All about the Avocado!

We at the Forche house adore avocados. Actually, avocado was Reese's first solid food (and is a great source of healthy fat for babies and adults alike). The first time I purchased an avocado, I couldn't stick a knife through it and couldn't figure out how the heck it was meant to be consumed. That was back when I thought Campbell's vegetable soup was a health food, so I've learned a thing or two.


People notice how much we eat them. Also, they notice that I make a hell of a guac. I get lots of questions about this gorgeous green fruit and about making guacamole, so I thought I'd share some tips about avocado--from sitting on display to getting mashed with a fork!

AT THE STORE: When choosing an avocado, don't pick the pretty green ones unless you won't be using them for a while. They aren't ripe yet. (You can ripen an avocado faster by setting it in a bowl with a ripe banana.) Also, don't pick the smooth-skinned blackish fruits either. These are past their prime, and are mushy and discolored inside. (I am shocked that grocery stores continue to sell these, fruit flies and all!) Look for avocados that are just starting to change color (from emerald to dark green), and that are firm but not brick-like. Here's a trick: 

See that little nubbin of a stem? Flick it off. 

See how this one is starting to brown beneath the stem? It's probably got some bruising and discoloration inside. It's just starting to get overripe. However, the skin still has the bumpy green ridges, so while I would NOT buy this in a store, I would cut it up for use at home. (I've had it about 6 days.) 

A perfect avocado will retain a greenish tint beneath that stem. I am the weirdo lady picking off stems in the produce aisle. So what?

STORAGE: I keep avocados in my fruit bowl. If they are with other ripe fruits or veggies, they tend to ripen faster. If you want them to remain a little unripened a while longer, refrigerate them. 

PREP: Once you cut them open, they act like apples and oxidize. This isn't harmful or even untasty, but sort of unattractive, so guac isn't a dish to make ahead. If you're cutting up an avocado as a burger topping, chop immediately before serving. And if using on a salad, serve on individual portions and don't save in the fridge; the slices will brown and you won't want to revisit the salad. 

Ways to make guacamole or avocado slices last longer include squeezing lemon juice on top, coating with olive oil, or leaving the pit in with the fruit. Also, seal a bowl of guac with TIGHT plastic wrap and refrigerate  immediately; serve as needed so a huge gnarly-looking bowl isn't left out on the counter. I recently made a batch of guacamole for my friend Brittany's bridal shower, and I brought it to her in a cooler, with the pit still in the bowl, liberal amounts of lemon juice mixed into the dip and a spare lemon thrown in the cooler for "touch-ups" (SO high-maintenance!), olive oil to seal the surface, and a tight spread of Saran wrap. 

USES: Avocado makes great baby food, and can be mashed instead of pureed (so you don't have to wash your Baby Bullet another. frickin. time. It also creates a luscious ice-cream-like dessert when processed with a ripe banana and frozen. You can even make mousse with it! It is excellent on top of a black bean burger, or thrown into a Southwest salad. I've even tried it broiled with Parmesan and hot sauce. 

But obviously, the best use for avocado is guacamole! I'm not against the store-bought kind, but once you surpass the brief learning curve of guac-making, it's SUPER easy, and cheap, to do yourself. Here's what I do: slice an avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop out the flesh onto a cutting board. I mash it with a fork and throw in some garlic, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon or lime (or both). If I'm feeling ambitious, I may throw in chopped tomatoes or cilantro or red onion. It takes maybe two minutes and is unfailingly a hit.

(Yeah, and forgive my scary chipping mod-pink nail polish in the photos above. I have better things to do than remove my nail lacquer. Like blogging about an avocado.)

Lindsey.  

Tips for Cutting Costs while Eating Clean

This is part of my pantry. It isn't glamorous, but it's semi-organized. 

On these shelves are some of my best tips for cutting costs while still eating clean. 

I've always had an interest in healthy eating, and practiced it more or less (the less being CHEESE!) But now that we've got kids to think about, we have really decided to kick ourselves in the ass and create even better habits. The myth is that to eat a healthy, whole-foods, non-processed diet, you have to spend exorbitant amounts of cash. Lucky for you (but not so lucky for your excuses), this myth is just that--a myth. 

True, the start-up costs of healthy living can be heftier than the usual generic boxed garbage. There are always coupons and mark-downs on garbage, and rarely on produce or items in the natural foods section. Just remember this: YOU VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLAR. If you're willing to spend a little more at first and commit to buying quality food, you are promoting health with your money and your choices. The more people who do this, the less the good stuff will eventually cost, and the less demand for garbage there will eventually be. Simple. Maybe I'm idealistic. Maybe I should live in Ann Arbor. (I wish!) But I believe it's possible to change things, and I believe that every person is a cog in the wheel. I also believe that we will see a shift to a more natural approach to life, as diseases caused by diet and lifestyle continue to rise and healthcare continues to get more cray-zay. 

SOME TIPS TO EATING CHEAP & CLEAN

(and they don't involve extreme couponing!)

1. Make your own marinara sauce. You can find recipes just about anywhere, but the premise is simple: garlic sauteed in 1 tbsp. olive oil, a can of crushed tomatoes, & spices. I use fresh basil and marsala cooking wine and crushed red pepper, but anything goes. The longer you simmer, the better it gets. But the best part is that it's a fraction of the cost of quality jarred sauce, especially if you stock up on tomatoes when they're on sale. The other ingredients only cost you the first time, then they're on hand for a while. Minced garlic can even be purchased in little glass jars that keep in the fridge for years. The lycopene and nutrient content of canned tomatoes can be even better than fresh, especially in the off-season, but there's no reason you can't use freshly crushed tomatoes instead! The cheap jarred sauce, BTW, is loaded with sugar and shit-tons of ingredients, and IS NOT healthy. If you are used to this trash, you may find that your homemade sauce tastes a little unsweet to you. Keep experimenting with ingredients, and remember that your tastebuds adapt. 

2. Stock up on stock! I use low-sodium organic vegetable broth in a myriad of recipes. It can replace lots of fattening stuff. You can make your own, too, with veggie scraps, for even more  of a bargain, but I'm a little lazy about it. Use the Red Laser app on your phone to compare prices in different stores, or buy in bulk. Soups are easy and cheap, and can be frozen, so this is a great pantry staple. 

3. Buy dried beans. My local Kroger store has bins in the natural foods aisle, with beans and rice and nuts and even dried cereals. These are a fraction of the cost of canned, as you aren't paying for packaging. They take longer to prepare, as they need to soak, but if you make a big batch you will have them on-hand for meals in a pinch. 

4. Invest in some Tupperware or BPA-free containers for beans, legumes, seeds, nuts, rice, etc. This will enable you to forgo the packaging and buy the bulk/bin stuff, and store it nicely.  The more you can buy this way, the less you will spend in the long run. On average, I spend about 1.29 for a can of beans that will last one meal; for 3 pounds of dried (which will yield approx. 3 times as much once soaked, and will last many meals), I spend about $5.00. The savings is even bigger for other items, like brown rice or granola. 

5. Stock up on cheap pantry "meal bases." If you do this strategically, buy on sale or in bulk, etc., you should mainly only be doing your weekly shopping for fresh produce. For instance, pasta, rice, beans, stock, canned tomatoes, potatoes (no, they're not the freakin' devil unless you eat them daily or fried), even sweet potatoes--these are relatively cheap and can be sold in large portions. They can be the basis for any meal. Bread can be bought in bulk on sale, and frozen (or home-made!). 

6. On weekends or off days, make up a few batches of the above staples and put them in the fridge. If you have some whole grain pasta or brown rice already made up, you will be more likely to grab it and toss it with some veggies and herbs for a healthy meal, than to run to Toxic Hell when you're pinched for time. This will lessen your excuses for spending on fast food meals and later dumping your rotten produce because you "didn't have time" to use it. 

7. Buy the off-brands of freezer and sandwich bags, and paper towels. The only thing I buy namebrand is cling wrap, because I always waste my generic roll when it sticks together, and the namebrand generally doesn't stick. I like my food to be of the highest quality, but I could care less what brand of sandwich bag I use. If eating healthy is expensive for you, think of the things you can do without. Another trick is that if you use a bag for half a cucumber for one day in the fridge, and then you use the cucumber but have half an onion to store, use the same bag. I even go so far as to rinse and dry my bags that haven't been soiled by their contents, and reuse them. I'm not a complete psychotic cheapo, and I do this more for the environment than for saving money, but hey--every penny counts!

8. Make bigger batches of meals and store leftovers in the fridge or freezer. I used to always throw out leftovers. Now I take them for lunch or repurpose them (for instance, stir fry can go into the next night's fajitas). 

9. Plan your shopping trip before you go. I am a list-a-holic, I know--but I think it's really helpful to divide my list into the sections of the store, and only put on my list what I am going to use that week. I sit down with my recipe books and get a rough idea of what I want to make; then I look at what needs used up, what I have on hand, and what I'll need. When I go to the store I try my damndest to stick to my list, and I don't traverse aisles in which I don't need anything. 

10. Find out which stores have which products for the best prices, and plan your trips accordingly. For instance, my beloved frozen Cascadian Farms squash can be found at many stores in the town where I usually shop, but is cheapest at Meijer in another town. I don't get it unless I'm at Meijer, nor do I make a special trip. (I used to, though!) If I'm at Meijer, it's an item I specifically seek out to stock up on. I generally know where I will find my favorite items for the best price, so if there's a major difference, I won't buy it except in that store. (I've never been a haggler, although all you hagglers out there might be able to try price-matching!)  Red Laser, again, is a good app for comparing prices. Lately I have been going to the Kroger that has another (more health-oriented) market just across the street. I get my cheapies at Kroger, and the other stuff across the street, and I don't have to make two trips. 

11. Make friends with the farmers market. Seriously! My biggest surprise in this journey is that local, organic produce sold at the farmers market is not only affordable, it's usually downright CHEAP. Not to mention it tastes better, is better for you, AND is better for the environment. Just this weekend I visited a local market and bought two heirloom tomatoes, a bunch of swiss chard, a bunch of kale, two zucchini, one summer squash, two eggplants, and a dozen peppers for seven dollars. The people selling their wares are so excited about what they've grown, and like to answer your questions and give you tips and recipes. Much better than buying junk off a truck from God knows where in the produce department, with no clue how long it's been sitting there or what chemicals it's been doused in. 

12. Freeze your produce. I am SO doing this this year, especially because we have some major life changes coming up and I'm unsure what our new budget will be like in the winter. There are tips online for how to do this. (For instance, veggies should be blanched first.) This way, you're not spending a fortune on out-of-season produce, or having to resort to something nasty in a can. Frozen vegetables at the store are actually very healthy, as long as the vegetables are the only ingredient--but once again, you're paying for packaging. Buying local and freezing reduces all of those extra costs. 

13. Plant a garden. This is another one I am serious about doing next year. In my reading, I've come across many statistics that show families with moderate-sized gardens save $700-$900 per year on groceries. Not only that, but you'll also be doing your part for the environment. I am looking forward to teaching Reese (and myself!) to appreciate the beauty of nature, and what better way to do this than to grow our own produce?

14. Take a cooler. My husband is the champion of this, because he works long hours in an ambulance. He doesn't use this as an excuse to subsist on junk food, and you shouldn't either. The last time we went on vacation with a long car ride ahead, we packed hummus and veggies and canteens of water. You will be less tempted to stop at a roadside restaurant or rest stop for junk food to "refuel." We rationalize by treating ourselves to a quality restaurant or two on vacation, and save our money by packing the rest of our meals. 

Remember, generic sugary fake food may be cheap in the short run, but PLEASE consider the cost to your health. It may be difficult to think long-term enough to get past the fast food cravings, but if you can hold out for a while and give it an honest try, you'll be SHOCKED how much better you will feel, how much your cravings will subside, and how compassionate for yourself, for your kids, for others, and for nature you can become. 

My best advice is this: Be creative. Do your research. Don't dismiss your health on the false pretext that health is unaffordable. Can you afford to lose it? 

Any tips of your own? 

Lindsey. 

On a Green Smoothie Kick!

Because I don't own a juicer (although I really WANT to own a juicer. Pretty please, Ben? Christmas present? Hint: Vitamix. Or at the very least, a good Breville?), I have been concocting the next best thing: smoothies. I make them in my little Ninja food processor. 

If you need a good reason to juice/smooth, read some inspirational, hilarious wisdom by Kris Carr, or watch the jaw-dropping documentary Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. Learn about the INSANE amount of nutrition you can pack into a 16-ounce glass, how you can get your fruits & (mostly) veggies without having to really taste the less appealing ones, and what this can do for your overall quality of life. One interesting factoid: the bioavailability of many foods is actually quite low; in other words, when eating a salad, we're not always reaping every nutrient. That's because most of us don't chew long enough to break down the food enough for our bodies to use it. Juicing eliminates this problem. The juicer not only makes all those green leafies easier to swallow, it also helps extract more nutrients for our consumption. 

If you, like me, sadly do not own a juicer, or even a food processor, you can use a blender or some sort of smoothie-maker. 

I have been doing this just about every morning for breakfast, and I cannot even describe how much better I feel when I start my day with a powerhouse glass of nutrients, as opposed to a bowl of cereal or something. There are a million varieties, and generally you can use the produce you have on hand--just be sure to include some greens! To cut the veggie taste, always throw in a bit of fruit, but never more fruit than vegetables. Here's my current breakfast!

Lindsey's Green Smoothie

1/2 peeled cucumber, sliced

1/2 avocado

1/2 banana

1/2  loose cup mung bean sprouts

1.5 tbsp. chia seeds

liberal amount of cinnamon

dash of agave

handfuls of greens: spinach, romaine, arugula, kale, chard, or a mixture of whatever I have. 

1/2 c. coconut milk, unsweetened

Blend all ingredients! Serve immediately. 

TIP: If you have a small food processor (like I do), you may want to blend the greens and milk first, and then add in other ingredients and blend again. 

Look at that pretty sage color!

If you juice or make smoothies of your own, I would really love to see your best tips and recipes! I'm new to this, after all :)

Lindsey.

Acorn Squash Pizza with Portobella, Arugula, and Hazelnuts

I am seriously impressed with myself. 

For months, I've been meaning to make Tosca Reno's Eat-Clean pizza along the same vein, from her newish vegetarian cookbook. It calls for caramelized onions, and I didn't have onions, though hardly anything tastes more savory and delightful and autumnal as a caramelized onion, especially with fresh thyme and balsamic reduction. Her recipe also uses a thing called "yogurt cheese," which she concocts with cheesecloth and a sieve and plain yogurt, but I'm not eating yogurt these days--and soy yogurt is not exactly my cup of tea. And there are some other differences, like spices I didn't have on hand, and the fact that I refuse to wait an hour for the squash to cook in the oven when it's just going to be pureed anyway, annnnd come to think of it I believe her version uses butternut squash. I like butternut squash, but I LOVE acorn squash, and my lone little orange-&-green acorn squash was growing sad on the counter. 

So, in a way, my recipe is almost entirely different from Tosca's, but she was the inspiration behind it. (And if you are interested in living a clean lifestyle, you should check her out! The link above will take you to her inspiring site.)

Acorn Squash Pizza with Portobella, Arugula, and Hazelnuts

Ingredients:

pre-made or store-bought whole wheat pizza crust

1 acorn squash

about 3 handfuls fresh arugula, also known some places as rocket

about 5 large portobella mushroom slices (prepackaged at the grocery store), chopped into bite-size peices

extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic

thyme

nutmeg

herbes de provence

1/4 c. raw hazelnuts, chopped or run through a food processor

sea salt and black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven according to package directions. 

Microwave the squash for about 5 minutes, after you've poked a few fork holes in the flesh. You should be able to stick a utensil easily through the squash when it's done. Remove, cool a bit, cut in half, and scoop out the seeds and guts. 

Scoop squash from skin, and run through a food processor with a drizzle of EVOO, garlic, and liberal amounts of thyme, nutmeg, and pepper, with a dash of salt. 

