Recipes

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Sun-dried Tomato Tortilla Pizza

 

You can find many different types of tortillas in the grocery store.  Occasionally we enjoy purchasing spinach or the sun-dried tomato.  There are about six per pack. After my husband has taken his wraps to work, what shall I do with the rest?  Well, we always need lunch ideas because salad and sandwiches get boring with the kiddos.  Last week we put together a simple recipe for a pizza.  Which took less that 10 minutes total to make!
 
 
Sun-dried tomato tortilla
Couple of spoonfuls of organic marinara (tomato sauce)
One organic mushroom sliced very thin,
Feta cheese crumbles
Quartered two organic grape tomatoes (we call them tommy toes down here in the south)
Julienne a few leaves of organic spinach
YES that is turkey pepperoni you see (one of my son's snacks he picked out at the store-not the healthiest but mommy snatched a few-LOL)
 
Bake at 425 for around 5-7 mins...done!
 


Friday, April 5, 2013

What's on the shopping list?

Getting my list together...


I wanted to give you all an idea of what I will be ordering through the food co-op this week.  Sometimes it does take a little planning but absolutely worth it.  Instead of grocery shopping on Sunday evening, I will be ordering most of my goods online and have them the following Saturday.

First off my vitamins

Kids, myself and hubby are completely OUT!  We have been holding off until the buying club got started to order more so we could get the discount. We are going to try a couple of new things this month. It usually takes us at least a month or more to go through the vitamins and supplements so I budget accordingly. The kids want to try a new multi that I am okay with since these have the digestive enzymes (many kids vitamins do not contain them), wheat sprouts & spirulina too. Children Nutri Stars Children's Multivitamin $22.93 (120 chewables will last us 2 months-that's $5.76 a month for both my kids). Immune Support Formula (Alcohol-Free) Sweet Echinacea we keep on hand ALWAYS $8.47.
For Me & Hubby
FoodScience of Vermont B Complex-75, Marine Biotherapies Mangosteen with Goji & Pomegranate Juice (kids will enjoy this also), Nutiva HempShakes Chocolate ORGANIC, Natrol General Health Vitamin D3, American Health More Than A Multiple, Green Foods Organic Chlorella ORGANIC Chlorella Powder (to put in our smoothies). Under the bulk items there a few things I am pondering on too - Kelp powder is one of them! I may see if I can find some more super foods like the Acai one in capsule form to add on the website!

Now for our meals

We are stuck using some of the produce I canned and froze last year or head to the grocery aisle until seasonal produce starts to come in.  Meats I try and utilize them a couple of times.  For example I will buy the Organic Soy Free Whole Chickens and make homemade chicken broth to freeze.  Then we will have some of the chicken for supper one night. Left overs I will either use with a pasta or make a BBQ out of it.  So from a whole chicken I can get two meals and chicken broth!!!!  I tend to use  ground beef a lot, simply because it is so versatile.  I will more than likely get a small beef pack or ground beef in bulk (that way I can save a few bucks).  Trying to make two meals with any leftovers of meat helps out on the budget quite a bit.  My mother taught me early on how to stretch a dollar and it has paid off for us eating healthier.  I will grab some uncured bacon and save any drippings to use for just a little bit of flavoring on other things I cook (yes, like your grandmother use to do).  And then will I let hubby get online and order what he wants...the meat list could get LONG!

Personal Care Items

If I didn't make the soap (LOL) I would buy some! I will need to replenish our shampoo (we have been too busy to make anymore). I will be adding on the Avalon Organics Tea Tree that works pretty good.  It can be tough to try new things sometimes but I have found some really great products during the HEALTHY LIVING transition.  Burt's Bees didn't list their ingredients so I can't say how good it will be.  We need some arnica cream too!

Tea & Spices

I am out of plenty of herbs I will be purchasing a long list.  I love the fact we can get ORGANIC in 1 lb packages.  After going to Home Economist for years and purchasing by the ounce I am excited to get such a great price on them.  I like Nuvi green tea and will get some of it, plus a few others.  I will buy some peppermint leaf under Bulk items so I can add it to my teas.  Did you know with many of the items we have listed in bulk you can make your own custom teas?  We may have to work on a class for that.  In the meantime, there are certified organic teas made in Asheville, NC listed on the site.  We get them from a local distributor here in Mooresville.  I am out of Chili powder (the shakers are under spices not bulk) & sea salt.

Specialty Foods

The Rock the Red Jam is out of this world and I will be getting some of that (several great ones to choose from).  I will need to replenish my coconut oil (can't keep it around we use it so much)!  Nutiva seems to be a good company.  They did contribute to the Prop 37 initiative in California last year.    

Plants

I have started quite a few tomato plants (probably around 150) however they are still so tiny.  The plants that our farmer has are ready to be put in the ground...something to think about.  They looked nice and healthy too!  All started from certified seed!

As I add a few things here and there to the website, I am sure my list will increase!  Happy shopping until 4/7 at 11:59pm.

Love & Blessings,

Monday, March 18, 2013

Change the Food System

10 Things You Can Do To Change The Food System

-via a recent Facebook share we found this  Source: takepart.com/foodinc

We may not agree with each one of these, however I can see quite a few that we personally take part in to help our commUNITY and local food system!!!


1. Drink fewer sodas and sweetened beverages - If you replace one 20-ounce soda a day with a no-calorie beverage (preferably water), you could lose 25 pounds in a year.

2. Eat at home instead of eating out - Children consume almost twice as many calories when eating food made outside the home.

3. Tell schools to stop selling sodas and junk food - Over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 years old

4. Meatless Mondays. Go meatless at least one day a week - An estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. are given to farm animals.

5. Buy organic or sustainable foods with little to no pesticide use - The EPA says more than 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the U.S.

6. Protect family farms by visiting your local farmers' market or work with your local buying club - Farmers' markets & Buying Clubs enable farmers to keep 80 to 90 cents of each dollar spent by the customer.

7. Make a point to know where your food comes from by reading labels - The average meal travels 1,500 miles from the farm to your dinner plate

8. Tell your lawmakers that food safety is important to you - Each year, contaminated food causes millions of illnesses and thousands of deaths.

9. Demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protection - Poverty among farm workers is more than twice that of all wage and salary employees.Tell your lawmakers that food safety is important to you

10. Support the passage of state and local laws to require chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards - Half of the large chain restaurants do not provide any nutrition information  to their customers.