This winter my husband and I decided to go in with a group of people to split a cow from a local farmer. I am not a huge red meat eater, but I wanted to find out what the experience was like and to stock our freezer a bit. We split all parts of the cow and the parts that we didn’t eat we gave to our dog. This was really an added bonus, free dog food! She had lots of liver, the heart, the tail and the tongue, but I think we may keep the tongue for ourselves.

There were about 8-10 people that we were splitting with, so we only had roughly 20 pounds worth, which was really plenty for me. We had a few different steak type cuts of meat, some ground beef and beef patties that the butcher pre-made. It can be really fun to have a lot of one type of meat because it allows some experimenting with different recipes. While we had the typical hamburgers with some exotic toppings, I also made some delicious meatballs to store in the freezer for later, stuffed peppers and the steaks of course.

As luck would have it I had just received a package of POM Wonderful (the pomegranate juice drink) and gave it a try in my cooking. I have had POM Wonderful to drink before and I love the taste, but I had never cooked with it. The POM Wonderful website offers all sorts of delicious recipe ideas and I decided to try a variation on a steak I was preparing. I marinated the steak in simply POM wonderful juice, some red wine and used a little bit of fresh rosemary and salt and pepper. The steak was seared on the stovetop and then cooked in the oven. It was delicious! Very juicy and tender and the POM Wonderful added just a bit of sweetness to the flavor.

We picked up our meat at the beginning of the year and we are down to one large steak and the tounge. We plan to put the large steak in the crockpot, as it it thawing in the fridge as we speak and I was recommended to boil the tounge. We did receive all of the meat forzen, although I’m sure we could have asked the butcher for some fresh, it was all still very tender and juicy.

I’d recommend if you haven’t tried any local, fresh, natural meats to try something like splitting an animal with a group of friends. Not only can you visit the animal before it is slaughtered (which we did not do), but you can talk to the farmer who raised the animal. Was it ever given antibiotics? Was it exclusively grass-fed? Did it have free-range of the farm? These are questions that the farmer would gladly answer, as I’m sure you can’t say the same about your local grocer. The ods are that the person working behind the meat counter doesn’t even know what state the meat come from, let alone the way in which it was raised. For me, the label “organic” is not enough, I was to know who raised the meat, where it came from, and how it was treated.

Life has been hectic lately, hence my lack of posts. My husband and I just sold our home and are in the process of goingthrough home inspections and lots of coordination and paperwork. We were lucky in this dismal real estate market to get our full asking price (pending the home inspection, keep your fingers crossed)! Our move-in date to our new place is April 1, kind of. I say kind of, because it’s not that easy, we purchased a fixer-upper, about 1 mile from our current house and we will begin construction as soon as we have the keys.

In the meantime, my husband, Connor and I will be staying at his parents house while construction is underway. The house was built in 1950 and has had little to no updating since it was built. Our inspection yesterday went well, all things considered. Our rennovation will be limited to how much money we have to roll into construction, but we know that our first order of business is the kitchen. We’ve toyed with the idea of completely removing the small kitchen and relocating it to the garage. We also need to consider whether or not to add central A/C and how we are going to repair the old windows and doors.

Now, as you may have figured out, I plan to have the construction be as “green” as possible. We don’t want to break the budget going green, but we want to consider health as a number one priority. Many of the materials used in new construction use formaldehyde, which is a toxic material. I would like to used low to No VOC products and formaldehyde-free products. I would also like to create as little waste as possible from our rennovation. For example, I would like to salvage the old windows rather than replace with a vinyl window that has a lifetime of only 10 years or so.

My main concern is not only the environment but the health of myself and my family. Too often home renovations fill our homes with toxic gasses and I do not want to compromise the health of my family for a few dollars saved. My research so far has led me to a local green building materials store near DC, which I plan to take a field trip to so that we can begin to get some ideas and find the best and most affordable options for the job.

