Michaelmas Hygge!

Blackberries are traditionally eaten on Michaelmas, so here's my salute to the archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael whose feast day it is today.

Someone gave me some homemade blackberry jam.  I saved it until today and made cream biscuits to serve it over.

Finished Product

Dinner last night was a resounding success!

I was too lazy to take nice photos.

So I didn't consult any recipe, I just threw it together and it came out delicious.

Filling:
Chopped up half a large onion
1 large clove of garlic smashed and chopped
Soften up both of these in some olive oil.
Threw in a lb of ground beef and cooked it up
Seasoned with Mrs. Dash (I know, but my husband is on a low salt diet).  I did add a bit of Himalayan salt and some black pepper too.

In the meantime I put a cup of rice in with two cups of chicken broth into my rice cooker.  The broth still had a some fat in it (I hadn't skimmed it off yet) so I didn't add anything else to the rice.

When the rice was done I stirred it into the ground beef mixture.

In the meantime, I put the oven on at 350 degrees, washed and cut in half my peppers, cleaned out the seeds and such from the insides.  Then I brushed them with a bit of olive oil and baked them by themselves for about 10 minutes.

Then I stuffed the peppers with the beef and rice mixture.  I topped each one with a bit of parmesan cheese and baked them all for another 20 minutes or so.

The peppers tasted really good.  Not too mushy, but not underdone either.

Can you even tell what this is?  

Fried green tomatoes:

I didn't have any bread crumbs, so I stole half of a small baguette and toasted it, then chopped it up into coarse crumbs in my blender.  I added a lot of Mrs. Dash.  I know, but I really like Mrs. Dash, ok???

Then I beat one egg in a dish and then dumped all the bread crumbs in and mushed it around till the breadcrumbs were damp.

I washed and sliced up all the green tomatoes.

I heated some olive oil in a pan and placed the sliced tomatoes in and then spread the bread crumbs on top.  At this point I think I added some garlic salt.

I covered it all and let the bread crumbs get really crispy and some of the tomatoes were browning.  Then I flipped everything over and did the same on the other side.  Then because I had the jar of parmesan still out, I sprinkled the rest of the cheese that was left (maybe 2 tablespoons?) on the tomatoes.

So delicious!

And tonight we are having the leftover peppers along with the leftover kale and potatoes from the night before with a couple of boxes of Annie's Mac and Cheese.  Gotta have a leftover night once a week! 

Zero Waste + Mediterranean Diet Cooking

I've been trying to reduce the amount of waste I and my family produce since last Lent.  It's an ongoing learning adventure!  I've also recently decided to transition to a Mediterranean Diet for my family's health reasons.  I've found this is a little bit of a tough combination.  For instance, if your recipes call for yogurt or feta cheese all the time, but both these things typically come in plastic packaging, what do I do?   I run into that sort of obstacle all the time.

To summarize what these two things mean:

Zero waste - means putting a great emphasis on the 5 R's in my daily living habits. 

Refuse - wasteful packaging and unnecessary purchases.

Reduce -  whatever waste you can - choose the product with the least packaging that can be recycled for instance.

Reuse - For example, if you buy something in a glass jar, you can then reuse it to store leftovers, thereby negating the necessity of buying plastic wrap.

Recycle - recycling isn't as great as it has been sold.  Only 13% of the millions of tons of plastic we produce each year actually gets downcycled (you can't recycle plastic the way you would glass or cardboard).  However, recycling is still vital for controlling the deluge of trash we produce every day.

Rot - composting is a vital part of this.  Everyone should be composting at least some of the food scraps they produce every day.

The Mediterranean Diet is:

Mostly plant based - fresh, whole, local produce

Uses olive oil mostly for healthy fat

Lots of fresh seafood - high in omega 3's

Meat and dairy are used more as accoutrements to the dish rather than the main thing - should be grass fed.

Incorporates more legumes, nuts and seeds than the typical American diet.

Whole grains emphasized.

