He wanted seconds of the spinach!?!

This morning we got up and I decided to make breakfast for us, but I’d just been reading an article about how bad sugar is for our bodies and also why whole grains can make us fat so when my son wanted cinnamon toast for breakfast I said no and we opted for omelets instead.

I made what turned out to be the most amazing sautéed spinach and greens mixture for the omelet.

Pretty simple, it was organic butter with sea salt, 50/50 mix of organic greens and organic minced garlic.

I went super light on the cheddar cheese and made the omelet with minimally processed turkey slices and organic rice milk.

We all went crazy for it! I’d only made 1/2 the container of greens the first round, but we all wanted seconds of the spinach so I made more!

Only recently we switched to organic butter and organic regular milk – again food budget is tight which is why I don’t get to go 100% organic and I have to pick and choose where to spend the extra money if there is an obvious difference.

Well, besides being a completely different color, organic butter is also tastier and cooks better than the regular old butter I’ve been using. With organic milk I noticed that it keeps longer in the fridge without any strange smell or taste. Organic milk has a “milk” taste, even in the low-fat variety. The regular non-organic milk starts having no taste and looking like white water in the low-fat and no fat varieties.

We also tried organic safflower oil and organic coconut milk (SoDelicious Vanilla) this week which were both excellent!

Driscoll’s Organic Raspberries vs. Driscoll’s Regular (non-organic) Raspberries

Driscoll’s Organic Raspberries vs. Driscoll’s Regular (non-organic) Raspberries

I was in Super Target shopping for groceries here in Minnesota and I came across some Driscoll’s organic raspberries that looked extremely tasty so I picked them up. As I walked down the aisle I came across the regular non-organic Driscoll’s raspberries which were $1 cheaper. With the container of organic in my hand, I leaned in to look closer at the regular since they were the same brand and I was so shocked I whipped out the phone camera and took a picture of them side-by-side. The regular (non-organic) raspberries were a pale red in comparison with a whitish powder coating, they were ripe and not rotten or anything, and if I wouldn’t have had the organic in my hand I wouldn’t have thought anyhting of it- but the difference in color and quality was so noticable it was like the other weren’t really like real raspberries at all.

Of course, once I took the picture, I kid you not, the produce man followed me around like I was a spy or something! Eventually, I’ll figure out how to get this mysterious phone picture off my phone and post it here for you to see!

Driscoll’s organic raspberries are USDA certified organic and the same company also offers non-organic raspberries. If they truly cared about why organic food is important and not just making more money of the designation “organic” how can they live with that?

The “I’m too sick to be cooking, but I really need chicken soup” recipe…

Ugh, yucky cold, I fought valiantly for a whole week and thought I’d beat that itchy scratchy throat and mysterious traveling body aches that signal an impending cold…shoulda gone to the Y and killed it in the sauna (works every time by the way), but I didn’t. Dawn killed hers with massive amounts of vitamin C- but no, I didn’t do that either! It was weird, I was fine, we made jam this weekend on Sunday afternoon and right after I got super tired all the sudden and then wham- full on cold- out of the blue.

I made homemade chicken noodle soup last night for everyone, but it was a super lazy I’m too sick to do much recipe…

 

“I’m too sick to be cooking, but I really need chicken soup recipe”

1 bag Organic Durum Wheat Noodles- Spirals

4 cups fancy mixed veggies (frozen) which included broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, yellow squash and green zucchini

2 pints Organic, free range Chicken broth by Swanson

1 teaspoon sea salt

4 frozen chicken breast tenders

 

My son who is 9 now got to cook the frozen chicken since I was too tired to stand there and watch it- I just came to check that it was cooked through and we had a nice talk about the difference between white and pink when cooking chicken…I microwaved the cut up pieces just in case.

I cooked the veggies in the broth, added the cut up cooked chicken and added all that to the cooked and drained noodles.

We both agreed that it needed salt so we added that after. He ate 4 bowls of it, I couldn’t believe it! I skipped the meat in my bowl, but the rest was good.

I’d call this a semi-organic recipe…most of mine are at this point, only because cost prohibits me from going 100% organic and I acquire organic stuff when I can!

 

 

Mmm Salsa!

I made real salsa for the first time tonight yum! I had a great jar of Desert Pepper Divino Mild salsa and Desert Pepper Chile con Queso set out too which was great, but I also made real salsa for the first time. My friend Dawn got to be my guinea pig-um-yeah…tester! First try-too chunky and diced tomato-like, but after a quick trip to the blender it was great! Who knew that those purple Spanish onions had such a kick? I’ve never cooked with them before, I usually use the yellow “cooking” onions at home. I also made homemade guacamole, yum! We had friends over and ate super cheesy nachos for my son’s b-day and watched Kangaroo Jack!

 

I guess it was a night for trying out new recipes!

Now, I bought the Desert Pepper salsas in the organic foods section of my store and I looked around online and it is sold at a lot of organic stores, BUT on the jar the ingredients don’t specifically say the veggies it is made with are organic, it just says no preservatives and no additives (which is great), but what do I call that- SEMI-organic? If you know if it is, comment and let me know!

