Living Simply: Food

Food.

A subject I love and hate. I love to eat and used to love to cook (bake, more specifically) but lately, I've just been so hard-pressed to come up with even a simple meal! Read on to see how I've just recently ventured into something that's completely helped motivate me!

I used to eat really well (with a few necessary sweets). Then, I got married.

Okay, so it's not Jeremy's fault, but I wanted to please him, make what he liked, and I wasn't going to make him food and different food for me. So, I just started to eat what he liked and my healthy eating has gone down ever since. Not horrible, but just not great. White rice and pasta instead of whole wheat. Less veggies, fruits, etc. Plus, with our very limited budget, it's difficult to buy fresh - it's just expensive! And organic is almost out of the question.

And when I don't have much choice of food, I get unmotivated very quickly.

But, I've been wanting to find a way to eating less processed (more simply) on a budget. We still eat plenty of processed foods, but I'm working toward more whole foods in our diet, especially since the girl is eating table foods and we want her to eat well, which means we need to also!

"Even though we cannot draw the line precisely at the point where sufficiency ends and excess consumption starts, a standard appropriate to the present world situation would insist that the majority of Americans consume far too much."

So, here are some of the ways we're working on simplifying our diet.

Gardening (although our "property" is not nearly large or fertile enough to support us fully),

Gardening provides organic, pesticide free food for us. A recap on what we're growing this year: corn, watermelon (maybe?), red and yellow onions, garlic, sugar snap peas, green beans, tomatoes, dill, basil and parsley.

Have you heard of the "Dirty Dozen" and the "Clean Fifteen"? If not, follow this link on pesticides, a guide to what you should buy organic and what are fine to buy non-organic. Onions are at the top of the clean list and apples, celery and strawberries are at the top of the dirty list (ones you should always buy organic). This has really opened my eyes to what I'm feeding my family and myself! I don't want our babe to be ingesting traces of 50 different pesticides with every bite of a strawberry! So these I either won't buy or will get organically.

Well, I've finally found a way to do this.

Joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) 

Basically, a CSA is a subscription to a farm to buy produce directly from the farmer every week throughout the growing season (May through October). We are paying $17 a week for the produce (market prices with sales tax added) and it's basically a surprise every week!

In last week's CSA bag (from left): 6 brown eggs, 1 med cabbage, 5 green onions, a HUGE Napa cabbage, 2 cups sugar snap peas, 1 bunch Swiss chard, 1 small bok choy, beets and on the end, our very own green beans.

week 1

My favorite one of the bunch, Swiss chard. Isn't it gorgeous?!

This week's CSA included 1 small cabbage, a bunch of red kale, two large kohlrabi, 1 bag salad greens (3 cups), 14 shallots, 1-1/2 cups red raspberries and two little roma tomatoes from our own garden (a toddler got one of those...boo.)

week 2

And my favorite of the week?? The raspberries! I can hardly wait to make something yummy with them. I grew up with a big red raspberry bush and got so spoiled with free fresh raspberries. Mmm!

For some reason, this way of getting produce has completely transformed my thinking about cooking. I'm motivated by the produce to find new recipes and new ways of cooking. Luckily, my husband is a good trier of new things (thanks love!) and even if he doesn't love it, it's okay. I'm excited to cook now! And I must meal-plan to 1) use all of my produce and 2) stay within my budget after the $17. (As opposed to spending $17 at the farmer's market every Saturday and still not knowing what to get.)

Awesome, right?

I'll be doing a weekly update on what CSA produce we get every week in case anyone is interested in trying it out!!
  
Finally, we were given an awesome anniversary gift. Our teflon cookware (Jeremy bought over 5 years ago) was getting scratched and sticking. It was time for new. Teflon can give off harmful chemicals when it starts to break down and stainless steel is a much better (healthier) option.

We've switched to cooking with stainless steel! It definitely has a learning curve after cooking for so long with non-stick cookware, but it's so nice to stir something with a wire whisk and not be afraid flecks of Teflon are contaminating the food. I love it! (FYI: We did keep a very small omelet non-stick pan for pain free fried eggs.)

 (Ladybug posing with our new 10-piece set of Berghof pots and pans.)

