Texture Tuesday

More Food Discovery

I just started reading this book. Lots of cool stuff about food. More knowledge to add to my brain after the Wheat Belly read.

Lots of new recipes are being created in my kitchen these days. When I get happy with them I may start sharing them here. I've been trying really hard to consume more protein and to be eco about it.

Are you reading anything inspiring and healthy this year? What changes are you making?

February 14th

2013 Changes - Updates

Well, since my wheat free proclamation I have been feeling loads better. I've been trying veggies in different ways, have a new perspective on meat and seasonings.

I was recently faced with a weird situation at a show where I had gone through my happy healthy snack and was still hungry and unable to leave to get a meal. The group of vendors ordered pizza and I ate a little bit thinking that this was better than getting that ugly grouchy low blood sugar dip. OMG, what was I thinking? I was clearly not making good decisions!!

Since the last week of 2012, I have been wheat free. I have been feeling fab and had to idea what a SMALL wheat relapse would result in! The next morning I woke up fuzzy brained, exhausted and thirsty. My joints ached, my head ached and I felt like a total grouch!! (Quite honestly, I wondered if I had the flu.)

Well, it was the wheat flu. My body was asking in all it's aches and pains what the heck I was thinking putting wheat in my system after getting it all sparkly clean and happy. Clearly, I was NOT thinking, I was hungry.

New proclamation, don't go anywhere with out at least three snacks!! *sigh*

How are your new year eating changes going?

Hold On To Your Tastebuds!!

At a recent show, I had the pleasure of meeting Marcey of Austin Mason and sampling her delish handmade toffee. It is available with or without pecans -- both delicious! The salty and sweet bounce around your tongue and the chocolate and nuts help you get centered for the next bite.

As the party in my mouth continued, my eyes were delighted by the sweet little Valentine banners and succulent planters too! Wow, what's not to like?

As it turns out she is from Austin and I met her here in Dallas at the AIGA Creative Flea. Her yummy goodies are available on Etsy. Stop by and have a look around and send some sweets to your sweetie. 

Who wouldn't be delighted to have English toffee pop up in their mail box for Valentine's Day or any other occasion?

BE sure to check her out on Facebook too and meet her mascot! ;)

Fun Read With Good Info

A friend recommended Jane Goodall's Hope for Harvest: A Guide to Mindful Eating and I'm so happy she did. I'm suggesting it to you too as a nice read that's educational too. (Jane does have a great English sense of humor.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book -- it had a little bit on the flavor of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring only about food. It tickled my fancy that she also shared an average day of what she eats. (Not what you'd expect.)

I think the more we learn about where our food comes from and how it's cultivated to more wisely and thoughtfully we can consume. The research that she shares about how animals given the choice between GMO and Non-GMO food always choose the Non-GMO food option.

I so wish there was an app for that! Aim your phone at a food, take it's picture and see where and how it was cultivated to decide if its' consumption is a good idea for you or not. Not sure if that app will be a reality anytime soon but it sure would be helpful.

Thoughtful consumption is an idea that translates nicely into other things we consume as well. Supporting local businesses and farmer's markets has become a large deciding factor in so much of what I consume.

I absolutely love that the lady that I buy my carrots from at the farmer's market can tell me that they were grown without chemicals, picked last night and that she's been roasting them in the oven with balsamic vinegar. Fresh and healthy, lovingly hand grown veggies and recipes to boot – what more could we ask for? I can totally tell the difference between a farmer's market carrot and the dried up ones from the grocery store.

This post is linked up over on the Green Sisterhood Reading list.


Have a read, let me know what you think. Please leave and earth friendly reading suggestion in the comments as this is meant to be a conversation! :)

Quotables

“I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog.” -Sandra Cisneros

Adventures in Shopping: Mint

Ok, I confess, I shop in more than one place for food. I shop twice a week and go to the Farmer's Market whenever it's open.

Today I went to pick up some fresh things (they go fast) and mint was on my list. When I went to check out, the clerk who was very young. He looked at my beautiful bouquet of fresh mint, smelled it and then asked, "What's this?"

To which I replied, "It's Mint."

He proceeded ring up the rest of my basket and to tell me that the only way he had ever tasted mint was in gum. Oooh that made me feel sorry for his taste buds. I love to put it on my fresh fruit salad, in lemonade, in herbal tea, in desserts, in yogurt to make sauce and on Thai inspired salad rolls.

How do you use your fresh mint?