Mustard Seed Sale and Giveaway

You already know that I’m into eating local. And that we try to avoid artificial, processed foods. And that I will support a local business over a chain any time I can. That’s nothing new. So last year when Matilda started taking ballet in Solon we were thrilled to discover Mustard Seed Market right around the corner from her studio. We started shopping there every week while she was in class.

If you don’t already know about Mustard Seed think of it like locally-owned Whole Foods. But better because they’re a local, family-owned business and have been in the community for 30 years. They believe that “Real Food is Good Food” and everything in their stores lives up to these standards:

- Free of Artificial Flavorings and Colorings
- Free of Harmful Chemical Preservatives
- Free of Saccharin and Aspartame
- Free of High Fructose Corn Syrup
- Free of Partially Hydrogenated Oils
- Free of Bleached or Bromated Flour
- Free from Irradiation
- Hormone-Free and Routine Antibiotic-Free Meat
- Cruelty-Free Cosmetics

This means I don’t have to read labels as closely because I know that the things we avoid are not even allowed through the doors. And that makes shopping so much easier.

Since I already shop at and love Mustard Seed I was excited to be invited to tour the Mustard Seed Market in Solon with Abraham Nabors, a second-generation owner of the the business.

So, what new things did I learn from my tour?

- Mustard Seed Market gets much of their seasonal produce from local farms (many of them Amish). In fact, 25 years ago Mustard Seed owner Phillip Nabors worked with area farmers to go organic. Amazingly, for 3 years he paid organic prices for conventional and transitional produce, which assisted the farms in paying for the work and paperwork it takes to become USDA Certified Organic.

- At Mustard Seed “local” = produced in Ohio.

- If you sign up for their weekly sales newsletter you’ll also get great coupons.

- Their prepared foods are awesome. I’ve never been a big fan grocery store prepared foods – even from a gourmet grocery. But Abraham spoke so excitedly about the quality of the salmon that I gave it a try. And it was DELICOUS. Seriously. Like restaurant-quality good. I will be buying it again.

- Their supplement section is enormous and staffed with very helpful (but not pushy) associates. They also offer many free lectures and classes that are open to all. They have a real passion for education.

- If you check-in on Foursquare at Mustard Seed Market from now until June 30, you’re entered to win one of these awesome t-shirts (you can also buy one at the Market)

If you’ve never been to Mustard Seed this weekend is the time to go…They are having their biggest sale in their history on Saturday, June 11. Every regularly priced item is 20% off for one day only:


Here’s the Giveaway: Win a $25 gift certificate to Mustard Seed Market (good at either location):

1) Follow @MustardSeedMrkt*

2) Tweet the following phrase: I heard it from @kakaty: Sat June 11th Get 20% Off @MustardSeedMrkt Click for Details http://bit.ly/jES4ST#MSM20%OFF pls RT!

No purchase necessary. The contest closes on June 11 at 6pm, at which time Mustard Seed Market will select and notify you via Twitter DM if you are a winner. You can enter once per day (Thurs, Fri & Sat) and the only way to enter is through Twitter. All entries must include the full phrase and hashtag; RTs are ok. *You must follow @MustardSeedMrkt so they can DM you if you win.

Good luck!

Disclosure: I was invited to tour Mustard Seed Market and asked to promote the 20% sale and the gift certificate giveaway. I received a gift certificate to Mustard Seed Market after my tour. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

By kakaty on 09 June 2011 / 3 Comments

Tagged Reviews

The Plunge

For a very long time I have been reading the tales of others who went sugar-free, grain-free or “primal” with both awe and a feeling that I should also do that. I read a ton; AndreAnna is a big source of info as is Holly. Heidi Robb has given me many pointers and my trainer, Jen Arenschield, has supplied me with many articles about going sugar-free.  I read Mark’s Daily Apple and The Paleo Solution. For years my work email address was somehow subscribed to Dr. Joseph Mercola’s daily newsletter and once I discovered he was legit, I started reading it.

It still took me 5 months to finally take the plunge and cut out processed food, sugar and grains. May 9th was my first day. I promised myself I’d make it 10 days. On May 11th I thought I would die from my withdrawal symptoms (massive headache, extreme fatigue). I went to bed at 8:30 that night and got up the next day feeling a little better. By the end of the first 10 days there were no more headaches and while still tired, I wasn’t as fatigued. I decided I could do it for 30 days.

Now I’m 6 days shy of my 30 day goal and 21 pounds lighter. Other than the first week it wasn’t too bad. Yes, I was grumpy and a few times would have cut you for a baguette. I also had one day that all I could think about was making chocolate chip cookies and falling face first into the bowl of cookie dough. Up until this past week my energy level has been lower than usual (and I’m still up 1-2x a night with the Madman, so “usual” is pretty low), but that is starting to get better.

