Organic Comparison

It’s Joe here for a special guest post!

Meghan and I have been eating Vegan or as I like to say, a whole food plant-based diet, for almost exactly a year. We’ve done lots of research into food and health over the year and have most recently been interested in organic foods. Some of the benefits of organic foods are that they are free of GMOs, pesticides, chemicals, and are farmed in a natural and sustainable way. They also tend to be more nutritious, even though they may be somewhat smaller than conventionally farmed produce.

All of the dried beans and grains that we get from our local health food store are organic but Meg and I were looking for a source for fruits and vegetables. Most grocery stores do carry organic produce but the selections tend to be limited, pricy, and often imported. Meg’s friend, Kate told us about Grand River Organics (GRO), a company that does organic produce deliveries from various local farms. GRO offers a wide variety of items delivered in two different sizes, a bag of 8-10 items for $26 or a box of 12-14 items for $38. There are options for all local produce or a combination of local and imported goods. You can just place an order and get the random, expected items for the week or customize your order and choose specific fruit and veg. We decided on a custom order, as we needed a heaping amount of kale for our morning smoothies! We paid $41 and this is what we got:

We were impressed with the freshness of the produce but a little disappointed that some of it did come in plastic wrap and containers, which we really try hard to avoid. We knew that this one box wouldn’t be enough for us for the week, but in general, we did find the amount of certain items to be small. On the plus side, our pick-up location was less than two blocks away from our house!

We did enjoy our delivery but thought that we should also try and see what was available at the Kitchener Market. We had never really sought out organics but just visited our regular local farmers. As we discovered, there were quite a few organic options from a number of stands. Most of the produce was local, but there were also some non-local options. We decided to see what we could get using the same $40 budget and here was our haul:

It was clear that we did get a little more bang for our buck at the market. It wasn’t quite as close as our GRO delivery but we do enjoy our trek to market every Saturday anyway. I do appreciate what GRO does, especially for those who may not be so close to a farmer’s market. We would order again from GRO, most likely if we’re away for a weekend and know that we won’t be heading to market. That’s another good feature of this service, there is no weekly commitment, you can order as you please. As it stands for now, we will use GRO occasionally and continue to search for organics at the market!

Vegan comfort foods

Today marks almost a week of Henry and I being down and out with a nasty virus. It has been a long week, but we are finally starting to show signs of improvement. Thank goodness!

Lucky for me, I have a wonderful husband who is always willing to cook up anything I might want- especially when I'm sick. I realized that I haven't really been too sick since becoming vegan. When I've been sick in the past, I always crave the same things: Chicken noodle soup, crackers, ginger ale and creamy tomato soup. Problem: Those soups aren't vegan!

I told Joe, and he whipped up this delish soup: It's a vegan version of chicken noodle soup (tofu noodle soup?). It was delicious and hit the spot. And I'm sure it was much lower sodium than your regular chicken noodle soup. I think all he did was throw the veggies we had on hand (carrots, celery, onion, tomato) into some veggie broth with cubed tofu and rice noodles.

He also made me this vegan creamy tomato soup. (Find the recipe here). It was SO good. It also happens to be gluten free and paleo. And super healthy. Even if I wasn't sick, this one would be a great meal.

Despite how yummy these soups were, I am so glad that I am getting better. Just in time to enjoy the snow!

Since becoming vegan...

Since becoming vegan, a lot of changes have happened over here! Mostly, we're getting weirder.

Yep, I've officially decided that becoming vegan makes you more than a bit...different. Joe and I are living life pretty far from the norm these days. Most people think we're a bit nutty (or a lot nutty, depending on who you talk to!) But it seems that once you start thinking with your health/the environment/ethics in mind, you can't stop! The more you learn, the more you research, the more you feel compelled to change. Is this a good thing? Well, we think so!

For example, Joe and I have reduced the amount of oil we consume. Drastically. Rather than vegan, Joe prefers the term "Whole Food Plant-Based diet". It is much more specific. We are drinking green, kale smoothies for breakfast every day. We even feed that stuff to Henry! We try to incorporate green, orange and raw veggies every day. In an average week we eat about $80-100 worth of fresh fruit and veggies, plus a bunch of beans and nuts and seeds and grains. We are trying to avoid refined flours, oil and sugar. We have reduced our salt use. We use a pressure cooker. We have even been moving more and more towards eating organic, especially the dirty dozen. We make almost every.single.thing from scratch. It goes on and on. Needless to say, eating this way makes you skinnier, and full of energy! But it keeps you busy, too.

