frugal living
We’ll read the internet front to back, debate on Facebook, bicker in blog comments and fill our Kindles to find answers to our many questions about food and nutrition. We want to know if we should be eating meat or not, whether saturated fat is healthy or scary, and to figure out a solution to GMOs. And should I juice or blend?
Yet the most basic question often goes unanswered:
“What’s for dinner?”
At the end of the day, practical matters matter most.
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March 27th, 2013 | balance, frugal living, groceries, self care | 2 Comments »
Let me tell you something about Virginia. They love bathrooms here. When we first moved from Boston we looked at a bunch of houses that had more bathrooms than bedrooms. Right. 3BR/4bath. Craziness coming from our old 3BR place that had only one – and that one bathroom didn’t even have a tub.
So here we are, more toilets than people in our family, and I’m enjoying some of the perks. No lines. Plenty of space to blowdry (as if a mom of a toddler ever does that). And lots of space for my collection of bathroom goodies!
Here are some things you won’t find in my bathroom:
Bacteria-obliterating mouthwash, artificially colored/flavored toothpaste, antacids or decongestants.
Here’s what you will find.
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December 3rd, 2012 | Ayurveda, detoxify, frugal living, natural remedy, self care, skincare, try new things | 7 Comments »
Despite my love of kale and yoga, I have always sworn to shave my legs and wear “real” deodorant. It’s been one way I define balance in my increasingly crunchy life.
Years ago, I read an article about making homemade deodorant out of natural ingredients. It especially piqued my interest when I heard a nursing mom note that she felt better about wearing natural deodorant because baby’s wandering fingers often ended up in her armpit.
The ingredients in your standard stick are far from healthy. My son got his hands on mine once, and as I attempted to clean the white stuff out of his mouth I remembered reading how aluminum (the ingredient that prevents perspiration) is also linked to things like breast cancer and Alzheimer’s. Is that true? One of my readers is a breast cancer doctor and disputes the claim on that one. Whew. But I do know that the ingredient label on deodorant or pretty much any self-care product can be a scary, chemically place to be. Oy.
Anyway, I held out. Sweating and smelling are two things I’m not particularly interested in doing!
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April 4th, 2012 | detoxify, frugal living, natural remedy, quick and easy, self care, skincare, try new things | 21 Comments »
Oh, internet full of recipes, I love you so. But gone are the days of experimenting with teff flour and Indian inspired recipes…I’m sorry but I don’t have time right now to prep grocery lists and hunt down new ingredients.
And while we DID finally sell our condo back in Massachusetts, I don’t have the extra green to spend on an assortment of oils and seasonings and kitchen equipment I’ll only use once. Oh, that mandoline that sits and sits…I never quite got the hang of it and the knife works just fine…
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June 6th, 2011 | baby, Boston, frugal living, groceries, quick and easy, recipe, self care, Washington D.C. | 3 Comments »
Do you have time to cook? Really? I don’t mean heating up a frozen burrito either. I mean actually cook with real ingredients. Here’s the thing. We all have Facebook statuses to update, partners to talk to, bills to pay, cats to pet, you know, whatever. If you prioritize really cooking a real meal a few times a week amidst all of that, I salute you!
For me lately it’s 4pm before I look at the clock, I’ve got a baby getting antsy and a nursing pad falling out of my top, and I forgot to defrost the chicken. Plus the added pressure of using the veggies from our CSA. I mean, spring onions, turnips and radishes? What’s a girl to do with that?
(I’ll let you know in a few days, when I figure it out.)
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June 2nd, 2011 | frugal living, quick and easy | 8 Comments »
Welcome to 21 Days of Detoxing! Whether you are one of our amazingly motivated participants or just interested in eating clean, whole, real food – boy do I have some recipes for you! From now ’til May 21st I’ll be featuring a delicious detox-friendly recipe each day. (And if you want to join in and get the whole detox manual, cookbook and access to our online forum, it’s ok to start a few days late – click here and sign up!)
Eating healthy meals is one thing. I mean, if you’re gonna cook it’s only a little more effort to do something healthy. But eating healthy snacks? I think that can be tough. After all, the definition of a snack is like, a quick fix on the go, right?
