Rainy Day Chicken Soup

Yesterday was labor day. It was raining. The accountant and I stayed home, indoors. We enjoyed a day of rearranging the entire house ( his idea). At the end of the day we enjoyed warm bowls of Organic Chicken Soup and then curled up in front of the fire to read with baby tucked sweetly into bed. It was my definition of the perfect day!

Prep and Cook time: 1hour
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

2-3 cups of cooked organic free range chicken (I cook a whole chicken, debone the meat, freeze it then use it when I need it like for this soup. This chicken was from Trader Joe's)
2 cups of chopped fresh organic green beans ( Klesick Family Farms, a local CSA)
1 organic onion (Klesick Family Farms, small box of good)
1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms (Trader Joe's)
2 whole celery's organic ( Trader Joe's)
4 organic medium carrots (Trader Joe's)
4 medium organic red potatoes (Klesick Family Farm, small box of good)
2 tablespoons of garlic powder ( I am out of fresh garlic otherwise I would have used 5 cloves of fresh)
2 Tablespoons of basil
2 Tablespoons of oregano
1 Tablespoon of Black Pepper
1 tsp of Himalayan salt
2 Bay Leaves
4 Cups of water
4 Cups of Chicken broth or stock
2 Tablespoons of organic extra virgin coconut oil (amazon.com)

Place 6 quart or larger pot on stove. Turn to medium heat. Place coconut oil, onion and mushrooms in pot. Cook on medium until onions are translucent.

Then Add Chicken broth, celery, green beans, carrots, potatoes, chicken and water. Add spices listed in ingredients. Cover and let simmer on low until potatos and carrots are soft (about 30 min).

Then serve and enjoy! Chicken soup is good for you.

Organic baby product on sale at target

California baby wash and lotion on sale for 8.99. Good price! This same product is 16 dollars on amazon. It is a nice organic wash you can use for shampoo and or soap on your little one. I am currently using it for Olivia and it works nicely.

Baby Sale at Target.com - 9/5-9/11 ONLY!

Weekly Fred Meyer Organic Specials

Great Deal on Organic Peaches and Nectarines. They are only 98 cents per pound!! Locally grown.
Organic grapes are 1.48 per pound
Boxed Coconut Milk is 3 for $5 dollars. Very good price.
Organic naturally preferred milk is 2 half gallons for $5 good price if you buy smaller sized milks.

Organic Ginger Chicken stir fry

This week I got my first "box of good" from Klesick family farms. I was so excited. It is an adventure to look and see what they are sending you. I opened it up and it had baby bok choy. Yummy I though stir fry! Then I talked to my momma in law and she suggested green beans (which were also in the box) and ginger. So here is the result of my cooking. Inspired by Klesick family farm and my momma in law!

Serves 3-4 people      Prep time: 30minutes

Optional extras: Brown rice or rice noodles

Ingredients:

2-3 organic baby bok choy ( Klesick Family Farm)

2 handfuls of organic green beans, halved (Klesick Family Farm, box of good)

4 tsp of organic grated fresh ginger

1 small organic yellow onion

Two cups of cooked chicken, organic free range ( Trader Joe's. 2.69 per pound for a whole chicken)

1 organic green pepper (Trader Joe's)

1/2 cup of organic mushrooms (Trader Joe's)

2 tsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of crushed red pepper

3 tsp of raw apple cider vinegar (Briggs is wonderful!)

3 Tablespoons of coconut oil (nutiva, amazon.com)

1 organic avocado ( Trader Joe's)

1 tablespoon of organic sugar (optional)

black pepper and Himalayan salt to taste

First place coconut oil and onion in pan on medium heat

Then add chicken, green pepper, green beans and cook on medium heat until green beans begin to soften.

Then add your chopped up bok choy, grated ginger, crushed red pepper, apple cider vinegar, salt, black pepper, mushrooms, sugar and garlic powder. Cook on medium heat until bok choy is a consistency you enjoy eating. I cooked mine for 5 minutes.

Serve with rice noodles or brown rice. Eat and enjoy! The freshly grated ginger gives this dish the appropriate amount of kick!

What no paper towels?

When I decided to go "green" for baby I quickly realized that after a little bit of initial investment this whole "green" thing was going to save me money. One huge cut out of my grocery bill has been paper towels. We have a paper towel free house. What you say? Don't you have a puppy...

and a baby?

Don't you need paper towels for that? Not to mention cleaning windows, cars, the house and all sorts of other things? About 6 months ago these were a few of the arguments my accountant husband thought up. But because we would be saving money he agreed to give it a go. We have never looked back. So what you might ask do we use instead? I found rags, and dishrags are useful for most things. I just wash them when we are done and reuse them for the same thing. We have rags designated for the car, the dog and the kitchen. Another product that I use for lots of other things is called a SKOY

I use these little beauties to wipe babies face, clean up spills, cleaning dishes, and so much more. I have some designated to the kitchen and the rest designated to the cleaning bucket. You just wash and reuse them. I throw mine in the washer machine and the dryer or hang dry.

I must admit the getting used to no paper towels was a little bit of a learning curve at first. Like the first time our puppy had an accident I was thinking "what do I use"!!! But with no paper towels you improvise and find things work. I estimate (my husband used paper towels for EVERYTHING) that we have saved 20 dollars per month off our household bill. That is a total of 240 dollars per year. Yeah more money for other things!

Great Article on why organic matters!

Organic Matters. So says the washington post. Please visit the article at http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/sustainable-food/more-proof-organic-matters.html

What is a PLU code and what does it tell me?

PLU (Price Look Up Code) tell you a lot about the produce you are buying. They reveal whether your item is organic, genetically engineered or conventional.
What does a PLU code look like?

You won't find PLU's at the farmers market they are used by grocery stores to help price your produce.

If the code is four numbers in length and starts with a 3,4 or 5 it is "conventional" produce

If the code is five numbers in length and starts with a 9 it is "organic" produce

If the code is five numbers in length and starts with an 8 it is genetically engineered produce

For more information check out this website: http://www.plucodes.com/