***************************

One thing I've found about combining these two elements, zero waste and Mediterranean, is that I have to really cook seasonally.  Instead of finding a recipe and then going to the store or CSA or farmer's market to get the ingredients, I need to go to the store, CSA or farmer's market with the limitations in mind that both the zero waste and Mediterranean Diet place upon me.  I purchase what I can, and then I come up with a recipe that fits what I've got.

So today for dinner I'm going to try stuffed peppers.

I will use up the rest of my rice, bought in bulk, probably at Whole Foods, though it could have come from Mom's Organic.

My CSA has lots of bell peppers this week.  This doesn't even include a number of other peppers we've already eaten this week, just as raw veggie slices to snack on.

I probably got the onion and garlic in the loose produce section at one of the grocery stores I frequent in my travels around the area.

The ground beef I got from Whole Foods.  It is wrapped in compostable butcher paper, so I consider that zero waste on my part.  I try to get whatever ground beef is on sale.  If it is more pricey I get 1 lb, if it is a little cheaper another week, I'll get two lbs.  This week it was pricier so I only got 1 lb.

Two things not included in this photo: the olive oil I'll saute the onion and garlic in - it comes in a glass bottle with a plastic pourer.  I can recycle the glass but the plastic pourer thing is both unnecessary and probably doomed for a landfill.  Also not included is the chicken stock I'll probably cook the rice in.  On Monday we had roast chicken.  The chicken is from a local farm, pasture raised, but it does come wrapped in a plastic bag which I rinse out and then throw away - also doomed to go to a landfill.  Yesterday I made chicken stock out of the carcass with some celery and carrots (bought without packaging).

To go along with the stuffed peppers, I think I'll make fried green tomatoes.  I got this box from my CSA.

Blurry photo!

I'll let you know how things turned out!

Camping and Recovery

Home away from home! It's supposed to be a treehouse but it is really a raised sleeping porch.

There are two things I really love about camping in the fall.  First, I love being outdoors all day long.  The weather isn't too hot, not too many bugs and it is perfectly comfortable to get up at 5:30 and drink coffee at the picnic table, hang out doing whatever you are doing, rest on the chaise lounge and read in the afternoon, prep and cook dinner over the camp stove, sit around the campfire talking and singing songs, hit the sleeping bag at around 9 or 9:30.  I think because I am too sedentary and stay indoors so much, there is something really exotic and exhilarating about that to me.  The other thing is food.  I have always liked eating al fresco but I really enjoy cooking outdoors too.  Which is crazy because I never go near my husband's grill at home.  He always does that cooking, but when I am at a campground, I seem to really enjoy cooking outdoors.

The lower campsite where most of the action happened.

The thing I don't like about camping are the lack of privacy and not really being able to sleep much in a sleeping bag.

Anyway, we had an adventurous weekend, with two girls cutting themselves just after the knife safety lesson and during their whittling project.  One had to go to urgent care and get two stitches and a tetanus shot.  I didn't take her though, one of the other leaders did.  She's the head leader and pretty much does everything for us.  And the next day we went hiking on the Appalachian Trail for 4 hours.  I kept protesting that the trail was marked as 'difficult' and I am not a hiker and in fact have plantar faciitus and arthritis.  But my co-leader assured me that we'd only go on the easy portion of the trail.  Hah, hah, hah!  It was easy for her, who has been hiking all her life!  For me it was treacherous.  I kept rolling my ankles and my knee started to ache.  She actually had a brace with her and I put that on my knee which made it better for a while.  I was so busy looking at the ground trying not to twist my ankle on all the rocks, that I barely took in the woods around me.  My hips began to ache also.  Did I mention we were in the mountains going up and down rocky inclines?  She was able to talk the whole time up and back!  It was a breeze for her.  I was really struggling, but one of the girls had a walking stick, so I used that and for the last hour, I swear that was the only thing that kept me from having to be airlifted off the trail.

Lunch break on the Appalachian Trail hike

I was so exhausted the next day and my leg hurt so much, I could barely move.  We left an hour earlier than planned and got home before noon.  I didn't make it to mass in the evening as I had planned.  I came down with some terrific stomach thing for about 4 painful hours that then vanished and then I slept for about 10 hours straight.  When I got up this morning, I felt like a new person!  I had so much energy and my leg didn't hurt.  Unfortunately, as the day progressed it did start to ache again.  But still!

