By Eliza Cross, on March 18th, 2013%
Last week, regular artichokes were $1.99 at my local grocery store. The conventionally-grown chokes were blemish-free, uniformly sized and overall quite appealing – both visually and financially.
Organic artichokes, on the other hand, were $3.99. These green globes were different shapes and sizes, and the outer leaves were split and covered with brown spots (see above). In other words, they were ugly - and twice as expensive as the non-organics.
Organic or regular? Spend four bucks or two? Beauty or purity? My conundrum is a perfect example of the difficult decisions many of us make during every trip to the store. Do we try to save money and buy conventionally-grown food? Or do we spend a bit more and ignore the flaws, for good food that’s not doused with fertilizers and sprayed with pesticides? What if we’re broke and we don’t really have a choice?
I was feeling flush, so I decided to go with the gnarly organic artichoke. After I peeled the outer leaves off and trimmed off the top, it looked pretty again.
After a five minute cook in the microwave, the artichoke was ready to eat. That’s when I was glad I bought the pricy choke. The flavor was creamy and sweet, with none of the bitterness we’ve sometimes encountered in conventionally-grown varieties.
The fastest, easiest way to steam an artichoke
Cooking an artichoke in the microwave preserves more of its pretty green color than boiling, and it’s super-fast, too. Here’s how to do it:
Wash the artichoke thoroughly in a bowl of warm water, spreading the leaves a little to get any hidden dirt out. Rinse well. If needed, slice off a little of the stem so it will sit flat. Pull off the measley little leaves around the stem, and cut off the top half-inch or so with your sharp knife. I also like to cut off the sharp thorny tips of the leaves with kitchen scissors, but that’s optional. Dunk the artichoke in a bowl of water to which you’ve added a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (or 1 teaspoon of bottled lemon juice); this will help the artichoke stay nice and green and not discolor. If you don’t have any lemon juice on hand, you can substitute a little white or cider vinegar, or just skip this step.
Put 2 tablespoons of hot water in a microwave-safe casserole dish – the smallest size you have that the artichoke will fit in. Set the artichoke on its base and cover with the lid. Microwave on high for about 5 minutes. Let it cool, still covered, for about five minutes. Remove the lid and test one of the leaves. If it comes off easily, it’s done. If not, cook it on high for another 60 to 90 seconds. When the artichoke is done, serve it right away. If you like, you can accompany it with a squeeze of fresh lemon or a dish of melted butter. After you’ve pulled off and enjoyed the bottom part of all the leaves, you can scrape off the downy “choke” in the center with a sharp knife and eat the artichoke heart. I usually cut the artichoke heart in eighths and serve the little wedges on toothpicks when we’ve finished the artichoke leaves.
If you can relate to my organic/non-organic dilemma, the Daily Green recently updated its list of the Dirty Dozen, twelve fruits and vegetables to eat organic due to the high pesticide levels in their traditionally-grown form.
Artichokes didn’t make the list, which includes:
- Apples
- Celery
- Strawberries
- Peaches
- Spinach
- Imported Nectarines
- Imported Grapes
- Sweet bell peppers
- Potatoes
- Blueberries
- Lettuce
- Kale
I printed the list and tucked it in my wallet so I can make an informed decision at the grocery store, and I’ll still try to buy those good, gnarly organic foods whenever I can.
How about you – have you experienced a similar quandry and had to choose between high-priced, sometimes-gnarly organics and cheaper, flawless traditional foods? Where do you draw the line? I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.
Hugs,
Eliza Cross is a full-time writer and the author of five books about home design and food. She has been blogging about simplicity and sustainable living since 2006.
By Eliza Cross, on March 10th, 2013%
 Photo: Mats Lindh What?!
Who thinks about the holidays in March? Have I finally lost my marbles?
I wouldn’t blame you for thinking so, unless perhaps you participated in last year’s “All Done By December One” holiday initiative. Happy Simple Living sponsored our group effort to simplify and get organized earlier so we could actually enjoy the holiday season. Read what one participant had to say:
“All Done By December One was AMAZING in my life! Thank you so much for posting it. I did not get everything done but I scaled down a LOT of unnecessary things, and I am so happy and having so much fun this year for the first time in a long, long time! Thank you! I have most of my shopping done, and everything that is bought is wrapped and ready to go. Skipped Christmas cards and only put up minimal decor. VERY liberating!” ~ Christina
I realize it might sound kinda nuts to some folks, but if we take some little baby steps in the coming months to get a jump on things, the 2013 holiday season might be even sweeter. Along with scaling back and simplifying, here are some ideas:
1. Start a gift list, and write down any suggestions or ideas that arise during the year. For instance, if you’re browsing in a store and your sister admires something, make a note or even snap a quick photo of the item.
