You can bet your bottom dollar...

Or can you? I was driving home tonight, and I heard an advertisement for a new food chain in my area. Bottom Dollar Food.

A rose by any other name would smell... better than that! I KNOW that times are rough, and I know families are struggling to feed their little ones more than ever, but with stores called Bottom Dollar Food coming out of the woodwork pretending to be saintly, consumers are bound to be fooled.

I wish I could hear advertisements on the radio explaining that WIC and senior citizen food programs can be applied toward fresh farmers market food-- and believe it or not, farm fresh food is not always the most expensive (Yes, free range meat is pricey, but string beans? pumpkins? These things go for a steal straight from the farm.)

So that's my little rant for the day. And sorry for ranting, actually-- that is not normally my style!

--

In other news, Gabe is now a full fledged toddler, and he enjoys getting into everything, and ignoring the word, "No." Hi, temper tantrums! I feel like the world of parenting is now just beginning for my husband and me. It's a wonderful challenge.

Oh, and Gabe also now sings "Lalala" if I ask him where his tongue is. It's adorable.

Green your peanut butter.

I'm not a member of PETA, and you all know I like my free range meatballs and burgers, but I thought this was pretty cool...
PETA Butter. As in, peanut butter, from PETA.

Here's the deets straight from the source:
"To commemorate PETA's 30^th anniversary, Peanut Butter & Co. has created this special-edition "PETA Butter." It's vegan, gluten-free, and 100 percent natural with no trans fats, no cholesterol, no hydrogenated oil, and no high-fructose corn syrup. Made from pure, simple ingredients: peanuts and salt."

I LOVE peanut butter. I could probably eat a house of it, especially if paired with chocolate or strawberry jam. In fact, when it comes to pb&j, my husband and I should have bought stock in it years ago because it was our lunch staple for years.

PETA's argument for peanut butter is that it's protein and not meat. Mine is that it is delish. I have been doing some reading on it, though, and I am finding scary things in the traditional super market pb. As in, high fructose corn syrup (which I don't care what those commercials say-- it's not good for you). So when I saw this PETA butter and the fact that it's made with all-natural ingredients, my interest was piqued.

I'm thinking I might try it. Why not?

No Impact Week Day 4: Food

**If this is the first post you are reading on No Impact Week,
you might want to read this one to orient yourself.**

Sierra Club No Impact Week's Day 4 is food-focused.

And if you regularly read A Mom Writing, you know I have been working on greening our food habits for awhile.
Are we great at it? Not yet.
Are we better than we used to be? Holy wow, yes.

The key to local eating ** local= food grown within 250 miles of your locale** is in knowing where you live. I grew up in the town we live in currently, but I didn't know the farms in the surrounding area. I didn't know the farmers market dates. I didn't know a lot of things, but when I looked, I found it.

And FINDING it has made it possible for us to have the following local products on a regular basis:

1. Fruit: peaches, apples, berries, plums, tomatoes, etc.
2. Veggies: string beans, swiss chard, peppers, eggplant, cucumber, corn, etc.
3. Meat (as in of the grass-fed, free range kind): beef, lamb, chicken
4. Dairy: butter, cheese (limited choices on the cheese)
5. Bread: fresh-baked "green" bakery bread, rolls, etc.
6. Wine: a full range (but cranberry wine from Valenzano winery is my favorite)
7. Other (as in of the cage free, organic kind): eggs, herbs, flowers

I think it is important for me to mention now that you will find animal protein in our diet. We are not vegetarian or vegan, and while I think those eating habits are fabulous, our family is comfortable eating meat. We are not comfortable eating protein sourced from feedlots. We are not comfortable eating primarily corn-fed beef. Our feelings are that if the meat comes from a farm where animals are treated correctly and respectfully, without use of hormones or heavy use of antibiotics, we are happy eating it. Pastured protein is delicious and nutritious in moderation. We are always trying to develop alternative meal ideas for dinner featuring protein from beans or quinoa, etc., though.

