Like Riding a Bike

Exactly six weeks ago I was driving my car and talking to my kids about their falling grades and sagging attitudes.  I had to admit that I, too, was not quite myself in the home-stretch of waiting for our home to be built.  My kiddos, who are usually good students, were seeing their second-quarter grades drop into oblivion.  They both admitted that they could do better, and they just hadn’t been putting forth the effort like they used to.  I in turn admitted that I hadn’t been doing all my “mom duties” like I used to either.  I let stress wear me down, almost to the point of illness again.  My purpose-driven-ness got put on autopilot, and many of my own “Oh-no-I-WON’Ts” morphed into “Oh-what-the-hells.” It was a rough autumn, to say the least.

My own parents are Super-Heroes for taking us all in.  For four solid months I did not cook, clean, wash laundry or make a bed.  I think I only fed my dogs twice in all that time.  Knowing how hard it was for all of us to be without permanent residence, my mom made good-and-sure that we were spoiled like last week’s fruit.  I vocalized only once, but secretly feared for at least two months, that I would completely forget how to maintain a household.  (I love you, Mom!)

We moved in to our new house on December 7, and though we were so glad to have our own place, I wondered if I would actually find my feet again in my new kitchen and utility room.  I am pleased to say that I have.

Baby Girl was sick the entire first week after our move, and while I felt I really needed to be at work, the cosmos and my husband felt otherwise and set me straight pretty quickly.  As the Hubster pointed out, “She is sick.  She needs to stay home and rest.  And, you have more sick time than I do.”  Point taken.  So in between reading to Vic and checking for fever, I unpacked a box or two and then decided we were going to need to eat, and if I had anything to say about it, we were NOT eating more fast food.  (Yes – I had regressed THAT far!)  I pulled out the dutch oven, washed off the summer’s storage dust, and proceeded to make Red Beans and Sausage.  Then I whipped up some olive mix, made muffalettas and baked a whole chicken in my sparkly new-fangled oven.  I’m sharing all this to express my surprise that my domestic abilities have not faded with the season.

I bet I could still ride a bike if I tried!  But it’s rainy and cold, and I’m a weather wimp, so that experiment will have to wait.

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Going to the Dogs!

Back when Mason, our adorable first-born fluffy Yellow Lab, was about 5-6 years old he developed a food allergy.  His poor little nose would itch terribly and he would rub it on any furniture he could find – scratching it until he made it bleed.  The poor fella had sores on his nose for months on end.  We tried all kinds of dog foods…from Venison and Potato prescription canned dog food sold by our vet (which nearly broke the bank) to finally a wheat-, grain-, and by-product-free dry food sold by PetSmart, called Nature’s Recipe.  Mason really liked Nature’s Recipe, and it came in a Senior formula for when we aged (he’s 11 now, and symptom-free).

When I began to track positive healthy changes in our home I noticed Mabel, our much-younger, mischievous Black Lab, was a little, um, round.  Mabel had plumped up not only from the extra calories I was feeding her, but also from eating whatever she saw.  (I seriously considered linking some examples here, but as you likely are aware of her latest antics involving my tube of all-natural sunscreen, there are far too many examples of the stuff Mabel eats!!)  I cut back on Mabel’s calories, and later switched her to a more natural food.  Mabel doesn’t have the allergy issues Mason has, but her dog food is about the same price.  Combine this with the fact that we are still going to traffic-jammed Youree Drive (aptly called “Little Dallas” by some of my co-workers) for Mason’s food, and my desire to provide organic meals for my family, and suddenly I find myself looking up recipes for dog food on the Internet.

You heard me.

I am considering making meals for my dogs – actually cooking, storing and serving home-cooked meals for the pooches I love.

In my next life I want to come back as one of MY dogs!!!

I have to learn about nutritional needs of my particular furry children before I can settle on any recipes.  It is a matter I will  investigate thoroughly, and if I find any high-quality recipes that satisfy puppy palettes, I will certainly post them…you know, just in case any of you are neurotic pet owners too.