2. Make or buy a few gifts in the coming months, and tuck them away. Does your library host an annual used book sale like ours does? This can be a great place to snag some gifts for the book-lovers in your life.
 Photo: TRF Mr. Hyde 3. Collect stocking stuffers. If you order a few free samples every week from sites like ILoveFreeStuff or Shop4Freebies, you’ll have plenty of little goodies by December 1.
4. Accumulate free gift cards. Last year I discovered Swagbucks, a search site with free rewards for gift cards and other goodies like PayPal credit. You can also earn bucks by watching videos (handy if you’re stuck on hold), filling out surveys and referring others. I try to remember to use Swagbucks as my primary search engine, and it’s already netted us several free Amazon gift cards.
5. Save recipes, holiday decorating tips and craft ideas on a dedicated board on Pinterest. (My holiday board is Happy Simple Holidays.)
6. Tuck away a little money. The $5 Bill Savings Plan is an easy, painless way to save for the holidays.
7. Watch for opportunities to take a fun family photo for the Christmas card. While you’re at it, jot down memories for the Christmas letter.
How about you? Do you start knitting sweaters and buying a few gifts long before the holidays, or do you prefer to wait until it’s closer to the season? Perhaps you’re thinking about skipping the trappings altogether. (Read about the McDonalds’ real simple Christmas here.) Whichever camp you’re in, we’d all love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
Fa la la la la la la la la,
P.S. Have you entered to win a free copy of the book The Ultimate Guide to Permaculture yet? The drawing is open until midnight MST on Tuesday, March 12.
Eliza Cross is a full-time writer and the author of five books about home design and food. She has been blogging about simplicity and sustainable living since 2006.
By Eliza Cross, on March 5th, 2013%
I’ve learned much about permaculture after reading a very interesting book. Permaculture is a method of growing food and building homes in a manner that works with nature instead of against it.
Author Nicole Faires has written a hands-on guide that takes the reader through every step of the permaculture process. The book is divided into nine sections:
- Overview
- Energy
- Water
- Homes and shelter
- Gardens
- Cooking and preserving
- Zones
- Community
- Plants
Faires lays out a common-sense approach for sustainable living, and while some of the ideas aren’t applicable to those of us who live in urban areas (how to build an underground house or breed cattle, for example), the ideas are nonetheless fascinating and interesting to read.
Maybe because it snowed again in Colorado yesterday I’ve been in full-out garden dreaming mode, so the gardening sections in this book were especially interesting to me. Faires includes an extensive list of plants to consider for your own homestead, from perennial food crops to interesting edibles like JuJuBe and quinoa.
She also includes a very useful 16-page chart of companion planting ideas. The idea is to group plants in communities or guilds, taking advantage of their growing tendencies and the way they use nutrients, so that the plants support each other. It’s a concept that seems so simple and smart – but one which, admittedly, I’ve rarely considered other than in terms of aesthetics.
If you’re interested in learning more about self-reliance and living off the land, the book is packed with ideas, illustrations, photos and tips for topics like worm farming, designing a greenhouse, conserving water, extending the growing season, cold storage, building a chicken coop, composting, preserving food, finding your right career and much more.
The Ultimate Guide to Permaculture is 330 pages and retails for $16.95 USD. Skyhorse Publishing has generously provided a complimentary copy for one lucky HappySimpleLiving.com reader.
To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below and answer the question “What is one step you would like to take towards sustainability or self-sufficiency in the next 18 months?” The giveaway closes next Tuesday March 12 at midnight MST, and is open to US residents.
Hugs,
Eliza Cross is a full-time writer and the author of five books about home design and food. She has been blogging about simplicity and sustainable living since 2006.
By Eliza Cross, on March 2nd, 2013%
 Photo: Hamed Saber If you’re reading this blog, you likely share some of my same hopes and dreams for a simpler life. For me, the good stewardship of money is intrinsically tied to true simple living. If you participated in the January Money Diet you know that personal finance is one of my favorite topics, and I’ve compiled a list of simple money strategies that work for me:
1. Don’t spend money you don’t have. Ignore all the offers for free 12-month financing and buy now, pay later deals. If you really, really want something that you can’t afford now, simply save to buy it. While you’re saving and waiting, you can research all of your buying options and find the very best price and terms. Often when I do this, I discover a better alternative or realize that I don’t even really want or need the item after all.
