Milk vs. milk

Are all organic milks created equal? Apparently not. Check out this chart.

Of the two brands of organic milk available at my grocery store, one (Organic Valley) is rated excellent and the other (Horizon) 'ethically challenged'. I always buy Organic Valley milk because it is cheaper, but I buy other Horizon products such as yogurt.

If you click on the brands, you will be taken to a report explaining why they received their rating.

If you aren't already eating organic, dairy should be your first priority. If you follow sales, organic is only slightly more expensive than conventional. Plus, it's real milk, as opposed to a chemical cocktail forced out of sickly and mistreated animals. I won't touch the stuff, much less feed it to my children. Organic milk tastes better too! This is one area where buying organic matters, even if it means drastically reducing your milk consumption.

It's an easy and cheap ($1-2 difference) place to start your organic lifestyle.

Little Ways

Have you ever heard of St. Therese of the Child Jesus? She is a Roman Catholic saint who died tragically young and was known for advocating a "little way" to salvation. That is, instead of aiming for huge works of faith, she tried to make her life holy in the everyday and mundane details.

I hope St. Therese doesn't mind my stealing her idea. There are only few large ways to reduce your carbon footprint that are feasible for the average family. Most of us can't afford major purchases like solar panels and hybrid cars. We don't have the property necessary for self-sustenance. Many of us don't even have access to sufficient public transportation. We can and should make the big changes where we can (and advocate for our leaders to facilitate them), but we shouldn't ignore the thousands of little ways we can make a difference. So one of my new projects is to come up with three small ideas every day. I'll post them on my website and keep some sort of archive.

How would you feel if your kid borrowed your car and returned it dented and barely limping along on four flat tires? Well, we're borrowing this planet. It's a rental home. We need to get serious about changing.

America's Greenest Family

ABC/Yahoo has proclaimed this family 'America's Cheapest Family'.

They aren't actually America's cheapest of course. I know many people who make it on less, or have, or will--myself included. The fact that ABC thinks this is news serves as yet more proof that the media is completely out of touch with the realities of middle America.

What is truly remarkable about this family is their attitude. They are really proud of their economy, as they should be. In an age of insane consumer debt, they are happy to live within their modest means. Is that news? Unfortunately, yes.

Sometimes I am embarassed to admit what an unabashed eco-nut I am. Admitting that you do crazy things like hanging out laundry, buying used cars, and growing vegetables brands you at best as a crusty hippie, at worst an ignorant hillbilly. I'm neither. When you add in the fact that we homeschool and have eight children, the needle flips from hippie to Waco-style extremist. But in reality, I'm as moderate and average as the next mommy; I just care. I'm passionate about leaving this planet a cleaner place than I found it. I think it's cool that my household can lead a comfortable, mainstream life while consuming far less than the average American family half our size.

We aren't America's cheapest family, but we just might be America's greenest. And we should be proud of that.

Mmm... meat

My computer is possessed. I swear. It's spewing pop-up windows faster than Lindsay Lohan can down tequila shots and I'm waiting for the head to start spinning before I call Father Patrick.

On a positive note, I found a cheap and local source of meat, albeit a temporary one. A local store bought several animals from local 4-H-ers and sold them set apart from the other meat. The store even put a picture of the cute little farmer and the victim above the bin of their meat. If you've ever participated in 4-H or known someone who did, you know how well cared for these livestock are. They're giant mooing housepets. And they are raised without most of the Machiavellian tactics that commercial cattle ranches resort to. The meat flew off the shelves, but not before I filled my freezer.

It's interesting that we green types feel better about eating an animal that was petted every day before its throat was cut (its skin peeled off, its body dismembered and packaged in styrofoam trays, I'll stop here). Isn't it meaningless in the long run? Still, I'd rather cause an unfortunate event than a lifetime of torture. I know PETA wouldn't approve, but that small detail is just enough to keep me a carnivore.