I’m not following any strict plan, which after years of Weight Watchers, is strange. I’m using loseit.com (and the iphone app) to journal my food; but I think once I get a handle on protein/sugar contents I will be able to back off of this tracking. I aim for 70-100g of protein and try to keep my sugar (from fruit/veggies) to below 20g. I don’t really pay attention to fat or fiber. I usually get about 1200-1500 calories a day.

A few people have asked me what I eat and how it works for the kids. Here’s my basic day:

Breakfast: eggs, smoothie or fasting.
I’ll make scrambled eggs (2 whole, 2 whites) with some veggies – spinach or red/yellow peppers, usually. If I’m on the run I’ll eat 4-6 hard boiled egg whites on the way to work. (The only reason I don’t eat the yolks is because I don’t like egg yolks if they aren’t runny).

Some mornings I’ll have a smoothie with whey protein, chia seeds, spinach and either strawberries or blueberries.  Either way my breakfast clocks in at 20-24g of protein.

If I’m not hungry in the morning I don’t force myself to eat. Often I find that I’m not hungry until 10-11 AM.

Lunch:
I make a huge salad with lettuce, other veggies, cheese and some fruit. I usually use straight balsamic as the dressing. My current favorite combo is strawberries and this amazing grass-fed organic feta from the Farmer’s Market. So delicious! Then I’ll have protein on the side. Yesterday I had 3 chicken legs. Some days it will be tuna salad, egg salad (both made with a little mayo, mustard, celery, chia seeds), or leftover protein from the night before.

Going out with coworkers isn’t that hard, either. Chipotle/Qdoba are easy – meat, veggies, guac and salsa over lettuce. Or I can have a salad with grilled chicken with oil and balsamic dressing. Or a burger without the bun.

Dinner:
This is where I thought things would get tricky and I would be making a separate dinner for myself. But that hasn’t been the case. I usually have a salad (almost always a smaller repeat of what I had for lunch because that’s what I have on-hand). Sometimes Mark will want a salad, other times he won’t. Then, since we almost always have a protein I eat that and just not the starches.

For instance, when we have burgers I have mine either with a knife & fork or wrapped in lettuce. Last night we had spaghetti and meatballs so I sautéed some diced peppers (I keep a big bag of them in the freezer) and had my meatballs covered with marinara and peppers while Matilda and Mark had their’s over pasta. Chicken, steak and pork are easy to eat without a starch. Right now Copper River salmon is in season and I could eat that every night (so could Matilda). The night we had lemon shrimp and pasta I just ate the shrimp. For them stir-fries go over rice while I skip it. Honestly, I usually eat what everyone else is eating but I just don’t eat the grains.

I have a Paleo cookbook that I haven’t even cracked yet. And there are tons of sites for paleo/primal recipes, but so far I haven’t seen the need.

Plus, I’m getting more adventurous with my vegetables. I’m not a huge fan of many of them (I will never, ever willingly eat broccoli) but I’m trying more. After years of not touching asparagus I bought some at the Farmer’s Market for $1 (hooray for being late and catching the end of the day deals) and roasted it. It wasn’t fall of your seat delicious but it wasn’t awful and I ate it without making faces. And Matilda ate a bunch, too.

I’m looking forward to both our CSA season (starts today!!) and more vegetables coming into season at the Farmer’s Market. I think I will be challenged to eat more of the good stuff.

Snacks
Almonds and blueberries are a favorite. Fresh-ground peanut butter or almond butter on celery (or off a spoon!) is another. Strawberries with cream – yum! But after the first 2 weeks my snacking needs went down. I usually have something around 3 PM and then, if I work out, something around 8-9 PM.

Drinks
I haven’t had any alcohol during this 1st 90 days but between being pregnant and nursing for 50 of the last 65 months it’s not like I’ve been drinking much in the last 5 years. I gave up Diet Coke when I got pregnant with the Madman and even though I took it back up at the beginning of the year it wasn’t that hard to quit again. I had been drinking 2 cups of coffee a day but since I can only stomach coffee with cream and lots of sugar I gave that up. Right now I drink mostly water and iced tea, which wasn’t much of a shift for me. I did, however, give up most of my milk (I love milk). But I still do have a glass of Snowville whole milk a few times a week.

Over all it’s working and I can see myself sticking with this way of eating for a long time. I’m not going to lie – on June 10th I plan on having something sweet and/or grain-full. But I can see now that when I do “cheat” it won’t be with junk… it will be with awesome artisan bread or Jeni’s Ice Cream – it will be worth the splurge. I have vague plans to eat pretty clean until our vacation in July, and then I think I’ll aim for 6 days a week with 1 “cheat day” and see how I feel. But other than then 1st 10 or so days, I’m really doing just fine. I’m happy with what I’m eating, I feel better and I don’t feel deprived.

