GIVEAWAY: Better Living With Whole Foods Cookbook

Now that it's spring I have been thinking more about natural, good foods for my family. Recently I started walking and eating better, so that I can preserve what I have! So it was right up my alley when I received an invite to discuss it.

This last week I attended a blogging event a local natural baby store, Belly Sprout, located in Fullerton. We were there to hear about You Are What You Eat, a local event taking place at the Brea Community Center on May 15th.

Organized by owners of the Belly Sprout, Christy Funk and Yolanda Quiroz Soto, J.D. the goal of the event is to explore the connection between what we eat and how it affects us in body, mind and spirit. With Keynote Speakers like Mariel Hemingway and Ann Gentry, You Are What You Eat is a family-friendly program, run by women, for the most part. There are food demonstrations, panel discussions and book-signings. Childcare is provided. There will be a food truck with organic, sustainable food for your convenience. Are you in the mood? Make sure you attend!

But first, to get you started, WIN a copy of the book by local author, Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.: Better Living With Whole Foods. To win, simply leave a comment here and tell me what you are doing to improve your eating habits. MAKE SURE to leave me your email so I can contact you if you win. Contest ENDS April 1, 2010.

Want extra entries?

Tweet the contest. Then make sure to let me know. For another entry, subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog, on upper right of the page..

I did not receive compensation for this post, but I may have received free product to review.

T, who hopes this is helpful for you

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Maybe We Should Only Eat the Ones Without Chocolate

Tonight we had a great time baking at a friend's house. JBug drizzled chocolate on cookies and noticed the patterns looked like chromosomes. (yeah, only she would notice that) She ate part of the chocolate and said:

"I just created a mutant!"

This explains much...why our genes are so crummy? Cosmic Baker is up there messing with the chocolate! Could he have drizzled just a bit more in certain places?

T, who likes cookies, especially the drizzled ones

We're Going to Name Him Fluffy

I admit, with summer I get a little lackadaisical. The heat, the fact that it stays light longer outside... so it makes sense that I have been a bit busy, and not really cooking a lot. So many other activities demand my attention. Which brings me to.:

We have a new member of our family. He is white and poofy. He seems nice enough. A bit quiet.

In all my years, I have never seen one quite like this one. Such body! So much fur! Still, he isn't much trouble. See for yourself.

T, who will clean out the fridge tomorrow

Technorati: home, family, humor

A Recipe I Could Actually Follow

I was reading blogs recently and ran into this gem over at I Write Funny. Go and give love, Internet, this one deserves it!

I didn't write this, I just loved it, and wanted to pass it, and the link on to you.

Cooks Illustrated Recipe: Boiled Water

by Cooky McKitchener

Like many people, I enjoy the moist aroma and sinus-soothing vapors from a pot of boiling water. But it is often difficult to get a roiling boil just the way you remember it as a child. In my quest to perfect boiled water I began by collecting a dozen different recipes ranging from family hand-me-downs to restaurant standbys. But none of these recipes produced a water boil precisely as I remember it. Some were too slow and too dilute while others were dense and tough. All of the recipes shared a few typical ingredients, such as water. But otherwise they had little in common.

In my first effort to produce a reliable boiled water, I began with a cylindrical steel container, or “pot” as often called for in traditional recipes. Placing the pot four inches away from the flame, the water did eventually come to a boil, but it took six hours. This might have been acceptable in our grandparents’ day, but many of us no longer have so much time to spare. I then moved the pot closer, a mere two inches from the flame. Indeed, the water boiled in just three hours – a big improvement.

Still, tasters said that the boiled water exhibited a “metallic” tang. I suspected this off-note might have been imparted by the steel container or “pot” itself. Next, I removed the pot from the equation, pouring the water directly into the flame. As I’d hoped, the water boiled almost instantly, exhibiting just the warm vapor I was looking for.

Although direct contact with the burner did boil the water quickly, testers found it difficult to get close to the liquid without having their faces burned off by the gas flame. Clearly I needed to find another way.

I then remembered a vessel I’d received as a gift from an ex-mother-in-law that has been kept in a remote storage locker for many years. I drove there in my car at a speed of 30MPH. After observing that it was taking a long time to get there, I increased my speed to 60MPH. This worked well and I arrived at my destination in half the time.

The vessel is constructed with a layer of ceramic enamel enrobed over an iron core. It can hold about 8 quarts of liquid and weighs 400 pounds. I strapped the container to a trailer hitch and returned to the test kitchen.

Because of the vessel’s weight, I used a winch to lift it onto the burner. Once in place, I filled it with water and lit the stove. Voila! In just about ten minutes, there was a perfectly boiled pot of water. The steaming vapor had just the level of moisture I’d remembered, and because of the enamel coating, the boiled water did not take on any unwanted flavors.

BOILED WATER 1 heavy enamel-coated iron pot with winch 8 quarts of water

Lift pot onto burner and fill with water. Turn burner on high and wait ten minutes. Serve immediately.

T, who says next time I get take out

Technorati: funny, other blogs,

I Think She's After My Job

One of the hardest things about being a mother is preparing meals. Keeping them interesting and not falling into a rut. And there are some challenges here. I have a 6 year old who is a bit picky. And I have a 9 year old that is on a special diet. He doesn't eat gluten (so no grains like wheat, oats, barley, spelt) and he doesn't eat dairy. Needless to say, sometimes I am really digging at the bottom when I try to figure out a meal everyone will eat.

JBug has been experimenting in the kitchen more and more. There is always a plate of brownies or cookies around, due to her dabblings. She asked if she could make the snack yesterday, and this is what she came up with:

Strawberry mice, coconut eyes, tortilla chip ears with string cheese tails.

Move over, Martha Stewart! She is starting to make me look bad, here.

T, who needs to up her game

Technorati: cooking, family fun