Moroccan Food=Yummy

Once again I have been betrayed by the Yakima Farmer’s Market. Saturn peaches, aka donut peaches, aka squashy peaches, are no more. Gone, along with my waistline. So I have been forced to find another reason to wander aimlessly on Third Street every Sunday morning. The reason? Moroccan food. This week I hit the pavement with a long list of supplies, all of which were easily found here in small town America.

It’s ironic that my commitment to eating locally has led me to a love affair with food from another continent. When my peaches were replaced with late summer veggies, I began searching for ways to incorporate the abundance of zucchini, giant heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet and spicy peppers, and pungent leafy herbs into my family’s diet. North African and eastern Mediterranean cuisines use all of the above ingredients as well as lamb, couscous, bulgur wheat, and plain yogurt, all of which can be found locally and inexpensively. The dishes are super yummy and just spicy enough to tickle your palate without blistering it. In other words, it’s a neo-hippy housewife's dream. Last night we had a cinnamon and rosemary roast with tabbouleh, and tonight I will make stuffed zucchini with a vegetable salad called Fattoush.

And so I inadvertently discovered another benefit of the 100 Mile Diet, if saving a sickly planet isn’t motivation enough: it nudges us out of our suburban spaghetti/tacos/barbecue routine and provides a framework for experimenting with new ideas and flavors.

Yes, recipes will follow later this week.

Pizza Template Recipe

It's the middle of the week, you forgot to defrost something for dinner, and all you have to work with is a crisper drawer full of not-so-crisp veggies and the usual refrigerator fillers. What are you going to eat? Pizza.

No, not Domino's--homemade. As long as you have flour and yeast, you have the makings of a meal your family will love. Depending on what you put on your pizza, it can be vegan or omnivore-friendly, simple or gourmet, budget-savvy or extravagant. It's a fairly simple equation. Crust + sauce + toppings = yummy dinner.

First you need the crust. I use this recipe from Family Fun, but any will do. If you were really desperate, you could use french bread, english muffins, pitas, tortillas, even plain white bread toast.

Next you need the sauce. I have had good luck finding crazy-cheap organic pizza sauce at the Grocery Outlet, but I've resorted to spaghetti sauce without any complaints. If you're feeling creative, try alfredo sauce, pesto, salsa, bbq sauce... it's all good. I've even used olive oil and fresh herbs.

Last, add your toppings. Get creative with meats and veggies, then top with cheese. Bake at 450 for 10 to 15 minutes, which is just long enough to make a side salad and throw a few plates on the table.

Night before last, I made a shallot, zucchini and fresh spinach pizza topped with feta and gorgonzola cheeses, plus a classic pepperoni pizza for the kids. Not bad for a thrown-together, scraping-the-bottom-of-the-veggie-drawer, weeknight supper.

The road to hell is paved with lip balm.

Seriously.

I intend to buy absolutely nothing, but life has other ideas. I invariably make it almost one week before realizing that I have run out of some little necessity. This week it was Carmex. Some might argue that cosmetics are not a necessity, but my flaky, cracked lips beg to differ.

The preferred lip remedy of the outdoorsy set, Carmex is easy to find here in the Pacific Northwest, even if you refuse to patronize the Walmart/Target/ShopKo sort of establishment. It took me a grand total of one stop at a locally owned grocery store less than five blocks from my home. Not exactly the quest for the holy grail. I was in line with a handful of the yellow plastic tubes before I thought to check where Carmex is made. Hint: it’s not Yakima. Duh. Well, I can live that if there is no local alternative, but it’s not organic either, and I have no idea how it is manufactured. For all I knew, the stuff is made by Exxon-Mobil and tested on genetically modified baby bunnies that are then dumped into Lake Tahoe. So I put it back.

(For the record, later research revealed that Carmex is small family-owned business that tests its products on said family, but you cannot be too careful! Read before you buy!)

