Saying Goodbye to Rotten Tomatoes, Empty Pocket Books, & Last Minute Trips to the Store

Guys, for the past few weeks I have been working at a friend's publishing company, not doing anything important, just manning the phones for when an order comes in or a subscription needs to be renewed. Some days it is slow and I spend most of my time surfing the web thinking of ways to build up my own business. 

After a seven hour day, I am exhausted. (I know its sad right.) And when I get home the last thing I want to do is stand in the kitchen for 30 min to an hour preparing a meal. And many times, I'll get home ... start cooking ... then realize I am missing one ingredient that I have to have. So, I  put the meal on hold, and make my way to the grocery store. Luckily, we live 5 minutes out of town. We have two stores, a grocery store and a dollar store, those are my only options unless I go to one of the gas stations which as we all know are over priced on all their attempt at "food". 

So lets say I go to the normal grocery store ... oops ... I procrastinated to long ... and they are closed so its off to the dollar store, which is actually not a 'dollar' store, let's just call it Dolla' Land, and I will most likely be paying the price of the Holy Grail for my desired ingredient. So I walk into the store, and Ooo hey... garden supplies are on clearance because it is now the middle of November and I live in Wisconsin, and I was hoping to get another plant hanger, Wait what... 90% off? And there is like 15 of them here and buying all of them would actually be cheaper than buying one at full price. I'll take 'em! 

This almost makes me feel better about my insufficient meal planning skills. So, with that splurge out of the way ... let's get back to the reason for this whole trip ... the desired ingredient. I head to the back of the store which is where the refrigerated items are ... but then I am struck by a wall of dumb ... the item I need is in the produce section ... and in this world of Dolla' Land where supposedly every thing is a dolla' there is No. Fresh. Produce ... Heck ... there is barely even any canned produce ... So I stare ... watching a sea of hungry husbands, picky kids, and way to much sugar coated junk come flooding over me.

I'm defeated ... I turn around, grab a box of cereal and a gallon of milk, and make my way to the check out. My family will eat cardboard for dinner once again.  This failed attempt of a dinner deserves a pity party, so I make a pit stop to the candy isle and grab a bag of chocolate covered peanut clusters, but then I see them ... my favorite thin minty cookie is on sale for 'Buy one get one half off'. I grab four and add them to the leaning tower of sugar in my arms, since I didn't grab a basket ... because really ... all I was planning on getting was that ONE ingredient, and we all know from this post, and my jean size, that I am woman with a strict sense of will power.  (be sure to note the sarcasm there.)

I practically dump my failed attempts of a happy family dinner and sugar filled condolences on the conveyor and look sheepishly at the cashier who is ten years younger than me and just adding insult to injury with her puny waist. I give a smile, and she makes some random comment about how she wishes she could come to my house and binge on all this chocolate, but if she even looks at the stuff she'll turn into a cow. HA! I stifle a snide remark. 

"Your total is $20.64."

What?! How is that possible? I was only going to spend like $3. I sigh. I'm not gonna ask her to put it all back, because there is now a line of three other customers behind me and I gotta try and find enough quarters to pay. Forget it! I pull out the preferred plastic of choice and make a quick swipe with Jolly Master Debt Raiser and storm out of the store. 

My 5 minute ride on the Minty Chocolate cookie express is enjoyable ... but as soon as I enter the kitchen and see the remnants of an attempt at a healthy home cooked meal I remember the nearly empty box of cookies, I panic and realize there has to be a better way. 

[Here is a sad note: This is actually a true story that happens happened to me frequently ... sometimes on a nightly basis.]

Enter Thrive.

So after I devour a bowl of the cold processed pillows of sugar filled with GMOs and pesticides cereal I head to my station of forget-about-the-world-around me, a.k.a my computer and I start to look up meal planning recipes and a thought pops into my head about food storage and how I really need to build it up past the 7 bags of wheat and a few flats of canned vegetables we have.

