The Local Christmas Rundown

We spent the beautiful, sunny, almost-70-degree day scouting apartments around Raleigh, and I just kept thinking "We'll have proper internet soon! Hooray!". But for now, we're sipping tea at a Starbucks and ganking wi-fi.

Moving to Raleigh was a massive green trade-off. We have given up the low CO2 emission commute (by estimates in a recent National Geographic article, the #1 eco-benefit of living in a city is the walking/public transport lifestyle), but hope to earn at least some offset by committing to REALLY shopping local, which is much easier to do in a place where fresh fruit and veg are growable almost all year round. Not only that, but other cool things that we use regularly are produced right here in the Carolinas. So Christmas shopping was a fun treasure hunt of locally made treats. Here's what I snagged:

Cold Mountain Winter Ale for Les, made in NC

Chapel Hill Toffee for the Christmas Eve party with my fam, and one for Les's fam.

Local Chocolatier

Woot! Burts Bees is made in Durham! I gave my fave new lip balms to my best girls.

Home-made local jam from the Farmers Market for my siblings

Tippy's Treats, made a few towns away, for my Dogs-in-law (Aug got some in his Stocking)

Aug wanted to open his early.

My elf.

Yes, I know, the ingredients for all these lovely finds were probably not native of NC (like cacao for example), but they were all made by local companies and didn't have to be shipped across God's Green Earth to get to me. Which is a start. I was planning to buy everything from the local farmers market, but didn't think my family and friends would appreciate hearty kale or a bunch of turnips as much as I appreciated that they were still plugging away this late in the season.

The New Year is almost here, and my Green Gray and Grace year is about to wrap up. But I feel like I'm just getting started, so I'm not going to quit now. I just need to get some real internet so I can blog all the new ideas I have for the next Year of Awesome.

Random Green

Les and I were perusing the Whole Foods here in Raleigh, and he pointed to this tea in a reusable glass and said "Hey! Why don't you try that! If you like it, we could replace all our glassware and have some tasty tea with the same $2!".

I love my hubs. And I love that he's on the lookout for reusable, double-duty materials. We've also started making pasta sauce selections based in part on the shape of the jar and lid. Which is awesome, because we recycled all of our repurposed jars before we moved. Too much of a pain to pack, especially considering how often we make pasta.

But hopefully, we'll be able to cut down on the jarred stuff all together and start cooking more and more from scratch. We're still on the lookout for our permanent housing situation, but it will DEFINITELY have a bigger kitchen than our last place. And with a year-round farmers market that still had fluffy green kale, root veggies, nuts, eggs, and cheese for sale in December, I'm hopeful that we'll really dig into Local in a new way here. I'm pumped.

PS - the tea WAS very good, and while the glass itself is a little "ladies who lunch"-style for my taste, it does the job and has a handy lid that doubles as a coaster. Win win win. Oh my gosh, I'm such a dork.

Gray Hair Update and December Christmas Shopping Mission

I know, I know, I really need to get Les to take a proper photo of me and my gray hair. I'm remarkably bad at self portraits, especially with the built-in laptop camera. BUT, I really wanted to update the blog, and we don't have internet at our little house yet, and we're currently ganking internet from a lovely, bustling little Starbucks in downtown Raleigh so I decided to just go for it. I don't foresee myself having a lot of blog time at work in the near future.

But there it is; full-out gray. That light color streak you see is really a shock of white-gray hair. And it is not alone. I'm 10 months into the gray experiment and I think it is safe to say I no longer have gray roots. I have gray hair. Not really even salt-and-pepper in a traditional sense. I have wide slabs of gray that lay thick across my head and hide nestled under my part. Those slabs, plus about 1,000 individual gray rogues sprinkled throughout the rest of my head. And I kind of like it. I don't love the way the gray hair is coarse and wiry, but I like the look of it overall. I just wish I didn't feel like it makes me look like I'm creeping up 64 rather than 34.

Anyway. It is what it is, and I generally like what it is.

Shifting gears here, I also wanted to go on record with my Christmas gift plan. This year, with a few very select exceptions, I will challenge myself to buy only Christmas gifts that meet one of the following 3 criteria:

1. Handmade/crafted AND I HAVE MET or CORRESPONDED with the maker - i.e. - Etsy is OK, but random department store "hand crafted" does not
2. Produced within 100 miles of either Chicago or Raleigh and I BOUGHT IT in one of those two locations (bonus, there are some really awesome things made around here, and around Chicago)
3. Somehow directly supports or promotes an organization that I trust and whose social practices I would endorse

I've already found some lovely gems that meet these rules, so I'm encouraged. And I don't have kids (or a hubby) pining after any particular gifts, so I've lucked out in that regard. I confess that last month I did buy Les a couple of things from a Big Store, but they were from a store that stores pretty well on the Good Guide, so I felt OK about it at the time. From now on, I'll be a stickler. Even if it means hours of agony over what to get my in-laws...

