Weekly Challenge: Eating Out of the Freezer - Day 3 [#CTWW]

The challenge for this week is to not buy food at the grocery store. You can read about this week's challenge here: Eating Out of the Freezer, Day 1, Day 2.

Day 3 (Wednesday)

Breakfast
Snowville Creamery grass-fed milk (fridge, new container bought last week)
Organic fried egg with organic coconut oil (fridge, picked up from CSA farm last week)
Organic cheddar cheese (fridge, previously bought)
Organic Ezekiel bread (freezer, I usually freeze 1/2 of the bread)

Snacks
Mostly organic granola bar (pantry, home made)

Lunch
Organic pear (fridge, bought last week)
Pizza (homemade, left over from last night)

Snacks
Organic apple (fridge, bought last week)
Stonyfield organic yogurt (fridge, case of yogurt bought last week)

Dinner
Pasta with veggies and salami, including:
   Organic whole wheat pasta (pantry)
   Eggplant (freezer, left overs previously frozen, home grown)
   Roasted peppers (freezer, left overs previously frozen)
   Kale (freezer, previously frozen fresh)
   Organic balsamic vinegar (pantry)
   Uncured Sopresata salami (pantry, previously bought)
   Whole grain bread (freezer, previously bought)

Thoughts: Breakfasts and snacks have been pretty easy because they are standard for us. For lunch, we are eating left overs from the night before (another standard practice in our household). Dinners are proving to be the most challenging meal. I was thinking that if I just buy tons of meat/fish and freeze it, I could do this challenge all the time. However, my freezer would be stuffed full (of meat) and nothing else. Then again, I do not eat meat, so maybe 50% meat, 50% veggies. LOL

I decided to do the challenge through Saturday since I will be going to the grocery store on Sunday. Saturday night, we are going to a birthday party, so that meal is out. I am left to plan meals for two more nights, and breakfast and lunch on Saturday. I am not going to cook with any more meat, so it will be vegetarian from now on. I do not think that my husband would like to eat pasta with veggies for two more nights, so I might have to bake some type of casserole. I have some sour cream and milk left over from last week. Surely I can come up with something!

>> What tips do you have for eating out of the freezer and/or pantry?
  

Weekly Challenge: Eating Out of the Freezer - Day 2 [#CTWW]

The challenge for this week is to not buy food at the grocery store. You can read about this week's challenge here: Eating Out of the Freezer, Day 1.

Day 2 (Tuesday)

Breakfast
Snowville Creamery grass-fed milk (fridge, new container bought last week)
Organic fried egg with organic coconut oil (fridge, picked up from CSA farm last week)
Organic Ezekiel bread (freezer, I usually freeze 1/2 of the bread)

Snacks
Honey (pantry, local)
Organic pear (fridge, bought last week)
Almonds (freezer)

Lunch
Sauteed fermented cabbage (left-over from last night, previously fermented with my dad)
Organic quinoa with dried herbs (left-over from last night)
Coconut date roll (pantry)

Snacks
Stonyfield organic yogurt (fridge, case of yogurt bought last week)
Organic banana (fridge, bought last week)
Organic apple (fridge, bought last week)

Dinner
Pizza, made with:
   Trader Joe's pizza dough (freezer)
   Organic chicken, left-over from Monday's meal
   Za'atar seasoning (pantry)
   Organic onion (fridge, left over from last week's meal)
   Organic tomato (grown in our garden)
   Organic Serrano peppers (grown in our garden)
   Organic cheddar cheese (fridge, previously bought)

Thoughts: The second day was not too bad. Now the challenging part comes. In terms of vegetarian eating (me), I have enough grains/rices, frozen veggies, and cheese to make some good meals. The challenge really begins with cooking meals with meat (for my husband).

The two remaining meat items in the freezer are a whole chicken (you can see it in the photo above, top middle) and bacon. Defrosting the chicken will take at least 2 days and I am saving it for a big meal with our friends. I usually have bacon on hand for some rare reason that I need or we have guests for weekend breakfast. I buy bacon very rarely, so I do not see myself cooking with the bacon just because I want to create a meal with meat (my husband will just have to eat one or two vegetarian meals this week).

I did discover uncured sopresata salami in the pantry (and it is nearing expiration), so I will look up some recipes tomorrow. I am thinking pasta with veggies and chunks of sopresata. (Yea, my husband was not really sold on this idea either, but I promised him I would find a delicious recipe.)

