Sun 13 Dec 2009
Posted by lynsie under Ice Cream and Cheese
[2] Comments
Chances are, you have arrived here looking for Perfect Flavor Creamery, to order customized gourmet ice cream, made by hand, or our artisanal handmade cheeses from local dairy. It’s not easy for us to let you down, but we have some news:
Perfect Flavor is taking a break, since Lynsie is pregnant, and due to her physical condition, she can’t continue to run Perfect Flavor.
Fri 5 Feb 2010
Posted by lynsie under Parenting, Sustainability, Uncategorized
No Comments
There’s bad, better, and best as far as I’m concerned when it comes to cleaning products that I keep in my home.
I think it’s safe to say that products that fit into my “bad” category are the cleaning products and brands that most of the US population uses in their homes. Things like bleach, Formula 401, Windex and especially Clorox cleaning products like bleach, wipes, and sprays. We stopped using these products long ago. In fact, when I met my husband I was still using them to clean up my apartment and it was my husband who introduced his method of natural cleaning, but we’ll get to that later.
VS
In the meantime, harsh chemical cleaners, like Clorox brand products, are toxic and are known to be hazardous both for humans AND their pets. In fact, if you’re wondering why Fluffy always seems to piddle in the same spot, annoyingly so, which requires you to constantly be on hands and knees cleaning, consider this: the smell and toxicity of the product you’re using is repulsive to her, which is why she is using the strong ammonia in her urine to blot it out and bring her habitat back to some sort of controlled normalcy when it comes to comfort. And do not be fooled by Clorox’s new “green cleaning” line of products. Unless the ingredients are words you both understand and can pronounce, they are not natural.
So if you don’t want to have to poison your pets or lock away your cleaning supplies from your toddling tots, what other option do you have? This brings me to my “better” category…
For things like dish washing detergent, clothing detergent, and dish soap, using a natural cleaner, like a product from Seventh Generation , which refers to a Native American ideal of making decisions with the philosophy in mind that whatever you decide will not only affect your generation, but will still be suitable for 7 generations to come, is the way to go. In fact, their new TV commercial hits home when it comes to the reason why folks who want a more natural approach to housecleaning turn to what Seventh Generation has to offer. They openly declare that when using their products, it is unnecessary to hold one’s breath when spritzing and spraying in order to clean. And it’s true. How often have you found yourself holding your breath when spraying some Clorox product? Seventh Generation products actually smell great. Plus, you can opt for the fragrance free varieties. BUT, you may say, “natural cleaning products are much more expensive than regular brands.” And this can be true, but here’s where the “BEST” category comes into play.
What if I told you, that for pennies, you could keep your house clean using only ONE cleaning implement? Sure, for clothes washing and dishwashing our family still uses Seventh Generation products, but for cleaning counters, dusting, cleaning mirrors and windows, and sanitizing, guess what we use as our truly multi-purpose cleaner? Vinegar!
White Distilled Vinegar that can be purchased in 1 or 2 gallon jugs is actually the answer to all of your cleaning woes. To get started it’s simple: Purchase an empty plastic spray bottle that has never before been used. (I would normally suggest reusing an old empty bottle, however mixing vinegar with bleach or ammonia can cause a chemical reaction which creates a poisonous gas, so please don’t do that. Besides, your empty bottle will last you years.) Also, buy your white distilled vinegar at the store, and fill your bottle 3/4’s of the way full with vinegar. Top it off with water from the faucet, and you’ve got a mega cleaning product that can easily wipe away grease, spaghetti sauce, dust and more without the use of harsh chemicals. Plus, one bottle usually lasts at least a few months. The tougher the stain, the easier it is to clean: simply spray on a heavy layer of your vinegar cleaner and let sit for 5 minutes, then wipe down with a clean white towel (no paper towels here!) that has been soaked in warm water.
For those of you who might be worried about the smell that vinegar imparts, simply add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, like lavender or peppermint. Even orange or eucalyptus would work nicely. We don’t mind the vinegar smell as it evaporates quickly, so for us, we like to leave our cleaner plain and simple.
