organic « Happy. Healthy. Homemade.

I knew this was gonna happen.

I have been putting off watching Food, Inc for quite some time now. I’ve heard how amazing it is, but the thing is, I had a feeling it’d get me all riled up. And likely, grossed out. And, dude, I dig a fast food burger on a fairly regular basis. (I know, how hypocritical of me. Shut up.) But seriously, mostly I knew that I was going to get so angry with the food industry and feel so helpless to change anything. I hate feeling helpless, it’s my least favorite feeling. Next to being wrong. (Wait, I don’t know what that one is like!)

Now, if you’ve been reading me for a while, you kind of know how I feel about how important it is to make sure we know what we’re eating. And most of us are somewhat aware, or we have an idea of what’s going on anyway. I knew what I thought to be quite a bit about the food industry but for some reason, I’ve long been able to ignore that knowledge. Convenience? Cost? I don’t know and I’m not going to make excuses for myself. Laziness, I’m sure, has a lot to do with it. Yeah yeah slaughterhouses are bad, but fast food is so easy. Looking at it now, it seems so callous. Yeah, they’re treating the animals badly but so what? Worth it for my kids $3 happy meals! Our healthy eating has been on a downward spiral, since my surgery. My energy level hasn’t been up and convenience foods have been my go-to.

I knew it was time for a change and I knew I needed a catalyst. I knew it was time to sit down and watch Food, Inc. I have netflix and it was available immediately to watch on the computer. So, I watched it.

And I cried.

Yes, I cried over food.

I gritted my teeth in rage. I said bad words at the screen. I cried some more. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much over a movie. (Ok, maybe Titanic the first time I saw it. Don’t judge me!)

Please, please watch Food, Inc. Please. I am going to make sure Tim watches it soon. We’ve got changes to make around here. Tell people you know to watch it. The message is so powerful and so very important.

They start off with the meat industry. I was crying by twelve minutes into the movie- not just at the harsh conditions the chickens were subjected to, but with guilt that I’ve been feeding that stuff TO MY FAMILY. To my small children! And then I cried at the helplessness of the growers being squashed down by the food industry. And then I got mad. Seething mad, that this is two thousand and fricking TEN and we have all the technology that we do and our standards for food have sunken lower than ever before- and the amount of food-borne disease has risen! That the most important thing in the world for humans- the fuel our bodies run on- has become so out of control! And that the government agencies put in place to protect the standards are failing to do so! ARRRGHHH! This re-occurred each segment.

We’re making some changes around here, starting now. We will only be eating organic, free-range meat from here on out. Seeing as to how we live in a small, very rural community with extremely limited access to organic selections, this is going to take some effort on our part. I intend to research organic meat growers and if I have to drive to buy it in bulk and stow it away in my freezer I will do just that. I will be buying only in-season produce, organic when I can (again, small selection- but getting bigger at our local Raley’s!). We already don’t eat much soy at all, and Food, Inc. reinforced my feelings there by about a thousand times. Actually, I’d like to go punch the big boys of the soy industry in the crotch right now… oooh food-induced rage is back! *deep, cleansing breath*

Where was I? Oh yes.. buying organic. I will be buying as much as I physically can, organic. Think of it this way: when you buy any item in a grocery store, you’re casting a vote for that item. Items that get lots of votes, stay. Items that don’t get many votes, go. If more people buy organic items, your organic selection is going to increase.

The Food, Inc. site gives ten tips on how each of us can do our part in changing the food industry, check those out right here. You bet your bum that I’m going to be doing all ten of those.

I know, this was long and I could go on for another thousand years about this, I’m pretty sure. Obviously, this cause is close to my heart. I think it is so important for every person to watch this movie. I will shut up now so you can go watch Food, Inc.

Book review: Organically Raised by Anni Daulter

Organically Raised- Conscious Cooking for Babies and Toddlers By Anni Daulter. 2010.

Organically Raised teaches parents how to prepare delicious and healthy foods for their babies and children, using fresh, natural ingredients and diverse flavors. The author is a parent and a professional cook and has tested the recipes in the book.

Check out their website here. There are even a few recipes here, so you can ‘try it before you buy it’- trust me, you’re gonna love them.

The first thing I did when I received the book is sit down and read through it. I love reading through cookbooks anyway, and this one was a special treat. The first thing that strikes you when thumbing through are the beautiful photographs. Currently, the book is sitting beside me open to a close-up picture of “Poppy’s Three-Cheese Fancy Panini” and I am not exaggerating when I say it is making me drool.

