The Manic Organic Project

five days of failure...

2009-07-20T20:11:00.001-07:00

so.
remember that pitcher of iced green tea that i so proudly displayed for you in my last entry?

yeah.
well.
it's still sitting in my fridge.

i'm such an idiot for getting all excited my new 'invention'....as it's rotting in my fridge right now :) i did have the best of intentions, and i have made strides in my cosmetic choices.

i plan to watching a DVD i received from a little health birdie out in the mid-west! heather sent me a DVD to watch on how to make better choices at the supermarket and i'm VERY excited to watch it, as she's a nutrition professional and i'm taking all the free help i can get. THANK YOU HEATHER!

so yeah. when chad goes out of town, my health goes to hell in a hand basket. is that weird? i'm sorry, but i just do NOT do well grocery shopping with my 11mth old. nor do i feel like cooking dinner for...well...1 person. that's alot of effort for just myself. and so, if i'm honest, i ate an italian sub-ish sorta sandwich two days in a row, a McDonald's #2 (which was disgusting), two consecutive evenings of spaghetti (all organic!), and chinese takeout. i know. i disgust myself, truly. and i have no problem blaming my husband. i went 4 days in a row without breakfast and 3 of those 4 days without lunch. i just don't EAT when i'm alone. (nor do i clean, make the bed, or shower, and i LOVE it...but i digress...) HAAAALP!

i doubt i will be back on the wagon this week.
i only grocery shop on the weekends OR monday. so since tomorrow is tuesday, i'm sorta screwed. chad is traveling all day and HOW MANY TIMES CAN I OPEN MY FRIDGE DOOR, SIT DOWN and STARE AT ALL THAT I DON'T HAVE TO EAT?! do you do that, too? yesterday was BAD. i opened my pantry and leaned against the door for at LEAST a total of one hour, yesterday. lots of dried pastas. canned soups. stale cereals. unopened bag of tortilla chips. opened my fridge. pitcher of lame green tea. moldy cheddar cheese. shriveled blueberries. flat prosecco. UGH.

(lanier...i need to pimp out some of your recipes and pretend they're my own...so step forward whenever you feel it's appropriate...)

all in all, tomorrow is a new day.
i have contractors here at 10am, during isaac's naptime.
then i will attempt the grocery store. ::: golf claps :::

ENCOURAGE ME! pray for isaac! may God strike him with a spirit of grocery-store-passiveness, tomorrow. may he accept the positive experience of the shopping cart....PLEASE.

(huh? me soooo passive!)

i hate hot tea.

2009-07-15T07:08:00.001-07:00

oh sorry....nothing to do with hot tea....

what? oh. my bad. DISTRACTIONS.....

ok, so i hate hot tea.
it all goes back to my days at the cafe in college when i was Fake Manager and decided to never show up again one day for work. i meeeaaaaan....

anyhooo. i had access to every fancy hot tea known to man and because i forced myself to drink it, in the greatest of efforts to 'acquire' the taste...i now dry heave when i see it. sometimes, people, it's just not meant to be! and then some. you can transform a mild aversion into a full on WAR if you force something that's not in the cards.

me = Hot Tea.

but i've been reading lately how wonderful green tea IS for you. antioxidants and stuff. health magazines have been swearing by it (trust me, i swear alot when hot tea is mentioned, too) for as long as i've been reading them. er. all of 3 weeks.

so since i feel enlightened regarding this information, i'm left with no option than to ingest it somehow, someway. so a few days ago, i boiled 8 cups of water and threw in 8 green tea bags and decided to refrigerate it. and add lots of Truvia (my first stab at a more natural sweetner, since i can't handle the taste of real sugar yet after decades of diet sodas and fake sweetner. nothing to do with the calories, more the taste....i'm ruined) and it ALMOST tastes like iced tea. but not. it's got a bitter, tarty, zing to it. but FAAAR more appealing in the cold version, than the hot.

and now green tea and i are on our way to a more stable relationship....

en plein air

2009-07-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

this past saturday, we had the pleasure of enjoying a wholly organic meal, thanks to miss lanier. (lanier, get a blog already so i can link back to you!)

she invited us over for zucchini and goat cheese whole wheat pizza, turkey and muenster burgers with a side of succotash! sure, a bottle of prosecco accompanied it all, but that's ok on a beautiful summer evening. :) balance....right?

i do not have the recipe for the succotash but it was wonderfully fresh and tasty! lanier hit up the local farmers market and purchased organic succotash, green beans, corn, green and red peppers, jalapeños, tomatoes, parsley and basil!

