As many of you may know or may have even joined in yourself, I participated in Project Feed Me.  Project Feed Me was created by Natalie at nono2yoyo.com and its purpose was to help feed thousands of hungry families.  Over the course of nine weeks, each participant was to collect a certain food item (recommended by Natalie) and then bring those donated food items to their local pantry.  This project started during the first week in October (you may have remembered my post) and was designed to end right around the holidays, a time when people tend to need the most.  I remember Natalie emailing me a couple of months ago letting me know about her project and asking if I would be interested in participating.  All I could picture were the sad faces of little children, hurting from being hungry and being left without some of life’s most basic necessities.  It just didn’t seem fair to me that I had a fridge full of food and more than enough to eat on both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and there were families out there that would happy to just have a can of soup.  That said, I eagerly replied to Natalie’s email with an astounding ‘yes!’ and began shopping for my food items.  It was such a simple task, but one that made me feel so extraordinary.

I’m so grateful that Natalie decided to start this project.  She opened her heart and decided to do something to help this ongoing problem.  And what better group of people to participate than healthy food/lifestyle bloggers?  Natalie put out her message to the blogosphere and asked us all to spread the word – whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, on our blogs, word of mouth, through church/community groups.  Well, the word sure did spread as Project Feed Me had 168 members and will have donated over 3,024 food items.  That’s incredible!  Thank you, Natalie, for creating such a wonderful project and for making it all so easy for us to be a part of such worthy cause.  Sometimes, I tend to forget that there are others out there that are in need.  I get so busy with my day-to-day life that I forget about what’s going on outside of my ‘own’ world.  All I needed was this reminder from Natalie; it was that easy.  The feeling of knowing that I have the power to help people in need is a feeling that I don’t want to ever forget.  We all have the power to do this.  It doesn’t have to be a grandiose gesture, it can be as small as giving the spare change in your pocket or donating a jar of peanut butter.  What matters most is that we acknowledge the need and then do something about it.  So again, thank you Natalie, for initiating this and for making us accountable.  I’m sure there are going to be many faces out there that are now going to be smiling because of you and your project.

To conclude Project Feed Me, Natalie asked that the members send her a picture of all the food they collected.  No problem, Nat!  Here are a few of mine…

Healthy Chow with her first food items – canned chili!

All the goods..

A solo shot…

While I finished the nine weeks of collecting the recommended food items and in a sense completed Project Feed Me (I still have to go to my local food pantry), I know that a cause such as this never has an ending.  Unfortunately, there will always be someone in need, whether it be for shelter, clothing or food.  However, it is always a good time for us to give back.  It doesn’t have to be around the holidays or during a particular season.  For that reason, I said in my blog post title that this project is ‘almost’ completed because in a reality, there isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a finish line.  This may be the season of giving, but after participating in Natalie’s project, I want it to be a life of giving.  After all, being able to help one another is truly the one gift we all need.

Do you tend to be more charitable around the holiday season?  Do the holidays make you want to give?  For me, the holidays make me realize just how fortunate I am and how I already have all the gifts I will ever need.

Namasté,
Nicole

Because I was a child who grew up in the 80’s, I’m a fan of the music and movies from that generation. One of my favorites is and will always be, The Karate Kid.  Not only was a it a feelgood type of movie, but there were also some important lessons taught. I remember walking out of the theater feeling empowered and also enlightened.

Remember this scene?

I remember watching Mr. Miyagi’s zen-like focus as he concentrated on catching those flies with his chopsticks. Even as Daniel walked in and was pestering him about what he was doing, Mr. Miyagi kept his eyes and mind on the task at hand.  Albeit Daniel caught the fly within the first few tries while Mr. Miyagi relentlessly tried over and over, it amazed me that a person could have so much dedication and concentration to attempt to catch something as small as a fly mid-air, with something as delicate as a pair of chopsticks.  I still actually wish I had that focus.

When I’m practicing yoga, there are constantly a million distractions taking place.  Whether it be distractions in my head or distractions in the studio, they are always hard for me to ignore.  I wish I was able to simply block out the internal and external ‘noise’, but for me, it’s just never that easy.  For example, there is this lovely woman who I see in class pretty regularly.  We’ve chatted with one another on more than one occasion and are even on a first name basis.  However, when she’s practicing next to me, I can’t help but be distracted by her.  To say the least, she’s quite fidgety.  She’s constantly fixing her hair, wiping the sweat from her face, getting in and out of poses, sighing from frustration and has even tapped her fingers against the bamboo floor during savasana.  And when she’s fidgeting, the only thing that I can think about is why she’s acting this way.  I try not to watch her; I try to only focus on myself and my breathing.  However, she then starts moving around restlessly again.  My thoughts then come racing back as to why she can’t just stop moving, why she just doesn’t seem to understand that what she’s doing isn’t helping her practice and how if she just relaxed, things would fall into place.  I kept analyzing her in my head and wondering why she was so unfocused.  But as I’m asking myself all these questions about this woman, my practice begins changing and all of the sudden, I’m the one fidgeting.  I’m now doing the exact same thing that this woman is doing.  The only difference is her anxiousness is manifesting itself on a physical level versus mine is happening mentally.  Either way, we both weren’t focusing on the one thing we needed – our breath.