View from my chaise lounge

My big hygge today was buying whole wheat sourdough bread from the bakery when it was fresh out of the oven and eating that for both breakfast and lunch!  I also joined a new CSA where I can also get milk and butter and other things besides produce.

And another big hygge was I planted a little herb garden from a kit I bought for myself!

Really blurry picture of my new herb garden.  The chives look pretty limp.

Cream Biscuits and Peach Jam

Of course, I don't have an actual photo but I made this cream biscuit recipe for Sunday breakfast and then broke out my peach jam that I made over at a friend's house.  She was teaching me how to can.  While I think the biscuits by themselves aren't particularly interesting, putting a dollop of homemade peach jam over them made a very tasty breakfast dish.    The recipe for the jam is delicious!

Stole this photo from the recipe site.

The Egg and I - Book 27

I first read The Egg and I decades ago.   I remembered it as being really funny and light.  I've been into this homesteading you tube thing so I thought, hey, I'll revisit the Egg and I.  And yes it does have funny parts but it did not improve on rereading for me.  In fact it made me a little sad.  The first time I read it I didn't know the marriage portrayed would break up in four years.  Now reading it I can see all the strain and the growing alienation.  I hadn't remembered that she had gotten married at age 18 to a man 13 years her senior.  Big red flags going off there.  And then the way she portrays the Indians or Native Americans made me feel so sad for them.  They had completely descended into the most sordid way of life.  And MacDonald doesn't portray the other country folk around her too much better.  I mean they are sordid and so stupid themselves.  She's married to a chicken farmer and she hates chickens.  She marries a guy who loves the rugged life but to her it is exhausting and unnecessary.  The men in the book are all louts who do their physical work and then have lots of time for drinking and lazing about.  While a woman's work is truly never done.  And then some of the stuff she does or says is so really dated now.  For instance she looks down on the country folk for breast feeding their children.  Or she leaves her toddler napping in their truck pinned in with a blanket and pins while she goes around to visit the county fair.  Apparently everybody did this but now, oh my goodness, you'd get slapped with a criminal charge of negligence. 

So I was disappointed in the book and a little bit in myself for being disappointed.  I still love Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle though.

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Friday night Hygge

To end a very stressful week for both me and my husband, we suddenly remembered we had bought tickets way back in May to see Steve Martin and Martin Short at a nearby outdoor theater.  So first there was the stress of him getting home in time from work.  He did and in fact he got a short nap in (he'd worked until 3 in the morning the day before).  Then there was the stress of not being able to find the parking sticker that we paid extra for so we could park in the closer lot and that would allow us to eat at the small restaurant there.  Couldn't find it, so we decided we'd just eat pizza with the kids.  J went to get the pizza at the nearby really good pizza place, literally about a 12 minutes drive.  He was gone forever.  Time was ticking away.  Finally he called.  They had closed off the main street for some kind of event and he was absolutely trapped in traffic.  He finally had to turn around and drive the opposite direction and circle around a really long way to get home.  So we ate our pizza quickly and drove to the show.  Parked and walked (which wasn't bad at all; it's the getting out of the big parking lot after the show is over that's the problem.)  T

The show was hysterical.  It was a little bawdy but then all classical comedy is, starting with the Greeks and their phallic obsession!  But most of it was just funny.  And they had Steve Martin's back up bluegrass band there:  Steep Canyon Rangers.  I love them!  I've seen them in concert before.  The violinist practically stole the show!  So fantastic!!!!  Really amazing playing!  I can't put in enough exclamation points!!!!

So it was a fun time.  We walked back to the car and while sitting in the parking lot waiting the long wait to get out, noticed we were actually on empty.  So we turned off the engine and waited.  Finally we were able to slowly progress out.  There's a fuel monitor device which tells you how many miles left.  Just getting out of the parking lot it said 0 miles.  We couldn't even drive to a gas station if we wanted to.  Fortunately, we live close to this venue.  It's about a 20 minute walk but a 5 minute drive, so we very gingerly drove back home and pulled into the garage basically on gas fumes.  LOL.  So even the very end of the week was stressful too!