The Turkey Burger Recipe:
1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey (preferably 93 percent lean)
1/2 C. finely grated Gruyere cheese
4 scallions, thinly sliced (I used chives -- which are essentially the same and easier to find)
1/4 C. dried breadcrumbs
1/4 C. Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced (I used far more than one clove. Hee hee.)
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
Vegetable oil, for grates
4 hamburger buns (I like wheat buns or organic if you can find them!)

1. Heat the grill to high. In a medium bowl, use a fork to gently combine the turkey with the Gruyere, scallions, breadcrumbs, Dijon mustard, and garlic; season generously with salt and pepper. Dividing the mixture evenly, gently form the mixture into four 1-inch-thick patties. (Mom: this is why you've had a little trouble grilling with ground turkey. You need to do everything gently and not overmix/overwork in your hands.)

2. Lightly oil the grill. Place the patties on the hottest part of the grill; sear until browned, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Move the patties to the cooler part of the grill; continue grilling until cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes per side.

3. Toast buns!

4. Lanier's addition: I grilled onions alongside the burgers for the last 2 minutes or so. I also served sliced avocados to place on top of the burger. Once the burgers were done, even though they have cheese inside the patties, I shaved a few additional bits of gruyere on top (it is the single best melting cheese you can use -- it is perfect.)

Enjoy!!!

then! THEN! (this is a bit backwards because i'm announcing the appetizer last, but, wow, it was SPECTACULAR! so different and astounding!) i must comment on the Lemony Zucchini and Squash Goat Cheese Pizza! Here is the recipe! I WILL be making this myself soon!

Isaac certainly enjoys his dinner best en plein air!

all of the parts of this meal were simple normal recipes, converted to organic! and i must say -- lanier did a fabulous job! There's something about a breezy summer evening, eating with friends. i wish i could do it every day!

i'm back!

2009-07-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

howdy folks.
i'm recovering well, thank you! outside of isaac's foot spurring my stomach, while he rides around on my hip, things are good.
well, then there are those moments in the morning that i stretch without thinking and wonder if my stomach muscles just ripped. otherwise we're golden!

given i had infinite amounts of time to spent happily drugged while surfing the web, i'd like to say i'm now going to eat my words. i hope they're organic.

remember back when i declared i'm only going organic with my FOOD?! well....strike that.

given my operation failed to find much WRONG with my system, i've been left to wonder what else could cause my irregular cycles and horrific periods. if it's not endometriosis, and if i don't have cysts or adhesions or scar tissue....then WHAT!?

one evening while drifting around in outter space (hola to the cat at the farm! this shout out will make no sense to 99.99% of you.) while drugged on my laptop, i stumbled across a blog written by a women who has PCOS. many of you are aware that i have PCOS and obviously it's impeding upon my cycle regularity more than i gave it credit for. (how soon we forget those wretched years of counting cycle days...)

nevertheless, this blog drew my attention to environmental factors that exacerbated her PCOS. i lingered on the website and was redirected to a site called The Cosmetic Database. wow. essentially, it's a site that analyzes over 30,000 skin care, cosmetic, hair care products and tells you exactly what ingredients are in each one, and rates it on a scale from 1-10 based on toxicity. apparently, and i had no idea, since skin care/hair care/cosmetics aren't ingested, the FDA cares very little about what goes into them. shocker. but there you go. then they proceed to tell you which ingredients are scientifically known to cause certain physical ailments. cancer. allergies. organ deficiency. reproductive toxicity. the list goes on. with my mouth hanging open, i slowly entered the Cover Girl powder that i've been using since i was 14 years old. i am astonished to tell you it ranked as a EIGHT on the 10-point toxicity spectrum.

this is what the webpage discloses about this particular cosmetic, click to enlarge:

cancer, check.
reproductive toxicity, check.
violations, check.

then they list the incriminating ingredients.

parabens, check.
lead, check.
ingredients outlawed in Europe, check.

wanna hear something worse?

i decided to brave the bad news, and enter in Vasoline Intensive Care Lotion with Aloe. i've sworn by this stuff for YEARS. i slather it ALL OVER my body on a daily basis. and isaac's. so it was imperative for me to know what it ranks.

are you ready?