I have some flats of canned mixed veggies that I know I should just donate to a food pantry, because lets face it ... I hate canned carrots ... and it would be better to share them with someone who will actually eat them.

Anywho ... so I was looking at different food storage options, then I remembered a commercial which lead me to my experience at a TimeOutForWomen a couple of years ago, where I got to see Mercy River. Afterwords, I bought their CD and next to their table was a booth with a huge food storage rack loaded with Thrive freeze dried foods. At the time the company was called Shelf Reliance, and I had seen the products in our LDS bookstore which is sadly now closed and turned into a liquor store. (Still can't wrap my head around that one.) I loved everything about Shelf Reliance and Thrive foods since the day I saw them. Something about them just intrigued me. That was about four years ago.

Enter in the need to revamp my grocery attempts and my memory for some reason did not fail me this time. (Usually it would leave me to fend for my self and I would be lost, falling into the same trap that has been occurring for the past 10 years of marriage. TEN years people!)

Anyway, I placed my order of a variety of things, and then read and watched more videos about ThriveLife. I know ... it was probably backwards ... but hey ... that's how we roll here ... After watching the videos and reading the blogs, I fell in love with ThriveLife even more and enrolled as an independent consultant.

My consultant kit will arrive tomorrow, which again is backwards from the way I actually purchased everything, which is funny by the way, because I now am doing it in the right order. (Sorry if this is all confusing. I get excited about one thing and then quickly move on to the next all while stepping on my tongue.)

I can't wait to share with you everything I learn while on my journey with ThriveLife.

Here are some things I learned about ThriveLife.

IT's FRESHER THAN FRESH!

IT's HEALTHY!

 THERE IS VIRTUALLY NO PREP! 

Washing fruits and veggies
Chopping, slicing, and dicing produce
Peeling skins
Removing fruit rinds, seeds, pits, etc.
Thawing and browning meats
Breaking and separating eggs



Find out more, like HOW THRIVELIFE IS COST EFFECTIVE by clicking HERE

Tropical Traditions Coconut oil review and giveaway!

I am so excited I found this product! When I started looking into whole traditional foods I had links and links of good healthy foods such as kefir grains, and coconut oil websites appearing before my eyes. 

This company ROCKS! And I am not afraid to say it! You have to watch this video on how their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is made. If you want traditional food here is one for you that is chocked full of good nutrition. 

This is truly amazing coconut oil. I made two batches of bread, one with an Organic supermarket "unrefined" coconut oil, and one made with Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil (GLVCO- Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil). The bread made with GLVCO has a much better flavor. GLVCO doesn't leave an after flavor of coconut in your mouth. (some people like that, but I am not a big fan of coconut flavor to begin with.)

This is straight from the Tropical Traditions website:

"Laboratory tests show that this Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is a very high quality coconut oil, with very high antioxidant levels. A study done in Malaysia and published in the International Journal of Food Science Nutrition also reported that the wet-milling fermentation method produced the highest amounts of antioxidants, and another study completed in Sri Lanka in 2011 confirmed the result. This oil is not mass produced, but made by hand just as it has been done for hundreds of years. The coconuts are certified organic according to strict USDA standards. In addition, all of the coconuts are hand-picked within 24-48 hours of harvest. Only those nuts that produce the highest quality coconut oil are chosen, while the rest of the crop is sold to copra dealers. Because of the extremely selective procedure for choosing the coconuts, a higher price is paid to the farmer. Almost all other virgin coconut oils on the market are mass-produced and do not take this kind of attention to detail that begins with choosing the right nuts. Also, the coconuts used to make our Virgin Coconut Oil are grown in very rural areas, generally far away from metropolitan areas. Since coconut trees grow just about everywhere in the Philippines, most coconut oils on the market are harvested from trees in metropolitan areas, because there is less cost to transport them to the place of manufacture. Many of our producers are in areas so remote, that if they did not use their coconuts to produce Virgin Coconut oil for us, no one would buy their coconuts because it would cost too much to transport them to manufacturing plants. In these areas, the coconuts generally just fell to the ground unused until we started training people to make our Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil.

