Stuff N' Nonsense

So I don't have a ton of updates - just kind of a random jumbling of thoughts health/food/living related that I thought I would share. I am about to go into tech week for the show I am currently Assistant Stage Managing so my schedule is going crazy yet again. Hasn't left as much time for cooking as I would like, so I am still trying to get things as put together on the weekends as possible because Monday - Thursday (and this week Monday - the following Saturday, yes, almost 2 weeks) I am at class/work/rehearsal from 8am - 9pm or later. So, here are where things are in the Shakespearean Tomato world at the moment:

1) I am the master of food stretching! I made a 2 lb. roast with carrots and potatoes last weekend in my crockpot and ate about 3/4 of it for dinners over the course of the week. So this weekend I took the remaining roast and veggies, added some kale, water, pasta and extra seasonings and turned it into an amazing beef veggie stew/soup that I got another 4 meals out of (currently in my freezer awaiting lunches for the week.) So basically, that one roast, 1/3 bag of potatoes, and 1 bag of too old to eat fresh baby carrots is going to feed me for almost 2 weeks. Not too shabby I would say!

2) In relation to the item above - part of me is feeling guilty that I am still eating on this grocery store meat that is still in my freezer. As I have said in previous posts, I have decided to go vegetarian but for economical reasons I just can't justify not eating the food that I already have in my house. Of course, being such a good food stretcher that single roast, 1 lb of ground beef and 4 chicken leg quarters will probably last me a month or more. That means another month of eating food that I don't think is particularly healthy for me, but financially it means another month of EATING which is always good. So I am trying to remember that valuable recovery phrase "Progress, not perfection!" Because honestly, even if I am still eating meat at the moment, averaging out to 1 lb. of beef per week for myself really isn't that terrible. And once it is gone, no more will be coming in!

3) Evidently I have crazy healthy hair that is THRIVING under this No Shampoo routine! I haven't used shampoo on my hair in over a week, just doing a nice, warm water rinse with a good scalp massage every morning in the shower to loosen up and get rid of any dirt or grime. My hair looks fantastic, I haven't had to use ANY product in it at all, it is holding a style better than it EVER has in my life, and that whole "dipped in a jar of oil" look that a lot of the blogs warned about for the first few weeks hasn't happened AT ALL for me. I am thrilled. I will still put together the baking soda and vinegar rinse and maybe start doing that once a week, but I feel like any more than that would be overkill because my hair is just doing great on its own.

4) I had planned on beginning the Couch to 5K routine again last week and I just ended up busy tackling other things to do with school and life and it didn't happen. But we were watching a video in my Nutrition, Fitness & Wellness class today that followed a group of fairly sedentary people of all ages as they trained for the Boston Marathon with the Nova tv channel. And honestly, it got my toes twitching to get out running again. I remember how good I felt when I was running every day and training for the half marathon. I just had so much energy, slept well, felt strong, and when I did the half marathon it was such a HUGE accomplishment. I miss that...I miss having a goal to work for and train for like that. I am going to start again, at least with Couch to 5K and then take it from there, see how I feel and time-wise what I feel like committing to again. But If I can just pack my clothes and plan on running for 1/2 hour every Tuesday and Thursday morning in between classes, running longer one day on the weekends, and adding in some resistance training 2-3 days a week for 15 minutes in the evenings before bed I just feel like I will feel SO much better. What do you think? Can I plan on starting this tomorrow? It means laying out my exercise clothes tonight and having everything ready. I bet I can do it!

Yummy Yummy In My Tummy

So I made a recipe last night that I found on Eating Bird Food for homemade, sugar free apple butter. Now, my sugar free muffins were not super successful. I actually have had a hard time eating them because they just are too dry. But I am not one to be wasteful, and I thought apple butter sounded like about the perfect thing to make with my 5 lb. bag of apples to spice up my muffins and have around for awesomeness!

Here is the recipe straight from Eating Bird Food

(with the changes I made starred ***)

Healthy Homemade Apple Butter (no sugar added)
10 medium sized apples (choose a sweet variety like Red Delicious or Gala)

***I used about 13 apples, the entire 5 lb. bag because they were pretty small
2 cups of unsweetened apple juice or approximately 5 apples juiced

***I used no sugar added 100% apple juice
1/4 cup water

***I added this, but would probably leave it out next time...just seemed a little too liquidy and if it needs more moisture I would go with more juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 T cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground nutmeg

***I used about 1 Tb (give or take) of pumpkin pie seasoning and tossed a whole cinnamon stick in the crockpot while it was cooking for seasoning...I like the ginger flavor that it adds.

1/2 t pure vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt

Prep:
1. Place cored and sliced apples (not peeled) into a large crock-pot / slow cooker.
2. Juice apples and pour juice on top of sliced apples. Add water, apple cider vinegar and spices. Stir all ingredients together, cover pot and let it cook for 15 hours on low.
3. The liquid will reduce and the apples will be very soft, darker in color, and smell lovely. Turn the crock pot off and let the apples cool down a bit (about 30 minutes), then transfer the mixture into a blender (or use a hand/stick blender) and blend until completely smooth.
4. Let the apple butter cool and then transfer into storage containers. It should store well in the fridge for about 3 weeks.

