Easy Ideas for Healthier Living

A new morning routine to start the day with good intentions and carry through. Really, just thinking about eating more nutritious foods and doing one or two little things in the kitchen keeps the process of healthy eating moving forward.

1. Eat a good breakfast: eggs, homemade granola, oatmeal, French toast, yogurt, fresh fruit.

2. Fill a water glass (sometimes I flavor it with citrus, herbs, mint, ginger, or cucumber) and take vitamins.

3. Check the frig and pantry for what needs to be used. This is a critical step, if you're like me, all the produce in the store or farmer's market looks so good that loading up is easy. Then I have tons of stuff to use up before it gets old.

4. Prep work: This can take just 5-10 minutes, or as long as you want. This is looking ahead to meals for the next couple of days and thinking about what to cook. And it is also about making pantry items to stock up with exciting flavors.

Just the beginning of good ideas:

Yogurt -- I got a yogurt maker for Christmas, but it is quite easy to make your own without one. Go here for simple instructions. Just be sure to keep it sanitary.

Pizza dough -- I make this no-knead by putting it in the frig overnight. I the morning take it out and let it rise.

Baked Brown Rice--soak rice in water overnight and drain (optional). Fry rice in a little olive oil, making it nutty and flavorful, this is also optional. Put into an oven-safe pan, add a dash of olive oil, salt, lemon zest, rosemary, or whatever flavorings you prefer, cover with water. Cook covered dish at 350 degrees until the water is absorbed.

Salads -- pageful of delicious ideas.

Pesto -- whizz a small chunk of Parmensan in the food processor, add walnuts, zip, add basil (and other greens like kale, spinach, etc) zip, pour a stream of olive oil through the feeder tube and blend. Keep in a jar in the frig for a week. Use on salads, pizzas, pasta, potatoes.

Roasted Garlic -- Put a head of garlic on a double layer of foil, pour on olive oil, roast in a hot oven until tender and creamy. Can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days, but use it up on salad dressings, veggies, pizzas, etc.

Soak or Cook Beans -- Day 1--Rinse and soak the beans in a big pot of salted water overnight.
Day 2--Drain and cook beans in a fresh pot of water with salt, add flavorings if you choose to, like herbs, bay leaves, garlic.

Start a Soup or a Slow Cooker Meal -- millions of ideas available on the internet to keep you from coming home late and hungry and running out for an unhealthy restaurant meal.

Salad Dressings -- it's silly to buy salad dressing when it is so easy to make your own. A good variety of ideas here.

Endless Chicken Stock -- another link to Kitchen Stewardship. A wonderful idea that I will be doing regularly now.

Sprout Seeds -- powerhouses of nutrients to add to sandwiches and salads. These are easy to grow in your kitchen for some fresh greens in winter. Grow them in a canning jar in a dark, cool cupboard, to simulate under ground, rinse twice a day. A few days later they are ready to eat.

Sun Tea -- mix up some flavored tea bags with black tea bags and fill a pitcher with cold water. Let the sun create its solar magic. This is the easiest way to prevent drinking sodas.

Stewed Prunes -- slice an orange into thin wedges, put in a pot with 1 pound of dried prunes, add a cinnamon stick, just cover with water and cook over medium heat until the juice thickens to syrup. They don't need any sweetening, they are already perfect. Keeps in the frig for a week. A wonderful idea from Melissa Clark's cookbook, A Homemade Life.

Roasting Vegetables -- peel and cube veggies, such as beets, winter squashes, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes. Coat with olive oil and herbs on a baking sheet, pop into a hot oven and cook until tender.
                                            Tamar Adler's video of Roasting Vegetables Ahead

Other quick things that make life easier: Prerinse salad greens, make carrot or celery sticks, marinate some meat, cut up a pineapple or cantaloupe.

Give the counters and sink a quick wipe and sweep the floor if needed and I'm done for the day.

My Obsession with Canning Jars

It started with a dozen. The next day I bought 2 more dozen. Then I went back for another dozen. There isn't any more room on the pantry shelves, unless I start removing other things. They are already two rows deep. We're trying to avoid storing food in plastic, and these work so well for small quantities. I love them dearly.