Even more importantly, you may be asking yourself if vinegar really has the power to disinfect surfaces the way bleach or other harsh chemicals can. The answer is, of course, that we wouldn’t use vinegar unless it sanitized surfaces. In fact, we believe that vinegar kills enough bacteria in our kitchen with out creating a completely sterile environment, which is actually better for you and your family in the end.
In the times of hand sanitizer, bleaching kids toys, and generally being freaked out at the thought of one single germ in your house, using vinegar will not only teach you that you shouldn’t be afraid of your own kitchen, but that simpler is better. After all, can’t you see the hypocrisy in worrying about bacteria while all the while inhaling harmful chemicals?
I think the trade-off is easy to see, and swallow.
Mon 1 Feb 2010
Posted by lynsie under Local Food, Parenting, Sustainability
No Comments
Oh boy, here we go. I am trying as hard as possible to hide my haughty laugh of incredulity as I write this up in the full coffee shop which I am presently calling my typing home. As I sat in bed enjoying my breakfast this morning…don’t worry-I got it myself, we gave our butler the day off…and while Colin was getting ready for work, a segment was advertised as coming up on The Today Show in a matter of minutes. The subject of this segment? “Are you Skinny Fat?”
Well, I thought to myself, maybe they’re finally going to discuss the body type that most of us have. You know the one. It’s where you eat right (local, sustainable, organic food) and where you take good care of yourself (exercise in ways that feel good not bad, meditate, practice yoga, run after your toddler) and, voila, you’re left with not only great self-esteem, but a body that matches your “body type.” Like me for example: after years of working so damned hard to make my body match what the media was dictating, including dieting, over-exercising, skipping meals-on purpose, and constantly worrying about those extra few pounds, I finally wised up. I met my husband, realized that I was beautiful just the way I was destined to be, and over the course of four years, began eating local, healthy food, cut processed foods out of my diet, and began practicing well-being type exercises, like yoga and pilates, AND gained 30 pounds.
Me, enjoying delicious crab,just before being told by my doctor that I am borderline obese and would be unable to conceive. I am now 25 weeks pregnant.
While most of the time I was so thankful to look and feel better, including the added perks of being more curvy, going up 3 cup sizes, and turning even more heads on the street, there were times when I would fall back in to the media trap of thinking that I was overweight. In fact, when trying to get pregnant, I was even told by my ex-gynocologist that I was too overweight to conceive (due to my height and weight, my BMI classifies me as borderline obese). I quickly changed doctors, and with my next visit at my benevolent midwife’s office, I heard the following news: A)I was at the weight that my genes, heritage, and lifestyle dictated, and that B)my weight gain over the last four years was directly related to my happiness that I had finally achieved through meeting my husband and starting my family. What a fantastic “ah-ha” moment. With that news, guess what? I was pregnant within 10 days. I think it would be foolish to assume that none of the above isn’t connected. Self acceptance equals happiness.
So, getting back to this morning’s Today Show segment on Skinny Fat, I ignorantly thought that this segment would finally bring the news to women out there that what I already knew was finally being accepted. That my “fat” was my very own “skinny.” Well, no surprise, but I was wrong.
As it turns out, Skinny Fat actually refers to women who, gasp, ARE skinny on the outside, but fat on the inside. Are question marks circling around your head, too? Sigh, here we go…
Joy Bauer, contributing health editor to The Today Show, who’s book, “Your Inner Skinny” I think says it all as far as her approach goes, claims that even though we may appear to be skinny, that really deep inside we’ve got a terrifying combination of genes and heredity brewing that actually makes us in reality, fat, according to what doctors deem to be so. She compared two women: both of whom are skinny, one of whom is skinny fat. Basically, the one who is skinny fat has never had to do much to maintain her figure. She never works out, she eats what she wants, she is what most would call “blessed with good genes.” Not so, according to Joy. In fact, because she does not “take care of herself,” even though she may appear to on the outside, she is slowly bringing on her own demise: a long, torturous, fatty death. Joy said, in fact, that now “it’s not enough to be thin” anymore. Because being thin could mean “skinny on the outside, obese on the inside.” Her “obesity” is determined by using a tool, much like a vice, to pinch the outside layer of her fat, therefore measuring the relationship of her fat to her overall weight and height. Now, for those of us out there (me four years ago), this would be exactly the news that I would not need. To be told that appearing skinny still could mean that I’m obese on the inside would throw me into a disastrous cycle of obsessive exercising followed by extreme dieting. In fact, the skinny fat woman, after hearing of her major fat issues, said that she is now going to “work hard and watch what she eats,” which we all know is code for not eating as much. It is only since recovering from my faulted ways that I can hear news like this and not go off the deep end. But imagine how many women (and men) are out there who are taking this news to heart?