Share your food tips with me! And what do you think of my new adventure into a CSA?

Living Simply: Reusing, Repurposing and Recyling

It's a harsh way of thinking to refer to all consuming as bad, so, I try not to go to that extreme.

"Our days begin with consuming. Consuming is not wrong; in fact it is necessary for life."


However, it is the amount of our consumption (or necessary vs. not) that bothers me.


Do you shower with a tepid 5 gallon bucket or spend 20 minutes under the hot streams?

Do you eat three large meals every day and three snacks, too, ending with a belly fuller than Buddha? 

Do you drive 10 feet to the dumpster instead of walk? 


You know what I'm saying. Perspective, friends. It's all about it.

I just try to keep perspective in mind when I do things and use things. It's helped that we've needed to save money because instead of paper towels we use plates for snacks and cloth rags for cleaning. Instead of paper napkins we use cloth, too. Instead of toilet paper, we use cloth.

PSYCH!

Not quite. (Get the scoop here.)


Anyway, just little choices of reusing help me feel like I'm not just consuming and filling landfills with bunches of disposable junk. (Of course, the disposable diapers we use every day still bothers me ... but rashy bums are a different story for a different day...)


So, you all know that I like to repurpose things. I absolutely LOVE to buy second-hand and make something ugly into something beautiful. And, I'm not a professional at it, but it is so fulfilling knowing that I'm breaking the cycle of buy-new-buy-new-buy-new and using something that has already been loved and won't cease to exist if it goes into a garbage truck. And, if you don't like it, make it better!

(And, please, don't get me wrong. I love a thing with a tag pretty much as much as the next person. We buy plenty of new things. New clothes are my vice - shhh!! A few of the things we would only buy new are mattresses and pillows - used? Ick!) 

My repurpose case(s) in point:

(t-shirts into bloomers)

(old, yucky chair with gorg lines)

(vintage sheet into kitchen valance)

(25 cent record player ... yes! she will make her prettier appearance soon!)

And, just wait until you see the other repurposing projects I have in the works including: a livingroom makeover, a vintage dress into pillow covers, from shirt to baby dress and more! I think repurposing projects are some of my favorite to do and to find. People are just SO creative!!

Finally, we recycle.

source

It's INCREDIBLE how trash adds up when you don't put your paper, plastic, tin, aluminum, cardboard and glass into the recycling bin - it's crazy!! And, after living in Germany (where you can pretty much recycle most everything including food scraps), US recycling seems so limited. How I wish recycling was less about "can we make money on this?" and more about "let's work to keep our planet". Korea, Switzerland, Germany ... all of these first world countries can do it, why not us?

However, instead of complaining, I try to be grateful for what we can recycle and diligently do so. Every couple of weeks, we load it up in the backseat and take it about a mile down the road and dump it.

(I'd love to know exactly where it goes and how recycling is done here in Kansas, but I haven't checked that out yet. Maybe I will in the near future.)


So, get in on the conversation! How do you reuse? Do you like repurposing? What do you think about recycling? 

Living Simply: Decluttering

One of the first and most basic things I think of when I consider living simply is LESS STUFF.
Getting out from underneath the load of STUFF is simplicity to me. Decluttering. Getting rid. Simplifying. Really, if we only kept the stuff we really need versus what we want, our load would be so much lighter.

My mom is really good at this, so I've grown up and still am living the decluttering way. However...

...stuff accumulates SO fast! 

And, I'll be the first to admit it. Even I still have too much stuff. 

"{We're} consuming in an effort to improve our quality of life...Unconsciously, as a culture, we've internalized the belief that material possessions will fill the spiritual vacuum in our souls."

source

So the other week my friend, Valerie, challenged her blog readers to join her in getting rid of 100 things in a week. Here's her challenge and updates here and here.

For some reason, this challenge motivated me to not only declutter but to clean and work on projects too! I've been crazy motivated ever since... weird, but cool. (Thanks Val!)

Before this, I'd several things listed on Craigslist - and all but a few have sold and I was able to thrift a few necessary items with the money (mostly things for our girl: shoes, a few puzzles, vintage and gifts.)

