CrockPot Heaven

I love walking in the door to the smell of a pot roast in the crockpot. So what if I had to cook an entire meal and start another one last night. It's all worth it tonight! 

Start with the right ingredients for a guilt free home cooked meal to die for! Local organic beef and butter from grass fed cows and organic veggies. 

I like to coat the roast in black pepper, melt butter in a cast iron frying pan, and sear the roast on all sides. The entire process takes about 3 or 4 minutes. Then I drop it in the pot, cover halfway with water, turn on low, and go to bed. 

Next morning, wash carrots and cut into thirds before adding to the pot. Halve some yellow or red onions, remove the skin, and set them on top of everything in the pot. 

In the afternoon, my daughter adds the peas when she gets home from school. 

After a long day at work, all I had to do was cook the quinoa (we don't do grains anymore) and put everything in the bowls. 

Yes, my roast cooked for about 24 hours. Seem like a long time? Not only is slow cooking great for tenderizing any roast, but grass fed beef is very low in fat and needs to be cooked low and slow.

How do you cook your pot roast? Do you use a slow cooker or do you use the oven? I hope one day to own a cast iron dutch oven and cook roast in that! 

Monday A La Mode: July 8, 2013

It's Monday and that means it's time for the 2nd edition of Monday A La Mode. The 2nd edition should technically have been last week, but since my daughter and I were both blessed with food poisoning Sunday night I could not possibly have written anything. Heck, I couldn't possibly have turned on the computer! Thankfully this Monday is better, so without further ado, let me tell you about some of the things I've discovered lately...

HAVE YOU HEARD...

• In 2003 a band named The Postal Service released an album titled Give Up. Many of the songs have been featured in movies and commercials, so you may be surprised to recognize them. Check out Mama's Marvelous Musical Playlist in the sidebar at right to hear them now. I'm loving this album!

PRODUCTS YOU SHOULDN'T MISS...

• Check out bogobrush.com before you buy your next toothbrush. For every sustainably produced, biodegradable, bamboo toothbrush you buy from bogobrush, one is donated to someone in need. (According to their website, 80 million Americans lack access to dental care.) They are accepting pre-orders now and expect to start shipping by the end of this summer.
• Re-usable shopping bags are an important step in becoming more earth friendly, but good-looking bags can be expensive. I was so happy to come across snapsac.com this week! Their bags a fold-over flap that snaps closed at the top of the bag. When not in use, fold the bag and the snap closure keeps it folded. Bonus? Their grocery bags are only $3.99 and come in a variety of cute styles!
• It can be difficult to find eco-friendly clothing. Who has time to browse and scour the clothes racks? Or for that matter the internet? Two companies that only sell sustainable organic clothing are Earth Creations and Autonomie Project. For shoes, try The People's Movement - they pick up plastic off California beaches and turn it into shoes and wallets with minimal processing. I ordered a pair!

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER...

• I'm not a fan of soft drinks or, therefore, soft drink manufacturers. But I am a fan of any contest that gets people outside more often. Coca Cola is sponsoring the Take It to the Park contest. Just click here to vote for your favorite park and get extra votes by checking in at your park using FourSquare. The winning park receives a large grant from Coke!

DID YOU KNOW...

• July is Baked Beans Month! If you didn't have enough at your Independence Day get-togethers, now you have an excuse to treat yourself. Do you use brown sugar? Molasses? Maple syrup? Honey? Do you top yours with bacon? Have you ever tried baked beans on toast? 

Hope you found something new and useful this Monday! Have a great week!

Monday A La Mode

As promised previously, I've got some interesting tidbits to share with you that I've discovered recently. So here's the dish for today -


IN THE NEWS:

• The President of the United States will be speaking at 1:35pm EST on Tuesday, June 25, about his new plan to address climate change. Don't miss this! See the video he released below.

MOVEMENTS TO FOLLOW:

• What is slow food? Put simply, it's the opposite of fast food. Learn more about the Slow Food movement and join Slow Food USA as well as your local chapter. My local chapter has potluck dinners and other meetings, as well as our own facebook page and website. While you can donate as much or as little as you like, I joined Slow Food USA via their $5 challenge. Check it out by clicking here. 
• Moms Across America is organizing 4th of July marches against GMOs in America. For more info or to join Moms Across America, join a march, or even organize a march in your town, just click here. 
• The Story of Stuff is an online community of problem solvers that lets you weigh in on issues that matter to you. Take a stand for a "sustainable and just planet" while you participate in study programs, sign petitions you support, or just keep up with current issues. Join by clicking here. Watch the video below about bottled water in our National Parks and then head on over to sign their petition to stop National Parks from selling bottled water by clicking here. 