I would love to hear if from you if you’ve recently rennovated a home with “greener” options and what your experience has been with prices and performace.

Recently someone suggested quinoa as a great source of iron, as I was looking to boost the iron in my son’s diet.  Since that suggestion I have been on such a quinoa kick!  Quinoa is a very nutritionally packed grain, that has such versatility.  My first attempt at cooking quinoa, I just followed the instructions on the box, although I used vegetable stock, rather than chicken stock or water to cook it in.  I was surprised by the delicious distinct flavor.  Next I tried a breakfast quinoa recipe with apples, cinnamon and honey, which was equally as delicious, and a nice alternative to the typical oatmeal.

Now that I have a few quinoa options under my belt, I have found that quinoa is very versatile.   While shopping at Whole Foods a week ago, I discovered quinoa flakes and quinoa flour.  The quinoa flakes are a great instant version of quinoa for breakfast, which cook in only 90 seconds.  The quinoa flour is a gluten free flour option that can be used in baking for cookies, muffins, breads, etc.

I love that quinoa is such a totally healthy and versatile grain.  Since I have added quinoa to my diet I have actually found many store-bought items with quinoa as one of the ingredients.  I have found whole grain O’s cereal from Whole Foods that has quinoa as an ingredient.  I have also found quinoa bread from Trader Joe’s.  Today I ate lunch out at the local market and had quinoa curry soup full of yummy root vegetables.  It’s funny to think that this little grain has been out there forever and I have just now discovered it.

I would love to hear if you have some delicious quinoa recipes.  I am eager to experiment more with delicious recipes, especially since I have found that my son loves it as much as I do!

It is funny to see how a toddler so badly wants to imitate mommy and daddy.  My son, loves to drink from a cup, he’s always asking for a sip of water from ours.  I love letting him have the satisfaction, but it can get messy, at which point the sippy cup is introduced.

I have not had much experience with sippy cups, we have a sippy top from Avent for our Klean Kanteen and a sippy top for the Think Baby bottle.  Both do the trick, but have their draw backs.  The Avent top is hard plastic with 4 small holes, this is leak proof, but you have to suck very hard to get anything out and larger particles from juices get stuck.  The Think Baby sippy top is more of a sippy-shaped nipple and is definitely not leak proof, but is soft and an easy transition from a nipple to sippy cup.

In comes Tommee Tippee to the rescue.  As a reviewer for the Mom Bloggers Club, I was sent a stages 1 and 2 sippy cups from Tommee Tippee.  Tommee Tippee is a#1 feeding brand in the UK and January marks their first month here in America.  When I received the Tommee Tippee cups in the mail I was disappointed at first.  The 4 cups I was sent came in a box big enough to fit a computer.  From a “green” standpoint this is not ideal.  Besides the fact that the cups were in a ridiculous sized box, they were also over packaged in tough to open plastic and cardboard.

As for the cups themselves, they do live up to the advertising.  They are truly leak-proof (provided the cap is screwed tightly) and they have an easy flowing, soft tip for my son.  I filled his cup up with water and he had no problem chugging it down!  The true test was this week when I made him a “green juice” concoction.  The “green juice” is made of carrot juice, banana, brewer’s yeast and kale that I put in a blender for a delicious healthy drink.  I poured the juice in the stage 2 Tommee Tippee cup and again he chugged it down!  He had perviously had issues with our other sippy cups since the juice is quite thick, it was getting caught in the valves.

I like that the cups are BPA free and dishwasher safe, and I also like the plastic caps that cover the sippy top so I can throw the cup in a dipaer bag and not worry about the top getting full of fuzz.  Finally, they are easy to grip with their rubber coating.  I don’t like the packaging that the cups arrived in.  I would like Tommee Tippee to take a closer look at their carbon footprint, and disclose their environmental awareness policy on their website.

Tommee Tippee  can be found on twitter @tommeetippeeus and facebook.  Their products are reasonably priced and can be found exclusively at Babies R Us.

