Nicci's Staples of life.

These products are among my favorite in the world, staples that I always keep around so I have something easy and healthy when I need it:

Stoneyfield farm yogurt

Oikos Greek yogurt

(also by Stoneyfield)... I like the honey flavor!

Thai Kitchien Lite Coconut Milk

I use this in a few different recipes, but our fave is rice (any kind, but we love Jasmine rice with it) made with coconut milk and a little bit of water. Try it!

Panda licorice

Yummy organic and natural candy! A dream come true.

Quorn chik'n

(meatless and soy free products). These are a lifesaver!! They taste so similarly to chicken I don't think many would be able to tell the difference. They make these cutlets, a breaded cheesy chik'n patty, nuggets, meal starters, etc. Check them out at www.quorn.us.

Archer farms

I love almost all of their products! And they are conveniently sold in Target, somewhere I'm shopping on a regular basis. I especially love their strawberry fruit bars and their granola.

365 brand (Whole Foods) Natural Peanut Butter

I actually like almost all brands of natural peanut butter, but we usually buy this one because it's very reasonable priced. Though I do have to admit I like the Jif and Skippy brands because you don't have to refrigerate them. I'm not sure why you do with some and not other brands??

Wholesome sweeteners light agave nectar

Just a squirt or two is great for sweetening ANYTHING! I use it in coffee, tea, smoothies, oatmeal, and lots of others things.

Tribe hummus
This is my favorite hummus other than homemade because they don't use garlic in any flavors except the roasted garlic one. Being a person who gets sick on too much garlic, I rejoiced to find them! I love the regular, lemon, and forty spices flavors.

Stacy's Pita Chips
What goes better with Tribe hummus than Stacy's?? Nothing!

Gardenburger veggie burgers
I especially love the sun-dried tomato basil flavor!

Nature's Own Bread
Well if it isn't a bread that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup!? Still sweet and tasty, soft and yummy... I do believe I'm in love! With every flavor!

That concludes my list for this month, there may be more posts like this to follow! And if any of you have a great organic vegetarian food product to recommend, comment here and thanks in advance!

Amy's Organic

One of my favorite and most convenient food brands is Amy's Organic. It's a food company that makes delicious all natural vegetarian/vegan foods. They have a great website with a lot of information on their products. This company is very sensitive to costumers with dietary restrictions, providing many gluten-free options, along with dairy-free, soy-free and nut-free.

I often enjoy the black bean burrito for lunch. It is so quick and easy... perfect for a busy day. I also love their soups! Adding more fresh veggies to it makes it extra delish... my favorite?? AVOCADO! I am always looking for more things to add avocado to!!

Amy's Organic carries a great alternative to chicken noodle soup. So next time you have a cold and wish there was a vegetarian version try Amy's Organic no-chicken noodle soup!!

Although a little pricey, Amy's Organic products are tasty and easy. I highly recommend you try out the many tasty options!

I am a gas guzzler!

I am a gas guzzler, and a procrastinator, this "friday" confession is being posted on a tuesday because of my relentless procrastination! I am sorry! I am sure that my semi-green friends will forgive me!

So this, I mean, last week I went to work at 6am... I sent the kids off to school... and drove all the way back home for my break. Then at 2 pm drove all the way back to work... worked and drove all the way back home again. It's not that I live that far away from work... but far enough to put use quite a bit of gas. Also, I don't drive a fuel efficient car either! I drive a Honda Element to and from work equaling 26 miles.... so last week doing this 3 times added an extra 78 miles on my car... causing, not just wear on tear on it, but also the environment! I'd like to say that i drove nice and slow, conserving gas mileage, but i did not.... I WANTED TO GET HOME AND GET HOME QUICK!! Well.... this has cost me... not only the extra gas money, but also the hefty ticket I got on Friday!

Needless to say I am driving slower, conserving my gas. I am also finding things to do near work that won't involve long drives.

Bob's Red Mill

Before I get to my favorite food themed post this week, i'm going to show off my organized (and moth/worm free!) pantry. It's just so neat and tidy that I couldn't help but take a picture of it...quick, before Bix comes looking for a snack!

So on the second from the bottom shelf, you'll notice (in air tight containers) my favorite brand of grains, Bob's Red Mill. Bob's Red Mill makes "whole grain foods for every meal of the day." Don't you just love the idea of eating whole foods for every meal? I really try to do this and this company makes just what I need to incorporate whole foods into our diet. I am a huge fan of steel cut oats (yes, Nicci, it's on my list of top cereals!) and now little Leo is becoming a fan of them too. Guess what...Bob's Red Mill makes them! Oh, by the way, i'm not getting paid for product promotion....hmm,, I wish I were though....Anyway, what I really love are the selection of gluten-free flours, mixes, etc that are now available. Back in the day, when I was a young-in', I led an allergic life. My nutritionist had me on a restricted diet of soy, meat and veggies. I drank soy milk before it was the cool thing to put in a latte. My soy milk was downed in the school office, during recess, with a handful of vitamins...but that's another story for another time...(you sure are curious though, aren't you?) About a year and a half ago, I was gluten free for a few months, and Bob's Red Mill got me through that with things like Garbanzo Bean Flour, Quinoa Flour and Sorghum Flour. I'm not gluten free now and so I can make use of a fascinating array of other flours. I am fortunate to have a Wegmans nearby...if you are not on the East Coast and have never been to a Wegmans, I truly feel for you...Wegman's stocks almost the entire line of Bob's Red Mill....no online ordering for this foodie! Speaking of Wegmans...did you ever notice the Wegmans brand groceries on top of the refrigerator in the breakroom on The Office? Now there's a bit of trivia for you! So there you have it, my fabulous food find for the week. Enjoy!

High Heat.

Ok, my first Friday confession is that I dry most of my laundry in a dryer, and don't have anywhere to hang it outside.  I live in an apartment, and although I'm not trying to make excuses, there you have it.  I know that I could make some sort of line out back, it would only be about 4 feet wide, and makeshift at best.  I could buy one of those racks and set it up outside every time I do laundry, I know I could, and I'm just being lazy.  One good thing I will say for myself, is that due to a fear of shrinkage or wearing clothes out before their time, my mother taught me never to fully dry many of my clothes.  So I only dry my jeans, shirts, and dress clothes (and some of my husband's shirts) for about 8 minutes and then hang them up on doorways in my apartment, so that does cut down on some drying in the dryer...but I do dry everything else fully. 

Ok, I will work on remedying this awful truth, I'll make a promise to you, my blogger friends!

I am a killer. And a food waster.

Whew, it feels good to have that off my chest. Now for the sordid details...

Yesterday morning, bright and early, I am standing in my kitchen drinking my coffee before the little one wakes up. Bix (the hubs) was packing his lunch and getting ready to head out the door for school. I notice coffee drips on the counter and so I wipe them up and decide to give the coffeemaker a quick wipe down....for an appliance that gets used so heavily, I have no idea how it gets dusty so quickly. I move the coffeemaker and grab the rag to wipe the counter and it is then that I notice little white worms on the counter. Now, I need to say at this point, before you think I am a disgusto who doesn't clean my kitchen and just lets bugs gather to feed off of the crumbs that I let sit around, I am a clean freak. I seriously am. I am always disinfecting, dusting, vacuuming, picking up, etc., so to find a pile of squirmy worms on my kitchen counter behind my coffeemaker was almost more than I could handle that early in the morning. Actually, I probably wouldn't have handled it well later in the day either....

"Bix, handle the worms," I say handing him the rag, backing up in disgust. Dear hubs that he is, didn't complain, but got right to it. It is then that I notice, there are not just worms on the counter, but they are on the pantry doors and, oh my stinkin' nerves, are even in my pantry!

This might explain the moth problem we had a few months ago. I think I narrowed it down to contaminated red pepper flakes. I was so freaked out then, that I bought plastic, air tight containers that could house all of my flours, rices and grains. The dual benefit of these containers (besides keeping out bugs) was they made my pantry look super organzied. There is nothing better than a super organized pantry. (Did I mention i'm an organization freak too?!)

So, back to yesterday morning, Bix saw I was coming close to a meltdown and decided it might be smart to leave for work and let me handle the worms. And handle them I did. I first cloroxed (yes, bleached) my counter to get rid of any moth/worm eggies. Then I proceeded to empty out my entire pantry onto the counter. This actually took me the better part of the day, because the little man wanted me to hold him and not clean the pantry out. When I reasoned with him and explained that I didn't want to eat worms for dinner, he let me get down to cloroxing (yes, bleaching) the pantry, removing the shelves and examining every nook and cranny for worms/moths. And oh did I find worms. Just when I thought I had gotten rid (read, killed) every last worm, another one would appear. And the cherry on top of this little tirade? Opening a can of salt and vinegar almonds and having a moth fly into my face. Salt and vinegar almonds...are you kidding me? What would a moth even want with salt and vinegar almonds? That made me mad. So mad that I started tossing food. Out went the almonds...and the honey/flax cluster cereal...and pretty much anything that was opened and not in an air tight container. Did you know moths liked spices? Neither did I...that is, until I opened a container of chile powder and found webs.

So there you have it....I am a bug killer and a food waster.

Although, can you blame me?

How I am a Semi-Green Girl by: Rita

I was born to live as naturally and eco-friendly as can be. It was a desire inside of me when i was a little girl. I loved the outdoors, I loved nature and I was all about 'saving the rainforest'. My grand-parents and parents have always been very conservative in their use of things... although mostly for the sake of being frugal, it has been an encouragement. Things in my house always got reused. I thought ALL house-holds reused plastic bags... I never saw a plastic bag being tossed without it having a second usage first.

As a teenager I was an inactive "green" girl. Lazy, and effected in the wrong way by the disgusting non-conserving ways of my time. In 11th grade my science teacher brought that desire back to surface. The science class was called "Environmental and Natural Resources". I loved that class and all i learned. All the documentaries, projects, and field trips got that earth-loving desire to become active.

In recents years, though, I am a green girl in many new and active ways. Natural beauty products have become a must in my life. Natural shampoos have changed my hair, jojoba oil and tea tree oil has changed my skin. Conventional medicine is a last resort. I don't eat meat, and have VERY minimal dairy products. I recycle like crazy and love co-ops!

I love thinking of new ways to minimize the impact on the environment. The beautiful things on this earth is a gift, and I want to take care of them!

The Good:

• I try my best to do the 3 R's...............REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.
• I teach these ways to the 3 children I am a nanny for.
• No Meat
• Natural Products
• I compost
• Opts for organic whenever possible

The Bad and Ugly:

• When I am really thirsty and don't have my reusable water bottle, I BUY BOTTLED WATER!!!
• I love 'to-go' coffee.... the convenience, the flavor! But oh! the amount of cups i toss!
• Even though I'm a vegetarian, I buy leather shoes..... oh! the hypocrisy!!!
• I travel far distances to have fun.... Oh! the gas I waste!
• I often leave lights on in empty rooms........ I DONT DO IT ON PURPOSE! I PROMISE!!

I am Rita, a GIRL trying to live a SEMI-GREEN life.

Hi My Name is Nicci and I'm a Semi-Green Girl.

I do so want to be green. I want to be the envy of the hipsters, the crunchy moms, and whole foods shoppers everywhere. It's just...so expensive/ exhausting/ HARD! I try though, and I succeed sometimes. Hence my semi-greeness.

It's really easy at work because I work for a family of green people. I am a nanny for a 1 year old boy and a 5 year old girl. There I drive their Prius, eat their ALL-organic foods, take the little girl to her hippie school (Waldorf) dressed in hippie clothes, recycle, conserve electricity, use cloth diapers, clean with green and environmentally safe cleaners, and watch NO tv. At home I do many of these things too, but don't always buy organic since I live in a small town with either a WalMart or tiny grocery store to shop in with hardly any organic products. But I try to go to Whole Foods when I can and stock up! I do watch tv...well tv on dvd when at home, and I don't personally drive a hybrid car. I am a vegetarian who recycles though! I buy local produce at our town farmer's market, and I've recently switched to cloth napkins and paper towels (mostly...some messes require the paper!). We've switched all our bulbs as they burned out to the energy saving ones, and only use the A/C at home when absolutely necessary... I recycle any plastic bags I do get from the store, but try to always take my reusable totes when grocery shopping. I will admit though that I am addicted to candy, sugary things that are bad for me, and even eat things containing high fructose corn syrup. I eat dairy and not always organic dairy. I have more clothes and shoes than I can wear, and none are made of organic materials (that I know of). I'm not crafty in the least bit and I eat fast food once in a while!

I'm horrible!

Alright, I'm probably just normal, but this blog will chronicle my attempts to be greener. Read often and tell your friends!

my semi crunchy life...by Nichole

the good me...

• uses cloth napkins & paper towels
• uses cloth diapers & wipes
• has been a vegetarian for 13 years
• has two rescue pups
• regularly recycles (even though there is no curbside pickup)
• buys organic (most of the time) & tries to shop local
• loves to cook for my hubby and son

the bad me...

• is a sucker for a cute baby toy....aargh, plastic!
• sometimes throws away a plastic bag (w/o reusing it!)
• uses Clorox Clean-up instead of homemade vinegar cleaner
• sometimes cracks open a jar of (non=homemade) baby food
• likes Taco Bell...aargh, fast food!
• is obsessed with OPI nailpolish...aargh, toxins!