Anyway, leaving you with the song the Steep Canyon Rangers played that brought everyone to their feet!

Friday already?

This week has shot by.  It has been extremely busy with driving hither and yon, trying to get into the busy academic year schedule of outside classes and commitments and trying to eat better (and failing mostly at that!) and having to watch the little guy while his mom works, which really throws a monkey wrench into everything and as cute as he is, is tiring for me.  There was a lot of stress for me, but things got resolved in a way on Wednesday.  We had our first Latin 1 and European History class at the co-op yesterday and I think they went off fairly well.

Thing is, you can't really get hygge on demand when you are so busy and stressed.  Or I should say, I've discovered I can't!  But I am grateful for:

Hot coffee in the morning

A lovely new devotional book I'm reading on the rosary.

Attending a lovely prayer service for the Season of Creation my parish held last night.



Time to get rolling now.  Another busy day ahead!

Daily Hygge - AHG and chili

Yesterday was quite the busy day and I kept forgetting my phone/camera. The weather was still lovely.  That is supposed to end today as it is clouding up and we are in for 3 days of rain, the weather folks are predicting.  I am so busy lately it is hard to focus on hygge, but thinking about yesterday,  we had our first AHG meeting of the new year and that is always fun.  We've been in this group for 6 years now (I think, unless it is 7?) and we love it so much!  So it was nice to start up again.  One of the things the girls voted on was which one pot meal we'd be cooking for our treehouse camping trip coming up in a couple weeks.  And everyone voted on my vegetarian chili, which coincidentally is what we had last night for dinner (and is slated for lunch again today).    Here's the recipe:

Saute chopped onions in some olive oil in a pot with a heavy bottom (I use my Creuset).
Add in a couple of dollops of chopped garlic (I buy the jarred stuff)
Go through your fridge and find all the vegetables that need to be eaten pronto or they'll go bad:  my usuals are carrots, celery, mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers.  You can add in anything pretty much.  I've thrown in the occasional turnip or parsnip, sweet potato, etc.
Chop these up and throw them into the pot as well,
Along with 2 cans of tomatoes with chili.  Sometimes I add 1 can of tomatoes and chilis and 1 can of fire roasted tomatoes.  Whatever you like.
Throw in 2 cans of organic black beans liquid and all.
I usually chop up a big baking potato (peeled) and throw that in as well.
Now add a tablespoon of cumin seed (or ground cumin if you don't have the seed but I think the seed makes it taste better)
1 don't like things too spicy so I only add 1/2 tablespoon of chili powder
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Let this burble on the stove for a while.
Just before serving I add a can of organic corn; make sure it is heated thoroughly before serving.

My family likes this served over rice with grated cheddar cheese on top.

I actually had my act together yesterday and made this in the early afternoon before we left for our AHG meeting.  I started the rice in the rice cooker, just before we left.  When we got home it was almost 6 o'clock and dinner was ready. Then we had to leave again at 6:30 to get B to her play rehearsal.

Busy times!

Sunday Hygge

Another gorgeous, gorgeous day weather-wise.  Every time I turn on the radio or get on facebook there are videos of either Irma or the terrible forest fires out west.  And here the word 'halcyon' would be the most apt!

The homily at mass was all about the very practical attitudes we need to adopt in order to reconcile with our fellow humans.  We should not judge harshly or hastily!  We need to encounter others as fellow sinners who are in need of God's mercy just like we are.

B is still struggling with Hashimoto's.  I made her walk with me to the CSA to get some exercise and sunshine.  We took little D with us in the stroller.  He is still fighting a cold and is a bit grumpy, not sleeping and eating well right now.  It was a pleasant walk though and he nodded off just as we returned home.

Our CSA bounty for the week:

3 tomatoes
2 cucumbers
3 different bags of greens (arugula, brassica greens and lettuce)
1 dozen eggs
3 sweet bell peppers - one purple, one red and one green
1 bag of rolled oats
2 boxes of new potatoes

Plus a pretty bouquet of flowers.