FRUGAL RECIPE ALERT!

• You may know that I am feel strongly about food being wasted. I believe in checking the fridge for leftovers and fresh food that's near spoiling before I plan a meal. For a great way to turn leftover rice into a sweet treat (there's also a savory option if you prefer), click here to try this recipe for calas, a traditional cajun snack that used to be sold by street vendors in New Orleans. 

LOW CARB REAL FOOD RECIPE:

• No guilt here! This recipe is great for your low-carb diet and it's all made from scratch. Remember to buy all of your ingredients locally if at all possible! Click here to get Rachel Ray's recipe for Lamb Burgers on Fennel Salad. 

DID YOU KNOW...

• According to a recent article from Reader's Digest, before WWII all crops were organic. Farmers had not yet begun to use pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers. To read the complete article online, complete with a slide show, click here. 
• Recycling is great, but repurposing is even better. Before you throw anything in the recycling bin, think about how you might be able to re-use it and save a little money in the process. Example: Plastic containers filled with sand, salt, rice, etc., make great dumbbells! Fill two matching containers and weigh on a food scale or bathroom scale (depending on the desired weight) to be sure they are even. Remove any labels and use a permanent marker to write the weight on the outside of each. This is great for any container that has a handle or is small enough to wrap your hand around including 20 oz drink bottles, dishwasher or laundry detergent bottles, and cooking oil bottles.



Tea Tree Oil

• Tea Tree Oil is kills bacteria and fungus naturally so it's a great ingredient for homemade bath and skincare products. Bonus: I love the way it smells! Also look for it in organic or natural store-bought products as a natural alternative to chemical anti-bacterial agents. Other natural anti-bacterials include honey, thyme, lavender, rosemary, peppermint, orange oil, lemon oil, grapefruit oil, and lemongrass. 
• There is an easy and natural way to clean the inside of your microwave. Fill a microwavable bowl with a solution of half vinegar and half water. Microwave on high for two minutes. Next, dip a sponge in the same solution (be careful, it may be hot) and use it to wipe away the grime. 

I love to read your comments. Let me know what you like, how you feel, and if you have any suggestions for Monday A La Mode. Did you learn anything?  Please share with your friends using the buttons below for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google! Thanks!

Waste Not, Want Not

Do you ever find that you've been a little overzealous on your recent trips to the farmer's market?

Do you ever open the fridge to find there are five or six different types of veggies that are not going to last another 24 hours?

That was me last night.

I went looking for a snack a few hours after dinner and realized that I had a large amount of produce facing the garbage bin if I didn't use it immediately. Uh oh.

I pulled all of them out, everything that looked like it was close to gone, and decided it was time for a fritatta. Fritattas are the best way I know to use up fresh veggies.

I found that I had celery, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, spring onions, and speckled butter beans. I decided to cook the beans separately and refrigerate for dinner the next night. Everything else got chopped up in order of hardest to softest and sauteed in butter in a cast iron frying pan.

While my daughter tossed the veggies occassionally with a spatula, I mixed a dozen eggs with a little milk and some sea salt, black pepper, and crushed garlic.

As soon as all of the vegetables were tender, I turned off the burner and poured the egg mixture over them. All that was left was to place the entire pan in the oven on 425 degrees until a fork inserted in the center came out clean. This was a large one so it took about 35 minutes to cook fully. Didn't it come out beautifully?

What I love most about fritattas is that I can do all of the cooking at night and stick the whole pan in the fridge to reheat and serve the next morning. Leftovers from breakfast make a great lunch!

Of course, for dinner tonight we had those butter beans and there was nothing to do but heat them. Served with some leftover chicken, who needed anything else? Yum!

Easy Frittata Recipe

For the second evening of the 7 Day Real Food Challenge, my sister and I got into the kitchen together and we were having so much fun that we cooked way more than just dinner! 

Since I got home first, I washed the free range chicken that I got from a local farm and started chopping vegetables. When she got here, she seasoned and dressed the chicken while I worked on the sides. We had some broccoli and some tomatoes and okra in the freezer still from last summer, so we had those with quinoa. The roasted chicken came out beautifully and it was so tasty!  All of it was tasty!  