In spite of the success and growth worldwide of this unique product, we still produce our Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil by hand in small batches by family micro enterprises. Most of them have been producing Virgin Coconut oil for over 10 years now. They have learned what it takes to produce the highest quality oil, such as how to hand pick the best coconuts from each harvest. One of their discoveries occurred in 2007 when certain groups in rural areas had problems with water sources. Water is needed to make the coconut milk from which the oil is extracted. Using true Filipino ingenuity, they started collecting and using the pure nutritious coconut water from inside the organic coconuts instead. They noticed that the water separated from the oil much quicker, that less heat was needed at the end, and that less filtering was needed also. The end result was a higher quality and better tasting Virgin Coconut Oil. Independent laboratory analysis shows that this new method produces even higher levels of antioxidants than first tested in 2006 by Professor Dia! (See below.) So we now require all of our Virgin Coconut Oil producers to use the pure coconut water from their coconuts instead of boiled or purified tap water. This enhanced Virgin Coconut Oil with the highest levels of antioxidants is now our Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil."

If you are not convinced that this is a great product why don't you sign up for this giveaway for a chance to win one quart of GLVCO. That is a $40 value! And let me tell you this company has super great customer service. When I was informed I would be receiving a jar to review I got an email saying it had shipped the same day I was informed of this opportunity, AND it arrived the next day! That was amazing!

Related links: 

o How to Use Coconut Oil: There are hundreds of uses! http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/how-to-use-coconut-oil.htm


o Buy Coconut Oil: A guide to buying coconut oil online http://buycoconutoil.com/ 

o What is Virgin Coconut Oil? http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/what_is_virgin_coconut_oil.htm

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was provided with free product to review. If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.

{Foodie Tutorial} How to make Kale Chips

If you want a healthy snack that can be really addicting you must try these Kale chips.

Things you will need:

1 bunch of Kale
a knife and cutting board
seasonings (my favorite is salt, pepper, and cayenne)
olive oil
oven set to 180-200 degrees F.

Today we have enlisted the help of a little man
who has already been snacking on some Kale.
Excuse the sweetheartedness of this picture. 

The first thing you must do is wash all the little garden friends off the kale. I just used water but I bought Organic so it doesn't need too much of a scrub . 

Next you need to remove the stalk from the Kale if you don't you'll end up with sharp little spears that like to poke you. Plus the stalk is very bitter. So not so fun. I find it is easies if you lay the kale on its side and just make one swipe with the knife along the stem cutting both leaves. It works really slick.  

I was actually sad to see this waste. My chickens won't eat it and I almost ran out and bought some rabbits just to give them this treat.  Here is what you will be left with. The leaves you see are really wilted and I didn't want to make a chip with them so that is why they are there. 

Next drizzle olive oil or any type of oil you prefer over the de-stemmed Kale.

"Mommy, this is my working face."

Make sure to mix thoroughly so each piece of Kale has oil on it, but not enough that it is soaked and soggy. 

Orion was pretty excited about this part. 

Now you have two options you can either put on dehydrator sheets and season to your liking. Then Dry until crispy like a chip or you can do as I did and seasoned them on the pans that go in our convection oven.  

Set the oven to 180-200 degrees and bake until crispy like a chip, you may have to mix up the leaves in order to get them all dried. 

NOTE: If you are using a regular oven not set to convection (where it blows air) you may want to crack the door open, or else the leaves will just steam. 

Here they are in their crispy goodness.

"iHEART kale chips!" 

This treat is guaranteed to make you "chipper". Sorry I had to. 

{Foodie} What's the matter with the food I'm eating?

{Image from the Weekly Sticky}

As we travel through the supermarket isles there are a few things that I notice frequently on the rise. One of those things are an expansion in the Natural and Organic section of the store. Is society finally getting smarter with their food choices? Or is it kind of a “monkey-see-monkey do” type of situation? Either way there is a positive end result, health.

