Frugal on a Time Budget Meal of the Day

Last week I committed to buckling down on frugality while trying to find time to do everything else. My current duties besides the everyday of keeping up with my paid job, keeping the house within health code standards, and keeping the family fed and clothed, include working on my church's Mother's Day for Peace event (more on that later) and working on Someday Garden's biggest consultation job to date. Not to mention, our own gardens are established and filling out, but the weeds are still competing and there are always things to be moved, pruned, watered, you name it. However busy I might be, I did find time to make a big pot of veggie chili. I made my standard from diced tomatoes, bulk kidney beans, corn, onions and seasonings, and added some bulk barley to fill it out nutritionally and budget-wise. (Saute the onions, then add remaining ingredients. Cook the barley ahead of time or add a goodly amount of veggie broth with the dried barley into the chili, and let it simmer gently until the barley is tender.) It turned out great. The first night, I decided to keep things interesting by serving it over a baked sweet potato, with a dollop of plain yogurt. For some reason I thought some steamed broccoli on top sounded good, and it ended up complimenting the whole thing quite nicely, giving a sweet freshness to the savoriness of the general dish. It may not look like much, but it was absolutely delicious, and very filling. I believe the cost per person was about $1. The kids are currently shunning tomatoes, but gobbled up a Sprout-Friendly chili version with just beans, corn, and (shhh) a little bit of tomato juice mixed in. It helps to find new ways to make old frugal favorites interesting.

Heatwave with Flowers

We are in our third year of gardens here, and it's wonderful to see how things have finally gotten well established and are coming up bigger and stronger than ever. We were surprised to see how well the shade garden is coming back. My anemone is finally doing what it's supposed, to being big, white, and showy early in the garden.





We have one Jacob's Ladder that is weeks ahead of it's kin in a shower of delicate periwinkle buds.

The columbine have budded out and the bleeding heart are already blooming. I love how they capture moisture within their luscious petals. You can see the drops when the sun shines through.

I was thrilled to spot our lone trillium which my sister picked up for me at a native plant sale. I didn't really believe it would make it back, but it made it's ephemeral debut this week. These are one of my favorite flowers. They're so simple in essence, but their elegance is enhanced by the smooth green leaves that frame the three white petals. They remind me of the big ruffs that English queens sometimes wore--or the big headresses of vegas showgirls! I hope you enjoyed the walk through our garden today.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Yesterday I had the incredible honor to join thousands of others at a teaching given by His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Seeing His Holiness has been on The List of things I'd like to do in my life, along with seeing the Great Barrier Reef and Alaska. We joined people from all walks of life to crowd into a sold out hockey stadium to hear this incredible individual. When we arrived, I had to practice my open heart and compassion as we walked past people carrying "Trust Jesus" signs, shouting at us from behind big placards with bible verses, and handing out "Heaven or Hell?" flyers. Good practice.

As we joined the massive crowd waiting to enter, we found ourselves next to a group of individuals I believe to have been Tibetan. I felt a surge of emotion as I was torn between happiness and sorrow from the old woman, who perhaps remembered leaving Tibet, to the young girl, who perhaps never would, and also the joy in them being able to see the great spritual leader from their native country.

Amazingly, arriving 45 minutes late because of the crowding, we were seated (far, far in the back but with a decent view) and only minutes later His Holiness entered the arena. I knew I would be overwhelmed by the emotion, and I was. Tears started running down my face as I saw this "humble Buddhist monk" who radiates peace and calm. He waved to everyone, even comically peering up into the highest reaches of seating and getting laughs right off the bat. As he was introduced, he removed his shoes, exposing his maroon socks and then tucking his feet up under him as he settled comfortably into a seat that was part throne, part victorian setee. I have read hundreds of pages of text in the words of HH, studied his teachings and learnings over the years, most recently about neuroscience, and to hear him speak still ignited a spark in my heart. He spoke at first in Tibetan, with a translator, but mostly in English. As I've heard, he will sometimes be so into a thought as he teaches that he switches to rapid Tibetan and his translator explains the end of the thought. He also checked words occasionally with his translator. Their relationship was so smooth and easy that you didn't miss a beat, and the nature of it was charming. His Holiness has a very strong accent, but is easily understood when you pay attention to him--easy to do when he is mixing comedy and lightheartedness with his teachings.

