Adventures in Eco-Living

Making Your Food Go Further: Freezing Leftovers for Baby

Since we're talking about growing your own food, I thought I'd take a day here to talk about making your food, and making it go as far as possible, especially when it comes to babies and toddlers.

Thinking that you don't have the time to make healthy, nutritious meals? Over the years, we've learned what is probably the easiest, and most obvious, trick to saving money and time (although, in truth, we don't always use it...don't ask me why...). By making food in large batches and then freezing the extra, you make multiple meals in just a little more time than it would have taken to make just one. It also means you might be able to buy your ingredients in bulk, which saves money, too.

Where we really use this is with baby food. Our 16-month old son can be picky. It can be somewhat disheartening to create a healthy meal that I was so excited to put together, only to discover that he just isn't into it, at least not today, at this meal. We've found the most expensive part about feeding a baby or toddler is the waste. *Sigh*.

The solution? A muffin pan and a freezer. I take the leftovers and freeze them in muffin-sized portions, then throw the "muffins" in ziploc bags to pull out another day. And usually, another day finds Chris more in the mood for whatever it was that he refused the first time.

This works for whole foods, like cous-cous, mac-n-cheese, spaghetti, chicken parmegiana, and such, but it also works for smoothies, yogurt and fruit mash-ups, oatmeals and other cooked cereals, and even baby food jars or pouches that I've opened but he won't eat. Just freeze in a non-stick or silicone muffin pan (silicone works great, because stuff just pops right out when you bend the pan), and pop out (using a spoon, if necessary).

Here is an example of the last meal I froze for our son. I had made Annie's Homegrown Organic 5-Grain Elbows & White Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese, which I then mixed with spinach, carrots, granulated kelp, and nutritional yeast for a healthy boost. Mac-n-Cheese is his absolute favorite, but for some reason (and, oh my, are there lots of reasons with toddlers, as you probably know!) that night, he wouldn't touch it. 

I froze the leftovers in a muffin tin, which left me with 12 muffin-sized servings (anywhere from 6-12 meals, depending on how hungry he is). The next night, he asked for "nunus" (noodles), so I popped out a portion, thawed it in the microwave, and voila! He gobbled up the whole bowl in minutes. (FYI, the macaroni in this is made from super healthy grains like quinoa, spelt and amaranth, so it's super high in protein. The dish itself is a little high in sodium, like all packaged foods, but the other healthy stuff makes me feel a little better about it.)

And if you do the math,  at about $2.50 per box, the macaroni and cheese I made comes out to between $0.20 and $0.40 a meal for Chris. Not bad!

If you need to freeze stuff in smaller amounts, for a younger baby or for  smaller snack-sized portions, we've found the absolute perfect method involves using this Wilton Silicone Brownie-Squares Baking Mold. Because it's made of silicone, it bends, and the cubes just pop right out. Then you can throw them in a ziplock bag or airtight container, label, and freeze. They won't stick together, because they are already frozen, so you can easily take out cubes one at a time. This is how we made Chris's baby food from the time he was 6 months old, and actually, I still use it for freezing his 10-grain breakfast cereal and yogurt. He happens to really like frozen foods, so we let him chew on just slightly thawed cubes, which are reminiscent of frozen yogurt, and which, I think, feel good on his sore teething gums.

And while we're on the subject of baby, I should mention our two favorite baby food books: Super Baby Food and The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook. The first one has the healthiest "super porridge" recipe I'd ever seen, made from all sorts of ground whole grains (which, surprisingly, was much easier than I thought it would be). Our son thrived on and actually quite enjoyed this addition to his diet.

So do you have any tricks to freezing food, or other ways to save time and money, that might make it easier to make nutritious, homemade food? We'd love to hear!

Seed Starting Basics

In my previous post, I mentioned some of our favorite heirloom, organic seed companies. Now is the time to start browsing, dreaming, planning, and getting excited about your garden!

But what do you do when your seeds arrive? Those tiny little bundles of garden promise must be planted and nurtured indoors until the cruel chill of winter has passed. Although every plant has its own timetable for germination and transplanting outdoors (which means that not all seeds should be started at the same time), and some seeds can be sown directly into the grown, mid-March through mid-April is roughly the appropriate time indoor seed starting here in Michigan. Before that time comes, you will need to  determine which seeds to start indoors and gather all of your supplies.