Image Credit – Oprah.com

Why was I so consumed by these thoughts? Why was I so concerned about what this woman was doing? Why did I care that she had all this nervous energy?  How was this something that I needed to be worried about?  Sometimes I think we take on the stress of others when we don’t necessarily have to.  We force ourselves to be weighed down by thinking about what others are doing in their lives versus concentrating on what is going on in our own.  My teacher told us in class one day that we need to stop carrying around other people’s baggage.  Our own baggage is heavy enough; we don’t need the burden of someone else’s.  These words of wisdom rang so true for me.  I have the tendency to worry about other people and to be consumed by what is occurring in their lives to the point where it starts affecting my own.  It’s not healthy and it’s definitely not necessary.  If we can only use the energy we burn on others and the insignificant distractions that happen in our lives and turn that energy onto ourselves and the things that mean the most to us, I think we would be much happier and not feel as ‘heavy’.

Image Credit – scrapetv.com

During today’s practice, I remembered what my teacher had told us in class that day and tried not to listen to my distractions.  Obviously, the distractions were there and I was aware of them.  But this time, I made a choice.  Did I want to let my thoughts get the best of me or did I want to have the best practice that I could have?  Did I want to carry around all this unnecessary weight or did I want to be set free? As soon as I made the choice to focus on me and to put emphasis on what was going on in my practice, the distractions seemed to stop.  All of the sudden the noise had been silenced and there was no more fidgeting.  By letting go of my own baggage, I had the capacity to go deeper in my mind and thus, I had the ability to shut off the clatter.  It wasn’t a difficult thing to do, I just had to try and allow myself to do it.  And it’s probably much easier than using chopsticks to catch flies.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?  How do you deal with distractions, mental or physical?

***Have you joined Project Feed Me yet?  If not, there’s still time to be a part of this great cause.  You can register here.  Just buying a couple of food items a week can help so much.  And, it’s so easy!  Check out this week’s recommended food item.***

Namasté,
Nicole

I’m a sucker for a sale.  And this is especially the case if that sale is happening at the grocery store.  It’s like the stores know I am coming and know what to advertise or promote in order for me to buy (it’s not like it’s that difficult).  I walk in and immediately, I’m tempted by their ‘buy one, get one free’ or their ‘10 for $10′. I try to hide my eyes, but I just can’t deny it.  I want in on that sale!

A couple of weeks ago, because it was a day that ended in the letter ‘Y’, I was at the grocery store.  As I was breezing through the produce aisle (I was actually in a rush that afternoon and had only a few minutes to grab a few items), I saw one of my favorite snack foods, baby carrots.  And of course, those crunchy little orange delights had to be on sale and naturally, I had a 85% full bag just sitting in my fridge.  Immediately, I was caught in a big conundrum.  Should I buy the carrots?  If I buy one bag, I obviously have to get another since it’s free.  But then again, I know I won’t be able to eat that many baby carrots before they start getting all slimy slimerson (you know what I mean) and smelling less than good.  But then again, it’s such a good buy, how could I pass it up?  Then all of the sudden, a light bulb went off (it doesn’t happen too often, kiddies, but when it does, look out!).  I realized I could buy the carrots and keep them both in the freezer until I needed them.  I could get my great bargain and I could escape the slime factor.  Problem solved.

Image Credits – WiseGeek.com

Not so fast.  When I finally finished the 85% full bag of baby carrots that was sitting in my fridge, I dove into the freezer to find my frozen babies and then quickly tossed them into the fridge to defrost.  I’m not quite sure what I thought the carrots would be like once they thawed.  I guess I assumed (you know what that means) that they would be like the snappy mini veggies I normally bought and dipped into hummus.  To my disbelief, the usual crisp and hard baby carrots had now been reduced to a limp and lifeless mess (I’m not even going to say it…).  What was I going to do? Not only did I have one bag of orange mush, but I had two.  Not good.

Then, another light bulb went off.  Can you believe it? If I wasn’t going to eat the thawed baby carrots in their mushy state, then why not enjoy them in a ‘mushy-er’ state?  Why not mash them up so much that they no longer resemble carrots and no longer remind me of the silly goof-up I made?  That said, I salvaged my purchase and turned it into what I consider a stroke of luck.

Carrot Ginger Potato Soup
Adapted from AndreasRecipes.com
Serves 6

• 1 1/2 TBSP Smart Balance Light (feel free to use butter or your choice of buttery substitute)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup peeled grated fresh ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (I used a heaping tablespoon of minced jarred garlic)
• 4 cups chicken stock (I used Trader Joe’s Organic Low Sodium Chicken Stock – you could use vegetable stock)
• 1/2 chicken bouillon cube (I only had one carton of TJ’s chicken stock on hand, I probably needed 2 more cups)
• 1 cup cooking wine (I used Goya Dry White Cooking Wine)
• 2 cups of water
• 1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (mine were mushy, but feel free to use non-mushy)
• 3 small white potatoes, cubed
• 1 TSP cornstarch
• 2 TBSP of honey
• dashes of curry powder
• dashes of cinnamon
• dashes of nutmeg
• dashes of dried parsley
• juice of half a lemon juice
• s&p
• chopped chives for garnish (optional)
• Greek yogurt for garnish (optional, but highly recommended)

1) In a large pot, melt the Smart Balance Light on medium heat.  Once warmed, add the onion, ginger and garlic and cook until the onion starts getting translucent and your kitchen smells unbelievable (about 5 minutes).