As my genius husband brought up after watching this segment in disbelief, what about the women from Fiji, Hawaii, or the Inuit or Yupik Eskimos?
An Inuit Woman
A Fijian Woman
A Hawaiian Woman
What if they were subjected to this fat-pinching device? No doubt they would blow this poor skinny fat woman on The Today Show out of the water. Wouldn’t we all agree, though, that their bodies are designed based on a mixture of factors: environment, heritage and genetics? From Joy Bauer’s point of view, these women would practically be knocking on death’s door. If it were up to her, they would all be put on strict diets and exercise regimes, only to lose half of their body weight and return home, where they would be unable to function in their own societies. Do only Joy’s rules apply to Americans? And what of this poor Skinny Fat woman on The Today Show? Could her natural body type, instead of being a ticking time bomb, instead just represent her potential Nordic heritage? Why should she change to have to conform to the current ignorant standards of our current thinking when it comes to body image, health, and the desire to be thin?
The bottom line is this: we all look exactly the way we should, IF (and a big “if” it is) we allow our bodies to slowly get back to the size and shape that they were always meant to be. Instead of looking at an ex-Skinny girl and saying, “She’s really let herself go,” why don’t we look at her in admiration and hope, saying instead, “Wow, she must be really happy. Looks like she’s finally found herself.” My hope is that everyone watching The Today Show this morning can look inside themselves, instead of listening to a woman who does not know them, and ask themselves if there is anything they can change in order to get closer to achieving the body, heart, and mind that is the healthiest for them.
Mon 1 Feb 2010
Posted by lynsie under Recipes
No Comments
No, sadly I am not about to unveil or condone a definitive brand of soda in which we can all be happy drinking and feeding to our kids. I’m still wary of brands likes Jones Soda, simply because of the fact that, yes, they may use can sugar and not HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) BUT…what about that electric blue color for their Blue Bubblegum flavor? Not so good. I’m not big on chemical dyes=)
exhibit A:
Anyway, for those of you who have switched off of soda (I did years ago, except of course for the occasional sip–no one’s perfect) I’ve got some great ideas for ways that you can satiate your desire for a thirst-quenching carbonated beverage. And instead of spending lots of money on “natural” soda brands like Izze, why don’t you try to make your own at home? It’s simple. You’ll need the following*:
Your favorite natural juice, like grapefruit, orange, cranberry, pomegranate, etc. Just make sure that
&
A carbonated water, such as Perrier, San Pellegrino, plain ol’ club soda or seltzer, all unflavored. Just make sure that on the ingredient list the only thing you see is water or carbonated water. Perrier, for example, might not even have an ingredient list since it is simply naturally carbonated water “bottled at the source.” Buying your carbonated water in small, single serving glasses or cans is best, since once-opened, your bubbly beverage can only stay bubbly for an hour or two, max.
Now for the delicious part: Pour your juice first, then carbonated water, into a glass. I prefer no ice but like a chilled beverage, so I refrigerate my juice and water before drinking. Make sure to pour your juice in first, as pouring your juice over the water will result in an unmixed drink. Depending on the juice and my mood, I’ll either do equal parts juice and water OR if you’re using a more bitter juice, like grapefruit or cranberry, do 1 part juice and 3 parts water.