The nature of his teaching was Compassion as the Source of Happiness. He spoke about how humans by nature have a biological need for compassion and affection from the time we are born. He described how in consciously choosing to be truly compassionate towards another individual, we gain self-confidence and strength, dispel our fear, and are able to be more peaceful and calm. Later he described how having this underlying calm and compassion can help us not only to have a higher level of happiness day-to-day, but gives us the serenity to handle more difficult situations and even tragedies when they arise.

When his lecture was over, His Holiness spoke about his optimism for Our World--peace and sustainability. He drew wave after wave of applause when he said firmly that prayer and meditation was not enough, that we must work for change, and then we can see the next century as one that is known for it's peace, and our environment can survive. He also spoke about parenting compassionately, with affection, joking that it was easy for him to advise because he was a monk. He said that if he had to be with children he would be very kind--maybe 3, 4 hours. Then, maybe not so kind. He also spoke about being a vegetarian. He said that because many monastaries are strict vegetarian, they do promote a vegetarian diet. However, he said that he eats mostly vegetarian, but then, once maybe one or two weeks, a little not-vegetarian. He spoke about how monks are supposed to fast from solid foods after the noon meal, but that if he is very hungry, he'll have a biscuit or two. You see, His Holiness teaches us that greatness doesn't come in some abnormally Divine individual, it comes through people just like you and me. We all have the ability to be compassionate, and to actively develop that compassionate to be happier and to make a difference in the world. We are all Divine. We all have the ability to pray, meditate and move our feet as we do.

Resources:
Biography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama Teaching Webcasts
Books by His Holiness (I highly recommend "The Art of Happiness".)

Picture from the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Flickr Photos

False Cherry Blossom
Originally uploaded by SproutsMom.

One thing I've been finding time for is taking pictures. If you're in the mood for browsing, feel free to check out my Flickr account. I'll keep it updated with my latest favorites. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of my Flickr photos if you're interested. Just click on the picture to go to Flickr, or visit my homepage at http://flickr.com/photos/sproutsmom/. The link for the feed is at the bottom. Of course I'll continue posting photos here as well.

Enjoy!

Frugal on a Time Budget

Oh how crazy life becomes. While I'm thrilled with the success of our garden business, its meant that Beo is away for many hours. We did get to work on a project together this week, which was great, but there's much to do at home too, and we're finding ourselves constantly in a time crunch. Housekeeping, paid-work, cooking, shopping, time with the kids--how do I balance it all? Lately I've found myself withdrawing from all of it because it feels so overwhelming. With all the crazy scheduling, we've found ourselves eating out more and cooking far less. After a week and a half of it, we both were downright sick of it. Beo and I sat down (okay, we had the conversation while we were both getting ready to go somewhere else) and came up with a plan: Back off from the gourmet, 10-step, dirt-cheap meals, but find a way to still cook inexpensively and simply. So I've tried to take what I've learned about frugality, and combine it with my favorite simple cooking. Time to take a step back.

So I went to Whole Foods Market, with only a basic idea of a plan, and here are a few things I came up with.

1. Bulk beans, rice, steel cut oats and nuts still work time-wise, and save us money. Beans and SCO may be more time intensive, but there's little labor involved, I just need to think ahead. Money and packaging saved.

2. Sweet potatoes still work over frozen potatoes. I can nuke one for lunch or throw them into the oven while something else bakes.

3. It may be warmer weather, but nothing stretches the budget and fills in menu holes like a big pot of veggie chili or soup.

4. Homemade bread is out until further notice. I found a bakery variety on sale and *gasp* had it sliced.

5. Time to go back to big batches, leaving leftovers for lunches. If I'm going to do Mollie Katzen, I'll do the full batch and we'll live with a little less variety.

6. While we wait for our favorite veggies to come into season, let's stick with frozen. A bag of mixed organic veggies is $2. That's two sides or one great stir fry. Speaking of...