Tennie's Spanish Veggie Burger Bites With Flaxseed

The book starts out with information on conscious cooking, information about organic food and shopping tips. There’s information on feeding newborns, mindfulness in the kitchen, and nutritional information for children and babies. All of the information in this section of the book should be require reading for expecting or new mothers. It’s all great information and there’s emphasis put on breastfeeding- we all know I’m totally down with that!

The recipe section starts with organic recipes for babies ages 6-9 months, then she moves into talking about expanding your baby’s palate and special diets. It moves into blends, cereals, and yogurt recipes for babies 8-12 months. After that, it goes into recipes geared toward toddlers and preschoolers.

What I love the most about this book is the huge variety of foods and flavors in it. We all know that kids can be so super picky sometimes and the recipes in this book are a great way to introduce different flavors.

MacKenzie's Superstar Sweet Potato Pancakes With Sour Cream

We tried a bunch of recipes out of Organically Raised and everything was a hit. I used my phone to take pictures of everything I made, but like I said last week, my phone totally crashed and I lost all my pictures. Anni was kind enough to supply me with some of the photos from the cookbook to use in this post, and I think you see what I mean about how beautiful this book is- her pictures are much prettier than my smartphone ones! The veggie burger bites and sweet potato pancakes pictured were some of our very favorites of the recipes we tried- especially the sweet potato pancakes. They were even good cold, from the fridge the next day! The other things we tried were: austin’s italian sun-dried tomato wheel pasta with fresh basil capers, and parmesan cheese; river’s greek falafel bites with pita and cucumber-dill dipping sauce; duke’s delicious mozzarella bruschetta; and piper’s teriyaki chicken sushi rolls- and out of all of those things, there wasn’t a single dish my kids wouldn’t eat. (In fact… I could go for some of that bruschetta right now!)

This is just an all-around excellent cookbook. If you are looking to improve the eating habits of your own family, or you’re looking for a gift for a new mother, I would highly recommend this book. And here’s a hint for you: the best deal is on Amazon! Click here to see for yourself: Organically Raised: Conscious Cooking for Babies and Toddlers

Now… all this talking about food’s made me hungry. I’m off to make some paninis!

Organic Milk

OK, so you’re cruising through the dairy section at the store. There’s regular milk at $2 a carton or there’s organic milk at $4 a carton. Which one do you pick?

I always, always pick organic. I once read a blurb in a publication saying that if you can only afford to buy one item organic, make it be milk. That intrigued me, so I did a little more research on it on my own and found that:

cows that produce organic milk do not ingest any toxic fertilizers or pesticides
which is clearly better for the earth in general. Less chemicals = good!
cows that produce organic milk are not subjected to hormones or antibiotics
these things mean that the milk is free of trace chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics
cows that produce organic milk are allowed free grazing time
which means they get to wander around instead of stand in a stall. Obviously, grazing is a nicer way to treat a cow- think about it, which would YOU prefer to do?
cows that produce organic milk are not fed any animal by-products (remember the mad cow disease thing?) or anything genetically altered
organic milk is ultra-pasteurized, so it has a much longer shelf life (also, some of it doesn’t have to be refrigerated, if it’s had a UltraHigh Temp treatment which means it’s been heated to 275 degrees, which is a weird concept isn’t it? Who knew?)
the USDA and FDA claim that there really are not any major health differences between organic and regular milk BUT there are some studies that show that organic milk has a higher content of beneficial fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins- especially in the summer months, when conjugated linoleic acid is found to be 60% higher in organic milk

So, why does organic cost more? Simple: it costs more to maintain organic dairy cows. For me this is a no-brainer. I’ll pay double the price of regular milk any day for these benefits. If your main concern is the health benefits, organic milk may feel like an unnecessary cost for you since it hasn’t been proven that organic is ‘healthier’ than regular- but even the thought that maybe some trace chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics could pass into the milk and thus into my kids? I’m not down with that at all.

sources:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Organic-Milk–Is-It-Worth-Your-Money
http://organic.lovetoknow.com/Why_Organic_Milk_Is_Better_than_Regular_Milk
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=370

I knew this was gonna happen.

Book review: Organically Raised by Anni Daulter

Organic Milk

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