By kakaty on 02 June 2011 / 5 Comments

Tagged general musings, I wanna be a foodie

On The Run

I can’t believe I’m doing this. But I’ve done it 4 times over the last week. Anyone that knows me knows it’s the last thing I would ever want to do.

I’m running*.

Gah! – just typing that makes me cringe. I HATE running. HATE. HATE. HATE. I always have. I think I always will.

At elementary school soccer practice I was always the kid fiddling with her shin guards and cleats so I didn’t have to do the 3-times-around-the-field running warm up. At high school soccer practice I dreaded the “suicide”** sprints our coach made us run after a lousy practice or game.  There is a reason I played fullback or goalie. In college I even took Jogging – an honest to goodness 16-week class that I got credit for – hoping that I’d learn to love running.  I didn’t. I ended up loathing every second of that class.

But, right now I can’t make it to my beloved trainer 3 times a week like I want. The thought of doing another round of 30-Day Shred or listening to Tony Horton’s cheerful encouragement in Power 90 in the unfinished basement is unbearable. So for almost 2 months I did nothing and felt like a slug.

Last week I finally loaded up the Couch to 5k app, tied on my shoes and headed out under the cover of dusk. And I survived. Although I wasn’t sure I would. The next 2 days I was in pain; like can barely walk kind of pain. But I did it 2 more times to finish the first week.

Tonight I started week 2 which, if you’re not familiar, ramps up the running time by 30 seconds each interval. I’m not going to lie – by the second run my inner dialogue went something like this: “You went through 2 labors without so much as a freaking Advil. You can run 20 more seconds, damn it!” And I did.

I’ll do it again on Saturday, then on again on Monday. Who knows – maybe by the fall I’ll sign up to run a 5k, but don’t count on it; I still hate running.

*It’s more of a jog/shuffle, really. I’m not sure anyone who saw me would call it running.
**I’m sure they’ve come up with a different name for those horrid sprints by now

 

By kakaty on 26 May 2011 / 6 Comments

Tagged general musings

Share the Shearer’s

As I mentioned before – Mark’s race was a weekend-long family affair. We were in Cincinnati for 2 nights/3 days along with my parents and other family. I have 2 rules when traveling with kids: 1) a suite or 2 regular hotel rooms are essential and 2) bring SNACKS. Lots of snacks.

Luckily not long before the race weekend Shearer’s asked me to be part of their Share the Shearer’s and try out their new line of healthier chips (in comparison to their classic Red Bag line). Ever since I learned that Shearer’s was not only a local company but one of the greenest good manufacturing plants in the world, we have made an effort to buy only their chips for parties and home. So accepting their offer was a no-brainer as I already buy their product.

It was perfect – I could stock our hotel room with snacks for us, for my parents and for other family who would be stopping by throughout the weekend. Shearer’s sent me a box of assorted chips – the new potato chips, along with several flavors of Riceworks and Shapers. The day we left I also went and picked up some grocery items like cheese, yogurt, water and fruit to round out the selection we’d have in the hotel room.

Thank goodness for the snacks! First of all, the Black Bean Salsa and Cinnamon Shapers were gone days before we hit the road. Mark and Matilda took care of those in short order. In fact we passed the cinnamon ones off as dessert a couple of times (18 grams of whole grains and low sugar in a dessert – score one for mom!). During our 4-hour drive to Cincinnati we all shared the Sea Salt Riceworks which were NOT what I was expecting from a “brown rice crisp”. They were a little nutty, salty and crunchy and quite delicious; I’m pretty sure I had way more than my share of that bag.

In the hotel room we sampled the chips with visiting family….believe me, people were more than happy to come hang out in our room! The sour cream and onion and the rippled were everyone’s favorite. And no one had any idea they were eating chips without trans fat. In fact, my mom asked for a bag of Rippled to take home – they were as good as her favorite potato chips (and that woman is a potato chip connoisseur). Mark chowed down on the BBQ and Classic flavors post-race… he said the salt was “essential” after running.

I gave the Sweet Chili and Tangy BBQ Riceworks Chips to a co-worker who is gluten-free. Later that day he not only thanked me 3 times he asked to throw one of the bags in my trash. He had eaten both bags and was embarrassed to have 2 “empties” in his own trashcan. Guess that means they were really good!

Chips aren’t a pantry staple in our house, but Shearer’s will always be our go-to when the craving hits. It’s nice to know that you can get the flavor you want without the junk you don’t want. It’s a company I’m more than happy to support.

