Community Supported Agriculture

I am really excited about joining a CSA this year. I considered joining last year, but did not make time to evaluate the different farm options and sign up. I am a member of Valley Natural Foods and they are having a CSA Day on March 28th where I plan on making my final decision.

For those of you who have not heard of CSA’s, here is a little background information. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Numerous farms offer subscriptions, or shares, of produce that can be purchased for the length of the growing season. Members of the CSA receive weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or one-time containers of veggies, fruit, flowers, eggs, dairy and/or meat. The selection of items varies on the chosen farm and the shares that are purchased.

A typical CSA share includes mostly veggies along with some fruit; additional items such as flowers or meat can be added on at an additional charge. The variety and quantity of vegetables are dependent on the farm, weather conditions, and share chosen.

Members are often referred to as “shareholders” or “subscribers” because with their investment they are taking on the risk associated with each growing season. Some farms even require that members work a few hours on the farm. Most farms offer member only events, potlucks, and demonstrations. Others offer cooking lessons and internships.

Many CSA farms offer local delivery to specific locations along with farm pick up. Customarily farm pick-up is less expensive than local pick-up. Oftentimes pick-up locations are at local co-ops, schools, community centers, and host homes. Some CSA farmers are even open to adding new drop off locations as long as a specific number of shares will be ordered from the location.


Typically, the Minnesota CSA season begins in Mid-May and runs through October (18 - 20 weeks). However, the length and breadth of the season is completely dependent on growing conditions – droughts, floods, pests – all determine crop yield.

The CSA’s that I am considering are sustainable and organic where a half-share of produce ranges from $275 to $470 per season - averaging out to $14.47 to $24.70 per week for fresh, organic produce. The price of each share varies by farm and is dictated by the variety and quantity of produce offered. 

For more information about CSA’s in your area check out the Local Harvest website.

The photos in this post are sample CSA boxes from Featherstone Farm.

Today's Eats

I am back on Cooler 2 today. I lost 1 lb last week on Cooler 1 for 3 days and was really excited. Usually a couple days on Cooler 1 is all that I need to jump start the fat loss.

Here are my eats for the day:

Meal 1 - egg whites, chicken breakfast sausage, 1 slice cinn-raisin ezekiel bread

Meal 2 - 1 serving Chocolate-Banana Protein Muffins, 1/2 Vita-Mix Juice: spinach, strawberries, orange

Meal 3 - Friday Night Chili (from the Family and Kids Cookbook)

Meal 4 - Macaroni and Cheese (inspired by the recipe in the Family and Kids Cookbook) and 1/2 Vita-Mix Juice from Meal 2

Meal 5 - Organic Basil Chicken Sausage with organic sauerkraut

Tosca on AM NW

Check it out here.

Pangea Organics

As many of you know, I have been searching for Clean Cosmetics that fit a strict set of rules that I have outlined for myself to replace my Clinique products that are on their way back to because they are not clean.

I think that I have found a winner! I purchased the following Pangea Organics products from Organically Happy last week and am in love! First of all, Organically Happy was offering a nice discount on the products and I ended up saving over $20! In addition, I found the following promo code: supergreen.

What I love most about the products are the choice of essential oils, they smell amazing and are really refreshing - especially in the morning!

Egyptian Calendula & Blood Orange Facial Cleanser

Italian Green Mandarin with Sweet Lime Toner

Nigerian Ginger, Sweet Lavender & Thyme Facial Cream

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BTW, Annie over at Foods that Fit is compiling a Blogger Cookbook - keep your eyes open for more information.

Eat-Clean Diet for Men

Tosca Reno and Robert Kennedy are coming out with a new Eat-Clean Diet Book: The Eat-Clean Diet for Men: Your Ironclad Plan for a Lean Physique!

You can preview the book on the Eat-Clean Diet website (click on the book in the right side bar) and you can pre-order the book here from Amazon.

I am really excited to have some new reading material from Tosca!

SNOW!!!

Yesterday we had a huge snow storm that dropped several inches of snow in Minneapolis. Today I spent over 1 1/2 hours shoveling our little walk. Some of you have seen the inner-city house that we live in and know that this is an insane amount of time to spend shoveling snow... for those of you who have not seen our house - there is not much to shovel here - a small driveway, and a short walk to the house, around the house, and to the street. In some places I think that the snow was over a foot deep! Needless to say it was a great workout!

You can bet that I will definitely be feeling the burn today after the snow shoveling and the intense full-body workout that I did yesterday afternoon !