WHERE did I find the information to get all of that food locally?

http://www.localharvest.org

An online directory of farms, CSAs, farmers markets, and events. Search by your zip code and see what is near you. I would have never known an alpaca farm is within 20 miles of my home if I hadn't searched. And if you look on here before your go on vacation, you can still eat farm fresh food on vacation (Yes, we did this. The picture below is from Ludlow, Vermont's Farmers Market)

0 0 0

Let's get real here. I'm not a green saint-- we do sometimes get take out (it's usually pizza from our favorite place), and we do eat some processed food. The point of this week was to avoid it as much as possible so obviously we have not and do not plan on eating anything other than home-cooked meals. But we still bought some packaged, processed food. Here is a list of the non-local things we bought:

cereal
organic milk
whole wheat pretzels
a giant bag of organic pears
a giant bag of organic sweet potatoes
sandwich-style wheat bread
luna bars
clif bars
organic yogurtturkey bacon
mozzarella cheese
chocolate chips
organic pasta
organic fair trade coffee
organic half & half

**We gave up bananas and avocados for the week. We were inspired to switch from plain old coffee to fair trade organic for now. We are not ready to eliminate coffee from our diet, and if you saw No Impact Man, it seems that was the hardest thing for Colin Beavan's wife Michelle to give up, too. We don't drink coffee on a regular basis, and we will savor our moments with it.**

The No Impact Manual highly suggests swapping the processed for the local, and I am sitting here staring at this list trying to figure out what I would do differently. From the ingredients we purchased this weekend, here are some samples of the meals we are and will eat this week (Gabe has bits and pieces of these meals, but he also eats many of the foods I have already made, frozen, and written about here). I have bolded eight ingredients for us to research finding and purchasing locally.

Breakfasts
Yogurt and Pear
Luna Bar
Cereal with Milk
Eggs with Cinnamon Toast
Local: eggs, butter
Not: ha, everything else.

Lunch One
Baked Potato with Tomatoes, Butter, Salt
Local: tomatoes, butter
Not: potato, salt

Lunch Two
Sweet Potato and Pretzels with Peanut Butter
Local: Nothing

Dinner One
Free Range Pork Chops with Cinnamon Apples and String Beans
Local: pork, apples, string beans
Not: olive oil, cinnamon

Dinner Two
Pepper Cheese Omelets or Swiss Chard Omelets (with or without Turkey Bacon), Plums, and Bakery Bread
Local: eggs, pepper, swiss chard, plums, bakery bread
Not: cheese, turkey bacon, salt, pepper

Dinner Three
Pastured Roasted Chicken with String Beans and Potatoes
Local: chicken, string beans, butter, rosemary
Not: potatoes, salt, pepper, paprika, lemon, olive oil

Dinner Four
Chili Con Carne
Local: ground beef, tomatoes, corn, carrots, green pepper, red pepper
Not: pinto beans, red kidney beans, salt, pepper, chili powder, hot sauce, cumin, olive oil

Dessert
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Local: butter, eggsNot: flour, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, baking powder

Are you seeing a trend? I'm seeing a lot of spices and baking ingredients as main offenders. Other issues? Those foods which are not in season or native to our area, such as lemons, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pears.



A Tip on Eating Local All Year Long
Make and freeze local ingredients while they are in season. I made my first batch ever of tomato sauce this week to freeze, and I will be doing one big batch this weekend as tomato season comes to a close. Other great foods to freeze are green beans, peas, and corn.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when we pull the plug .
The power is going out (on everything possible).

To Market, To Market.

Today, we went to the Farmers' Market. There is a new(er) one closer to us than the one we attended this morning, but I discovered there is a free range, grass fed dairy/meat farm at this market. And they take preorders online!






So, we got to the market as early as we could manage, got some iced coffee (WHEW! I got a huge pick-me-up from that caffeine. I'm still getting used to drinking coffee occasionally again after going cold turkey from pregnancy). We perused, we bought lots of produce, and we stopped by and grabbed our bag o' preorder. It was a seriously awesome family morning.

Here's the bounty, Jersey/PA (we're less than 20 miles from Philly) Fresh!

A. Small Peaches
B. Tomatoes
C. Red Potatoes
D. Italian Eggplants
E. Blackberries
F. String Beans
G. Yellow Summer Squash
H. Focaccia
I. Tuscan Wheat Rolls
J. Rosemary
K. 3 lb. Ground Beef in 1 lb. packs
L. 4.8 lb. Whole Chicken
M. 1 lb. Pork Chops
N. 1/2 lb. block Butter

Yummy.


Almost as yummy as my little one
sitting in his carseat, turning the pages of his favorite book, with his little feet crossed.