The challenge week I made it to 50 things (and made $8 on it at a garage sale!), and just last Tuesday I donated over 50 more items (books, jewelry, some random vintage and our old pots and pans).

(By the way, can I add that I am so proud of my husband who went through his books, organized them on his bookshelves and got rid of 30+? Love it!!)

One of my main motivations now is because I'm a mom. I'm already going to have a hard enough time raising my child in the consumeristic culture we live in, and I don't want to make consuming hoards of stuff and stuff and more stuff a bad habit. I want her to know you can live well without so much stuff!! (Maybe even better than those with tons of stuff.)

Let me say, there is nothing wrong with liking stuff (I do), or wanting stuff (I definitely do) or buying stuff ... it's just all of the stuff adding up without end can't - won't - doesn't satisfy.

*********

(Sidenote: Now, my "picking up projects" posts may seem in direct contradiction to my decluttering, but there are a few differences. First, I am repurposing them (see tomorrow's post) - one of my many ways of living simply. Second, I am only keeping them until they are ready to sell. Really, it's just one way of including others in this repurposing and reusing cycle - I can't reuse everything! But I can beautify things, make a little money along the way, feed my soul, and encourage others in the way of reusing.)

What do you think? How does clutter affect you?

Living simply. Is it really that simple?

"One Wall Street banker put it bluntly: 'net worth equals self worth.' Under this definition, there is no such thing as enough." 

Ever since I got back from Haiti I've struggled with what life should look like for me. I've been blessed to experience life outside of the borders of the US and after living in a third world country, your world can't help but be rocked. 


I've been on one end of the spectrum before Haiti, wanting nice things, designer jeans, diamonds, lots of makeup. And I've been to the other side after Haiti, angry, refusing to spent any extra money,  bought no new clothing, secretly criticizing those who did, and basically feeling "better" than those who didn't care (so-to-speak) about other people in the world. 


I'm happy to say that I've fallen somewhere in between since then (where I want to be) but how I'm supposed to live in light of my experiences and knowledge has been and always will be a struggle. Sigh. Living out a paradox is so difficult.


How do I live in this culture (America) in spite of and alongside my experiences?

In the last couple of years I've run into a lot of blogs and websites talking about living simply. Living simply seems to best fit my struggle.

*********


And then they have post after post after post about cloth diapering and and recycling and reusing and organic food and saving and spending and this and that and on and on... 


... and while I have a desire to live simply, all I could think was, "Is living simply really that simple? 'Cause it sure seems complicated to me!" 


I wanted to either go curl up in bed until the world went away or run away and become Amish.

Well, obviously, neither of those were good options and I didn't actually act on either of them. 




Hence, throughout my processing, comes this series of posts. I've really spent a good year thinking about what simplicity looks like to me, how it should be acted upon and what I should expect of myself and other people. 


I think simple is the best way to live, but not everyone is going to live that way. Heck, everyone's definition of simplicity is different! We're all different! It's okay. 

(Oh, and this post here just about sums it up for me.)




*all quotes this week taken from Simpler Living, Compassionate Life

Favorite Recipe: Dark Chocolate Muffins

I made one of my favorite muffin recipes on a whim a couple of days ago. So yum. I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

It's actually a dieters' recipe, so it has some strange ingredients, but why can't it be one of my favorites?! Don't turn your nose up at the weird ingredients until you try them. You'll be surprised too! I just sneak in quite a few more chocolate chips and you have yourself a scrumptious, filling dark chocolate muffin recipe. And these aren't your boxed fluff muffins, nor are they cupcakes. A perfect mix of in between and homemade goodness. (Plus they almost taste better the next day!)

Dark Chocolate Mini Muffins

1-1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 Tbsp. oil
1 Tbsp. molasses
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (or about a cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat about 48 mini or 18 regular muffin cups with cooking spray, set aside. In a bowl, combine flours, sugars, coca powder, soda and 1/4 tsp. salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside. In another bowl combine milk, applesauce, oil, molasses, vinegar, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Stir in half of the chocolate pieces. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each between 1/2-2/3 full. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips. Bake minis for 8-10 minutes or regular for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes. Remove and serve warm or cool completely and freeze for up to 3 months.

YUM!

Some neat nursery additions.

