Artificial food dyes, beautiful but ugly

A few weeks ago I received a booklet from Nutrition Action titled "Chemical Cuisine" and I read that under

  Yellow #5: "In the 1990s, FDA scientists discovered Yellow 5 was contaminated with such cancer-causing substances as benzidine and 4-aminobiphenyl (or chemicals that the body converts to those substances). In 2011, the FDA rejected a request by the Center for Science in the Public Interest to determine if the carcinogenic contaminants were still present." -Nutrition Action

OH, AND:

Yellow #6: "The same as Yellow #5, except the FDA not only refused to conduct new studies but its known to maybe cause occasional, but sometimes severe, hypersensitivity reactions." -Nutrition Action

**Yellow 5 and 6 are the 2nd and 3rd most commonly used dye in the US - Nutrition Action**

Yikes! So earlier today I was eating a bowl of cinnamon Life cereal and had the box sitting in front of me (I was reading the nutritional facts and maybe I wanted seconds..) It wasn't until I got towards the end and saw the preservatives followed by YELLOW FOOD COLORING, not just one..but two different yellow food dyes #5 and #6.

So lets start by talking about the Quaker brand and how they are trying to educate the public with their article on how to read nutritional labels:

"There is no better place to start educating oneself about the nutritional values of foods than with food nutrition labels. Many people, however, don’t know how to properly interpret the information contained in food labeling. Many food labels are also misleading or confusing, trying to hide less healthy ingredients and additives, for example." -Quaker

This seems a bit ironic. Considering in their cinnamon Life cereal they have a few less healthy ingredients..

So many companies claim their products are safe and very well tested..That is until other tests are conducted and a lot of additives end up becoming banned. 

Heres a short list of how many artificial colorings have been put on the market and then became banned.

 Butter Yellow

Green 1 and Green 2

Orange 1 and Orange 2 and Orange B

Red 1 and Red 2 and Red 4 and Red 32

Sudan 1

Violet 1

Yellow 1 and Yellow 2 and Yellow 3 and Yellow 4

I should add that they are all synthetic and banned due to huge problems. The problems were anywhere from heart damage, liver cancer, organ damage, intestinal lesions to cancer. Now, do the food and chemical industries believe that these are all safe within "moderation"? Because not only do the serving sizes on almost all products seem way smaller  than what most people actually eat, but companies throw the dye in places that don't even need it!! Honestly take a look at Life cereal, it's light brown..Why on earth would they add yellow dyes to it? Do they really believe a different shade of brown would be less appealing, causing sales to decrease? Ugh.

Now I understand that my M&M's, Skittles, Red Velvet Cakes and those brightly delicious sweets clearly contain artificial dyes. However, it's when companies decide to brighten up foods that (most likely) don't need it and many people wouldn't expect their to be food coloring in it! 

Get ready for a frustrating fact of the night:

Other countries have BANNED both yellow #5 and #6 food colorings, yet the U.S has not. (For example the UK found it causes behavioral changes in children, oh hey there ADHD...)

So how about the company KRAFT, selling Macaroni and Cheese here in the U.S adding yellow #5 and #6 to make the appearance better.

Yet over in the UK the same company KRAFT sells it (under a different name, Cheesy Pasta) but they don't have those Yellow food colorings in it. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that they look almost identical..

It's a shame that these synthetic coloring are dying all of our food (This is not just a yellow dye problem, either). Has anyone ever though about using natural dyes to enhance the look of their food? Oh wait..Here comes thee most frustrating fact of the night:

Companies are using natural dyes in places other than the US because they have banned them, but they use synthetic dyes here. And yes this is true for US based companies. :/ I'm talking to you M&MS! 

I want my kids to enjoy candy (especially since it's halloween time!) but it's so frustrating that in the U.S the companies use cheap, problematic ingredients but they'll alter the recipe for other countries that ban it..Let's do something about this!! 

Just in time for the fall..sorry candy corn...

Steamed Apples Covered in Melted Peanut Butter, Topped With Cinnamon and Nutmeg!

Last month I was reading my subscription to the Readers Digest magazine and there was one particular article that really made me come to realization....My realization was how MUCH sugar I truly consume and how harmful it can be (in large amounts). This article was about the negative effects of sugar to the human and how addiction to sugar can easily go unnoticed. Towards the end of the article I was disgusted and wanted to change my diet immediately!

Before I go into a long rant about sugar I'd like to briefly talk about my eating habits. I'm a mother who takes care of my son all day here at home so I tend to find myself snacking all the time!! I tend to eat pretty healthy for my breakfast, lunch, and dinner (rarely eating out is key!!). However, it's another story when it comes to snacking. I quickly walk into the pantry and grab a granola bar, a cookie or even a handful of chips (that always leads to another handful). I always find myself searching for "healthy snacks" on Pinterest or Google and I find these amazing looking goodies, but for one reason or another I never end up following through.