Food Edits: Thinking Green to Greener

Oh. Hi, Tower of Eggplant.

Looks delish, right? It was. And it was arguably a greener, healthier dish than I would have made years ago. However, I am in a big revamp stage in our cooking, and it has caused me to really identify how I can do better for our family.

Let's break it down by ingredient and origin.

Ingredients:
Eggplant, from farm roadstand
Mozzarella Cheese, from Whole Foods-- in the local section
Pasta, from Trader Joe's
Panko Bread Crumbs, from Trader Joe's
Basil, from our basil plant
Tomato Sauce, from a can (Hi, sodium!)

What's wrong here?
I can make bread crumbs. I can make tomato sauce. And I can find better options for pasta, maybe even from the farm market. I could take the cheese a step farther and get more personal as to who I buy it from.

What's not wrong here?
The recipe. Thanks, Mario Batali. I didn't follow it exactly, but who ever does?

I encourage you all to take some time to think about the little things you can do in your meals that might make them just a little more local and healthy.

Oh Joe and the O No! of Certified Organics.

I mention Trader Joe's often. Our family shops there weekly-- just as we also make a weekly or biweekly stop for a few items at Whole Foods (for Gabe's organic produce I can't find elsewhere, local cheese, and Nature's Rancher Chicken) and local farm stands (for as much of our produce as possible).

But the bulk of our packaged, frozen, dairy, and protein products all come from our weekly stop at Trader Joe's. Because of this, it obviously irked me when I saw a blog post referring to a May article in Sustainable Industries questioning Trader Joe's seemingly eco-friendly practices.

I came across the blog post because I had deliberately googled Trader Joe's organic practices. The more I read, the more I realize that the organic label is not necessarily the best promise on how sustainable a farm is. And since I fed Gabriel his first organic plain whole milk yogurt from Trader Joe's this morning, I thought, hmmm... I really should know where this milk originated.

And this article points out the problem with Trader Joe's. They do not disclose who their feeder farms are-- so they literally will not tell you where my baby's yogurt originated. And because they do not offer disclosure, it leads consumers to wonder if the low prices at Trader Joe's are actually due to their selling mostly Trader Joe's label products (cutting out the middle man and a lot of distributor mileage) or because their products are organic at a cost.

This brings up some issues with the organic "label," which I have not really discussed on my blog prior to now. Organic food is optimum when taking into consideration it is better to consume foods without pesticides, grass-fed meats, etc. But just because a farm is certified organic does not mean its practices are totally sustainable. For instance, and this is per my watching of the film No Impact Man (I'll post more fully on this later) last night, an organic farm might keep to organic standards, but they might not treat their cows as nicely as the non-certified farm down the street. And that non-certified farm may only not be certified because it costs so much money to go through the certification process OR because they do treat their sick cows with antibiotics as needed whereas certified organic dairy farms cannot treat their cows with antibiotics ever.

But let's remember that the certified organic label is helpful and an honorable thing for a farm, and it is a clear indication to a consumer that a product does meet a certain standard. There are lobbyists trying to extinguish or lax the standards for the organic label, and that prospect is much scarier than the current pitfalls in organic certification. Many organic advocates want more stringent standards. You can go here for more information on organic certification.

When Trader Joe's will not disclose the farms used for their organic food, the question is raised: Are the locales a secret for the sake of competition (and that's almost fair-- Trader Joe's sure does have the best prices for the coolest food around. Why jeopardize losing customers by telling other companies where to go get the same product base?) or for the sake of keeping secrets from their eco-minded consumers? "No comment," is never a good answer.

While reading these articles will not deter me from shopping at Trader Joe's, it is going to again ramp up my efforts to purchase more local food. When it's local, you can go step onto that farm and see things for yourself. There is full disclosure because there are no closed doors. As a journalist, I see transparency as required, so why shouldn't I expect that of my food?

In any case, we'll be taking our first trip to a new(er) local farm market this Saturday, and it will be the opening of our more official dedication to local food. And that will be including our protein and dairy and whatever else we eat. It's time to take our food revolution to the next level-- local.

We Flew Over to the Organic Farmstand.

Is there anything better than a pay-as-you-go farmstand?

We stopped by a local organic farm this afternoon for a fresh treat or two, and we decided to grab a little box o' peas. The box was $2.00. Not a bad deal for the freshest, sweetest eat-'em-like-you-see-'em little peas I ever tried. I cannot wait to cook some and mush them up for Gabriel!




