Preserve your produce!

So, what do you do with your produce when you go away on a trip? If you time it just right, you can eat it before you go, but that doesn't always work. When we were gone last week, I had quite a bit of produce that we weren't able to use before we left. I have been using a couple of products since this past fall to help preserve our produce and keep it fresh longer. Our trip was a good way to put them up to a real challenge. We were actually gone for a total of 9 days. 

The two products that I've been using are Evert fresh green bags and Extra Life produce saver discs. Both of them are natural and contain no harmful chemicals. Here's how the process works. All plants begin to emit ethylene gas once they are removed from their root.  Ethylene gas, along with excessive oxygen and carbon dioxide begin to destroy the plant. Bruising, cutting, excessive moisture, and extreme temps can also be detrimental to produce and cause excess Ethylene gas production. 

The bags are impregnated with a natural mineral to help absorbs the Ethylene gas as well as the other gases. In doing this, they help preserve the life of the produce. You should never store your new produce with older produce in the bags, because that can cause the newer produce to spoil faster. The bags are reusable and need to be washed with water in between uses.  There's a bag wash you can purchase to help clean your bags. You also need to make sure your produce is dry and not sitting in water in the bags. I sometimes place a paper towel or organic coffee filter in the bottom of the bag to help absorb the moisture. The bags come in three sizes: small, medium, and large. You can buy them in variety packs as well. I love them and have noticed a huge difference in how long my things last. 

The discs, which are placed in your produce bins, help to neutralize Ethylene gas once they are activated.  They last for 3 months. 

I use both the bags and discs simultaneously and have found them to be very helpful in preserving my fruits and veggies for a longer period of time. All of my stuff was still fresh when we returned from our trip except for one green pepper. It must've had too much moisture in the bag. I didn't have a paper towel in with it and there seemed to be a lot of moisture in the bag. 9 days is long time anyway!! Everything else looked great!

Here' s a picture of my produce bins. 

Click here for the Evert Fresh website and here for the Extra Life Produce Saver website. If you live in the Madison area, I have seen the Evert bags at Willy Street Coop. So, if you have a local health food store, you may be able to find them. 

Extra Life Produce Saver.

A healthy alternative.

It seems as though I'm starting off this week preaching, "healthy alternatives" so maybe it will help you prepare for the holidays!!

As I mentioned yesterday, I consume about 80-90% of my meals raw. Some days are higher than others. I frequent our local food coop like snow plows frequent the streets of this frozen tundra (Wisconsin). Sadly, it's probably one of my favorite things to do. I'm often there around lunch time(funny how that happens), and can't pass on one of my favorite sandwiches. I'm telling you this, so you can see that there are plenty of healthy choices out there when you can't maintain a 100% raw diet, or just don't want too. It's a vegetable sandwich with a sun dried tomato dressing. It has roasted red bell peppers, tomato, mixed greens, alfalfa sprouts, cucumbers, and red onion. This particular sandwich can be made on gluten free bread, which I think is a healthier option. It is so delicious! Shockingly enough, my son actually eats several bites every time I get it. I don't think most 2-year olds like alfalfa sprouts and onions, but he doesn't seem to mind. He tends to want things that my husband and I are eating, which is great if he's not wanting my husband occasional pop! "pop,pop,pop." Almost makes me cringe thinking about it!

So, this is even something that can be made at home with any veggies you have in the frig. Don't get down on yourself if you aren't perfect when trying to eat raw. Just make smart choices, and if you slip up, get back on track!

Parties, Parties

Well, I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I spent mine, hosting a bridal shower on Saturday, followed by a dinner out. We then went to a comedy club right off the square in downtown Madison, which was actually quite funny! Hmmm, imagine that! It was absolutely freezing out, so walking around the square to get from place to place was quite cold! I'm just grateful there's no snow yet. Sorry to you snow lovers out there, I am not one of you!

Anyway, it's always a bit challenging maintaining a raw food diet when you have events like this that are unavoidable. I can honestly say that I follow my advice as I posted on Friday and just do my best! Fortunately, we served raw veggies and fruit kabobs, so I had plenty of those at the shower. I also drank lots of water with lemon in it to help my body stay more alkaline. I still promise to blog about the whole Ph and acidity vs. alkalinity soon!  I had ordered some pretty amazing cake from a local bakery, so I did partake in that, but it was a small piece!!

 At the restaurant on Saturday night, Jolly Bob's,  I was fully expecting to just order some type of salad and stay away from a huge chunk of meat! The serve a Caribbean inspired menu. I ended up finding a jicama and orange salad that was actually amazing! It was just sliced up jicama with mandarin oranges and some seasonings. It had some type of very spicy vinaigrette, but I really enjoyed it. I also had a bowl of a mushroom bisque soup, that was meat free, however it was cooked. For a dinner out, that was pretty good. And, it only cost $7.50! Not too shabby.

 I spent the day on Sunday recovering from a great day and very little sleep Saturday night. The bridal party, along with some other friends, stayed in a hotel on the square after the nights festivities wrapped up. A hotel room with 3 other chickadees is not a great combo for restful sleep. At least not for me. I'm too light of a sleeper. I made sure to drink lots of water today, drink my raw veggie juice, took a green powdered supplement, and I ate a huge salad for dinner. The weekend was well worth it and a weekend we will always remember!

Today, is another very special party! This one is a private family (just the 3 of us) party for our son's 2nd birthday! These kinds of small family parties are much easier to control in terms of food choices. I haven't come up with the menu for tonight yet, but I'm working on it. It's very possible we may have a mixed raw/cooked meal, but we shall see!

My main reason for sharing my weekend with you is to let you know that you don't have to be perfect every single day! I eat about 80-90% raw with some days at 100%, and I still have those "not so great days" every once in a while.  So, if you have parties coming up for the holidays,  remember to make smart food choices!   If you don't or can't for some reason, don't feel so defeated you stop with your goals altogether. Just get back on your plan ASAP!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET BABY!!!!