I'll let you know what treasures I find!

Gonna be Good

Blog friends, I'm sorry for the long gap since my last post. Life has been pretty nutty! The move has gone really smoothly so far (our stuff still has to arrive on Friday, so we'll see how the "move" part of the transition really went once that is all done), and we're starting to dig in to life in the south. We don't have internet hooked up yet in our new digs, and I've been pretty crazed at work so far this week, so the Gray Hair Update and December Mission are on my "To Blog" list!
But as a preview, I'll say that it *has* been fun to get random "I love your hair!" comments from people. It's the south, so of course everyone is too polite to say "I love your crazy gray hair!", but I still appreciate it.

We are definitely going to like living here, though. We'll just have a big GREEN ADJUSTMENT to make, what with all the "no sidewalks, only driving" predicament. I wonder if tons of green space, abundance of gardening opportunities, a long local food growing season, and a greater awareness of water conservation can possibly make up for the YOU MUST DRIVE EVERYWHERE sadness? I'll do some research and let you know.

Biggest Thanks of the Month Goes Too...

Yeah, this didn't start out as a competition, but sometimes there is just such a clear winner that it seems silly to go without making it official.

I am so super ridiculously thankful for Jackie Marchand.

And not just because she spent about 8 hours at our apartment today lending her truly remarkable organization talents to help us pack:

But also because she made sure I didn't trash anything that could be recycled or donated (and offered to make sure that happened), and loves AugDog and helped keep him calm and happy during the mayhem, and also because she is just generally an incredible rock star and I love her very much. She has been so so so helpful with this whole move business, so encouraging, and at the same time her sweet friendship makes leaving so damn hard.

I am thankful for all my dear friends, and for everyone who has helped or offerd to help, and for all of you who are still coming over or stopping by or have offered your spare room/couch during our transition. I'm thankful for Jessie, who will come over tomorrow and help with the last bits of exasperating packing. I'm thankful for Emily who stopped by to give me a farewell hug. I'm thankful for Katie and Ben and Roger who will bid us adieu tomorrow night. And for Torrey who offered to "switch cars for a day" if his SUV would help us in any way. Those of you who know Torrey know what a genuine sacrifice that would be ;)

Blast it, people, I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE YOU!

And still, I am thankful. For everything. To everything, there is a season, right?

And if I were naming "Runners Up" for this thankfulness roundup of a month, I would have to give a ribbon to dear old Rogers Park. Oh, Rogers Park, how I love you. I love that you have enabled me to be greener and healthier than I could ever have been in another neighborhood. How do you green me? Let me count the ways:

• In the RP, I can (And DO!) walk to the grocery store, including the option of a small biz local organic crunchygranola store.
• In the RP I can walk to both the Metra and the Red line, thus allowing me to leave my car all by its lonesome almost every day of the week.
• In the RP I can (and DO) walk to my dentist, the vet, a hardware store, my yoga class (when I go), my cell phone place, the bank, numerous food and drink options, a fro-yo place, a 7-11, a RedBox, a CVS pharmacy, and about a half dozen awesome friends.
• The RP farmers market was voted in the Top 10 small farmers markets in the US, and it convenes right outside our front door.
• In the RP I can WALK TO THE BEACH in under 10 minutes. That's right. The lake. I can walk to the lake with AugDog, or by myself for a moment of zen. The proximity to the lake makes me want to get out more and get some free and very green exercise.
• PLUS, the RP is pretty much an Urban Homesteader's dream 'hood. If I had been a little more motivated and/or had chosen to rent an apartment with even a teeny bit more natural light, I could have urban gardened up the wazoo. And there are all kinds of canning, crafting, and sprouting community groups I could have joined. I also happen to know that there are some backyard chickens up here, but I have never seen them with my own eyes.

Oh, it is hard to leave Rogers Park. I am so thankful for this neighborhood, and its diversity and ridiculousness. It has stretched me and forced me to take a long hard look at my bias and prejudice. It has confronted me AND comforted me with sprawling arms of racial, lifestyle, economic, and religious diversity. It has shared its wacky and enthralling public art with me. It has given me the change to become a "regular" somewhere. It has gotten me out and exploring and engaging. It has entertained me with its weirdness and impressed me with its open-mindedness. I am thankful for Rogers Park, in all her gritty, gregarious glory.

And as November wraps up, I also want to say how thankful I am for you blog readers. Thanks for your comments, on and off the official "comments" section. Thanks for sticking with me in this journey, and for your suggestions and encouragement. Only 3 more months to go! And then we'll have to see what's next. And I'm also thankful for that.

A Day to Give Thanks

Holy Moley, do I have a lot to be thankful for. The list keeps getting longer and longer, the friends and the hugging and the food and the good-byes keep getting sweeter and dearer. It is a pretty intense year for Giving Thanks. Leaving so many incredible people and places and pizzas makes giving thanks for all the good gifts around us every day even more of a no-brainer.

Here are some photo highlights of just a few of what I am thanking God for:

Big lattes with mountains of foam

sweet friends who have known me a LONG time

Chocolate in all its glorious forms

No Shave November, my darling husband, and dear Hooney Husband Eric, who rocks a beard

Beautiful, inspiring, dear dear friends

Friends to do life with, laugh with, and give Thanks with

Besties

Cows. I am seriously obsessed. I want a pet cow SO badly. I am thankful that these cows look pretty happy.

Sunset in the farmland

I'm thankful for where I grew up

Mom's Frye boots

Cutest. Dog. Ever.

We had Thanksgiving Lunch at my aunt's today, and of course I ate until my stomach spilled over the top of my stretchy pants. We stopped by the family house to get the stuff that I would like to take with us to Raleigh (grandma's china set, some antique tablecloths, a set of awesome wooden folding chairs), and I stopped to take some pictures of the farmland at sunset. We have such a great family, and I know how rare it is to have a room full of 40 people who are related to each other and have them all love and even like each other. I am thankful. For our health, for adventures and new babies and new jobs and for getting by and smiling, for new gadgets and toddling kiddos and gifted treasures. I am SO thankful. My heart is going to burst.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endure forever.

Give Thanks for More Than Plenty

Our "Eat Our Way Out of Chicago" tour is going gangbusters, and pants-busters. I'm thankful and humbled by all the brunch, lunch, dinner, coffee, and dessert dates we've been able to squeeze in over the past week or so, and the calendar reminds me that we have several more to go! Lunch and coffee treats today, dinner tonight, brunch tomorrow, lunch and/or dinner tomorrow... and on and on and OMG I AM GOING TO EXPLODE. With awesome.

Now, I'm all for the frugal and healthy decision to do "non-food" socializing with friends. And I do love to go for a walk or kayak or window shop or watch a movie or volunteer or any of those other fun activities that do not circle the plate. But there is something really great about sharing a meal with your friends. Or even just a coffee. Les and I had dinner last night with my two Rogers Park Besties, Michelle and Jackie. The food itself was pretty OK, but the talking and laughing and fry-stealing and what-is-this-terrible-open-mic-night-nonsense eye rolling were just so great. And I've been counting down the days to tonight's Jess and Andrea Annual Christmas Dinner with my sweet college girl friends. And it is good. I give thanks.

While I was driving to work this morning, I heard that one of the area's largest food pantries is not going to be able to give out any turkey dinner food boxes this Thanksgiving because their donations are so low and the demand is so high. And I thought about Les's suggestion that we volunteer somewhere for Thanksgiving this year. And then I gave more thanks. Maybe I'm just too busy with the move and everything, but I don't have any energy to feel guilty right now. I'm just trying to be mindful of THANKS. Over and over and over and over again. Remembering that God is good all the time, in plenty and in times when, as my grandma would say "you don't have two dimes to rub together". I think about this Scripture verse that we read at my mom's memorial service - Philippians 4:11-13.

¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Isn't this hard to remember, though, sometimes? My mom was an unusually thankful, gracious person; traits which I think were sharpened through years of hardship, sorrow, joy, friendship, and a keen eye for God's provision in all circumstances. She was the ultimate "Glass Half Full" girl. I am thankful for her example, and pray that I can cultivate her mindset and heart of abundance.

Anyway, this is kind of a rambling post. I'll sum it up by saying that Thanks Giving can feel like a discipline when times are tough and a Bonus Gift and privilege when blessings are pouring in. Hopefully the more we practice in the feast, the more natural and free-flowing it will be in the famine.

I am Thankful for Old Friends. And Pancakes.

Two of my longest and dearest friendships in Chicago actually date all the way way back to my college days. I met Jeana and Jenny in Allen Hall freshman year of college (that was 15 years ago! Yikes!) and have been blessed by their friendship through years and years of highs and lows and loves and losses and concerts and movies and parties and races and pool dates and vacations and staycations and late nights and Magnums and.... BRUNCHES.

We have made an art form of eating brunch. We've gone all around the city sampling breakfast burritos, eggs Benedict, croissant sandwiches, omelettes, and of course pancakes. And it is THIS stack of ridiculous sweet divinity that has kept us coming back to Bongo Room low these many years:

Notice that we each have our own savory entree. Oh yes, the pancakes are our dessert. Our brunch dessert.

God Bless dear friends who not only don't judge your gluttony, but happily partake with gleeful smiles.

We had to go back to Bongo Room one more time before Les and I leave for Raleigh, and so today marked the start of our Eat Our Way Out of Chicago mission.

I am thankful for you, J&J and thankful that our friendship will go the distance. And now I'm going to serenade you with the Elephant Love Medley....

Thank God for inside jokes. And traditions. And happy farewells to local faves.

Til Next Time.

Giving Thanks for Change

I'm actually not a big fan of change. I usually endure it rather than embrace it, and sometimes that enduring is pretty ungraceful. But today I'm giving thanks for some Big Changes in my life.

I was offered and accepted a new job with Habitat for Humanity of Wake County in Raleigh, NC. I'm thankful for this unexpected opportunity to dive back into an organization I love and respect. I'm thankful that Les is excited, that we have a couple of friends out there already, and I'm thankful for the chance to start fresh in a new adventure. I'm thankful that the conversation of giving my resignation to my boss went smoothly, and that our interactions since then have been positive. I'm thankful that I am 85% excited and only 15% weepy (today).

Then there are all the nostalgic gratitudes I could start listing: I'm thankful for 10 and a half years in a ridiculously beautiful city. I'm thankful for the friends that have become my family, and for living within a couple of miles of my actual relatives for all these ups and downs of years. I'm thankful for Lake Michigan. And green space, and the most dazzling skyline I've ever seen (seriously, if you haven't driven south on Lake Shore Drive at sunrise, you simply MUST. DO. IT. Who knew that skyscrapers can turn so blazing pink?). And I'm thankful for all the ways that God has shaped and stretched and nurtured and prepared me (us) to take this leap away from the known and comfortable and into a new chapter. I feel like I need training wheels. But actually, I know that what I really needed was a good shove.

So that's the news around these parts! Thankfulness Thankfulness. Deep breaths, prayer, and faith. Good stuff.

November Gray Update and Month of THANKS

Hey Y'all!

It's November, I have a new haircut, big changes are ahead, and I'm feeling super-duper THANKFUL. Good timing, huh? This month, I'm going to focus on Grace and GIVE THANKS for the abundance, beauty, and love all around me. From now until December 1, I'm going to blog as many posts of THANKS as I can manage.

Since I'm a few days behind this month, I'll get things rolling with a triple scoop of gratitude.

I'm thankful for safe travels this week, and for being surprised with reconnections to dear old friends.

I'm thankful for my husband, Les, who has been seriously stunning me with his awesomeness over the past couple of weeks. I am thankful for his support, encouragement, steady faith, and the twinkle of mischief that can laugh me out of the foulest mood. And have I ever told you that he insists on doing ALL the dishes in our apartment? Partly because he prefers his ultra-clean standards to my "Looks totally not-gross!" pronouncements, but still. Geez. Praise God.

My cute dish-doing hubs.

I'm thankful for the not-too-cold fall days that immediately preceded this disgusting cold drizzle, and for a late afternoon date at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

This snap also captures my new haircut (which I do not love) and the more and more obvious stripes of gray threading through my hair.

 But to get a good look at what the center part is up to, have a gander:

Again with the unflattering pictures. I know. But I really wanted a quick look at the hair under that strategic far flung part of mine. Silver. For reals.

So the rest of this month I'll be thanking and thinking more about living from an posture of abundance, gratitude, and grace. I hope you'll think about these things too! It's so much better than dwelling on the steely gray clouds.

The Reason Why Products Have Nasty Chemicals

Products with nasty chemicals (often) work better.

Certainly there are notable exceptions. But in my quest to greenify and simplify my life, I've discovered over and over again that one of the reasons why we cling to our products is because they work. Like Pantene shampoo. Seriously. I miss it. I want my hair to be shiny and smell like some not-quite-discernible-delicious-fruit/flower. And I want my hair to be shiny and smooth. I like my Paraben-free, Sulfate-free, artificial-fragrance-free shampoo as well as one could like such a utilitarian thing, but I'd be totally lying if I said it works just as well as Pantene. I'm looking into some home-made hair shine masks that involve mashed avocado and egg yolks. But I don't really want to waste a perfectly good avo OR a spendy cage-free egg on my hair. Sigh. Priorities bite.

Anyway, that was a longer than necessary lead-in to my latest Green Product Trial:

I have been missing mascara. Ever since I started the G3 experiment, I haven't been able to bring myself to buy it, and I can tell that my face looks droopier and a little mousier without it. I admit that this was an impulse purchase partly inspired by the fact that I am not super happy with my new hair cut (photos to come) and I wanted to look more feminine. I didn't do any research or consult any websites. I just lurched to the makeup section of the CVS and looked for the Lesser of All Evils based on product packaging.

Let's see what this claims to do without:

• Harsh Chemicals
• Synthetic preservatives
• Smudging, flaking, clumping
• Fibers
• Dyes (How do you make mascara without dyes? I need to look into this)

It also claims to be be "ECO CERT", whatever that is, and feature "Organic Soy and Eco-Olive". On the back it touts that the tube, in addition to being really stupid looking, is also made from recycled materials.

Anyway, I was desperate, so I gave it a go.

