Let's Eat Out!

Eating out is tough for those of us who would like to eat a more organic and/or minimally processed diet. And if you’re trying to eat out with kids and on a budget, it’s even tougher. My six-year-old loves fast food restaurants as much as any six-year-old, but I really believe it’s the playland and the toys in the kids meals that are the source of his affection. I’m not sure he even tastes the food since he eats it as fast as humanly possible so he can get to the toy in the kids meal and hit the playland. Too bad there aren’t any restaurants serving healthy meals that come with free action figures and a human habitrail. In a pinch we will choose Wendy’s if we’re on the road. At least there I can get a baked potato and the kids usually choose mandarin oranges over French fries (although I’m not sure which is worse – all the added sugar or the nasty grease). So I was excited to read an article recently in Kiwi magazine (A magazine for “Growing families the natural and organic way”, which I highly recommend too - http://www.kiwimagonline.com/) that showcased some restaurants that serve healthier, organic faire and are reasonably priced. Here’s what they said about three restaurants in our area:

Panera Bread (throughout the US and Canada)
This popular sandwich chain serves only antibiotic-free chicken in its salads, sandwiches, and soups. Panera recently reworked its kids’ menu to include organic juice, yogurt, and milk, as well as grilled cheese sandwiches made with organic cheese and a PB&J with natural peanut butter and whole-grain bread.

I had an opportunity to eat at Panera recently. I was meeting a friend and was sans-kids, so I didn’t get to sample the kid menu, but their salads were interesting and full of fruits and veggies beyond the usual lettuce. I do have to say though, that the luscious pastries in the showcase (right on kid eye level) were most likely not so organic or healthy. Still, it definitely beats fast food and really didn’t cost much more.

Chipotle (Throughout the US and Canada)
Chipotle is the country’s largest chain restaurant to embrace organic; it stuffs its burritos, tacos, and salads with chicken and beef raised without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics. All cheese and sour cream are free of the synthetic hormone rBGH, and 30% of Chipotle’s beans are organic. With more than 500 locations across the country, this Mexican eatery is now pursuing LEED (green building) certification for its partially wind-powered Gurnee, Illinois restaurant.

I’ve never eaten at Chipotle, but a teenager I know, who’s very much in the know, told me it’s the best. And that particular teenager wouldn’t be the least bit worried about whether the ingredients were organic or not.

Elevation Burger (Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia)
Featuring patties for all manner of burger lovers (meat eaters, vegetarians, and even vegans), Elevation uses organic, grass-fed, free-range beef and locally sourced ingredients whenever practical. After cooking its fries in heart-healthy olive oil, the restaurant donates its leftover grease for conversion into biodiesel. Elevation is currently pursuing LEED certification for each newly constructed restaurant. The chain also employs eco-friendly equipment, low or no-VOC paints and finishes, and energy-efficient lighting.

I’ve never even heard of Elevation Burger, but now I’m on the look out. It sounds like my kind of place. Below are some of the other restaurants listed by Kiwi magazine as embracing the benefits of organic foods and environmental responsibility. I think it’s important that those of us who support this kind of change should also support these restaurants. So next time you itching for a night away from your kitchen and the fight with the kids over who does the dishes – do something good for your family and good for our planet and patronize one of these restaurants.

Burger Lounge (Southern California)
Burgerville (Oregon, Washington, Vancouver)
O’Naturals (Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina)
Organic To Go (California, Washington, Washington DC)
Le Pain Quotidien (California, Connecticut, New York, Washington DC)
Pizza Fusion (Arizone, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington)
TerraBurger (Texas, with more locations opening soon)

Talking Trash and Earth Hour

This morning as I was crushing another cereal box for the recycling bin and dropping the apple peels in the compost, I realized that trash has changed a lot since I was a kid. Back then (and I won’t say when “back then” was) we threw everything away. I remember we had three big trash cans in our garage filled to the brim and then some. The garbage men walked up our driveway, lifted the garage door, and carted them out to the street. Then they put the trash cans back in the garage and closed the door again. Times have changed. Between composting, recycling, and my plastic container fetish, we have about two or three bags of trash each week. They all fit in one trash can that we roll down to the street. The garbage men pick them up, along with all the recycling, empty them in their truck, and fling the cans back in to our driveway with as much force as possible. Sometimes the can rolls back in to the street to create an obstacle course for our neighbors. Like I said, trash has changed.