***I ended up getting a peanut butter jar, a marinated artichoke jar, and an Earth Balance tub full of apple butter (hooray for reusing containers!) I am keeping the peanut butter jar in the fridge to use over the next 3 weeks and I froze the other 2 containers to take out when I finish off the first one. And I am TOTALLY making another batch of this and getting pretty little jars and giving it away with batches of homemade muffins for Christmas!

I made a peanut butter & apple butter (pb&ab) sandwich to go with my leftover chili for lunch today, and brought another little tub to go with a muffin for an afternoon snack. It is just yummy! No sugar, no sweeteners so I like it even better than jam. And it can't get much cheaper to make for how much you get! ($3 for a bag of apples, $2 for a jug of juice that I froze the rest to use next time, $1 for a jar of vinegar that I was buying anyway for my hair and face). Definitely in love with this stuff...try it this weekend, you will be happy you did!

Other variations I would love to try are apple/pear and apple/pumpkin. Can you think of other variations that would be good? Let me know!

Oh yeah, and anyone who reads this blog who I may be giving a Christmas gift to...you will forget everything you just read :-)

Cha-cha-cha-changes!

So I have decided that it is time to start moving back towards a more environmentally healthy lifestyle in addition to a personally healthy lifestyle. I was very active a couple of years ago about reducing my consumption of goods, cooking a lot more, cutting back my meat intake, and just generally living a more concientious life. Now that I am watching my budget so intensely I have also started re-educating myself on the value of a simpler life for both my own personal health and the health and wellness of the planet!

If you haven't watched The Story of Stuff yet please take the 20 minutes and watch it now...it is a fascinating, entertaining and eye opening piece about consumption in our society and how we can make a difference.


Now...I promise I won't go all preachy on you :-) That's not my style! But what I do want to do is share some of the changes I am making, contemplating and planning in the near future.

1. I am going to go vegetarian and cut out most dairy - I personally abhor the industrial agricultural system. I think it horrifically abuses animals, introduces far too many antibiotics and pesticides into our food system, and pollutes the environment. (Watch Food, Inc. if you haven't yet for more info on this!) I am not opposed to eating meat, but I do feel that the meat, dairy and eggs should come from local, humane, small farm operations. However, that is expensive and I just don't have the budget for it on a regular basis. So I am going back to an idea that meat is for special occasions and maybe once a month or so treat myself to an organic chicken or roast and savor it and use every bit of it I can. The rest of the time, vegetarian with some local eggs but no dairy because it really seems to not settle well with my system and it is waaaaaay too easy for me to go wacky on cheese!
2. I am going to try not to buy anything that I don't need, and anything I do need I will attempt to find used at thrift stores, on Freecycle or will make them. I have my basic items already in place. Smoe "nice to have" things like a bookcase, bathroom rug, living room table, glass jars, etc. I can try to find on Freecycle or in a thriftstore and things like washcloths or new fashion scarfs I have BAGS full of yarn in my closet and I can knit or crochet myself! But by doing my part to avoid introducing new items into the system I will save money and the environment.
3. Ok, now this one may sound a little weird - but I am giving up shampoo. I have done a LOT of research on this as I was coming to the end of my shampoo bottle. Shampoo is simply not necessary for healthy, CLEAN hair! Modern shampoo is actually more of a detergent that strips your hair of the healthy oils it needs which then have to be replaced with other products. By going shampoo free and cleaning your hair once or twice a week with a baking soda/water mixture and then following with an apple cider vinegar/water rinse your hair not only won't get greasy and disgusting, it will actually get healthier and more manageable. So, I am embarking on a 1 month experiment to see how it goes...so far 3 days in all I have done to my hair is do a good warm water rinse with a scalp massage to loosen up any dirt and such and honestly, my hair looks great! All the product is out of it, it doesn't look greasy at all, it is holding a style without any fuss, and my hair color doesn't seem to be fading as fast as normal. They say it takes from 2-6 weeks for your hair to really adjust and not overproduce oil to make up for being stripped by the shampoo, so let's see how it goes!

Now, in the meantime while I am slowly transitioning to vegetarian I decided I just can't be wasteful and throw out or give away the meat I already have in my freezer so I am cooking it, one piece a week, and using it for dinners. So I have to share the AMAZING beef roast/stew I made in my crockpot this weekend!!

Again, not much on an official recipe, but I had a 2 lb. beef chuck roast that I put in a crockpot along with a bag of baby carrots, about 6 chopped up potatoes, 2 chopped onions, 1/2 bottle of red wine, about 2 cups of water and seasoned with rosemary, garlic and (the secret ingredient) 3 cinnamon sticks. Cooked on high for about 6 hrs - could do it on low too for 8-9 hrs, but I started it late in the day. Holy Cow was this amazing!!! The cinnamon was unexpected but really made it pop!! I took the roast out, shredded it, put the potatoes and carrots in another container and will eat on it for dinners all week with the broth to make it a stew.

P.S. I am attempting to attach a picture of this fabulous creation but Picasa and Blogger are giving me trouble so it will have to go picture free for the time being...I will upload one when I get a chance if possible :-)