So Bring Me Some Figgy Ideas

Sometimes, when you haven't been blogging for awhile and you're trying to get back on the horse, you feel like you need to have something profound to say at first. But nothing is coming to me so...

We're going to talk about figs today. 

Because I am so over how much junk food I LOVED eating on our Stateside vacay and I'm so happy to be back in Germany where good quality food is really cheap!

And also because I bought some and realized I didn't have a blessed idea what to do with them.

So instead of spending my time wisely thinking of something meaningful to write for you, or trying to figure out how to recap our vacation adventures, I spent over an hour on the internet learning everything I could ever want to know about this strange little fruit that I'd never eaten before.

And I decided to be nice and share that info with YOU! You're welcome ;-)

PS thank God for Pinterest.

So I've never eaten a fresh fig before. I will blame it on the fact that I don't really care for fig newtons. But also because I just never ate them and therefore don't know what to do with them... so it's remained an "exotic" fruit that has been on my "to-try" list. Until now.

Quick punny exchange between My Love and I that morning:
me: "I bought fresh figs for the first time today!"
J: "Figures."

ha. ha. he's so hilarious ;-)

You can eat figs fresh and whole (skin and all), as a topping for oatmeal or yogurt, as a smoothie ingredient, sliced and topped with a favorite cheese and some balsamic dressing, baked with honey as a dessert topping, and added to your favorite fruit salad or green salad.

Or you can wrap them in bacon or prosciutto and GRILL THEM! Yay for grilling season! 

First I just ate the figs with my favorite lunch of fresh bread, herbed goat cheese, and smoked salmon. And then we ate them in our morning yogurt with a drizzle of elderberry syrup on top. Very good. I wanted to try to blend them with maple syrup to pour over french toast or pancakes but we ran out ;-) So, next time!

Here are tons of fun facts and delicious recipes featuring figs: 

Some of them seem a little too fancy for my table, but since my girls loved our first experiments with them, I might go for it and see what happens!

Enjoy! 

The World's Healthiest Foods fact sheet

Fig Varieties 

Valley Fig Growers fun facts

Bacon, Melon, and Fig Salad You had me at bacon.

Pancakes with Calcium-Filled Fixins Love the idea of using figs and tahini as a maple syrup substitute!

Dark Chocolate Covered Figs  I need some of THIS in my life for SURE!

Coconut Fig Popcicles I think this would get me a billion gold stars with the girls.

Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing 

Butternut Squash and Fig Soup

Simple Figgy Focaccia

Marinated Fig Skewers with Prosciutto, Mozzarella, and Basil

Figs on a gorgeous Cheese Platter These pictures make me want to host a cheese and wine party even though I'm more of a pizza and beer girl ;-)

Fig, Beet, and Watermelon Salad with Caramelized Shallot Dressing 

Roasted Butternut Squash and Fig Salad

Fig and Rosemary Chicken Pizza  Is it too early to start grilling pizza every other day? Nomnom

Oven-Roasted Fruit with Ricotta-Vanilla Cream This is my kind of easy dessert!

Free-Form Fig Tart

Fig Chips  I don't usually have luck with these types of "turn fresh food into chips" recipes but they are so pretty and would be so great in the girls' lunchbox!

Grilled Fig and Cheese  Oh my.

Salted Honey and Fig Cheesecake  I wonder if I can make this one without a food processor? And I'd have to call it a "cream cake" or something cause J would cry if I called a faux-cheesecake a cheesecake (his favorite.)

Avocado, Gorgonzola, and Fig Baguette Awesome easy dinner idea!


Glad to have me back? Make sure you follow me on Pinterest so you always know what randomness I'm researching today! 

Why You Should Cross Salt Consumption Off of Your Guilt-List

As we're all frantically preparing for Thanksgiving today... and excitedly planning on stuffing our faces tomorrow, I just thought I'd throw out one thing you really shouldn't worry about:

Don't feel guilty about salting your food as you cook, or after you plate it either! 

Salt is good for you. Table salt (bonus points if it's high quality table salt) is not the evil sodium that you've heard you should stay away from.

Here are some really good posts that give you in-depth reasons why salt is great and why you should a) find a good source and b) eat more of it!

Yes, more salt!

But if you don't have time to read them today, don't worry! I'll recap.

So the first post is from Scientific American and to sum it up, I'll quote this sentence, "For every study that suggests that salt is unhealthy, another does not." This New York Times article agrees with that. So. That's confusing. Or maybe not! Maybe we should just use common sense and let "them" (whoever they are) argue about it.

