Homemade Lip Balm & Solid Hand Lotion

Did everyone catch that awesome Chipotle commercial that aired during the Grammy's last weekend?  If you didn't, here it is:

We've been living green, organic, and now paleo/primal for some time now, so this commercial really hit home for us.  Thank you to Willie Nelson for his fantastic work with Farm Aid, and his moving vocals on this wonderful cover of The Scientist.  There's a lot to be said for going back to our roots, and acknowledging that progress does come with a price.  Everything we eat, buy, and use, has some kind of hidden cost.  That being said, we definitely strive to live more simply, and reduce our impact on the environment.

I've shared with my Pinterest friends a couple recent awesome finds for super frugal, all-natural, homemade lip balm and solid lotion bars, as posted by fellow mom blogger, Sarah at Frugal By Choice.   I love Sarah's insistence on "normal" (a.k.a. easy to find) ingredients, when formulating her blends.  Eczema and dry lips are common-place in my family, and I'm reaching for lip balms and moisturizers all day long.  Natural or not, beauty products are expensive.  I couldn't wait to use Sarah's recipes, and have my own all-natural products to care for my dry lips and frequently chapped hands.

First thing first, I had to locate beeswax.  Being from the Sunshine State, with lots of local farms, I was on a mission to find locally-produced beeswax.  That's when Christina at Southern Wholesale Division on eBay came to the rescue!  This local beekeeper also carried cute little metal tins, for which Christina graciously provided combined shipping.  I opened my mailbox with glee this morning, and couldn't wait to churn out my first batches of homemade lip balms and solid lotions.  I've tweaked Sarah's recipes to make them a little easier; you can skip the double-boiler, and do everything in your microwave.

Just a few notes on beeswax:

LIVESTRONG has some great info about this amazing, naturally-produced, anti-inflammatory skin protectant.   Per Wikipedia, the colors of beeswax can vary widely, depending on the age of the bees and the hive, and the type of plant that the pollen is coming from.  Beeswax is typically divided into two categories: raw and refined.  Refined is usually more white, with little, if any, honey smell, and that's what candle makers usually go for.   For our purposes, raw works just fine, and it's also cheaper, and easier to find.  My shipment of raw beeswax smells absolutely amazing, and I'm sure I will be back for more.

Beeswax also comes in all sorts of shapes and varieties; from pellets to huge blocks, to everything in between.  Mine came conveniently shaped in 0.5 oz/1 tablespoon blocks, which made them super easy to measure out, to conform with Sarah's recipes.  Here's how I made my batches of lip balm and solid lotion today:

Equipment:
1 one-cup Pyrex measuring cup
1 silicone spatula
2 silicone trivets
4 one-ounce metal tins (for the lip balm)
2 two-ounce metal tins (for the solid lotion)

Lip balm ingredients:
1 tbsp (0.5 oz) filtered, raw beeswax
4 tbsp Tropical Traditions expeller-pressed (a.k.a. unscented) coconut oil
1 tbsp raw honey
10 drops bergamot essential oil (optional)

To make the lip balm:

Add the coconut oil and beeswax to the glass measuring cup.  Microwave on 30-second intervals until beeswax is just melted.

Add honey, and microwave on 30-second intervals again.  (Be careful, as the honey naturally contains water, and it will boil quite vigorously.)  

Very carefully, remove the measuring cup from the microwave and set on a trivet. (Use extra caution: we're talking molten wax and hot oil here.)

Arrange your lip balm tins on your other trivet.

Add bergamot (or your favorite) essential oil to the mixture, and stir carefully.

Pour very slowly and carefully into your lip balm tins.  Allow to cool and set at room temperature.


Solid lotion ingredients:
2 tbsp (1 oz) filtered, raw beeswax
2 tbsp Tropical Traditions expeller-pressed coconut oil
2 tbsp almond oil
10 drops of your favorite essential oil (optional)

To make the solid lotion:

Add the beeswax and both oils to the glass measuring cup.  Microwave on 30-second intervals until beeswax is just melted.

As with above, very carefully, remove the measuring cup from the microwave and set on a trivet.

Arrange your lotion tins on your other trivet.