Some home-made vegan yummy food!

And the changes I'm talking about go beyond diet, too.
Learning about veganism makes you begin to question the rest of your life. Your leather shoes...do you continue wearing them? (We do, since we have already purchased them, but it is something we will consider next time we need new hikers or dress-shoes!) Your CAR! (You all know we're car-free, so I won't go on that rant again). Our clothes... I don't know the last time I bought something that wasn't previously owned. Our toiletries and soaps/detergents... we have been slowly switching over to all-natural products - Lavender is my new thing. We buy local and support local whenever possible.

And let me talk to you about plastic: While this is something we've been doing for a long time, Joe and I are trying even harder to reduce our plastic/garbage:
- We choose our grocery store based on the one that lets you bring your own jars in for their bulk section. And we use glass jars over plastic where possible. Yep, we carry (yes, carry, since we walk!) glass jars to the store.
- We use care-bags for fruits/veggies/nuts/seeds/anything we can
- We use cloth bags when we shop/buy food, but I know most of you do, too!
- We stopped lining our garbage bins with plastic bags. We put our garbage loose in the garbage can. It works!
- We buy things used. It helps to avoid new plastic packaging.
- We use cloth diapers for Henry

And house stuff.... now all of our changes to our house have an environmental factor. For example, we got a REEP evaluation done this past summer (which gave us an idea of the energy efficiency of our home). That inspired us to spend a lot more money on a furnace when ours decided to give up, so that we had the most energy-efficient one. Sigh. 

All of these changes definitely keep things interesting. It kind of makes your head spin! But it does make you feel good inside.

Veganism update

As I mentioned in an earlier post (found here), Joe and I have started eating a plant-based diet.
It has been going so well!

I have to admit that for a while I had a few "cheat" foods that I would treat myself to once in a while. This included things like Dairy Milk chocolate bars, a donut at the market, or cake at a birthday. Since our main inspiration for eating plant-based was for health reasons, I felt like a little bit of animal product here and there wouldn't hurt, and felt justified treating myself.

Until I watched the film "Vegucated".

A friend of mine posted about it on Facebook a couple of weeks ago and I had to watch. It outlines the more ethical reasons for avoiding animal products. Oddly enough, although it was a bonus of our new lifestyle, animal rights were NOT on the top of my list for why I was choosing to eat this way. To be honest, I hadn't really looked too much into it. "Vegucated" showed scenes of factory farms, and completely changed my views. I haven't turned back and have completely cut animal products out of my diet since watching that film. I can't help but picture what I saw whenever I am faced with any type of animal product temptation. I even had some easter treats that were given to me in my pantry for a week, eventually giving them away. (For me...that is a big deal! I am a chocoholic...) The bonus of this is that I am feeling even healthier! As you can see by my cheat foods... they were all unhealthy treats. I have even been losing weight, which is welcomed for this new mama! (I have, however, discovered a few vegan friendly alternatives already... Lindt dark chocolate, anyone?!)

I plan on getting the book "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer soon, as well, to further educate myself on eating a plant-based diet. I have been loving this new lifestyle, and love that I have time these days to really delve into it.

By the way... "Vegucated" happens to be on Netflix right now, so go ahead and watch it!

on becoming vegan

Since the beginning of the New Year, Joe and I have converted to eating vegan.
It has been a definite challenge, but we feel pretty convinced that it is the best choice we could make. We've had a few people wondering why we made the switch, so I thought I'd explain a little bit!

Back in November, we watched the documentary, "Forks Over Knives". The gist of the documentary is that eating animal products (including dairy, eggs, etc.) is THE cause of the obesity problems and all of the icky diseases that are killing North Americans. (ex. Heart disease, diabetes, many types of cancer, liver disease, etc.) It claimed that eating plant-based prevents (and can even reverse!) these diseases. Since Joe and I generally strive to live healthy lifestyles, we thought we would research a little further.

Through a lot of reading on the topic, we became pretty convinced; Eating a plant-based diet is the best thing you can do to live a long and healthy life.

It was a huge challenge at first. We thought we could start cold-turkey, but found it challenging to cut out eggs (our high-protein, filling, daily breakfast) and yogourt (my favourite snack!) So, for about a month, we still ate those. Then at Christmas it was extra challenging, with so many yummy goodies around. We did pretty well, and only indulged on a few things. 

