Healthy Fats and Oils, Part One

The following post is a guest article written by my friend, Sarah Kamps.  She and I have had many conversations recently about improving our families' diets.  Healthy fats/oils is a topic that I don't know much about (yet!), but it's a topic on which Sarah has done a LOT of research.  Read on to discover what she's learned...and what she's teaching me!

Coconut oil has been making headlines lately.  It is creating a buzz in the health food world because of its many health benefits, such as:

• maintaining cholesterol levels
• improving weight loss
• increasing immunity
• dental and skin care

All About CSAs, Part Two

I've already talked about why we love our CSA.  But I'm adding a "BUT" here.  I can't really say these are "negatives" or "cons", but just a word of caution.

**To find a CSA near you, check out Local Harvest's website, where you can search by zipcode or city and state!

All About CSAs, Part One

(photo source)

I've talked about CSAs a few times on this blog, but usually just in passing.  Spring Clean Your Eating Habits is a good time to explain the concept more in depth...because joining a CSA definitely helped us eat more healthfully!  I'll give you the facts, and then share my experience and opinions.  

Perfect Guacamole

(This recipe is posted in conjunction with April's theme, Spring Clean Your Eating Habits.  It's also posted in conjunction with the 4/14/13 Meijer ad, where you can find avocados on sale!)

My family eats a LOT of guacamole.  Everyone loves it, even the 3-year-old.  Case in point:  tonight, she didn't want to eat her rice, but when I suggested that she mix some "guac" into her rice, she was all over that...and the rice was gone in two minutes.  I used to make guacamole by smashing up two avocados with a packet of guacamole spice mix.  (And admittedly, sometimes I still do.)  And we loved it.  But since we're trying to consume less processed foods, I figured I could do better.  Because that spice packet doesn't just have spices in it...it also has "corn maltodextrin" and "corn syrup solids".  Sigh.