Add your favorite essential oil to the mixture, and stir carefully.

Pour very slowly and carefully into your metal tins. Allow to cool and set at room temperature.

I am so pleased with the finished products!  The lip balm is rich and creamy, with incredible staying power, without being thick or heavy.  The lotion is definitely solid, but doesn't take much effort to soften on my skin.  It does a great job, soothing those really irritated, cracked dry spots, and providing a comfortable, non-greasy, invisible, protective layer.  Let's not forget the savings, too.  My go-to lip balms were about $3 a tube.  That works out to about $20 an ounce!  This homemade version?  We're talking $0.42 per ounce.  Looks like we've found two winners today.  Sorry, cosmetic industry.  Here are two more products I won't be buying from you anymore ;)

As Sarah stated in her blog comments, it's just a matter of tweaking the amount of beeswax, if you want something a little softer, or a little firmer.  I'm quite happy with how mine turned out, and I plan to make some extra batches, come gift-giving season ;)

One of my favorite Paleo authors, Mark Sisson, has a fantastic recent post about handicraft. There is truly something genuinely satisfying about making something with your own two hands.  Here's hoping you'll give this project a try!

No promotional consideration was paid for this post.  Photo copyright GreenOrganicmama.com

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Coconut Oil: For a Healthy Body; Inside & Out

I'm very happy to report that our family is still enjoying all the benefits of living the Paleo lifestyle.  For those who aren't familiar, last summer, we took our healthy eating a step further, and cut out all processed foods, including grain products.  It's actually been much easier than we thought it would be, and it really helps that there is a huge, supportive online Paleo community out there, providing tremendous resources, useful hints, and always a patient, listening ear.  The result?  Mysterious rashes have cleared up, mom and dad are leaning out, the little one is happy, energetic, and growing like a weed, and we're not suffering through repeated bouts of respiratory infections like we used to.  Sounds like we've found a winner ;)

In perusing all the mouth-watering primal recipes out there, many Paleo bloggers rely on coconut oil as their primary cooking oil.  Coconut oil has now taken the spotlight as the reigning healthy fat among the  "super foods".  Healthy fat, you say?  Yes, not all fat is bad.  This great post by Hybrid Rasta Mama spells out 160 ways that coconut oil is good for us; using this naturally anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, shelf-stable, and delicious food for everything from cooking, baking, hair treatments, bug repellent, you name it! I know we've only seen the tip of the iceberg in our household.  That five-gallon drum that we just ordered is going to get a lot of use!

A huge thank you to both George at Civilized Caveman Cooking Creations, and Esther at Paleo on Main Street, for introducing me to the Tropical Traditions brand of coconut oils.  Not all coconut oil is made the same way, and not all of it tastes the same, either.  Tropical Traditions has a great FAQ.  When buying coconut oil, just be sure that yours is coming from a reputable source.  Some manufacturers source their oil from multiple locations.  The jar you see on the grocery store shelf could be a blend of oils from several different countries in itself.  Tropical Traditions was born in the Philippines, and all their oil is made with care by local community farming families.  

Coconut oil has a host of benefits, including aiding metabolism.  This is now our primary cooking oil for everything from scrambled eggs to sauteing vegetables.  For these savory dishes, we use Tropical Traditions' Expeller-Pressed Coconut Oil.  Processed this way, expeller-pressed coconut oil doesn't have that distinct  coconutty flavor or taste, making it a better choice for regular cooking.  This is different from virgin coconut oil, which is fantastic for baking; adding hints of sweet, nutty flavor to your favorite recipes.  