* I was sent 2 stage 1 sippy cups and 2 stage 2 sippy cups for the purposes of this review, opinions are entirely my own.  The products were sent by Tommee Tippee to myself and other members of the Mom Bloggers Club.

This Valentines was not the usual chocolates and cards, which quite frankly are cute, but tend to get old. This year, we didn’t plan anything, not because we didn’t want to, but quite honestly our lives have been quite hectic lately and it didn’t cross our minds. I find that sometimes it’s the unplanned holidays that tend to work out to be the best. Last minute, on Friday, we planned to drive up to my father’s lake house in PA for a night out of town. We left on Saturday afternoon, once we got everything moved out of my in-law’s house, where we were stuck for a week during the snowstorm. As luck would have it, my dad and step-mother and her nephew all wanted to go up as well. My father volunteered to watch Connor while the rest of us got up Sunday morning to go hit the slopes! My dad, would normally be there with us, but he recently had shoulder surgery and was unable to ski.

I thought, as a new parent, I would have to hang up my skis and snowboard for a few years, but thanks to family, we went once last year and once so far this year! This had to have been the best time to go, since we have 40+ inches of fresh, “real” snow to snowboard on. My husband and I spend the day together snowboarding and enjoying an afternoon lunch in the lodge pub. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Like, I said, there wasn’t any chocolate or cards, but I would take a day skiing or snowboarding over that any day!

Our long weekend ended with a day spent getting hair cuts, grocery shopping and a night out to dinner with my husband at a local restaurant. He took me to one of the few places in town where you can get local food (www.woodberrykitchen.com). It is pricey, but sure has a great atmosphere and wonderful food. The meat and veggies that they serve are from the same places where I buy locally, so I can go out and actually feel good about eating! As we left the restaurant, we drove around the area to explore for a minute and we stumbled upon a community of new homes which were advertised as “green living.” I was very surprised to see this, these modern architectural homes were tucked away in a small corner of Baltimore City. This surprised me because I wouldn’t call Baltimore the most eco-friendly city in the world, and to see a community of eco-friendly homes, means that we are taking strides in the right direction:)

A little late with Wordless Wednesday, but better late than never…

Fishing in the Chesapeake Bay!

I’ve had a lot of time on my hands to give some serious thought to experimenting with new food.  We are still temporarily living at the townhouse we own, with limited internet access and no tv or furniture.  Needless to say instead of spending hours on the computer, or couch I figured I might as well get creative if I have to stand and the most comfortable place to sit is on the floor.  Today, after my natural mommies playdate, I decided to make my regular quick stop to Whole Foods for some light shopping.  I was inspired by the peanut butter cookies at the playdate, and one of the mommies talking about going vegan.  So, I decided I was going to make vegan almond butter cookies!

I found a yummy recipe, at Love Like a Vegan and thought I’d give it a shot.  I had to stock up on the canola oil and almond extract at Whole Foods and while I was there I picked up some Kale and some raw almonds.  The cookies were super easy to make and I substituted the white flour for whole wheat.  This was my first attempt at ever baking anything vegan and I have to say, that you sure don’t miss the eggs in this recipe.  These cookies are moist and chewy….mmmm…

Next I decided to try Kale Chips.  I have been following Green Lite Bites and she is experimenting with the uses for Kale.  Kale is definitely one of those veggies that I don’t really know what to do with, so I’m excited to see what else she tries!  These Kale chips were super easy.  I didn’t have to dedicate half of my day to making something that I might like, so I figured I’d go for it!  I washed and dried my kale in my salad spinner, and tore it into chip sized pieces.  I mixed tossed the kale in a bowl with a table spoon of olive oil, laid it out on a cookie sheet and sprinkled with sea salt.  I popped it in the oven at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes and out came some crispy yummy kale!  I know it sounds like a weird idea, but these chips were delicious, my one year old even liked them!