So here is my chance to start my own healthy snacking journey and hopefully you can enjoy it too! I'll start with one of my favorites to make, but I'll continue to post more healthy and easy snacks soon.

In honor of the beginning of autumn I'd like to share a warm, cozy, delicious snack that was Really filling. Ready for this....

Steamed Apples Covered in Melted Peanut Butter, Topped With Cinnamon and Nutmeg!

Yum Yum Yum!!!

All it takes is:

10 Minutes of your time (both prepping and cooking!)
1 Large Apple of your choice
2 Tbs. of Peanut Butter (try to get the natural, that way no partially hydrogenated oils a.k.a. trans fat)
1 Tsp. water
Cinnamon and Nutmeg to your taste!


I started by dicing up the apple into bit size pieces and placing them into a saucepan

Then, I placed about one teaspoon into the saucepan and apples and covered it. I let them cook over medium-high heat for about five minutes (or until the consistency you like, I wanted fairly mushy, not baby food but not al dente)

**There may be some water left in the pan, I just poured the apples into a strainer to get rid of the excess water**

I put my peanut butter into a microwave safe bowl and cooked it for about 30 seconds to 1 min. Once it was melted enough I took the apples in tossed them into the bowl and then stirred it around. Top with cinnamon and nutmeg and that's it! (I promise in time I'll get better with my pictures, because this doesn't look all that appetizing but believe me..it is).

I'm telling you, making (and of course, eating it) will make you so incredibly happy. :)

DIY Painted Glass Jars

Hello! I wanted to show you and teach you how I made these lovely decorations this weekend :)

So this week I ended up finishing off my jar of relish, salsa and taco sauce...(I know, what an uninteresting way to start off my blog, but wait!) As I was cleaning them out to recycle them I noticed how gorgeous some of the shapes and designs were on the jars. So I peeled off the labels, got rid of the sticky glue that was left behind (a whole lot of scrubbing or some goo-gone will work) and then I made sure they were all clean. I thought to myself, if these had a little color to them they would be perfect to decorate the house with! 

So you may be thinking "what on Earth would I do with painted glass jars?", the options are limitless! For example, if you have a side table, shelf or above cabinet space around the house you could easily place the jar (just the jar or add something fun inside of it) to add a pop of color to the room. Place them in bathrooms just for decoration or use them for toothbrush holders, makeup brushes, q-tip holders and so on! Even for those who enjoy giving homemade gifts in jars (whether it be dried herbs from your garden, bath salts, or a ready to make dry ingredient desserts) think of how extra special your jar could turn out! Or if you enjoy decorating for the holidays you can paint them christmas colors, or hand paint a snowman on the outside, any holiday/celebration would work. :)

So I want to show you how I made my very own painted glass jars that I absolutely adore :) I will be placing mine above my kitchen cabinets and also as a centerpiece on my dining room table.

First, before driving to the nearest craft store to spend money on the glass jars there, try and clean out your fridge..If you have old, expired food you can easily use those jars. Or if you can be patient wait until you run out of whatever it might be in the jar (my sister who did this project with me wanted this jar her jalepenos were in she transferred them into a Tupperwear container, ha!). You can also use canned food jars in the pantry! Now tear off those labels and clean them, thoroughly. 

Alright, so once you obtain all of the glass jars and make sure they're clean you can get your paint. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up the multi-purpose acrylic paint. They were on sale for 50 Cents a bottle! I like using acrylic paint because there it's basically free of any smell (I am SO sensitive when it comes to fumes, or anything overwhelmingly scented) so you won't have to worry about painting outside or anything. These are the kind of paint I picked up:

However, an important note. If you plan on using these glass jars for items on a daily use or roughly handling them the paint can peel off, so be careful!! 

Now let the painting begin :) 

The acrylic paint I bought was pretty thick, so if you buy other paint and it's thin I wouldn't recommend adding water. I just poured a bunch of paint into the jar and added just a Little bit of water (maybe a teaspoon) and then I carefully used a paint brush to mix the paint and water together. 

Once the paint was thin enough to move easily I used the brush to guide the paint down the walls of the jar and twirled it in circles to get everything evenly covered. (I actually used the paintbrush quite a bit) 

Also, when using a paintbrush it will leave brush marks and it will be very noticeable in the light, so add more paint or just don't hold it up to the light ;) 

Or you can also get creative like this:

I turned it upside-down once I was all done and let the paint pour out completely. Like this:

I just did solid colors to play it safe! Then I painted the outside with a little white, just to spice it up. The plus side of this is it's VERY forgiving. So if you paint the inside/outside and absolutely hate it, then rinse it off with water and then you'll be back to a clear jar! 