My ultimate favorite use for coconut oil is actually not for eating.  A big shout-out to Liz Wolfe at Cave Girl Eats for changing my entire beauty routine; making it simpler, pure, free of chemical additives, and not to mention, frugal!  I don't know what to do with all of my stockpiled face washes, creams, lotions, and potions, because it's now coconut oil to the rescue!  I've always had issues with very sensitive, combination skin, with plenty of clogged pores, and a random painful zit.  Toss in the occasional bout of eczema, from some kind of allergy cross-contamination (always resulting from eating out), and dealing with my skin has definitely not been easy.  That is, until now.  Liz, if you're reading this, you are my hero ;)  

Every morning, I reach for a jar containing a mix of 2/3 coconut oil, and 1/3 castor oil.  Castor oil is another super oil, with great anti-inflammatory properties (perfect for my eczema).  Just don't eat the stuff ;)  As I wait for the tankless hot water heater to kick in, I massage a bit of this mixture on my face, making sure to get it into those problem T-zone areas.  Once the hot water is flowing, I gently wipe my face with a steamy hot wash cloth, which really does take off all the excess oil.  Coconut oil is considered to be a "dry oil", as it is readily absorbed into your skin.  By the time we're finished a quick breakfast, the oil has absorbed, and I'm ready to apply my makeup.

This same jar works to remove my makeup at the end of the day, too.  I massage this onto my face, before stepping into the shower, and I take it a step further, by massaging with the Olay Professional Pro-X rotating brush.  Call it the Clairsonic for us broke girls. LOL ;)  Just a little bit of mild bar soap goes on the brush head.  At the end of my shower, I apply a few dabs of another homemade blend of half coconut oil, half jojoba oil.  Thank you again to Liz for suggesting the jojoba oil, which she points out is very similar to our skin's own sebum.  I noticed a difference within just a few days.  My pores are shrinking, the trouble spots are clearing up, and I don't have that aggravating, dry, tightness, immediately after washing my face anymore.  My skin is definitely much softer now, too.  As a bonus?  No more having to read labels to find "natural" skin care products.  You can't get much more triclosan/SLS/fragrance/paraben-free than pure plant oils.

If you want to give this a try, but don't have the other oils on hand, that's okay.  Some people use straight coconut oil.  Give that a try first, and see how you like this cleansing method.  I'm pretty sure you're going to be hooked when you see and feel the results ;)

No promotional consideration was paid for this post. Review based on personal purchases.

Coconut & coconut oil image courtesy of Care2.com.
Spa facial image courtesy of Carlabelladayspa.com,

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100 Days of Paleo: Our Cave-Family's Update

 

What a perfect time to check in, and report our family's progress.  We're now on Day #100 of eating Paleo; life without grains and the plethora of processed junk, advertisers and manufacturers continually try to convince us is food.

Just to recap, our family has grown, since we started following the Paleo way of eating.  In addition to Cave Mom (that's me), Cave Dad, and Cave Girl, we added an extra saber-tooth kitty (read: shelter cat), for a total of three, in addition to our two wolves (read: rescued dogs). Our newest cat came to us as a huge chunky monkey (twenty-two and a half pounds of cat; more than our other two cats put together), and I'm happy to report that he's slimming down well, while enjoying plenty of organic beef liver and grain-free food.  I'm glad we got to him and were able to provide him with a healthy home, before any onset of diabetes, or other weight-related illnesses.

So how is our human family faring?  Even with much resistance from Cave Hubby, we've made it!   We're healthier, much fitter, and nobody has gone screaming out the door, in search of chocolate cake.  I, myself, battled with post-baby weight for what seemed like forever, and have now finally lost those inches.  I treated myself to a new wardrobe, just after my first month of Paleo, and even those clothes are now hanging loose.  My skin is clearer, I'm sleeping better, no more late-day digestive issues, and the midday afternoon slumps are gone, too.  Did I mention my pants are loose?  Woohoo!!  No beating myself up at the gym, or exhaustive cardio: it's amazing what cutting out grains can do for you.

As I've blogged about before, Paleo dinners are especially easy to prepare, making meal-planning and prep work much easier for this full-time working Cave Mom.  Many others are joining the ranks of Paleo eating, and there are numerous blogs, Facebook groups, and even more recently-released cookbooks, too, with an endless array of tasty and easy recipes.  We may have cut out grains, but we certainly don't leave the dinner table still hungry.  Even our six-year-old has adapted, and gets to enjoy whipping up a batch of grain-free muffins with mom, from time to time.  Paleo is certainly family-friendly, and can be integrated into even the busiest schedules.  We're definitely not going back to our former bad eating habits.