2. Stop using your credit card(s). I finally started getting credit card debt under control when I took the cards out of my wallet and locked them in a drawer. Now I pay cash, write a check or use my debit card. Could you do the same? If a friend asks you to dinner and you don’t have enough in your checking account to cover it, invite your friend over for dinner instead. Never use your credit card for incidentals like groceries or gas. Stop charging little expenses on your credit card, and after a while your balance will start to go down instead of gradually rising each month.
 3. Get out of debt. If you’ve ever been horribly in debt, as I have, you’ll relate to the Bible’s description of debt as being like a heavy old millstone around the neck – constantly weighing one down. How would it feel to really own what you own, free and clear? If you have to make sacrifices to get out of debt, keep your eye on the prize – the freedom that will come from getting rid of that millstone. I made a wall sign with our total amount owed and keep it in front of me in my office so I can stay focused on the goal. I also joined The Debt Movement.
4. Pay down your mortgage. When I was 21, I worked with a woman just a few years older than me who told me she was going to pay off her mortgage in five years. I’ll never forget what an impression it made on me, that she could dream such a big goal at a young age. She not only paid off that mortgage, she was able to buy and rent out the three other units in her building before she turned 30. Every dollar extra that you pay with your mortgage payment can reduce your principal, which can save you thousands and thousands of dollars in interest and significantly shorten your loan term. Just double-check your payment and make sure the extra amount you pay is clearly designated to apply to the principal. Begin to imagine how it would feel to own your home free and clear. People do it every day, and so can you!
5. Automate savings. If your employer has an automatic savings plan, take advantage of it. Even if you can only afford to skim off $20 a month right now, do it. Increase your savings as often and as much as you can. Soon those small amounts will add up to hundreds and thousands of dollars. Increase your savings every year. Set a goal to be your company’s biggest saver.
6. Set up a Freedom Account. The Freedom Account is a savings account for large annual expenses like HOA fees, taxes, your car’s annual registration fee and insurance payments. Simply figure out the total of those big annual payments, divide by 12, and put that amount aside each month. The fewer wild fluctuations you have in your monthly expenses each month, the easier it will be to manage your finances.
7. Set up and fund a Small Unplanned Expense Account. This account should have one or two thousand dollars in it, for smaller emergencies like unexpected car repairs or a broken appliance. No more stress over small setbacks!
8. Next, set up and fund a Large Unplanned Expense Account. Your goal should be to fund this account with about six months of living expenses, just like experts Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey recommend. Check your health insurance policy and figure out what the maximum annual out-of-pocket expense would be if you or a family member had a major health emergency. Make sure your Large Emergency Savings Account is funded with at least this amount.
 9. Don’t worry about impressing others. Living with financial peace is much sweeter than carrying a designer purse or driving a high-status automobile. Whenever I find myself musing about what others will think of this or that, I try to consciously stop what I’m doing and reframe my thoughts. The truth is that my friends don’t care at all what I drive or wear, and yours probably don’t, either.
10. Put some money in guaranteed savings. Ignore the low interest rates and keep some of your money in a safe, FDIC-insured account, and the fluctuations in the stock market won’t keep you awake at night.
11. Don’t justify spending on home improvements. It’s easy to spend a lot of cash on a house. Tread carefully in this department. Reuse, recycle, make do, and get creative.
12. Make a budget. You know the most surprising thing most people realize when they make a budget? They see how much money they actually have. Just make a simple spreadsheet and start plotting your income and the amounts you need to pay expenses and reach your savings goals. Control your money, instead of letting your money control you. The best way I know to accomplish financial goals is to make (and stick to) a budget.
13. Reduce expenses. When my daughter was just a baby, I had to return to work and put her in daycare when she was just six weeks old because we had such large monthly expenses including two car payments and a house payment – and zero money saved. How I wish we would’ve made different decisions. Whittle your monthly expenses down as much as possible. Having low overhead is one of the best ways I know to enjoy financial peace.
14. Earn more. When I was a magazine publisher, each year I had to make an annual budget and increase the profits from the previous year. I quickly learned that it was much easier to increase revenues than to cut expenses. The same is true in real life. It’s always great to trim expenses as much as possible, but I’ve found that earning more income is a faster way to reach significant financial goals.