These are the solid colors:

These are the more creative ones, we decided to wrap twine around some to give a more rustic look:

So recycle those old jars and start painting! Overall the paint was 50 Cents a bottle and the fake daisies were 97 cents a bundle. Talk about a fun and cheap diy project :)

Have fun!!

Feel free to ask questions :)

Metamorphosis

My initial intention was to write a blog post about growing a small herb garden (well, my husband would say it's big.. but I think it's tiny! ha). But then I got side tract researching different bugs that were hanging out in my garden. So later I'll make a post about starting and maintaining an easy herb garden that is SO worth it :)

It all started with my sweet mint plant. I was noticing a lot of the leaves were being eaten by something, other than me! So one morning I went out super super early and busted this little critter:

For weeks I thought this little guy was just a cute young caterpillar, and tonight I was proven wrong, horribly wrong! I first started researching things on Google like "caterpillar identifications" and "young green caterpillar with black spots" and so on but nothing looked like "him". So I thought..maybe  I should back up and get a better idea about insects. This is when I was reminded about (most) insects life cycles, metamorphosis. 

So tonight I want to talk about one of the many mind blowing biological processes that happens to but definitely not limited to most insects, metamorphosis! Metamorphosis is when the animal transforms through different stages of it's life. There are four different phases of complete metamorphosis:

1) Egg

2) Larve

3) Pupa 

4) Adult

Some animals don't go through all four phases, though. These animals go through Dramatic cellular changes and usually their habitat is completely changed! I could go on and on about this process but I want to stick to identifying this "cute little green caterpillar on my mint, well used to be on my mint". Since this little guy is in his larvae stage it will be quite easy to identify using this chart. I know that there are segmented thoracic legs (this means that right behind the head there are three pairs of legs) so I will be using a chart I found on the University of Kentucky page. (If there aren't the segmented thoracic legs than you would use a different key)

Pretty Gross...I know! Well after following this chart I was sadly mistaken my little green friend up there as a caterpillar, but really it is a SAWFLY! So I did a little research on sawflies and found out they were closely related to bees, not so much flies. Deceiving, yup!

It's amazing to think they go from a plant eating larvae to something similar to this:

So if you ever find an insect in it's larvae stage and want to know what it is, this webpage is a really great reference: http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef017.asp

I hope you weren't too grossed out by my random metamorphosis rant. When I was younger I always wondered if butterflies remembered being a little caterpillar, hey I never said I wasn't weird ;) Have a good night!

Lovely Music and How it Helped Me!

As I sat here this morning listening to some music I came to realize just how important music is to me. I am the type to listen to music to match my mood and activity taking place. But no matter what I'm doing or feeling there is just one band that knows how to put a smile on my face. I can't even express how happy I am that this band exists! You, too should take a look at this great indie folk band called The Head and The Heart. Check them out at their website!

www.theheadandtheheart.com



From their first album, The Head and The Heart I recommend giving a listen to:

Lost In My Mind
Down In The Valley
Rivers and Roads







From their second album, Lets Be Still I recommend giving a listen to:

Another Story
Shake
Homecoming Heroes









Okay, now I feel like I'm promoting their band..I just truly find so much happiness in their music I want the same for you! :)


So, I want to go back and talk about my realization on how important music is to me.

When I came home from the hospital after giving birth to my baby boy, trying to rest and relax was much needed and listening to music was how I did it. There are so many stories I heard about postpartum depression and it can truly happen to anyone. So I decided to do my best at staying positive and relaxed through my biggest life changing experience. Boy do I remember the first month of post-baby, it was really hard! Thankfully I had a wonderful husband and other members of our family visit and help us out for the first few weeks. However, there was a part of me when I'd be alone whether it be nursing the baby or when my husband would head to work, that I needed something to keep my spirits high. Of course I was so overjoyed with our healthy, beautiful new born baby but for me it was so hard with the very quick and dramatic change. Getting no more than two hours of straight sleep, being in pain from child birth, my internal organs felt so jumbled and different, learning how to nurse, understanding my baby, etc.

For me this was surrounding myself with music I loved. Not only was the music I love soothing to the baby, but for me too! So I hope that (not only newly moms out there) but everyone in general find some music that makes you happy, start jamming and smiling :)

Happy Monday!

Blogging Adventures Begin.....Now!

This whole blogging experience is completely new to me, but boy am I excited to share with everyone the lovely adventures of my life! My future posts will include anything from gardening/botany, DIY projects, recipes and of course anything that randomly sparks my interest. 

So, for my very first day of blog post I wanted to post this photo I put together earlier today. It's a lovely reminder of how beautiful life is, and don't forget to SMILE! :)