NINE.
it ranks NIIIIINE.

again: cancer.
again: neurotoxicity.
again: reproductive toxicity.

i am truly in shock. appalled!

with all of this said, my point in this lies with overall health. why switch my diet to organic when i allow all of these toxic ingredients to penetrate my skin and thwart my efforts? why negate it all?

it's hard to apply makeup this week, knowing what i'm doing....

what's even CRAZIER is i went to Whole Foods and bought this lotion, thinking it was all-natural and organic. heh.

i come home and enter it into the database:
score of FIVE, based on the 'neurotoxicity evaluated in the fragrance."

if you can't get a true organic lotion at WHOLE FOODS, what gives?! and i paid far too much for it, to have me settle on a FIVE. i guess i'll print out the low toxicity list and drag it with me when i return to WF. it appears there are varying degrees of 'organic' and that's just annoying.

i'm still not on board with energy efficient light bulbs (HATE!) or canvas shopping bags (always forget them!) but i can now say i'm working to become organic is ways i least expected....

funny how life takes a turn when you recognize the small things that could have large negative effects on your baby....

this whole organic inspiration has really opened Pandoras Box......

HIATUS

2009-07-04T06:49:00.000-07:00

i know, right?
that didn't take long. already got derailed but it's not my fault!
i had surgery on thursday, and since being bedridden, i can't really ask chad to run to whole foods and buy all my organic stuff like i'd love to do. besides. he's already declined that request before i even made it. boo.

SO, i'm coasting right along on the organic bounty i purchased last week...and making due the best i know how. i'm already out of my favorite juice, organic creamer, natural sweetener, and organic baby food. BUT, i'm being sustained by the leftovers of THREE wonderful meals that were provided for us via loving friends.

how do i feel?
eh, like a truck ran over my mid-section.
chad asked if i wanted to go with him to the pediatrician's office? ...no.
chad asked if i wanted to go with him to the pool today with isaac? ...no.
i asked myself if i wanted to shower for the first time in three days? ...no.

so it's quite a hoppin' Independence Day, lemme tell ya!
but oddly enough, i am loving the time to relax, even if it's forced by my circumstances.

have a happy 4th! ;)

non-organic, yet fun-infused dinner

2009-06-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

welllllllll.
eating out is going to be interesting.
it's hard to even TRY to be good when you feel semi-deprived all day at home, and then they let you out of the house and it turns out a little crazier than you anticipated.

i had the best of intentions.
and it resulted in:
wine.
bread.
butter.
dips.
pasta.
cheese.
cheeeeeeeeeese.
more wine.

i'd say (with great honesty) that it was my first failure in five days. i can so live with that! i guess you do what you can....and i'm sure there were healthier options on the menu. (fish! salads!) and a little more will power would have gone far, but....eh. it was a night to exhale and relax....so we did just that.

you can always get back on the wagon tomorrow.
even though 'tomorrow' kinda hurts at 6am, after a late night out with the ladies. ;)

stay tuned! next week we have quite a few food experiments we will be attempting.
until then -- have a great weekend!

day #4...

2009-06-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

soooo....my two hour traffic jam in georgetown yesterday stressed me out and sorta stole some time from my cooking schedule.

by the time i got home, threw isaac in his crib, and busted out the recipe, it was after 4pm. wheeeeeeee! i made a few rookie mistakes along the way, ....and realized rather quickly that you kinda need to have all your ingredients cut, minced, and portioned before you start sauteeing the first step. add what?! in 2 MINUTES?! it's still in the fridge! in the bag! haven't cut jack crap! ....

it was working in overdrive trying to have dinner SERVED by 7pm.
and lasagna's take a bit of time in the oven.

organic observations:
1) organic wheat noodles don't QUITE have the same consistency as normal, cheap-o ones. a few of them snapped in half, even after sitting in hot water for 20 minutes...?

2) all-natural turkey sausage (de-cased) is a FAR superior choice to regular ground turkey. the seasonings were FABULOUS!

3) organic mozzerella is to die for. no really. i consumed ALOT of it prior to putting the lasagna in the oven.