My kids have grown up with compost and recycling. They don’t know any different. They know all about saving the planet and global warming. They are concerned about the rainforest. Teaching your kids to live a life that is good for them and for this world isn’t as hard as it used to be. Being green is “in”. As much as they might complain about changes to their lifestyle that involve the loss of cheese curls and soda, they will adapt. And it will be what they know. Once they become parents themselves they’ll even appreciate it.

This weekend there is a great opportunity to create a memory for your children and do something good for the planet. Last year 50 million people participated in Earth Hour and created the largest voluntary power-down in history. This year it could be even bigger. I’m already planning our evening. I’m gathering candles and games and yummy snacks. At 8:25, we’ll send the kids all over the house to turn off everything. Even though Earth Hour organizers are only directing us to turn off lights, we’re going for broke in our household. We have a Black and Decker gadget that tells us how much power we’re using in our house at any given moment – we’ll try to make it say 0. We’ll light a fire if it’s cold and light lots and lots of candles and then for one hour we will be together and have fun without using any electricity. My kids are stoked for this, as am I. We can’t wait. What can your family do for Earth Hour? Don’t miss this opportunity to teach your children about conservation and have a great family memory to show for it.

One other thought, if 8:30-9:30pm this Saturday doesn’t work for you, pick another time. Your kids will never know it wasn’t the real “Earth Hour”. Besides if you do it sometime within 24 hours of our Earth Hour, you’re bound to be participating in Earth Hour somewhere on the planet. It’s important that we find ways to pass on our commitment to a planet-conscious lifestyle. Here’s a great chance. And don’t forget Earth Day is coming in April – start making plans now!

You can learn all about Earth Hour at www.earthhour.org. Earth Hour is a worldwide event. You can check out other people’s posts, videos, and tweets from all over the world. You can join the Earth Hour group or just be a fan on Facebook. Isn’t it cool to be part of something so big?

Happy Snacking!

Yesterday I read a New York Times article my husband forwarded to me that really said what I tried to say in my post A Cheese Curl is Not Just a Cheese Curl. It pointed out that just because something is labeled certified organic does not mean it is necessarily better for you. Sometimes the certified organic milk you purchase in good faith was ultra pasteurized in New Zealand. I’m fundamentally opposed to overheating my food, but beyond that consider the carbon footprint left by the effort of bringing this milk to you. But it’s organic, you cry. True, it’s technically organic, but it’s not organic in the true spirit of the organic movement.

The organic movement was born from a desire to do the right thing – for our bodies, for our land, for our animals, and for our world. It’s simplifying our lifestyle, knowing what goes in to the food we eat, and caring about future generations. My motives for going organic were purely selfish (to fix my son’s health), but I’ve grown to understand and be committed to all the other pieces of living an organic lifestyle. So it bothers me when it is assumed that an organic lifestyle is simply eating foods that are certified organic. As I pointed out in a previous post, a cheese curl may be certified organic, but that doesn’t make it good for you.

So don’t be blinded by the little green and white certified organic symbol. Healthy and locally grown means more. Feed your family whole foods and stay away from the processed foods as much as possible. Your kids don’t need to eat cheese curls and soda. Even if the cheese curls and soda are organic, they’re still bad for you. True, it’s a fact that my kids want them (I’m sure yours do to) so the challenge is to find foods that they like and have a certain “thrill” factor. A carrot stick does not have the thrill factor, but fresh raspberries and a few carob or grain-sweetened chocolate chips in vanilla yogurt does. My kids munch on popcorn most afternoons after school. They take it outside to share with the chickens and have great fun seeing what kinds of predicaments you can get a chicken in to when it is chasing popcorn. Recently we made homemade pretzels after school. We hadn’t done it in awhile (probably since one of the older ones was learning his letters and we practiced making his name). Baking soft pretzels takes no time at all. Here’s one simple recipe:

Miss Sally’s Pretzels (Miss Sally was Brady’s 2-year-old teacher – thanks Sally!)
11/2 C warm water
1 envelope (2 ¼ teaspoons) yeast
4 C flour (I used half organic unbleached white and half whole wheat)
1 t salt
1T sugar (I used succanat)
Coarse salt (coarse ground celtic sea salt)
1 egg

Mix warm water, yeast and sugar.
Set this mixture aside for five minutes. Pour salt and flour into bowl. Add yeast mixture to make dough. Roll dough in to shapes (this is the part your kids will have fun with).
Brush egg onto the shapes with pastry brush and sprinkle with coarse salt.

Bake at 425 for 12 minutes.