I'm horribly late to the draw on this one. But last year, we added some fun little additions to Ladybug's room and I wanted to show them off.

For Christmas, Uncle Ryan and Erin got her the cutest little canvas growth chart. Very needed to chart this girl's growth! I think I'll measure her on birthdays and half-birthdays for now.  There are two little marks down at the bottom at 28" (12 months) and 31" (18 months). Yay for sweet, sweet growth charts. As long as she doesn't rip it off the wall, we're good.

A verse I can't stop relating to our sweet little girl after all of the troubles we had getting her here.
So I made some subway art for her room. I still have yet to hang it up, but I kind of like it on her side table. So, there it stays for now. Love these IKEA frames that hold 8-1/2" x 11" paper. So convenient not to edit to 8x10!

Aunt Jenn and Uncle Shawn made this amazing letter art for her first birthday last year and it sits on her big shelf. So pretty and creative! I love it - something that isn't too babyish that will grow with her.

Remember my post about nursery curtains? No, of course you don't. It's been over a year!! Well, friends, I've finally taken your advice and this weekend I finished her curtains. Hip hip hooray!

(Excuse the photos - it's really difficult to photograph a sunny window!!) I prefer curtains to the floor or short, but these aren't too bad for in between. I'm so happy I finished these - I hate unfinished projects.

Yay! Love these additions. Thanks to the aunties and uncles who contributed.

Garden 2012: Update 3

My garden has grown since last time I mentioned it!

I've added some pretty pansies in all of their purple velvety goodness. A can is a great planter in a pinch, of course. They'd been out of water for almost a week and I didn't have time to thrift a planter, so I dug around in my recycling, drilled a hole in the bottom and there you have it!

Muah!

I have a different variety in my planter basket. So pretty, but fading away. I think the direct sun is too much.

Adding some green to the other side of the "yard" with some hosta. The sorry looking ones on the left should look a bit better in the next few years. (I hope!) And, did you know that if slugs start eating your hosta, you can just "plant" a pie plate of beer next to them and they'll drown in it?! Awesome. Now I just need to find me some beer. And some slugs.

Sweet corn!

My beans are so big already - June hasn't even started!

My first pea blossom.

And finally a tomato turning red!

Having any luck in your gardens? Flowers? Herbs? Tell me about it! I'd love to hear.

New Kitchen Valance - on the cheap

So, we've had this rolling shade from the Home Depot for about 3 years. It covers our big sliding glass doors at night. (Otherwise it's too freakalicious to be in the kitchen when it's dark outside and the whole world potentially has its eye on you. And your children.)

Anyway, it cost about $15 (maybe less?) and it's starting to look a little worn as only a $15 shade should. I mean, it's not like I'm going to put in a custom shade in a place we rent -- and don't plan to stay in forever. (*crossing my fingers and hoping we go sooner than later. Love the rent and the freedom - hate the neighborly sounds and poor construction.)

Here she is. Lookin' pretty sad.

Insert awesome $1 vintage Vera sheet picked up from a random garage sale a couple of weeks ago. It was fitted, so I cut it up.

I'm not really a butterfly, floral-y person, but I'm in love with this print for some reason. Butterflies, ferns and leaves in multi-green and khaki colors.

Pair it with some yellow walls, a free curtain rod (minus the hardware, unfortunately) and you have a vintage valance on the cheap. And one that makes me smile.

So, here's the before...

And here's the after!

(sheet - $1 (thrifted), curtain rod - free, rod hangers - $4 (Home Depot) = Total Cost: $5)

*Sigh. Trying to add more vintage into my personal decor style ... 

More "on the cheap" posts to come!

Anniversary Celebrations - 4 years!

Jeremy and I celebrated four years together last Thursday. We try to go with the traditional gifts list for ideas, gifts and fun. Last year (3) was leather. Jeremy got me some inscribed leather luggage tags from Etsy and I got him a very needed leather belt.

This year was "fruit and flowers".

Yeah.

What do you get a guy that's fruit and flowers? I thought about this and thought about it and just didn't come up with anything too wonderful. I did, however, leave two tiny strawberries from our garden on his dinner plate and came up with a silly card with the theme. Maybe next year will be easier?