What do I use them for? They are filled with ingredients for healthy cooking. I always have something available to make. The list rotates, but this is the gist of it: dry pasta, whole grains, dry beans, coconut, flax seeds, kosher salt, nuts, rice, sun-dried tomatoes, vital wheat gluten (for baking bread), pinenuts, couscous, dry fruit, seeds for sprouting, raisins (golden & regular), oatmeal (rolled & steel cut), raw cane sugar, brown sugar, tea bags, bay leaves, hot chocolate mix, bran, lentils. But that's just the pantry...

I also use them in the freezer. Since I don't want to go through the whole boiling canning process, when I cook from scratch, I just throw the item in a jar and keep it in the freezer. Right now I have homemade marmalade, strawberry butter, and tomato sauce. I store a jar of yeast for baking in there too.

Shower Dispensers

before

after

All the shampoo and conditioner bottles in the shower have been bugging me for awhile now. I tried getting bottles that looked good in the shower, and refilling them as necessary, but it really didn't work. And then we started adding more and it got out of hand.

I found these ceramic dispensers and I like the way they blend in with the shower tile and the brushed chrome of the showerhead. I added labels from my label maker. I just hope they hold up in the wettness over time.

Quick Hint Tuesday

Mint Tins from Trader Joe's--these green tea mints are quite unusual. Three mints have as much antioxidants as a cup of tea. But I love this usefully little tins. I put scrapbooking supplies in them, but they could be used for spices or other things too.

Peppermint Oil--Amy & Ty swear that rubbing a little dab of peppermint oil on your temples and the back of your neck with eliminate headaches better than Ibuprofen. I bought some, now I'm waiting for a headache to test it out.

Camera Case--my camera is an odd size, not an SLR, not a compact. I found this cool square of neophrene felt with velcro that you secure to the exact size of the camera. It's called a soft wrap made by Op/Tech. Only $12, soft, and flexible protection for my camera.

PicLens.com--this free download turns any photo page into an experience! You won't believe how awesome pictures look on your computer with their "3-D Wall." It works with Google, Facebook, Flickr, You Tube and others. Try it.

Quick Hint Tuesday

Labeler--As much as I don't like gadgets, this is pretty handy. I labeled all the office files already. Now I'm looking around the house for other things...address labels on the recycling bins, pantry containers, homemade CDs and DVDs, what else? It's kinda fun. If you want the labels to be removable, put a piece of clear tape down first.

Stewed berries--with all the tantalizing berries available now, this is a quick, easy dessert. In a saucepan cook 1/2 cup of water with 1/2 sugar (adjustable to your taste and the sweetness of the berries), and a small dash of vanilla or Framboise. Add a variety of berries, except not raspberries, simmer gently for about 3 minutes. Turn off the stove and add raspberries. It's nice to start this just before serving dinner, allowing it to cool while you eat, then serving with a nice dollap of high quality vanilla ice cream.

Freeze banana slices--If you have overripened bananas, slice them into chunks and freeze on a plate sprayed with PAM. After they are frozen, you can transfer them into a freezer bag. They are great for adding to a smoothie instead of ice cubes.

Pantry

My pantry is the part of the house that usually impresses guests the most. It’s clean, well lit, and organized, and it stays that way. I have dreamed of a pantry like this all my adult life and I finally have it.

To create it, we took a window wall and built this 6x8 foot pop out box. So you have to picture this box attached to the outside wall where a window used to be. If you have an outside wall available to your kitchen, it’s not hard to do. It’s just big enough for one person to stand in the middle and see everything. It is directly next to the refrigerator, so all of our food is in this corner.

The first thing that people notice is that the light comes on automatically when you open the door. Easy little switch installed in the door frame, just like your frig or oven. You know that you always have your hands full either coming in or going out, so it is nice not to have to fumble for the light switch.

The shelves are a standard 12 inches deep, so things don’t get lost in the back. Bigger, heavier items are simply stacked directly on the floor. If I had a typical closet style pantry, the first thing I would do is take out the shelves and create this U shape, even if they were only a few inches deep. It might seem like you are losing space, but I think it would be a more usable solution. Our contractor used carpentry biscuits for the joints, if that means anything to you.

I went to a lot of trouble to make sure that you are not confronted with a wall of labels when you open the door. The clear round containers were purchased from the professional kitchen store. They pop into the dishwasher and I can rotate the contents easily. Three baskets hold the smaller items and break up the landscape a little.

I removed all the labels from the big Costco spice containers. You can tell what they are by looking at them. Although I think that Trader Joe’s has done a good job of making their boxes and cans pleasant to look at.

Spices drive me crazy. Ultimately, I’d like to have all clear matching jars, but at $1 each, that would be at least a hundred bucks. You can never find what you need that matches what you have, so you end up with a mishmash.

I used leftover flooring pieces to create little stairs for the jars. I know I could do better if I bothered to saw them off at uniform lengths, but this works for me now. Yes, they are organized alphabetically (by type of jar). It’s anal.

I Don't Want Junk

It's time once again to get rid of the nuisances that fill up life. First, the DO NOT CALL list. I know my first five years expired, but I re-listed, why do they still drive my insane? Thank goodness for caller id, or I'd loose my mind.

Unwanted, unrequested, undesirable mail: It's endless. Because we own two businesses and have good credit, we are buried under paper mailers. I get a flier per day from Mitt Romney, which I don't understand at all. I wouldn't vote for him, and each one makes me more determined. I have been stuffing all the paperwork back into the stamped envelops and sending it back to them. If everyone did this, they might stop. But I really feel that it's a waste of my time, more than their money.

Here are the "get off the mailing list" websites:

www.optoutprescreen.com -- let's you out of the major credit bureau's list for credit cards and insurance. You have to print the form and mail it. This is at least half my junk, so I did it.

www.coxtarget.com/mailsuppression/s/DisplayMailSuppressionForm -- these are those annoying blue envelops called Valpak with coupons galore. They claim to send out 45 million!! every time. This is appalling.

www.dmachoice.org/mps -- they charge $1 to your credit card, but it's worth it to me.

www.catalogchoice.org -- let's you select which catalogs to receive and which to jettison.

I have made it soooooo easy for you. Just click on each link and ten minutes later, you're done!

Winter List

The winter list tends to be the organizing, clean it up, look~to~the~future kind of list, but that makes me happy as well. I want my life to be simple and sweet. No big things hanging overhead, just pleasant day~to~day living. If I accomplish these jobs, I feel free to do the more creative fun things without guilt.

On my lists, I like to emphasize the positive things I have to look forward to. Like you, I have to do my tax return, but I don't put it on the list because it is a necessary item that will get done anyway. No, this list is for the things I WANT to do.

Here it is:

Brad's 50th Birthday party--Jan 12
Campbell Brothers--Jan 25
Todd Snider--Feb 1 & 2 (yes, both days)
Robben Ford--Feb 8
Tab Beniot--Feb 16
UNR Basketball games

New glasses
garden plans
scrapbook pages ( a lot!)
winter kits for both cars
organize my photos on the computer
idrive.com to backup my computer
new end table
condition leather furniture
sign up for paperbackswap.com

Lots of books~to~read and movies~to~see, but that's a separate list.

Monday Activity

Man, I’ve had an industrious morning. In addition to the regular Monday morning cleaning, I’ve vacuumed the garage, dusted the canopy-thing over the bed, changed the sheets and cleaned out the frig. It’s like spring cleaning, but in the autumn instead. I think it probably has something to do with the green tea I’ve been drinking all day. It’s been awhile since I did that, and it feels sooooo good.

Later this afternoon, I will finish my postcards and make my autumn list. A little late, but I’m feeling like getting things done around here.

Tuesday Quick Hints

Paper Towel in a Bottle—if you have a narrow necked bottle that you need to dry out, roll up a paper towel like a funnel and tuck it into the top. It will wick the moisture out. This works incredibly well in our arid climate.