Just last night, I got caught up on the "I, Caveman" Curiosity series on Discovery Channel.  Lo and behold, my favorite Paleo author, Robb Wolf, was one of the ten participants in this "Survivor-esque" series, about going back to our caveman roots.  There is an ever-growing interest in our human origins, and of course, my mom friends and I are always talking about diet.  A few want to make the leap to going Paleo, but they're not quite sure.  Things are definitely going to change, when switching to primal eating, and there are some key things to remember:

1. We, as a society, have been effectively brain-washed.  Everything you learned in school, from pyramids, nutritionists, and the health industry, about grains being healthy and necessary is WRONG. 
2. Big Pharma, Big Agri, and especially the politicians, are all in it together.  They don't want us to break out of this highly-profitable, vicious cycle: the more cheap, grain-based, nutrient-poor junk they trick us into consuming, the unhealthier we become, and the more we rely on drugs to get through life.  You'll never see a fortified stem of broccoli.  Why is it then that we're constantly bombarded with messages to eat artificially-fortified grain products?  Nutritionally, grains can't hold a candle to the meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, seeds and nuts we were born to eat.
3. Weight gain, allergies, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, chronic aches and pains, and taking daily medication to deal with those things IS NOT the norm.  Our bodies are like machines; operating best on the proper type of fuel.  If we continue to fuel ourselves with the wrong foods, we're bound to start breaking down.
4. You will not starve.  I'm a 5'2" Asian, my husband is 6' and All-American, our growing daughter continues to be one of the tallest and brightest in her classes, our dogs and cats are healthy and content, and none of us are wasting away.  It doesn't matter how big or small you are, how young or old, or your species: eat what nature intended you to eat.
5. This is the one diet that makes sense, it truly works, and you'll stick with it.  Give it a full 30 days.  At the end of it all, your grocery store manager will be waiting, with open arms, to lead you back to the cereal and bread aisles, any time you want.  Once you have that first cheat meal, your body will definitely tell you what's right and wrong for you.

Here's hoping more of you will give Paleo a short 30-days of your time, and with any luck, a lifetime after that.  You'll be healthier for it.  I know we are ;)

No promotional consideration was paid for this post.

The information presented in this website is in no way intended as medical advice or as a substitute for medical counseling. The information should be used in conjunction with the guidance and care of your physician. Your physician should be aware of all medical conditions that you may have, as well as the medications or supplements you may be taking.

All Natural Homemade Automatic Dishwasher Detergent

We're on a roll, with our adventures in making our own homemade cleaning products.  We started a couple weeks ago, by making our own super easy, super frugal, homemade laundry soap, and it was a hit! It's cheap, it's effective, and better for the environment.  I won't be going back to the store-bought stuff anymore!

Next on the list of homemade cleaner recipes: automatic dishwasher detergent.  First, a little background: it is so incredibly difficult to find a good dishwasher detergent that doesn't contain chlorine.  My mother, especially, is very chemically-sensitive, and it was a lot of trial and error, before I started using Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwasher detergent for my own family.  It cleans thoroughly, especially with our hard water, it's phosphate-free, and doesn't produce noxious chlorine fumes.  Still, that came at a price; almost five dollars a box at my local grocery store.  Lucky for us, after having made our own laundry soap, we had almost everything already on hand, to churn out our first batch of homemade detergent for the dishwasher.

Much like the laundry detergent, this recipe calls for borax and washing (not baking) soda.  Both are readily available in grocery store and big box store laundry aisles, at a couple dollars a box.  The one ingredient I had to buy was citric acid.  It comes in a white powder form, and should be available where you buy your vitamins and supplements. I ordered a huge five-pound tub from Amazon.  The rest of the ingredients are just pantry staples: kosher salt, and a little bit of uncooked rice (a great tip, from DIY Natural, for keeping the powder from clumping).

No soap grating in this recipe: just mix the various dry ingredients together, in a container with a tight-fitting lid, label, and you're done!

Equipment:
1-cup measure
Storage container with tight-fitting lid
An old 1-oz. plastic scoop

Ingredients:
1 cup of borax
1 cup of washing soda
1 cup citric acid
0.5 cup kosher salt
1 tbsp dry, uncooked rice

Add all of the ingredients to your storage container, close lid tightly, and shake until thoroughly mixed.