While I was chopping the onions, garlic, and celery for the chicken, I chopped some extra onions and garlic for a frittata. After skipping breakfast yesterday and eating only fruit today, I am ready for a hot breakfast tomorrow. I am not, however, a morning person. Making breakfast ahead of time is the best way to ensure we get breakfast! I baked the frittata in the oven with the chicken and now we can just reheat by the slice in the morning (we all four leave at different times). I proudly posted a photo of the finished product on Facebook and got several requests for the recipe, so here it is. This recipe is not an exact science and we make it differently each time depending on what we have in the kitchen, but this is what I made tonight:

• Chop two small onions very thin, including the green tops. 
• If using fresh garlic, slice the green tops of the garlic also. Seperate the cloves from a small bulb of garlic and set aside. 
• Heat about 2 tbsp salted butter in a skillet and add the onions and the garlic greens. Using a garlic press, add several cloves of garlic quickly (I used four). 
• As soon as the onions are done and the greens are wilted, add about 10 oz of fresh spinach and cover, turning heat to the lowest possible setting. Uncover occassionally to toss. Cook just until spinach wilts. 
• While spinach cooks, beat a dozen eggs and season with sea salt and black pepper.
• Rub butter onto a 13x9 pan and spread spinach mixture across the bottom of the pan.
• Pour eggs over the top and bake in a 350 degree oven, approximately 30 minutes. 

Possibilities for this recipe are endless! Use whatever veggies you have and adjust the amount of veggies and eggs according to how many people are eating. This doesn't have to be a certain thickness, either. If you make less, it will not be very deep in the pan so you will not cook as long. 

If you make this recipe slightly smaller, with 6 or 8 eggs, you can  cook the veggies till tender in a cast iron skillet, pour the eggs in, and put the skillet straight into the oven! Less mess! 

Things I have put into a frittata: 

• sweet potatoes
• broccoli
• zucchini
• tomatoes
• bacon
• sausage
• kale
• collards
• chives
• bell pepper

You see?!

Let me just add...we didn't stop after making dinner and breakfast...

We made a pan of these amazing flax and nut bars topped with dark chocolate! These should take care of our sweet tooth for a few days and they will be a filling, healthy snack!

Clean up time included the kids. We had some chicken left over and my daughter picked all of it from the bones. We'll make something with it tomorrow night. Maybe the Easy Chicken Curry in the challenge guide? The chicken carcass and the veggies we used to season it are in the crock pot overnight to make chicken stock for another day. 

Have you joined the 7 Day Real Food Challenge? What real foods did you prepare today?

Day One of the Real Food Challenge

Today was the first day of the 7 Day Real Food Challenge and we got off to a great start! Unfortunately, we were a little slow to get moving this morning so breakfast just didn't happen at all. By the time we finished church, we were all famished! We enjoyed a lunch of raw fruits and veggies with natural organic peanut butter. 

For dinner, I decided to use some of the ingredients we already had so that nothing would go bad and be wasted, which meant coming up with my own recipe instead of using a recipe from the challenge guide. I had some beautiful asparagus from the local Ovis Hill Farm. I put it in the steamer, topped it with a few pats of butter and some sea salt, and left it to cook. I also have a ton of onions and garlic from another local farm, Dickson's Organics. I chopped the greens and bulbs from two small onions, as well as the greens from a garlic. After pan frying some natural pork chops with butter, I sauteed the greens, onions, and 3 crushed garlic cloves in the pan juices and used this to top the pork chops. The end result was absolutely delicious! 

How did your first day on the challenge go? If you're just hearing about it, you aren't too late. Your Day One doesn't necessarily have to be today! Find out more about the 7 Day Real Food Challenge and giveaways by clicking here or on the tab at the top of the page. 

Cool Weather Arrives

I must say, I wasn't looking forward to the arrival of cool weather, the need for sweaters and long sleeves, the switch from air conditioning to heat. But here it is. Ready or not. 

Today, the arrival of of chilly air was accompanied by gray clouds and dreary rain. Which made me want warm food. Which made me think of homemade vegetable soup, chicken and rice soup, and chili. Maybe this Fall weather isn't so bad after all.

After work, I gathered the fixings for chili and headed home to make a pot of chili and some texas toast. Delicious and easy! And warm! Sometimes I like to make chili from scratch, but after a long day at work this easy recipe is my go-to. 

If you love chili like we do, try this simple recipe for chili in a hurry:

• For each pound of ground chuck, add 2 cans of dark red kidney beans (drained), 3 cans of diced tomatoes (we like Muir Glen), and 1 to 1 1/2 packets of Sauer's Chili Seasoning.

What foods do you look forward to eating when cool weather arrives? 