Two hours after applying yesterday, I looked like a I had been crying for a day and a half. I had mascara smudges under my eyes and swooping upward towards my forehead. AND they reappeared after I swiped them away in with a tissue. So I can't endorse this product as anti-smudge. I'm wearing it today, however, and I'm pleased to see that it has stayed put so far. Maybe the stinging wind in my face yesterday made my eyes water and contributed to the running.

But today I had to check it out on the Good Guide and the Skin Deep Database. Here's what I found, for all that greenwashing:

Skin Deep: EcoWear is not listed in their product listings. It may be too new. But, I did discover that Physicians Formula Retro Glow UltraDramatic Mascara is rated a very respectable 2 on their safety ratings! So, if the Eco Wear turns out to be a farce then I may try Retro Glow next.

Good Guide: 6.8 out of 10, with a 10 out of 10 for health, a 6.9 for the environment, and a 5.5 for Society.

When I ask the Good Guide to suggest higher-rated alternatives, I was surprised by the findings. Here are the Top 4 Similar Products:

1. Miessence Mascara - 8.7 I have never heard of this brand, but it gets pretty good user reviews.
2. The Body Shop mascara - 8.2
3. Maybelline Ultralash Waterproof- 8.1
4. Loreal Paris Voluminous Waterproof Mascara - 8.1

Pretty surprising, huh? It pays to do some research! I would like to look the Maybelline and the Loreal on Skin Deep, just to cross check, but it looks like our friends at Physician's Formula duped me with some greeny packaging tricks. Honestly, I would buy a different brand in the future just to avoid the uber-childish and somewhat-phallic looking tube....

So there you have it! Succumbed to Greenwashing once again. Be careful out there, my lovlies. And do your research!

Random Green Efforts

Two little greeny things that make me happy.

1. You don't actually NEED a plastic, nasty, VOC-spewing shower curtain liner! Check it:

We thought we needed a new shower curtain liner when we bought this new shower curtain at Target. Because, you know, you have a plastic one sheet on the inside to keep the water from spraying all over your bathroom, and a pretty one on the outside to be pretty. But I wondered: what if you just put the fabric curtain inside the tub instead? Unless you have a really hideous rose-pink bath tub you are trying to hide, I highly recommend you try this next time you feel like it's time to retire your grimey, mildewy plastic liner (That never happens to your liners? We must be particularly nast around here.)

No new plastic! And no more looking despondently at the mildewy hems of the interior liner wondering where we went wrong.

2. Less packaged food, more bulk stuff stored in repurposed jars!

No need to buy more glass storage containers! Just save your pasta sauce or peanut butter or salsa jars instead. This makes me happy. Particularly their mixy-matchy sizes and shapes! (Type-A friends may want to lean towards collecting ONE type of jar).


And my favorite make-at-home vegan dish:

Sweet potato, avocado, and usually salsa, but I ran out.

Vegan MOFO has been much MUCH harder than I anticipated. Sigh. At least this is delish, easy, and cheap.

Tastiest Vegan Thing I Have Eaten So Far

"Vegetable Noodles With Tofu" from the Thai/Japanese lunch place near my work.

Asian and Indian food is a good bet for vegan fare. Lots of veggies, little or no dairy, and you can usually get anything made without egg if the dish usually has egg in it (like Pad Thai).

Vegan MOFO has been really hard for me, and I am totally just eating "more vegan" than I was before. Breakfast is no problem. Lunch is usually pretty easy since I work downtown and can acquire pretty much any food my little heart desires. Dinner has been trickier, but Les just came home from the grocery store, so I am hopeful about our future dinner options. I'll keep ya posted.

Say it Ain't So, Anthro!

The Good Guide tweeted this link today that ranks 182 apparel brands based on their "Good Guide" metrics of social, environmental, and health impact. Their overview page says this about the ratings:

Our highest rated apparel brands work closely with their supply chains to improve working conditions and minimize environmental impacts. The best brands disclose the identity of their suppliers, audit how they perform on labor issues and make public the steps they take to respond to violations. They also design their products using life cycle principles and educate consumers about how to reduce impacts. Our lowest rated apparel brands are made by companies that are not focused on improving working conditions or reducing environmental impacts across their supply chain.

Thank you, Good Guide, for yet again doing the research that I was way too lazy to conduct. This ranking list has some good news, and some bad news.

Good news! - You do not have to spend a zillion dollars to buy more-responsible clothing! In fact, H&M and Old Navy ranked higher on their rating scale than dear old J.Crew.

Bad News! - Spending some extra cashola for "less cheap" clothes because you assume that only the bargain brands cut corners is a bad idea. Anthropology's spendy boho chic brand ranks NEAR THE BOTTOM of the Good Guide ratings, despite being the most expensive brand I've ever convinced myself to spend money on. Worst offender on their list? Anything by Ralph Lauren. Booooooooo expensive designers! And shame on you!