Use 0.5 oz (1 tbsp) per load.

I just ran a load of plates, flatware, glasses, mugs, and even a stoneware baking dish.  Everything is squeaky clean!  Vinegar also magically makes a reappearance in the kitchen.  Last month, we introduced it as a fabric softener for your washing machine.  Now, it goes in your rinse agent dispenser, to get sparkly, clean dishes, without the hefty price tag of store-bought rinse agent.

Happy frugal cleaning :)

Grain-Free, Paleo "No Corn" Corn Muffins with Bacon & Ham

A huge thank you to Kara over at The Primal Home, for sharing this awesome, mouthwateringly-delicious recipe for the paleo equivalent of a grain-free corn muffin!  One of my girlfriends has already replicated the recipe, and my freshly-baked batch is being devoured before my eyes.

These are totally gluten-free, and made with just a few basic, healthy ingredients, including the miracle that is coconut flour.  Coconut flour is just ground-up, dried coconut.  Surprisingly, the coconut flavor is not overpowering, and the muffins came out with a great, fluffy, moist texture.  If you don't tell your friends they're grain-free, they probably wouldn't even notice.

I made a few tweaks, including substituting the cooked bacon for diced deli ham.  Just like Marie Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond, I keep a "jar of fat" in the fridge, so the bacon grease was already on hand.  That saved a little prep time, but you can always follow Kara's method and render three strips of bacon.  Here's how I just created our batch of these awesome little muffins:

Ingredients:

3 tbsp bacon grease
5 slices deli ham, diced very small
6 eggs
1/3 cup local, raw, organic honey
1/2 cup organic coconut flour
1 tsp fresh Italian herbs, chopped fine (optional)
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line your muffin tin with nine paper liners.

Melt bacon grease in a large Pyrex mixing bowl, in the microwave.  Heat until mostly melted (do not overheat).

Whisk in honey with the melted bacon grease.

Add the six eggs and Italian herbs, and continue to whisk.  Add the ham.

Add the coconut flour, and mix thoroughly, breaking up any lumps.

Once blended, whisk in the baking soda.  Immediately scoop the batter into muffin tin, filling 3/4 of the way, and bake for 15 minutes.

Transfer muffins to a cooling rack.

These came out so delicious, even my reluctant-caveman husband went back for seconds!  I'm trying to keep myself from going back for a third.  This is going to be a regular baked-good item in our Paleo household ;)

All-Natural Homemade Laundry Powder Detergent

A big thank you to my dear friend, and Super Mom, Nance, for introducing our gang of mommy friends to the wonders of homemade laundry soap!

Now, why would anybody want to make their own laundry detergent, when every grocery store, drug store, big box store, and even the corner convenience store carry the ready-made stuff?  First, it's frugal!  I finally have the HE (high-efficiency), front-loading washing machine that I was salivating over for years, and I love that it uses so little soap per load.  Still, that soap doesn't come cheap.  Whereas some detergents can run upwards of twenty cents a load, homemade laundry soap works out to mere pennies. 

Our go-to brand of all-natural powder detergent does list all of its ingredients, but many popular brands do not.  Just like cooking your own meals at home, making your own laundry detergent also means you know exactly what went into it. [Note: please don't eat your soap.]

Many of our friends have family members with sensitivities to perfumes and chemical additives.  This is definitely one way to get around those issues.  Avoiding those nasty chemicals also means that they're not being released into the environment, every time you do a load of wash.  Basic ingredients go into this recipe, which works out better for everyone.