We'll be visiting this farm quite a few times over the summer and fall so stay tuned for more fresh, local, organic produce posts!

Jam Berry, Blam Berry, I'm Making Baby Berry...

I would start off writing a bit about my almost terrifying love for berries, but that is honestly a post of its own so I will just get straight to the blueberries at hand. And they aren't for me. They're for Gabriel.

Before I get to the good stuff, I just want to note that the blanket statement "Your baby cannot have berries" until the age of one is not totally true. While doctors recommend for babies not to consume strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries prior to age one, many studies show that blueberries and cranberries are low allergen foods that babies could consume prior to age one. Read more about this here and here. And always ask your doc if you have questions, concerns, or doubts about your baby's readiness for berries.

Remember, you can store baby food in the freezer for just over three months with no worries. That means that you can make and freeze your fresh, in season food for baby even before baby would be ready to consume it. Make it when it is best, and serve it when it is best for baby.

I've already explained your basic fruit/veggie puree for baby, but when you make a fruit or veggie with skins (such as green beans, peas, or blueberries), you have to take extra care to break down the food and extricate the skins from the puree. Otherwise, they can deceivingly sneak into your little one's mouth and lead to choking. So I figured I would make some blueberries and share the journey with you all.

Blueberries for my Blueberry

1. Get yourself blueberries. You need a bit to make an ice cube tray full of berries. They tend to liquify and cook down even before they get strained so about 24 oz. of frozen will get you your 16 oz. in the ice cube tray. I went with organic frozen because the organic fresh would have cost us more than I was willing to pay. These bags, I am almost sure, were less than $2 each.

2. Steam your berries with the standard baby food arrangement of water, steamer basket, food.

3. Steam until warm, tender, and juicy.

4. Then, blend! I always use an oven mitt and/or kitchen towel to cover the blender with my hand while I blend hot things because I had a not-so-fun experience making butternut squash soup a few years ago.

5. Once blended, pull out that strainer (fine metal) to get those skins out of there.

6. When you are done straining, you should have a sort of lumpy blueberry goo in your strainer.

7. Pour the non-goo into your ice cube tray, freeze, and package as you see fit! Get ready for baby to try.

Enjoy!

Zen and the Art of Homemade Green Beans

My husband had a grad class tonight, and I was in the mood for green beans so I decided to take a Mommy-Baby food adventure and cook up some organic greenies for Gabe and myself.

Sidenote: A bag of organic green beans at Trader Joe's is about $1.29 max.

I just made a small amount-- enough for a Mommy serving and four "baby's first" servings. But I will never waste my time making a small batch of baby green beans again. Because of the skins on green beans, you have to push the blended beans through a mesh strainer. It was pretty time-consuming-- next time, I'm doing a big batch and knocking out the mess in one shot.

I was a little daring (for some, not for others) this evening, though. Gabe was HATING his pureed green beans-- spitting them out and crying horribly-- so I thought to myself as I eyed my plate, "What would he think of my green beans?"

I sliced a bean in half, used my knife to swipe out the beans (choking hazards) within, and handed him some real cooked string beans.

Instantly the crying ends--Instantly he starts grabbing beans. Yum. Yum. Yum.

What struck me here was that after nomming and sucking on his green beans as I ate mine, he then gobbled down his ounce of green beans and an ounce of apples with a grin on his face. I wonder if finger-fooding it up allowed him to explore the taste before the puree overpowered his mouth? Maybe he liked having some control (alla baby led solids which I will definitely be writing more on later)? Whatever it was, it changed the entire mood of dinnertime, and it was awesome.

**I will note that finger foods are not generally recommended until about 8 months of age or when baby has mastered the pincer (pointer finger - thumb) grasp. Gabe is pretty close to having the pincer down, and he has all four of his front teeth now. He creepishly crawls and he's figuring out how to cruise. He is developing quickly, and it just feels right to let him carefully explore some finger foods at almost seven months. I think it's important to listen to your baby and medical recommendations when it comes to food timing guidelines, and letting G try real green beans was my choice for him today. Please don't think I'm pushing early finger foods across the board.**

Quinoa the King

Chilled Chile Corn Mango Salsa Quinoa
compliments of the guy working the Trader Joe's sample counter

(That last word is pronounced keen-wa, not quin-o-uh.)
((Oh yes I did use the latter pronunciation until about two weeks ago because I'm just that cool.))