Our first frugal meal this week was a stir fry, which we haven't done in ages. I made some rice from bulk (25 cents), browned some tofu in marinade ($1.50) and combined it with stir fried veggies ($2) and onion (10 cents). Total cost for the meal: $3.85. It was delicious, and even the kids ate it. It gave us each a generous portion, with enough left over for lunch for Beo today. Total time spent? I was in the kitchen for about half an hour, but I easily could have cut 10 minutes off of that by remembering to thaw the tofu beforehand. What's more, I was able to spend time putting away dishes and cleaning while things cooked up. I'll keep you updated as we try to make our frugal food more time-friendly. Now if I could just get as efficient with the other things on my proverbial plate...

Chickpeas and Spinach Stew

'Tis the season for spinach recipes! I picked up a beautiful two pound bag of big green leaves at the Farmer's Market this weekend. It was gone before we knew it. Spinach is so incredibly versatile and nutritious, and it's one of the easiest foods for us to get local and organic. I received this recipe in my "Green Guide" e-mail yesterday and decided to give it a try. This is modified only very slightly. This is a quick and easy dinner that plates nicely and is very satisfying. Made with bulk rice and beans, it's also inexpensive--especially if you don't burn the first batch of rice. Not that I did.

Chickpeas and Spinach Stew

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1 cup veggie stock
3 cups cooked chickpeas
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
12 ounces fresh greenmarket spinach
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 cups cooked brown rice
Plain Yogurt

Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and spices and cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Cover pot, lower heat and simmer 7 to 10 minutes. Add chicken stock, canned chickpeas and tomato; cover and cook 10 minutes at medium-high. Add spinach, cover for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve over brown rice, Top with a dollop of plain yogurt, and a sprinkle of spices.

I originally followed the directions to cook for another 10 minutes after adding the spinach, but I think it would have been nicer to let the spinach retain more of it's natural brightness and bite. The chicklets ate a modified version--brown rice, chickpeas, yogurt, and cumin. They had baby carrots on the side for their veggie. It was a big hit. Leftovers were great too. Enjoy cooking local as more variety becomes available!

Early Spring in the Garden

Now that Spring seems to have taken hold over the late spurts of Winter, the Gardens are starting to take off. It's so nice to see things popping in to bloom. I'm pleased to say that as of right now, it looks like we may have lost only a few plants. My perrenial snapdragons have yet to bud out, but I haven't given up hope yet. The clematis we put in last year had a rough year and I don't think it will return, and it's too early to look for hostas yet. Our Wood Poppies are probably my favorite native that we have. They live in our partial shade bed, liking wooded edges in their normal habitat. They've done so well over the past few years. I shared a picture earlier this week, but here's a better shot of the plant, now that the flowers aren't bent over.

Our cushion spurge (Euphorbia epithymoides) is some of the earliest color in the garden every year. It's bright yellow foliage belies the fact that it's flowers are actually tiny little things set in the middle of the riot of color. (They are related to the pointsetia, which has the same characteristic.) Our flower lady recommended these when I first had the garden set 3 years ago and was looking for anything I could put in in the earliest days of April. I haven't been dissapointed. As it fills in, it will create a mass (cushion) of these yellow "flowers", that really create a nice chunk of bright color in the early garden.

The last of my favorites to emerge is our Indigo. This is actually a lovely hybrid of two natives, and is known as Baptisia Purple Smoke. I sought our it's lovely shoots under their blanket of wood chips, and was finally rewarded with the lovely purple spears. As they open up their leaves, they lose some of the dramatic color, so these shoots are one of my favorite stages of the plant. They're quite pretty after they go to bloom, and it looks like they're happy where they are--lots more shoots this year than last. Beo loves it too because it's a nitrogen fixer, so every year we add a few more indigo to our gardens.

Last fall we finally decided to plant bulbs, and we've been rewarded with some spots of color as most everything else fils out it's leaves. This narcissus just opened up today to contrast it's yellow cousins. I look forward to continuing to share as our gardens grow and new things come in to bloom.