Now, I'm all for buying things second hand, making your own stuff, or swapping with friends (Co-conspirator Jackie hosted a neighborhood clothing swap this weekend that was a super success!), but sometimes you just need/want a new dress. Or shoes. Or 4th gray sweater. This list is a helpful tool in making choosier choices.

Gulp. Is it time to unsubscribe from JCrew and Anthro email lists?
Or maybe it's just time to bust out the sewing machine and use their emails as inspiration, because fall fashion is tormenting me from catalogs and shop windows everywhere I look.

Veganish

Ugh! Eating vegan is hard! Not that it is not good and awesome and everything like that. But so far I have managed an average of 1-2 vegan meals per day. I have had only one FULLY vegan day so far, and I'm barely a week into it. Yesterday and today were total flops.

Here's what kills me:

Cooking.

Yes, there are tasty vegan options to be had when eating out, but they are fewer and farther between (even in Chicago) than many of us can reasonably plan on when going out with friends on the weekends. And I have not been organized enough this week/weekend to cook balanced vegan fare. I've ended up with weird odds and ends that leave me a little hungry, which is then quickly remedied when seeking out the crucial next meal. Often purchased on the fly. And this weekend, almost entirely un-vegan. (Still veg, of course, but cheese-laden and egg-tacular).

Anyway.

I set my sights on a new week, and plan "grocery shopping" into my to-do list.

Vegan Pumpkin (chocolate) Oatmeal Cookies

I'm only a couple of days into this Vegan Mofo, and I I have to come clean.

1. I have eaten not one, but 2 completely NON VEGAN meals already
2. I have spent much of my mental food energy bemoaning all the delicious things I "cannot" eat this month, and eyeing people's brownies and mac and cheese with pathetic desperation

But obviously Vegan Mofo is about all the amazing things you CAN eat while sticking to a 100% plant-based diet, so I'm going to share my (so far) all-time favorite vegan baking recipe, including my gratuitous chocolate addition improvements.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies from Vegan With a Vengeance
2 cups all purpose flour (I use whole-wheat flour, still delish)
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cups canola oil
2 TBS molasses
1 cup canned pumpkin, or cooked pureed pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
1 TBS ground flaxseed (optional)
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup raisins

I leave out the raisins b/c I never have any, and add 1 chopped up 100% Dark chocolate bar. 100% Dark chocolate is vegan, and so are some 70+ % bars, but check the labels. Some are made with milk fat. Also note that 100% Dark chocolate is suuuuuuper bitter on its own. Don't even try a nibble - you'll want to spit it out, and then feel bad for wasting even a crumb of chocolate. But mixed in with other sweet ingredients, it is quite an adequate smack of chocolateyness, complete with all those lovely anti-oxidants. Some very strict vegans do not use refined white sugar because the refining process of cane-based sugar may involve charcoal made from animal bones. I had some "raw" sugar, so I used that.

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease 2 baking sheets
Mix together the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and spices.

In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, oil, molasses, pumpkin and vanilla (and flaxseed, if using) until very well combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in 3 batches, folding to combine. Fold in the walnuts and raisins (and chocolate, if using.)

chopping up the suuuuperdark chocolate bar

Drop by tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets. They don't spread very much so they can be placed only an inch apart. Flatten the tops of the cookies with a fork or your fingers to form a cookie shape. Bake for 16 minutes at 350 degrees. If you are using 2 sheets of cookies on 2 levels of your oven, rotate the sheets half way through for even baking.

Remove from the oven, cool on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Let them cool! They taste better when they've had some time to set up.

Enjoy your vegan treat! Yay for yummy baked goods.

Vegan MOFO is a thing. Who knew?

So apparently October is also "Vegan MOFO", more politely known as Vegan Month of Food, which is a blogosphere celebration of vegan eating and vegan bloggers. Or something. It depends on who and what you read, and my internet is behaving poorly tonight so I couldn't look it up very easily. I think also part of the intent it to help people see that you can eat a plant-based, animal-free diet and still, you know... eat.

And in that spirit, I must confess that my first two days of vegan experiment were hit-and-miss.

Yesterday, I ate:

Granola and almond milk (turns out the granola had honey in it - technically NOT vegan, but I'm not going to stress about honey)

Veggie rice bowl and an edamame dumpling from Wow Bao + an apple

Um. For dinner I had half a slice of deep dish pizza. FAIL. Allow me to explain.

Les went out to the burbs to see his family yesterday during the day, because Mondays are his mom's day off. He ordered a pizza. He very thoughtfully brought a slice home for me, forgetting that I had just announced that I was going vegan for the month of October. As a former strict vegan himself, I thought he would be totally gung-ho about this plan. And he is. But I couldn't resist a sliver of Lou Malnati's pizza. Good thing we can start fresh every day.