I am off of Cooler 1 for the weekend - my husband gets home from Portland, Oregon, soon and I am sure that we will want to celebrate. I plan on keeping to a strict Cooler 2, like always. Tonight I am making Pizza for Clean Eaters (from Tosca's Family and Kids book) topped with homemade pizza sauce, organic pepperoni, skim-mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers, onions and whatever else we can find - this is my husband's favorite meal. And will have a cheat of a few glasses of red wine or a pomegranate-champagne drink (from the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook). 

Have a fabulous weekend and keep it clean!

Reading List

Hello everyone. I am trying to compile a reading list for myself. I would love to start reading more and am really interested in reading about the following:

• Nutrition 
  
• Fitness
  
• The Environment - specifically related to food chain and greening your home
  
• Christianity
  

Does anyone have any suggestions of books that I should add to my reading list? I am re-reading the Eat-Clean Diet Expanded Edition and jotting down the name of books/resources that Tosca mentions and am adding them to my reading list.

Food Journal: Companion to Checklists

I love how much easier the Cooler Checklists make it to plan my food intake and ensure that I am eating strictly Cooler 1 or Cooler 2. However, I found that I still wanted to write down the food that I was planning on eating in addition to checking the boxes on the checklists - so I always used the blank back of the checklist to jot down my planned eats for the day. 

Unfortunately, doing it that way made for a disorganized list of food and sometimes when packing my Cooler in the morning I would forget to bring food that I was planning on eating during the day. So, I decided to make a supporting resource to the Cooler Checklists - Food Journal.

To save paper, I print the Food Journal on the back of the Cooler Checklist.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions to improve the Food Journal page.

Food Journal

Food Journal

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Cooler 1 Checklist
Cooler 1 Checklist - 2B Landscape

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Cooler 2 Checklist
Cooler 2 Checklist - 2B

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Cooler 1 : Day 3

Yesterday did not go well. I kept it clean, but was feeling weak and dizzy in the late afternoon. I bought myself a small Americano and it seemed to help with the energy level.

Today I feel much better. I think that I did a much better job of determining the order of the food that I eat. On Cooler 1 it is very important to get enough to eat earlier on in the day. It is also important that you do not try to sustain yourself on simply egg whites and protein powder - they are easy to grab and go, but just do not pack enough calories to keep you nourished.

Here are my eats for the day (I had 1/2 an extra serving of grains today and only 1/2 of my sweet potato to balance it out.)

Meal 1 - 1/2 cup scrambled egg whites + 1/2 serving baked oatmeal

Meal 2 - 1/2 serving spaghetti squash + 1/2 serving cooler 1 vita-mix marinara + 1 serving bison + 1 serving broccoli

Meal 3 - 1/2 serving spaghetti squash + 1/2 serving cooler 1 vita-mix marinara + 1 serving bison + 1/2 sweet potato

Meal 4 - 1 serving cooler 1 protein hot chocolate

+ 1/2 serving baked oatmeal
Meal 5 - 1/2 serving long grain brown rice + jambalaya (recipe from latest Clean Eating Magazine) + 1/2 apple

Tosca's Interview with KATU AM

Here is Tosca's interview with KATU AM on February 11th, 2008. I have never seen this video and when googling Eat-Clean Diet I stumbled upon it. Enjoy!

Cooler 1: Day 2

1 Day down, 3 more to go!

I didn't feel hungry or starved at all yesterday. I worked out when I got home and actually felt motivated and energetic. After dinner I had a craving for something sweet and instead of giving in to the temptation, I made myself a cup of Mint Tea. It really helped!

I then treated myself and went to Crate & Barrel to pick out some fun springy gadgets for the kitchen. I purchased a mango slicer, egg separator, grapefruit knife, a cute green spoon rest, a matching veggie brush, some flexi-grip mats, two cute glasses to sip fun spring drinks out of (when I am back on Cooler 2 and can Vita-Mix) and a few other misc items. I still want to pick up a Pineapple corer/slicer and a citrus peeler... I will have to go to Bed Bath and Beyond sometime soon to find them.

Here are my eats so far today:

Meal 1 - 4 hard boiled egg whites, 1 serving baked oatmeal

Meal 2 - 1 serving egg bake, 1/2 sweet potato

Meal 3 - 1 serving roasted chicken breast, 1 serving lightly steamed green beans, 1 serving raw orange pepper

Here is what is left in my Cooler for the day:

Meal 4 - Egg bake, 1/2 sweet potato

Meal 5 - Leftover spaghetti squash and bison marinara

Meal 6 - Cooler 1 Hot Chocolate and 1/2 apple

I sing in the church choir and we have practice tonight. I am singing two duets and a solo soon and today is Ash Wednesday, so I will be there most of the night tonight - my workouts will have to wait until tomorrow. I will work out twice as hard to make up for it!

