A Few things to Share

this has nothing to do with this post. just like this picture.

You probably already know how important I think natural/organic/safe products are.  Here are some quick tips I feel like sharing.


Plastics - I try to avoid buying plastics when possible, but I am not ready to live a plastic free life. If you do use plastics, pay attention to the numbers found on the bottom of the plastic item. #2, #4, and #5 are considered the safer options because they are least toxic and can be recycled easier.  Never microwave plastics and avoid storing fatty or acidic foods in plastic containers.

Food- Eat less meat and more whole grains. Obviously eat more homemade food and avoid canned food **especially canned tomato products - even organic**  they can be lined with BPA.  If you can afford to buy some organic produce, aim for celery, spinach (ALL leafy greens), ALL BERRIES, peaches, nectarines, apples, potatoes and grapes. Be careful of the fish you eat. Try to AVOID: Tuna (bigeye and Ahi), Shark, Mackerel, Orange Roughy, Tilefish and Marlin.
Look at labels!  Avoid the following ingredients: Artificial Colors - anything beginning with FD&C, Chemical Preservatives: BHA, sodium nitrate, sodium benzoate. Artificial Sweeteners: aspartame, acesulfame-k, saccharin. Added Sugars: High frustose corn syrup, dextrose, etc)

Gemetically Modified fruit and veggies are all over the place.  It is hard to avoid them these days (heck, i even read that they may be releasing GM mosquitoes in the keys soon) but here are some tips to avoid them: Buy Organic, Look for Non-GMO certified seals, Avoid at-risk ingredients including
soybeans, canola, cottonseed, corn, and sugar from sugarbeets, Get a Non-GMO shopping app on your smart phone. I have this one: Shop No GMO and The Non GMO Project.  Both are free and easy to use.

I have a lot of other tips to pass your way next week. In the meantime, watch this funny video.  I know they are a little played out, but this one - It's like they were following me. :)

A total of MAYBE 10 seconds

I wonder if when you are so small :10 seconds seems like 10 minutes. The following happened about that fast. What an emotional roller coaster.  I don't know what brought it on. Maybe it was because he has too many giraffe toys to choose from.

Maybe he was mad I was changing the "lens" on my camera (and by camera I mean iphone).

Even with all those giraffe toys he still likes the simple things. Sunday night he helped me make cookies and LOVED playing with the chocolate chip bag.

    

Weekend Lessons +

I used to love grocery shopping. When I didn't live in NY I looked forward to driving to the store, taking my time going up and down every aisle and imagining what kind of food I could make with a new ingredient. Sample the cheese at the deli, dip some bread into the little dips they had out to try. Maybe get a free kids cookie. Then check out, wheel my cart filled with bagged groceries to the car, load up and head home. It was therapy. Now...Not so much. Now it's grab and go. Try not to huff and puff too much in line when I only have 3 items and the person in front of me decides to buy the store or are paying in pennies. Now, I can only buy what I can carry in one hand up 5 flights of stairs.
Take a look at the picture below. You see that grin? You see that empty HUGE clean aisle? You can sense the joy right? That was taken in December at a Harris Teeter in North Carolina. I was spinning in the aisle. SPINNING!!!! TWIRLING!! I miss you Harris Teeter.


I went off on an tangent just now, this wasn't supposed to be about that, the point here is: I am JUST now hopping on the Fresh Direct Train. I LOVE it. I ordered food last week and it was delivered- Fresh and Direct to me, even up the stairs. This happens! You order food online, in your living room (or wherever you prefer), you look at the produce ratings, check out the sales, imagine an ingredient, search for it and drop it in your cart. THEN you pay only $6 and they BRING IT TO YOU! Genius.
Anyway, these are the lessons I taught Sonny this weekend:

1) Spinach is deceitful -Don't let fresh spinach fool you when you cook it, it gets tiny
2) Melted chocolate is HOT- like lava if it touches your fingers - stay away from melted chocolate chips
3) Blow on grits and let them cool a few seconds before tasting them for salt content
4) Bed Bugs are scary - we do NOT have bedbugs. I am obsessed. Any fuzz ball in my house is a suspect. You can never be too safe.
5) Look to the left when crossing the street (and the right)

I made cookies for valentine's day tonight, if you work with me then you can have a cookie tomorrow (Apron = birthday gift from Manisha from Italy - It says "Carly, Queen of the Kitchen")