Been sick and busy busy busy

Oh goodness. I know my blog has been so quiet. I am not kidding when I say I have been busy. Both kids in Gymnastics and my full into the semester as well as me getting this darn cold for what seems like forever. ( in reality its been about 3 weeks).

So thought Id give a rough rundown for you all:

First I cannot believe that I forgot to post this. I finished my first 5K. Yes me, brie, I did it. It was such an accomplishment and I am so proud of myself.

A little video for you all.



And now if you all have not been checking out my youtube channel.... which you should. Here are the last few videos I did.

ready...go







I know, I know I have yet to update for October. I am thinking what I will do is break it up into products I love instead of the boxes themselves? We will see. But hey, keep on the lookout.

oh and if you haven't already, follow me on twitter. I keep up there a bit more often. @brienicole

Meatless Monday on the fourth!

So we have been doing meatless monday for a few months now ( actually we do more than just mondays) and this holiday I wasn't sure that we would continue this tradition. Usually we BBQ on the 4th, hamburgers or some other juicy protein. So I looked into the history of meatless mondays and found it to be suprisingly patriotic.

First a little background. Going meatless at least one day a week will lower your risk for cancers, heart disease, diabetes and obesity. It also helps reduce the carbon footprint on the planet. How you ask? Well its an entire movement and if a buch of us do it.. it matters. Visit MeatlessMonday.com to find out more.

On that site I found the history of Meatless Monday.

During World War I, the U.S. Food Administration urged families to reduce consumption of key staples to aid the war effort. “Food Will Win the War,” the government proclaimed, and “Meatless Monday” and “Wheatless Wednesday” were introduced to encourage Americans to do their part.

Herbert Hoover, then head of the Food Administration, spearheaded implementation of the campaign. In addition to advertising, his office created and distributed recipe booklets and menus in newspapers, magazines and pamphlets.

The effect was overwhelming. Some 10 million families, 7,000 hotels and nearly 425,000 food dealers pledged to observe national meatless days. In November 1917, New York City hotels saved some 116 tons of meat over the course of just one week. According to a 1929 Saturday Evening Post article, “Americans began to look seriously into the question of what and how much they were eating. Lots of people discovered for the first time that they could eat less and feel no worse – frequently for the better”.

The campaign returned during World War II and beyond, when Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman used rationing to help feed war-ravaged Europe

and in 2003 the meatless monday movement resurfaced, and its growing each day.

With that, I decided that of all the days to go meatless, today was a good one! So what did I make? A delicious Quinoa stir fry.

Started with some beautiful veggies




While those cooked (sauteed (sp?) a bit I cooked the Quinoa *just look at that mmmmmmm


then I seasoned the veggies and tossed in the quinoa, and look at the beautiful dish that came out of it.. served with a sangria on the side.. delicious meatless monday meal.

Adventures in Canning.

I couldn't take it anymore, I had to try and can. I have to wait 24 hours and see if it sets, but as of now sadly the jam is still syrup.

well lets begin.

First I cut the berries

 Then we chopped a bit

She was so excited to help

mixed with the pectin

While that boiled, I sterilized my jars

you can see it in full boil here

Then poured it into the jars

while I did that, little miss was busy with the spoon!

Then in goes the jars 

Boiled to seal and preserve 

The final product Sam got to name!

 Heres to hoping it will be a jam not a syrup:(

Summer!

I'm way to wedding'd out to even start the wedding photos. So today I blog about summer. While its supposed to be a relaxing vacation, I still find myself busier than ever. The head doesn't help either. Having and AI disease, the heat exasperates it and causes what I like to call flare ups. My body aches and I get over exhausted and end up spending the day in bed if I over heat. So I'm really trying to stay cool. No AC in either car stinks though, because driving anywhere just wipes me out. If I remain indoors, or in the shade ( if cool enough) I do okay.

Anyhow, speaking of busy. Sam started his summer school this week. He is enrolled in the Nevada Virtual Academy and they have different classes the kids can take throuout the summer. This weeks theme is art. He is learning all about the different types of art, ( expressionism etc...) Then they submit some artwork and it gets displayed the next day to the whole class ( about 250 kids). He loves it. He gets to do it in his jammies which he thinks is awesome!

You cant tell, but the teacher is speaking through the mic. 

 here the teacher was telling him to relax his eyes! 

Next week is another theme...cant wait to see what it is.

Now also this summer I have decided to give canning a try, Im super nervous and have NO clue what I'm doing. Im hoping to find some friends to do it with me too. But to make things easier I got a great party to host and here are some things that were included.

Im hoping to make some Jams and Tomato sauces to start, we tend to use those things in our house the most. I know its cheaper to buy the already pre made jellies and sauces, but if I can make my own and know what goes in it and where the food came from ( local farm!) it would be even better. And if I get good. Yummy gifts!

Quick update before the weekend begins!

Its going to be a crazy busy weekend here. My little sister is getting married tomorrow! We've been planning this day for a year and now its finally here. Im excited for them and excited for it to be over and to get back into the swing of things. We have rehearsal today and then family BBQ on Saturday with all the family in town, but this includes swimming in moms pool so that's even better. Then fathers Day on Sunday. Wheeww.

