Preparing to Party

Jax turns two tomorrow (when people say "they grow up so fast," they really mean it! It feels like he was just born!) He's been all about the fire trucks these days, calling them "Woo-woo chucks!" and playing with his wooden woo-woo chuck almost exclusively for weeks. To celebrate his birthday we're heading over to our friendly neighborhood fire station for a tour with half a dozen of his toddler buddies and their assorted adults, and I can't wait to see Jax's face when he sees the fire truck up close! They'll even pull out the fire truck so we can have snacks and cupcakes in the station.

What kind of snacks and cupcakes will be enjoyed at our little guy's party, you ask? It is a menu of tried-and-true toddler favorites in our house: finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off, carrots and celery with hummus, and melon, with chocolate-zucchini cupcakes for dessert.

Finger sandwiches that Jax has known and loved
Chicken and apples with yochee-cream cheese on raisin bread - Soul Food Farm chicken, apples from my CSA box
Carrot, raisin, and sunflower seeds with yochee-cream cheese on raisin bread
Low-fat Egg salad on rye - Soul Food Farms eggs
Smoked salmon and caper spread on rye
Cucumber and cream cheese on wheat - cucumbers from the farmer's market
Peanut butter and jelly on wheat (it is a 2 year old's birthday party, after all!) - Peach jelly from a neighbor, who canned it with peaches from her own tree

Carrot and celery sticks with hummus - hummus made from Phipps Country Store chickpeas
Melon Trio - watermelon, cantaloupe, and a mysterious yellow melon from my CSA box
Chocolate-zucchini cupcakes - I've never made this recipe before. If it comes out well, I'll post the recipe.

The entire menu is home made and organic. Just about everything in the finger sandwiches is local, with a few small exceptions like sunflower seeds, peanut butter, and cream cheese. (With all the local dairies, I'm surprised that local cream cheese isn't available!)

The cupcake ingredients are not local, other than the zucchini from a neighbor's garden and eggs from Soul Food Farm. I'm making an extra dozen cupcakes for the fire fighters; they deserve chocolatey goodness with a little healthy zucchini mixed in!

Yochee-cream cheese is a half and half mix of strained plain fat free yogurt (the yochee) and low fat cream cheese. It makes a nice low-fat substitute for mayonnaise, with the creamy texture and mild tartness of mayo but significantly lower in calories, fat, and cholesterol. I'm using the yochee-cream cheese in the egg salad, but also add about a tablespoon of real Canola mayo to a round out the flavor. The Canola mayo, made by Spectrum, has such a strong mayo flavor that a little goes a long way.

Here is one of Jax's favorite sandwiches. It's not CORE, but is very healthy, full of fiber, and is very tasty. My mom made a similar carrot-raisin combo with cream cheese when I was young, and that's another yummy combination.

Carrot, raisin, and sunflower seeds with yochee-cream cheese on raisin bread

1 c. shredded carrots - mine are from Earthbound Organics
1/3 c. raisins - mine are California Thompsons from Sigona's farmer's market
1/4 c. sunflower seeds - mine are organic from the bulk bin at Country Sun
1 t cinnamon
1 T honey
1/2 c. yochee (about 1 c. yogurt, strained overnight through a coffee filter) - mine is Wallaby
1/2 c. lowfat cream cheese - mine is not local, bought at Country Sun
raisin bread - I'm using Alvarado St. Bakery bread

Mix together everything but the bread. Spread a thin layer on the raisin bread, cut off the crusts, and enjoy. If you're not a picky toddler, you can leave the crusts on. :) This is also tasty with pineapple tidbits, but that's WAY outside local, so we're skipping those this go around!

Goal Accomplished!

Beef Provencal, new potatoes with thyme, mustard glazed carrots, originally uploaded by momaste.

I weighed in today, since I'm in an all day class tomorrow, and I was thrilled with my results: I lost 2.6 lb. this week, bringing me down to 32.4 lb. I reached my goal of 31 lb. by September 23, and hit my 10%. I'm jump-up-and-down excited and motivated to keep working at it!

My next goal is 50 lb. gone by Thanksgiving, and if I continue at my current pace I'll make that goal, too.

***

Between school, babysitting, and family obligations, I have not been fantastic about keeping up the daily menus, and that has been such a wonderful tool for me to stay on plan, so I'm committing to post the daily menu for the next week. This week I was on plan, packed my lunches and ate my yummy freezer dinners, and just neglected to write it down.

On Wednesday, I made Beef Provencal (pictured above) in the pressure cooker from the Lorna Sass cookbook "Pressured Cook." The roast was marinated overnight in red wine with onions, carrots, thyme, and anchovies (it doesn't taste fishy at all.) It came out so, so tender and made delicious leftovers. Next time, I'll roast the potatoes for more flavorful brown bits, but overall it was a great dinner, and done from start to finish in under an hour. Have I mentioned how I love my pressure cooker?

