Speed Bump

I've never had a green thumb and I've never met a house plant I couldn't kill off, but I am really enjoying my vegetable garden this year. Last year was our garden's rookie year and while we had some cucumbers and peppers and a few cherry tomatoes towards the end of the summer, that was about it. Squirrels got all our tomatoes, some things never grew, and I had no idea what I was doing. In year 2 we've made significant improvements, including going with a Square Foot Garden approach. We also put a wire net around the bed to keep the rabbits and squirrels out, and so far it seems to be working. I did a little research into companion planting (which plants grow well next to each other and which don't) and focused on planting things we like to eat and that would be fun for the kids to watch grow. I did not start seeds indoors or anything like that, so some plants like carrots (Charlie's favorite!) are slow to grow and harvest. I planted many of the ve...

Photo courtesy of Outside Magazine.  I stumbled across this article that appeared in Outside magazine a few years ago. This man tried 6 different diet plans over the course of a year, two months on each plan. He chose popular diet plans like the paleo diet, the Mediterranean diet, and one based on the USDA food pyramid. He had his cholesterol, body fat and weight measured during and at the end of each diet.  His health improved on some diets, declined on others. He was more hungry and tired on one diet compared to the others. It was a very interesting experiment in food, and I like the final analysis. There is no one ideal eating plan for anyone.Our bodies and our goals (fitness, weight loss, over all health) are all different and our food plans should be too. Do you know what works for you? Our eating plan of choice is mostly the Mediterranean diet (they had me at the red wine!) with juice or smoothies for breakfast and copious cheating on the weekends. We try to eat ...

We were craving sushi Saturday night. We had just left a Halloween party at Union Station's Science City so the kids were in their costumes. Why not? This was one of those nights when we had a really pleasant dinner out, just the four of us. Both kids ate really well and behaved, though Izzy did start yelling a bit. She just likes to hear the sound of her own voice sometimes - and she can get loud! Watching Charlie enthusiastically eat edamame, tempura sweet potatoes, rice and miso soup (he wanted more of the miso soup once it was gone), I am reminded that kids can be taught to like and enjoy a variety of flavors and tastes. At home it seems like he prefers PB&J to anything else I fix and it gets frustrating. But out to dinner at a sushi restaurant, he basically didn't turn anything down and even wanted to try some of Ryan's sashimi (we told him he wouldn't like it, but we probably should have let him try it).  So what gives? We were all eat...

Welcome to Little Localvores - a weekly series on our family's first experience with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Every Tuesday all summer long we will receive a supply of fresh produce and local foods through the Good Natured Family Farms CSA. I'll chronicle my attempts to get my toddlers (3 years and 15 months) to eat fresh and local, healthy foods. Localvore: someone who prefers to eat locally grown/produced food. There was an interesting mix in the CSA share this past week: Athena (musk) melon, peaches, blackberries, heirloom tomatoes and red vine ripe tomatoes, Andy's candy corn, banana peppers, pretzel buns, pepper relish, and agave ketchup. Our vegetarian share had Cheddar Pepper Farmhouse Cheese in lieu of GNFF hot dogs. In order to be called Farmhouse cheese, the cows must be milked on the farm and the cheese made on the farm. Doesn't get any better than that! This cheese had a wonderful peppery flavor that we really liked. The...

Welcome to Little Localvores - a weekly series on our family's first experience with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Every Tuesday all summer long we will receive a supply of fresh produce and local foods through the Good Natured Family Farms CSA. I'll chronicle my attempts to get my toddlers (3 years and 15 months) to eat fresh and local, healthy foods. Localvore: someone who prefers to eat locally grown/produced food. Green peppers, heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, candy red onions, two sisters lettuce and the largest eggplant you've ever seen were all in the CSA bag for the past week. Trying out the Million Dollar Pickles. Charlie prefers the sweet/sour pickles, but Izzy liked these sweet pickles. The Athena melon was ready to eat and full of flavor. It looks like cantaloupe but is actually a  musk melon. Did you know cantaloupes are grown in Europe and are not commercially available in the US? I had no ide...