Earth Dinner 3

Last night we had our third annual Earth Dinner. These dinners, founded by Organic Valley, are a wonderful way to celebrate local, organic, and sustainable foods. It's always fun to try to plan a local dinner in April here in Wisconsin. Some years I wish Earth Dinner would wait until July when things are in full swing! As I've come to learn though, there's more available than one might think. I started yesterday with a rare solo trip to the Madison Farmer's Market. It was the first day of the open air market this year. What a wonderful thing! It was great to see some of our favorite vendors back, and our winter vendors with a much bigger selection. I got lettuce, spinach, radishes, potatoes, beautiful flowers (hyacinths, daffodils, freesia), honey and grass-fed-goat organic feta.

Our menu: Vegetable Lasanga with Farmer's Market Spinach Organic Valley cottage cheese and eggs, homemade pasta; Tossed Salad (all local); Rolls made with Organic Valley eggs; Roasted Heirloom Baby Potatoes from the Farmer's Market; Pear-Applesauce, brought by our neighbors and made from their own pears; Chocolate Chip Cookies brought by our neighbors made with their own maple syrup; wine brought by our friends, from a local winery; pasta salad brought by our friends. I also made a key-lime cheesecake with Organic Valley cream cheese and eggs. The limes came from my fruit angel, so they were quite local for her. It was a sumptous feast (that somehow managed to get eaten amidst the 6 children under 5 that were chaos personified and a complete joy)!

We celebrated last night with two families new to our lives, one from our church and another from just around the corner. It was great to celebrate this event together. I put out our Earth Day cards (pictured above) but the conversation was so lively, they went untouched. I highly recommend these dinners for a way to bring neighbors or friends together in a celebration of local food.

Our Earth Day celebration continued at church this morning, with a lovely service and the planting of a native garden by the children. What a wonderful way to celebrate the Earth! What's more, it was 80 degrees out! That made it especially nice to be outside enjoying our environment. For my favorite Earth Day tips, check out last year's Earth Day post. Thanks to all of you for the things you do to walk more lightly on our planet. Happy Earth Day!

100th Post

Happy Earth Day! This is my 100th post. Yep, it is. I thought I'd show you a number of different things for this momentous occasion. Here's some things growing in our yard. Here's our great groundcover:

Here's one of the native plants in our shade garden: Beo's latest rock wall: Here are the flowers I got at the Farmer's Market Saturday:

Here's my little beauty and my big dopey hound:

Here's me really, really happy that Beo felt 100 posts deserved a new camera! (Actually the 100 thing was a bonus to the fact that Beo got a bonus at work and has secretly been planning to get me this. What do I call him in my profile? Enviable? Yes, I think that's apt!)

Bird's Nests

The birds all but disappeared this winter. Despite our food stock for them, our goldfinches, sparrows, and house finches were seldom visitors. This week, as Spring arrives (again), we've finally been graced with sweet songs from some of our favorites. Today there was a cheeky little house finch, singing his heart out from a sapling in our front yard. I watched as he flew down to our garden and tore a few pieces of newspaper from a piece of mulch in our garden. He inspired me to provide some more material for our guests.

The kids and I gathered up some used scrap paper, and yarn ends, and set to snipping them into beak-friendly pieces. Four inches is the reccomended length for thread, yarn, etc. While searching for that handy fact, I saw this great article on building a nesting materials site for birds, in Wonder Time. I actually subscribe to this magazine but rarely find time to read it. They suggest using a mesh onion bag to hold the materials. We packed our yarn and paper into an onion bag, pet the dogs for a little more material to add, then the kids snipped small holes around the bag for the birds to be able to poke around in. We tied it together with a piece of yarn at the top, then hung it in a small tree near our feeder.

This was a nice little Earth Day project for the kids--free and simple, and I plan to have it be an ongoing project as we come up with things like dryer lint that we can add to our nesting collection. The kids were thrilled, and are anxiously waiting at the window to see if we get any takers. I'll keep you updated on whether we have success on the bird's end!

Veggie Kids

Our household is one of "Virtual" vegetarians. In our case, this means that in principle, we don't eat meat. However we do make exceptions where we feel that not eating something is actually less ethical. (We'll eat a dish that's served to us rather than it going to waste is the bottom line.) Rather than get into the difficulties of helping the kids to understand the ethics behind that particular dietary choice, I thought I'd focus on the tips I've learned as a veggie momma. I hope that these will help mommas of any food choice help their kids to make healthy choices.

