Food Makes the World Go Round

I could pretend that we plan our week around high minded ideas of volunteer service, meditation, reflection, and exercise. That would be a complete line of B.S. In reality we plan our week around food and when we can eat in relation to work. Yes, how lame is that?

The calculation of how much or how well we will eat during the week is a complete function of how well I can plan and pull off cooking for and during the week. This is in turn impacted by how strung out I/we feel about work; whether we're both in the same country; and whether I actually make it to the store and shop for the magical menu I say we're going to consume.

I've also noticed I fail at inserting good food into my schedule when it is compressed. For example, if I am slated to meet my trainer at 7am, I try to figure out what I could possibly shovel in my mouth at say 6:15am with zero effort and then what I will shovel in my mouth between 8:45-9am when I am running out the door to the office having just sprinted through getting ready after the gym. I never think of weekday breakfast as a leisurely activity. Rather, it's a riddle that most days I completely fail to solve.

Bananas. Yep, that's the answer I reach most often. And, really? How many bananas can one girl eat?

I've also realized that if I fail to plan something super tempting, we'll often default to eating out. Total idiot move on my part. Why not revise menu planning to include something more exciting than steamed bok choy and salmon... and not entirely crockpot based.

So this week, I am attempting to just start with the act of actually cooking. Not eating out because we're too lazy to plan and to eliminate throwing food out. More on this in another post, I'm completely mortified and intrigued by how much food we're wasting in the U.S.

Since we've started our subscription to Arganica, it's like Christmas morning on Sundays to find out "what's in the local box." This week we were delighted to not only find the potatoes, turnips, sweet potato and onion we expected to see (based on the time of year)- but also beautiful mushrooms (two varieties); those gorgeous heirloom cherry tomatoes we've had before; fresh rosemary; and two types of fresh lettuce.

Making sure we don't waste our delicious (yuppie) front door delivered produce is certainly an added incentive to cooking regularly as well.

So far this week (and yes I started cooking on the weekend) we've got Split Pea Soup made and ready to go in the freezer; Barefoot Contessa Turkey Meatloaf (we ate one half and I froze the other half to make another day); Hashbrown Quiche (just trust me); Barefoot Contessa Spinach Pie; Weight Watchers Mac & Cheese; fresh greens.

Still to make this week chicken quesadillas, quick beef bourguignon (thank you N!), and a new squash soup recipe. I'm hoping at least the soups will bridge into multiple weeks with some freezing.

Hashbrown "Quiche"

• 3 cups frozen hashbrowns
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup ham steak diced
• 1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1 jalapeno pepper diced
• 1/2 cup onion diced
• 4 oz. shredded cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Press frozen hasbrowns into a 9 inch pie crust, pour melted butter on crust to set hashbrowns. Bake hashbrown crust for 25 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees. Layer in ham, pepper, jalapeno, onion, cheese. Whisk together eggs, milk, s/p and pour over layered items in dish. Bake again for 25-30 minutes until knife comes out clean and eggs are set.  Reheats really well.

Leaving Money on the Table

After watching two episodes of Extreme Couponing I've been shamed into realizing I'm throwing money away at the grocery store. Let's not discuss the fact that I was watching this completely odd show in the first place. As I've mentioned, DH's travel allows a lot of free time for late night TV watching.

To be fair, I still don't quite understand why these individual families need 900 cans of rotel, hot sauce, and years of tooth brushes. I mean, even if the sleep medicine is free with the coupons, what are you going to do with 150 bottles of it? One family mentioned donating some items to a food bank (guessing tax write off), they all have these massive warehouse-style pantries in their houses. I digress.

On a weekly basis we purchase very few brand name products. There are very few coupons for fresh produce. I buy generic store brand a lot. So the end result has been not even looking for coupons, just store card sales. I'm realizing though with a little effort there are likely other savings to be had.

So I'm on a mission to inventory what products we use the most of and to figure out if there are coupons out there. The weekly circular doesn't really have brands we use that often. Any recommendations from other largely organic shoppers out there?

Sweet Rainforest Destruction

As we were racing northward in our mini carpool to PA this past weekend, my globally minded other half mentions an article from The Economist about palm oil. Collectively, we all turned and muttered some version of, "what are you talking about?"

Well, it turns out that palm oil (enjoy the lobbying arm link) is a very useful ingredient that happens to be the reason Indonesia's tropical rainforests are being destroyed, locals and their land are being exploited, species are dying and corruption is abounding in the region.  Great you say, why should I care?

At a minimum, 50 percent of the products we purchase at the grocery store are likely to contain palm oil. Directly supporting the ongoing supply chain issues that the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil is trying to address. There's also the Green Palm initiative that consumers and manufacturers can be involved in.

Researching what contains palm oil takes time, so is it fair to just boycott products that you hear about containing palm oil? There's a handy short list I found about some candy products: plain M&Ms okay, but put down that Snickers. But what about all the other products?

More research required.