For an added twist of sophistication? Squeeze a little lemon, lime, or orange wedge into your glass, and when possible, make your glass as fancy as possible! This really adds to the decadence of the event. I love using a mason jar. And for extra fun, chill your glass in the freezer & make sure it’s at room temperature and NOT warm or hot-or else it will potentially burst.
This is, incidentally, also a great beverage for those of us who cannot partake in alcoholic beverages at a party but who might want to feel grown up anyway.
Exhibit B:
Finally, if you want to get really, really fancy, make some ginger syrup or mint syrup and add to sweeten things up in the best way possible. Here’s the recipe:
Fresh Ginger Syrup
4 cups water
2 cups organic cane sugar (aka evaporated cane juice)
1 cup peeled and chopped fresh ginger
Combine water and sugar and bring to a boil. Add ginger. Simmer until your liquid is reduced by half. By the end, you should measure approximately 3 cups clear syrup, after straining out ginger pieces.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 months.
Mint Syrup
2 cups water
2 cups organic cane sugar
4 cups fresh mint, roughly chopped. (This is a good one to make in the Summer when your mint is running rampant in the yard. A Spearmint plant will do, although really any variety of mint will work. Spearmint plants just seem to be the most prolific.)
Combine water and sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, quickly throw in mint and stir carefully so as not to burn yourself-the syrup will be hot! Watch the leaves turn bright green. Do not keep them in long enough to go brown or else you will be left with a slightly vegetable taste. Once the leaves are bright green, strain the minty syrup through a sieve into a glass bowl. With the back of a spoon, press on the mint leaves to extract more of their pungent oil. Don’t worry if there are tiny bits of mint in your syrup-they’re happy in there, promise=)
Store in and airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 months.
*Just a small disclaimer for those of you who read my blog regularly and are thinking that I am questioning your intelligence and creativity in suggesting an idea that you’ve been using for years: I DO realize that I did not invent the idea of making your own healthy carbonated beverage. Haha—it just occurred to me when watching The Today Show and seeing the “health” segment trying to encourage women to lower their intake of diet sodas that I realized I might need to make my idea a bit more public. For all of you soda-at-home pioneers—drink on!
Wed 27 Jan 2010
Posted by lynsie under Business, Local Food, Sustainability, Uncategorized
[3] Comments
Imagine my surprise this afternoon, when folding some laundry, I decided to also turn on Oprah and see if anything caught my attention. With her topic being “FOOD 101″ and her guests including Michael Pollan, author of 4 best-selling real food books, the most famous being “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and Steve Ells, Founder and CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, pioneer of healthy, real fast food, I knew I would be not only riveted to the screen, but could anticipate a certain rise in my blood pressure. As my husband would say: talk of real, sustainable, responsible food really lights my fire and gets me very revved up.
Perfect Flavor is interwoven into the stories of these two men and the documentary “FOOD, INC.” in a way that would be enviable to most sustainable food companies. Not only have I brushed shoulders with Pollan, who can be thanked for launching our current local & sustainable food movement into its current stratospheric position, but I have worked closely for the last year with the family and farm that is responsible for catapulting both “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “FOOD, INC.” into the public’s view: Polyface Farm and The Salatin Family
When we began the process of starting up Perfect Flavor, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” was the first book on local, real food that Colin and I read. We were stunned and so very pleased to discover that Polyface Farm and the Salatin family were located just miles away from our home and where we would eventually settle our production kitchens. Sheri Salatin, the daughter-in-law of Joel, married to Joel’s son, Daniel, was the first person I would contact in order to begin the process of sourcing all of our ingredients locally. It was Summer of 2006, and Sheri’s and my relationship has grown stronger and stronger ever since. I have much admiration and respect for what she and the rest of the Salatin family are choosing to do with their lives, that is: raise beef, pork, chickens, rabbit, eggs, and more, honorably and honestly.