This is also going to be one of the simplest DIY projects you could do.  A quick detour down the laundry aisle at my grocery store was all it took to locate a box of borax, and washing soda (not to be confused with baking soda).  Please don't try to substitute baking soda for washing soda; it's a totally different animal.  Besides, both boxes were a mere couple of dollars each.  For the final ingredient: choose one bar of your favorite soap (preferably petroleum-free, like castile, glycerine, coconut-based, or olive-oil based like what I used).  That's it!  Here's how I assembled my stash of homemade laundry powder, in about 20 minutes, while standing in the kitchen, catching up on HGTV:

Equipment:
Box grater with non-slip base
Flexible, non-slip cutting board
Mixing bowl
Mixing spoon
1-cup measure
Storage container with tight-fitting lid
An old 1-oz. plastic scoop
*optional - food processor

Ingredients:
1 bar of soap
1 cup of borax
1 cup of washing soda

Place the box grater on top of your flexible cutting board, and grate the entire bar of soap (finer is better).  Use the flexible cutting board to pour the grated soap flakes into your mixing bowl as you go.

After grating, if your soap flakes are still a bit large, you may optionally pulse them in your food processor.

Add the borax and washing soda to the soap flakes in the mixing bowl, and blend thoroughly.

Store in lidded container, and use 0.5 oz (1 tbsp) per load.

We have a quilt that we keep on our bed, for the sole purpose of keeping the rest of the bedding clean, from our beloved cats (and sometimes the dogs) who think we don't know that they steal up there to nap when we're not around.  That quilt was the Level 5 test subject for this newly-minted batch of soap.  It passed with flying colors!  I have another friend to thank, Jill, for reminding me to use a bit of plain, white vinegar in place of fabric softener.  Even with no dryer sheet, the quilt came out fresher, cleaner, and softer than ever!  No lingering vinegar smell; I promise! :)

Thank you, ladies, for your fabulous, eco-frugal laundry tips!

Happy wash day :)

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Paleo Lemon Bars (Gluten-Free)

Thank you to George over at Civilized Caveman Cooking for turning me on to these awesome lemon bars, made Paleo style.  I'm now on Week 3 of primal (i.e. grain-free) eating, losing weight, firming up, and feeling great!  It's nice to know that even cavemen and cavewomen can still enjoy some baked goods, once a while.  These lemon bars hit the spot!  My reluctant caveman husband just "Mmm... mmm... mmm"ed his way through a slice.  I'm savoring some myself, while sharing my tweaks to this recipe with you.

Due to shipping delays, I had to make do with ingredients on hand, and made a few substitutions.  I thought the crust was looking a little wet, so I added 1/3 cup of organic coconut flour (essentially, ground up dried coconut).  That worked like a charm! I also started the lemon topping the night before, and let it set in the fridge overnight, and made the crust the next day.  Here's how I made our super-lemony lemon bars:

For the lemon topping:

6 organic eggs

1 cup freshly-squeezed organic lemon juice (about seven lemons)

1/2 cup local honey

1/2 cup organic virgin coconut oil (measured in solid state)

For the crust:

1 cup raw whole almonds

1 cup raw whole pecans

1/3 cup organic coconut flour

1/2 cup melted vegan organic margarine

1/4 cup local honey

2 organic eggs

To make the filling:

Slow and steady warming, and continued whisking -- that's the key here for a thick, smooth, silky topping, and not lemon-flavored scrambled eggs.

- Whisk the eggs, honey, and lemon juice in a cold sauce pan

- Turn heat on medium, and continue to whisk 

- As mixture warms, add the coconut oil

- Continue to whisk, allowing mixture to reduce and thicken

- When the mixture starts to bubble, turn the heat down to low, and whisk for two more minutes

- Remove from heat, and allow to cool to room temperature, before transferring to a lidded container, to chill in the refrigerator.  Lemon topping can be made a day in advance.

To make the crust:

To get that nice crumbly texture, pulse the nuts in your food processor, to ensure some chunks and pieces.

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (I used 375 degrees F in a convection oven)

- In a small mixing bowl, combine the honey, melted margarine, and eggs

- Chop the nuts in a food processor on pulse setting, to achieve a crumbly, mealy texture (not powder)

- Add the chopped nuts and coconut flour to the wet ingredients

- Grease a 9"x9" baking dish with vegan margarine

- Spread an even layer of the nut mixture in the baking dish

- Bake for 12-15 minutes, until nuts are golden brown, and edges are crisp

- Allow crust to cool to room temperature before layering on lemon topping

- Serve chilled

These are seriously delicious!  Our first flourless dessert is a success!  Seriously, you won't even notice those missing whole (and not so whole) grains.  I plan to make a few different versions of this delectable treat; raspberry and lemon, cranberry and lemon, and I can't be a resident of the Florida Keys without making a Key Lime flavor sometime ;)

Enjoy!

