Organic & Eating Healthy!

Use your Farmer's Market and/or plant your own garden (easier than it sounds... and totally worth the work).... seeds are like, $1 a pack and you get hundreds of seeds in a pack.
We grow all our vegetables, and we also grow garlic, basil, thyme, parsley, cilantro and oregano.

And don't spend $$ on a "Topsy Turvey" just cut a hole out of the bottom of a large plastic bucket (5 gal. size usually)... that you might already have, or can pick up at a nursery when they don't want theirs... they work for any soft skinned fruit or veggie that you don't want the slugs to get to.

Also - if slugs become an issue (they probably will since you're down south like us) put a line of salt around all your plants. Super cheap and effective.

And ditto on the recipe thing - use your favorites, just pick better ingredients and use organic!

All meals and recipes can be "organic" if the food you use is organic. Check out a Farmer's Market near you and buy most/all of your fruits and veggies. Looks like you are north of Houston...here's a link for nearby farmer's markets: http://www.historicmontgomerytexas.com/att-specialevents....

Not only will you get organic produce, you will meet the people who grow it or handle it from the farm and they will always have wonderful ideas for you. Let your kids pick out a new item each week and depending on how old they are you can look up a recipe together and make it.

If they have ownership in the meal, they may want to eat it.

Do some research...organic foods are expensive, so if you can't afford to do it completely, then at least make sure you are buying the "dirtiest" foods organic. These are things like strawberries and blueberries that really will absorb pesticides. Peaches and apples too. Items like nuts or bananas that have heavy shells, etc are less likely to contain pesticide residue, although I still purchase them organic. Here's the pesticide ranking: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/pesticides.htm

Pay particular attention to meat (Trader Joes, if you have one) has good prices on organic meat.

Get on Craigslist and find a local person in your area that has chickens. Buy them and you will get free range and healthy eggs. Wash the shells first and they will taste and be way better than any you can get at the store. Here's a posting maybe near you.
http://houston.craigslist.org/grd/1728613739.html

Start every dinner with a salad, it's a good way to eat those veggies and fruit! Crock pot meals are an easy way to get organic beans and veggies in.

Good luck.

I just use the same old recipes that I've always used, just with organic products instead. I really haven't looked for specific "organic" recipes. But, the "old" ones sure do taste better!

Best wishes in your search for new meals!

Ditto what was said below about just using your favorite recipes with organic, locally grown ingredients. It's much easier to eat organically than we've been led to believe. My family of 5 has been living this way for a while now, and it's been a life-changing, wonderful experience for us all.
It took me about a month to figure out that it just didn't need to be dramatic: look for the appropriate labels, eliminate any artificial additives, no high fructose corn syrup (it may be "natural", but it's addictive), and limit fats and sugars in general. Get a crockpot- saves me so much time and dinner is ready when we get home.
Find your local Farmers' Markets, and add organic veggies to everything. Go Meatless a couple times a week (more if you can). Limit the juice your kids drink but cutting it by half with pure water (juice has a lot of sugar). Some of our favorite ingredients are QUINOA (instead of rice or potatoes), TOFU and LENTILS (instead of meat), HUMMUS (great for snacks) and GREEK YOGURT (substitute for almost all dairy).
And, bottom line: remind yourself that food is just fuel, and you want to put the best fuel in your kids (and yourself) that you can. Good luck!!!

i don't know about specific recipes, but if you want a quick lunch, A.'s brand organic frozen dinners and soups are ver good. Except the pizza. Frozen pizza still tastes like frozen pizza. But the rest is good. For some punch, get some cheese from your farmers' market to add to the soup...yum!

Don't forget your spices! I like Watkins brand for organics, but I know there are several.

Kroger and HEB have the best organic selection. If you watch, you can get organic produce for not much more then $1 a pound at Kroger, and 3 pound bag of apples at Kroger, HEB , Walmart and Target for a little over $3!

Organic ketchup is important because the riboflavins (I think that's what it is, the cancer fighting thing) is higher in organic. Also, risperal (also cancer fighting) that is known for being in grapes is actually in the organic grapes, not the non organic, they found it occurs as a response to fungai growing on the grapes!

Organic butter and other items with a higher fat content is supposedly important because the higher the fat, the higher the toxins it will retain.

We eat a lot of fresh foods- I don't always get organic but have few processed items. I figure that just because it's organic doesn't mean it's good for me. Still, if it's organic and processed it's not going to have chemical preservatives and HFCS, as they don't come in an organic variety. *grin*

Recipes- whatever you'd do with non organic you can do with organic. I love salads with craisins and nuts and sesame seeds. I buy Hormel's natural lunch meat that has no nitrates, hormones, ect and will slice that up and put it in my salad or free range boiled chicken egg chopped up.

Organic doesn't have to be expensive, shop around.

I really like Whole Foods but unfortunately there isn't one close to you. Check out American Healthfoods on 45 and 1960. Head south on 45, right on 1960, uturn back toward 45 and go into the strip center on your right hand side. There's a furniture store and a pub there closest to the store. http://www.americanhealthfoodshouston.com/ They are very knowledgeable and have a lot of items.

Someone suggested local farmers markets. Actually, the ones I have been to have very little if any organic produce (but at least they are cheaper then the grocery stores.) I do know of one that sells a lot of organic items- friends of mine started it and sell there- Tomball Farmer's Market. http://www.tomballfarmersmarket.org/

Costco has a lot of organic products. Pastas, sauces, soups. I find that I'm able to put more organic foods into our diet when I purchase them in bulk.

I like this recipe and my kids will eat it: One package organic red beans, soaked according to package directions. Place soaked beans into a slow cooker with a can of organic tomato sauce, a can of organic tomato paste and enough water to cover. Cook on low for 8 hours, or until the beans are cooked.

Serve with rice. You can also toss in whatever veggies you like. I cook them on the side and stir them in when I'm ready to serve dinner.

Have fun cooking!

Hey, I don't know too much about organic recipes, but I have recently switched my house over to natural, green cleaning products. They are wonderful products that work great and that aren't as toxic as all the chemicals on the grocery store shelves. If you're interested, check out my website www.livetotalwellness.com/joycita - they're great products!
J.

You can go to http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/ look at the recipes and save the ones that are of interest you in your on site recipe box. Remember, eat seasonally and you can often get the seasonal items on sale and grown nearby. If possible, look into "growing your own". It seems gardening is back "in" so there are a lot of resources and information out there.

HTH,

M.