I think one of the best things you can do to prepare for a gardening adventure is research. Blog posts can only cover a limited amount of information at a time, so I would strongly recommend investing in some good books that will serve as a reference for years to come. Some of our favorites are:

• Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre
• The Heirloom Life Gardener: The Baker Creek Way of Growing Your Own Food Easily and Naturally
• Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long
• Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces 
• One Magic Square: The Easy, Organic Way to Grow Your Own Food on a 3-Foot Square
• You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening
• Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Green Resource for Every Gardener

After a bit of research, you'll need to plan what to plant your seeds in. We have about a gazillion of the 72-cell plant trays which we purchased for peanuts at a local farm auction, but you don't have to be that fancy. You can use empty egg cartons, which are perfect and since repurposed, very eco-friendly, but you need to start stocking up if you want to have a decent collection of plants. You can also make cute little pots out of newspaper using this cool handy-dandy
PotMaker® The Original Pot Maker tool, which we actually did one summer. (OK, I have to be honest here... our friend Ron was staying with us at the time, and he was the one who made all the pots, over 600 of them.... I'm not sure I could have had the patience for that many, but if you don't need 600, it might be a  great solution! A good job for kids?).

If you are a complete newbie to seed starting, you might want to go the easy (albeit slightly more expensive route) to seed starting and purchase a starter kit. Hydrofarm makes a nice starter kit, the Hydrofarm CK64050 Germination Station with Heat Mat, that includes a 72-cell tray, a heating mat, and a dome lid for around $25. With this kit, you will still need to purchase your planting medium, but that gives you some choice and flexibility to choose organic , which is nice.

We use and love Light Warrior® Agro-ponic® Grow Medium   for starting our seeds (on Amazon, about $25/bag with shipping). It is so chock-full of nutrients that we do not need to fertilize the little guys. When we transplant to pots, we use the Light Warrior again, providing a burst of fresh nutrition, and it is quite some time before the plants are in need of fertilizer. You might want to find a hydroponics store locally, to save on shipping, although we still pay almost $20 a bag at our favorite local organic grow store, Horizen Hydroponics in Kalalmazoo. If you use soemthing like peat as a starting medium, you will need to fertilize regularly, since peat has no available nutrition. A great fertilizer to use would be Bonide Fish Emulsion Plant Food, 16 oz..

Where to keep your seedlings once they germinate? In most cases, simply setting your tray of plants in a sunny window will not provide adequate light, and your seedlings will be tall and spindly, if they grow at all. My husband is quite the handy guy and was able to build us a grow shelf out of 2 x 4s, pressed board, and standard shop lights (photo above, post to follow soon with instructions). Building your own grow shelf is by far the cheapest way to go, and you'll also end up with a much sturdier product, but if you are not inclined to building your own, then check out the
Hydrofarm JSV4 4-Foot Jump Start T5 Grow Light System . It gets pretty good reviews and should provide ample room for starting seeds for a small to medium garden.

Once your seedlings have reached a height of a few inches, they will need to be transplanted. You can use plant pots, or you can use paper or plastic cups, or you can be super eco-savvy and recycle household items like empty yogurt and cottage cheese containers, coffee cans, frozen juice cans, etc. Whatever you choose, it should be able to withstand at least a few weeks of watering without completely deteriorating.

Once your seeds are planting, you should mark them with the name of the plant and the date you planted. There are special wooden plant markers that they sell for this purpose, but they are outrageously expensive and unnecessary. We buy a jumbo box of popsicle sticks and use those. Voila! Any leftovers can be used in a kids' log cabin building contest.

And finally, you will need to provide ample water and and nutrients to your little babies. A simple watering can is all that's needed. This OXO 1069727 Good Grips Indoor Pour & Store 3.17-Quart Watering Can, Blue is a nice little one if you want something sturdy and attractive. But why not be eco-friendly, and turn an empty 2-liter bottle into a watering can following these simple directions? So easy, free, and green! (Just make sure your holes aren't too large, you don't want to drown your delicate seedlings.)

Whatever you choose for watering, I recommend a spout with mutiple small holes, as opposed to a can with just one larger pouring spout, so that you don't flood your tiny plants. Some people mist instead of watering, but in my experience, it takes an awful lot of misting to keep those babies damp, especially if you are using a very bright light.

So start browsing, planning, arranging... planting time will be here before you know it!

 

Hearty Winter Potato Cheese Soup with Leeks and Bacon

Winter.

Cool, crisp air, the crunch of snow under foot, rosy cheeks and frozen fingers, snowmen and snowhoes and layers and layers. Short, happy days... long, chilly nights cuddling cozy under warm blankies.

Steaming bowls of hearty soup that warm the soul.