4) fresh herbs really do smell/taste SO much better than the dried ones that i have formally used from the shakers. duh.

5) organic parm cheese....eh? not necessarily worth the splurge. tastes just like the rest of 'em.

with all of that said -- COOKING REALLY TEARS UP YOUR KITCHEN! holy crap. i went through 4 pots, 4 spatulas, countless bowl, forks, knives. sauce everywhere. and i realized i didn't have the right sized oven dish, right as it was time to pull the whole thing together. boo.

BUT! but! but! but!
...it tasted stellar!!! i would highly recommend this recipe, but you need a few hours. i started dicing/cutting/mincing at 415....and had it in the oven with the kitchen spotless again by 630pm. not horrible, BUT.....not what i'd call an easy 2-minute meal.

i succeeded though. :)
it serves 6, realistically speaking...as opposed to 8, like they say.
and the recipe can be found HERE!

***
***

in other news, i had to meet some girlfriends for lunch...
at a pizza shop....
granted, it's a more 'natural' pizza shop, with whole wheat crusts, etc.
UGH, i was none too pleased to order water with my meal....WATER?! but, i did. with lime. not bad. and i ended up with a mozzerella, spinach, onion, tomato pizza, which was FAAABULOUS. especially since the whole 'yogurt & fruit' breakfast wasn't doing the trick anymore by 11am. (which left me in quite a quandary over what to eat! quandary resulted in 2 heaping spoonfulls of organic peanut butter and a large glass of milk. did the trick!)

tonight i'm headed here with some girlfriends....which should be also, interesting.
assuming leftover lasagna/salad will suffice as hubby's dinner...which...is kinda nice!

all in all....i'm feeling rather decent about my new organic life....
then again...we're only 4 days in :)

challenging time at Whole Foods....

2009-06-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

well, i did it!
i actually went on foodnetwork.com (like my friend christin advises) and found some recipes that i hope to convert to 'organic' dinners.

the recipe/ingredient shopping list part took over an hour. HOUR. that's before i pack my baby into the car, with all his bottles/toys/contraptions and actually get to it at the market. cooking just takes alot of intentionality and...well...tlc. (oh dear GOD, i said TLC. and after what went down on monday night, i may have to burn my post, now....)

i think foodnetwork.com needs a makeover. it was hard to navigate (then again, i'm an idiot) and everytime i went to a page, it would show different stuff each time. and if you want "chicken" meals, the same meals show up no matter what catagory you pick. "healthy chicken"...."quick and easy chicken"....etc. so that was lame.

but i managed to find 5 recipes worthy of cooking.
i won't lie, some recipes have over 25 ingredients and that's just ridiculous.
so not only do we have an hour a week of PREPPING recipes.
then there's the shopping.
then there's the COOKING....?
and i'll ultimately be spending MORE than i could just ordering chinese. people, this better all become more streamline or i'm not sure i can manage! (i'm sure it will. people tell me that anyways....)

anyhow, isaac was a monster in the market.
and it was VERY crowded at 5pm. i know. i had to wait until naptime was over! had no choice. lesson learned.

it took me 30 minutes in the produce dept alone because the SIGNS that read ORGANIC or not are about 20 feet ABOVE the actual product, so people walk around with their eyes facing the ceiling, rather than the produce. about 5 mintues into this....isaac starts screaming. not amused. we press on.....

amateur note to self: buy produce LAST...it sits in the bottom of the cart to be destroyed by frozen chicken and bottles/jars of juice. gosh, i am almost 30....and to think.....

ok.
so while i did strive to buy only organic produce, i was contending with isaac and the lofty signs and the foot traffic and i did my best. strawberries were on sale! blueberries packs were buy 1 get 1 free! bananas were easy. oregano, cilantro, parsley WERE NOT easy. that's another story. i don't know my herbs at ALL.

let's fast forward.
the fish is farm-raised. is that organic? i was too embarrassed to ask.
i did ask about the turkey sausage, "all natural ingredients, made on site....but not organic."
boo.
why not?

all in all, i like whole foods.
i do NOT like the price tags.
but i digress....

this feels like a fulltime job. whew. i'll have to start making dinner at like...2pm! oh dear. is this what all of you guys do?

i would love to check out the farmers market on saturday, but i'll be out of town for the weekend. THAT outta make this alot of fun...haha.

considering i never eat breakfast....EVER.....i pulled out some all-natural yogurt and organic fruit and it was DEEEELICIOUS.

i also stocked up on organic juices, coffee creamer, and milk.
so far so good!

it will be nice to have juice/milk in addition to boring water.
though, i will admit, water did taste a wee bit better this morning than it did yesterday.
it doesn't QUITE replace my morning diet cola....but....here we are.

wish me luck on my fancy organic turkey lasagna tonight....outta be interesting and i'll let you know if it's worth sharing!!!