Luckily I was in Rosauer’s, which is my absolute favoritest grocery store because it is local and has a HUGE organic section. That’s where I discovered Burt’s Bees. Of course we’ve all seen the brand before, but it hadn’t made a blip on my radar until then. I grabbed one of their tinted lip shimmers--oooh, pretty!--and balked at the price before buying it anyway. With all the tingly moisture of Carmex plus just enough color to ensure my husband and stepsons don’t steal it, this stuff is worth every one of those four hundred pennies. Burt and his apian friends also make baby supplies and just about everything my family keeps in our bathroom cupboard. The products are not made in Yakima, but they are organic, and I don’t care how the bees are treated because I am allergic to the little buggers. In fact, I get a sick pleasure out of using the fruits of their labor to my own benefit.

Of course Woman cannot live on lip shimmers alone. I wear mineral face powder and mascara on a daily basis, plus eyeliner and various lip/cheek/eyelid/whatever coloring products when I leave the house. Because I’ve never met a Sephora I didn’t like, I will probably make it to the end of my six month buy-nothing pledge (and then some) before depleting my considerable supplies, but when they do run out I will replace them with the earth- and critter-friendly products I discovered at the links below.

Juice Beauty
Care by Stella McCartney
L’Occitane Woohoo! Already one of my faves!

On a side note, an unexpected benefit of buying little is that we produce so much less waste. My household of seven is down to one small garbage can or less every week--not the big green dumpster, but the normal cans that everyone used to use. That’s with a baby in disposables! We’re still paying for two cans, but I at least have the satisfaction of seeing a tangible difference every week. Easier on the landfill and easier to drag to and from the main road!

Recipe: Honeydew Soup

Ingredients:

1 honeydew melon
1/2 lime
1 tsp honey

Cut honeydew into chunks. Blend in a blender or food processor with honey and lime juice. Serve chilled as a first course or a dessert.

I used the leftover for popsicles. It would also make great sorbet!

4 months in: not exactly buying nothing, but...

With my six month experiment two-thirds over, I figure it’s a good time to evaluate my success.

My original goal was to buy nothing. Absolutely nothing. No exceptions.

Then I realized that my family needed more food than I could grow, so I compromised by buying locally as much as possible and allowing eco-responsible organic brands when local was not available. We are now a healthier family and I have learned to walk right past a display of boxed macaroni and cheese. Even if they’re four for a dollar. Not exactly buying nothing, but an improvement.

Then I realized that I was about to have a baby (well, okay, I already knew that) and that she would require all of the pastel accoutrements we buy for our little bundles of need. I found almost everything used and tried with varying success to nudge gift-givers toward more practical items. Not exactly buying nothing, but I prevented a lot of waste and saved a ton of money.

I originally planned to drive one day a week only and either walk or take the bus on the other days. This was a stupid plan. Have you ever lugged a baby carrier, stroller, and two preschoolers onto a bus? With stitches down under? Cripes. They don’t make stiff enough drinks for that. I have, however, cut my driving by about half—just in time, with gas prices so absurdly high—and started walking when possible. As for public transportation… someday. But not today, or tomorrow, or any day this week.

It sounds like my buy-nothing plan was a failure, yet it feels like an extraordinary success. What began as a protest against the bloated American economic system has became a paradigm shift for my family. The farmer’s market used to be an outing for a lazy Sunday; now it’s our primary source of sustenance. We have favorite vendors and a baker who remembers what cookies we like best. Our garden is perhaps not thriving, but it’s at least producing. We’ve stopped feeling that we need to run to Target every time a new and improved piece of plastic dances across the TV screen. Our carbon footprint is at least a shoe size or two smaller, and we’ve began to let our roots spread in our new hometown. Our impact on the earth is far from zero, but it’s getting smaller every week.

A failure, but one I can be proud of.

Recipe: Cucumber Shallot Salad

Shallots taste like a cross between garlic and mild onion. They add a small but pungent kick to traditional cucumber salad.

Mix:

1/4 cup vinegar (I use balsamic, but any kind will do)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 finely chopped shallot
dash cayenne (optional)

Let sit at room temperature for at least an hour. Then, add 2/3 cup water and 2 tsp sugar.