15. Save, save, save. Save all of your coins. Try The $5 Savings Plan. If you get in a bind, follow the January Money Diet even if it’s April. The stock market goes up and down, emergencies happen, life happens, and much of the financial world can seem beyond our control at times. What we can control, however, is how much of our money we set aside and don’t fritter away. Saving money is one of those great habits like wearing sunscreen that you will never regret.
16. Keep some cash around, locked in a safe place. You never know when you might need some cash for an emergency, or when your neighbor’s tree service might be willing to trim your tree for a great price if you can offer cash. (This just happened at our house last month, and our old locust tree looks so much better after its $75 trim.)
17. Give it away. One of the best and most deeply satisfying aspects of financial control is the ability to give more. When our finances seemed especially tight a few years ago, I realized that I had become stingy about giving because I was trying to hold onto the little that we had. When I started giving again, abundance returned. It’s a wonderful paradox, and a lesson I am still learning.
 18. Seek to be content. I find that the older I get the less stuff I need or want, and yet I am still susceptible at times to the “Gimmes.” I daydream about big home improvements like solar roof panels, which leads me to thinking I’d like to get a new electric car, and while we’re at it I’d like new living room furniture, and vacations, and new clothes, and on and on and on. Learning to be content is an ongoing journey for me, and it helps me to consciously focus on thankfulness – sometimes through the practice of writing in a gratitude journal.
How do you simplify your finances? I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences and additional ideas about this most important topic. Meanwhile, my wish for each of you is overwhelming success in managing your money.
Hugs,
Eliza Cross is a full-time writer and the author of five books about home design and food. She has been blogging about simplicity and sustainable living since 2006.
By Eliza Cross, on February 24th, 2013%
If you love to garden and are looking for ways to share the joy with the kids in your life, you will love this book! Rocks, Dirt, Worms & Weeds by Jeff Hutton is packed with fun vegetable and flower gardening ideas for kids and adults.
Hutton is a writer and master gardener, and he clearly knows his stuff. The book has easy-to-follow directions and photos for kid-friendly projects like starting garden seeds indoors, transplanting seedlings, creating a strawberry pot, planting a sunflower maze, composting, attracting beneficial bugs, and keeping the garden free of weeds.
He also shares directions for fun crafts like pressing flowers, keeping a garden journal, creating a butterfly garden, painting ladybug rocks and making stepping stones.
Rocks, Dirt, Worms and Weeds is 136 pages and retails for $14.95. Skyhorse Publishing has generously provided a complimentary copy for one lucky HappySimpleLiving.com reader. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below and answer the question “What are you looking forward to growing in your garden this summer?” The giveaway will close this Wednesday evening February 27 at midnight MST, and is open to US residents.
It’s snowing here in Colorado today – a perfect day to daydream about digging in the dirt. Good luck, and I look forward to hearing your gardening plans.
Hugs,
Eliza Cross is a full-time writer and the author of five books about home design and food. She has been blogging about simplicity and sustainable living since 2006.
By Eliza Cross, on February 12th, 2013%
I thought you might like to see the Valentine’s Day floral arrangement I made for my parents. The asparagus at the store is so beautiful right now, and when I saw a bunch with purple-tinged heads I was inspired to try combining it with purple tulips.
I first trimmed the ends of the asparagus and soaked them in water overnight to allow them to get fully hydrated. I cut the ends of the tulips at an angle and put them in a separate container of water with a copper penny. (Pennies had a high copper content until 1981, so keep your eyes out for an older one that you can put in the bottom of the vase. Tulips like copper, and if you try this trick you’ll be amazed at how the tulips perk up and last longer.)
The next day, I arranged the asparagus in the vase first and then added the tulip stems. I finished it with a piece of ribbon that I tied to a toothpick and tucked near the edge of the vase. Since I already had an extra vase and the ribbon, the total cost for this bouquet was less than seven dollars – $4.99 for the tulips and $1.50 for the asparagus.
How are you celebrating Valentine’s Day this year? Here’s to a day filled with love, happiness and fun.
Hugs,
P.S. Have you entered to win this week’s book giveaway, 30 Days to Grace?
Eliza Cross is a full-time writer and the author of five books about home design and food. She has been blogging about simplicity and sustainable living since 2006.
By Eliza Cross, on February 10th, 2013%
This week’s giveaway is a special book written by Diane Sieg, a life coach, yoga instructor and professional speaker who specializes in helping people live healthy, balanced lives. She also happens to be my dear friend.
30 Days to Grace: The Practice Guide to Achieve Your Ultimate Goals explains a simple but powerful practice Diane developed: set an intention for something positive you want to achieve, and then combine daily meditation, deep breathing, yoga poses and journaling as you focus on your goal for a month.