>> What tips do you have for eating out of the freezer and/or pantry?
  

Weekly Challenge: Eating Out of the Freezer - Day 1 [#CTWW]

The challenge for this week is to not buy food at the grocery store. You can read about this week's challenge here: Eating Out of the Freezer.

Day 1 (Monday)

Breakfast
Snowville Creamery grass-fed milk (fridge, new container bought last week)
Organic fried egg with organic coconut oil (fridge, picked up from CSA farm last week)
Organic Ezekiel bread (freezer, I usually freeze 1/2 of the bread)

Snacks
Organic banana (fridge, bought last week)
Mostly organic granola bar (pantry, home made)

Lunch
Organic oatmeal (pantry)
Organic fresh green figs (fridge, bought last week)
Almonds (freezer)

Snacks
Stonyfield organic yogurt (fridge, case of yogurt bought last week)
Organic banana (fridge, bought last week)

Dinner
Organic chicken, baked (freezer)
Sauteed fermented cabbage (fridge, previously fermented with my dad)
Organic quinoa with dried herbs (pantry)

Thoughts: So far, so good, but I am only one day in. I am grateful that I bought extra bananas and apples last week, a new container of milk, a case of yogurt on sale (Whole Foods gives a discount on cases), and had my husband pick up a dozen eggs from the CSA farm. When these items were purchased/picked up, I was not planning on not grocery shopping this week. However, because I have these items on hand, this week's breakfasts, lunches, and snacks will be easier to put together.

>> What tips do you have for eating out of the freezer and/or pantry?
  

Weekly Challenge: Eating Out of the Freezer [#CTWW]

I am NOT going to the grocery store this week. WHAT?!?!? Can I really go a week without grocery shopping?!?!? Yes, I can! I decided that I am going to eat out of the freezer, fridge, and pantry this week. My freezer and my pantry are full. I buy stuff when it is on sale and "store for later." Then, I do not really go through it and some of it is nearing expiration/best buy dates. Plus, I thought it would be kind of fun to see what kinds of meals I can come up with. I remember there was a Change the World Wednesday challenge just like this, so I will have to read up on the participants' experiences.

The challenge for this week is to not buy food at the grocery store. I am stocked up on dairy products and fruits, so I should be able to last this week with no additional produce. My freezer is also full of frozen veggies, from the store and from our SCA farm. Yes, this is going to take more planning ahead of time, but not too much.

I have the next couple of dinners planned out below based on what is in the freezer and fridge. I also want to incorporate pantry items like grains, beans, and pasta sauces into some of the meals this week.

Monday's Menu:
Organic chicken, grilled or baked depending on weather (frozen)
Cabbage, sauteed, from CSA farm (previously blanched and frozen)
Quinoa (pantry)

Tuesday's Menu:
Pizza made with Trader Joe's pizza dough (frozen), chicken from Monday's dinner, onion left over from last Thursday's dinner, peppers from SCA farm (frozen), oven made sun-dried tomatoes from SCA farm (frozen), and chives from our garden (frozen).

>> What tips do you have for eating out of the freezer and/or pantry?
  

Squeaky Clean Revolution with Green Mission Wipes

One of the hardest transitions to green living has been replacing cleaning products with ones that are non-toxic and actually work. After trying a few different brands of natural and eco-friendly cleaners, I was not very impressed. Now that I have tried a few more brands, I do have some favorites. I usually try new brands whenever they go on sale at Whole Foods. One of my favorite Whole Foods cleaning products is the automatic dishwashing powder. This is no wonder that I wanted to learn about the Green Mission brand from Whole Foods. Not only does Whole Foods disclose the ingredient list on Green Mission products, but the wipes work pretty well! Let me tell you about the Surface Cleaning Wipes in Minty Fresh.

Green Mission Surface Cleaning Wipes         

Rating: total green check marks out of 5.

The Good	The Not So Good
No chlorine, phosphates, or petrochemicals	Does not clean really greasy surfaces well
Multi-surface use (except unfinished wood)	Not biodegradable/compostable
Full ingredient disclosure

Let's start of with the ingredients list for Green Mission Surface Cleaning Wipes: filtered water, organic citric acid, organic acetic acid, mentha piperita oil (peppermint essential oil), malic acid, organic glycerin, organic soybeal oil. I love that a cleaning product actually has some organic ingredients. This is important if you are worried about the types of products that touch you hands since most of us probably use our bare hands for quick kitchen cleanups. I like that the ingredients list is disclosed and that the product does not contain chrlorine, phosphates, or petrochemicals.