Thinly slice 2 large cucumbers or 3 medium ones. Put in a bowl and pour the vinegar mixture over. Refrigerate for several hours, the longer the better, stirring occasionally.

Makes 6 generous servings.

Note: to take it down a notch, strain the vinegar mixture before adding to cucumbers. This will remove the shallot and most of the cayenne, leaving only a hint of these flavors.

All Hopped Up in Moxee

These children are running through... ?
a. insanely tall hedges
b. an English maze
c. a hop field

As those of you who read the title already know, the answer is C. The munchkins are my preschoolers.

Here are a few interesting facts about American hops:

• They grow freakin' huge.
• They are the flavor in beer.
• They are related to one of America's other favorite plants, marijuana, and contain the same active ingredient.
• 75 to 90% of them are grown in my area, depending on who you talk to.
• They are the star of almost every late summer/early fall festival in the Yakima Valley.
• Because of their prevalence in Central Washington, I can drink all I want without compromising my commitment to buy locally. I'm not an alcoholic; I'm merely supporting local industry. :-)

This weekend we trekked east to Moxee to check out their annual Hop Festival, but we were sidetracked by the hop fields themselves. They are an impressive sight--thousands of acres of fifteen foot tall plants on either side of the road. By the time we finished gawking, it was time to go home for nap. So if you are dying to hear about the drunken festivities or want to know how a mood-altering substance can bring a community together, check out the official website here.

Recipe: Chai Spiced Zucchini Bread

Are you sick of zucchini already?

Farmer's markets and gardens are fairly bursting with the little green squash, but my family is already tired of zucchini latkes, zucchini quesadillas, and fried zucchini in any form. But they weren't complaining when I served this for breakfast! It's also a fun and easy way to sneak another serving of veggies into a starch-loving preschooler's diet.

Chai Spiced Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1 cup oil
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini, squeezed to remove most fluid
1 cup nuts
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour two loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla
3. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to egg mixture. Mix well.
4. Fold in zucchini and nuts.
5. Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in center of loaves comes out clean.

Recipe: Grilled Saturn Peaches

After weeks of waiting and praying, at last they arrive! Squashy peaches!

They’re actually called Saturn peaches or donut peaches, but my little ones call them squashy peaches because of their flattened shape. Whatever the name, we tried them last year out of curiosity and ended up consuming about fifty pounds of them in the two weeks that was left of harvest season. They are frost-hardy, which explains why they grow here in Yakima but does NOT explain why we had never heard of nor tasted them in California. Just another reason not to live there, I guess.

Let me describe this fruit, as if I could do it justice with mere words. Normal peaches are tasty, but always either a little too acidic or a lot too mushy. They are awkward to eat because of their size; you can’t get your mouth around them and therefore must choose between a face full of peach juice and smeared lip gloss (not happening) or a half-hour of nibbling at them while carefully holding them away from your clothing (my preferred method). The squashy peach is sweet and firm at the same time—alleluia—and, being squashy, fits comfortably into your mouth. Even better, the taste is like distilled peach flavor. It’s peach schnapps without the schnapps. It’s the peach to which you have been unknowingly comparing other peaches, the archetype. Clearly our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to consume as many as possible before they are no longer available.

So my daughter and I cleaned out three separate farmer stalls last Sunday (slight exaggeration), and once I tired of eating them plain, I wiggled into my PMS jeans and went back to buy another twenty pounds for cooking. But what to do with them? I could not bring myself to throw such a noble fruit in the tarts, pies, and cobblers that we use to disguise the inferiority of other peaches. Squashy peaches deserve a preparation method that showcases their virtues. Like a good cut of beef, only the grill can do them justice.

Grilled Saturn Peaches

Ingredients:
Oil
6 Saturn peaches
½ cup honey
Optional: cinnamon or fresh ginger

1. Heat grill to medium and brush with oil.
2. Prepare peaches by cutting them in half top to bottom and removing the stone, then cutting across from side to side. You should end up with four flat peach slices.
3. Grill cut side down for one minute, then turn and repeat.
4. Remove from grill and drizzle with honey. If desired, grate cinnamon over the top or sprinkle with very finely grated fresh ginger.