***

I went to the Grocery Outlet in Redwood City this week and spent $40. I bought 6 loaves of Alvarado Street Bakery bread at $1.50 each!! I've been spending upward of $4 a loaf for it, so I bought a bunch and socked it away in the freezer. For Jax's birthday on Sunday, I'm making a variety of finger sandwiches, a veggie tray, and cupcakes, so a loaf or two of the bread will go for party food.

I also bought organic crackers and organic chocolate soy milk for Jax, canned Muir Glen tomatoes (grown locally, industrial organic), and a block of locally grown organic Monterey Jack cheese.

If you take a trip to the Grocery Outlet, you'll find the organic packaged food on the shelves above the freezer section. They also have frozen organics - Amy's dinners and pizzas, frozen veggies, and occasionally meat substitutes like Morningstar - at great prices. You just have to watch the expiration dates.

My September food total is up to $312.24.

***

Daily Menu

Breakfast
Non-fat latte - not local, bought at Printer's Cafe in Palo Alto, an independent coffee shop

Lunch
Chickpeas with eggplant-tahini sauce and spinach (1 Point) - Chickpeas from Phipps Country Store, eggplant from Full Belly Farm, local, organic spinach, tahini is organic but not local
Cantaloupe - Full Belly Farm

Dinner
Leftover pot roast - Chileno beef, with Frog's Leap wine and Full Belly Farm onions
New potatoes - Full Belly Farm
Carrots sauteed in olive oil- Earthbound Organics carrots (local, organic, but industrial - I usually try to stick with small farms), Hare Hollow olive oil

WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: 1
WPA points available: 35
Activity points today: 2 (Walk Away the Pounds video)
Activity points this week: 2

Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 5+
2. Whole grains - None today
3. Milk - yes
4. Healthy oil - 2
5. Protein - yes
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes

Three Bean Soup with Potatoes

It's been a busy weekend! I'm taking all day classes on Saturdays in September, so Mr.M picked up out CSA box this week and I didn't make it to any farmer's markets. This will be it for the week!

Included in this week's box:
Corn
Eggplant
Edamame
Melon
Onion
Tomatoes
Sweet peppers
Peaches

Yum!

***

For Meatless Monday, we're having Three Bean Soup with Potatoes. I made it early in the day to give it more time to simmer, but it would be easy to make in about an hour without a whole lot of hands on time, and makes a huge pot that will freeze well and be super tasty reheated.

I'm using Red Calypso, Black, and Cannelini beans from Phipps Country Store, and am due for another trip out as I'm down to just one little bag of beans! The veggies all came from Full Belly Farm, except for the jalapeno growing in my front yard and cilantro from C. Farm.

Three Bean Soup with Potatoes
Beans
1 c. dry, picked over Red Calypso Beans (can be substituted for any medium-sized firm bean, like pintos)
1 c. dry, picked over Black Beans
1 c. dry, picked over Cannelini Beans
8 c. vegetable broth
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 T. canola oil (to keep beans from foaming)

In the pressure cooker, cook on high for 25 minutes. Let pressure come down naturally. Drain beans, reserving broth for another use. You could also soak the beans overnight and use a stove top method to cook them.

Soup
1 onion, diced
2 sweet peppers, diced (I used one red, one orange)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and membranes removed, diced fine
1 T. olive oil
Cooked beans
3-4 sprigs fresh cilantro
1 T. chili powder
3-4 c. tomatoes, diced with juices
2 or more cups reserved broth, depending on how soupy you want it
4 large potatoes, diced
2 c. corn, fresh or frozen
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, peppers, garlic, and jalapeno in olive oil. When onions are translucent, add beans, cilantro, chili powder, tomatoes, potatoes, and broth. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add corn and salt and pepper and simmer 10 minutes more.

This makes a huge pot of soup. If you want it thicker, you could puree half of the soup in batches. Very tasty!

***

I weighed in on Friday and was down .4 lb., not bad considering the extravagent (for me) meal on Wednesday night. My total is now 29.6. My goal is 31 lb. by September 23, and I should be able to reach it!

Anniversary at Flea Street Cafe

Hello, Eat Local Challengers! My blog was featured on the Eat Local Challenge website yesterday, and I'm excited to have some new visitors reading along! Please comment if anything strikes you (I love comments!), and do come back again.

***


Three years ago yesterday, Mr.M and I were married, and to celebrate our anniversary, we went to the Flea Street Cafe for dinner. What a great restaurant! With a focus on local, seasonal, sustainable ingredients, it's the perfect choice for an Eat Local Challenger. And with delicious food and friendly service, it would be a great choice for a nice dinner whether you care about the source of your food or not.

From the top of their menu:

For twenty five years, Jesse Cool and the staff of Flea St. Cafe have been committed to using local, organic and seasonal ingredients. Our seafood is chosen with consideration of over-fishing and endangered species. We cook with meat that is raised naturally and humanely, without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics. Our free-range chicken is from Marin Sun Farms in Petaluma. We buy all of our produce and dairy products from local farms and dairies. We are committed to a healthier, more sustainable environment involving all aspects of the food we prepare for you. We honor and respect the hard-working, caring individuals who grow and produce these foods. Their efforts in the field, on ranches or on the fishing boats are transformed in our kitchen. We partner, hand-in-hand to create beautiful, delicious and nurturing food.