Homemade bread slathered in butter (decadent, lavish amounts of butter).

Some days, I just love winter.

Here is one of my favorites. Simple, tasty, hearty.

Ingredients:

 Approximately 1 lb. of potatoes (I usually use 5-6 medium to large potatoes)
1/2 cup of chopped leek
1/2 of an onion, chopped
4-6 strips of bacon (really good bacon makes all the difference in the world)
3 cups milk
3 cups chicken broth
1 tub of Buitoni Alfredo Sauce (in the refrigerated section of the store)
2 bay leaves
Dash of red pepper (optional)

Dice the bacon and fry in a large cooking pot with the onions and leeks until bacon is almost crisp.
Peel and chop the potatoes into smallish cubes. Add potatoes to the the cooking pot, add the bay leaves, cover with the broth and milk, and bring to a boil. Cook at a light simmer for about 20-30 minutes, until potatoes are very tender and can be mashed, and desired thickness is achieved. Add water or broth if soup gets too thick. Add the alfredo sauce and simmer for 10 minutes more. Serve with warm bread and yummy salad, and you have quite a meal!

Just so you know, this recipe is not an exact roadmap to soup perfection, but more of a ... rough guide. I tend to "wing it" in the kitchen, adding a bit of this and a bit of that until it works, which sometimes makes it difficult to share recipes. Hopefully, though, it will get you on the right track to a most excellent soup. And if you found you needed to alter something, by all means, please share!

I have an urge to add asparagus, which I think would go well with the cheesiness. I also think a little bit of chopped carrot and celery might be a nice addition. Maybe next time. And perhaps cream cheese? So many possibilities....

Here's hoping your winter days end with many warm soups and full tummies...

 

Just so you know, this recipe is not an exact roadmap to soup perfection, but more of a ... rough guide. I tend to "wing it" in the kitchen, adding a bit of this and a bit of that until it works, which sometimes makes it difficult to share recipes. Hopefully, though, it will get you on the right track to a most excellent soup. And if you found you needed to alter something, by all means, please share

Planning Your Garden: Time to Start Browsing Seed Catalogs

 

Whether you are a seasoned gardener, or a brave, intrepid soul looking to grow some of your own food for the first time, it's time to start thinking about starting your own seeds. If you intend to buy plants at a local nursery instead, you still have awhile before you need to make garden plans. But if you want to experience the joy and miracle of watching your own food burst forth from the tiniest speck of a seed, now is the time to get into garden mode. And, besides, nothing whisks away those winter doldrums like the gorgeous colors and delicious promises of a seed catalog. We spend many a chilly winter eve in front of a blazing fire, sipping hot cocoa, "oohing" and "aaahing" over the gorgeous and unusual varieties that heirloom seed catalogs bring right to our door.

 

Imagine the delicious juiciness of a purple cherokee tomato, so ripe and wonderful that one bite sends your taste buds into a frenzied state of happiness, tomato juices drizzling down your chin. A dash of salt, a splash of olive oil, and my, oh my... a gourmet snack fresh from nature! Seed catalogs offer the promise of heaven, of fruits and veggies that no grocery store can ever offer, tastes and smells and colors that will burst forth from your garden and decorate your dinner plate. And the best part? Starting plants from seeds costs pennies per plant!

 

If you don't have one already, you will need some sort of grow shelf for starting your seedlings, and we will show you our DIY, easy-peasy pumpkin squeezy grow shelf in a later post. For now, it's time to start requesting catalogs so that you can give yourself some delicious motivation to get serious about your garden.

Hands-down, our favorite paper catalog is from Baker Seeds. Their catalog is a masterpiece (and yes, we know it is more eco-friendly to browse seeds online, but I promise you, there is nothing quite as wonderful as flipping through this catalog, all curled up under a warm blankie, photos popping off the pages with their vibrant colors and yummy gorgeousness). Other catalogs worth perusing include Seed Savers Exchange, Peaceful Valley (with its artist-rendered drawings instead of photos, and excellent gardening tips), Bountiful Gardens, and Fedco Seeds (no photos in this one, but once you know what you want, they are very affordable, particularly if you are buying seeds in large quantities).

 

 

So go ahead, request some catalogs, and start dreaming your garden to life. Spring will be upon us before we know it!

 

Living Organically (and Affordably)

The birth of our baby boy a year and a half ago brought new joys and dreams, but also new worries. We have always eaten healthy food, mostly organic, and much of it homegrown, but suddenly it seemed like not enough. Foods that I didn't mind eating before now seemed wrought with chemicals and impurities when I set them before my baby.