Cooler 1 Egg Bake

Cooler 1 Egg Bake



16 egg whites (or 2 cups pre-packaged egg whites)
2 cupped handfuls yellow zucchini, diced
2 cupped handfuls scallions, diced
2 cupped handfuls spinach
2 cupped handfuls red pepper, diced

dash salt and pepper, to taste

Customizable Seasonings:

• dash grill seasoning, to taste
  
• dash frank's red hot (cayenne pepper sauce), to taste
  
• dash italian seasoning, to taste
• dash cajun/creole seasoning, to taste

Customizable Cooler 1 fillings (substitute for any of the vegetables in the original recipe):

• Diced tomatoes, drained
  
• Broccoli 
  
• Mushrooms
  
• Celery
  
• Cucumbers
  
• 1/2 - 1 cup cooked ground bison, turkey, or tofu
  
• Cooler 1 low-fat Chicken sausages

Preheat oven to 400˚ F. Lightly mist a glass baking dish or casserole with oil.

Whisk the egg whites to make them fluffy.

Gently stir in your vegetables of choice.

Pour in the egg white and vegetable mixture into prepared pan.

Bake 30 - 40 minutes. The baking time will depend on the width/depth of your baking dish. Check how the egg bake is progressing after 25 minutes. Bake until golden brown on top and cooked through.

Serving size: 1/4 of baked mixture

Portions: 1 lean protein, 1 vegetable

*Sorry for the fuzzy pic - my husband took the digital camera with him to work and I am using my phone's camera to take pictures this week.

Cooler 1 Baked Oatmeal

Here is the recipe for... 

Cooler 1 Baked Oatmeal

2 cups rolled oats

2 tsp cinnamon

5  single serving (5 gram) pkgs of Organic Zero

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

2 apples, cored and cubed

1/2 tbsp vanilla

2 cups water (if desired, can substitute 1 cup almond milk and 1 cup water)

Preheat over to 400˚ F. Lightly mist a medium sized casserole or baking dish with olive oil. 

In a large bowl combine rolled oats, cinnamon, organic zero, wheat germ, and flaxseed. In a separate bowl combine apple, vanilla, and water. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until moistened.

Spread mixture into the prepared dish and bake for 35 - 40 minutes until edges begin to brown and mixture is set up.

Serving Size: 1/4 Baked Mixture

Portions: 1 Grain, 1/2 Apple, 2 TB Flax, 2 TB Wheat Germ

Cooler 1: Day 1

Here are my eats so far today:

Meal 1 - 16 oz water, 4 hard boiled egg whites, 1 serving cooler 1 oatmeal bake, Coffee

Meal 2 - 16 oz water, 1 serving egg bake, 16 oz water

Meal 3 - 1 serving chicken breast, on 1 serving spinach with 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, 16 oz water

Meal 4 - 1 serving protein powder, 1 serving almond milk, 1/2 apple serving, 1 serving broccoli

Meal 5 - 1 serving spaghetti squash, 1 serving cooler 1 vita-mix marinara, 1 serving bison

To make Cooler 1 easier, I have listed modifications for many of my recipes to make them Cooler 1 friendly. I have also listed the Portions for each recipe. Remember to use your hand as your measurement tool to figure out your personal serving size for each recipe. You can find all posts that pertain to Cooler 1 by looking for the Cooler 1 label.

The following are Cooler 1 Recipes:

• Vita-Mix Marinara Sauce with lean ground meat and spaghetti squash
• Egg Bake (version 1 and version 2)
• Tortilla Soup
• Cooler 1 Protein Bars
• Clean Protein Hot Chocolate
• Cooler 1 Baked Oatmeal

Cooler 1

For the next four days I will be doing Cooler 1, so my posts will focus on the foods that I am making and eating.

To get ready I am making an egg bake and baked oatmeal tonight. I already have some hard boiled eggs in the fridge which really helps to reduce my prep work tonight.

Today's egg bake includes one serving of the following veggies:

• Spinach
• Yellow Zucchini
• Red Pepper
• Scallions

I also used 2 cups of egg whites in the egg bake recipe so that I would get 4 servings of protein along with 4 servings of veggies to make it easy to divide up the servings.

Later tonight or tomorrow morning I will post pics of the finished egg bake and my recipe for Cooler 1 Oatmeal Bake.