I forgot the chickens!  It was chicken Sunday!  Had to go back (in the car) to get them.

I made peanut butter-molasses cookies.  They are almost like gingerbread, except not, and with a subtle peanut butter flavor.

Eat Complete - Book 26

I enjoyed this book, Eat Complete, by Dr. Drew Ramsey.  It seemed to me to combine and refine on lots of dietary information I'd been hearing over the years.  These dietary recommendations have been recently validated by more and more studies.  We have health problems in this family, both physical and mental, and I am becoming more and more convinced that our standard American diet is the source of the problem.  So I've decided to go whole hog into the Mediterranean diet espoused by Dr. Ramsey.

This is hard because I am also trying to be zero waste and that means avoiding any food packaged in plastic.  I think avoiding plastic wrapped food is also good for one's health, personally.  Plastic is loaded with chemicals that leach into foods.  So while I enjoyed reading the nutritional information Dr. Ramsey presents in such an accessible way, the recipes at the back of the book intimidated me.  He kept insisting they were easy but they all sounded like dishes from high end, exclusive Manhattan restaurants.  Of course, that is his clientele and audience, as he is a psychiatrist at Columbia University.  But many of the recipes look like they take intense planning, with expensive ingredients.

I did cull a few recipes from the book which I am going to try at some point.

So I give a thumbs up for the nutritional information presented in the book in an easy to read manner, but my verdict is out on the actual recipes.  And to be fair I have not tried any yet, so I really can't judge.

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks. 

Weather Hygge

I am so sorry for the people suffering under Irma or recovering from the flooding from Harvey or fighting those frightening fires in the west.  But today was such a gorgeous day here in Virginia. 

The high was maybe 71?  And the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds.  There was a lovely breeze, just a tad bit cool to give a taste of autumn days to come.   The air felt like silk.

Pitch perfect day. 

Uh oh! I lost my hygge!

Life got super busy Thursday and Friday and I just couldn't focus on even a tiny bit of blogging.  Looking back, the things that brought a sense of joy and contentment were:

1)  The little boy staying with us started calling me Mom.  He calls his own mother Mama  But he heard B calling up the stairs to me, saying Mah - om, in that singsong way you do when you are calling someone.  And the bright little button he is, he immediately imitated her, calling Mah-om too!  And now I am Mah-om.  So there's Mama and Mahom.  Another cute thing he's started doing (and we don't know where he's picked this up), he pulls up his shirt, rubs his belly and then gives a big Santa type ho ho ho laugh.  It is a scream.  He'll go on and on doing this.  He thinks it's the funniest thing ever!  23 month olds are darling. 

2) I love my homesteading youtube channels.  If you all aren't watching Justin Rhodes Great American Farm tour, you are in for such a treat.  I look forward to my little fix every day. 

That's all I got for now!

100 Days of Hygge - Day 18

Not have very hygge-ish days lately.  I am grasping!  And it is started to feel a bit forced.  Maybe hygge just happens sometimes. . .

Anyway, yesterday we ate Cornish pasties for lunch.  We have a little shop in our town.  The food is so high quality and delicious.  So some more food hygge! 

Yum!

Here is some info on just what a Cornish pasty is!

100 Days of Hygge - Day 17

Some days, I'm just not feeling the hygge.  Yesterday was kind of stressful and sad BUT I did make a really yummy breakfast in my attempt to eat healthier.

I chopped up from fresh parsley and spring onion and threw them into our scrambled eggs.  Then I warmed the leftover sweet potato flatbreads, sprinkled on a little cheese, added the eggs and made a nice kind of breakfast taco for the kids. They RAVED about how good it was!  Sorry, I did not stop to take a photo.

But it was a definite win!

So that was nice.  I've also decided that Jamaican Blue coffee is absolutely delicious.  I keep trying different types of bulk coffee and this one is my favorite so far.

So I did have some food hygge yesterday.

100 Days of Hygge - Day 16

I made hummus and flatbread!

Homemade hummus with celery, red pepper, cucumber, carrots and homemade flatbread cut into strips!

Hummus recipe - modified from whatever random hummus recipe I found on the internet.