1 c. uncooked organic red quinoa
1 ripe yellow mango, sliced and diced
1/2 jar of Trader Joe's chile corn salsa

1. Mix 1 c. uncooked o.r.q. with 2 c. water in pan. Bring to boil and cook 10-15 minutes.
Then, pour into serving dish.

2. Mix in sliced and diced mango.

3. Mix in 1/2 jar of TJ's c.c.s.
4. Chill 1-2 hours until slightly cold.

So easy and delish!

Did you know quinoa is actually related to leafy greens rather than grains? It's true, though it behaves nutritionally like a grain, but packed with protein. Quinoa is gluten free and high in calcium, too! It's an excellent sub for rice. Give it a try!

"A Carrot Saved is a Carrot Earned."

Homemade Baby Food is an educated penny-pinching parent move.

When it comes to feeding your baby, homemade organics make your baby and your bank account just a little more green.

Really?

Sure. 'Green' choices are about living a healthy, socially-responsible life, but they also make a bank account a little more comfortable, too. As a young family with extreme student loan pressure, we just wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise. And, oh yeah, with Gabe being an exclusively breastfed baby, we were used to paying nothing for his food, so that whole pay-for-your-kid-to-eat thing is new.

So let's get out that calculator.

0000

Today we went shopping for Gabe's next few food adventures. Let it be known that Gabriel LOVES food shopping. He loved helping us pick the peaches (he's a fan of feeling textiles and textures), he enjoyed flirting with any and everyone, and he's currently crushing on Grocery Store Overhead Lighting.

Carrots, Bananas, and Peaches -- oh my.
And he'll be getting Whole Grain cereal (barley/spelt) sometime soon, too.

1 lb. Organic Carrots: $.99
1.05 lb. Organic Bananas: $.83
1.13 lb. Organic Peaches: $2.81

I have found that it takes just about 1 lb. of a produce item to make 1 full ice cube tray of food + 1 warm 2 oz. serving ready to serve to baby. That is approximately 18 oz. of babyfood from every pound, considering that the ice cube tray is 16 one oz. cubes. So let's do some math here.

If you make the food--

Let's look at the cheaper side of homemades-- the carrots...
For $.99, you are getting 18 oz. of food. In other words, for homemade organic carrots, you are paying less than 6 cents per ounce.

Let's look at the more expensive side of homemades-- the peaches...
For $2.81, you are getting 18 oz. of food. In other words, for homemade peaches, you are paying less than 16 cents per ounce.


If you purchased the food--

Let's look at the cheaper side of packaged-- conventional food...

Gerber 2nd Foods Carrots - 7 oz., 8 pack, 16 servings $12.99 (target.com)
-Each container is 7 oz. x 8 = 56 oz.
You are paying just over 23 cents per ounce.

Beech-Nut Stage 2 Tender Sweet Carrots, 48 oz. case $15.48 (buythecase.com)
You are paying just over 32 cents per ounce.

Let's look at the more expensive side of packaged-- organic food...

Gerber Tender Harvest Organic Carrots 2 pk Case of 8 $12.99 (diapers.com)
-Each container is 2.5 oz. of carrots. That's 5 oz. per pack x 8 packs = 40 oz.
You are paying more than 33 cents per ounce.

Earth's Best Baby Foods First Carrots 2.5 oz. (Pack of 24) $21.50 (amazon.com)
-That's 60 oz. of food.
You are paying almost 36 cents per ounce.

...and as baby eats chunkier, heartier meals, the packaged food prices just go up from there, whereas with homemades you can just mix, match, and thicken.

Whether you are spending 6 or 16 cents per ounce, you are always saving, even if you buy the least expensive bulk cases of packaged food, almost 10 cents per ounce. This might sound trivial, but if your baby eats 2 oz. of food per meal, you are saving almost 20 cents per meal.

For us, with Gabe eating 1 small bowl of cereal for breakfast and one 2 oz. bowl of homemade per day, we save $1.40 per week. When he graduates to two larger meals per day (8 oz. food/day), you save $.80 per day and $5.60 per week if you are comparing homemade organics to the cheapest packaged option. Add those weeks up, and you've got yourself a bit of green. To some, $5.60 per week may be nothing, but to our family, that is a worthy savings.

