Christina Butter

Antioxidants & Allergies

August 28, 2010

Happy Weekend!

Sorry I’m only posting once a week – I gotta get back in the routine! I’ve also been slacking with remembering to take pictures so all I have is cucumber salad. With the amount of cucumbers I have it’s all I’ve been eating!

My lunch yesterday was so simple that I can steal pictures online of what it exactly looked like:

Yes, an organic potato with Smart Balance “butter” and cherry tomatoes from the garden. I think my coworkers are starting to think I’m a bit weird. Maybe now that I have a job I should finally start doing my own food shopping again…

To supplement these delicious lunches, I’ve been having a bottle of POM juice each day that Ryan from POM Wonderful sent me to try.

At 170 calories and crazy high in antioxidants, I was excited to have a whole supply to last me for a little while. Unfortunately, it turns out I’m allergic to it! I got a rash on my stomach last weekend and it didn’t seem to be going away. Since I had been drinking a bottle a day and skipped it yesterday and wahlah, rash gone. It’s my only allergy that I’m aware of so I’m okay with it being Pom. I’m not a big juice drinker anyways and my family will be more than happy to finish my stock off for me

There is another new antioxidant drink I’ve taken a liking to that I’m not allergic to! Almond milk is so popular at my local grocery store that my Dad brought home the dark chocolate version the other day because it was all that was left.

It’s pure chocolate bliss! And compared to actually chocolate milk, it’s nutritional value is pretty good.

Tomorrow I’m hosting a birthday dinner for my Mom and brother, who are turning 50 and 27 respectively. And guess what I’m making? Eggplant Parmesan! My eggplant could definitely feed a crowd. I’m also going to make tomato sauce from scratch with all my garden tomatoes so that they don’t go bad. Now if only I could make my own cheese it’d be a completely homegrown meal. I already asked my Dad though, and he won’t let me get a cow

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Question: What would you love to be able to produce on your own? I really want to get chickens to have my own hormone/cage free eggs!

Tags: garden, lunch, POM

Posted in: Food, Gardening, Lunch, Product Review – 8 Comments

Prized Produce

August 22, 2010

Hey there!

Camp ended yesterday. Woo hoo! We all celebrated, of course, with homemade cupcakes.

Complete with our camp logo in the middle My coworker Kenny is a talented baker! I never told them about my blog so I couldn’t get an up close shot but believe me, they were good!

I’ve actually been trying to cut back on sweets though, so I’ve been putting my homegrown produce to good use. We have TONS of cucumbers so cucumber salad seemed like a logical choice. I just tossed cucumber and tomatoes with some Italian dressing and sprinkled it with sunflower seeds.

With a side of grilled eggplant and bulgur, which was a last minute choice but the beauty of it is that it’s so quick to make, 5 to 10 minutes and you’re done.

While we’re talking about eggplant, let me just show you my prized crop.

A 3 pound eggplant!

My green thumb is finally working its magic Now the question is, what shall I make with it? It has to be something good!

Question: What’s your favorite eggplant recipe?

Tags: cucumber salad, cupcakes, eggplant

Posted in: Food, Gardening, Lunch, Snack – 13 Comments

End of Summer

August 15, 2010

Happy Lazy Sunday!

Can you believe we’re halfway through August already? Where did the summer go?! I’ve seemed to have missed it. I’m making sure to get it my fair share of summer fruit before the cold front comes in.

And yes, I did make the river of blueberries purposely It’s fun to play with food.

I also been blending up a lot of smoothies. My favorite was a mango pineapple one. Into the blender:

1 mango
1 cup of pineapple chunks
1 tbsp pineapple juice
1 cup of ice

Throughout the hectic summer, I’ve still been making sure to be home for pizza night. Last night was whole wheat crust with kale, tomatoes, and mushrooms.

The tomatoes are from my garden. I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again: if you don’t have a garden, make one! Even if you don’t have a lot of room, you can grow at least a few plants in pots. It’s so worth it for the produce you get. This year I even grew everything organically from seed.