What Is That Sticker On My Fruit?

Yup, it means something. They're 4 or 5 digits PLU #'s. You'll see the sticker on fruits, veggies, herbs, nuts. What do they mean?

starting with 9 Organic (9xxxx)

starting with 8 GMO or genetically modified aka OMG!! (8xxxx)

starting with 3 & 4 Has chemical pesticides sprayed (3xxx or 4xxx)

Most fruits and veggies at the grocery stores are starting with the 4's. Take notice next time you're at the store.

Herb Swap

Read about it in a magazine and thought, wow--that's a great idea!!
You have friends or family plant 1 herb and exchange with each other. The grocery stores charge so much and usually you need 1 bunch and the rest goes bad, right?? So someone plants maybe rosemary and you plant dill and so on.

Since our girl scout troop and our gourmet club meets once a month, I suggested we start this and now that it's spring, perfect timing!! So now I have to decide what to plant..hmmm maybe dill.

Wheat Berries

Have you had this as a side salad or a meal?? It's so filling. If you're not familiar with wheat berries, it's the kernel part of the wheat. It has so many vitamins and fiber. It's so good for you (unless you're doing the gluten free thing). Basically you buy this in the bulk section. I know Henry's has it. You don't need a lot, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 a cup. Add 4 times the amount of water to the berries. Cook covered on the stove for 1 hour or until tender. Cool it down by running cold water. Then you just add all kinds of stuff to it and it makes a great salad. I like to add the following:

olive oil
cucumbers - diced
olives - black or kalamata
feta cheese - organic, please
roasted red peppers &/or sundried tomatoes
red onion - diced
herbs - salt - pepper - squeeze of 1/2 lemon

You can keep it simple or add a bunch of stuff, but it's yummy. BTW, I'm not good with measurements, so just add to your own liking.

My Family In A Nut Shell

Wow - this is what I have to work with:

break sugar habits - processed cookies/snacks/salty items
late night snacking (hubby)
picky eater aka disguising the veggies and fruit(daughter)
college student (son)
weight matters (me)

I like the Sneaky Chef book. It's geared towards making the meals that kids like, but incorporating fruits and veggies through purees. They're color coded purees like orange (carrots and sweet potato) or purple (spinach and blueberries). I've made these in advance and put them in a ice try. I've made the spaghetti sauce with the orange and it worked. My daughter had no idea and she loved the spaghetti. Add some whole wheat pasta and she got more fiber and vitamins without knowing.

For my own goal, I'm making sure I have a salad a day. Keeping my goals simple, but it seems to work. Since I want to keep up with my salad a day goal, it helps keep me in check.

College student and late night snacking is a working progress.

I'm turning vegetarian, I'm turning vegetarian..I really think so!

Ok, ok...the song was playing in my head!

As of June 2009 I became a vegetarian or maybe I should just say a plant based eater. I'm not a "real" vegetarian because I do eat wild fish and enjoy dairy. Sorry, but I like my 1/2 and 1/2 in my coffee. So trying to define myself I fall under lacto-ovo vegetarian (dairy and eggs) and under pescetarian (fish, but no meat). It's truly confusing because even if you say you're a vegetarian, you get the same questions, "do you eat chicken?" "do you have dairy/cheese?" "seafood?" "how can you go without eating meat?". This is my journey to define my title and learn along the way. I want to share my hits and misses and hopefully my message will reach my friends and family, one member at a time.