Disclosure: Shearer’s provided chips to sample and a grocery gift card to supplement our selection for the weekend. The opinions are strictly my own.

By kakaty on 18 May 2011 / Comments Off

Tagged Cleveland, general musings, I wanna be a foodie

In Defense of a 30 Minute Meal

Foodie. Hippie. Locavore. Food Douche. Call it what you will but we, like thousands of other families, have take great strides to improve what we eat. Make more homemade. Support local agriculture. Cook more.

There’s an article by fellow Clevelander, Michael Ruhlman, that’s been making the rounds for the last year and when first I read it I nodded along in agreement. Everyone has time to cook – just not everyone makes the choice to cook.

But as it’s resurfaced and I’ve read it again, this time through the lens of a working mother of 2 kids under 5, I get defensive.

I cook a lot. I make much of what we eat from scratch. But why should it have to take an hour or more for it to be considered real cooking? In reality, if it weren’t for the “fast and easy meal” recipes from people like Jamie Oliver and – my favorite source – America’s Test Kitchen, then I would probably not cook as much as I do today.

America’s Test Kitchen – my current favorite recipe magazine

Here is our evening: I pick up Matilda from preschool, drop the carpool kid off, and walk in the door between 5:15 and 5:30 . Mark and the Madman get home between 5:30 and 5:45. The Madman goes to bed at 7:00.  That leaves -  at the most – 90 minutes for dinner to be cooked and eaten, baths to be given and, hopefully, some playtime, reading and snuggles thrown in. I imagine that this scene is played out in countless homes of working parents throughout the country.

My solution is to seek out recipes and ideas with faster cooking times and things I can do ahead. The entire family loves this Korean Beef Rice Bowl. It’s a 30-minute meal that, with a little prep (I do all the chopping, cutting and marinating the night before), can be on the table in 10 minutes. Because of this recipe and others like it, on the nights Matilda has gymnastics we can still have a healthy, real-food dinner cooked by me. We all enjoy it, it’s healthy and it makes me feel good that I made it. A really crazy night might see scrambled eggs with spinach and herbs from our garden thrown on a plate. In the few minutes it takes to cook dinner Matilda can have the table set and when the boys walk in we all sit down for dinner. 

My goal every work-week is to make 3 home-cooked meals with enough leftovers to get us through 2 more dinners. I do what I can on the weekends to make this happen. Something I learned from the 30-minute-meal type shows is to prep all the veggies as soon as I get home from the market. On the weekends I’ll roast a chicken (or 2) to use during the week or make overnight stock if my freezer stash is getting low. I’ll clean and chop and measure out all my mise en place for the 3 meals on Sunday night. I store them in tupperware, labeled with blue tape. I’ll fill a huge bowl with torn lettuce for my lunch salads and will make a big batch of tuna salad. If I’m feeling wild and crazy I’ll make my own mayonnaise, butter or bread, too. 

Some weekends I’ll even get chicken breasts from the Plum Creek Farm stand at the farmers market and will spend an hour cutting them up to make chicken nuggets to stash in the freezer for nights I don’t feel like cooking. Or I’ll make a big batch of waffles on a Sunday morning and freeze the leftovers for out-the-door breakfasts (yes, I give my kids waffles that are still-frozen…they eat them in the car). But I also never feel guilty serving my kid a store-bought nugget or waffle when the homemade supply runs out.

Listen, I do love to cook – when I have time to enjoy it. Give me a weekend with nothing pressing and I’ll make chicken pot pie, braised short ribs or a luscious lasagna from scratch. But trying to shove the meal prep or long cooking (and/or oven-heating) time into my small window of weekday evening of time with my kids is not a high priority. That’s not even mentioning the stress of trying to cook while tripping over a one year old who is reaching for the burner knobs on the stove while the 4 year old whines that she’s hungry. That is not enjoyable for anyone.

I do think that Ruhlman’s overall point is very valid: everyone has time to cook, but not everyone chooses to do so. And while I’m happy that today he has time to enjoy “carnal exertions” with his lovely wife during the hour his dinner roasts in the oven, I’m sure he remembers a little bit of what life was like when his kids were knee-high rugrats clamoring for “food! food! now!”

So please, Michael, stop making at-home 30-minute cooks feel like we are the enemy to good food. And please don’t discourage editors, publishers, producers and chefs from developing new fast meal ideas. I rely on them. In fact, I invite you over to see how I can have a rocking from-scratch meal on the table 20 minutes after I walk in the door.

By kakaty on 10 May 2011 / 10 Comments

Tagged Cleveland, I wanna be a foodie

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