I even added the kale to some of his carrot juice with a banana in a blender and he chugged it down!

Finally, for dinner tonight we had some chicken feta sausage with mushrooms, onion, kale and quinoa stuffed in red peppers.  I have been a on a quinoa kick ever since someone suggested it as a good source of iron.  I think the quinoa is much tastier than rice and is much healthier for you.  Monday night I made quinoa with apple puree, cinnamon and a bit of honey (another Green Lite Bites inspired recipe) for Connor to eat for breakfast on Tuesday morning.  Today I found quinoa flakes at Whole Foods, which are perfect for a quick breakfast, since they cook faster than whole quinoa.

I’m definitely going to experiment more with some vegan baking, I’d love to make some muffins!  Oh, and those raw almonds are for me to try to make Almond milk, I can’t wait!  I’ll report back here to let you know how my experiments turn out!

I have been attracted to the idea of baby sign language since my son was about 6 months old. I love the idea of being able to communicate before he can talk. Here and there I have tried to teach him a few simple signs, with no success. I even downloaded the “Baby Sign” application on my iPhone so that I could learn the signs to teach him. Well, it hasn’t been that simple. I haven’t felt that I’ve had enough time to spend teaching him the signs and it is frustrating when he doens’t pick them up. Now at 14 months, the pointing has gotten old quickly, so I figured it was time to reintroduce the signs.

This time, my experience has been much better. I started out with the sign for milk, for when he wants to nurse and he picked it up in only a few days. Now I think he’s begun to over use it! Next I taught him the sign for “more” when he wants more of what ever I’ve given him (food, drink, etc.). He literally started using the sign after only 2 minutes of me showing him the sign for more. It is so neat to see him finally picking these things up! I suppose other mothers can teach their children with patience at a much yonger age, but I didn’t have enough patience to try time after time with no success.

We are now working on, please, thank you, water and juice. I am confident that he’ll pick these up with in the next week or so. It was so obvious to me that he always knows what he wants and if I can give him the tools to tell me, then it makes both of our lives much easier! I don’t expect to teach him much more than a few signs, but just a few simple signs have gone a long way.

Lets face it, Cotton Babies, the maker of Bum Genius, makes a good diaper.  The reason I say this is because Bum Genius makes up the majority of my stash and the stash of the other cloth diapering mommies I know!  For this reason I have faith that their new Flip diapers are going to be equally as popular, maybe even more so, since they are more afforable.

Because I think that the Flip diaper is another quality Cotton Babies diaper, I have been recommending it to people on the fence about cloth diapering.  This diaper allows you not to make such a huge monetary commitment at $16.95/diaper with a stay-dry insert and for the more natural mommy, $19.95 for the organic cotton insert option.  Not only is it a cheaper diaper, but since it’s a shell cover, you can buy fewer shells than inserts to save you even more cash.  The PUL cover can be wiped clean in between diaper changes and you’ll be ready to put a new insert in and baby is clean as new!  These easy lay-in inserts require no stuffing, so easy dad can do it!  Finally, for those trips with baby, Flip sells a disposable liner that will allow you to continue using your PUL shell on the road.

Well, one of my good friend’s just called me to let me know she’s decided to make the switch!!!!!  I’ve been pitching the diaper to her and sending her fellow blogger reviews of the diaper for a while and she’s finally making the commitment.  She’s been convinced that her almost 6 month old son is perfect for these diapers now that he won’t need a sized diaper as he may have as a newborn.  The Flip diaper is one-size and will last him for as long as he’s in diapers.  Her husband, still skeptical of the switch, asked her to create a spreadsheet showing the money savings  I think that’s what really made her give the diapers a second thought.  She’d really like to save $$.  Hey, if that’s your reason for cloth diapering, more power to you!  But, I can say for sure, without a spreadsheet, that the Flip diapers will save you money!

Have you tried Flip diapers?  Do you think my friend will like them?  Any advice for her?