The Best Clean Foods

Here are some ideas to think about when going to the grocery store next. I believe more then ever that it is important to eat more healthy. Have you ever read the ingredients on the foods you have in your pantry that you think are "healthy"?? Well I did one day and the list went on and on with many ingredients that are not good. I am still learning about many of these topics and hope to become more educated in the things that I eat on a daily basis.

Organic Food
If you've heard the term "organic" a million times but still aren't sure what it means, here's the deal: Organic farming avoids the use of most artificial inputs, like synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, and bans the use of animal by-products, antibiotics and sewage sludge. But check for tricky labeling: "100% organic" actually means that all the individual ingredients are organic. "Organic" means that at least 95% of the ingredients are organic. "Made with organic ingredients" means that at least 70% of the ingredients are organic. Check your local farmers market, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project, neighborhood food co-op, and natural food stores when looking for organic foods. Such as HENDERSONVILLE PRODUCE.

GMO-Free Foods
Genetic engineering allows scientists to create man-made plants (corn, soy beans, canola), animals (clones) and micro-organisms (crops). These genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, can spread and interbreed with natural organisms, and contaminate non-GMO environments for future generations in unknowable and unmanageable ways The danger is that, once released into the environment, GMOs cannot be recalled.

Minimally Packaged Foods
Being eco-safe in your food purchasing also means cutting down on packaging. Trash from the packaging of food in the U.S.(including tin, cardboard, paper and plastic) adds up to 200 million tons a day! Here are some tips: Buy food sold in bulk at natural food stores, Buy at farmer's markets, where most of the food is unwrapped and you can bring your own bags and also try to cut down or eliminate the use of disposable aluminum foil, plastic wrap and baggies for leftovers. Instead, store food in glass or ceramic bowls with lids. Wash and reuse zip plastic bags, containers, and grocery store produce bags.

Locally- Grown Food
Why eat local? Think about the fuel it takes to get Jersey tomatoes to California or Washington apples to the Empire State. When you buy local, you help conserve the extra gas mileage and energy it otherwise takes to transport food. The closer your farm is, the more likely that the food is natural, tastier and better for you than food from a big business farm hundreds of miles away.

Pesticide-Resistant Food
We hear about pesticides a lot, but studies find that they really do harm the body over time. In fact, many scientists think that pesticides account for the current soaring cancer rates among children. While this list of foods isn't necessarily "organic" or "eco-friendly" (because they may still be grown on farms that use pesticides) you can buy them without fearing pesticide-overload. Why? They either grow above the soil, or have such a thick outer layer (like a banana peel) that the pesticides don't harm the part you're going to eat: Avocados, corn, onions, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, grapes, bananas, plums, green onions, watermelon and broccoli.

**Waiting on Valet... these pictures are all out of order. :(

** On Valentines Day!




On our way out!

** My gift to Kyle was a Cooler with lots of goodies and a water jug he can keep on the road.

This year I have really enjoyed Valentines Day, I love that you can be sappy and no one will care because its Valentines!!! The week of Valentines I gave Kyle a few pop up surprises that would show up on his car, which he loved! On Friday I received a beautiful arrangement of red roses at my work. They were in the front office when I walked in and I remember thinking aww I wonder who those are for not knowing they would be delivered to my room shortly! :) I LOVE flowers and told him he could keep it up if he wanted. ;) On Saturday night Kyle planned a date for us to go down to The Palm restaurant in Nashville to eat. It was a wonderful surprise and the food was AMAZING! The Palm is a very relaxing place, we found that out real quick. We spent about 2 hours there enjoying each course as it came. Our menu we choose was salad and bread, lobster, steak, sauteed asparagus, and mashed potatoes, and for dessert we each got chocolate molten cake with strawberries and ice cream and we also received complementary champagne! When we left we came back to my house to wait until our movie started. We went to see Valentines Day which was a perfect ending to a perfect night!

Sunday we went to church and treated our Sunday school class with doughnuts then after church we went to my grandparents house to eat and relax! That night Kyle and I decided to not go to church and take my grandparents to dinner... Mexican of course! :) After we left we rented a movie and stayed in for the night! :)

We had a wonderful Valentine Weekend.... I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful man, I can not wait to call him my husband! <3>

Recycling

Recycling has been a trendy topic that seems to get a lot of attention these days, but have you really researched and thought about acting on it??

This is something that I think is very important and can become an everyday routine if we take the time to make it a priority. Recycling is the process of turning one products useful parts into a new product; this is done to conserve on the consumption of resources, energy, and space used in landfills. Anything can be recycled and reused for something... here is a link that has MANY facts about recycling that you may find interesting http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html.

Here are some local places that will pick up your recycled items... Check them out!!!

http://abrecycle.com/default.aspx

http://www.qrsrecycling.com/nashville.asp

Happy Recycling!! :)

New Years Eve!!

** All the girls!!

** The whole gang... right at Midnight.. about to toast to the New Year!! :)

Every year we try to plan something fun to do without having to be outside in the cold, although I would LOVE to go to New York one year! This year my friend Amanda asked what I thought about having a get together at her house and all the girls dress up and wear wigs... I thought it was a great idea and it would be something different to do that would be fun. Earlier in the week I told Kyle that we could go out to eat or I could make dinner and he choose for me to cook... I made Pesto stuffed pork chops, brown sugar glazed carrots, twice baked potatoes, homemade macaroni, and a brownie/ whipped cream layered dessert. After we ate I got dressed and we went to Amanda's... the evening was tons of fun! I was a little disappointed that I was under the weather, but we still had fun. The evening came to an end around 2:30 and I was so happy when I saw my bed!!!

The next day Kyle came over early that morning and I do not think we got up until dinner that night. We usually go to my Aunts house and she cooks us a New Year lunch, but she was extremely sick so my mom made our traditional meal. I usually never make New Year Resolutions, but this year I actually wrote down on sticky notes what I would like to accomplish before June and put them on my mirror so I can see them every day. The one resolution I'm sure most women have is to loose weight/get in shape... its a little more important for me not to break it since I will be walking down the aisle soon! :) So far my list has helped and I have stuck to my word!!! Also a Big Prayer Request has been answered.... I'm going FULL TIME at Primrose this month and I couldn't be happier!!! Kyle and I have some things we would like to do and this job has made it even more possible.

Ice Skating....

The Day after Christmas we decided that if we could not go on a weekend trip then it would be fun to a have a family day out. We woke up and got breakfast at our favorite... Cracker Barrel and then headed to the Sportsplex! I hadn't been Ice Skating since we went to Chicago in 2006 so I was real nervous! We had so much fun... Kyle on the other hand had a hard fall, but he recovered really well! :) After we left the skating rink we came home to relax and eat dinner then headed out again to play games with Kyle's family. The day was fun and a much needed family day!