Wine Corks for Corn Holders—poke 2 corn holders into a cork, this keeps them from stabbing you every time you search for something in your gadget drawer.

Anti Spam--I’m going to ask a favor. Please stop forwarding every cute, touching, funny or important thing that comes across your e-mail. Every time you send out a group e-mail with everyone’s name and address across the top, it is stored in the computers of all of those people. Searching spy robots gather any reference to xxx@xxxx.com. And we are all overwhelmed with junk mail. It was great back in the early days when we could laugh and cry at the wonderful things people put out there, but those innocent times are over now.

The Spring List

So it’s time for me to work on my Spring List. I know it’s a little late, but I’ve been rather busy lately. Looking at my calendar, I can see that I have some very special concerts and family get-togethers coming up. My big projects are getting some landscaping done around here, finishing Jeremy & Dawn’s wedding album (I know, I know) and the China album.

I love having this list to go by. It gives me so much to look forward to. It reminds me to keep focused on the good stuff in life. Please take a little time and start your own list. You’ll be so glad you did.

Bodega Bay camping - April 14-20
Santa Cruz Blues Festival – May 25-28
England – May 29^th-June 15^th
China album
J&D album
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Wild Girl by Jim Fergus
The Thirteen Tale by Diane Setterfield
China reunion party – April 14
Mother’s Day at Coloma
Robert Randolph/Ziggy Marley—May 12
Bryan Lee—May 18
Dave Alvin – June 29
Host book club – April 24
Get out summer clothes
Garden remodel

Birthdays:
Jeremy—May 10th
Amy—May 28^th
Dawn – June 20^th

Resolution-less

I’ve never made a New Year’s resolution -- don’t believe in them. People make them with true sincerity, but what’s the point, if they never work out? If you’re going to make them, at least make it something positive that will bring happiness into your life.

I do have a system for that too. It’s called the season’s list, for lack of a better name. You realize that there are actually five seasons don’t you? Christmas is its own season. So now we are at the beginning of the winter season. Pulling out the calendar, and all the files of recipes, books, places I want to visit, etc. , I then spend awhile thinking about what I am looking forward to doing in the next few months. Over the course of a few days, I start a random list with concerts, vacations, books to read, new foods to cook, new restaurants to visit, projects to complete, movies to see, upcoming holidays to plan for, and anything else I want to do. Once the list is close to complete, I transfer it to a pretty piece of paper and save it in my To Do folder. That way I look at it often.

Somethings on my list today: San Diego (to visit my sister and family), Mexico, Lucky Peterson at the Horsemen’s Club, two new restaurants, ice skating at the rink downtown, finish (really start) Jeremy & Dawn’s wedding album, deep clean the office, design the front garden.

It’s great to have a guide to plan for future happiness. Three months is a good time frame to get things accomplished. It’s not like trying to confront a whole year. It’s also flexible, things can be added or subtracted totally at my own discretion. I’m not beholden to anyone but me.

I told Amy about the system last fall and she made her own list. I was proud to see that she challenged herself to do new things. She would call me sometimes to report how she was doing with it.

A good reference for making the list is the past lists. I keep them and see what I was doing the winter of ’99. It gives me ideas for this year and also a memory of what my life was like back then. I’ve been keeping them all in a folder called Exploration, but I think I’m going to make a separate folder for each season. A place where I can keep articles, recipes, ideas. Because sometimes I don’t get a chance to do a season-specific thing, I can save it in the folder for next year.

On a side note, we went to see the fireworks from the downtown Reno casinos, which we’ve never done before. We didn’t go downtown, but stayed about a mile away to take photos. I was kind of disappointed with the pictures, but it was a fun thing to do anyway. They lasted about 15 minutes and we were home in bed by 12:30.

Simplify Your Life

I know the exact moment my life changed forever, (besides the obvious ones like deciding to marry, have children, or quit my teaching job). It was ten years ago, August 3rd, when my niece Allison was just born. I flew out to Michigan to help Lisa and Wayne with their brand new baby girl. When I went to bed in their guest room, I found a little book on the bedside table called Simplify Your Life by Elaine St. James. I intended to cruise a few pages before I fell asleep. But, there it was, the answers to all the crazy pressure society heaps on us, set out in 100 concise little essays. I turned page after page, soaking it all in. It was truly one of those epiphany moments.

