Wow! Ok, it has been a while since I’ve posted anything, sorry! Hey, at least I’m getting in my first post of 2010 before the first week of the New Year is gone!
Quickly, I just wanted to let you all know that I am actually starting to feel a bit better, wahoo! (I think) For the past 2 days I have been able to eat a small breakfast and lunch. I still go downhill and fast around 5 pm. Let’s pray this morning sickness/all day sickness is coming to an end….please!
I also wanted to thank all of you so much for the sweet words and the wonderful advice! I have taken many of you up on it and I think it has made a difference! You are all so lovely and my heart is warmed over one thousand times by all the comments and emails I have been showered with, you all rock, seriously!!!
Ok, you all know that I have been a bit on the tired and nauseated side lately and have not been very crafty lately. (I do have something small to show you though, hopefully in the next few days I can get it up for you.) But, to make up for it I have been a bit bookworm-y lately!! Yup, reading books, that is something I can handle. It takes about no energy, you can do it while laying on the couch, and it helps you fall asleep and forget your nauseated yucky self pretty quick. Me likey.
Well, I wanted to share with you what I have been reading, well actually re-reading, cause I think it is such fitting reading for a New Year with New Goals (I really hate the word “resolutions”).
I absolutely love this book, Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It is non-fiction and is about Barbara Kingsolver’s goal to try and go one year of eating locally, growing her food on her farm and making her own cheese!
I really dig this book because I try really hard to feed my family organic foods, buy from local farmers, and have healthy and natural cleaning practices in my home. With small children and feeling like I am always pregnant I feel it is a must! If you are new to my blog (well, hello there, I’m Maggie) please check out some of my past posts on how to make your own natural homemade deodorant and air freshener. These recipes work and are truly amazing without hurting your body or the environment.
If you are thinking of going more organic or natural I highly suggest you make yourself a goal of doing it for a month. It doesn’t have to be a more expensive way to shop. There are so many grocery stores out there now that can really get you going in this direction without breaking the bank. Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s are two that I love shopping at that carry their own generic lines of organic/natural food that are very reasonably priced. The local grocery stores in my area like Jewel, Meijer, and Dominick’s also carry organic or natural products and with their store brand labels too. If you just look around and do some investigating you will find a lot of choices at good prices, pinky swear!
Meat is a huge expense for many families and if you buy organic it is even pricier. What my family did last spring was buy a quarter of a cow from an organic cattle farm owned by a good friend of mine. We ended up with tons of different cuts of meats, some I had never cooked with before and that gave me a great reason to search for new recipes! We grilled out a lot this past summer too and every person that came to our house and tried the organic meat was impressed. The steaks were so tender and the burgers always came out perfect. The price we ended up paying per pound of meat was only $2.50/lb!!! What a savings for buying in bulk. The only issue with buying part of a cow is that you need a freezer to store all the meat in. I think we ended up with well over 100 pounds of meat. We only eat red meat once maybe twice a week if we entertain so this meat will definitely last us over a year and that is just awesome. No meat shopping for whole year!! We ended up buying a deep freezer which has also come in very handy for trips to Costco (which by the way did you know that they sell lots of organic items these days? From yogurt to cheese, vegetables and fruits, etc. Totally Awesome!)
Anyhoo, check this option out if you are a meat eater and want to buy more organic, natural, antibiotic-free, free-range meat without the high grocery store cost. There are many local cattle farms out there if you just do a little searching.
The next book I am going to share with you is:
I ♥ this book!! Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, I know, it’s a little odd of a choice to be sharing with you right now but I just bought this book for my brother and sister-in-law and my cutest doll of a niece, Emilyanne. They are first time parents and the “when do I start my baby on solids?” and “what should I feed my baby first?” questions come up fast.
I used this book with both Noah and Penny and recommend it to everyone! It gives you month by month foods to feed your baby based on what your baby’s digestive system is ready to handle. It teaches you how to make your own baby food and has many other recipes in there all the way up to toddlerhood. I think making your own baby food is the way to go, you can give your baby the best in solid foods by going organic and it costs just pennies. One large organic sweet potato will make like two trays of frozen cubes which is many meals to a little babycakes! Check this one out if you have a soon-to-be-solids eater in your household!
And, now my last book to share with you is actually a cookbook. I bought this book this past summer and have made so many yummy recipes from it. I hope to get back into it once this ‘yuck stage’ of pregnancy has past me by.
This cookbook, Rustic Fruit Dessert by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson, is amazing because it shows you how to make these amazing rustic fruit desserts (hehe, like the title says) but it does it by season! Yup, you heard me right. By season!!! So, if it’s currently winter where you live, like me (boo-hoo for the cold!) you can flip to that section of the cookbook and it will tell you what awesome desserts you can make with the fruit that is available at that time of year! SO COOL! There is no better way to start eating locally for dessert than with this cookbook!
Alright, so that’s it for now. I hope you pick up one or all of these books and love them as much as I do. They are great inspiration if your New Year’s Goals are to live a bit more organic, natural and local or wonderful add-ins to your library if you already do!
Hope your New Year is going wonderfully. I can tell you, I haven’t thrown up since New Year’s Eve so in my book my New Year is starting off on a good note. Now, if I could just get back to blogging regularly again 🙂
Talk to you soon!
Hi there!
I just read your post and saw that your struggling with morning sickness 🙁 I’m sorry! that can’t be fun! I how ever have never been prego BUT last year at this time all three of my bridesmaids and sister in law all prego! And all had Morning sickness really bad so I looked online and found these things called pregie pops! there really in expensive and From what they told me they worked! I can’t remember where I ordered them from but if you just googled them I’m sure they would come up! 🙂 Hope you get to feeling better! 🙂 How far along are you ? 🙂 :
I have seen preggie pops at Babies R’ Us (of course back when I wasn’t pregnant but had a baby!) Thanks for bringing them up, if you say that they had good results with them maybe I should go and pick some up!! I am so awful from 4 pm onward these days that I am willing to try anything!! Oh, and I am due on July 26, 2010…so 11 weeks right now, Thanks for asking!!!
Mags