For an appetizer, we shared the Crab & Smoked Trout Cake with caper tartar sauce and watercress salad. We dug in before I took a picture, but believe me that it was gorgeous in addition to the wonderfully smoky fish, tart, salty caper, creamy sauce and peppery green flavors. We were also served a dish of seasonal flavors - cucumbers and an eggplant spread that even Mr.M, an eggplant avoider, enjoyed.

We shared two entrees. The first was Coleman Pasture Raised Lamb Two Ways, braised ribletts, grilled loin chop, fig chutney, and saffron wheatberries. Juicy and beautifully seasoned, the lamb chop was just perfect, and a fig and red onion sauce complimented it perfectly. The ribletts were also really tasty, but the chop won out in flavor for me.

Our second entree was Coleman Organic Slow Braised Short Ribs, red wine beet au jus, green beans with blue cheese, heirloom tomato salad, and potato salad. The meat was crisp on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth tender on the inside, rich and juicy, and paired beautifully with the tomatoes and green beans.

We shared a trio of chocolates with a truffle, cake, and mousse. I was already full and just tried a small taste of each. All were delicious, but the truffle was my favorite. I'll try the meyer lemon semi froddo next time. After the rich meal, a tart and fresh dessert would have been a better finish.

All in all, we had a wonderful meal and will definitely return to Flea Street Cafe.

A Plate of Summer

Tonight's dinner was grilled eggplant stacks with goat cheese and balsamic reduction, a tomato-basil salad with cucumber and red onion, lemon-scented bulgur, and corn on the cob. So yummy!

Eat Local Challenge, weigh in, and daily menu for September 1

I will spend September participating in the Eat Local Challenge. As part of this challenge, I will continue to buy, prepare, photograph, and eat locally, sustainably grown foods, and will blog all about it. I'm commiting to posting my daily menu every day for the month of September. I'll also try my hand at canning, freezing, and dehydrating the local produce available now so that I have it in the winter.

The exceptions: I will eat spices and condiments like soy sauce that are already in my pantry, grains already in my pantry, and will buy the ingredients for my son's birthday cake that aren't locally produced. All are organic and fair trade (chocolate for the cake) and were (or will be) purchased at a locally owned store.

I'll do it on the USDA's Thrifty Plan budget (currently $132.30 a week for my family), not part of the Eat Local Challenge but an ongoing challenge for myself. I hope to lose an additional 8 lb. this month.

***

Budget Update

As I anticipated, August was an outliar in the budget. I prepaid for 6 months of grains and a full year of produce through CSAs, bringing the total to a whopping $1056.78. Not including the CSA renewals, my total was a much more reasonable $321.53, well under the $519.13 a month that I am alloted on the Thrifty Budget.

The plus side of this outlay of cash is that my food bill for the rest of the year be significantly lower, with both fresh produce and grains paid for in advance.

***

For my first act in the Eat Local Challenge, today I am disassembling 7 local, pastured chickens from Soul Food Farm, packaging and freezing them, and making a big pot of stock, also to be frozen for future use. The chickens cost me $97.00, the first expenditure for this month's budget. I also bought a dozen pastured eggs for $5.

***
Today's Full Belly Farm CSA box includes:

Eggplant
Grapes
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Peaches
Summer squash
Peppers
Melon

At the farmer's market, I spent $32 and bought garlic chevre (goat cheese), cilantro, green onion, fresh peanuts (I haven't ever seen local peanuts!), olive oil, and LOTS of red peppers to roast and freeze.

Including the chickens, I'm up to $135 for September's food.

***

Another Saturday morning, another weigh in! This week, the scale showed a lost of 2.8 lb., for a total of 29.2 gone. I'm well on my way to the goal of 30 lb. by September 23.

***

Daily Menu

Breakfast
Melon from Full Belly Farm
2 c. milk from Clover Stornetta Farms

Lunch
2 eggs
1/4 oz. cheese (.5 Points)
apple

Dinner
Grilled eggplant stacks with goat cheese and balsamic reduction (2 Points) including eggplant from Full Belly Farm, red peppers from Happy Quail, vinegar from Hare Hollow, wine from Frog's Leap, and garlic chevre (goat cheese) from Spring Hill Cheese
Bulgur (locally purchased but not produced) with homemade chicken stock, lemon juice and lemon zest from the tree across the street, and lemon olive oil from St. Helena Olive Oil Company and a bit of fresh thyme
Grilled corn on the cob
A glass of wine from Frog's Leap

WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: 4.5
WPA points available: 33.5
Activity points today: 3 (30 minute Walk Away the Pounds video)
Activity points this week: 3

Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 5+
2. Whole grains - bulgur
3. Milk - yes
4. Healthy oil - yes
5. Protein - eggs
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes