Sheet pan dinners are a fairly easy fix it and forget it dinner. Prep everything, throw it in the oven, maybe turn things half way through, then it’s done and ready to eat without making 5 pots dirty or having to hand wash a pan because you didn’t load the dishes last night. It may have happened a few times.
Anyhoo, for this deliciousness, you will need
1.5 lb chicken breasts cubed
1 red onion cute in chunks
1/2 head broccoli cut in florets or frozen
1 lb brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves minced
Salt and pepper
Small handful fresh basil
Place cubed chicken, onion, broccoli and Brussels on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
There are so many benefits of a simple practice of drinking lemon water:
Helps digestion by stimulating and purifies the liver. Also, vitamin C is proven to decrease the risk of peptic ulcers.
Supports immune function by the vitamin c reduces the risk of respiratory infection. Anti-inflammatory and used as support for asthma.
Alkalize the body by the lemon containing citric and ascorbic acid allowing the minerals in lemons to help alkalize the blood.
Clear skin by the vitamin c and other antioxidants in lemons free the body of skin damage. Also has anti-aging benefits from protecting skin from UV exposure and environmental toxins. Lemon juice if applied topically, can help fade scars and age spots.
Promotes healing, vitamin C helps wound healing and helps to heal the bones, connective tissue, and cartilage. Vitamin C is also an essential nutrient for recovery from stress and injury.
Sometimes it’s hard to buy organic when you see conventional strawberries for $2.99 and organic is $5.99. But those seeking organic do so to avoid the pesticides sprayed on conventional produce. The good news is there are ways to save. It just takes a little time and effort.
1. Meal plan. This is crucial to stay on a budget. Be clear about exactly what’s needed including staples like spices and oil to make sure you have what you need for the week. You don’t want to discover later that you are out of olive oil so you run into the store and pick up a few other things not on your list while there.
2. Shop and meal plan around weekly sales. If items you use more frequently are on sale, consider buying more and freezing it. This is great with meats and berries that go on sale less often. I try to stick to a weekly budget but I make sure it all evens out at the end of the month. Also, pay attention to sales trends. You may notice that the first week of the month organic apples are on sale, the next week avocados are on sale, the following week frozen goods are on sale in the last week grass fed beef is on sale. Planning around and noticing these trends can help you better plan and save in the long run as well.
3. Plant a garden. Even some basic things like herbs and tomatoes can help you save. I’m pretty terrible with gardening but I do pretty well with herbs like basil and rosemary. Rosemary can even come back year after year. You can even try an indoor garden.
4. Buy local, like at a farmer’s market. Many small local farms use organic growing practices but just aren’t certified. Getting certification can be extremely expensive for a small farm which would inflate the cost of organic foods. If you get to know your farmer and know they use organic growing practices, then this can be a great way to save on organic foods.
5. Join a farm co-op or CSA. This can vary by market but check out how it works around you and see if this is less expensive than the store. You can ask about growing practices or customize your box around produce you don’t mind getting a conventional version of (like those in the Clean 15 category).
6. Buy a whole, half or 1/4 cow (or pig) and freeze the meat. You can save a lot on meat costs. Of course you may need a deep freezer, but check local sales groups and you will probably be able to find one at a good price, plus you will be able to use it for years to come and freeze soups, meals, veggies, etc.
7. Go super old school and hunt! Fill that deep freezer with venison.
8. Go meatless at least one meal a week (i.e. Meatless Monday). We’ve done this with great success and even look forward to it now. We are a meat and potatoes family, so if we can do it, anyone can! Every Monday we have salads and vary the vegetable toppings we have with it, plus we have baked potatoes too.
9. Buy foods that are in season. Strawberries are often on sale and very inexpensive in the spring into early summer and in the fall and winter are so much more expensive. Apples on the other hand are harvested in the fall and are less expensive then than in the spring. Eating in season, the produce is often more flavorful as well.