Serves 3 people, or me.

Mmmm. Dolcessima!

Is that a word?

If you have something against grilling (you freak of nature), you can sauté them in butter instead of grilling. Just think of a stir-fry, but with butter and peaches where the oil and veggies should be. Don’t forget the honey treatment afterward.

Trip to Californ-I-A

Last weekend my family caravanned south to our former hometown in California, which brought up the whole tangled issue of ecological travel. Isn’t that an oxymoron? It’s a definite sore spot with me that our highest profile “ecologists” spend so much time on private planes, which despite their small numbers produce more pollution than all of the private vehicles in America combined. I guess Al Gore would have a hard time selling books from his 20,000 square foot mansion, but the waste seems so hypocritical that I have a hard time taking him seriously. Now I’m feeling his pain; it’s hard to maintain the 100-mile diet when we’re a thousand miles away, but sometimes life beckons. I want to see the world without destroying it, so here was my plan for a green getaway:

Conserve Fuel: This was probably the biggest consideration for my super-sized family. We all know to take the smallest vehicle, but what exactly is a reasonable size for seven people? You can’t assume the compact car wins, especially when carting large groups. In our case, the two most efficient cars available get 18 mpg and the trusty minivan gets 28, so the larger vehicle is the most ecological choice (18x2=36 and 36>28). We are one of the few families that could justify driving one of those giganto SUV’s, but I think being a little squished is worth preserving the polar ice caps and infinitely more comfortable than breathing smog. Americans opt for comfort over fuel efficiency, but do we really need room for a quick game of arena football in the back seat? We have been known to rent a more fuel efficient vehicle; depending on how far we are traveling, this sometimes saves money as well as emissions.

Eat Normal Food: Another discovery: it’s hard to eat local when I don’t have cooking facilities or any idea what is local and where to purchase it. My remaining choices were: A. bring as much as possible from home and try to favor smaller establishments over corporate fast food, or B. give up and spend several days feeling my butt spread as I sit in the drove-through line. Option A is obviously more environmentally sound, not to mention cheaper and healthier. However, in the interest of family peace I aimed for one meal out per day, with the rest improvised. My kids got their Happy Meal fix and I (almost) kept my waistline.

Treat Hotels like a Home Away from Home--Literally: It seems logical until you put my otherwise sensible family in the alien surroundings of a hotel room and watch them go crazy. Air conditioners (or heaters, depending on the season) running 24/7, lights left on, showers that drain the hotel’s million-gallon tank. We’re paying for it, so why not enjoy it, right? But I don’t leave the earth behind when I leave my home—not this decade at least—so I have started pretending that I’ll be the one paying the electric bill and jacking that thermostat up to 80 where it belongs. I really wish we could have pitched a tent and avoided the temptation altogether, but we needed a roof, a shower, and preferably breakfast. Here are a few lists of green hotels to check out before you make reservations:

http://www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com/
http://www.greenhotels.com/members.htm

Entertainment/Souvenirs/Miscellaneous: Obviously the funeral and all of the related festivities were enough to occupy us, but if I had a spare moment I would have checked out local National Parks. I could also have searched my destination’s local newspaper for upcoming concerts and entertainment. Even the smallest community rarely sees a summer weekend with nothing to do. As for souvenirs, better than freecycling is not buying crap I don’t need in the first place. A picture makes a better memory and won’t end up languishing on the shelf at Goodwill. If we had absoposilutely required a tangible item, I would have gone for something edible. By the grace of God we managed to escape with only a few Happy Meal toys.

The best choice, had this been a pleasure-only trip, would have been to stay closer to home. Not only would we have saved gas, but we would have seen more of our new home state. But sometimes you want to, or have to, venture beyond your own backyard. The good news is that environmentally-conscious traveling is usually budget-conscious as well, which will leave you funds for buying my book when and if I manage to get it published.