How do we at Perfect Flavor fit in? Well, we started by buying eggs from Polyface for our ice cream in early 2008 at the launch of our company. We then teamed up with Polyface to begin selling our ice cream through their amazingly popular Buying Clubs, which are full of intelligent, well-educated and themselves honorable Buying Club Members, who once a month subscribe to this Club which allows them to order everything that Polyface produces. This is especially important because it gives folks in many cities in Virginia no excuse to buy grain-fed beef or antibiotic-filled chicken from a no-name source at the grocery store EVEN if they can’t make the trip down to Swoope, VA (pronounced Swope) located near Staunton, for a grocery store run. Through the Buying Club, everything Polyface has to offer gets delivered to a drop point located in central locations to where many of these members live, often in neighborhoods. These folks, when offered the chance to also purchase our handmade ice cream made with Polyface eggs and local milk, jumped at the chance, and we had a steady business from last March 2009 to December 2009 selling to Polyface’s customers everywhere from Williamsburg to Harrisonburg to Northern Virginia and beyond. It must be mentioned that Polyface only sells locally, meaning that the farthest north they will take their Buying Club is Southern Maryland. The farthest South currently is Central VA. For more info and to become a member, visit here! I was so thrilled to be a part of Polyface’s far reaching touch that I volunteered to ride on the delivery truck for one month with Polyface’s amazing delivery guy (for lack of a much more fitting term), Richard Morris, who has an inspiring story of his own pertaining to the lessons he learned in dealing with real, whole foods. Learn more about him here! My experience working with Polyface and Richard taught me absolutely invaluable lessons about the educated consumers out there who demand good food for themselves and their families. And this was what Oprah’s show was really about: the necessity for all of us to take the health of ourselves and our families back under our own control when it comes to the choices we make about the foods we eat.
As far as Chipotle goes, and our connection with it, it may be small, but I am proud of our ties to this wonder of a business. Firstly, when we started making cheese at Perfect Flavor, we were ending up with a fair amount of whey, which most industrial cheesemakers just dump down the drain. Not us! I went straight to Polyface and asked if we could donate our whey to them each time I came to drop off an ice cream order. They were happy to take our whey and feed it to their pigs. And from what I hear, the pigs loved it! Now, how does this connect with Chipotle? Well, did you know that the Charlottesville Chipotle location was the first to not only use outdoor, humanely raised pork, but that it was the first to use LOCAL pork. That’s right, and where do you suppose they get it from? Polyface, of course. So, every time I eat at our local Chipotle, I order nothing but the Carnitas pork option on the menu. With confidence, not only do I know that my meat is local, but that I am also eating a little bit of my whey from my own sustainable business as well!
I am happy to admit that I am both a member of the Charlottesville Buying Club and also currently have a half a pig in my freezer that most likely was fed our very own whey!
Now, I must note that due to my pregnancy, we are no longer supplying Polyface with ice cream or whey, and boy are our customers upset, the pigs in particular=) My hope is to do right by my family first, however, as the Salatin’s have chosen to do. In a long conversation with the always inspiring Teresa Salatin, Joel’s wife, we discussed how family should come first. Until I can reopen Perfect Flavor in terms of ice cream and cheese production, I will continue to gather my research and resources and share the good news about local and healthy food here on my blog.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank both Polyface and Michael Pollan for the chance to work along side their cause, even in the most humble of capacities. My experience has been priceless.
Wed 27 Jan 2010
Posted by lynsie under Cooking, Ice Cream and Cheese, Local Food, Recipes
No Comments
What is the prize for a diet high in protein?
Well, prior to being pregnant, I always assumed two things regarding high protein diets primarily: One was that folks on the Atkins Diet (which I tried out of desperation in college and quickly stopped 1 week in) consume lots of protein, and really only protein. Another aspect of a high protein diet brought to mind body builders downing strawberry-flavored powdered milkshake blends. yum…?
I never really knew until getting pregnant and beginning my childbirth education class focused on The Bradley Method that protein is good. Really good if you’re pregnant. In fact, contrary to what some doctors may say, a diet high in protein during pregnancy is really healthy for both mom and baby. Dr. Bradley, founder of The Bradley Method and an obstetrician from the middle of the 20th century until his recent death, recommends a daily intake of 80-100 grams of protein. Since I couldn’t really wrap my head around what this meant, but now after learning I understand how to incorporate healthy protein into my diet, I’m going to share what I know:
Protein can be found in many foods. Some have lots of protein, others don’t have as much. Foods high in protein are meat, dairy, grains, eggs and nuts. For example, a 3 oz (pretty small) serving size of steak has 20 grams of protein. Chicken of the same portion has 25 grams. Eggs have 6 grams each. A cup of milk (8 oz) has 8 grams, an ounce of real cheese 7 grams, and so on.
