Cottage Cheese in Da House!

February 10th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Snack Attack - (3 Comments)

Today we’re going to look at cottage cheese as an affordable health food option because it’s on The List.

Honestly, I rarely buy cottage cheese.  I like it, but it’s not what I would call My Most Favorite Thing Ever.  I try to buy organic dairy products (not always, but most of the time) and organic cottage cheese always seems kind of expensive to me… with a $4.99 price tag (!!) on a 16 oz container of Organic Valley cottage cheese, this is one item I only buy when I’ve really got a hankering for cottage cheese.  (i.e., not that often.)

Organic Valley 2% Cottage Cheese  Read more...

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What’s for (Grain Free) Breakfast These Days?

August 7th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (17 Comments)

I’ve had a number of conversations with some friends and family about breakfast recently, and so I decided to put together a collection of morning food photos from the past few months.  Once upon a time I ate overnight oats for breakfast every day!  As I’ve mentioned more than once lately, I’m going the grain free route most of the time and don’t even miss my beloved oats, cold cereal or cinnamon raisin Ezekiel toast with almond butter and banana.

(This [sorta scary] blog post is a good but lengthy explanation of why I’ve chosen to follow a mostly grain free lifestyle.  The Paleo Solution, Wheat Belly and The Primal Blueprint are loaded with convincing info and studies too.)  Read more...

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Build Your Own Chia Breakfast Bowl

April 1st, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (7 Comments)

This is one of the current meals in my breakfast rotation.  I call it a “Breakfast Bowl” because it’s not cereal or oats, it’s just a bowl full of stuff.  And it’s for breakfast.

Today it was a Strawberry Coconut Banana Chia Breakfast Bowl, but your choice of toppings/adjectives is completely up to you.

Tailor this to suit your own tastes –  there are lot of ways to make it a little different each morning too.  Today’s chia breakfast bowl base:

Coconut Chia Breakfast Bowl

(I usually estimate ingredients but measured today for the sake of this post.)  Read more...

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End of Summer Denial

September 10th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (11 Comments)

It’s almost autumn. The leaves are starting to change. School buses are back on the road. The fresh berries are dwindling on the produce shelves at the grocery store. I even had drag a pair of jeans out of a storage bin from the basement this morning.

This bums me out. The berry part, mostly. I’m not ready to say goodbye to summer fruit just yet. I guess the jeans part bums me out a little too. Thanks for not noticing that I pulled said jeans out of the maternity clothes bin, even though I haven’t been pregnant for 2 months now.  Read more...

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Attack of the Snacks

March 14th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (14 Comments)

Once upon a time I ate one snack a day, usually between lunch and dinner. But now at nearly 7 months pregnant, I’ve stopped counting how many snacks I eat everyday. I need more fingers if I want to keep track.

Today I’m in the mood to hand out some awards to a few of my most favorite snacks in recent weeks. Snickity snacks that are awesome if you eat 1 or 11 snacks a day. Snacks that please the palate whether you’re gestating or not. I think this paragraph needs the word “snack” in it one more time, don’t you? Snack. OK, that’s two more times. Snack.  Read more...

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Plain for the Insane

November 11th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (7 Comments)

Kefir: a weird fermented dairy yogurt drink that is sour in taste and has lots of good bacteria for your guts.

Plain Kefir

There’s all sorts of helpful info about kefir here and here, it does wonders for your immune system too.

(Vegans, there’s also a coconut version!)

The benefits of kefir are fabulous, but being high in protein was the main benefit I was after today. Something with a decent amount of protein and doesn’t make me want to hurl?

Kefir and Strawberries Kefir Nutritional Stats

I call that a winner.  Read more...

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Berry Simple

October 25th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (5 Comments)

I’m trying to make peace with the fact that early morning outdoor exercise is soon to be a relegated to the weekends.

Pink Knit Hat and Gloves

For the first time since early spring I busted out the pink hat (you know, the hat I knit myself) and gloves for a morning walk/run today. More walking than running this morning, sometimes it nice to simply walk.

It’s also nice (and necessary) to remember that no matter how freezing it is out there, you DO warm up once you get moving! If anything, the cold is motivation to pick up the pace in the beginning. Knowing how good that early morning air and sunshine will feel on your skin is enough to make it worth it to drag myself out from under the covers.  Read more...

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11 Reasons to Eat Locally and In Season

June 17th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (4 Comments)

Our latest homeschooling adventure was one called Pick Your Own – and no, I’m not talking “noses” here.  No lessons needed with that one I’m afraid.  We’re already pros.

Strawberry Picking with the Kids

Yes, we went berry picking.  Another day, another field trip – this time for more local, fresh strawberries.  Our third trip in the span of a week for these red bundles of joy got me thinking:  I haven’t always gotten so nerdily excited when it comes to eating foods in season.  Read more...

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More Squirrel Drama for Mama

June 9th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Late Night Craziness - (6 Comments)

Well, I’ve got good news – and I’ve got bad news.

Guess What

The bad news is, squirrels don’t give a rats ass about marigolds.

Marigolds Don't Work

I came home from running errands this afternoon to find this guy checking out my berry patch loot.

Strawberry Squirrel Stare Down

I didn’t want to believe it was true, so I stalked him to see what he’d do.

Making a Run For It

Sure enough, in he went!  See?  He doesn’t care about marigolds! Freaking squirrel!  Why don’t you just pick a bouquet of them already and be done with it, you… you… SQUIRREL.  Read more...

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What Do Your Squirrels Eat for Breakfast?

June 3rd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Morning Craziness - (1 Comments)

Mine eat sunbutter and jelly sandwich Ezekiel bread crusts out of my compost bucket.

Squirrel Breakfast

For about one second this made me consider planting marigolds on my back steps, but then next I foresaw coming downstairs one morning to find a squirrel sitting at my kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee with organic half and half.  (Although I suppose if he made the coffee that might be OK…)

I guess if eating our food scraps means they’re staying out of the strawberry bed, we’ll call it a truce.

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