Other great snack ideas:
“Ants on a Log” celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins
Toast with honey and cinnamon
Pooh Sandwiches – whole grain crackers or graham crackers with peanut butter and honey
Power mix – cashews, sunflower seeds, raisins, grain-sweetened chocolate chips, and any other nut or unsweetened sugar mixed together
Pretzels dipped in mustard
Frozen blueberries (or grapes or cherries)
Dried apricots dipped in melted dark chocolate and sprinkled with pistachios
Fresh strawberries
Oranges already sliced up (for some reason kids will gobble up oranges if you do the work for them, yet ignore the bag of them in the fridge)
Hardboiled eggs served in egg cup (remember those cute little egg cups that your grandmother used to have? You can still get them and for some reason they make eggs much more inviting especially if there is an assortment to choose from)
Pickle platter (put an assortment of pickles arranged artfully on a plate and surprise your kids – let them use toothpicks to eat them, even better)
Nachos (whole grain corn chips with raw milk cheddar cheese melted on top, add chopped tomatoes or olives if your kids go in for that sort of thing)

If you’ve got a great snack idea, please comment to this post with it – I need more ideas!
Also, if you’d like to check out the New York Times article mentioned above see www.nytimes.com. The article is called Eating Food That’s Better For You – Organic or Not by Mark Bittman and can be found in the March 22 edition.

Buying By the Cow

The year we began buying our beef by the cow is the year all my children decided they liked steak (even the vegetarian one). Friends raise their eyebrows when I tell them I’m buying half a cow. They’ve come to expect extremes from me when it comes to food. Buying your meat by the animal is much, much cheaper than buying it in Styrofoam cartons from the butcher. And don’t worry – it doesn’t arrive on four legs.

The first task is to find a farmer who sells their cows, hogs, or sheep whole or half. There are many that do (how do you think your butcher buys them?). Ask around at your local butcher shop, farmer’s market, or check online. Two great sites online to get you started are www.localharvest.org and www.eatwellguide.org. Pick a farmer that raises animals without growth hormones, unnecessary antibiotics, and preferably on grass. If the farm is certified organic – great (although the price will be higher).

A half a cow will feed my family of five for nearly a year. We eat beef about 1-2 a week. The price does go down if you buy an entire cow, but I like my beef to be fairly fresh, so we buy just the half. If you have a friend to split the cow with you can both save lots. When you order you will be told the cost of the beef per pound. Be sure to ask if this price includes the butchering and packaging (most do). When you place your order, you fill out an order form telling the butcher things like how much steak you want vs. how much hamburger, how many pounds per roast, and how thick the steaks should be cut. I always feel like royalty when I direct my steaks to be cut 1½” thick and order the percentage of fat I would like in my burger. Oh, and package my burger in one pound packs with a few three pound packs thrown in for parties. Nobody grants my wishes like the butcher.

It generally takes about two weeks from when you order your cow until you are carting it home. It arrives flash-frozen and vacumm packed in plastic packages. The hamburger comes in neat little blocks that stack great in my freezer. We had an exceptionally big cow last year and some of the hamburger was in our freezer over a year but still tasted great.

All that savings and convenience is well and good, but the taste is the best reason to buy your cow local, fresh and untainted by growth hormones and antibiotics. In fact my six year old just listed steak as his favorite food on a homework sheet for first grade. Prior to our conversion to buying grass fed black angus beef, my kids refused most steaks. If they did eat it, they would chew it like gum and leave it in unsightly lumps on the edges of their placemats. But that was before they tasted “our cow”. That was before we could afford to feed them filet mignon on a Tuesday because we paid the same price per pound for the filet mignon as we did for the hamburger we grilled over the weekend. The beef they are eating is better than beef they would get in most restaurants. It melts in your mouth and is so tender it never needs a steak knife. I could go on but suffice it to say – buy your own grass fed black angus cow and you will never go back to eating plain old steak.

This past weekend we purchased our first whole hog. Very exciting. (I’ve told you it takes very little to get me excited) We picked up the pig from the farm where it was raised – a picture perfect Amish farm with turkeys that look just like the ones my kids draw using their fingers for feathers. Our pig cost $3 a pound, so the total bill was $465. The weight is the hanging weight (after the hog is drained). For that money we received 2 fifteen pound hams (OMG how will we ever eat that much ham?), four 4lb roasts (I just pulled out the grocery store circular and it had organic pork roast on sale for $4.49 a lb – boy do I feel justified!), 40 lbs of sausage (breakfast links, seasoned coils, and regular coils), 18 lbs of pork chops, 2 tenderloins, 8 lbs of spare ribs, and 18 pounds of bacon.