First there are the health aspects. I'm proud to say that we've had two very open minded pediatricians who haven't batted an eyelash at the fact that we eat veg. (At Sprout's 4 year old well-child visit, the pediatrician asked Sprout if he liked turkey, and Sprout very sternly said: "We do not eat turkey!" Both of these docs know that kids (and grown ups) can get all of the nutrients that they need from a plant based whole foods diet. Most Americans get far more protein than they need. Our kids get plenty in milk/soymilk, beans, and even whole grains, nuts, and vegetables. A quick google search will give you plenty of information on veggie kids and nutrition.

Does that mean your kid has to be a non-picky eater? Nope, you've just got to work with their likes to figure out what will work. Most kids love quesadillas. Made on a whole wheat tortilla with black beans and shredded carrots mixed in, you've got a well-balanced meal. Try stirring peas or beans into (whole grain) mac and cheese. Offering dips of any kind can encourage kids to try new things. I can't count how many foods I've finally gotten the kids to eat by offering to let them dip it in ketchup. (Just make sure you're using organic ketchup--high in all the good nutrients, no HFCS.) The kids love pan-fried tofu in any shape as long as there's a healthy side of ketchup!

Still no luck? Try letting your child help choose meals or partcipate in preparation. Offer to let your child choose the side vegetable. Make pizzas on whole wheat pitas, and let your child choose their toppings, spread the sauce, sprinkle the cheese. Try a kids cookbook like one of Mollie Katzen's--Salad People and Pretend Soup are both big hits at our place. It takes a bit more time, but it helps the kids get excited about their food. I couldn't believe it when Sprout loved "Green Spaghetti"--he wouldn't touch pesto before! Even just letting the kids have a couple of turns stirring a bowl can give them a sense of ownership and pride that will encourage them to try something new. Similarly, offering the kids free snack choices can be empowering and help them make healthy decisions. Sprout and Bird know that they are welcome to raisins and baby carrots most anytime, and they take advantage of that! Other favorite (but limited) snack choices include almonds, PB& Celery, string cheese, and yogurt. Sometimes choices can make things complicated (Sprout will only drink soymilk now, while Bird prefers cow's milk) so be sure to offer things where you'll be happy with any choice.

Make food fun! I occasionally have time to be as creative as Vegan Lunchbox, as evidenced here by my polenta dinosaur in a marinara volcano, spouting parmesan steam in a broccoli forest, but more often than not it's about making everyday food creative. Make mashed sweet potatos into a mountain, with a plain-yogurt stream. Make a veggie smiley face on a bagel, or just out of plain veggies on a plate. Even names can make a big difference. When I first made Mollie Katzen's "Carrot Mushroom Loaf", I didn't tell the kids what it was. I let them name it, and they loved it so much they called it "Second Thanksgiving". They didn't even notice the 'dreaded' mushrooms throughout. We also have "Green Goddess Quiche", and tacking "Magic" on to many things is enough to do the trick. Tofu dogs wrapped in a tortilla become "Perritos"--you get the idea. Think "Ants on a Log"!

Lastly, don't give up. Repetition can go a long way. Encourage a "try it" bite of everything, but don't push too hard. (Easier said than done, I know, and there are plenty of time food goes uneaten on Sprout and Bird's plates.) Eventually, your child may find a new favorite in a previously shunned meal. I hope I've offered a few new tips for Moms of little veggies and picky eaters.

Refreshing Veggies

We're not talking about a crisp cucumber in the summer's heat. Nope, this is about revitalizing limp, tired veggies that were formerly destined to the compost heap (or your veggie broth scrap bag)! It doesn't happen as often now that we cook so much from scratch, but perhaps you understand my occasional celery bunch that's discovered wilting in the very back of the bottom shelf, or those floppy carrots you discover under a bag of potatoes in the crisper. I've read before that dunking these sad little veggies in ice water can perk them right up, but I didn't believe it. Then during a recent round of pantry cleaning, it was perk up those veggies or eat a soggy veggie stir-fry, so I went for it. I was pleasantly suprised to find out that it worked just fine! I don't know if there are any nutritional drawbacks, obviously veggies are best eaten fresh, but it certainly works on the texture. So far I've just tried carrots, and celery. With celery, I just stick them in the fridge in a container of cold water. (Remember the experiments in elementary school with food coloring that left you with blue celery leaves?) These pictures were taken after an overnight in the refrigerator, but even after 30 minutes they've perked quite a bit. (No doctoring was done to these photos, it just works!) I hope this saves the next droopy veggie in your crisper.