But where to start? Trying to switch to completely organic foods seemed overwhelming and expensive. Of course, there is always something else that can be found organically, for a price. To simply substitute what we were eating with an organic version could easily have doubled our grocery bill. So, then, how can a frugal family find a way to eat food that is both healthy AND affordable? We wanted this to work not only for us, but also for others interested in doing the same.

I truly believe that if there is only one aspect of your lifestyle that you can put extra effort and extra expense into, it should be your diet. Food is so very important to our health. And our agricultural and livestock systems here in the US are becoming unhealthier by the day. Food that was once nourishing and tasty is now shipped halfway around the world, pumped full of pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, or other chemicals, genetically modified, and damaging to our health. Eating organically grown food has never been more important.

So then back to the question: how do we  cost-effectively make our diet healthier? We have spent the last year taking a close look at our purchases, our eating habits, cooking methods, and sources of food, to come up with a realistic plan. Over the next month or so, I plan to write about how we are "organicizing" our life. I had originally planned this as just a post or two, but quickly realized that there is so much to write about. So instead, I've made it a theme. Here's a quick roadmap of where this will all go:

Why organic?
If you are going to be rehabbing your diet, it is important to know why you are doing it. The stronger your reasons, the more likely you are to stick to the plan. For us, it was easy: babies and young children are much more susceptible to the dangers of pesticides, herbicides,  and antibiotics and growth hormones in meat and dairy. My husband and I both agreed that we wanted our son to start life with a clean slate, free of all those nasty chemicals for as long as possible. In addition to that, we wholeheartedly believe in farming practices that nurture this beautiful world of ours and keep its inhabitants safe and healthy.

Need more motivation? See The Top 10 Reasons to Go Organic, or check out the Organic Consumers Association for info.

Plan a Garden
Hands down, the cheapest way to get organic food into your tummy is to grow it yourself. And trust me, you do not have to be a master gardener to do this. When my husband and I moved from the city to the country, neither one of us had ever had a garden before. And in that in that first summer, we grew enough not only to eat all summer and can for winter, but also to give away wheel barrels full of veggies to our neighbors.

You can start small, with just a few key veggies that your family enjoys, or if you are brave and have the room, try to grow a large enough variety to meet much of your family's needs. And with a baby in the family, a garden provides a very affordable way to make delicious, healthy baby food with minimal effort (pick, wash, puree, freeze).

Some of our favorite gardening resources include Peaceful Valley, Mother Earth News, and Kitchen Gardeners International.

Join a Health Food Store Co-op
We aren't able to find much organic food around here, out in the rural countryside. It took some time, but we finally figured out how to source the organic items we cannot grow ourselves. My husband works in Kalamazoo, and so we became members at a health food store co-op there, Natural Health Center, since he is able to stop in on his way home from work (saves me the cost of gas of an extra trip). As members, we receive a 20% discount, which brings the prices down quite close to non-organic items at a regular grocery store. In addition, they offer bulk items that are very affordable.

Farmer's Market
Even if it's not organic, buying local produce is a healthy choice for both you and the environment. When food does not have to be shipped across the country, it can be picked at the peak of freshness, rather than in a totally unripe state. Farmer's Markets offer competitive prices, delicious produce, and the chance to buy large quantities when a fruit or veggie is in season and then can or freeze what you don't immediately need for later use. I had never realized that asparagus is sweet and juicy until we moved out to the country and bought asparagus that was picked that day. What a difference from the asparagus we had been used to in our Chicago grocery store!

Raise Your Own Chickens
Even if you live in an urban area, you might still be able to raise your own hens, as long as you have a yard area where you can build a small coop. Many urban centers now allow residents to keep a limited number of hens (usually no roosters, though, for obvious reasons). There is absolutely nothing better than the flaming orange yolks of healthy, homegrown chicken eggs.

Join a CSA
This is an especially good option for those who don't have either the space or the time to grow their own vegetables. A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) membership entitles you to a box of fresh-picked veggies every week or two all summer long. You generally receive whatever is in season. This is a great way to support small, local farmers and to build a connection with your food. Many CSAs offer farm visits, volunteering opportunities, and some of the freshest, tastiest food around. Local Harvest is a great website for finding a CSA, organic farm, farmer's market, or other sources of organically-grown food.

We'll be taking a look at these ideas, as well as a few more, over the next month to see how they can help a family eat more healthy, local, and organic food without breaking the bank. We'll have resources, tips, stories, recipes, and hopefully lots of sharing from others who are living organically and loving it. Stay tuned!