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Posts from the ‘Life’ Category

Apr 10

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Emphasis on Simple

Last night I was just spending any ordinary night off at home listening to music and flipping through my new copy of Nourishing Traditions when I received a curious text message from a guy I went out with a few times last summer.  We have since been friends but hadn’t spoken in months.  He says he has a present for me and would like to come by. I was intrigued.

Within an hour he is standing in my living room holding a plastic baggie with a freshly filleted walleye fish.  He had been fishing and was about to toss it back but thought of me at the last minute.

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I had once mentioned that I really wanted to cook some fresh fish. So here he was.  I think people out here are just nice like that but it probably helps that I make it known that I am a little odd and slightly obsessed with food that didn’t begin on a factory farm. Read more

Apr 4

Hello.

meandmel

I just can’t wait another second!  I should have driven the boy to pre-school 15 minutes ago.  I am going to yoga at 10 and I’m still not dressed.  The house is a mess.  The boy isn’t even dressed (he has been watching my iPad for way too long).  Yet here I am writing this quick little post to say, HI!

My sis and I are super excited to be blogging together here.  I started blogging a few years ago…yada, yada, yada…I am back!

She started blogging last year…yada, yada, yada now she blogs here with me!

 

Mar 26

Lessons from Pre-School

About six years ago my oldest daughter started preschool. It sounds trite to say but I never thought that I’d be the one to learn so much! They did a lot of things a little differently. Of course my favorite was the food.

Every morning the dining tables were set with small, real (as in breakable) dishes, candles, a flower and maybe a seasonal figurine or natural item (acorn, stone).

pauline-3

Each day of the week had a snack associated with it. While young children might struggle with the abstract concept of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc., they quickly learned Moon Rice, Stone Soup, Applesauce, Bread and Porridge.
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Mar 21

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Inspired By Food

Melanie loves food so much she paints pictures of it.

melanieveggies

Mar 21

Hi. I’m Melanie!

I am very excited to introduce a new voice to this blog. My sister, Melanie.  She currently lives in North Dakota, has an intellectual crush on Michael Pollan and is passionate about real food.  When she is not painting pictures of produce, fermenting her own vegetables, making her own yogurt, straining her own cottage cheese and finding local sources of real foods she works the weekend, night shift as an RN. As far as I know she does not work in a munitions factory.

melanietheriveter

Here’s a little intro from her…

When I first arrived to North Dakota in 2010 I was completely horrified by the lack of a Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or really any store where you could walk in and ask for kombucha without being looked at sideways. Read more

Mar 8

Whole30: The Food

I completed a Whole30 recently. The title of the accompanying book is called It Starts with Food.  So rather than share my thoughts (which I might do another time) I figured I’d show you what I ate.

Food.  Real food and lots of it.

Itstartswithfood Read more

Oct 31

We Can Do It.

OK so I haven’t been great about blogging lately.  School is keeping me up to my ears in silly assignments and I’ve been busy reading, cooking, and knitting (yes I am a 95 year old woman).  I feel like I have much to share so I will try to catch up over the next few weeks.

I am a little all over the place to be honest.  Since I’ve been MIA I have brewed Kombucha tea, found an illegal raw milk hookup in town, cooked the most awesome flour-free pumpkin pancancakes, made some reasonably healthy cookies that rocked my world, broke out the crock pot (stay tuned for some recipes), joined the YMCA, and ran in a race.  So there is much to talk about.  Where to start…..

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Oct 8

Whole365

OK so the Whole30 round two was really a Whole4.  I failed.  Big time.

I don’t think my heart was in it at all this time.  The truth is, I know what makes me feel good and what makes me feel bad.  I know I don’t have a gluten allergy or a milk allergy, but eating too much of either makes me feel crappy.  Eating too much of anything can make anyone feel bad.

It all went down hill for me the night of our weekly coffee tasting meeting at Starbucks.  We always sample the coffee with a sample of a cake, a bread, chocolate, etc.  I just couldn’t be the person who refused to let a piece of “off-limit” foods pass through my lips.  It felt crazy to be like that and took all the fun out of the experience.  After that it spiraled into me just wanting a splash of cream in my coffee and now today I have a loaf of pumpkin spice bread in the oven.

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Oct 4

Rainy Day Roast…

Day 3 and feeling good.  Amazing how just a few days of eating clean can make such a difference.  I don’t leave work in the mornings with a sugar hangover raiding the cabinets for chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

Tonight I made a quick and easy grass fed beef pot roast with carrots and onions with a side of sauteed red cabbage.  I have to say I have yet to fully master the roast and am thinking a slow cooker might be in my future.  But my imperfect roast still hit the spot this rainy October day (snow for tomorrows forecast!)

All I did for this meal was put the roast in the oven at 325 for 3 hours covered with 1/2 a cup of water and a cut up onion, some chopped garlic, and carrots. The cabbage is just sauteed in some ghee with salt and pepper.  Easy peasy.

Oct 2

2

So I have decided a daily check in could be a good way to keep me on track these 30 days.  Day two was a mine field.  I walked into work to behold a platter of homemade banana chocolate chip muffins.  I peeked at them every time I walked by.  I even picked one up and smelled it in all its delicious refined flour and sugar glory.  I’ll admit that for a split second I thought about just having a little taste.  Who would know? Terrible, I know. A few days ago I would have eventually eaten one and felt like crap.  Glad I dodged that one.

Next was the homemade carrot cake someone whipped out at 3 am.  I opted for a hot cup of tea.

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