1. I got back from Walt Disney World about a month ago. It was awesome, but it was HOT. As in we were in the park that has the least amount of shade on a 92 degree day with 92% humidity. Yeah. Luckily, my husband has finally agreed that we’re never going down for our anniversary again AND that he promised to never complain about the cold in Jan/Feb when we’re in Florida.

2. My husband has taken to a liberal use of powder (all kinds- baby powder, athlete’s foot powder, Gold Bond medicated… you name it, he uses it) in our master half bath. When I commented on the now white floor, his response was “Yes, I like to call it my…(yes, he really paused for dramatic effect) powder room.”

3. I can now be called a card carrying health nut. I’ve switched to coconut oil for almost all of my frying needs, with the only exception being when I really think butter or bacon fat is just too perfect. I am now drinking raw (unpasteurized) whole milk, and even enjoying it when it starts to go sour. I’m tossing all of my table salt and replacing it all with sea salt (if you get the right kind, it even tastes better), using my cast iron skillet as much as possible, and have just this week soaked grains and sprouted pinto beans to reduce the phytic acid in both. I’ve managed to find high fructose corn syrup and soy free tortillas, and despite the huge list of preservatives, consider that a major victory. I’ve found a local farmer’s market that sells grass fed/pastured meats, raw milk, high heat/short time pasteurized unhomogenized milk, and farm fresh eggs.  And I spend much time every day reading Kelly the Kitchen Kop because, well, it’s interesting and she’s nice and there’s a lot of good information that’s easy to understand on it. I’ve been wanting to give her a quality back link, but I can’t think of any terms that she might be trying for… And, as usual, when I went to her site to get an idea, I got sucked into more interesting posts. So, check out her politically incorrect nutrition blog, but don’t say that I didn’t warn you about getting sucked in for hours on end!

4. I had the misfortune of seeing one of my co-workers doing the Macarena. *shudder*

5. I really need to post more often!

6. Oh, and about that whole coconut oil/full fat milk thing? Yeah, I lost 13lbs in about 2 weeks.

One in particular peaked my curiosity. The title was something like “Organic Milk Higher In Nutrients”. That’s one of those things that I’m always interested in, so I clicked and read. Unfortunately, the actual article was more along the lines of “some organic companies violate terms that make it organic”. Which was also interesting- just not what I was reading it for.

Still, I found it interesting that organic milk does have higher amounts of beneficial fatty acids, including Omega-3. Of course, organic cheese and butter will retain these beneficial nutrients as well as just the milk, and their point was that labeling a product as organic, while violating the regulations that make it organic, robs consumers of not only their money, but the nutrients as well.

That information intrigues me, though. I avoid milk since I gives me joint problems. Would the organic milk also give me problems? I may have to try it. Soy milk is all well and good in cereal, but having a nice big glass of it just isn’t the same.

Today, I took a multi grain pita (I don’t think it was whole grain- but it’s all I could find), spread a layer of hummus on it. Added bean sprouts, tomato, and a bit of tuna, and folded it in half like a taco.

Since the bean sprouts were a “spicy gourmet mix” instead of regular old bean sprouts (these were radish sprouts and things like that), the flavor didn’t mix well with the tuna.

So, tomorrow, I plan to split the pita in half and stuff half with hummus and tuna, and the other half with hummas, sprouts, and tomato.

Much more healthy than what I’ve been having, and pretty tasty too!

To this end, I trooped out to Rhubarb’s Market for a bunch of items that were listed as on sale this week. Seriously, I love Rhubarb’s and don’t begrudge them a penny. But, I kinda need my money. Rent, debt, internet bills. Yanno.

Several items that I wanted were either out of stock, or weren’t there in the first place. A few I may have missed since their stocking methods are confusing. But I scored what I needed the most. Uncured, organic turkey hot dogs. Not the brand I was after, but that’s fine. No preservatives. That’s a big deal to me.

I also scored frozen sweet potato fries. I love the sweet potato fries that I make from scratch, but have you tried to cut sweet potatoes? You may as well try to slice bread by banging your head against it.

I also had a few cans of italian green beans. Not organic, and being canned, they’re a bit high in salt, but I wanted more veggies than just the SP fries, and I was cleaning out my cupboards and sensed something I could get rid of without throwing it out.

So, we had turkey dogs, sweet potato fries, and italian green beans. Oh, you should have heard the man complain about it! Particularly about the dogs. But guess what? He ate 3 of them.