2 cans of garbanzo beans, drained, but save the liquid

Tahini - about 3/4 a cup

1/4 cup olive oil to start with, but I added more as I went.  It was probably less than a 1/2 cup all together

A couple of big dollops of chopped garlic from a jar

The juice of almost a whole lemon (I had used a slice of it earlier in the day in my mineral water).

1 tablespoon of ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Some chopped parsley to sprinkle on the hummus when you serve it.

Throw everything into a blender and blend.  You have to drizzle in the liquid from the drained garbanzo beans as you blend.  Stir frequently because initially it is so thick the liquid will just sit on top.  So you blend for a minute, then stir, then add a little liquid (I also added a little more olive oil at the point too), then blend again.  Repeat this several times until you like the consistency and the taste.  I kept adding a bit more salt at the end to get it right.

This makes a little less than a quart mason jar full of hummus!

To go with the hummus, I chopped up veggies as you can see from the photo.

I also made sweet potato flatbread again.  This was my third time making it.  Everybody still loves it!  It is very easy, except the dough is so sticky and sticks to my rolling pin no matter what!  Don't like that part.

Flatbread
1 sweet potato - boiled or baked (or if you are like me you cheat and use the microwave)
1 cup of sprouted wheat flour - this is supposed to be healthier for you.
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all together in a bowl.  Flour your hands well and work the dough until it has a nice consistency.  Break into smaller balls of dough and roll out into 'tortillas.'  In the meanwhile, melt a tablespoon  of coconut oil in a pan.  Toss the tortilla into the pan and fry up.  Takes 2 minutes on one side and one minute on the other.   Makes six to eight of medium sized rounds, depending on how you divide up the dough.   As the oil gets used up add another tablespoon.

I got this recipe from Off Grid with Doug and Stacy, but I think there are many floating around the internet.

Both the hummus recipe and the flatbread/tortilla recipe are keepers for my family!

100 Days of Hygge - Day 15

Regular Sunday hygge (besides going to Mass!) is picking up food from our CSA.  I am in a neighborhood where I can't walk anywhere!  You need a car.  But, luckily, our CSA is actually in walking distance.  Rick, I and little Dylan set out to walk there yesterday after coming home from church and eating a nice breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs and cantaloupe.  Rick pulled Dylan in the wagon.  We have to cut through the little farm where they grow some of the vegetables and lots of flowers.  We walk right by a lot of bee hives too. (Always makes me a tad nervous!). 

The path through the farm. Those little white things in the middle of the picture are bee hives!

Flowers!

I would like to paint this!

Flower bouquet from the farm.

100 Days of Hygge - Day 14

This past week I had a couple disturbing and unhappy things happen.  This is on top of other disturbing and unhappy things that have been happening at a rather regular rate lately over the past few months.  It all started with my husband's stroke, I think.

Anyway, I am choosing not to dwell on them, but to pray and hope that things will work out.  And also do what I can, here and now, in my own little sphere.  One thing somewhat under my control is our very poor diet.  I am very inconsistent.  I try to cook healthy but do it in a very piecemeal way where it is liberally interspersed with very unhealthy food.  All our health is suffering from this.  So I really feel the battle call to get finally get my act together.  So here goes!  This is the thing that gives me hygge - cooking well for my family.  When I don't, I feel guilty and like a failure.  I am going to end that negative thinking and those bad habits and do positive things.  I will go little by little, always moving forward.  I need to be realistic but not make excuses. 

I am going with the Mediterranean Diet for our health.  This is no refined carbs/refined sugars, focus on healthy omega 3 fats, whole foods, single ingredient products.  Lots of whole grains, nuts and seeds, veggies, fruit, some dairy and some meat.  And upping the seafood consumption. 

I am going to concentrate my food shopping on days when B is at the math tutor.  There's a Wegman's 10 minutes from the tutor's house.  I think I have a pretty good chance of being fairly 'zero-waste' while getting 98% of what we need (this is combined with our CSA which gives us fresh veggies and a dozen farm fresh eggs a week and 3 pasture raised chickens a month).

