Puree le peas!

Well, here's to throwing away the parenting handbook and listening to your baby!

Evelyn is supposed to eat one meal a day. Yeah, right. She's constantly going after food, so we switched to two meals a day. Guess what! She sleeps 6 to 7 hours every night now instead of waking up hungry every 4. Good call? I think yes. So, she is now eating sweet potatoes and rice cereal, but it's time to introduce a new food.

GO PEAS! Peas aren't in season yet (not much is) so I bought them frozen. One bag of frozen peas, boiled, pureed in a blender and poured into containers!

Evelyn watched me make them and when I started pouring the pea paste into the ice cube containers, she started SCREAMING! So, I got a spoon and let her taste some of it.

Verdict = Peas are freaking delicious.

Peas contain the vitamins and minerals that sweet potatoes lack so between the two Evelyn is getting a much more balanced diet. We'll do squash next and then start fruits. Veggies first!

I'm Going As Green as I Can!

Is it easy being green? Is it easy eating health? Can you, that's right you! Can you do it? Here's the truth. I am not 100% all organic, green, healthy. I'm doing little things that I can to protect my mother earth, live healthier, and promote good habits for my family. So now the blog takes a new shift. Here's how I do green. Let's start with something we all do~ Grocery Shopping! Here is my grocery list; what I bought and where I bought it from. I took my handy cloth grocery bags along with me.

Today's grocery list:

From Wal-Mart:

Non-Perishables:
Black Beans (2 cans) wish I could buy uncooked beans, but working mom doesn't allow for experimenting with that yet
Uncle Ben's Original Recipe Wild Rice
Multi-grain tortilla chips
Kashi Roasted Garlic Crackers

Produce:
Mangos (2)
Gala Apples (2)
Strawberries
Kiwis (2)
Organic Celery
Organic Roma Tomatoes
Bell Peppers
Onion
Cilantro
Lime
Lemon Juice
Potatoes
Frozen Corn not in season yet
Frozen Edamame not in season yet

Deli:
Brie Cheese
Natural Swiss Cheese
Queso Fresco

Extras:
Dove Dark Chocolate Candies (for my post dinner cravings for desert!)
Frozen Orange Chicken "meal in a bag" dinner I'm not cooking from scratch EVERY night!
Chocolate Soy Milk

Non-Food:
Dishwashing liquid

From Harvard Meats, A Local, Organic Butcher:
2 lb Chicken Breast (boneless, skinless)
1 lb Boneless Pork Chop
1 lb Jalepeno Cheddar Cheese

Pros: LOOK AT THAT PRODUCE LIST! I'm doing great this week on planning meals that include fresh produce! Here are the meals on the menu for the week:

Stuffed Bell Peppers
Fiesta Potatoes
Pork and Rice
Chicken, Black Bean, and Mango salsa
Orange Chicken

Snacks:
Cheese and crackers, fruit salad, vegetable salad

Cons:
Ok, I felt really stupid halfway through grocery shopping when I realized that I was using those plastic produce bags. What's the point in cloth bags if you use all of those produce bags? Not doing it next time!

Also, you may be wondering about lunches! Lunches are generally left overs. There are only 2 of us that eat off this food, so there are normally extras.

Walmart Total: $66.81
Butcher Total: $30.56
Week Meal Total (not including our night out with friends): $97.37

Not bad. And affordable. Meals for the week will be posted as I make them. So you can decide. Is it easy? Can you do it?

Early Friendly Tea Party

So yesterday was the big organic/fair-trade/locally grown if possible tea party.

Mission: Host a tea party using only fair-trade, organic, or locally grown products.

Mission Status: Relatively Accomplished!

Food:

Organic carrots and celery (not in season here yet, so not possible to get locally grown)

Organic and locally grown cucumbers

Whole wheat bread (non-processed)

Organic yogurt (used to make veggie dip by adding spices)

Non-processed cheese

Non-processed whole grain crackers

Beverages:

Organic fair-trade berry tea

Black tea, curtesy of Tazo (I added peach juice to flavor it from locally grown Porter Peachers).

Review: The bread was my biggest let down. I should have planned better about getting a hold of it. I will say though, the food tasted wonderful! Especially the veggies! Everything tasted fresh and full of flavor and I didn't end up spending more than I would have had I taken a junk food or non-organic approach! So I found it a great way to kick off my new life approach to eating well and supporting my local economy and farmers.

Looking Forward To: Meat. Where do I find local deli meat? What about thinks like summer sausage? Can I find an alternative?