(p.s. I refuse to cook for the bunnies.  They are vegetarians, and they already get my organic carrots!! Plus, as payment for such pampered treatment I require serious fur-snuggle time, and our bunnies just aren’t snugglers.  Their loss.)

Day 316: Keeping It Simple

My most recent Facebook status update went something like this: “People are always for healthy lifestyle change until it affects their lifestyle.”  I was in a rather sullen mood this weekend, despite it being the most glorious weekend of the Church year.  It felt like everywhere I turned somebody was throwing one more excuse in my face as to why traditional Easter candy with all its preservatives and artificial colors is okay (duhhhhhh, Mom!), frozen pies from God-knows-where are perfectly acceptable, and crappy chemical ingredients are just fine as long as “it tastes good!”  

So I threw a tantrum.  Yep.  Lenten promise #3 out the window.  I actually let out a primal scream.  One dog came to see what was wrong and the other dog ran and hid.  My husband blinked at me in disbelief. I have to admit, I felt much better after that.

I can see a bit more clearly now, and I have profusely apologized to all the heartbeats in my home for the inappropriate disruption to our daily lives.  Many thanks to my sister-in-law, Kasie, who served as my light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel on Sunday, and brought me back to myself. 

So what do you do when it seems all hope for healthy change is spiraling down the toilet at breakneck speed?  I mean, aside from yelling at everyone you love and accidentally wounding yourself in your own Tasmanian-devil-style fit? 

You find something small, and you focus on that one thing until you can mentally (and emotionally) handle everything else.  I focused on my garden and flowerbeds.  They look lovely. 

This whole spiral-into-oblivion got me thinking about little ways in which we can make healthier choices – little bits of good that we can focus on until the rest is manageable.  Here’s my tentative list of little things to do that can eventually lead to big change:

• Change your makeup remover and/or moisturizer.  I’ve been using almond oil as moisturizer exclusively for two months now, and it works really well.  It’s relatively inexpensive, totally natural, and a little goes a long way.  Making this one change will save your face from at least nine chemicals a day.
• Switch to buying organic milk and/or eggs.  Just this one little change to your habits can make a big difference for you and your family.
• Buy small quantities.  Mega grocery stores and warehouses are great if you consume a trailer-load of food and disposables in a relatively short time period.  But I always found that buying food in bulk made me waste more.  It’s very hard to break the habit of thinking I need to “stock up” on something, especially if it’s on sale, but refocusing on what I will actually consume in a smaller period of time helps keep my grocery budget in check. 
• Buy one or two versions of organic fruit or vegetables. Think of the fruits or vegetables you’re going to want to eat or cook with this week, and buy the organic variety this time.
• Plant your favorite herb and use it fresh while you cook.  Fresh herbs make any dish better, and knowing where it came from and how it has been treated is an added benefit you can enjoy every time you cook.  Plus, plants are happy little fellas. 
• Drink 8 ounces of water right when you wake up in the morning.  I have not done this exclusively yet, but I did it for a while during the winter and I noticed that it helped me continue drinking water through the rest of the day.   Water makes your skin healthy.  Healthy skin doesn’t show age as fast.  Where’s my glass????
• Plan two meals a week, if you’re not on a meal planning schedule already.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, but put real effort into it.  Having a plan ahead of time makes the cooking more fun, and the meal more enjoyable.    And just think of the money you’ll save by not eating out!
• Drink a glass of green tea a day.  Add some orange or lemon and honey to it for some flavor. 

Well, that just about exhausts my wee little mind for the day.  😉  I’m off to move the sprinkler so my new flowers can drink up.

Day 299: Heavy Metal Rocks!

Okay, this whole cooking thing has thrown another roadblock at me.  While making the fantastic omelets this past weekend, I saw my relatively-new and super-useful Farberware spatula/flipper starting to peel.  Um, gross!!