Recipe: Caprese Sandwiches

I'm going to start posting recipes separately so they are easier find in the index.

The question of the week is: what on earth are we going to do with all of these tomatoes? If you are anything like me, all you see is tomatoes: in the garden, the grocery store, the farmer's market. They're full of whatever chemicals are reported to fight cancer this week and low calorie, but how many can you throw on a salad before it becomes a tomato-y mess? And the harvest is only in its earliest stages.

If you've had Caprese Salad, you know one way to eat up those 'maters. Just layer them all pretty on a platter with some basil and mozzarella, sprinkle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Very easy, and very trendy in a continental euro-snob way. But it isn't enough for a meal unless you have a house of light eaters, and I don't. I do, however, have a house of sandwich lovers, sooo...

Caprese Sandwiches

Ingredients:
Ciabatta bread
Olive oil (try some flavored oil--I especially love this with a touch of garlic)
Sliced tomato
Fresh basil
Mozzarella (preferably fresh but the rubber kind works too)

Split the ciabatta bread lengthwise, like you are making a sandwich (go figure). brush inside and out lightly with oil. on the bottom piece, layer tomato, basil, and mozzarella. Make it as big as you want, but remember that you need to fit your mouth around the thing. Now grill it! There are no set amounts, no real instructions, because it is really that simple

When you're tired of sandwiches (won't happen here), you can scroll down this blog and find recipes for gazpacho and pasta all'amatriciana, which are also tomato-ful and blessedly oven-free.

More local entertainment, plus a plea for beer

Maybe it’s the warm weather and long days, maybe the suburban homes teeming with unoccupied schoolchildren and desperate housewives. Whatever the cause, summer can be an endless expanse of boredom or an opportunity to spend some quality family time sharing whatever entertainment your area has to offer. Unless your last name is Trump, this entertainment needs to be convenient and nearly free. I’m not married to a tycoon, so my three youngest children and I spent last Saturday wandering about Yakima’s Folk Life Festival. There was no main attraction, but plenty of stuff to look at: medieval fighting, face painting, an out-of-order kiddie train, and a village-y area with booth after rickety booth of hippie treasures for sale. Oh, and music of course, ranging from the good to the, uh, interesting. A little of everything, except alcohol.

No alcohol? What’s the big deal? Well, it isn’t a huge deal (as in, no one died) but…

Alcohol=more money for whatever charity this is benefiting (this WAS a fundraiser, right?)
Alcohol=generally more fun and festivity, and therefore
Alcohol=more attendees

(Many people don’t know that Sage Mommy worked in her past (pre-marriage) life in the development department of a nonprofit social service agency. I was basically an in-house copy writer and graphic artist, but I was regularly drafted for service on the battlefield known as EVENTS. When I started having babies, I reduced both paid and volunteer efforts to a part-time, contract status, which unfortunately came to a halt when I moved last summer. Point? I know how to run these things. Alcohol is essential. And fun. I loved dressing up for our invitation-only, black tie balls, but my favorite moments of this job were spent in medieval garb behind the counter of a Renaissance Faire beer booth.)

I know (from painful experience) that dealing with general public is always a pain in the ass, and (from downright traumatic experience) that dealing with a less-than-sober general public is even more so. I know that many charities and businesses don’t want to risk appearing to condone excessive drinking. However, moderate consumption of alcohol is part of a healthy lifestyle, and if you are against drinking on principle you should consider relocating away from the beer and wine capital of the Pacific Northwest. The risks can be mitigated, and the financial gain more than offsets the obvious logistic issues.

Most important, I was really craving a beer and there were none in sight. I would have paid five times the going price for a plastic cup of the nastiest beer, more if it were something new and interesting from a local microbrewery. Because

Afternoon in sun with three small children + an unending lineup of amateur folk singers + no mood-altering refreshment = one sad mommy

So whoever runs this thing, call me. We’ll talk. I’ll help if necessary, just to make sure that no other housewife has to suffer as I did.