Produce
This should be zero waste - I will only get produce not wrapped in plastic.  This should take up most of the shopping cart.  I want to focus on getting as many 'colors' as possible:  lemons, peppers, carrots, leafy greens, fruits, herbs, potatoes, etc.  These supplement the veggies we get on Sunday afternoons from the CSA.

Milk
Whole milk that is not ultra pasteurized.   This is hard to get!  I hope Wegman's has the milk in the glass bottles.  If not, I hope it carries milk that is only pasteurized and grass fed. 

Cheese
I know I can get both wax wrapped cheese (no plastic) plus if I bring my own container I can get sliced cheesed right over the deli counter.

Butter
I'm sticking with Kerry Gold.

Meat
I've never checked out the meat department so we'll have to find out costs, packaging, grass fed, etc.

Fish
Wild caught salmon in cans and occasionally steaks or fillets
tuna in cans
shrimp
clams/mussels/oysters upon occasion
Other fish

Eggs
We go through about 3 or 3.5 dozen a week.  I want pastured eggs with omega 3.

Bulk bins
I know Wegman's has a big bulk section.
Brazil nuts
Cashews
Pumpkin seeds
trail mix
raisins
cranberries
apricots
rice
rolled oats

Baking supplies
Flour that is in paper containers is fine.  I really like the King Arthur sprouted wheat
I want to rid myself of refined sugars but I fear I need a little. . . .
Salt
Baking powder
Baking soda

Staples:
Apple Cider vinegar (Mrs. Bragg's)
EVOO
Coconut oil
Peanut oil
Mayo - either make my own or Mr. Kensington's avocado oil mayo
peanut butter - I gotta get one of the special stirrers for pb
Fermented veggies - sauerkraut, etc.

Tins/Cans
Steel cut oatmeal
roasted peanuts
tomato sauce
canned black beans
canned garbanzo beans
tahini

Things I need to make at home:
yogurt (1x a month)
salad dressing (2x a week)
bone broth (1x a week)
hummus (1x a month)

Bread
I hope that Wegman's has a bakery where I can get sliced bread and bring my own bread bag.  We'll find out.

If the milk, meat and bread don't work out, I will just have to go to Whole Foods for those 1x a week.  At WF I can get milk in a glass jar, sliced bread in my own bag and meat (but not chicken) wrapped in compostable butcher paper. 

Coffee:
I want bulk coffee that is organic, free trade, single source.  Hah!  Really hard to find.  We'll see what Wegman's has.

Water
Sparkling mineral water in glass bottles.  This is fast becoming my favorite thing.  I take a 1/2 tbsp of elderberry juice and a slice of lemon and put it in a glass of mineral water.  Really refreshing and I think it is really healthy for me.

Other stuff
Dog and Cat Food
7th Generation brand toilet paper, paper towel, laundry detergent, etc

This is kind of slap dash because I am getting ready to go to Mass. But there it is!  I do derive a sense of well being from trying to be healthier and more orderly in our eating habits.  I am looking forward to shopping on Tuesday!

100 Days of Hygge - Day 13

There are three things that definitely create a contented, happy, hygge mood for me:   cooking good food, enjoying nature, and playing with little children.

We took little D to the playground yesterday:

I am not a good photographer and he is always moving, so it is hard to get a good photo that does justice to the fun he was having.

100 Days of Hygge - Day 12

Yesterday, we took little Dylan and his mom to visit a nearby farm park.  This was a real farm back in the 1930s.  Somehow the county acquired the property and they've kept it as a farm from that period.  They've also moved historical buildings like an old school house and I think other buildings to the site.  In addition, the area has an equestrian center with a show arena.  The 4H fair is held here every year and they also host bluegrass concerts all summer.  We went to look at the farm animals.

Peacock mama with chicks.

Inquisitive turkey.  He reminds me of Squidward from Spongebob.

Can you tell this is a goat?

Dylan admiring the chickens.

Little piggies!

BIG piggie!

This little calf was just born last night!  Still a bit wobbly.

Mama was right there though.

Dylan loved the calf and this little girl.  She said 'baby' for the first time.  Dylan, being almost 23 months could say cow, moo and baby!