The yoga routine presented in the book takes about 15 minutes, and it’s perfect for beginners like me but also challenging enough that advanced yogis will enjoy it, too. The meditation, journaling and deep breathing practices are both invigorating and relaxing. It’s not a religious program (in fact, I added my own prayers during the meditation part of the practice), but the ultimate goal is a heart open to grace and people have had amazing results. “I never dreamed what a positive impact this ritual would have on my life,” Elizabeth Hicks wrote on her Amazon review.
30 Days To Grace retails for $19.95, and Diane has generously donated a copy for this week’s giveaway. To enter to win it, leave a comment below with a goal you’d like to achieve in the coming weeks. It could be as big as “live debt-free” or “find a loving partner,” or as simple as “eat a healthy breakfast each morning” or “carve out a little time to read each day.”
We’ll choose one random winner from all the comments received by midnight MST this Friday, February 15. (Just a note – the book can be shipped to U.S. addresses only.) Good luck, and I look forward to your comments.
Hugs,
P.S. Congratulations to Joyce, who won last week’s book giveaway of Colorado Romance. I’ll be giving away a book each week during February, so stop back often.
Eliza Cross is a full-time writer and the author of five books about home design and food. She has been blogging about simplicity and sustainable living since 2006.
By Eliza Cross, on February 5th, 2013%
 Soft Chocolate Chip Salted Vanilla Cookies Throughout my adult life, I’ve been on a selfless, never-ending quest for the Holy Grail of chocolate chip cookie recipes. The recipe I’m about to share with you is very close to my ideal—soft, chewy, full of melty chocolate, enhanced with nice vanilla notes, and balanced with the heightened flavor kick that comes from a generous dash of sea salt. Because the cookie dough is made with pulverized oatmeal, the cookies are light brown—meaning you can easily sneak in some whole wheat flour. I used Kamut, a flour made from an ancient wheat grain, which added a nice, nutty flavor.
I’ve made a lot of changes, but the original recipe that inspired this version came from one of my very favorite cookbooks – Ann Hodgman’s Beat This. Her recipe for “The Only Chocolate Chip Cookies” was inspired by the Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe that supposedly cost some poor sucker $250 and made the internet rounds many years ago.
If you’ve been hoarding a bottle of really good vanilla, now’s the time to break it out because you’ll really notice and appreciate the flavor in these cookies. The secret to chewy, soft cookies is to slightly undercook them, and to do that you may need an oven thermometer so you can get your oven heat to just the right temperature.
Shall we get started?
Soft Chocolate Chip Salted Vanilla Cookie Recipe
- 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (1 and a third 12-ounce bags), divided
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated cane sugar
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and line a large cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.
In a food processor or blender, combine the rolled oats with 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips (reserve the remaining chocolate chips to add later). Process until the mixture is powdered.
In a the bowl of a standing mixer or a large mixing bowl with a hand-held mixer, combine the butter, sugar and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
In another mixing bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt and whisk until combined. Gradually add this flour mixture to the butter mixture while beating with the mixer. Then add the pulverized oatmeal-chocolate mixture. The dough will get pretty stiff at this point, and you may need to use your hands. Finally, add the remaining chocolate chips and combine well—and you will need to do this by hand.
Roll the dough in golf-ball sized balls and arrange on the parchment-lined cookie pan. If you’re a control freak like me you may want to flatten them just a little bit, so they’re less likely to spread into weird shapes or run into each other.
Bake for 11 minutes, quickly turning the pan around halfway during the baking process. You’ll have to have a little faith when you remove the cookies from the oven, because they might not look quite done. The tops should be covered with little cracks, and you don’t want the edges to get browned.
Put the cookie sheet on a wire cooling rack and allow the cookies to cool for about five minutes before you transfer them from the pan to finish cooling. This recipe makes about 36 cookies.
To keep the cookies soft, store them in a tightly covered container and try to eat them within 72 hours (this is never a problem in our house), when they are at their freshest and yummiest.
Isn’t a cookie jar full of homemade cookies one of life’s best pleasures?
Do you have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, or any cookie baking secrets you’d like to share? You know we’d all love to hear from you.
Happy baking and hugs,
P.S. Have you entered our Valentine’s Day giveaway yet, to win a copy of the beautiful, four-color hardback book Colorado Romance?
Eliza Cross is a full-time writer and the author of five books about home design and food. She has been blogging about simplicity and sustainable living since 2006.
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