But then when you compare the homemade organics to the packaged organics, you are really saving money. For the expensive end of homemades, you spend 16 cents per ounce, whereas with the higher end packaged you spend 36 cents per ounce. That is a 20 cents per ounce difference, adding up to at least a savings of $11.20 per week. How 'bout them apples?

And with homemades, you are giving your child fresh food that YOU processed with the most important ingredient in any recipe out there, right? L-O-V-E.

oooo

So-- homemade baby food parents, the next time someone looks at you like you are a hippie-hearted, highfalutin, nose-in-the-air health food snot, just smile and say, "Actually, homemade organics are just plain cheaper," and shrug. With homemade food, you're doing your baby and your wallet good!


and please, please, please know there is no judgment here if you do feed your baby packaged or conventional food-- if your baby is happy and healthy, that is ALL that matters. -<3-

The Homemade Babyfood Play by Play

Gabriel has now tried rice cereal, avocado, pears, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes. And today we made the first batch o' apples for him to try later this week. Here's the play by play...

Babe Gabe's First Apples

3 Organic Golden Delicious Apples (OR Roma, Braeburn, Red Delicious)
3/4 cup water (approximate)
Small Pot
Steamer basket
Blender

1. Pare apples and chop into small cubes. Perfect, equal-sized cubes are not necessary.

2. Pour 3/4 cup water into small pot and place steaming basket in pot. The water need not overflow much into the basket. Adjust amount of water as needed.

3. Place apples into steaming basket and turn range heat to med-high.
4. Let apples steam/ cook in boiling water until very tender and can be mashed easily with fork.

5. Scoop steamed and tender apples and pour into blender.

6. Add small amount of leftover water from steaming (You can use breast milk to thin baby food, but this water retains some of the apple nutrients lost while cooking. I used breast milk to thin sweet potatoes and avocados, but not the apples).

7. Blend until smooth, adding more leftover water to adjust desired consistency as needed (the older the baby, the more textured and chunky it can be).



8. Pour into ice cube tray (3 apples makes just about 1 full tray), cool, and freeze in tray.


9. When frozen, pop out frozen cubes and store in desired container (Right now, we are storing food in breast milk sanitized freezer bags, and the dates on these bags are not the dates he tried these foods-- we do follow the 4 day rule).

To thaw (quickly):
Take out 1-2 cubes depending on desired serving and place in baby's bowl (Right now, we just use one cube). Heat water in tea kettle and pour into ceramic bowl. Place baby's bowl in ceramic bowl and allow hot water to melt cube. Turn cube over and break in half as thawing to speed process.

Great Resources for Homemade Baby Food Recipes
http://www.nurturebaby.com
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Food Inc. Virtual Potluck

Tomorrow night, April 21, 2010, PBS is premiering Food Inc. on national television. In the Philly/SJ region, it's on WHYY at 10 p.m. I invite all A Mom Writing readers to watch and send me letters (amomwriting@gmail.com) on what you think about America's food industry. I'll feature the letters in a Virtual Potluck (of ideas) post later this month.

Let's wax intellectual on food!

Mamacado, Babycado, Avocado, Mmm...

Solids have started, and they're actually a blast (We're doing homemade organics-- his cereals are all by Earth's Best- no GMOs). Gabe's not a fan of cereal, but enjoyed avocado. And this Sunday he was shocked by pears (both in taste and in his backed up just-starting-solids system-- if your babe has some issues going #2 when he or she starts solids, start the pears!).

This morning he had a mix of the bartletts with his rice, and he was much more willing to eat the cereal. Tomorrow we are doing oatmeal, and then he'll break into the stash of sweet potatoes I made this past weekend. Stay tuned for a step by step post on making apples.

But in the meantime, here's a meal from late last week... both mine and Gabe's.






...Mama 'Cado












Baby 'Cado...

Yummi Bears Organics Review & Giveaway (Closes 4/9)

Take.your.vitamins.

Never was that so impressed to me as when I got pregnant with Gabe. Nutrition matters. And whether your bean is in the womb or on the soccer field, it's a huge responsibility making sure he or she is getting all the nutrients needed to grow up healthy and strong.