Coming Soon: Food Journal Pages

I am really excite because I am working on a new addition to the Cooler Checklists that I posted a couple weeks ago... a Food Journal. I always write my meals on the back of my Cooler Checklist and thought to myself - why don't I make a nice gridded out document that could be printed on the back of the Checklist to organize the foods - that way I can better plan my eats for the week. I hope to have these new and improved Checklist/Journal pages ready this week!

Oil Mister

As most of you already know, my Vita-Mix is my favorite kitchen gadget. However, in my opinion, the most useful and cost effective kitchen gadget is an oil mister. Not only is misted olive oil much better for your health by avoiding propellants in Organic Sprays and isobutane and propane in other sprays it is also easier on your wallet. Also, many oil sprays use thickeners, stabilizers, and preservatives.

A can of Spectrum Organic Olive Oil can run upwards of $7 per 5 oz bottle and a 5 oz can of Pam is somewhere around $4; while a 25.4 oz bottle of Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil will run anywhere from $12 - $20 and the mister is $15. 

For the first use you are paying about $8 for 5 oz using the mister; however, in the long run the cost reduces dramatically to about $3.50 per 5 oz, which is less than a can of Pam. 

In addition, with the mister you actually end up using less oil than with a traditional spray can - so the same amount of oil will last longer.

Chocolate-Banana Protein Muffins

These were amazing! I cannot believe how good they turned out - they taste like a decadent cheat, but are Cooler 2 clean and could be easily made Cooler 1 clean with a few substitutions and deletions.

Batter in Muffin Cup

YUM-O!

Chocolate-Banana Protein Muffins

1 cup oats, divided

2 scoops vanilla protein powder

2 scoops chocolate protein powder

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

4 tbsp raw almonds

1/4 cup unsweetened cacao nibs

1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 banana)

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 tsp pure vanilla

1 tbsp honey

2 tbsp amber agave nectar

Preheat oven to 350˚. Spray 12 cups of a muffin tray with olive oil. 

Blend 1/2 cup oats in food processor (I use my Magic Bullet) to make oat flour. Combine oats, oat flour, protein powders, cocoa powder, sea salt, almonds, and cacao nibs in a medium sized bowl.

In the bowl of a food processor (again I use the Magic Bullet) combine mashed banana, applesauce, vanilla, honey, and agave nectar. Process until smooth. 

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until combined. Distribute mixture evenly into prepared muffin cups.

Bake 13 -15 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool on a wire rack. Store leftovers in the fridge.

Makes 12 muffins.

Serving Size is 2 muffins and counts as 1 complex carb and 1 protein for Cooler 2. 

For nutrition information go here.

Honest Food Guide

I am just taking a quick internet break after putting away the groceries that I ordered from Byerly's and boiling 2 dozen eggs. After I am done here, I plan on making protein bars. I am plan on making Allan's favorite Chocolate Protein Bars and a new Chocolate Banana Protein Muffin recipe that I devised - we will see how they turn out! 

I was just on the CE forum for a couple minutes and spotted this PDF that someone had posted and thought that some of you might enjoy it. It is the Honest Food Guide and lists Disease Causing and Health Promoting Foods along with why they are either good or bad for you. Check it out!

21407.1_HonestFoodGuide

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Clean Protein Hot Chocolate

There are times in my life that I have a nostalgic craving for Hot Chocolate. Unfortunately, traditional Hot Chocolate Mixes are crammed full of sugar, fat, artificial flavors, fillers, and preservatives. To indulge my craving, I came up with the recipe for a yummy hot chocolate recipe that can be enjoyed guilt free.

Clean Protein Hot Chocolate

1/2 C Almond Milk (can substitute Skim or Unsweetened Soy Milk)

1/2 C Water

1 tsp Vanilla

1 scoop Protein Powder (vanilla or chocolate works)

2 TB unsweetened, dark Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Organic Zero sweetener (can substitute any CE approved sweetener)

Mix Milk and Water together in a microwave safe dish and microwave until hot. Add the vanilla and set aside.

Mix Protein Powder, Cocoa Powder, and Organic Zero together in a Magic Bullet cup. Add Milk mixture. Blend in Magic Bullet until frothy. Pour into a mug and enjoy!

If you do not have a Magic Bullet, you can use your blender, a shaker cup, or a spoon.

Cooler 1 Substitutions:

• Substitute Water for the Milk
• Use Chocolate Protein Powder instead of Vanilla
• Use less Cocoa Powder
• Portion: 1 serving Protein Powder