Easy Last-Minute Paleo Dinner: Garlicky Steamed Mussels

Ah, I love seafood.  I also love quick, easy, healthy meals.  After a busy week, and a quick run through the grocery store on the way home, I came home with two pounds of delicious, fresh mussels!

It took a few minutes, but I finally convinced the lady at the seafood counter that yes, I wanted the plastic bag open.  She looked at me like I was crazy, but it's important to remember that unlike a lot of the seafood in that chilled case, mussels are alive, and they need to breathe.  Mussels can live out of sea water for a short period of time, and they can survive in the fridge, but they do need air. An experienced seafood monger will pick through bulk shipments of mussels, and throw out any with broken shells, or ones that are sealed shut.  Live, happy mussels have their shells open.  When touched/jostled, they will close up to protect themselves.  It's the live ones that open back up.  They should also have a clean, briny smell.  Those are the ones you want to enjoy.

Mussels are super easy to prepare, and fast!  Dinner is on the table in mere minutes.  No salt needed: mussels bring their own distinct briny goodness to the dish.  Here's how to do it:

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh mussels
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth
1 clove crushed garlic
a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper

To prepare:

Preheat a heavy-bottomed lidded pan/dutch oven on medium.

Gently rinse the mussels in a colander under cool water.  (Do not submerge these saltwater creatures in fresh water, or they will die.)

Coat the bottom of the pan with a tablespoon of olive oil.  Sweat the onions until translucent. Toss in cherry tomatoes, and cook for another minute.

Turn heat up on medium high.  Stir in crushed garlic and black pepper.

Add mussels and white wine/broth, and cover tightly with lid.

After two minutes, switch off the heat.  After three more minutes, carefully open the lid, and check to see if all the mussels have opened.  If not, cover and let sit for a few more minutes, until the majority of the mussels have opened.

Gently toss the mussels, throwing out any that haven't opened, and serve immediately with the broth.  

I gently pull the halves of the shell apart, loosen the mussel from the bottom shell, leaving the little inedible stem in place, scoop up a little of the broth, and down the hatch!  Have a big plate ready to catch all of your empty shells.

Although we usually prepare extra portions when making dinner, cooked mussels don't work too well as leftovers.  Only buy/make as much as you'll eat in one sitting.  Enjoy with a nice fresh side salad, for a quick, easy, any-night dinner.

Getting Healthy By Going Grain-Free: The Paleo Solution - Eat Like A Caveman

In the words of a famous gecko, "it's so simple, even a caveman can do it".  

Years ago, we began our organic journey, when we found out we were expecting our little girl.  That quickly evolved into making smarter ecological choices for everything we buy and use, and I know we are healthier for it.  There are so many helpful resources nowadays, to make it easy going green and choosing organic.  Still, I have to thank another source for our family's most recent lifestyle change: my beloved dogs and cats.

After much research, I recently switched our fur babies over to grain-free food.  Our pets' wild ancestors certainly did not sit down to meals of ground corn and bowls of wheat, and more and more pet food manufacturers are acknowledging this.  While reading into the health reasons for pets to go grain-free, I couldn't help but wonder why we human beings are eating grain, too?  That's when I picked up a copy of The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet, the New York Times Bestseller by Robb Wolf.

Once in a while, a book makes your eyes open wide, and makes you question everything you thought you knew.  The Paleo Solution certainly did this, and turned my whole view of diet and nutrition upside-down.  My friends and family already know how much I detest the food giant Monsanto.  I firmly believe evil food conglomerates, the pharmaceutical industry, and crooked politicians are all in cahoots, poisoning our environment and us, taking advantage of hard-working farmers, and squashing those who do try to do things right.  I was so pleased to find someone else who feels the same way, in author Robb Wolf.