So, you look into vitamins, and most of the vits for the kiddies are full of high fructose corn syrup. For the mommies who remain unconvinced by the commercials claiming hfcs "is just like sugar," for the mommies who want their children to eat organic, non-GMO foods, and for the mommies who have little ones with nut allergies, celiac-disease, or other common intolerances, Yummi Bears Organics are a great nutritional option.

Because they are deceivingly delicious. I sampled the Multivitamin, Immunity Shield, and Bone Builder varieties. My husband tried them, a handful of my little cousins tried them, and so did many other grown-up family members. The taste test results were truly positive.

My husband and I could tell immediately which fruit was used to flavor which vitamins. How often does something apple or strawberry-flavored truly taste like apples or strawberries?

When my reluctant-to-try-new-foods 5-year-old cousin (who has celiac disease) was handed a Yummi Bears Organics, my aunt said, "It's like a gummy bear." The response after trying? "Mom, this IS a gummy bear." Duh, Mom, right? Well, these bears aren't of the candy variety, cuz. But the joke is not on my cousin, because Yummi Bears Organics are doing much more for her budding body than candy.

I'm not advocating this, but I love that you could tell your kids they're "allowed" to have three or six bears (serving depends on the variety) as a treat, and they'd be getting vitamins without ever knowing the difference.

They've got lots of nutrients, but not so much of the fake stuff. Their flavoring and coloring are from vegetable juices, such as black carrots, rather than dyes like Red No. 5. They're also pectin-based rather than gelatin, making them vegetarian-friendly. And when it comes to Genetically-Modified Ingredients, they're made with tapioca syrup-- escaping any suspicion of iffy so-called non-GMO corn syrups.

Did everybody like them? Nope. I have to be honest! My 8-year-old not-so-sweet-toothed cousin was not a fan. "They're too sweet," he remarked. So, if you've got a kid who would rather eat the apples and loads o' spinach to get their vitamins, stick with the produce.

And that sweet sweetness is the only real complaint I have about Yummi Bears Organics and every other gummi vitamin out there-- When the first ingredient is listed as something sugar-related (in YBO case, organic evaporated cane juice), as a parent, you think, what am I really feeding my kid here?

But when you look at the overall nutrition, the sugar doesn't seem too frightening when you consider the nutritional gains. Out of 3 Multivitamins, you're getting 4 g sugar and 20 calories, but you're also getting 100% or more daily value of Vitamin A, B6, B12, and Folic Acid, as well as 50% or more daily value of Vitamins C and D3. The Multivitamin is not a good source of Calcium or Iron, but that's why Yummi Bears offers a plethora of vitamin types. Many of them are safe to mix and match.

So, overall?
Organic, non-GMO, non-allergen vitamins with authentic fruit flavor. As an all-about-natural Mommy, I'd definitely give these a shot if I were you.

You can give them a try!
Win Yummi Bears Organics on A Mom Writing!

The Mandatory Entry

Visit Yummi Bears Organics and look at the vitamin varieties.
Comment: Which one would you like your little one(s) to try?

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Thank You.

To this blogger and educator and activist:

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com

Go there and be not so amazed at the squeamish sights of the American school lunch. And then realize however bad it looks, at least there's a movement to make it better.

Organic, Local, and Free Range, Oh My!

Going... going... going... GONE!

That GONE! would be us, heading out the door of ye olde typical foodstore and into the world of organic, local, free range food. Actually, we are not quite gone yet, because it just is not so easy to figure out how to manage that sort of diet on the type of budget us young parents (one working full-time and going to grad school, the other about to start a 10-hour per week position, both with a yacht and a train and an airbus, or maybe two, of student loans) to manage. But we are going to manage it. And I am going to keep updating on the blog just how we manage to do it. Will I be a tipster, much? You betcha.

There's just no reason to allow your baby to eat this food, even through my breast milk. And it surely is not helping me or my husband eating food like this, either. Let's be clear here, though-- I do not judge anyone who does not eat organic because it IS going to be a hard monetary transition with a lot of calculation, strategy, and planning. Maybe after switching to cloth diapers, I feel like I can research and figure out something a little more complicated than fluffy baby butts, but I feel prepared to make this move. Maybe watching Food Inc. (WATCH THIS MOVIE!) went to my head, but I just don't think this switch is going to hurt anyone, other than hmm... McIdon'tcarewhatIfeedyouIjustwantmoney. And maybe, just maybe, having worked at a Whole Foods in high school somehow rooted a respect and aspiration for eating organic, though my neurotic and ignorant little high school self never would have expected to write this post in the future.