We've actually been doing well at the family dinners, the goal was once this week, but It was twice. I made delicious Carrot, Garlic, Rosemary, Lemon Thyme Orszo ( seen in photo) and some roasted potatoes and artichokes. ( we had other things obviously..but those were the family table ones).

With this week being so busy its been hard, We are eating out 2 times this week. Sunday and Monday were good, Tue we had a pizza party for Sams little league, so that sucked. then Yesterday it was subs and tonight and tomorrow its wedding food. Although I am very excited that the place we are eating serves Organic meats! woo hooo! Also, its farmers market season and Im going to take advantage of that! (even though Ill miss tonights) Im going to try and make the saturday morning one if I can get myself out of bed in time from the wedding night.. haha. I still will have sunday too I guess if I miss it. 

Some useful information on GMOs

What about the politics behind it? Did you know that corporations like Monsanto have a patent on those GM seeds, and if your plant cross pollinates with it on purpose or not, Monsanto then owns your plant, if your livestock ingests that seed ( or plant), Monsanto then owns your livestock. How close do you think we are to Monsanto saying that if YOU ingest that seed they own you? Its not to far off. How can it be OK to patent life? Did you know that it was intentionally left out of the constitution on moral grounds? Think about it.... I can go on and on, but really, the only way for you to really know the truth is to read it for yourself. Or watch it! There are some great documentaries, and even research articles on this subject. Oh the power of Google!

Recent polls across the world have consistently shown that, if they had a choice, 90% of people would actively seek to avoid GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in their food.

Unfortunately, GMOs are taking over our farmland so quickly, it is virtually impossible to avoid eating GM foods... unless you know what to look for:

HOW TO AVOID GMO FOODS:

1. Look at the stickers on fruit - there is a PLU code with either 4 or 5 numbers. If your fruit's label has 4 numbers, it is conventionally grown. 5 numbers starting with a 9 means it was organically grown, and 5 numbers starting with an 8 means GMO.

2. Buy local & talk to your farmers - this is the best way to ensure you're eating real foods. It's estimated that up to 85% of pre-packaged and processed foods contain GMOs, so buying fresh from the farm is a great way to avoid that.

3. Avoid the Top Four GMO Crops of Soy, Corn, Canola and Cottonseed - most blended oils in North America contain canola and cottonseed. Replacing these with 100% extra virgin olive oil is a safe alternative.

4. Encourage your favorite food providers to label their food GMO-free. We don't need the government to force companies to label their foods, and we're seeing more and more that we as consumers have tremendous power, and if enough of us ask for GMO-free labels, and support the companies that use them, we'll see a huge increase in labeling. And we're already starting to see this.

Get to know the companies that are labeling their foods GMO-free.

5. Buy Organically Grown Food - For now, the organic certification process is a relatively safe bet to ensure your food is free of GMOs, although this may not be the case in the future. Help support global sustainability by purchasing certified organically grown food.

6. Conventional Sugar - Over 90% of this year's sugar beet harvest will be Monsanto's GM Roundup-Ready Sugar Beet. That means if you are using sugar, or eating anything with sugar in it, you're eating GMOs. Alternatives to sugar are listed here.

7. Grow your own food - Plant a garden using heirloom seeds! (thanks to Amy31415 on YouTube for pointing out this important tip!)

(taken from http://bytestyle.tv/content/top-6-ways-identify-avoid-gmo-foods I encourage you to click this link and read more! I bet there are things you eat everyday that you didn't know were GM. )

Family Dinner

So I was watching Jamie Olivers food revolution and not only do I love the show but certain things hit hard. I know that the change we made at the beginning of this year was the right thing for our family and recently we've been so busy that we let that slack. NO MORE! On tonight's episode he talked about having family meals. We just don't do that often. I'm usually eating in front of the computer, kids at the table and tom with them.. mostly then Its my fault. I feel like I'm too busy and need to multitask, eat and work, my kids are too young to get the family table so why bother... etc.. you know EXCUSES! So tonight as I write this I made the decision (with my husband) that we for now will start with one night a week having a family dinner at the table. The way it should be. I can work from there, but it has got to start somewhere right?

and on that note, we need to get back to the way we used to feel about food when this journey started, We were so concerned about hurting peoples feelings that we got lazy, and so we started adding the GMO foods back in, then it was the excuse of well we already did that so a little drive thru treat wont be bad.. but then it just piles up and before you know it, the whole week has gone to crap.Our health has gone to crap, our energy has gone to crap and we just plain ol feel ucky!

NO MORE.

It starts now, I fully believe in my heart of hearts that Gods desire is for my family to eat the food he gave us, not the GMO stuff that isn't healthy and in fact the effects are so unknown and recently shown to cause birth defects. How severe is yet to be determined. I will NOT let my children learn about food the way we did, I didn't know where my food came from, I didn't know what the ingredients on the box were? I want better for my kids and I'm going to do just that. This is my blog to remind me to STAY THE PATH.

Keep reading, and PLEASE keep encouraging me on this journey. I know its not an easy one but If God could bring be through drug addiction, abuse, and infertility he can get me through this! YES HE CAN. ( he he get it )