Ostara

Happy Ostara (a bit late) to all. I hope everyone had a nice Spring celebration. Things have been busy here and as they settled down I found myself dealing with a bit of depression again. Ah well, life goes on! We managed to do a few Ostara activities. We made little nest treats for a sweet activity. An outdoor egg hunt turned out to be a disaster (two children in tears, baskets blowing away) but what do we expect with 27 degree weather and flurries in April? Spring made a brief appearance but appears to be feeling a bit shy! Our Ostara treats came from Sweet Earth Chocolates this year. I highly reccomend them! Their customer service was great, shipping was exceptionally fast, and the goods are GOOD! We tried all of the different "eggs" (mint crunch, peanut butter crunch, dark and milk chocolate, and the bunnies. Their chocolate is fair trade and organic, and they have a number of vegan options. Be sure to check them out the next time you're in the market for sweets. (I see they have Mother's Day specials on their website today!) They made a lovely basket, joined by a small amount of precious Surf Sweets Organic Jelly Beans. Bird's Ostara cardigan got finished in a nick of time. Luckily I'd made my own shawl last year, so no worries there. I hope Spring is showing it's face wherever you are this week. Happy Ostara!

Fruit From Heaven

Things have been busy, my friends, but there is light on the horizon! Beo and I are turning a business trip into a little getaway this weekend for a much needed break. Phew! Amidst the hectic pace and stress of the last couple of weeks, we received an amazing gift--a box full of sunshine sent by a positive Angel! Organic avocados, grapefruit, lemons, limes, bringing a taste of the exotic to our bleak pre-Spring days. It was the height of luxury this week, squeezing lime juice on our rice and beans, eating avocado (quite possibly my favorite food) with every meal, grapefruit for breakfast. What a bright blessing at a perfect time! I don't know that I've ever baked with real lemons before, but my Angel sent us Ponderosa Lemons, known as "Pie Lemons" in the south because they're the size of a large grapefruit and can take the place of the 6 usually called for in a recipe. I decided I had to find a killer recipe for these mommas, and I did. I made The Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Cake last night. Lemon cake is not necessarily one of my favorite things, and I tend to find complicated baking daunting, but this...this was heaven. Each and every step was worth it. I highly recommend this recipe if you are looking for a doable fancy recipe, going to a brunch, or just like lemon sweets. (If you're using "Pie Lemons", you'll only need two, not the six to eight the recipe calls for!) The recipe makes two cakes, so I had Beo take one to the neighbors. It got rave reviews from them, who said this morning that it was like eating Spring and Summer. So true! It was positively delightful, a highlight to our Sunshine Fruit Week. Thank you, Fruit Angel!

Hanna's Dream

My regular readers will know that I do my best to reign in my love of kids clothes. That's true, but I know a great source for sustainable, stylish kids clothes when I see one! I've had the chance to work with the owner of Hanna's Dream a bit this year. (Within my budget, I promise!) She is a real delight and has a great site. Hanna's Dream has everything from baby clothes to blankets to toys to adult clothing. Much of what they carry is hard-to-find European brands. There are lots of lovely natural organic color grown cotton pieces, but there are also fun and funky pieces as well. Their prices are very competitive and they're often offering great deals such as free-shipping or a percent off a certain brand, in addition to a daily special. Right now the site is offering 20% off all of their Lapsaky line for kids. They even offer used clothing occasionally. How cool is that? Take a look! I'll be adding a permanent link if you want to check back in the future.

