I’ve been on a muesli kick for the last two weeks or so.
And just in time, because pumpkin seeds are on the list of healthy, affordable foods – and pumpkin seeds go great in muesli!
If you aren’t in the know, muesli is a cereal combo (usually) made with oats, nuts, seeds and dried or fresh fruit. Bananas have been my fresh fruit of choice lately, but frozen, thawed strawberries have been known to make an appearance in my bowl too.
Yogurt is on the list of affordable healthy foods, but I have a good feeling that you’re not sitting there thinking “Oh Alison, please tell us more about this curious food item that I’ve never heard of before!”
Yes, yogurt is good for us – this is not news. But it’s also worth saying that not all yogurt is created equal. There are plenty of yogurt items in the dairy section that are not what I would call “healthy” by any stretch of the word. I recommend taking a close look at the label if you’re eating yogurt for the health benefits and put back anything that has an especially long list of ingredients or additives like coloring or flavors.
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.)
I’ve always been curious about straining regular yogurt to make my own Greek yogurt. I prefer Greek yogurt to regular yogurt these days – it’s thicker, it’s creamier. It’s got more protein and fewer carbs compared to regular yogurt. It’s a great sub for sour cream too. (Hello, homemade burrito bowls!)
Plain and simple – I love (plain and simple) Greek yogurt.
With a quick glance at the numbers in the dairy section, I guessed I could save some money if I made Greek yogurt at home by straining it myself. Of the two brands of yogurt I buy, the price breakdown looks like this:
I rarely buy books. I much prefer to spend my money on late fees at the library. I did buy Deep Nutrition because it’s not in our library system and b.) I need more than 3 weeks to get through most books these days. (I can read Goodnight Moon in about 3 minutes flat though. Just saying.)
When I bought Deep Nutrition, I also bought The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth because hello, free supersaver shipping! And b.) I get this dorky smile on my face whenever I read the myriad of awesome things that good foods can do for our bodies.
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.
Party in the park!
We had fun at the park today with rulers and colored pencils learning about vertical lines, horizontal lines, diagonal lines, and the different kind of shapes we can make with these lines. Good stuff.
Maxine wants to hear that last bit on “vertical lines” one more time though.
We worked on our balance and poise a bit too.
Running short on time, I threw everything portable I had into a bag before we ran out the door. We had a small lunch at the park, lets call this Lunch Part I.
More Mama’s Weeds