Hmm, we took lots of pictures, but I need to start taking pictures of the food I make!

 

 

 

Paya Organics at the Kalahari (Wisconsin Dells)

Paya Organics Review

by Kristina Blasen (June 2011)

Last week, we were on vacation at Wisconsin Dells and spent a night at the Kalahari resort on our last day before heading back to Minnesota. It was pretty neat that they had Paya organics shampoo, conditioner and bath soap in the room.

http://www.greensuites.com/Environmentally-Friendly-Hotel-Supplies/PAYA-Organics

According to their website, Paya products have:

•Biodegradable liquids and soaps made with natural and organic ingredients:
No Parabens, No Phthalates, No Mineral Oil

• Bottles made of PET, the most recyclable resin available

• Cartons & wrappers made with post-consumer recycled materials

• Cruelty free – never tested on animals

• All bottles and soaps are made in the USA

After being in the chlorine all day my hair was feeling dry and nasty, but this shampoo and conditioner worked great. The pool smell was gone and my hair was back to normal. It was strange though that the Kalahari is still using chlorine which is terrible for the body (lots of signs about showering off so you don’t get chemical burns and irritated skin, eyes, nose and throat were posted everywhere) when so many of the other hotels and resorts in Wisconsin Dells have switched to salt which is wonderful for the skin, not irritating and much nicer to play in!

We also stayed at the Wilderness Hotel where we had a great time, but they had the run-of-the-mill unidentifiable whitish shampoo in their bath though they had already switched to salt or some kind of non-chlorine mixture in their pools.

Organic mud shampoo is a no-go!

A quest for organic shampoo and conditioner that works!

by Kristina Blasen (2011)

I tried the Terressentials organic mud-based shampoo (Left Coast Lemon Pure Earth Hair Wash) for about a month and overall it is a no-go so I’m back to searching for something better…and cheaper…preferably local…

I loved knowing that I wasn’t putting chemicals in my hair that are known to cause cancer, the Lemon scent was great and it made my hair super soft, but you have to order it in the mail and it is super expensive and you need a lot when you first start using it for your hair to adjust (according to their website).

The big downside is that I have dark blonde hair and the mud shampoo significantly darkened the look of my hair and after repeated use the hair felt super soft, but also thick and gummy. I think this is because of the organic Castile based soap made from olive oil, since I tried a different Castile-soap and ran into the thick gummy feeling before. It isn’t all bad though, I love the Terressentials organic baby wash and their organic deodorant and I will order those again when I run out!

 

 

 

This time I’m trying out MasterCuts Moisture formula sulfate free shampoo and conditioner since they were on sale when I got my hair cut. These smell great, mildly fruity and for the first ten washes or so, all was well…until, there it was again, that gummy dirty hair buildup feeling [sigh]. It isn’t all bad though, one wash with a different shampoo every so often and these still work great!

 

 

Sample Girl Goes Organic!

The Adventures of Sample Girl

(Preview)

Well, I wasn’t thinking of posting here about my book The Adventures of Sample Girl until I was making the sneek peek preview tonight and realized that I thought about going “organic” a long time before I ever started this blog!

There are some funny stories in here about how bad some of the “organic” samples I was giving out actually taste when I tried them out before serving them to the customers and how their “healthy” reputation didn’t always match the ingredients on the box!

Check it out!

Here’s a link to the free preview!

https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1082741

You can buy the book here:

https://www.createspace.com/3608374

A quest for a deodorant I’m not allergic to…Terressentials Zesty Citrus

Terressentials Deodorant- Zesty Citrus scent

Terressentials Zesty Citrus Experiment

by Kristina Blasen (2011)

After doing some online research I decided to order Terressentials Zesty Citrus deodorant since I’ve already tried several name brands of deodorant and antiperspirant and either I’m allergic to the scent or I’m allergic to something in the product formulation that makes me super ITCHY and red!

The Terressentials website has a lot of great information and articles. Sadly, their awesome articles will remain hidden for most since they look like ads going down the right side of the page with each title in a little box with a picture…you can check them out here: www.terressentials.com/

I’d already checked out the local natural foods store (Valley Natural Foods) and they didn’t carry what I was looking for- I wanted something 100% organic not something with a token 5 or 10% organic ingredients and the rest all the chemicals in non-organic deodorant.

Terressentials makes Fragrance- free Aloe Vera, Zen Spice, Lavender Fresh and Zesty Citrus deodorants.

Good news is, the smell doesn’t make me sick, it is light and smells like citrus with a mix of lemon and orange smell. It’s working just fine without all those nasty ingredients.

Here are the ingredients so you can compare:

Organic Zesty Citrus

Organic aloe vera juice°, mineral blend, baking soda, organic extract° of wildcrafted usnea, organic extracts° of organic yucca° and organic white willow°, essential oils of organic sweet orange°, organic lemon°, organic true lavender°, organic rosemary°, organic ginger°, organic tea tree°, organic clove bud°, organic bergamot°, organic ylang ylang° and organic eucalyptus°.