10. Buy in bulk (hello Costco) and freeze or share what you can’t use. For example, go halvies with a friend for bulk greens, or freeze half the fresh berries. Instead of prepackaged individual snacks or applesauce pouches, but the bigger bags/containers and use your own reusable containers to make smaller portions.
11. Avoid processed and prepackaged foods, opt for fresh or frozen whenever possible. Stick to the perimeter of the store. Just because a processed food says organic doesn’t mean it’s healthy. This includes buying whole carrots and peeling yourself over baby carrots, and avoiding prewashed/prepared salad kits. Same with packaged broccoli, cauliflower, etc. Doing the prep work yourself will save you money.
12. Use Ibotta for in store grocery rebates. I have use this app for a couple of years and have gotten over $1,200 back in cash rebates, and I don’t use it that often. So use it religiously and wisely and you can really rack up some great rebates. There are actually a lot of good organic /health food options. And it’s free. Rakuten is another rebate app that is great if you shop online.
13. Use grocery pick up or delivery to prevent impulse purchases. I love pick up. I avoid the temptations. Even if there is a fee, you are likely to save overall by avoiding those impulse purchases.
14. Similarly: Don’t shop hungry. Those junk food items are costly and definitely more appealing when you are hungry.
15. Check prices at Thrive or Vitacost (and don’t forget go through Ibotta or Rakuten for cash back rebates). Vitacost often has deals and they allow coupon stacking for most coupons. They have a special section on their website for promo codes on specific products. They often have overall codes (such as 15% off your total order) which will stack with other codes.
Thrive will price match. They are membership based ($60/year), but offer a free 5 year membership to teachers, first responders and more. Use this link for 40% off your first order.
17. Label leftovers with the date so they don’t go to waste. Talking to myself here too.
18. Freeze produce like berries, or fresh meat (as long as it wasn’t previously frozen) if you won’t be able to eat it before it goes bad. Some leftovers can be frozen too, like soups, or lasagna. Things come up, plans change is it sometimes we may not get to cook or eat all of the meals that we planned. You can go ahead and make the meal and freeze it (especially if the meat has previously been frozen) or just freeze the meat. For ground beef, you can just brown the meat and freeze it to use later in chili or tacos.
19. You can also use leftovers in other meals. Last night’s chili could be a baked chili potato tonight. Leftover chicken breast can be used to make chicken salad for lunches.
20. Check with your local grocery store. Sometimes you can save by buying in bulk. For example, if you buy 4lbs of ground beef, they may offer 10% off the ground beef.
21. This may seem obvious, but shop around. Most stores now offer apps which can make it much easier to compare prices. Also know which stores honor other stores prices. This will save gas money from shopping around.
22. Know which stores have their own organic brands for staples like flour, sugar, bread, etc. For example, Whole Foods has their 365 brand and Publix has a Greenwise. Not everything in these brands is organic so be sure to read labels if you want a particular item to be organic.
23. Learn how to make more food items from scratch. Making bread isn’t too terribly difficult and can’t save you a lot of money. Homemade potato chips are also amazing. Mayo, salad dressing, baked goods, can be made from scratch less expensively than store bought. Granola and granola bars aren’t too difficult to make and taste amazing. There is a season for everything, so even if you don’t have time to make from scratch now, tuck the idea away for the future. You can also make this a fun family activity and get the kids involved when time (and energy) allows.
24. If you have Amazon Prime, you get special discounts at Whole Foods. They have Prime Member Only discounts and members also receive and extra 10% off yellow tag sale prices. I have saved anywhere from a few dollars to $30 each week.
So you have decided to take a natural approach to life. Congrats!! Welcome to the ride. You may be asking yourself “now what?” And wondering where to start.
The truth is, you just need to start where you are. You may feel the need to just throw everything out, but don’t try to change everything all at once. It can be very overwhelming. Make a list of things you want to do more naturally. Prioritize your list. Choose an area you want to improve on the most. Here are some ideas:
toxin-free cleaning products
make healthier meals and choose healthier foods
ditch OTC medications for natural remedies
switch to non toxic bake and cookware
cloth diaper
toxin-free soaps and shampoo, etc.
toxin-free and pollinator friendly pest control
ditch artificial scents
use clean cosmetics
safer laundry products
reduce waste
get away from disposable products
make some of your own natural products
If you still are unsure where to start, ask yourself why you want to start this journey? Do you want to feel better? Improve your health? Or concern for the health of a family member? Leave a smaller footprint on the planet? Get outside more? That can help you narrow your focus.
Once you know what you want to improve first, research and read as much as you can so you can make the best choices for your family. I have found there is always room for growth here, so don’t stop learning and adjusting. Science is never settled.
Next, set some realistic goals for yourself. You can get as fancy or minimal about this. Some things I actually made spreadsheets for. When I started cloth diapering my husband was more concerned with if it would save us money, given a single diaper could be $20+. So I made a spreadsheet to show how much we would be saving over 2+ years of diapering, plus potentially how much we would get back from selling the diapers once we were done with them. Other areas I was not concerned about savings as it was a health decision. For something like natural remedies, I was more concerned with effectiveness than cost.
Once you have comfortably tackled one area, move to the next one on your list. Research that and make decisions. You are the boss, so go at a pace that is sustainable for you and your family.
Next week I will share how to eat organically on a budget.
Sheet pan dinners are great! Fairly quick, you only mess up one pan and nothing to really babysit. Plus you can really use your imagination.
I had chicken legs, tons of basil from the garden, potatoes in the pantry and zucchini in the fridge. I grabbed those as well as an onion and some spices and boom! Dinner was going. Here is what I did…
1.5 lbs potatoes cut into bite sized pieces
4 medium zucchini (you can use less, I just used what I had. You can also mix in yellow squash.) Cut into chunks.
Handful of grape tomatoes
1 onion sliced in chunks
Enough chicken legs for your family
2 teaspoons garlic powder or 3-4 cloves minced
1 teaspoon each salt and pepper (or to taste)
Fresh basil, 1 handful slivered
Preheat oven to 400. Arrange cut veggies on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Drizzle 2 teaspoons of olive oil over the veggies (use more if needed to coat). Sprinkle with most of the spices and toss. Arrange the chicken legs on top. Spray or use a pastry brush to thinly coat in olive oil. Use the remaining salt, pepper, garlic and basil. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Note oven temps and chicken sizes vary, so check with a meat thermometer as to not over cook. This will make the zucchini and tomatoes a little mushy, so if you prefer firmer veggies, cook those in a separate pan and put in oven about 15 minutes after the chicken, potatoes and onion.
This is easy to alter. Brussel sprouts would be so good with this as well.
Some people are not fans of the smell of vinegar but did you know it is actually really good for you?
I personally like to use it as a salad dressing or in my water with a little lemon juice.
Apple cider vinegar has various healthful properties, including antimicrobial and antioxidant effects. What’s more, evidence suggests it may offer health benefits, such as aiding weight loss, reducing cholesterol, lowering blood sugar levels, and improving the symptoms of diabetes.
Apple cider vinegar has shown great promise in improving insulin sensitivity and helping lower blood sugar responses after meals.
Vinegar can also help kill pathogens, including bacteria. People have traditionally used vinegar for cleaning and disinfecting, treating nail fungus, lice, warts, and ear infections.
Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used vinegar to clean wounds more than 2,000 years ago.
Vinegar is also a food preservative, and studies show that it inhibits bacteria like E. coli from growing in and spoiling food.
This is another term companies use to make something sound healthier than it actually is. If you knew where & exactly what “natural flavors” are derived from, well you might 🤮.
Take raspberry flavor for instance. It’s made from a beavers anal glands. Yes, you read that right.
Typically, natural flavors are made up of 80-90% chemical solvents & additives! Learn more here.
There are so many benefits of a simple practice of drinking lemon water:
Helps digestion by stimulating and purifies the liver. Also, vitamin C is proven to decrease the risk of peptic ulcers.
Supports immune function by the vitamin c reduces the risk of respiratory infection. Anti-inflammatory and used as support for asthma.
Alkalize the body by the lemon containing citric and ascorbic acid allowing the minerals in lemons to help alkalize the blood.
Clear skin by the vitamin c and other antioxidants in lemons free the body of skin damage. Also has anti-aging benefits from protecting skin from UV exposure and environmental toxins. Lemon juice if applied topically, can help fade scars and age spots.
Promotes healing, vitamin C helps wound healing and helps to heal the bones, connective tissue, and cartilage. Vitamin C is also an essential nutrient for recovery from stress and injury.
American 🇺🇸 adults consume an average of 77 grams of sugar per day 🍫 which is more than 3 times the recommended amount for women and in total equates to roughly 60 lbs of sugar annually. 🍩🍭😳
🌭 1 in 10 Americans have Type 2 Diabetes (more than 34 million adults).
🍬 1.25 million Americans have Type 1 Diabetes.
🍟 This year 1.8 million Americans will be or already have been diagnosed with cancer and of that amount 276,480 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
🍦 30.3 million Americans have heart disease and every year about 647,000 Americans die from it.
🌮 There’s a reason you can eat 7 tacos from Taco Bell without feeling full.
🍔 There’s a reason you can eat 2 burgers & a large fry from Mc Donald’s without feeling full.
🥞🍕🥙There’s a reason why you can sit down for a meal at Arby’s or Wendy’s and then thirty minutes later feel like you need to eat again.
All of those foods are loaded with processed sugar and (by design, to keep you coming back!) and because refined sugar is digested quickly, you don’t feel full when you’ve eaten. Can you say, repeat customers?
Refined sugars also cause your insulin and blood sugar levels to sky rocket and when blood sugar levels are too high that can lead to serious health problems.
Having too much sugar in your blood for extended periods of time can damage the vessels that supply blood to your organs; that can lead to health complications such as increased risk of cancer, inflammation, kidney disease, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, problems with vision, nerves & more.
It’s important that parents are monitoring how much candy/sugar their children are exposed to, especially since having too much sugar can affect your immune system.
Sugar interfers with the body’s ability to fight disease and bacteria and yeast can feed on sugar which can increase the risk of illness and infections.
That’s not what we want to see happen when we are literally heading into the colder months of the year! This is the time to be nurturing and supporting our immune system, not crashing it!
Check out this brief video of Dr. Bradford Weeks, who explains what the best foods are for preventing cancer.
As well as this video of Dr. David Jockers who explains the relationship between sugar and insulin, and how that can lead to chronic disease.
Wondering what an anti-cancer diet looks like? Here Mike Rangers explains:
How much sugar do you think you’re consuming? A healthy amount, or too much? 🍰
When I need something easy to make, vegetable soup is always a nice go to, as long as I have everything on hand of course. But the great thing about vegetable soup is you can improvise and use the vegetables you have on hand. I made this last night and it was a hit, so jotting it down here so I can repeat it in the future. This will give us about 4 meals (I froze 1 meals worth, then we will have 1 lunch and 1 dinner ready for this week. Woohoo!)
I used:
2 onions, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 box vegetable stock (organic)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp basil
1 box Pomi chopped tomatoes
4 cups of water (use more as needed)
4 cups organic mixed frozen vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots, edemame)
1 1/2 cups frozen black eyed peas
8 oz pasta (optional, but you’ll want to add a little more water if you do)
4 medium potatoes, diced
In a large stock pot, heat 2 tbls oil. Sauté onions until tender, during last minute, add the garlic. Then add vegetable stock and other ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour (or longer to let all the flavors blend together more). Next time I am going to try fresh celery (and eliminate the celery seed), and sauté with the onions. Either way, this soup was yummy!
Natural families and lifestyle 