We should cook with salt. And eat less fast food and less bags of chips. The salt in our home-cooked deliciousness will help us crave the chips, less. I hope ;-)

The next one I want you to read is 12 Reasons Why Salt is Good for You. Cause even if you only skim it, you'll feel less guilty about sprinkling salt as you cook the gravy! I mean, if nothing else, my favorite reason that salt is good for you is that it makes your food taste good! And if your food tastes good, you're tummy is happy. And if your tummy is happy, you are happy. Everyone wins! Bonus points if you want to read this article which compares different unrefined salts.

Katie Kimball is always my go-to resource on food questions. She has a really well-researched post on salt at Kitchen Stewardship. I really like how she breaks down all the chemical processes and additives in normal white table salt. It kind of freaks me out (ew) but it's still good to know!

And finally, Sally Fallon reminds us in the book Nourishing Traditions {affiliate link here} that with only a few exceptions, all traditional cultures use some salt. People have always sought out natural forms of salt. And discovered that salt helps preserve and even enhances the nutrients in vegetables (when lacto-fermented.)

A really important (and pretty easy) thing to remember is that if your salt is white, it's been tampered with. Natural salt is going to have some sort of color (pink, grey, brown, even red) which shows that it still has all of it's trace minerals. Katie Kimball says natural salt has 84 (!!!) trace minerals! Whew. All the buzz about "sea salt" doesn't really matter if the salt is white. That means they bleached it, among many other things. Ew!!!

So, colorful salt is the healthiest salt. 

We use pink Himalayan salt because it's the easiest for me to get from the German grocery store.

So while we are all probably justified feeling a tiny bit guilty about those three slices of pie, we don't really have to worry about salting our buttery mashed potatoes.

Wait, am I the only one planning on at least three slices of pie? ;-)

Today's takeaway: be thankful for (and eat plenty of) salt tomorrow, and every day! 

A very very Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

7 Mompreneurs Well Worth Supporting this Holiday Season

Alright Santas... time to start making those lists, and checking them twice, right?

I have a great list of ideas to get your list started!

Who doesn't love to make an awesome purchase while knowing it benefits someone you believe in? Someone who's working hard.

Someone who lights up their little corner of the world with creativity.

We all know many someones out there who are striving to work from home or running small businesses. 

I would like to highlight seven hard working Moms this Christmas season. Consider starting your holiday gift shopping right here with this list of great products, services, and ebooks! 

You can check some gifts off your list while knowing you're giving a financial high five to these amazing ladies. 

1. The first thing you need to buy is for yourself actually - the Keeping Christmas Cozy ebook from Alissa over at her Creative with Kids blog. Because the first thing we usually do at the mention of Christmas is go off the deep end with to-do lists and stress. Alissa's simple (short!) ebook was a delight to read. I got some great ideas from her (and printables so I have even less to do!) and was feeling super zen after reading it. Her main message is that we want to strive for "connection, not perfection" as we plan out our family's holiday memories. 

2. You know how much I love Raisin' Acres Farm. They are my go-to for all things skin care related. And the hand-crafted bar soaps are so delightful to smell and feel so great on the hands! They would make perfect stocking stuffers! The 1 oz jars of hand creme would also be perfect for the stockings on your lists... I really like that they are the perfect size to toss in my purse to have on hand (ha.ha.pun) whenever dry, itchy skin strikes. I recently tried her herbal bath tea and oh heavens was it relaxing. Who doesn't want THAT for Christmas?

3. If you love to shop in style and are obsessed with fun hair accessories... then Sarah at Jules & Belle Go to Market has what you need. Everyone needs a beautiful market tote. Or two or three. You could even use them to wrap gifts for people! I'm thinking of getting Lily and Sam some more hair bows and headbands from her, as well as a "tiny tote" for each of them. We love our headbands - adorable AND comfortable! 

4. Three great ebooks (and one for free!) from Trina Holden! Tips and tricks on eating healthier but being able to cook faster. How to plan and be efficient in the kitchen. How to dress your changing mom-bod so you can hold your head high no matter how much baby weight you still "need" to lose. And of course, the newest cookbook that I reviewed about real food as a stress-free journey. Her books would be great for any new mom or anyone starting out in the real food journey.