Getting it for a wife might be easier, however we were on quite the tight budget. So, Jeremy made me an awesome, completely homemade banana cream pie (fruit), which tasted incredible (and which we gobbled up between us in a few days).

YUM.

And, he brought me home a single red rose (flower). So lovely.

 

Some friends gave us a chance to get away with some anniversary money we received ... they watched the girl for four hours! We ended up getting dinner and going to see The Hunger Games, which was pretty good in our opinion. No movie ever lives up to the book, but this one was pretty accurate. 

We rarely get to go out alone or see movies in the theater, so it was a treat.

Happy 4th anniversary, Jeremy. Only at least 48 more. 

Int'l Earring Collection

I've been trying to come up with different posts - just to get some variety in the blog ... and just to have fun!

I realized that I've never documented my international earring collection before. In my travels, my goal was to get a pair of earrings from every country I've been. I haven't even made it close to my goal (and half of the ones I do have are from other people!), but it's still fun to think about and do.

Slovenia

Haiti

Peru

South Africa

Sri Lanka

Germany

 Jamaica

Funny that they are all drop or dangly earrings, but I guess I know what I like, huh?

Countries missing earrings: Mexico, Canada, Bahamas, Switzerland, Scotland, Austria, India (I lost those - boo), Spain, France, Lichtenstein, England and Italy. Not very impressive right? I guess I'll just have to travel to those places again. *sigh*

I almost got a gorgeous pair in the Czech Republic, but their currency was intimidating and we were there for only a few hours. How disappointing!

:-)

Our First Berry Goodness!

From our very own berry patch.

And ... when we went to eat them later after Jeremy got home, I handed her one again and SQUISH!

Yeah.

A Sweet, Simple Mother's Day

Mother's day last week was sweet and simple. The best kind.

A pretty flower, a very thoughtful card ("signed" also by her, of course) and two meals cooked by Jeremy.

I love being loved. :-)

May garage sale finds (vintage edition)

I've been garage-saling this month to look for a few items we need on the cheap. And I love reusing if it's something we don't need to buy new. (If it's pillow or matress, you'll hear me singing a different tune though. Used? Ew.)

Last time I went looking I came up with several fun vintage finds!!

(1) cardboard doll suitcase - $1
(1) vintage table fan - $5
(3) doll dresses (30 cents)
(1) "the Golden Rule" - German measuring system pattern book (50 cents)

I thought the red "the Golden Rule" book just looked interesting when I picked it up. There are color pages and lots of good stuff in it. Boy was I uneducated!

I looked it up on etsy and the same edition (2nd edition - first is in German) in mint condition is $145!!! Um, holy crap!

Score.

It has black and white and some color photos. Late 60s! Love!

It has the Lutterloh system instructions, pictures, and over 200 patterns! Amazing.

If you want to see if before I sell it, feel free to let me know (Valerie?)!! If I can even make half of $145 on it, it'll be way more than worth it! So exciting.

Trash or Treasure? My newest project on the list.

So, we headed out the door to make a fun little roadtrip to Target to get us out before the girl's bedtime and got about two blocks down the road when I spotted these beauties on the side of the road (excuse the harsh sunlight).

"Jeremy, turn around! I have to have those!"

It wasn't, "Oh, go back so I can look again." It was love at first sight. I knew I needed this furniture.

Granted, when we got up close, we could see why they were sitting by the side of the road. It was actually pretty disgustingly covered with dirt and animal hair. And I'm not talking a few, I'm talking clumps of animal hair.

Jeremy was grossed out and proceeded to try to talk me out of these. "Really? Are you trying to discourage me from doing what I love? I know ladies on blogs that would DIE to have these things to re-do! Come on, just help me!!!"

I wasn't havin' any arguments. No way.

Look at those lines! Lovely. No missing legs (only 2 missing finials - easy enough fix!), no wobbly arms. Just really dirty and stinky.

Miss Mustard Seed would've been proud. And, my husband showed his love and helped me load these up in the car and drive the 2 blocks (or 5) back home.

We didn't make it to Target, but my heart was fuller with these beauties in my possession. Annie Sloan Chalk paint and new upholstery, here we come!!!

So many projects, so little time! :-)