Spark People

Things have been crazy around here once again. I do have some recipes to share once things calm down a bit! One thing I wanted to share is a website I've been enjoying: Spark People. This is a great site for a variety of purposes: losing weight, tracking nutrition, analyzing recipes, tracking exercise, setting goals, and more. I first learned about this site on my beloved Veggie Board. I was skeptical, only because it's FREE! I've been very impressed though. I think this site is probably just as valuable as the Weight Watchers site for folks trying to lose weight, and infinitely more useful for those just maintaing their weight. It's helped me to see where I'm doing okay with my nutrition, and what I need to work on. (I need to eat more spinach!) I've also really enjoyed being able to get a better idea of the nutrition in the recipes I create. It took me a bit to get used to the system, but if you're interested in this kind of program, I'd encourage you to give it a week or two and see how you like it. I'll keep a link to it in my sidebar in case you want to find if later. It's become a valuable tool for me.

Threadless T-Shirts

This is one of those completely-off-my-normal-beaten-path things. I recently discovered Threadless.com through Groovy Green. This is a website that lets designers submit ideas for t-shirts, and some get printed and are available for purchase. The t-shirt designs are so independent and different. I have enjoyed just flipping through the various submissions. I'm a sucker for tees but have way too many. The kids on the other hand, could use a couple of new ones. I love that these designs really let them march to their own drummer. (A few of their favorites along with some of mine are pictured above.) The original post on Groovy Green pointed out some cool Eco-submissions. The tees aren't organic but they're printed mostly on American Apparel-not necessarily the savoriest company, but at least sweat free. Threadless is having a $10 sale right now, so check it out!

Resolution Check-In

It's March 1st-2007 is racing right along. Did you make any resolutions? Have they survived the first couple months of the year? I am reasonably happy with how my focus areas for 2007 are going. My main goals were to be more frugal, especially with food; to buy 50% of the kids clothes used, to be more resourceful, and to eliminate credit card spending. This is all about simplicity and sustainability.

Frugality and Food is going well. Our grocery budget for this year is already $100 less a month than 2006, and we've finished January and February with $100+ left in those budgets. We've done this sticking to local, organic, and low packaging. Make sure to check out my posts on frugality if you haven't already. I'm really amazed at how much further we've been able to cut back, even being 99% organic.

Things with the kids clothes are overall going well. Right now both kids have a solid half of their clothes second-hand. I confess that it has still been a real struggle for me to regulate my buying habits, however I have done much better than in the past. I have also been vindicated in my belief that quality counts. Sprout recently wore clean through a pair of pants and is on his way through another--his last 2 pair of, let's face it, sweatshop eco-disaster pants from a big chain. The ones from quality eco-friendly and socially conscious places are still going strong with barely a sign of wear, even though they've been through just as much.

In keeping with working with what we have-talents and skill included, I'm knitting an Easter cardigan for Bird rather than purchasing one. I don't do dainty, but it will be fun and cozy for one of my favorite celebrations of Spring. She may only be 3, but she already seems very excited about the fact that I'm making something for her to wear. I've been making decent progress, knitting as I watch documentaries (a recent habit), and should have it done on time.

Our credit card spending has improved dramatically. We are down a very decent amount for the year. We have used the cards a couple of times but they have so far all gotten paid off quickly and we've stayed far ahead of the game, enough so that Beo and I have decided to use a bit of our tax refund so that he can accompany me to a meeting I'm going to in warmer climes. It will be a much needed vacation for him, and we'll have a bit more time than usual to spend together.

It hasn't been all sunshine and roses, there have been slip-ups along the way, but we've kept working towards our goals and I feel proud to keep moving in the right direction and holding to the values I want to stick with this year. If you've fallen off your own bandwagon, don't forget that it's yours to stop when you need to. Pick yourself up, brush off, and climb right back on. If I hadn't done the same, I'd be in a cloud of dust myself.

EcoMama's Spice Rack

Ah, finally we reach the crown jewel of my culinary stock, the spice rack! Yes, technically rack(s), although if we really want to get techical i'm not sure they're even "racks". We had to expand after I started cooking lessons, started getting higher quality spices at Penzey's, and started to overflow the cabinet. These are a great little spice holder from Target. They come with labels but I prefer to write on them with dry-erase markers so I can switch things around. There was a time when I didn't ever replace spices unless they became so old that they were 1) rock hard or 2) flavorless. Now I buy bulk bags and refill my spice containers frequently. It's definitely worth it to buy quality. It is more flavorful so you not only get a better quality flavor, you also have to use less.