We've all grown up with the belief that we need to eat grain (whole grain at that) to be healthy.  Every little pyramid and diagram that has been put in front of us has included this as a recommended "food group".  Robb Wolf, who comes from a bio-chemist background, prior to being a health and fitness consultant, is quick to present data, showing just how little nutrition is in grain.  Our ancestors lived for thousands of years without agriculture; living as hunter-gatherers.  Our diets consisted of meat, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts.  It wasn't until wide-scale farming of grain began, that anthropologists began seeing evidence of health problems in the remains of our ancestors.   

Bringing the story up to modern-day, Robb Wolf paints a detailed picture, showing how the ingestion of grain causes chain reactions in our bodies, throwing everything off-kilter, from our cholesterol, insulin levels, and most visibly, our waistlines.  I myself have retiree parents, and my mother in particular has been plagued her whole adult life with cholesterol issues, high blood pressure, and in recent years, osteoporosis.  The whole time I was reading Robb Wolf's explanations, I kept picturing my own mother.  Mom, you and I are going to sit down and have a long chat about Paleo eating, when we come visit.  We want you off your medications and with us for a long, long time.

So, it's been a week since I began my Paleo eating shift; focusing my meals on lots of vegetables, roasted meats, broiled wild-caught seafood, and snacking on fresh fruit and nuts.  The result?  I feel fantastic!  No more midday slump at the office, my skin looks clearer, and I can visibly see myself getting leaner!  You know where your own "problem spots" are, and I can tell you, mine are shrinking before my eyes!  WOOHOO!  This switch has honestly been very easy.  The meals are surprisingly filling, and keep me full for a longer period of time.  I haven't missed the cookies, bread, or pasta.  As a bonus: Paleo meals are so incredibly easy to prepare, which is fantastic for this busy working mom.  Just steam/roast/sautee some vegetables, while broiling/roasting some meat, and voila!  Dinner is served!  I could seriously get used to this.

So, my apologies to the grain industry: you've lost a customer.  To the pharmaceutial industry: I won't be following in my family's footsteps, and you can keep your high cholesterol/blood-pressure/diabetes medications.  I'm off to say hello to a healthy, long life, and my pre-pregnancy clothes ;)

Thank you, Robb Wolf, and the Paleo Solution!

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Image courtesy of Amazon.com.

Organic is More Than Skin Deep: Pesticides and Herbicides May Be Causing Rapid Animal Population Decline

A great article from Natural News caught my eye this weekend, drawing a possible correlation between rapidly declining animal populations around the world, to the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides.  We've all seen the headlines lately: birds falling dead out of the sky, honeybees threatened with extinction, and countless more.  My immediate thought of this was another popular article that was making its rounds once again: "The Dirty Dozen", and its counterpart, "The Clean Fifteen".  Both of these guides from the EWG try to summarize for consumers a list of produce that should be purchased organic, and those that aren't so risky, based on the EWG's analysis of how much harmful pesticide residue is on, or getting past, the outer layers of commonly-purchased fruits and vegetables.  Not a bad way for those just getting into organics to start, but I firmly believe these guides are misleading: organic is about much more than just not consuming pesticides.

People choose organic for many different reasons.  For us, we made the shift when we found out we were expecting.  What began as a goal to keep harmful chemicals out of my developing daughter's body, quickly blossomed into considering the impact of these chemicals on our entire household, and our environment.  I did a lot of reading into the entire organic life cycle, from "farm to table", as they say.  One of my favorite documentaries, Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution, depicts exactly what happens when chemicals are unleashed on the environment, through conventional farming.  There's a great scene in this film, shown on the border of two farms, where one side was farmed conventionally, and the other the organic way.  The conventionally-farmed soil was like stratified sand, packed hard, and couldn't absorb water or nutrients, if it tried.  Right next to that was the organic farm's soil, dark, rich, and full of life; the way soil should look.  When farmers devastate their land with chemicals, they aren't just contained just to that area; they leach into the ground water, and into the surrounding air.  That's the message Natural News was getting at with their article: choosing organic is about keeping harmful chemicals out of our environment as a whole.

So the next time you're at the market, do consider that you're shopping not just for yourself, but for the planet that we all share.

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Image courtesy of Amazon.com.