Since then, I’ve tried to live up to the tenets of living a simple life. I do not need, nor want, the things that our culture and their marketers cram down our throats, things like perfume for $120 an ounce. Why? What does it do that is worth that? How about $500 for a bottle of wine? Does it taste that much better? Sorry, I digress.

We sold our big house to move to a little normal suburban home. I drive my 10 year old car. I shop for clothes twice a year; every fall I buy two pairs of jeans, a few tops, a sweater, every spring I buy two pairs of shorts and a few tops, new sandals if I need them. I rarely go near stores. I don’t tivo and I don’t own an ipod. Don’t get the wrong idea, we have a plasma tv and I am infatuated with my new laptop. We spend money on travel because we feel it’s important to see the world. We aren’t in debt and we pay off the credit card every month. My point is that we make conscientious decisions, based on what we need or will give us ongoing pleasure, instead of buying the newest, bestest, wowiest thing being promoted.

Are you one of those people who need a little reassurance about letting go? Can you think of someone who seems frazzled, who needs a boost? As a gift to yourself or someone you care about, buy Simplify Your Life or one of her other books, Inner Simplicity or Living the Simple Life. They’ve been around for awhile, so I’m sure you could find them in your local used book store.

The Christmas File

I have just organized my Christmas file for this year. I found a red file folder to set it up in. I’ve really got enough stuff that I should start a binder, but I like being able to keep in handy right on my desk. A binder would be too bulky.

On the back cover I wrote my essential list. These are the things I have to do every year:

Christmas cards
* Buy stamps
* Write a letter – print
* Address and sign cards
* Print return labels
Decorations
* Tree
* Indoor decorations
* Outdoor decorations
* Crackers
Gifts
* Bought or made
* Wrapped
Plans to visit relatives
Breakfast
Dinner
Christmas eve plans
Inventory for next year

Whenever I see something that might work for the holiday, I throw it in the folder. Then I categorize them into cooking, gifts, decorating, and hints. I clip these together with paperclips and post-it notes. I also have the Christmas letters that I have written in the past in there.

At the end of the season, I weed out ideas that I didn’t use and probably never will. And I make a list of what I’ll need more of, like bows or wrapping paper, for next year.

Do you have any ideas to keep the holidays organized?

Mondays

I know most people dread Mondays, but I kind of like them. They give me a chance to put my life back together. If we’ve been gone for the weekend or I’ve been extra lazy on Sunday, I get an opportunity to keep the edges of life from fraying.

I do these things in no particular order:
Put away all the items that have been scattered about
Clean the kitchen counters
Wipe fingerprints off the microwave, frig and stove
Unload the dishwasher, load it back up again if needed
Vacuum edges of kitchen floor
Change the sheets, fluff the bed, and throw in a load of laundry
Change the towels in the bathroom
Wind the hall clock, water the plants
Take out the trash from the office, study, and bathrooms
Clear old stuff out of frig, take out kitchen trash

None of these things take more than a few minutes. I save heavier housework like vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms, etc for later in the week.

In the shower, I deep condition my hair, shave my whole legs (all the way down to my hairy toes), use body scrub instead of soap. This usually takes about three minutes longer than normal. I make sure to moisturize 'cause it's probably the only time all week that I'll remember to do it.

Then I move into the office, going through all the paperwork. I don’t have to actually do any of the work, if I don’t feel like it. I just put it where it belongs and make lists of what needs to be accomplished during the week. This gives me the rest of the week for appointments, projects and errands.

I always do a clean up on the computers. I run the disk defrag, the spyware program, the disk clean-up. Then I restart them. This seems to keep them running well enough.

If I work diligently, I can finish all this by lunchtime. And the rest of my week runs smoother because of it.

If you work and need to be there on Monday mornings, pick another time, maybe Tuesday evenings. Will you share what systems to you use to make your life better? We all need help in this department.