a local business is quite obvious as well.  If you do decide to join a CSA, you may even have the chance to meet your farmer and get to know exactly where your food is coming from, the process they use, and whether or not they are utilizing sustainable methods for production.

If you're not sure where your closest market is, check out Local Harvest & on the right side of the page, type in your zip code to find markets close to you.

I regulary go to our Saturday morning market to pick up produce. And the greatest thing is that it's so much cheaper! I bought the same amount of produce that I do each week at the grocery store and I spent $20.  That's about $20-30 less than what I normally spend. Not only am I eating more nutritious produce, I am also supporting local businesses & farmers, lowering the amount of natural resources used to transport & package these items, but I am also saving a ridiculous amount of money.

One of the best ways to also get the most nutritious produce is to plant your own garden, but for the items you can't grow yourself, support your local farmers!

-Lacey

Quinoa Stuffed Pattypan

This is a fabulous summer recipe I adapted from the Oh She Glows blog.  The light cucumber taste with the grainy quinoa makes for a filling but light tasting dinner. Have with a side of red wine and good company.

Ingredients:
2 pattypan
1 cup uncooked quinoa/2 cup vegetable broth
1 clove diced garlic
1 onion
1 carrot
1/2 cucumber
1/4 cup tomato sauce
3 tbsp Earth Balance "butter"
Fresh parsley
Fresh ground pepper
parmesan "cheese"
lemon pepper, italian seasonings....all to taste

Directions:
1. Put quinoa & veggie broth in saucepan and bring to boil.  Once boiling, add lid and cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Add garlic & stir.
2. While quinoa is cooking fill a pot of water & bring to boil.  Put in pattypan and cook for 6-7 minutes.

This, my friends, is pattypan.

3.  While pattypan is also cooking, preparing stuffing.  In food processor add onion, carrot, 1/2 peeled cucumber & process until mixed/chopped together. (Leave in food processor)

Onion, carrot, and cucumber.

4. In a small bowl, mix softened Earth Balance & tomato sauce together.  Add to quinoa when finished cooking.

5. After pattypan is finished and mostly cooled, cut the tops off and scoop out the inside.  Take what you scooped out and add to the food processor with onion, carrot, and cucumber & process together.
6. Take this vegetable mixture and add to quinoa in pan. Stir. Add in seasonings (lemon pepper, etc).
7. Stuff pattypan with vegetable/quinoa mixture. Bake in 375 oven for 25 minutes.

Whatever extra quinoa mixture you have, just place directly on the pan.

8. Top with parsley and parmesan "cheese" and add to oven for 2 more minutes to melt "cheese".

Had to adapt and use cheddar "cheese" instead.  Still good but definitely not AS good as the parmesan.

ENJOY!!

Refreshing Mint Tea

My days consist of drinking water. Lots of it. I don't drink anything else (unless it's the occasional glass of wine with dinner).  No juice, no soda, no sugar-loaded teas, no coffee. But, when summer comes, I sometimes feel the urge to have something with a little more flavor. I love my water, but it's good to have variety.

This is my homemade, super flavorful, extremely light mint tea.

This Should TERRIFY You... And Change Your Life Forever

If this doesn't scare the @$#% out of you and make you want to change your life habits for good, I don't know what will.

Educating myself on the benefits of healthy eating and the dangers of chemicals/poisons (as poison is defined as a substance that, when absorbed by the body, causes death or injury...injuries like migraines, thyroid problems, etc) in processed foods has really helped me stay on track with so many lifestyle changes that I've been making in the past 9 months. However, I still crave processed snacks and sodas, and sometimes - mainly when when I'm lazy/tired, I give in.

We're only human, so it's about finding a balance and doing what's best for yourself and your family. If you're going to eat something - at least be aware of what is in it. Usually if I look up ingredients in a product I want to purchase, I end up putting it back on the shelf (and that craving goes away real quick!) For example, I used to snack on Applesauce and Gluten & Dairy Free pudding... until I researched the ingredients and discovered that most of the ingredients were chemically processed, and linked to cancer and weight gain in humans.

Recently, autism and environmental health experts have called for for greater scrutiny of chemicalsfound in the environment, which could potentially lead to autism, ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Their studies have found that autism spectrum disorders are being diagnosed at unprecedented rates, partly because of improved diagnostic tools and criteria, but also a host of other factors including what mothers-to-be are exposed and consequently their unborn children too.

Basically everything that is processed has chemicals in it that makes it hard for your body to process and get out of your system. This is especially true for the fetus and growing children (for the love of God please don't feed your kids fast food.). Moreover, many children with autism spectrum disorders have abnormal immune responses. The chemical messengers in the immune system interact with the receptors in the brain, so chemicals that affect immunity could also be implicated in autism. This is also true of thyroid disorders. I had a cyst on my thyroid and had to have surgery to remove the right lobe of my thyroid in 2009 - I would credit the cyst to my years of eating processed foods, as it's difficult for the thyroid to process it.