Sautee mushrooms in EVOO with herbes de provence (and some rosemary, if you have it!), about 5 minutes, preferably in an iron skillet. (Everything comes out better in an iron skillet, plus you get a little dose of iron in your meal!) Turn heat off, and pile arugula on top of mushrooms. Let sit about 30 seconds, to slightly wilt. 

Spread pureed squash onto pizza crust. Top with mushrooms and arugula, then chopped hazelnuts. 

Bake according to the directions on the pizza package, or until crust begins to brown. 

*

Not only does this pizza taste pretty decadent, it also gets some points in the looks department!

If you're not a vegan, feel free to add a little Parmesano Reggiano on top. I think mozzarella would be overkill. (So says the former Cheese Queen.) 

And remember, the caramelized onions can only make a good thing even better! Another addition I might try in the future is a sprinkle of chopped kalamata olives, or some roasted zucchini or eggplant. Remember to use what you have on hand; with a little creativity, you'll find yourself having more fun in the kitchen and making less trips to the store for (unnecessary) ingredients.  

Bon Appetit!

Lindsey.

What I Learned When I Was Nineteen

I was formatting my 5-years-in-progress novel last night, and I felt agonized by the whole process. Some nights (like two nights before last) it goes smooth as silk. Others, I want to toss this whole unpaid writer shebang out the window. Hence, the 5-years-in-progress thing. 

I started outlining and writing the story in 2007, when I lived with my best friend and had a hot pink bedroom full of tossed-off bar outfits and booze bottles. I started living it long before; at about age nineteen I experienced a very different life from the domestic cupcake who now pens this healthy, hippie, happy blog. (Yes, I'm exaggerating, kind of. I will never really be that girl.) I think everyone comes of age at a certain time, and that it's a different number for different people, and for me it was certainly nineteen. My headspace back then was (cloudy and) creative, filled with lust for every little thing, and recklessly, horrifically fun, amidst quite a bit of tumult, which I think back then I harbored quite an addiction to. 

Anyhow, the book was born of a million things and people and ideas, and of living in a midwestern post-factory town and in bars, and of being--or becoming--an enlightened fuck-up. 

After I moved to Blissfield (oh, what an accurate name in so many ways) with Ben, it took me a couple of years to find my footing. I didn't touch the manuscript for a long time. It made me too sad. I stopped working at the bookstore and worked for a little while as a bank teller. If you know me personally, you'd attest that the last sentence is evidence of a total identity crisis on my part. I truly felt lost, but not in the good purple-haze way of yore. 

Somehow, I found my way back to the book. And it sort of saved me, and maybe in a way that's why it's hard for me to be done with it. Allowing somebody to scrutinize something so deeply personal feels really scary. Over the years I have grown attached to all of my characters and to my little made-up Midwestern world. 

Tonight, I felt inspired to look through a few things from the year I became me, the year where I started looking around and mentally scrapbooking snippets of life for later words in sentences in chapters in this mess of a thing I call a novel. 

Here are pages of my '04 journal:

"It's okay to think you're fabulous."

-advice from a hedonistic young adult

....................................................

I wish I had done this every year, written out my yearly lessons and mantras. Maybe I will, from now on. In comparison, here are some things I learned (or believed) when I was 27:

-"You are not in the world. The world is in you." -Deepak Chopra

-You should be a constant learner. Learn about every passing curiosity. Learn how things are made, how things work, how things are, how you wish they were, and how you can change them. Knowledge really IS power. 

-Going to college straight out of high school doesn't work for everybody, and sometimes you are better off waiting to go back until you have real reasons for being there in the first place, even if you're pregnant with your second child in 17 months and working full time and are married and have bills to pay. 

-The busier you are, the more productive you will generally be or become. 

-"Leading with your heart" is not always sound advice. Sometimes you gotta chuck that heart out of a rolled-down window and move the eff on. 

-Fitness and nutrition are sexy. People who party too hard for too long are not sexy. Moderation!

-People generally don't judge you as much as you fear they do. 

-Learning to say no to things that don't align with your top priorities makes life a bajillion times simpler. 

-Becoming a mother is truly the most astounding experience. You realize your potential for being an unselfish person. You also see the world through brand new eyes.

-Whatever you think most about, you become. 