I used the first wipe on my glass top range. The range was disgusting. Oil, pasta sauce, and food particles crusted to the top; I started wiping. The cleaning wipe did not fall apart and had some scrubbing power to get the pasta sauce off. The food particles also came off pretty well. I was able to get about 60% of the oil off. Maybe if I used a second wipe, I could have removed more of the oil. I moved onto the granite counter top, which was lightly soiled. The wipe worked well to get it squeaky clean.T he size of the wipes was just right. I like that the wipes were not too dry, but also were not dripping all over the place.

Overall, Green Mission Surface Cleaning Wipes in Minty Fresh took care of light to medium soiled surfaces. If you have not cleaned for a long time (aka, lots of food crusted to your surface) or if you have a really greasy mess on your hands, you would have to use multiple wipes or switch to another product. I would also love to see an improvement of biodegradable and/or compostable wipes. That would make the product truly green in my book!

How do Green Mission Surface Cleaning Wipes rate? (EWG's Cleaning Products Guide)

Disclosure: I received the sample from the company in order to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received. I am under no pressure to return the product to the company or to write this review. This product review is based on my personal experiences. This review is objective and completely honest.

Making Over Your Yard with Bulbs

This post brought to you by Bulbs. Dig, Drop, Done.. All opinions are 100% mine.

As the leaves have begun to fall from our mature trees and the grass has grown from the recent rains, our yard looks like chaos! Our yard could sure use a makeover! Curbside Chaos recently helped Ruth and her family spruce up their backyard. How? Watch the video at the following link: Curbside Chaos.


If I had $5000 for a yard makeup, I would use the funds for the following yard improvements:
1.       Plant more bulbs to bloom in March and April
2.       Plant more plans to bloom in late summer and fall
3.       Create a few more raised garden beds in the front and back yard
4.       Plant fruit trees like cherry and apricot
5.       Create a patio in the backyard with an umbrella and furniture
6.       Add a second rain barrel

The Curbside Chaos website has a Garden Guru widget that you can use to figure out which gorgeous flower bulbs to plant in your yard. For my area, I can plant Alliums, Hyacinths, Crocus, and Daffodils to bloom in April. Try the tool out for yourself:
1.       Pick your country
2.       Pick your location within the country by selecting the right zone color
3.       Choose the type of bulbs you want to grow (based on bloom month)
4.       Check out the Planting Guide that shows you how to plant the bulbs

After reading the Planting Guides on the Curbside Chaos website, I realized that bulbs are as easy as dig, drop, and done. Bulbs are for everyone, not just seasoned gardeners. Bulbs are extremely simple plants that come up year after year. I have even seen bulbs given as gifts and planted inside for indoor plants. Last Christmas, my husband and I gifted his grandmother with an Amaryllis bulb. It looked gorgeous in the bay window. Since bulbs are so easy to plant and grow, they would also be great projects for kids.

The Dig.Drop.Done website has some amazing tips on planting bulbs. Evelyn was my favorite lady. Like Evelyn, I battle with “pesky neighbors,” the four legged neighbors like deer, bunnies, squirrels, and chipmunks out of my plants. Daffodils and calla lilies are the way to go to keep deer out in the spring and squirrels out in the summer. Thank you Evelyn! visit www.digdropdone.com to learn more

Curbside Chaos partners with Rebuilding Together, which provides critical repairs and renovations for low-income homeowners across the United States, to do the yard makeovers. Every share on Twitter with the hashtag #CurbsideChaos, “Bulbs. Dig, Drop, Done.” donates $1.00 to Rebuilding Together to continue to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize communities. What a great way to ensure that everyone has a gorgeous yard that they can enjoy.

Gym or No Gym

Today's goal was to exercise. I finally convinced myself that I was going to in fact exercise today. No more excuses. I feel lethargic. The last time I exercised was on Saturday (eek!). Over the past two hours, I have been battling whether to go for a run or go to the gym an do the elliptical. Of course, the elliptical is easier than running, but I do not want to drive to the gym and back. Even though it is 10 minutes away, I feel wasteful. It is such a gorgeous fall day and right now is the perfect whether for running outside - not too hot, not too cold. I know that I will feel better after running outside in the fresh air. So, I guess I convinced myself. Running it is!