Today I ate:

Granola and soy milk

Pasta and sauce from home, apple, cup of minestrone soup and saltines

Soy latte + KIND bar (it had honey in it too)

English muffin + peanut butter

Handful of spiced almonds that Les made

And now I'm sitting here blogging, wishing I had made it to the grocery store tonight so that I could have some ACTUAL dinner. But I was lazy and didn't make it, and we don't have a whole lot in the house at the moment. So hopefully the rest of the vegan month will be more interesting. And more vegan.

October Gray Update and The Scariest Challenge Yet

So here is a camera phone shot of my October gray hair:

Not the most flattering photo of me, and yes, I am sitting at my desk taking random snaps with my camera phone, but I've been wearing my hair like this A LOT lately (messy bun, teeny-bopper elastic head band), and I think you can really see the silvery stripes quite nicely. Anyway, I'm diggin the stripes. I like the messy bun so far. But I'm eager to have an actual hair style rather than just a thick mass of hair, so I'm excited that I finally made a hair cut appointment for Oct. 22. Yay.

But really, the gray is the least of my worries these days. Because today marks my official first day as a 5-day-a-week Vegan.

Yep. 5 days on, with 2 days of wiggle room.

I'm going "mostly vegan" for the month of October. The idea has been stirring around in my head for a while now, and it actually part of a larger effort to overhaul my sugar-fat-cheese-crap laden diet and see if I have more energy and sleep better than I currently do. And force me to get deliberate about my protein management. And it was one of those things where all of a sudden it seems like reinforcement for your inkling idea just keeps flying at you from the universe. The farm that sold us our Happy Eggs at the farmers market told us this weekend that they are no longer "doing eggs". And while generally my cheese consumption is over the top ridiculous, we are actually out of all our usual cheese products at the moment, so I'm just not going to buy any more. For a month.

And I'm reading "The Emperor of All Maladies"  about cancer. And last month I finished "In Defense of Food" which, while not promoting veg or vegan eating, still smacked me in the head with all kinds of plant-based encouragement. But what really pushed me over the edge was when I sat down at the laptop last night to distract myself from some other life stresses and Netflix suggested "Forks Over Knives" for me to watch. So I did. And right there, I decided that the vegan experiment was a go. It's not that all the facts and figures in the movie are unquestionably accurate (there are plenty of online critiques you can read about how the material was presented, and the facts on which they base their claims). It was just the last nudge I needed to look at my fridge, my waistline, my cupboards full of processed food, and my values about creation care and animal welfare and decide to try something different.

It's almost time for lunch, and I know just where I'm going to go. Wow Bao is an Asian food place with several delish vegan options. And I'm going to take some vegan cookbooks with me to lunch and make a shopping list.

So, wish me luck! I'm pretty excited, actually. I'm pretty bored with all of my current food ruts, so bring on the Veg!

Dehydration - Not So Bad When You're a Tomato, by guest blogger Tammia

Tammia brings us Food Preservation Part 2 - Dehydrating!

I'll admit it. I've got a problem, a food preservation problem. In one day I canned 5 quarts of tomatoes, made 16 jars of blackberry jam, 1 quart of sauce, pickled 2 quarts of onions, and dehydrated a quart of cherry tomatoes. Since that's a lot to cover in one post, let's break it down into bite sized pieces. "Sun-dried" bite sized pieces.

 

First, you'll need a huge load of tomatoes, salt and pepper, a bunch of basil, and a dehydrator.

I borrowed my dehydrator from a friend of mine that has TWO. She's a food preserving bad ass.

 

If you don't own one, you can buy one for about $40 (the dehydrator, not the badass friend - she's priceless).

One Huge Load of Tomatoes

Step 1:  Clean and halve all the tomatoes.

 

Tomato bath.

Step 2: Clean out all the seeds. A spoon could be used, but it's so much easier to just use your fingers. 

 

Scoop out the seedy guts.

Step 3: rinse, dry and chop basil. toss the cleaned out tomato halves with kosher salt, pepper and basil.  

 

Step 4: Place the tomatoes skin side down on the dehydrator trays.

 

 

ooooh pretty!

 

Step 5: allow to dehydrate completely - about 8 hours/overnight.

 

 

Dried Up Tomatoes!

Step 6: Place in a clean dry jar and use in salads, soups, pasta sauce, pizza...the uses are endless. I tend to just eat them straight out of the jar, they're so delicious!

 

Dessicated tomato-y goodness

 Thanks for this great post, Tammia! I LOVE dried tomatos, and I put them in everything, especially egg sandwhiches and omelets!

Guest Blogger Tammia: Pickling!

Guest Blogger Tammia is a fountain of food preservation knowledge. Actually, a fountain of all kinds of knowledge! I'm pleased and excited to bring you her first Guest Blogger post about pickling onions.

 

There are a lot of ways to preserve food. It can be canned, dehydrated, frozen, vacuum sealed, and pickling. Pickled onions are pretty simple to make. They're kind of a big deal in my family, and I remember countless visits to my gran's where she was making pickled onions. Here's how you do it.