Be aware that mood swings, kid's temper tantrums, fatigue, headaches, hair loss, depression, etc can all be traced back to additives in processed foods. But instead of telling us to eat healthy and organic - doctors just throw more chemicals/"medicine" at us to counterbalance the other chemicals in our body that are making us sick. For years I felt fatigued and depressed, along with a plethora of other symptoms... doctors offered me ADD medicine and antidepressants. But I didn't want to become a prescription zombie. Instead, I gave up processed foods and just a couple months after I did - those mood swings and symptoms ALL WENT AWAY. I encourage you to give up processed foods in placement of medicine and see what good things happen to your body.

Of course not everything can be blamed on processed foods. There are genetic disorders, air pollution and pesticides in the ground that are hard to avoid. But do the best you can, that is all we can do. Stay educated and be aware of what you put into your body and your family's body. Make gradual changes so you can be healthy for a lifetime. Be aware of the products your family uses, and take the time to cook your own food and snick snacks at home.  By doing this, you can, quite literally, stop poisoning yourself. 

- Stephanie

Keeping Lettuce Fresh & Giveaway Winner!

We have a winner for the giveaway of an awesome basket full of Very Berry Granola bars, homemade strawberry jam, and cinnamon apple chips. The winner is Adele from Little By Little.  Adele and I went to college together and lived on the same freshman floor.  She is a thrifty wife, preggers, and still finds time to make great healthy food and start her own garden! This was her comment*:

...As for health changes, Cam and I have slowly (i.e. as budget allows) made a bunch since getting married. Most recently, we're trying to incorporate only high-quality (local, free-range, organic) meats and dairy/meat products into our diet. We've noticed wonderful differences for sure and we're hooked! Also, we're growing our own garden this year and really making an effort to eat a majority of fruits and veggies in our diet. I'm also doing my best to go "homemade" for as much food as possible (including cheese and yogurt when I have time). AND, we're working on more vegetarian meals around here, which is hard with a meat-lovin' hubby and a bean-hatin' (ok, not quite, but almost!) wifey! Haha! But that's what we love your blog for -- great ideas in those areas!

Congratulations, Adele!! I'll be mailing out everything tomorrow as I'm making the granola bars and apple chips today, nice and fresh, for you and Cam.

*winner was chosen by a completely random drawing.

Now, onto our regularly scheduled blog post:
There's nothing like buying 3 beautiful heads of fresh lettuce from the farmer's market, only to have them go bad prior to eating them all.  The advantage to buying from the farmer's market is the lettuce is recently picked (fresh), not loaded with chemicals (yummy), and fully grown so it's loaded with nutrients (healthy--store bought veggies are picked prior to full development).  The downfall is they do tend to get bad a bit sooner.

How do we prevent this?

1.  Fill sink with cold water. Place your separated leaves of lettuce in and move them around until some of the dirt has come off.  This is just a pre-rinse.  Also, if your lettuce is soft or limp, let the lettuce sit in the water for 20 minutes and the fresh cold water will make them crisp again!

2. Drain the water & refill a clean sink up with cold water and add about 1 cup of vinegar (or read this post for some other fruit & veggie washes). Dunk in the leaves & gently rub off the dirt. Place in a colander and let dry or put them in your lettuce/washer/spinner thingy (yes, that's the technical name for it) and spin like crazy until your leaves are dry.

The lettuce/washer/spinny thingy.  I LOVE this. Buy one. Now. 

2. Clean out one of your refrigerator drawers really well. Place a layer of damp paper towels down.  Damp, not dripping wet.  Too much moisture could actually speed up rotting. You ever see how the puddle of water in the bottom of your lettuce bag always seems to leave a big brown rotten spot? Yeah, you don't want that to happen.  Just wet some paper towels, ring the excess water out and line the drawer.

3. Place your clean lettuce leaves in that drawer, but don't squish the leaves. Be gentle.  Fruits & veggies bruise, and when they do, it almost guarantees rotting.  No need to smash down your leaves to fit more veggies in the drawer. Gently place them in and give them room to breath.  This draw is just for your leaves.

4.  Place a damp paper towel on top of your leaf pile.

5.  Be sure your drawer is nice and cool (place on cool & crisp setting).

Look! Doesn't take up any extra shelf space. Conveniently
tucked away and ready to be eaten!

6. Enjoy!

What is so convenient about this is you now have a massive salad in your drawer and all you have to do it open it up and pull out some leaves to put on your plate.  No cutting off just a little from a head of lettuce and then having to wash.  No plastic bags and pooling water to deal with.  It's quick and easy to make your salad now! No excuses not to eat one.  And you're lettuce will be fresh, crisp, and last longer than in that plastic bag.

Here's to big salads and clean lettuce.
-Lacey