Easy Summer Recipe

The fresh seasonal veggies are starting to change now that summer is coming to a close and fall is just around the corner. In my CSA bag this week, I had some butternut squash. I love butternut squash soup, although I've never cooked it myself. In fact, I had never cooked this vegetable in any way, shape, or form. I was completely perplexed and let it sit on my counter top for days. 

In a conversation with a co-worker today, I mentioned my squash troubles. She shared a super easy way to cook this veggie and it worked beautifully, as you can see! 

Slice the squash lengthwise into two halves. Use a spoon to scrape the seeds out, just like you would treat a cantaloupe. Place the two halves face down in a baking pan, a generous slice of unsalted butter underneath the fleshy part of each. Bake on 350 degrees for about 20 minutes before turning and baking an additional 20 minutes or until very soft. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and brown sugar. 

You could scoop these out to serve, but I thought the presentation whole was wonderful! It was very easy to eat with only a fork and tasted a little like baked sweet potatoes. I think these would also be delicious without the cinnamon sugar, which made it taste more like desert than a side dish.

Now I just need to know how to cook this acorn squash! Any ideas?

Super Yummy Sunday Recipe

My garden is practically bursting with tomatoes right now! If they all turned ripe at the same time, I don't know what I would do with all of them! I take that back. My family loves tomatoes, which is precisely why I have so many of them in the garden!

In my house, tomatoes are a staple in the summer time. They make great snacks with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, super sandwich toppers, easy salad toppings, perfect pasta ingredients, and more. One of my husband's favorite ways to eat tomatoes, though, is in the type of salad I am going to share with you tonight. Many of these ingredients can be switched in and out with other ingredients, depending on what's in the kitchen. But if you prefer a straightforward recipe instead of experimentation, just make it exactly like this and it will be a huge success. 

Easy Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 can of Cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 very red ripe medium tomatoes, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp lemon juice (preferably fresh squeezed) or finely chopped lemon balm
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• a few tbsp chopped fresh basil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Toss the beans and tomatoes in a medium sized bowl. Stir together the remaining ingredients in a small jar or bowl, then pour over tomatoes and beans. Mix gently and let sit for five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve this tomato salad with crackers or bread or use it to top a green salad. Add some grilled chicken or fish to make it a meal. The easiest substitution in this recipe is to put chopped cucumbers in place of the beans and use less salt. Want it spicier? Stir in a teaspoon of finely chopped jalapeno pepper instead of using black pepper. try a little chopped green onion instead of basil to change the flavor more. The possibilities are endless!

Come up with your own substitutions to make it your own. Happy garden fresh eating!

Natural Hair Color Ideas

When I was younger, I used to dye my hair a nice auburn color. I loved the way the auburn looked with my complexion and my hair tends to get auburn highlights in the summer anyway. Lately I've been thinking about going back to auburn hair. Now I'm older and smarter and greener, though. I don't want to use major brand hair colors because of all of the chemical ingredients. I began exploring other options.
Of course, the first option that came to mind was henna. Lush sells 4 different vegan varieties of henna hair color, each offering up a different color, from bright red to dark indigo. Their Caca Marron is supposed to create an auburn color, which is exactly what I'm looking for. However, I'm not sure I want to spend $24.95 plus shipping on a product I've never used before. I don't know anyone that's ever used it either, and I hear it's not a good idea to use henna without help.
I did some research online for other options. On herbcompanion.com I found some great ideas for DIY hair products. They offer home made recipes for shampoos, deep conditioners, and hair colors. Following is an excerpt from their site:

Chamomile: This will lighten fair hair. To make a rinse, pour 2 cups boiling water over 1/4 cup chamomile flowers. Cool; strain before using.
Rhubarb: This also will lighten hair. Use 1/4 cup chopped, fresh rhubarb to 2 cups boiling water. Cool; strain before using.
Sage, lavender and cinnamon: These will darken hair. Use 1/4 cup sage or lavender (or 3 cinnamon sticks, broken into small pieces) to 2 cups boiling water. Cool; strain before using.
Hibiscus flowers: These will give red highlights to light or dark hair. Use dry flowers or herbal tea containing hibiscus flowers. Steep the flowers in boiling water to the shade you desire. Cool; strain before using. Remember you can always go darker, so start out with a weak mixture.

Read more: http://www.herbcompanion.com/Body-Care/Shimmer-and-Shine-with-Homemade-Herbal-Shampoos.aspx?page=3#ixzz1vHNWux9v

Now, I just have one question. Where in the world do I find hibiscus flowers? Maybe I will try the cinnamon sticks first. They should be a little easier to get my hands on. I'll let you know how it turns out!