 

• 2¼ lbs pickling onions, peeled
• 4 tsp pickling spices or
• ½tsp coriander seeds, ½tsp mustard seed, ½tsp black peppercorns, ½tsp dried chili flakes
• 1 oz  salt
• 35 fl oz malt vinegar
• 6 oz  sugar

1) Peel all the onions, then toss them all in salt and put into the fridge for 24 hours.

2) Rinse and dry the onions. pack tightly into glass jars.

 

 

3) Pour the vinegar, sugar and spices into a non-reactive pan and heat until barely boiling. remove from heat.

 

 

 

4) Pour hot vinegar over onions, leaving an inch of headroom in each jar.

 

 

5) Can the jars for 15 minutes in boiling water. remove from water, and allow to cool untouched for 8 hours. Pickled onions are best eaten 2 weeks or more after pickling.

Smooth skin, guest bloggers, and other fun surprises

One week into the Oil Method face washing and I have to say that I am AMAZED. Seriously. I could sound like an infomercial right now. "Oil Cleansing Method changed my life! I look younger and more well-rested than I have in years! All my problems have been wiped away!" Well, maybe not quite that crazy, but you get the idea.

It could be partly due to where I am in my hormonal cycle, but even if that IS the case, my perma-zits along my jawline and chin are... Gone. G-O-N-E. Smooth, almost unnoticeable pink ovals mark the places where tiny volatile volcanoes sat angrily for years. And those pink ovals are getting smaller and smaller every day. I'll let you know how it is going after I've made it through a full month, but so far, I can heartily endorse this very counter-intuitive sounding oil wash.

Next up: Guest Blogger! Yay! Mia has been hard at work with all manner of Homesteady preserving methods, and she was kind enough to take some photos and write up some tutorials! I'm excited to share those with you this week.

Other Fun Surprises: Blog Editor-in-Chief Auggie has been nutso about his new home-made dog food. Who knew he would gobble lentils and millet and nutritional yeast as eagerly as his nasty canned dog "food"? No packaging waste, no creepy preservatives, no BPA exposure for The Editor. Excellent surprise WIN.

Ok, so maybe that was only a fun surprise for ME. The fun surprise for YOU is that I've been working on a bunch of crafty home-made things lately, and I'm really pleased with the results. I've got a whole photo shoot planned so I can share some of these surprise successes, and would love for you to share your favorite Greeny, Home-made WIN in the comments section. I even have a little prize idea....More details to come.

Fighting Oil With Oil

Several months ago, I posted this post about finding a new face soap, and my friend B suggested that I try something called "The Oil Method". I laughed to myself. "I'm pretty sure I can't use OIL to wash my greasy, acne-prone, stressed out skin". I filed it under "Things I Swear I Will Never Do". I should have known right then that I would eventually embrace it, since many of my current raves are things I originally scoffed.

I was running out of my bar face soap, and while probably greener than my fancy bottles of Olay, my face was still dry and flaky and oily and zitty all at the same time.

So.... I did some more reading about the Oil Method and started to come around. Then Whole Living did an article about it, and I was sold. See, sometimes all it really takes to convince me are some pretty pictures.

The article and the online info suggested a 75% olive oil, 25% castor oil blend for oily and acne-prone skin. I ordered a bottle of Castor Oil online, and I tried it for the first time tonight!

EVOO and Castor Oil blend

Clean white wash cloth

I got a 1/4 tsp from the kitchen and filled it up "most of the way" with olive oil, then topped it off with the castor oil. Very precise... Yeah, that's why I stick to cooking rather than baking. Anyway. I poured the 1/4 tsp into my hand and then used my palms and fingers to rub the oils into my face (bonus! mini face massage!) while I counted to 90. It felt surprisingly pleasant, and not at all like I was rubbing salad dressing into my pores.

After you rub in the oil, you drape a HOT damp washcloth over your face to steam the now-grimey oil back out of your pores. Let the washcloth cool off, then use the washcloth to gently wipe away the oil and gunk. It was hard to just stand there with a washcloth on my face while it cooled, but it did feel pretty great. After wiping the oil away, my formerly pristine cloth looked like this:

Makeup and city grossness

All that came off with just a 1/4 tsp of oils! Joy! My skin feels soft and clean. You are only supposed to wash this way once per day, and then just splash your face with cold water in the morning. Even LESS product being used. Love that.

From what I read, this works because the olive oil is a natural skin softener that binds with the castor oil, which is a natural cleanser. The olive oil acts as a vehicle to get the cleansing castor oil down into your pores, and then the steam from the washcloth yanks them both back out of your skin again. Soft, clean, and 100% natural.

So, thanks B for planting the seed of the idea all those months ago! I'm really happy with this new plan. I'm also hopeful that the Oil Method will help rebalance my skin, and maybe even make it less oily over time.

I know. It blew my mind too.

Go get some more oil on your face!