I know you’re first concern is –where do you put all that meat? It doesn’t take as much room as you would think. The hog fit neatly in to two big coolers when we picked it up. We have a standing freezer that is about the same size as our refrigerator and the cow and pig take up about half of it. My adorable nerdy husband plans to make up a spreadsheet showing the cost of buying by the pig and buying the same thing from the grocery store just to make a point, but I don’t need the numbers to tell me. The food is fresher, healthier, tastes better, and supports my neighbors. It’s just an added bonus that it costs less too!

It's What You Put In, not On

Yesterday I made my monthly trek to Trader Joes. As I made my selections it did occur to me that some of the food I was choosing cost significantly more than a similar version in the grocery store. But the food I selected was pesticide free, hormone free, additive free, preservative free, and in many cases certified organic. Organic food costs more. I won’t tell you any different. I will extol all the ways you can spend less through your own efforts, resourcefulness, gardens, and preserving, but the bottom line is it may cost you more, especially in the beginning. This should not be a deterrent because this is life or death we’re talking about. Feeding your family healthy food will protect them for a lifetime. There is no cost too high for avoiding things like cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, and diabetes. And you’ll never know if you dodged these bullets because you ate and lived well or because you are lucky. Science has yet to connect all the dots, but we cannot afford to wait. Trust your instincts and common sense. And eat things that you recognize. Best not to take chances on your health.

So how do we afford it? Well, maybe we need to take a long hard look at the budget and figure out how to save in other areas. When I confessed to my mother-in-law that I was shopping at Goodwill these days (and that’s a whole other post – have you been there lately? As my son would say “It’s the bomb.”), she said that makes perfect sense to her. She pointed out that you should care about and spend more on the things you put in your body than on your body. Amen.

Choosing to live a healthier, more planet conscious life will cost more in some ways and less in others. You can save money by making and growing much of your own food and by cleaning with simple inexpensive products. But there will be some things that cost a premium. It's a balance you have to find for your own budget and your own life. If may be "cheaper" for you to pay the high cost of an organic item versus make it yourself. Your time is worth money too. As the world has finally begun to get onboard, I truly believe the cost of organics will go down as the options increase.

We find ways to afford the things that are really important to us. It comes down to priorities, and maybe a little creative bookkeeping. So I shop at Goodwill, swap books with friends or use the library, and wait for movies to hit the $2 movie house. Meanwhile, my family eats grass fed, organic filet mignon, local hormone free milk, and organic pesticide free strawberries. Seems like a fair trade to me.

You Do Not Need a Bendaroo

Watching TV costs you money. And I’m not talking about cable or dish network or satellite or anything like that. We have a television in our house and no service except what comes free from the sky. With Kid # 1 and Kid #2 we were able to get by with the occasional video or DVD. Nothing on the regular stations (all three of them!) interested them. But Kid # 3 has been a different story. He plans his week around the two hours of uninterrupted screen time on Saturday morning. And this has cost me money.

This week it’s the bendaroos. His life will not be complete until he has this overpriced, over-hyped toy. He can tell you all the benefits and features, word for word from the commercials that were pounded in to his head this past Saturday morning. Before that it was the Alive Lion Cub or the Mega- Ship Shark Attack. There is always something that he finds lacking in his life by 11am on Saturday. And then I have to listen to the begging and bargaining all week. This week there were actual tears over the bendaroos. I happened in to a Toys R Us and checked them out for myself. It took awhile to locate this ubertoy which, apparently is only a must have for my son since the clerk had no idea what I was talking about (“benda-what??” “Roos, you know like a kangaroo, only bendy” Am I really having this conversation??). $20 bucks! That’s what they wanted for a box of wax covered pipecleaners. So I did what every sensible parent does these days, I went home and looked online. Still $20 bucks and the reviews were horrible. There were even directions on how to lodge a better business bureau complaint if you have already purchased this toy. Wow. And still he whines.

My point is that he would have never known about Bendaroos or Shark Attack or any of the other overpriced toys that he attempts to con his grandparents in to buying for him if he wasn’t watching television. So here’s my affordable organic tip for the day – turn off the tube. Find something for your kids to do that doesn’t involve a screen. And here’s an even bigger tip – let them be bored. The best ideas come when someone has time to be bored. Finally their brain is unencumbered by flying digital images and unending noise. There’s creativity to be had in silence. Kids will whine about being bored. They will complain. And that’s when you just say something like, “huh.” Be completely noncommittal because – and here’s the important thing to remember – their boredom is not your problem. It’s theirs and if they really own it they won’t stay bored for long. They will find some way to amuse themselves. Who knows, maybe they’ll open a book. Or pull out the markers. Or dig out that overpriced, over-hyped talking lion cub that they just had to have a few months ago.