°USDA Certified Organic

Let’s compare this with the ingredients of a common brand name deodorant for women you can find on your local store’s shelf.

Secret (Non-organic)

Aluminum Zirconium, Trichlorohydrex Gly, Cyclomethicone, Dimethicone, Polyethylene, Silica and Propylene Carbonate.

Why would a company offer both organic and non-organic versions of the same product?

Cheese & Garlic Croutons

 

Fresh Gourmet:

Same company, same product

organic vs. non-organic

Read and compare the ingredients!

by Kristina Blasen (2011)

This all started a few months ago when I got sucked into a buy 2 for $4 sale at the grocery store on, of all things, croutons. I mean, how many croutons do I need? I had been making some great salads all week since I was trying out new dressings so I ended up with two bags of Farm Fresh Cheese & Garlic Croutons since they were on sale. Apparently I’m a sucker for a sale because this week when I was checking out the manufacturer’s website I noticed that their “suggested retail price” was $1.99 a bag. (…So I paid $.02 extra for my “sale”).

Keep in mind, these weren’t organic, I only found out they offered an organic line of croutons on the manufacturer’s website today. Then, when I checked it out at the store I found the “Organic Ceasar” croutons made by Fresh Gourmet separated from all of the other croutons made by Fresh Gourmet even though the rest have a huge display in the produce section! These were the same price as the non-organic, $1.99 for a 5 oz. bag.

This struck me as a strange move for a company, to continue to offer non-organic versions of the same product that you are able to produce organically and offer at the same price.

I haven’t tried the organic croutons (after all I still have more than a whole bag left of the others), but after I read the ingredients list of the regular, non-organic croutons compared to the organic ones I’m just disappointed in the company itself.

Check it out for yourself:

Fresh Gourmet Cheese & Garlic Croutons (Not organic) INGREDIENTS:

Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Canola and/or Sunflower oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, 2% or less of Yeast, Salt, Wheat Gluten, Corn Syrup Solids, Whey, Romano chesse solids from cow’s milk, parmesan,cheddar and blue cheeses (Pasturized Milk, cheese cultures, saly, enzymes), maltodextrin, calcium propionate (preservative), calcium peroxide, calcium sulfate, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, sodium stearoyl lactylate, autolyzed yeast, garlic powder, dehydrated parsley, cultured whey, autolyzed yeast extract, food starch modified, vinegar solids, cream, nonfat milk, natural flavor, citric acid, annatto and turmeric (color) and TBHQ (to preserve freshness).

Organic Caesar

Fresh Gourmet Organic Ceasar Croutons INGREDIENTS:
Organic Seasoned variety: Organic wheat flour, organic sunflower oil, organic cracked rye, organic cracked wheat, salt, 2 % or less of the following; organic sugar, organic wheat gluten, organic garlic, organic onion, organic parsley and yeast.

A lot of people think “organic” is always more expensive, in this case it wasn’t. Some people think they add weird ingredients. (I think the “regular” ingredients are much weirder in this case).

The biggest lie companies tell is that they can’t produce the same product without including all those dangerous additives that are known carcinogens and mutagens, like TBHQ (above) or BHT. Looks like they can, and at the same retail price too.

7 Sprouted Grains Bread- Organic and Alive!

 

7 Sprouted Grains Bread

Organic Breads

by Kristina Blasen (2011)

If you look in the freezer section of your local grocery store where they keep the tiny shelf of frozen organic foods you will probably find Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread and 7 Sprouted Grains Bread (made by Food for Life). Both of these are organic and tasty, but you can expect to pay $1-$2 more than you’d pay for bread from the bread aisle.

These breads are more dense than a white bread for sure, and little thicker and heavier than your typical multi-grain, so don’t expect it to look, feel and taste exactly the same as the bread you may be used to.

Once you are over the “it’s different” feeling, you (or your body anyway) will soon be addicted to this bread! It fills you up and it is full of vitamins, minerals and protein. Check out the ingredients.

Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Bread

Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread (
http://www.foodforlife.com/product-catalog/sprouted-grain
)

INGREDIENTS: Organic Sprouted Whole Wheat, Water, Organic Honey, Molasses, Organic Sprouted Whole Rye, Organic Sprouted Whole Barley, Organic Sprouted Whole Oats, Organic Sprouted Whole Millet, Organic Sprouted Whole Kernel Corn, Organic Sprouted Whole Brown Rice, Fresh Yeast, Soy Lecithin, Malted Barley, Sea Salt.

7 Sprouted Grains Bread made by Food for Life (
http://www.foodforlife.com/product-catalog/sprouted-grain
)

INGREDIENTS: Organic Sprouted Wheat, Filtered Water, Organic Malted Barley, Organic Sprouted Rye, Organic Sprouted Barley, Organic Sprouted Oats, Organic Sprouted Millet, Organic Sprouted Corn, Organic Sprouted Brown Rice, Fresh Yeast, Organic Wheat Gluten, Sea Salt