Not only was I concerned about the plastic flaking off into my food, but suddenly I wondered, “Might this handy-dandy tool be leeching BPA into my family’s breakfast??”

Things that make you go Hmmmmmmmmm…

I decided that I would hop on over to Bed, Bath & Beyond and choose some more eco-friendly and BPA-free cooking utensils.  I grabbed some BB&B coupons and off I went.  While at BB&B I sensed that they really don’t give a rat’s half-apple about eco-friendly or BPA.  Hmpfff!!

And then I wandered across the aisle into a veritable maze of chemical contaminants: the cookware.  Pots and pans and griddles and skillets.  Non-stick and hard-anodized.  Stainless steel, cast iron and titanium. Dark black and shiny silver.  Emeril.  Calphalon.  All-Clad.

Could someone just tell me what in the world to buy, please??

I left BB&B feeling confused and admittedly a little sour.  I was shopping and I didn’t get to have any fun!  What was THAT all about?!!

You know exactly what I did next.  I went straight to my Google cubicle and started studying.  Almost none of the cookware manufacturers address the chemical components of their product on their websites.  The Environmental Working Group gave me the best information, with their site making available to us numerous articles and research data from various sources.

Since metal can get a little on the boring side, I’ll break this down to a few bullet points, for ease of consumption.

• Everyone loves a good non-stick pan.  But, when non-stick coatings are heated to excessive degrees (which happens on your cooktop, friends) they release harmful chemicals called perfluorochemicals (PFCs).  The most commonly addressed PFC in cookware is PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid).
• Dangers of PFCs are low birth weight, higher cholesterol, weakened immune systems, elevated thyroid hormones, and the list goes on.  They are in everyone’s blood because of our continual exposure to them.  It would take 4.4 years to rid the body of PFCs with no additional exposure.  That sucks.
• Teflon is the original non-stick pan coating.  Several companies use the same technology but just call it something different, because “Teflon” is a patented DuPont name.
• Actual case: Two pregnant female workers in a 3M factory that makes non-stick polymers gave birth to children with varying eye abnormalities.  3M decided to run their own study on the matter and determined that the chemical conditions were of enough concern that they relocated 50 female employees from the plant.
• I began my marriage with a beautiful 14-piece set of Teflon-coated cookware. I got rid of most of the set about eight years ago because the coating was coming off in my food. I kept the steamer, dutch oven and a large frying pan. They remain in my cabinet today.
• PFOAs are supposed to be removed from the market by 2015, but I am not the least bit interested in waiting that long, nor do I blindly trust whatever chemical will replace them.

Suffice it to say that I will definitely purchase new cookware.  I do have a great set of stainless steel cookware already, but stainless is not the best for delicate things like scrambled eggs.  I need something that is egg and omelet worthy.  The answer? Cast iron.  Yep…the same stuff my Father-in-law takes to the hunting lease each year is exactly what I need in my kitchen.  Who’da thunk?

Aside from not having any of the PFCs to release into our food, cast iron does release iron, which the American diet traditionally lacks.  (Scary that EVERYTHING that touches our food can add something to it, isn’t it?) The premier manufacturer of cast iron cookware in America is, of course, Lodge.  They have lots of cool cookware, and right now they are having a special Earth Day sale!  And I also found some rather fancy ceramic-coated cast iron at Le Creuset.  By fancy, I mean it looks great AND it’s expensive.  So I was all excited when I found the Green Mom Review and her post about Cuisinart’s GreenGourmet line.  These are hard-anodized ceramic-coated aluminum cookware items at a way more affordable price.  And lo-and-behold, they are even sold at BB&B.  (Apologies to BB&B for the former dissing.  You guys need to AD-VER-TIZE the green stuff, ya know?)

But I’m leaving the Le Creuset on my Amazon wish list, just for good measure. After all, it comes in rrrrrred.  🙂