Do you know where your fish comes from?

We tend to eat a lot of fish in our home, so we really try to make a conscious effort to eat sustainable seafood.  I feel it is so important these days to really know where your food comes from and how the food is being caught.  There is so much illegal fishing right now that is harming the ocean floor and killing endangered species. And these days we have so many outlets for us to get information from that it is easy for us to stay on top of important issues.  One great website that I love is Monterey Bay Aquarium seafood watch  which has so much information for you.  There you can download a wallet pocket guide for your region that advises you on what fish to eat and which ones to avoid.
 There is also an application that you can download for your phone as well.  I use mine all the time when I am out shopping or even out to dinner.  So check it out and log on to  Monterey Bay Aquarium seafood watch website so you can find out more about the best fish to eat right now.

Ice Cream Heaven

This was one of our finding's this last weekend in Ojai, and oh my goodness this ice cream is so yummy! The kids and I ate the whole thing!!  So here is another great find that I wanted to pass on. Henry's Frozen Delight is their website so you can see where they are selling in your neighborhood. I promise you will love it:)

Ojai

Ojai happens to be one of my favorite places to visit. It's a quiet little town nestled in between the Topatopa mountains just east of Santa Barbara and north of Ventura. We are so lucky to live close to Ojai that we try to go to the farmers market on Sunday's.  It's such a beautiful artistic and eclectic place that I absolutely LOVE the vibe there.  I just wanted to post a few pictures of one of my favorite places and if you ever get a chance I would highly recommend a visit.





                    












View of the beautiful Ojai Valley

Valentines

So Landen's school's Valentines party is over and he had such a good time. He was so excited to see that he had so many friends that gave him Valentines Day cards.  Which we also bought as well.  Went to good old Target and got Mr. Men Valentine cards to give to all his class mates.  So where does the eco come in.....  because what are we going to do with all the cards?  Well we will at least recycle them, but I was wondering if there is another way to go about giving out Valentines Day cards that would be a little more eco.  Maybe next year we can be a little more crafty  (which I really struggle with, there is no Martha in this house! ) and try to make them from substainable materials.  If anyone has any easy crafty ideas on what we should maybe try next year that would be great. At least now I have a year to plan for the next Valentines party:) As for Giles and me, we really don't do too much for Valentines Day.  We do exchange cards that I keep, but I am betting I will be getting some local chocolate strawberries:) 


Happy Valentines,  Courtney

Local Produce

Every week we get a box of local produce from a company called Abundant Harvest Organics and a lot of the time I really am not sure what to make with the produce.  That is what I love about it though, is really having to dig into my cookbooks and get creative to find recipes.  I have to say that truly I am lucky so far that my kids will eat pretty much anything that I cook.  The only thing that I can't seem to get passed them is peas! But that is okay I have to let them have one veggie they absolutely won't eat:)  This last week the box was full of fennel.  Now I have cooked with fennel before and I don't remember really caring for the licorice flavor too much.  So I was in search of a good recipe that the family could eat that had fennel in it.  I absolutely love the cookbook by Mark Bittman,  How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food (thanks again to Alina ).  I found such a easy simple recipe using bulgar wheat, onions, homemade chicken stock, dill and a little whole milk.  It was delicious and so easy to make, and I know for sure I will be making it again.  Every week I love talking to my friends and seeing what we are all going to make with our wonderful local produce.  I would love to hear from you about some of your recipes for veggies that are in season now.  I just got a new veggie box with Leeks and I still have some purple cabbage from last week. Any thoughts??

Happy Cooking,   Courtney

Bottled Water

Do we really know where are bottled water comes from or where all the plastic goes when we throw it away.  I recently came across a documentary called Tapped that I think you should check out.  It really opened my eyes on the whole bottled water industry.  In our home we try to stay away from plastic bottled water and filter our water as an alternative.   Now I realize that I should also be concerned about what is in the bottled water and where it came from.  A report came out recently from EWG What's In Your Bottled Water - Besides Water?   I feel both the documentary and the EWG report is definitely worth taking a look at!  It's amazing that we as consumer's can be so mislead at times.

Happy Filtering,  Courtney