Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

London

Serious jet lag haze obscured our entire first day in London.  We basically walked around a lot, trying not to fall asleep anytime we sat down.  I also spent some time walking around with tears streaming down my face, because the day would not have been complete without a fatigue and low blood sugar induced breakdown.

Fortunately, even in our haze, we avoided being hit by one of those crazy drivers driving on the wrong side of the road, and our remaining two-and-a-half days in London were enjoyable.  We spent a fabulous (though foot killing) day at the Kew Botanic Gardens, visited a number of parks, and found some decent food.

I particularly enjoyed the preferred mode of transportation for the 3-8 year-old crowd – the scooter.  Perfect for helping little legs keep up with big legs in a pedestrian environment.

In case the environmental impact of the flight itself weren’t enough

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, which is great, because I really don’t want to waste brain power writing much about the airplane “meals.”  In short, the tray contained as much plastic as food, and that’s being generous and not putting any of the food in the plastic category.  The flight attendant was quite annoyed when I insisted on returning the plastic wrapped plastic utensils and the bottled water.

Fortunately, the food did get better after this, though it was not always amazing, and I was not pleased with the scarcity of whole grains and vegetables throughout the trip.  Suffice it to say that I am very glad to be back in the kitchen!

Between the ridiculous amount of plastic waste involved and the uninspiring food, we passed on the meals altogether on the return flight, opting instead for the pizza we purchased the night before.

There’s no place like home

Before trip
Three weeks later . . . in Rome

All of the sudden, I look significantly more pregnant.  So what changed?  Turns out I’m having twins — my regular baby, plus an Italian food baby 😉

Right now I’m enjoying being home and trying to recover from some bug that manifested itself partway through the return flight from Rome [glares at the woman on the plane who had that nasty phlegmy cough — yes, I blame you, although realistically I must have been exposed to something prior to the flight].

The trip was great, and, of course, I made many observations on the green and not-so-green aspects we encountered on our travels, which I’ll be sharing here in the coming days and weeks.

Ciao for now!

Biking with babies

After a bit of initial research on biking with babies, I was somewhat resigned to spending the first nine to twelve months postpartum traveling either by foot, p-trans, or car, except for the rare occasions I ventured out without baby.  The idea that a young infant could not be safely transported by bicycle, when we give no thought to putting them in cars, seemed quite ludicrous to me, but I couldn’t find much information on safe options.

Then I saw the “Cycling with Children” post on Simply Bike, which inspired me to dig a little deeper.  The author and I are both pregnant with our firsts, and we’re at about the same stage in our pregnancies.  S linked to an article in Momentum magazine, which featured this great quote:

Todd Litman, founder and executive director of the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute. who started cycling with his oldest son when he was just days old, addressed the risk.  He said: “There is no reason why, if a child is able to be carried in a car, they shouldn’t be able to be carried in a bicycle trailer.  A lot of people overlook the risks and stresses associated with driving, but make a big deal about bicycling.”

Finally, a voice of reason!  Now the question is not if, but how.  So far, these resources seem helpful:

And there is a decent chance a new bike purchase may be in our future, as most sources recommend some form of cargo bike rather than just adding a trailer to a regular bicycle.

Three cargo bikes I’m drooling over:

I’m not 100% sold on a cargo bike over a trailer, and I still have lots of questions, but at least I’m more hopeful that baby and I can get around by bike this fall, which makes this mama-to-be quite happy 🙂

Update (March 2, 2013)
Check out these posts to see our current set-up for biking now that our little dude is part of the picture:

Tofu with peanut sauce

Peanut sauce inspired by this recipe from Daily Garnish.  I use peanut butter instead of peanut flour, but everything else works out pretty much the same.

The basics:

  • Make peanut sauce.
  • Cut a 14-16oz. block of extra firm tofu into cubes (24 cubes, in this case, if you were curious).  Cook tofu separately from other ingredients.  Slow is the key.  (See notes on tofu cooking below.)
  • Toss cooked tofu with about half of the peanut sauce.  Reserve remaining sauce for the veggies.
  • Prep any veggies you want.  I used carrots, Napa cabbage, and garlic in this dish, plus fresh green onions for topping.  After the tofu came out of the skillet, I tossed the veggies in for a quick stir-fry with a bit of oil and a splash of soy sauce.  Top with remaining peanut sauce.
  • Serve over rice or noodles.  For dinner, we ate this over our homemade noodles, dressed up with a bit of sesame oil.

The Tofu

Prior to this meal, I relied on my non-stick pan for perfectly cooked tofu cubes.  With the addition of a 15-inch cast iron skillet, plus some stainless steel pots, we’ve really minimized our reliance on our two remaining non-stick pans.

Still, I originally reached for the big non-stick pan, afraid the tofu would stick too much in the cast iron unless I used TONS of oil.  But what fun is dinner without a little experimentation?

I cooked the tofu in the big cast iron skillet by itself.  I coated my tofu cubes in peanut and canola oil, and also added some of both kinds of oil directly to the skillet.  In the end, I did use a good bit of oil, but it still fell within my acceptable range, and, most importantly, it left me with delicious, crunchy tofu cubes, no sticking, and no chemical-coated pan required!

For an in-depth “Tofu Tutorial,” also courtesy of the Daily Garnish, click here.