-Anything is possible with a positive attitude.

-It's never as scary as you think it's going to be. Your mind contorts things out of your fear. Good news: you control your mind. Practice!

-Unfortunate events occur from time to time. You are always strong enough to handle them. You are, after all, a pillar of self-sufficiency. If looked at in the right light, all of these events are opportunities to discover who you really are.

-At the risk of sounding new-agey, there is a silent place in all of us that is infinitely wise and calm. Sometimes we have to shut up to find it.

-Regret is pointless. Move forward. Great advice from my cousin Jamie: "Remember, you did the best with what you had at the time." Isn't that so true? Hindsight's 20/20. Living in the present is, like, 20/500, but it's way more fun!

-You are only as old as you think you are. It is NEVER TOO LATE to be exactly who you want to be. My sister's freshman classes at Cleveland State were peppered with students of all ages, including seniors (as in citizens). My mother is 50 and teaches aerobics, spinning and linebacker classes. Take care of yourself, keep learning, and the world is your oyster. 

-You never know when your kind word or your piece of advice or your shared story is exactly what someone else needs to hear. Be genuine. Share what you know. 

-Wake up every day and go to sleep every night with gratitude. No matter how shitty things seem, there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for, and the more you appreciate what you have, the more you'll have to appreciate. 

----------------------------

MY PLAYLIST AT 19:

Saves the Day (Rocks Tonic Juice Magic)

The Get Up Kids (I'll Catch You)

Hole (Miss World)

Death Cab for Cutie (Title Track)

Death Cab for Cutie (Residential State Street)

Ben Kweller (Family Tree)

Modest Mouse (Bukowski)

Audio Learning Center (Hand Me Downs)

Armchair Martian (Jessica's Suicide)

Bright Eyes (Haligh, Haligh, a Lie, Haligh)

Pedro the Lion (When They Really Get to Know You, They Will Run)

Pedro the Lion (Options)

Tori Amos (Icicle)

Tori Amos (Northern Lad)

Logh (Yellow Lights Mean Slow Down, Not Speed Up)

Broken Social Scene (Anthems for a 17 Year Old Girl)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Rich)

The Stills (Gender Bombs)

The Stills (Still in Love Song)

Cursive (The Recluse)

The Shins (Girl Inform Me)

The Shins (So Says I)

The Shins (Pink Bullets)

Metric (Succexy)

Cat Power (Speak for Me)

Liz Phair (Flower)

Interpol (Stella was a Diver and She was Always Down)

MY PLAYLIST AT 27:

All of the above, plus a million others, including

Great Lake Swimmers (A Merge, a Vessel, a Harbor)

Margot & The Nuclear So & Sos (Jen's Bringin' the Drugs)

Pedro the Lion (Criticism as Inspiration)

Smith Westerns (Be My Girl)

Friendly Fires (Hurting)

Bon Iver (Skinny Love)

Metric (The Gates)

Nadia Ali/Sultan& Ned Shepard (Call My Name)

Mutemath (Spotlight)

Real Estate (Green Aisles)

Wild Nothings (Live in Dreams)

Doves (M62 Song)

Atlas Sound (Recent Bedroom)

Stateless (Bloodstream)

The Xx (Crystalised)

Lana del Rey (Without You)

-------------------------------------------

Money can't make you rich like experience can.

-penniless, experience-full 19 year old Lindsey Smith. 

:)

Clean, Mean Banana Ice Cream

I've heard a lot about this trend in the past year, but never got it right until now. You can seriously make an ice cream-esque dessert with nothing but a frozen banana. Talk about clean eating!

I've attempted this before, with a dull little blender. This time, my Ninja worked wonderfully (and it's cheap!)

Freeze 1.5 bananas in chunks, overnight. Then place in a food processor and blend with a small amount of liquid. I used coconut milk from a can-yum! You can also blend in some chocolate chips, almond or vanilla or mint extract, nuts, etc.

I think the key is the double bladed food processor or a good blender that can really make the bananas smooth, AND the coconut milk, which makes everything super-creamy.

I love that I can now satisfy my ice cream cravings with a piece of fruit! Annnnnd the whole concoction is vegan. Winning!