Vlasic Stackers Roasted Red Pepper Strips

We are trying to do more vegetarian meals. I am also trying to avoid canned foods (if I can find good stuff in jars, though, I do occassionally buy that). I found a yummy looking recipe for cheese tortellini in roasted red pepper sauce. The recipe requires roasted red peppers with a few other things (oregano, garlic, etc) to be blended together into a sauce. I had the worst time finding roasted red peppers, but came across the Vlasic Stackers brand. I, stupidly, did not check the label until I was rinsing the jar to recycle.

The ingredients? Peppers, Water, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, SUGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. WHY? I honestly will eat HFCS in some items. If I expect it to be in there (store bought cookies, candy bars, etc) I'm (mostly) okay with it. Why? Because I'm consciously making a choice to eat something that isn't good for me. I know that, overall, that candy bar is doing nothing good for me and seriously, what's a little HFCS to top it off? However, it makes me ANGRY when I'm eating something that I think should be heatlhy only to find out that HFCS has been added to it for no apparent reason.

I read an article a while ago that disturbed me. It mentioned that HFCS is added to foods just to make them a liiiiittle sweeter. If all our processed foods are made a liiiiittle sweeter, we start to crave sweeter foods. It also makes us less full than cane sugar. Our bodies aren't recognizing what we're eating, so the calories aren't making an impact. So we eat more of the nasty stuff. We spend more on the foods we shouldn't be eating because they taste good and they don't fill us up. I mention this because I can't think of any other reason to add it to roasted peppers...

No more canned foods

We've been trying to get rid of our canned foods for awhile. I was still using canned tomatoes of all kinds and canned beans (kidney, pinto, black, etc). Well, as of about two weeks ago, we are can free. The tomato thing has been a little complicated--it takes A LOT of tomatoes to can any of my own stuff. To can everything I wanted to, I'd need about 100 lbs of tomatoes. So far I've only canned some tomato paste and a couple jars of sauce. I'm planning to go to a pick-your-own farm in Raleigh in the next few weeks to pick my own tomatoes and hopefully get that 100lbs at a reasonable price. For what our local stores and even farmer's markets charge, I'm not going to be saving any money by canning my own. And for the work and time involved, the money is a motivator for making it worthwhile!

Tonight we are having my yummy Crock Pot chili. The difference is I used some homemade tomato sauce, diced my own tomatoes, and am using dried kidney beans. The chili itself smells sooooo good, and the beans are so big and they also smell amazing. It's crazy to me how much different canned and "fresh" beans look! I read the nutritional content on both, and the difference between the two is ridiculous. Far less sodium, and sugar in the dried, plus more fiber, protein, and calcium. So hopefully we will be enjoying a nice healthy dinner tonight...that also tastes good. I'm still nervous about how the finished product is going to come out.

Terrible...almost 4's??

Ian has been a monster the last week. A holy terror. I will elaborate later, but for right now this is my two minutes to get it out there and hopefully forget it for the rest of the day (or hour or 20 minutes). I don't know what they were thinking when they coined the phrase "terrible two's" but somebody was SERIOUSLY mistaken.

Though, I guess in all fairness, he is adjusting to a lot of things right now. Maybe Mommy just needs more patience?

--total aside, Ian just walked up to the dog and said "Ohhhh, baby boy! I love you" and gave him a big hug. These are the moments that keep him breathing. ;)

Bumps, bruises, and annoying doctors

Here is a play-by-play of our last two weeks:

At a playdate (pool party) I discover a strange, bruised lump near Ian's belly button that wasn't there before. I watch it for a few days and put in a call to his surgeon in Montana to see if it may be related to the umbilical hernia surgery he had in September.

Don't hear back from the doctor, so decide I had better call and make an appointment with his doctor here. I call on a Thursday, explain that there is a weird lump and that he has had surgery in the vicinity and I would like to have him seen SOON. Closest appointment is the following Monday morning. Fine, I take it, continue to watch belly button.

Over the weekend, lump changes colors. Is now bright red with a purplish black center.

Appointment on Monday. Nurse brings us back, asks us typical questions. I mention again that he has had surgery. Doesn't seem concerned. Doc comes in, looks, says it looks like an infected bug bite and she is wondering about MRSA (resistent staph infection), prescribes special antibiotic, says to come back on Thursday. "Meeting" lasts a whopping 2-3 minutes.

Tuesday or Wednesday I realize that I might not have mentioned surgery to doctor. I know I told the appointment clerk and nurse, but did I tell the doctor? Hmmm...

Thursday, we go back. Not much change in lump, Ian still on antibiotics. Doc decides he should see a surgeon to make sure lump doesn't need to be removed. Tells me I will hear from Tricare in about seven days and to make a follow up with her for after antibiotics are done (since he won't see a surgeon before then). As she is walking out the door, I mention his surgery. She says "You didn't tell us that". I say, "I told your nurse, but couldn't remember if I told you". She claims (probably correctly) that I didn't. She is now worried that it could be related to the surgery, a complication or ruptured suture. Seems upset at me for not mentioning surgery before (we'll pretend I didn't mention it twice...)

Now we wait to hear from Tricare. Things get complicated when your hubby gets out of the military and medical records end up all over the planet. I requested his surgery records a couple of weeks ago, but they had to send me the written request, I had to fill it out and send it back, now they have to send the records to me...you know. Red tape. Although, honestly, I don't know that his records would have made much difference considering how fast she blows in and out of an exam room.

Workin' on the diet

Since our move, we have not been eating well. It's easy to grab something while we are out, and we never make good choices while we're doing it. I have personally gained five pounds. Not a huge amount, but for someone who is pretty good at MAINTAINING, a gain is kind of scary and definitely a step in the wrong direction.

I went back to my "normal" way of grocery shopping this week, and it felt good. Stuck mainly to the outside aisles, bought organic where I could, avoided the ice cream (sigh). For the most part, if a food item was put in my cart, it has some kind of actual nutritional value. I did cheat and get a couple of boxes of 100 calorie cookies plus a brownie mix, but I've never done well with depriving myself. A little junk once in awhile doesn't hurt, I just need to get myself back into the "once in awhile" as opposed to everyday.

My menu is set up for the week (in the kitchen...I'll have to go take a look at it and write it down in a bit) and the fridge is stocked with fruits and veggies. Here's hoping that I do the good girl thing and stick to what I've started!

Rained out

I was supposed to take Ian strawberry picking today with a new meetup group I've joined. Unfortunately, it poured rain all night and is still drizzling, so the ground is much too wet to go walking through strawberry fields. Thought we would take a trip to the children's museum instead, but it's closed on Mondays (of course). Guess the big plan for today is grocery shopping. Totally exciting. ;)

At least I have dinner in the Crockpot. There's one big accomplishment for the day.

Canning Tomatoes

I read an upsetting article today. I know BPA is bad. I know canned foods are bad. So we cut out most BPA and most canned food. The only canned food we still buy are tomatoes--diced, sauce, paste, crushed, etc. I read an article indicating that tomatoes are the worst of the worst when it comes to canned food. The acid in the tomatoes breaks down the BPA and causes the tomatoes to absorb it more quickly than other foods. It is thought to be linked with things like cancer, poor egg quality, and poor sperm(!!!).

So, after reading that article I found several more articles that relate the same point. I just ordered my first canning kit, and should begin canning my first tomatoes next weekend. All our canned tomatoes are being donated and getting out of my cabinet. I'm so disgusted that I've been making "organic" sauces from "scratch" thinking that I was doing something good for my family, when all the while I've been poisoning us. Maybe it's not quite that dramatic, but I'm so irritated and annoyed at myself.

Oh well--it changes today!