That being said, in the New Year, we have cut out all animal based foods. We have been eating oatmeal, fruit and peanut butter to fill up in the morning, and I have simply been choosing to snack on plant-based foods like fruit and nuts. There are definitely moments (especially being 38 weeks pregnant!) where I crave things: mostly it has been chocolate or a glass of milk. But, so far we have stuck to it.

Of course, there are other huge benefits to going vegan. As many of you know, I was previously a vegetarian for environmental reasons... so that was no surprise. I still ate eggs and dairy, though. What did surprise me, however, was to learn that the production of eggs uses more energy than the production of chicken meat! So vegetarian eating can still have quite the negative environmental impact... Anyway, here are some of the benefits we have discovered, besides the healthy benefits:

1. Environmental

 Meat production is the number one producer of Greenhouse Gas emissions worldwide. Yes...more than cars! Eating plant-based drastically decreases your carbon footprint, and that is always a good thing in my opinion!

2. Ethical

Of course... there is the fact that not relying on animals for food means that we're not supporting any inhumane treatment of animals that are raised for that purpose.

3. Financial

Relying on beans, legumes and grains for your protein tends to be much less expensive than meat. And yes, we do still get enough protein! 

Becoming vegan has definitely required a complete change in mindset around food.

By eating this way, you need to view foods more according to their nutritional benefits than whether or not they taste good. I have learned so much about the nutritional value of foods, and what nutrients my body actually needs in order to be healthy. Never before would I have considered eating a raw piece of kale, but now I do because I know how beneficial it is to my health (and my unborn child's!)  

That being said, there are still SO many delicious foods that are vegan. I'm not saying food around here is boring! 

Anyway, that just scratches the surface. It has been really eye-opening to learn about and become a vegan. We'll see how it goes!

Fall Soups and Stews

Fall is my favourite season. I LOVE the cooler weather and the fall colours.
I'll let these pictures of our weekend hike speak for themselves. Could it be any more beautiful?!

Another one of my favourite things about fall is that it is cold enough to justify making soups and stews. Which I love.

I have an amazing cookbook called "Simply in Season", which has been a go-to for me when it comes to recipes. It's great because it has it's recipes laid out by seasonal fruits and veggies and herbs, so it's easy to find recipes for our Saturday market purchases.

One soup we made this weekend from this cookbook was the butternut bisque (a creamy butternut squash soup). We ate it with some delicious City Café Bakery bread. It was yummy!

Butternut Bisque

We've also made the vegetarian chili recipe twice this month, altering the veggies and beans each time to mix it up. Scrumptious! Another recipe we enjoyed was the stuffed acorn squash using turkey sausage. It was also quite delicious, and very filling! I recommend this cookbook to everyone... I have enjoyed so many of it's great recipes. Let me know if you would like more suggestions :)

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Another recipe, which I found online here, was a beef stew. This recipe was a-mazing. Although we altered it by letting it simmer for a full 2 hours to make the beef even more tender! It was so good I started eating it before I could take a picture...

It has been yummy! I would love to hear about any of your favourite fall soups and stews!

Sprouting!

For the first time...ever, I have finally gotten around to sprouting some herbs to have them ready for planting in the Spring.

Well...that is a stretch. I wish I could take the credit, but these were planted on a school field trip and we were given the plants to take home. That being said...I have managed to keep these going from seed to now! It's pretty exciting and has been surprisingly easy.

I was given the tip to put a layer of plastic wrap over the seeds to create a sort of greenhouse effect, as seen here:

I must say this really kick-started my herbs. Within a couple of days I already had sprouts. It has now been a few weeks, and most of the herbs seem to be off to a great start. I'm pretty excited about it. Unfortunately, the chives seem to be having trouble...which is surprising, since I thought chives would be the easiest to grow!

I also stuck little popsicle sticks in the soil to label which herb is which. Below you can see the oregano :) The other herbs are chives, parsley and basil. 

My next job will be to decide where to transplant the herbs. In the most recent House & Home magazine, there were these really cute DIY tea tin herbs that I love,  as seen below:

 Go to the H&H page here

Otherwise, I could go with my original plan of potting them and sticking them in the backyard, something like this: 

We shall see. 

And on a completely unrelated note, is my husband not the cutest? This is what welcomed me this morning.