I’ve thrown out the packaging, so I can’t tell you what brand they were, just that the label was white. But they were good. Really. Not what you think of when you think of turkey dogs. I really liked them! And, as I said, hubby just said they were “ok”, but he did eat 3.

Was it a success? Well, it was satisfying. And the dogs were great. I didn’t like the frozen fries though. I guess I’ll have to go back to injuring myself cutting them from scratch. It’s the one thing that would have tipped the balance.

BTW: Calorie balance: Dogs- 80 cals each plus bun. Frozen Sweet Potato Fries: about 300 for the size servings we had. Not going to guess at the green beans.

Two in particular. I love Progresso New England Clam Chowder- and I need not state just how many calories are in a can of that. But the one that I crave the most? Campbell’s Chunky Chicken & Dumplings. I like it best in those microwaveable bowls.

Now, when you’re going with canned soup, you expect it to be high in sodium. It’s part of the charm (Oh- hahah. Look, I’m way over my daily limit of sodium, but it’s soup so it’s healthy!). You think you’re being bad without actually being bad. And just to make sure that you’re all happy about your decision, you glance at the calories. 190 cals? Whoo, that’s nothing! I think I’ll have a grilled cheese sandwhich with that!

Only, after you’ve finished eating, and you’re trying to procrastinate doing the dishes, you take a much better look at the label.

190 calories per serving? Ah yes, good decision me! 2 servings per container…. Say what?

Yeah, double those calories (380 total), double that sodium (1780mg total, or 74% daily value), double that cholesterol (50mg total)….. Double everything. Those barstuds! And it’s soup! Which means that if you make it your meal, you’ll be hungry again in two hours! And if you eat anything else that isn’t fresh cooked, you’re literally killing yourself on the sodium! Sons of barstuds!

Needless to say, soup has been added to my list of “guilty pleasures”. How wrong is that?

And, btw, pumpernickle rye swirl bread makes the best grilled cheese sandwhiches in the world- unless you use Velveta, which just doesn’t go.

One of the modules that I have set up is a sort of feed reader for Whole Foods informational posts. One of the posts was on whether wild salmon was healthier than farm raised salmon or not.

I was surprised. According to the article, Omega 6 is not a healthy fat. Farm raised salmon contains enough Omega 6 to counter the health benefits of Omega 3. There was also a lot of information on how farm raised salmon damages the environment and reduces the number of wild salmon, which is the exact opposite of what fish farming is supposed to do.

I’d heard that some wild fish was healthier than farmed, and some farmed fish was healthier depending on which type of fish it was. So this information wasn’t totally new to me, and I always bought wild when I could. But after reading that article, I’m even more picky about buying wild.

So, if you’d like to see my take on them, click the links to see the reviews.

Amy’s Black Bean Enchilada

Kashi’s Frozen Pizzas

Kashi’s Frozen Entrees

Smart Ones Thai Style Chicken & Rice Noodles

Tandoor Chef Frozen Entrees

I have to warn you, towards the end I started getting bored and a little bit slap dash.

Speaking of which… Our preferred grocery store has three whole aisles of organic/natural/bulk foods. One of the products they offer is multi-colored (blue, red, gold) gourmet popcorn kernels. So, I gave it a try.

Whooheee! Cheaper and tastier than Redenbacher’s! I’m now firmly addicted to home made popcorn again, rather than microwave popcorn. We don’t have an air popper (we have the dome kind that stirs the bottom), but I use olive oil, so I’m not too concerned.

While I like to occasionally (ok, every time I can’t stop myself) drizzle a Tablespoon or two of melted margerine over a bowl of popcorn, my preferred topping is Brewer’s Yeast. There are two kinds- the nasty bitter stuff, and the stuff that… well, you can’t really compare the flavor to anything else. I used to actually eat bowls of it when I was a kid because mom didn’t feel like making popcorn to put it on.

Supposedly Brewer’s Yeast is chock full of nutrients. I can’t back that up because I can’t find much online, aside from one article that suggests what I’m eating isn’t Brewer’s Yeast at all, but something called Nutritional Yeast. Either way, I think I’m good. We get ours from a local Amish shop, and I don’t think they care which kind it really is.

The one thing that I can say about Brewer’s Yeast on popcorn, is that everyone who’s tried it makes a face and says “ew” after the first bite. They then walk away, only to return several minutes later to try it again. At that point, they finish off whatever we brought/made for ourselves, and then pester us every day to bring in more the next time. By they, I mean both my mother’s and my co-workers.

If you get a chance to try good Brewer’s Yeast, give it a try. Just make sure you ask first whether it’s “bitter” or not. If they don’t know, you should probably pass.