A FOOD POST (not recipes)

So, recently my friend Nicole sent me an email that said something like, "By the way, Jiffy, I am going to pick your brain this weekend on the best things to read if I want to learn more about this organic meat stuff." I was so excited I couldn't hardly stand it...someone is voluntarily allowing me to expunge my vast knowledge (ha) on my favorite topic to rant about!??! Typically I get the glassy eyed look when I pounce on someone regarding meat. Anyway, due to the fact that I'm so busy these days, then exhausted about 8 PM, it took me a few days to reply to her, but I was on a roll. I thought I might go ahead and use what I wrote to her as a blog post?!

So, basically, here is my reply to her:

So first I just started getting interested in the whole food topic from reading a lot of blogs, etc....

Then, I read the book Skinny Bitch. Which is really more of a diet/lifestyle book, but it had me convinced I needed to be come a vegetarian OR even a vegan!!! It's pretty extreme, but they do give some good information & it's a really short & funny book.

Then, I started Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan. He's pretty much the expert on all things Organic in my book. HOWEVER... he's very scientific and the book reads that way. I never could get through it. But, I have listened to a lot of podcasts with him speaking & I love him! The documentary Food, Inc. is based on all of his research. That movie is a MUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT if you guys haven't seen it yet!!!

THEN I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (she actually wrote The Poisonwood Bible). As far as I'm concerned you can skip the first two and go RIGHT to this one! It truly changed my life :) It's the true story of how she and her family go and live on a farm for 1 year and only eat food that they produce. She is a wonderful story teller and also inserts a lot of science AND facts on the FDA, etc. ALSO includes lots of recipes.

I am not sure where my copy of Skinny Bitch is.... I loaned it to someone! I do have Omni if you want to borrow it....I read Animal on my Kindle. I actually need to buy a copy of it for the recipes.

So my main thing is that although I do try not to eat meat for every meal, if I AM going to eat meat, I want to know where the heck it came from and how it was raised! Therefore, I do not eat meat in a restaurant (except Scotty's Brewpub--they have local organic beef!). ESPECIALLY CHICKEN & POULTRY! That is the WORST!!!! How they are raised (never see the light of day), in filth and pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones! The cows don't have it much better, but once in a while I will cheat and order a steak just because I love it that much. I have not eaten pork (on purpose) in over 2 years and really don't ever plan to again. Pigs eat GARBAGE. For beef, you want the GRASS FED, not the grain or corn fed...

Craig calls me a hippie constantly, but for me, it was more of an awakening. I am APPALLED that these backwards practices go on in the US (Umm, aren't we a highly advanced country?) and that our lovely government is behind all of it! Seriously, it was just so eye opening for me & it infuriates me!

For now, I buy most of my beef and chicken from www.greenbeandelivery.com. It is amazing. I also have gotten all of my produce from there (and farmers markets), but obviously that has slowed down. I do find that Trader Joes is an awesome, affordable place to buy good meat too. SuperTarget carries Laura's (which is organic) Lean Beef and a lot of other organic choices too.

For our Thanksgiving this Saturday I splurged on a free range organic turkey!!! I'm excited!

I do not think that organic meat is all that much more expensive than regular. It is probably a dollar more a pound, but it's COMPLETELY worth it to me. I would much rather give up something else if I had to.

OK, so that is my 2 cents!

Next topics for me to tackle (and I'm working on learning about them as we speak!) are household products AND GMOs (which I already posted about).

15 Months

Well, I'm a couple of weeks late, but I wanted to post a 15 month update for Ellie!

We had her 15th month check up the last week of October and she checked out wonderfully :)

She's right on track developmentally and she is still LARGE!!! She is in the 95th percentile for height and weight... And I SWEAR she does not eat any food with added growth hormones!

Here's a bullet list of some of her current

-Walking EVERYWHERE
-Talking more each day... favorite & most used words: No (while shaking her head for dramatic emphasis), Thank you (sounds like Deh do), Dog, Duck, Owl (it's in one of her books), Mama, Mom-mom-mom-mom-mom, Dada, Lola (she will not say Rosco or Skippy--I'm thiking it's the "s" she hasn't gone for yet), Uh-oh, Ya
-Still loves reading books
-Will NOT drink milk in ANY form. I've even resorted to chocolate & strawberry!
-Loves cheese in ANY form, so I'm pretty confident she's getting her dairy
-Was not a huge fan of dressing up for Halloween, but LOVES candy
-Loves to slide. She has a small Little Tykes slide inside that she loves and if we are playing outside, she refuses to swing. Only wants to slide.
-In a big "Mommy Phase"... Not that I mind, but I really have a hard time accomplishing ANYTHING
-Loves her Daddy & Grandparents... as long as I'm not around
-LOVES Rosco... hugs and kisses and plays w/ him every day
-Also, constantly fights w/ Rosco over dog toys
-Just starting to really explore what is inside various cabinets...yes, we have our child locks on the dangerous ones
-She's still a really good eater, but will let you know what she does or doesn't want. She does not like to have the same thing every day. Which is great! I'm hoping this means she will not be a picky eater.
-Her favorite foods seem to be cheese, mac & cheese (any form!), green beans, avocados, yogurt, apples.
-I let her have a little cup of water while we read books before bed. She will NOT let me take it so now she takes it to bed w/ her every night! I don't think she has ever taken a drink of it in her crib, but she MUST take it to bed with her!
-Loves music of any kind. Any song can hit her right and she just starts shakin' her booty! She seems to really love Mariachi music... she can't contain herself in Mexican restaurants!

Ellie B is our pride and joy. We are having so much fun laughing with her each day and watching her grow. We are so lucky to have her in our lives.

Reading with Mema

Playing with new toys Mema bought her

Big girl getting ready to slide

Eating smarties

Trunk or Treating--gimme something good!

Worn out after a long day trunk or treating