Bacon + Pasta = Yummy

There is apparently a farmer’s market “type”, because I seem to see everyone I know at ours. This Sunday, it was two families from my homeschool co-op, my husband’s coworker, even my doctor. We clearly weren’t there for the entertainment, a faded Elvis impersonator with several more decades under his sequined belt than the original could have hoped to reach. A poorly managed sound system entirely eliminated any background music and left faux Elvis sounding more like an impersonation of an impersonator. Still, fun in a kitschy, kindergarten-recital kind of way.

Farmer’s markets have moved from dirt roads to downtowns and became social events in the process, complete with the finest local entertainment your area has to offer. In Yakima’s case, this can make for an interesting morning, but the apricots and sweet, mild onions were worth it. With the bags of veggies we bought and the first tomatoes from my garden, I was able to make a modified, Central Washington version of the Italian classic, Pasta All’Amatriciana. It is basically bacon pasta... Elvis would have been proud.

Yak’Amatriciana

Ingredients:
8 oz bacon
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
Pinch red pepper flakes
5 large tomatoes, seeded, peeled, and chopped
¼ cup dry red wine
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan, asiago, or romano cheese as desired
1 lb. pasta—a chunky shapes works best

1. Boil pasta until al dente, drain and set aside.
2. Cut bacon into small-ish pieces and fry until crisp. Set aside.
3. Saute the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes in olive oil over medium heat until garlic is just turning golden.
4. Add bacon, tomatoes, and red wine, and cook until starting to thicken, about 10 minutes.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Taste before adding, because bacon is salty.
6. Toss with pasta and sprinkle with cheese.

This is cheap, easy, and good, but because no one has heard of it, there is a definite foodie-snob appeal. If someone asks where you found the recipe, tell them Rome.

Souper Summer Dinners

Soup? In the summer? You bet! Soups don't have to be heavy and hot. If you've had enough salads to last you the next few months, here are a couple of recipes for yummy and simple summertime soups to create from your garden and farmer's market bounty. Both are vegan (if you use veggie broth and skip the worcestershire) and ultra-healthy.


Creamy Ginger-Carrot Soup

1. 2 14-oz cans of broth
2. 1 can water
3. 1 lb carrots
4. 1/2 chopped fresh ginger

Cut carrots to 2-3 inch sections. Bring broth and water to a boil in a saucepan and add carrots. Cover and lower heat to a simmer. Cook covered until carrots are tender, adding water as needed to cover carrots. When carrots are cooked, empty pan--liquid, carrots, and all--into a blender and blend until smooth. Return to pan and serve at room temperature.

Here's what mine looked like. I served it with a substantial bread (like ciabatta or focaccia) and a cheese plate. It comfortably serves 4-5 adults. This recipe would work with any starchy vegetable.

Gazpacho is healthy, cheap, and requires no cooking whatsoever, so why aren't we eating it every day? I had trouble finding a viable recipe and therefore ended up coming up with my own variation. My preschoolers loved it and called it ketchup-o.

Gazpacho

1. 4 large tomatoes, chopped, peeled, and seeded
2. 1/2 onion, so finely chopped it's almost pulverized
3. 1 cucumber, chopped and peeled
4. 1 red or orange bell pepper, chopped and seeded
5. 2 stalks celery, chopped
6. 1 shallot, finely chopped
7. 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
8. 1 Tbsp chives
9. 1 Tbsp parsley
10. 2 tsp sugar
11. 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
12. 1/8 cup olive oil
13. 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
14. 4 cups vegetable juice (like V8)
15. Salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Combine all in large bowl. Blend half in blender on pulse setting until just blended--don't completely paste-ify it. Add back to bowl and mix well. Blend more if the consistency isn't right; otherwise, chill and serve. This tastes better as it ages!

I sprinkled a little cotija cheese on top and served with french bread. This was a huge hit with my husband and kids, who are usually unrepentant carnivores. It's easily enough for 6 enthusiastic eaters, even 7 or 8.