Why do I know all of this? Because as a student of The Bradley Method, I have homework each week in which I must record and calculate my daily protein intake as part of a well-balanced diet. In other words, I can’t just eat steaks all day and drink milk, even though my husband would argue that that is exactly what I do-at least when it comes to milk consumption. You see, unbeknownst to me, as I would fill out my daily protein intake on my little pink homework sheet and hand it in to my wonderful teacher, Jenny, she was actually examining everyone’s sheets and running a sort of “protein contest.” Well, as it turns out, my love for milk has paid off. Being that on a typical day I drink between one and two quarts a day, which results in between 32-64 grams of protein alone, I was the Number 1 protein consumer in my class. And I got a prize! It’s a beautiful little Peter Rabbit baby spoon.
Now, first of all, I was not expecting a reward aside from the most obvious prize of all: a healthy pregnancy and really healthy baby. But, I have to admit, getting recognized for my protein-packing abilities makes me feel good. Not to mention the fact that physically, I actually feel fantastic.
Here’s a nice, easy recipe to follow that helps you, pregnant or not, to get a healthy meal with a really healthy dose of protein.
Blue Cheese Steak Salad
Ingredients:
one 8 oz steak (about 53 grams of protein), preferably a locally raised cut like a Delmonico from Polyface Farm
a nice 4 ounce slice of locally made or artisan blue cheese, crumbled (28 grams protein)
1 cup pecans (24 grams protein), toasted at 350 degrees for 7 minutes whole in the oven, then chopped roughly
a big heaping portion of your favorite salad green: I like to use arugula for its spice, or romaine for its crunch. Spinach also works!
Salad Dressing (recipe to follow):
1 hard boiled egg (6 grams protein), pureed with the following: juice of two lemons, 1/2 cup olive oil, smoked sea salt or regular sea salt, white pepper or black pepper to taste, and anchovy paste if you’ve got it, just a couple squeezes from the tube. If you desire, throw in a 1/4 cup blue cheese to make a creamy dressing. Blend and pour over mixed salad.
Process:
Remove steak from packaging, pat dry with a paper towel while your skillet (preferably cast iron) heats on medium high. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper on both sides and place steak directly onto hot skillet. Set a timer for 6 minutes and DO NOT MOVE, POKE, PROD, or otherwise TOUCH. When six minutes is up, flip the steak, set timer for 6 more minutes, then remove to a cutting board to rest for ten minutes. This will produce a perfectly cooked steak, and depending on how thick, can range from a medium rare to medium well. A 1 inch thick delmonico yields a medium at my house. Do not cut into the steak before the ten minute rest is up.
Presentation:
In a large bowl, place salad greens and scatter still-warm pecans over greens. If you’re using arugula or spinach, the warmth from the nuts will help to wilt your greens to a nice texture perfect for this kind of salad.
Sprinkle on crumbled blue cheese.
Pour dressing over salad and toss.
Slice your steak thinly, plate your salad onto two individual plates, and arrange steak on top.
If desired, sprinkle some more pecans and blue cheese crumbles on top and enjoy while warm!
If shared between two people, for instance a pregnant lady and her partner, this meal yields a whopping 55.50 grams of protein per person, which is more than half of your daily required intake!
For dessert, throw in some ice cream (the real stuff!) or some whole milk yogurt with fresh fruit, and you’ve got a fantastic, delicious meal that is not only practically effortless, but also quick to prepare and a very easy way to get the protein you need with the smallest amount of hassle possible.
Look here for more posts concerning healthy protein-filled recipes as well as much more info on The Bradley Method and my adventures in childbirth education!
