The Good, The Bad and The Over-priced

I've been meaning to blog for some time, but life with a newborn and 2 toddlers is just a little busy. I think in a previous post I mentioned that I was stuck on the thought that it was too expensive to eat healthy and that we couldn't do it on our budget. Not true, we're totally doing it! I follow Organic Connections on Twitter and they had an interesting article yesterday, you can read it here but the quote that I like best is this: "After going to McDonald’s recently and putting together a typical meal for four (mom, dad and two kids), I came up with a total of about $14.00 (I didn’t actually buy anything, though). For that money, you get almost nothing of nutritive value, but bland white bread, greasy burgers and fries with a sugary soda. That same $14.00 will purchase two pounds of lean ground beef, a pack of eight whole wheat buns, lettuce, tomato and enough potatoes to make oven-baked french fries and salad ingredients with money left over for some fresh fruit. The best part is that this is twice as much food as at McDonald’s, so there’s plenty for leftovers later. Better food at half the price: that’s pretty simple. I’ll allow that there’s no soda included in the home cooked meal, but no one should drink soda anyway and a full pitcher of iced tea costs pennies to make." After I read that I was like "hm, interesting point". Not that we ever really ate at McDonald's, but the point is that you can eat healthy on a budget. Matt and I have decided to go organic, or at least as organic as we possibly can, because some of the side-effects and conditions caused by the pesticides and hormones in our produce and milk just isn't something I want to give my kids. So we tighten up. If you're looking for a few areas to make a switch, because I think even changing a few things will cut out the stuff you don't need, I'll let you know what I've found. We switched to organic milk, which my kids didn't even notice and if they did it wasn't worth whining about so they're cool with that. It's around $5.69 a gallon (I know, right?) but my kids are young and developing so it's a small sacrifice now for the bigger picture. We buy Meijer brand organic whole wheat bread, and while it's $2.50 for a loaf that is smaller than your regular cheap loaf, it is seriously delicious and it's great not having to worry about what's in it! Natural Jiff and WalMart's version of it are so so good, even better than regular! The WalMart one was a bit runny but not that big of a deal. We keep it in the fridge until you get near the bottom. I bought a jar of organic jelly and while it was delicious it runs about $3.60 for a little jar so I'm going to make a bunch of jelly and freeze it to get the same basic results. The organic pasta and sauces from Meijer are also delicious, their Tomato and Basil pasta sauce is great and I haven't tried the other flavors because I love that one. Meijer has a great selection of organic produce, we're regular buyers of the bananas, Gala apples and whatever else we can't buy at the market. Meijer organic yogurt is also great, but I bought the big container of Stoneyfield blueberry for the kids and the individual ones for me and Matt. I have to say that I like the organic layout at D&W in Holland better because they have a banner over one section that says "USDA Certified Organic" (or something like that) and it's all there, where at Meijer it's next to it's regular counterparts so you have to search it out. However, D&W is much more expensive so I won't be buying anything there. Family Fare on the North Side of Holland has a great aisle with organic food, but only a few produce items. My biggest downfall is that I like to snack and I like chocolate. I did splurge on a package of organic chocolate chip cookies from Meijer and they were so good! But they were like $3.50 for the package so probably not a regular staple but surely I deserve a treat from time to time :-) So hopefully my rambling gives you some ideas on how to make small changes. I tried another new recipe the other night and it was so great that I even took a picture of it :-) It had multiple steps, which I usually don't attempt to make, but it turned out great so we'll probably eat it every week! Here's the recipe:

Lemony Broccoli Pasta with Chicken

Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 30 minutes

Ingredients
12 ounces dried pasta shapes (fusilli, wagon wheels, rotini, etc.)
1 pound (4 small or 2 large) skinless, boneless chicken breasts, preferably naturally raised
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons butter (divided use)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press (I didn't have this so I skipped it)
1 large bunch broccoli, stems peeled, and stems and florets cut into small pieces
1 cup chicken broth
juice and finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted at 350ºF for 5 minutes (didn't have so I skipped)
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of pasta-cooking water to a boil and salt it heavily: it should taste as salty as seawater. ***I forgot to salt the water and it turned out fine.*** Cook the pasta (if you add it when the chicken is about half cooked, the sauce and pasta will be done at the same time), drain it, and return it to the pot with 3 tablespoons of the butter.
2. Pat the chicken dry and season on both sides with salt and pepper. In a very large skillet, heat the olive oil and remaining 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat until foamy and very hot, then add the chicken and sauté until well browned and cooked through, around 4 minutes per side (thicker breasts may take longer; turn the heat down as needed to keep the chicken from burning). Remove the chicken to a cutting board.
3. Turn the heat to low and add the garlic to the pan, stirring for a few seconds until it is fragrant but not browned, then add the broccoli, the broth, and 1 teaspoon of salt, stirring to dissolve the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
4. Cover the pan, turn the heat up to medium, and cook/steam until the broccoli is just tender: 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the chicken, which you've sliced thinly, back to the pan, along with the lemon juice and zest, the walnuts, and the buttered pasta, and stir to combine well (if the skillet isn't large enough, combine in the pasta pot).
6. Now taste a piece of pasta: it should be lemony and flavorful; add more salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. Stir in the parmesan cheese, then serve, passing more parmesan at the table.

And voila! It's also really good the next day cold with romaine lettuce and Caesar dressing, homemade bread and homemade lemonade!

-Keely