Okay, Sharkie, here's the deal:

Ammonia, Pesticide, GMO-Free: Eating ORGANIC and GMO-free

I am seriously freaked out at the thought of eating chemicals. When you're little, you don't intellectually digest what you are eating. Now, I do. And when thinking about my baby consuming insecticides, rodenticides, herbicides, fungicides, and antimicrobials (ya know like bleach, chlorine dioxide, yum, yum, yummy stuff like that), I really do feel a sinking feeling in my stomach. I understand why and how the process of modern food production and distribution includes such chemicals, and though there are not many studies proving that regular old produce is extremely harmful, I feel a lot better removing my family from the production lines of e.coli-infested spinach. There are certain foods that have less crap on them (Here is a Shopper's Guide to Pesticides from the Environmental Working Group), especially thicker-skinned produce like avocados, so I am sure when cost comes to shove, we may still purchase some conventional produce.

I also feel there is just something to be said for produce as it was meant to be grown, produce as it was meant to be sized, chicken as it was meant to be fed, etc. etc. etc. And how I want to say something for that natural food, is to just plain eat it.

I also understand why genetically-modified organisms exist (it makes a lot of the ins and outs of food production easier and cheaper), but I do not want to eat them anymore. There's more to my rejection of GMO, and I will not even go into the politics of it right now, though. To be honest, eating GMO-free (Here is a GMO-free shopping guide.) is not going to be easy, because these products are in so much of everything. But we are going to try!

*The Eco-Friendly Family Blog wrote a great little post about eating organic which included both of the helpful links included in the section above. Read the post here.*

These Farms Exist: Eating LOCAL

No, maybe you have not heard of them, but they are there. At least in Southern New Jersey they are. In fact, I found two local organic farms (amidst many regular old farms) within 40 minutes of our home. One of them even sells meat-- though I am not sure of the logistics of the meat purchasing yet (we don't have the storage capacity or the money to invest in, um, an entire cow right now). I honestly cannot WAIT to get there. If you live in Jersey, please go here to find a farm near you.

Why is local so great?
Well, first of all, local is local. That produce and food was grown and raised right where or near you bought it. LESS pollution from distribution.
Secondly, when you buy local, you are purchasing something from a business in your economical area. Supporting your local farmers is one way to help them in this economy, and in return, you are helping yourself by circulating your cash into your community.
Thirdly, I am hoping that because this food is coming pretty much from the source, it will be less expensive than the produce and meat at a place like Whole Foods, where distribution costs are part of the price. A price comparison remains to be seen, but essentially, this should wind up being true.

To be fair, the drawbacks?
You have to eat what is in season. I.E. No fresh tomatoes in February. If we want to keep eating the recipes we eat now, we would have to buy most produce at stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's in off-season time.

Cheese and Crackers: Eating FREE RANGE
Frankly, I just can't handle the way most companies and large meat farms handle their animals. I love animals, and it pains me to read, watch, whatever, the conditions these animals live in while being raised, and I cannot handle the process used to slaughter animals.

am I not a vegetarian? Well, I tried it once in college, and I kept getting sick because I was not the best at managing my vitamins and protein. What I learned from that unsuccessful run is that I am not really against eating meat or animal products, but I am against how these products are provided to us. Because humans are naturally carnivorous. And humans need, in some sense of that word, meat.

I have no problem eating, say, some ham that came from a pair of pigs named Cheese and Crackers who were raised living in a healthy, happy environment on a farm in Vermont (I never ate these pigs, but they did exist at the Weston Priory when I was a little girl, and if my parents told me the truth, the monks ate them at some point). The other reason why I would not even consider going vegetarian or vegan at this point is that my husband is not getting on that wagon, nor would I put my children on that wagon, and I am not planning on maneuvering duo meal planning. It's not realistic.

So we go free range, eating animals that roamed around in a field and saw light while they were raised. We eat animals that were not so stuffed and fattened in small quarters that they could not walk while they were raised. Essentially, I hope we'll be eating animals like Cheese and Crackers.

--

To be clear, this shift is going to be quite the process and we are in-
PHASE ONE: RESEARCH, EDUCATION, and FIRST PURCHASES.

Come on now and take a ride with us.
And please, wish us luck!