5. For the local shoppers you should consider gift certificates from Grace Studio. You can find something for everyone at Grace. You can purchase gift certificates for dance classes (starting at 125 euro for the semester) and for fitness/yoga classes or German language classes you can get a 10 class punch card for only 65 euros! If I had more time in the week, I would probably be at Grace Studio every day... fantastic German lessons, invigorating yoga classes, FemFusion, and of course, chuckling as my kids pitter about during pre-ballet ;o) 

6. Here's a website I'm really excited to introduce you to: FemFusion. What is FemFusion, you ask? I'll let the founder, Bri, answer in her own words... "Your go-to resource for women's health and fitness information. Doctor-designed videos, live group fitness classes, and an online community. Look good, feel great, and shine brighter!" Here's the shop. The information is spot on and the encouragement from knowing and learning from Bri has been so great! It might seem weird to get someone fitness-related videos for Christmas, but I know I always feel the need for a fitness re-boot after a delightful December of Christmas cookies and egg nog! There are three different locations for FemFusion in the KMC. Also, I haven't finished reading it myself yet, but she has this really great ebook available as well and so far it's been an eye opening lesson on the neglected female issue of poor inner core health. Bri's all about educating while encouraging. Win win!

7. Now it's my turn! Time to toot my own horn and recommend fine art prints from Jesse's Girl Photography! One thing that's really cool to do with them is order a set of 5-10 photos that would look nice in a collage or grouped together in a specific room. I've had clients order sets of food photography to make collages in their kitchens or produce shots for a gardening shed! I know sunflowers are really popular, so you can get a bunch together for the sunflower-lover in your life! There's something for everyone because everyone likes to decorate their walls with something beautiful to look at. And here is my easy tutorial on hanging a great photo collage. You'll never have to guess again!

And then of course, there's my amazon affiliate link. Which is for those of you who want none of the above but would still like to support my blog.

If you're anything like me, you shop amazon like CRAZY during the holidays. Since you're going there anyways, please consider heading there by way of any of my affiliate links. You can click that big box right there, or you can use the smaller link at the top right of my sidebar.

What happens (it couldn't be easier for you!) is you click "through me" to get into amazon. Then you shop. For whatever you want. (You don't have to shop for something that I have linked to. I can link to a 10 gallon tub of coconut oil and you can buy your husband new headphones.)

The amazon robots watch you and then when you purchase something, they toss a few coins in my bank account as a thank you for advertising for them! You don't even have to do anything! (The same is true for my Mountain Rose Herbs box in the sidebar, which you could use to get the hippie in your life some essential oils!)

So those are my suggestions for supporting some awesome small businesses this Christmas! 

Happy shopping!

If any of these products or services excite you, please pin it for later to your "gift idea" board!

Eight Awesome Links for You this Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day! 

I wanted to give you a little sampling of some of the great stuff I've been reading and watching about our service members lately. 

Want to see some amazing photography of US Marines in action? 

These pictures really had me floored. Not just as a photographer and as a military spouse, but as an American. I look through them and I can't even imagine the experiences represented. 

Here are four things civilians should know about Veterans 

Respect requires knowledge. I was most struck by the concept that the average American youth doesn't know where Iraq and Afghanistan are on a map. 

What does the Starbuck's CEO have to say about Veterans? 

This is a short video introducing Howard Schultz and Rajiv Chandrasekaran's book about trying to change the disconnect between post 9/11 Veterans and civilian society.

Here's an adorable video to help your kids understand Veteran's Day

Apparently Michelle Obama enlisted the help of the Penguins of Madagascar to spread the word about "Operation Got Your 6." It's quite funny and we watched it a few times today. 

This is a touching story of a woman helping Veterans heal at their own pace

Melony Butler founded this retreat where Vets can recover, connect, and move on in a safe and non-threatening environment. The stories of these men and how this place is helping them brought tears to my eyes. 

Great infographic on the declining tradition of Veteran entrepreneurship

Did you know that there is a huge decline in Vets who own and operate their own businesses after returning to civilian life? This is a great presentation about it. 

Speaking of entrepreneurship, here's one woman's tale of transition

From active duty Air Force, to Mommy, to Business Owner.  I love her story, and her encouragement to familiarize yourself with the local Veteran-owned businesses near you. There's even a link to help hunt them down! 

And finally, a love letter to Veterans from Military Families

For those of us who see Veterans from the beginning to the end of their career, these words could be ours. We see it all and we stand by (and pack and move and adjust and pray and wait and hope) through it all. And we love you and thank you for every day of that service. We see what it costs you. We don't know how you do it, and we are so proud of you! 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy some movie time and snuggles with my favorite Veteran ;o)