Mon 25 Jan 2010
Posted by lynsie under Local Food, Sustainability
No Comments
If you’re at Perfect Flavor reading our many blogs, then there’s not a whole lot I need to say to dignify this current marketing campaign with a response. We all know that HFCS is bad for us. Much research is currently being done to understand just how bad, in fact. Yikes. Just look at the political necessity for a corn syrup “push” behind these ads, and you’ll know that government subsidies alone are enough to want to CONVINCE the American consumer that corn syrup is good for us and just has a bad rap. I mean, after all, if we all stopped, heaven forbid, buying products with corn syrup in them, half of the grocery store would go away and what would we be left with? Fresh produce and meat that comes from farmers and farms who have chosen to not just specialize in corn production with the help and backing of the US government.
Maybe I’m coming to the party a little late, but I don’t watch TV much and just came across a slew of commercials, ads 1, 2 & 3, that make intelligent, educated foodies look like idiots and corn syrup lovin’ consumers look like the smartest people on the block. See the first ad about two moms at a party sharing a RED DYE #33 beverage together here, a couple in a park here, and two brothers who keep the brotherly competition alive here. What will they do next? Tell us that obesity, acid reflux, diabetes, and, dare I say it, cancer, are just a product of our imaginations?
Now, take a look at this parody. I think this guy says it way better than me!
As you can see, the topic of being mislead by big food producers for the sake of THEIR bottom line really gets me fired up. What can I say? I am a food crusader=)
To learn more about what this ad campaign is all about, visit SweetSurprise! To learn the truth about HFCS, read Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” or watch the documentary “King Corn” by filmmaker Curt Ellis.
Mon 25 Jan 2010
Posted by lynsie under Cooking, Local Food, Recipes, Sustainability
No Comments
It’s been a long time since we got rid of our microwave. I must admit, after having grown up with a microwave, the thought of not having one in our kitchen was slightly scary. What would we do if we needed to, gasp, reheat something?
Our reasons for getting rid of our microwave were not entirely wholesome. We were renovating our kitchen and were worried that our current microwave’s location would be too close to the large and leaping flames of our new gas range getting installed directly underneath our behemoth of a microwave. The microwave itself was probably installed in the 70s, as our good friend Samira and Philip can attest to, since they have the very same one in their condo which was built around that time.
So, with a little trepidation and a lot of hope for what our food future would hold, we ditched our giant microwave.
While prior to saying goodbye to this large device, we were making most of our food from scratch and not eating processed food TV dinners, easy mac, vegetable “steamers” or the like, I don’t believe we knew what a profound impact life with out a microwave would have on our family food culture. Think about it, what foods can’t you prepare without the help of a microwave? Processed, typically frozen foods, of course. Just ask anyone who has, in desperation and sans microwave, tried to heat up a lean cuisine in the oven…what anyone would end up with is a bunch of semi-hot food surrounded by melted plastic-yum!
…also, as a side note, do we really need to be eating frozen “health food” anyway? Take a look at the current Cambell’s Soup Select Harvest tv ad in which shoppers are blindfolded as they purchase their “health food” and ask yourself…should they be looking at the calorie content or should they actually just be reading the ingredients??? Yes, it is true that a lot of the American public walks around a grocery store with blindfolds on when it comes to intelligently discerning the ingredients present in the foods we eat, but guess what…no microwave = no processed frozen TV types of foods.
Colin and I have a hard time figuring out just how many processed foods we consume currently, the reason being that we do not consume much aside from the occasional bags of chips or crackers and the cereal (we try to find the best possible) that we eat in the mornings sometimes. MOST of the food we eat, about 95% of it, in fact, is made from foundational ingredients, like unbleached flour, unsalted butter, local eggs, local meats, local or organic veggies and fruits, or both, depending on the season. All of these ingredients, when used in conjunction with each other, can turn out some pretty tasty dishes that are really, really healthy for our family, and require no microwave to cook.