Try finding a snack that’s real, clean, whole food at the movies. Or at the airport. Or at your inlaws’ house. Um…that’s a task. It’s much easier to make your own and carry ‘em with you or keep ‘em out on the counter and within easy reach for whenever you get the munchies. That’s what I like to do. Otherwise my hand somehow finds it’s way into a bag of Oreos. I don’t know how that happens!
Final tips? Double – no, triple the recipe. And feel free to add a teaspoon of cinnamon or bit of vanilla extract. For a more savory snack you could add cumin or cayenne. Possibilities, my dears, they go on and on.
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May 5th, 2011 | frugal living, nutrition school, quick and easy, recipe, Spring 2011 detox recipes, vegan, vegetarian | 2 Comments »
I must have been lugging the drying rack full of cloth diapers out into the backyard when I spotted these beauties. They kinda stopped me in my tracks – something so simple and pretty, so effortless. They’d just appeared out of nowhere.
Stopped. Smiled. I might have even taken a deep breath.
Been kind of crazy around here, if just in my mind. I don’t know, something about a newborn keeps a mom on the edge of her seat. At least this mom. I’ve been appreciating more than ever the small things that bring a smile in between feedings, crying fits and poopy diapers.
A hot shower. A cup of tea. Gorgeous flowers in my neglected backyard. Mmmm.
And this. Popcorn.
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April 20th, 2011 | frugal living, happiness, quick and easy, recipe, spring, vegan, vegetarian, whole grains | 9 Comments »
Fealthy? Baby talk nonsense is working it’s way into my blog post titles, I see. You’ll have to excuse me.
Anyway, let’s talk about food you can make in 5 minutes with one hand. Because you’re holding a baby in the other hand, say for instance. Or a cell phone or something. Or a remote – and by the way I’m jealous if you’ve hand time to watch TV lately! Or sleep.
Let’s also talk about how not wasting food is the #1 way to save money in your food budget.
My mom made a turkey breast while she was visiting us. But you can pretend this story is about chicken if you like that better.
With little left to carve, I picked the remaining meat away – fingers actually are the best tools for this job. I got about 1.5 cups of meat that would have been thrown away. Score!! (Now I have the bones, which went in the freezer for when I get around to making stock. That’ll be another day.)
Turkey scraps are a good start to turkey salad. Just add mayo, no? You could.
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March 11th, 2011 | beans, frugal living, quick and easy, recipe | 5 Comments »
Disclaimer: it isn’t really a cobb salad. I just looked at my husband while we were eating this delicious meal and asked, “What would you call it?”
To be honest I have no idea where this recipe came from. Wait, yes I do! I was trying to create a protein-rich meal on the cheap. I wanted it to include animal protein, but not at the cost of a grass-fed steak or anything like that.
No, this wasn’t our weekend Valentine’s Dinner. (Note obligatory Valentines reference.) Though I got a little creative with the plating as if I were serving something fancy!
Have I mentioned how expensive groceries are in D.C.? Seriously. We lived in Boston, not Kansas. I did not expect the prices to go up as we moved south. Everything is more expensive here, even parking meters. My penny-pinching grocery moves have definitely come in handy.
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February 14th, 2011 | frugal living, groceries, organic, recipe, Washington D.C., whole grains | 15 Comments »
New and exciting around here includes: Ikea baby curtains and a fresh batch of Laborade prepped for the big day. We also recently got our co-sleeper set up, which I happily found on CSNstores.com and had delivered. (Have you shopped there? From baby stuff to Delsey luggage, they have pretty much everything.) But the coolest and newest thing to happen around here is that I baked bread with beans! Yah!
No, not bread and some beans on the side. Bread WITH beans. In it.
I guess I was inspired by trying to eat more protein, period. Growing a baby requires mad amounts of protein. But I wanted bread. Augh. What to do, what to do?
It got me wondering, could I cram some protein into bread the way I cram protein into cookies?
Sure can.
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February 3rd, 2011 | baking, beans, frugal living, recipe, whole grains | 17 Comments »