Check back in a few days for more on my family's ever greener lifestyle and more veggie-full recipes!

Emmie's Back!

I hope my kind readers will forgive my long absence--2 months? can it be? Between pregnancy fatigue and an endless parade of houseguests, sitting down to the computer moved down the priority list to somewhere between having the cat shaved and vacuuming between the couch cushions. My commitment to a greener lifestyle has luckily remained stronger than my motivation to chronicle it. Here are a few observations I've made during my yet short foray into the organic life:

1. Organic, local, and/or healthy food does not necessarily cost more. Why not? I am no expert in agriculture, but I'd guess that transporting those peaches from Chile ain't cheap, at least not as cheap as transporting cherries from the next town over. Plus, I know that the cherries meet US health codes, which we cannot guarantee when dealing with other countries. I'll take my fruit without that side of melamine, thanks.

2. Kids *will* eat that stuff. I know because I have a few. Mine seem to be slowly losing their taste for additives and food-like chemicals, although they still have occasional Cheeto cravings. The munchkins will try anything with enough encouragement, so we have tried about a million different kinds of granola and trail mix with varying results. Being actively involved in the growing and/or purchasing of snacks is a big advantage, so bring them along when you go to the farmer's market and health food store.

3. Once you are used to eating real food, everything else tastes like, well, crap. I spent two days in the hospital following my daughter's birth and found most of the food an unrecognizable chemical and starch cocktail. Granted, institutional food is not meant to be a gourmet experience, but I think they were trying for edible. No such luck. Several guests brought me fast food, which I had trouble convincing myself to eat as well. I was happy to come home just to have a real meal.

So far the most difficult products to find locally and affordably are meat and dairy, but I'm working on it. Darigold is technically local despite being a large regional brand, so I favor them at the grocery store when organic is just too expensive. Meanwhile, I've been incorporating more vegan and vegetarian meals into our diets to keep as local as possible. My latest project is summer soups--recipes will follow early this coming week. Until then, take care of yourselves and enjoy the bounty of summer!

Houseguests

Egad-it's been almost a month since I last posted. Beyond the usual minor emergencies and medical dramas, I've been bogged down in a swamp of house guests. Obviously I love my family and friends, but each additional person in a home brings their own unique package of inconvenience and needs. Multiply that by two or three and add it to an already packed household... you get the idea.

Indeed, I have fallen off the wagon in nearly all of my resolutions. Before the guests arrived, the little devil on my shoulder informed me that I couldn't possibly ask visitors to sleep on the well-worn linens and slightly flattened pillows that furnished my guest room. The first round of visitors were foodies, so it wouldn't be hospitable to serve them the boring round of tacos and pastas that we usually eat. The little angel that is supposed to sit on my other shoulder had a bad case of laryngitis, so I spent a frenzied day in a linen store that reeked of plastic and a series of exotic markets that smelled like seafood and foreign spices. Not exactly local and definitely not "buy-nothing," but, in my defense, it wasn't April yet.

It's amazing how the best intentions can be thwarted by public opinion and expectation. Culturally, I have been conditioned to believe that hospitality means providing the best possible experience for guests, which translates into yet more of the material excess I am trying to escape. I have also been programmed with a deep-seated need to please. If I asked relatives to sleep on faded sheets and fed them lentils, they would think I don't care about them. And is this the only situation in which over-consumption is socially demanded? Of course not.

So sayeth a woman with a closet full of designer purses and impractical shoes. I am beginning to realize that my six months of forced simplicity can be not just an economical statement, but a social one. If enough people turn off HGTV and buy a goat for a third world family instead of Ralph Lauren pillow cases, how would our world be changed? How would our shopping habits be affected if over-spending was as vilified as cheapness?

With a busy Easter season over and my home as peaceful as a house with children can be, I'm ready to reclaim my lifestyle. Here are a few of the websites that inspire me right now.

Find cheap, organic, and locally produced food in your area, wherever that may be.
Say no to the global glut and support your village at the same time.
Read how I keep my busy world revolving.