The bottom line is this: If you want to make healthy food for your family, get rid of your microwave. How to reheat that cup of coffee? Pour the rest in a small saucepan and heat up over low heat. What about defrosting that chicken? Place the chicken in the fridge 1-2 days prior to cooking. Also, you can defrost any piece of meat, sausage, etc quickly by placing it in a ziploc bag and then inside a large bowl filled with cold water. Change the water out every hour, and within 1-3 hours your meat should be thawed. (Do not think that running hot water over the meat will defrost it quicker-it will not…it will only harm the texture of the meat by cooking it slightly.)
When in doubt, think 19th century…how did they cook and heat food in the old days? There’s no reason why we can’t figure this out in today’s culture!
As a family, we feel better when we eat real, healthy food. We’re teaching our children about how to do this for themselves as well, which is an invaluable lesson. Life with out a microwave may take a little more planning and organizing, but its values go far beyond tonight’s meal. Good luck!
Mon 25 Jan 2010
Posted by lynsie under Parenting
No Comments
As I approach the birth of my first “bio” baby, and as a follow up to my previous post, “Battle of the Best Parent,” I actually laughed out loud at the profundity of this “Partnership for a Drug Free America” tv ad on TLC.
Just another reason why raising a teen is challenging. Try standing your ground in a talk about something as serious as drug use to your teenager while being faced with eye rolls, back turning, etc. It’s not an easy feat, but can mean the difference between life and death with your child. Tough stuff.
This commercial really gets the message across!
Fri 22 Jan 2010
Posted by lynsie under Parenting, Uncategorized
No Comments
Think about this: Cloth diapering is all pros and no cons.
Did you know that cloth diapering is cheaper than purchasing your regular run-of-the-mill plastic diapers? According to The Stork, a local diaper delivery service in Charlottesville, VA, even a cloth diaper service such as this can guarantee diapers at a cost of 33 cents/unit, which is the same as a unit of Huggies. This fee, to top it off, includes the diaper service itself. All one needs to do is throw a dirty diaper into a bag and wait for it to be picked up by The Stork at home. And what does this person get in return? Clean diapers, of course. Imagine how much less the cost is if you own your own cloth diapers and are washing them yourself?
And just how easy is it to wash cloth diapers? For a newborn who is nursing, it’s as simple as throwing them straight into the washing machine. For an older baby, diapers need only be rinsed in the bathtub or sink, then washed in the washing machine.
And how might we decrease the costs of cloth diapering even more? Instead of purchasing from a company that sells pre-fabbed diapers, send a cloth diaper sewing pattern to a mother, mother-in-law, or friend of a friend who sews. In all cases, offer to reimburse for all fabric costs and labor, unless of course, your friend or family member wants to offer these cute little white ones to you as a shower gift proxy. You could even ask them to modify the pattern to include a fold-over feature or a small dip near the front of the diaper for baby’s healing belly button.
Check out popular patterns here!
My mom is currently working on my diapers and I can’t wait to put them to good use!
Also, for you really easy breezy hippies out there, Gerber makes really cheap cloth diaper panels sold in packages of 4-6 that are so multi-purpose that you’re going to want them in your baby repertoire no matter what. Use them for spit-up clean ups, burp cloths, blankets, and babies who need an emergency diaper change or who are in-between sizes. Do keep in mind, though, that the sewing patterns offered above are very close to a one-size-fits-all baby, at least at the beginning. One pattern can fit a baby anywhere from 6-30 pounds!
Lest we forget that the best news to cloth diapering has got to be the next-to-zero waste factor. I think both baby and parents and sleep and breath easier knowing that their diapers are not sitting in a landfill somewhere.
Also, cloth diapered babies are less likely to develop diaper rash, as the outer layer of the diaper is made of cloth, not plastic. Plastic locks in moisture while cloth allows baby’s bum to breath!
One final tidbit: did you know that cloth diapered babies are more likely to potty train earlier than plastic-diapered babies? It’s because cloth diapers do not wick away liquid as magically as the infinite layers inside plastic diapers, therefore teaching your children a very important lesson: If they don’t like to feel wet, then they will learn how to remedy their situation naturally by using the toilet instead of the diaper. The average cloth-diapered baby is potty trained by age two.
woohoo!