I started my quest for a natural healthy life in late 2009 when we moved in with my parents. After about 3 months of trying to find quality food in our regular big chain grocery stores. (Around here that is pretty difficult, unless it is an organic “processed” food.) We would get organic produce from one store and everything was awful. The apples were bruised and mealy, the oranges were dry and sometimes even moldy, and don't even get me started on the bananas if you could consider what we brought home a banana. It was more of a puree in a banana skin. It is ridiculous.

We had had enough of this mistreatment of our produce. So we searched out a different option. We tried shopping at Wal-Mart, which in our area does not carry organic produce what so ever. We tried other stores, and with out any success except for finding new canned and “non-perishable” items, left empty handed.

So the search for quality organic produce continued. Every Sunday on our way to our church we drive past this building that is very “downtown” in it's awesomeness. I didn't know how awesome it was until I went inside. The smell that lives in this building is a smell of health and wholesome living. The colors of the first isle are beautiful with ripe fruits and vegetables all waiting to meet their consumer, who will enjoy every last bite. And hardly any of the food is damaged. The way this food is delivered is another awesome thing about this place. There is only one truck that comes. Everything else is delivered by the farmer. So not only do you get beautiful fruits and vegetables, you also get hand delivered by the farmer because most of the produce is local. SWEET!

This place is the Menomonie Market Food Co-op. I love it. Many of you readers who are not from around here probably have a food Co-op near you and can take advantage of their great variety of offerings. In fact here is a list of the places that are a part of this Co-op maybe there is one near you.

This holiday season has been very hard on me. We have had four Christmas celebrations, and at least 2 or three New Years parties. And not that the food didn't taste good or anything but I am sick of eating every one else's GMO, pesticide filled, poison. So I went to “The Market”, got some food that was not full of pesticides, and am enjoying everything I purchased. We are eating healthy again and hopefully experiencing some detoxing symptoms.

I hope this next paragraph does not get me in trouble. Many of my friends and family members are almost angry with us because we shop at “The Market.” Let me tell you why. We are on Food Share assistance. (There is no shame in being on assistance. With the economy the way it is right now and lack of jobs available, it is no wonder there are not more people on it.) We are not actually paying for the food we purchase there, the state and tax payers do, and that is why they are “angry.” Which I think is totally bogus. I do not think that it is completely fair to us “low-incomers” that we cannot have quality organic foods. Just think with all this organic food that we are buying, we are having less medical bills that we have to pay, which means less Medicaid for you to pay. I think as long as we purchase things that are base ingredients and not just all these processed, prepackaged items, we should be fine. There is no reason for all this hate and hostility to be thrown at anyone for the way they decide to eat. And that is the end of my rant of people being angry with my decision not to feed my family with products that have ingredient lists that are longer than my arm.

Aside from getting great food at the Co-op we also grow our own food. Which sometimes I think tastes better than the stuff from the Co-op, but I may be biased. We preserve what we can and stock up on the things that we use a lot of. We substitute expensive ingredients for very inexpensive ingredients. (Like using beans instead of oil or butter in baked goods.) We are really trying to eat very little meat. We raise chickens and ducks for eggs and meat. And much more. All of these things help us lower our grocery bill, especially when good organic, free range (that really is free range) eggs cost any where from 4 to 5 dollars a dozen.

Eating organic wholefoods on a budget does not have to be hard. Menu planning is a great way to save some money. Sticking to a list of ingredients you will need is another. Or how about buying in bulk and storing the items properly so you don't get an annoying and expensive infestation of pantry moths in the house is also another. Pantry moths are evil, and if you are not careful they will devour your entire supply of stored dry goods costing you thousands of dollars. (Trust me... I unfortunately know.)

I hope this little rant will leave you wanting to find a wholefoods Co-op near you, make things from scratch, grow your own and be inspired to learn to preserve and store your food properly.

Happy Munching!!