So what do I keep on hand? Curry Powder, Turmeric, Garam Masala, Cumin, Smoked Paprika, Mustard Seeds, and Corriander start my savory and Indian to Middle East collection. I use a lot of chili powder to add flavor to soups. The next rack has nutmeg, cinnamon, a savory herb blend, rosemary, homegrown thyme, crushed mint, peppercorns, and powdered ginger. The nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger are mostly used for baking though they do make their occasional appearance to set off a savory dish. Beo loves rosemary in anything, though especially paired with egg. He has been making a mean hashbrown with lovely rosemary tones. We recently ran out of our dried rosemary from the garden and plan to grow more next year. Rosemary along with thyme it makes a nicely rounded flavor mix. Crushed mint I mostly use in making yogurt dips. You'll notice two empty containers, and it's not for lack of spices, I just can't decide what is most worthy of a spot on the rack. Is it cardamom which I use rarely but as an esteemed spice deserves a showcase? Should I give a spot to cayenne, or is it used to sparingly to have it's own container? What about straight up Paprika that I've realized has it's own place in addition to my smoked variety? There are another half dozen or so contenders still regimented to the cabinet, including a mean mexican vanilla which actually enjoys the cool dark of it's current home, of course. I never imagined that I would be such a spice hound, but my love of cooking has expanded my knowledge and thus my love of a good spice. I hope you enjoyed the tour of my little stovetop universe o' flavor.

Our Frugal Pantry

Next up, the frugal pantry! Our pantry is a lot less cluttered these days than it used to be, thanks mostly to our cutting back on convenience and prepared foods. I have always wanted a pantry, so I was very excited that our new house had one, and quickly set to work filling it up. It took me a while to get it organized, but we have a good system. I keep bulk spices and other seldom-used items on the top shelf. The next shelf has snacky things: applesauce (mostly used for baking), apple butter, and convenience foods for the kids. We keep stocked up on Clif Z Bars. These are great organic whole grain bars that can even substitute for a meal if you have to rush out the door. (All you Weight Watchers folks, they're also a filling treat for 2-3 points!) We also keep Archer Farms (Target) organic fruit leather on hand for the same purpose. (Again, these were nice when I was counting points-just one point for a chewy snack.)

Next comes the grains shelf. Here we have a few bags of whole wheat pasta for quick meals, brown and white rice, whole wheat couscous, oats, and other grains that don't fit in our fridge drawer. The protein shelf is next. I used to keep loads of canned beans on hand: Kidney, black, cannelini, garbanzo, lentils. Now we keep mostly dried on hand, but I keep a few cans in case I've forgotten to plan ahead. I also keep the miscellaneous extra condiments like tamari and tahini on this shelf, just because there's room. (I'm slowly collecting enough containers that I can keep all of our bulk items in sealed glass, to avoid pest problems. A rogue mouse was once deleriously happy in our pantry before we found him out.)

Our next shelf is the tomato shelf. Next year I hope that this will be filled with home grown jars. We use a lot of tomato products in our cooking: marinara for pasta, pizza sauce for Beo's famous homemade pies, diced for soups and curries, etc. I love Muir Glen products, especially their fireroasted tomatoes. Whole Foods now has 365 organic canned tomatoes which are much cheaper, so we always stock up on those unless Muir Glen is on sale. I used to keep 5-6 boxes of veggie broth on hand, now I just keep 1 or 2 for the occasion that we run out of homemade. I also used to have a whole row of Annie's organic mac and cheese. I don't put much stock in all of the hype Annie's recently generated. The kids love it, and it's a relatively healthy alternative. That said, we have moved away from it a bit just for frugal purposes. The kids love white bean soup so that has taken a large part of the Annie's market away in my house. We've also discovered that the kids are pretty happy with some whole wheat pasta mixed with some beans and sprinkled with a little parmesan and Earth Balance. So while you'll still find Annie's in my pantry, it's no longer a staple due to price and our move to less packaging. Voila, our frugal, whole foods, vegetarian friendly pantry. The great majority of what I cook is easily made from the contents of this pantry and our fridge. Extra ingredients are a rarity. It's nice to be able to pull together a wide variety of meals once you've staked out your basic needs.