.....(can wine be organic?)

a slow death....

2009-06-23T07:53:00.000-07:00

well, yesterday i said goodbye to Taco Bell.
and today i threw out my last one liter bottle of diet pepsi.

both tasted SO good yesterday, when i was hungry at the mall.

SEE!?
what on earth am i going to do when i'm hungry and not at home to cook/whip up something? i love that i say that as though i've EVER "whipped up" anything. heh.

i actually craved more soda last night and found myself going thirsty for a long time. i was super reluctant to go for water. water is for...you know...when you're really thirsty on the beach, or after a workout, or....i dunno....never? with that said, i ended up needing to just bite the bullet and pour a big glass of boring water. wasn't bad. wasn't great. but it did quench my thirst in a very...boring fashion.

i've decided i'm not going to THROW anything in my fridge away, all in the name of this experiment. i may be trying to eat better, but at the expense of tossing out perfectly good food. but i have commited that anything i purchase to restock my fridge/pantry, will be done with the intention of going organic/local from this point forward.

so in a sense...it's cold turkey, but not EXACTLY cold turkey. a slow death. but for the good!

on a final note, i'm meeting some other mothers for lunch tomorrow -- old coworkers of mine! it's been decided that we'll converge at a pizzaria. uh oh. PIZZA! probably not organic and probably not local. so now what? ...i guess the best i can do is try to eat as naturally as possible, without forcing 5 other people to end up at some holistic joint, munching on seeds, wheat and overpriced barley/dairy/produce.

...i'm just not sure i'm the right girl to take on this challenge...sigh. omg, it's only day #2!!!

diagnosis vs inspiration...is there really much difference?

2009-06-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

hi.
it's me.
the perpetual junk food eater.

i could spend a long time trying to explain my medical history...but let's just say that i've been to 6 different specialists in the last 2 months, have surgery coming up next week, and face another year or so of random treatments, experimental medications, and ongoing trial runs.

...and i'm only 29 years old.

needless to say, a few different diagnoses they've given me are scary.

all the while, i attended the most wonderful EVENT this past weekend. one of my best friends took me to a Farm Dinner! according to their website:

Acclaimed Chef Cathal Armstrong will prepare a Summer Solstice Farm Dinner at historic Mount Vernon Farm outside Sperryville, Virginia.

Chef Armstrong is a celebrated visionary in the buy fresh/buy local movement and creator of Alexandria’s Restaurant Eve.

Guests will spend the evening under the stars with Chef Armstrong and the providers of Rappahannock’s fresh bounty and artisanal wines.

needless to say, i was moved. inspired. (as if a medical diagnosis isn't enough!) and want to learn how to cook. and how to cook organically. i think fear has always discouraged me from trying. organic food is expensive. and requires thought. and a little planning. and cooking.

it's always been interesting that easy food has the most crap in it. right? canned ravioli. hot pockets. powdered coffee creamer. but clean food, the best food, typically requires some work. it's probably not canned. it's probably not microwaveable. it's probably not frozen. hmmm. that pretty much takes me outside of my comfort zone....but seeing that i'm not getting any younger, or any healthier (given my current diet), why not just try to explore the world of organic food. organic cooking. organic living.

(i'm not certain i'm ready to cross over into the world of organic toilet paper, organic baby toys, or organic clothing...just let me ease into the organic foods dept first!)

i still have no clue what i'm talking about.
and it will require alot of research and will-power. but i think i'm willing to commit a year's worth of energy, to fully learn if i can appreciate organic food as much as my regular fare.

if any of you have books, recipes, suggestions....or just a few pep-rally cheers...i'd greatly appreciate it!

...and....here we go!

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here are a few photos of the amazing event we greatly enjoyed on saturday!