2) Then add the chicken stock, wine, carrots and potatoes to the pot.  Turn up the heat to high and bring to a boil.  Stir.  Add the bouillon cube.  Stir again.

3) Reduce the heat back down to medium and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes or until the vegetables are very tender and can be easily broken up with a spoon.

4) If you are lucky enough to have an immersion blender (I am not), this is the time to purée the mixture in your pot.  If you are using a regular blender, be sure to let the mixture cool down a bit first before dumping the mixture in batches into the blender (you don’t want to overfill your blender).  Blending hot items can be dangerous; take precaution! I blended my cooled down mixture in three different batches.

5) Once all of the mixture has been puréed, add it back to the pot.  Turn the heat back on to medium/medium-high and let the mixture get hot.  In a small cup, mix the corn starch in a tablespoon of warm water until well dissolved.  Add the corn starch mixture to the pot.  Stir the mixture.

6) Add the curry powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, parsley, salt and pepper to the pot and season to taste.  Give it a good stir.  Then add your honey and lemon juice and give your soup a thorough stirring as it heats up.

7) Once hot, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish (if you wish) with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of dried parsley or chives.   Voilà!  Soup’s on!

Not only did my kitchen smell heavenly with the scent of warmed onion, ginger and garlic, but my belly was pretty much on cloud nine, too.  Not only is this quite the hefty soup (it’s actually more like babyfood consistency), but the curry, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon warmed me from the inside out.  And while a cup of a regular broth-like soup would not normally fill up Healthy Chow, this one kept me from raiding the kitchen cupboards for at least three hours.  The Greek yogurt may have also helped to fill the usual insatiable hole that is my stomach.  I also like being able to swirl the yogurt into my soup.  The color of the stark white Greekness against the vibrant orange of the carrot was like having art in my bowl.  And the sprinkling of the green parsley just made me want to take pictures (hey wait, I always take pictures of my food ).

I was so pleased with this recipe.  It was easy to make, I pretty much had all the ingredients on hand and I managed to save my carrots on clearance from going into the trash.  Ahhh, what’s there to complain about?  When life hands you lemons, you need to make lemonade.  And when your weakness for produce bargains hands you mushy carrots, make carrot soup!

Are you a sucker like me for bargains?  What’s your favorite thing to stockpile?

Namasté,
Nicole

***Awesome Giveaway Alert! – Shannon at Tri to Cook is celebrating her blogiversary by giving away a Cuisinart ice cream maker!  If you’re interested, go to Shannon’s blog for further details…***

***It’s week two of Project Feed Me!  Please go to Natalie’s blog to see what to buy for this week.  And if you haven’t signed-up yet, you can still do so by going here.  And if you want to see how photogenic canned chili can be, please go here.***

***WARNING: This is going to be another picture-less post.  My issues with WordPress are as plenty as the issues of InStyle I have sitting on my coffee table.   But I digress…***

For the past few days, I’ve been complaining (who me?) about my problems with WordPress.  To say the least, it’s been cramping my style.  But if not being able to post pictures on my blog posts is my biggest problem, then my life is pretty darn good.  And yes, my life is pretty darn good.  I often forget just how fortunate I am and then I read a post such as this one from Natalie and I’m instantly reminded.

Natalie over at No No 2 Yo Yo has just launched a wonderful project and I wanted to let you know all about it.  Healthy Chow can be good that way, you know? The project is called, ‘Project Feed Me’ , and it is a nine week program designed to help feed thousands of hungry families.  Here are the details:

Project Feed Me

The Goal

-Donate as many items of food as possible to the Local Food Banks

-Rally as many people as possible to participate in Project Feed Me

-Give back and Feed the hungry

How do I participate?

Four Easy Steps:

1. Register and become a member of Project Feed Me
Registering for the project is important and will help Project Feed Me keep track of how many people are participating. We will also be able to keep track of how much food we are collecting and how many people we will be able to feed!!

2. Commit to buying two of the “recommended food items” per week for the entire nine week project
(These items will not be expensive!  Some weeks the items will not even equal $1.00)

3. Commit to getting at least 3 other people to become members of Project Feed Me

4. At the end of nine weeks, look up your local food bank (US here) (Canada here) and donate your items

*The recommended food items are a list of items that have been predetermined by Food Banks across the country.  The recommended food items will be posted at nono2yoyo.com every Monday Starting Monday October 12.  It will be your responsibility to check back each week to find out what the weekly item is and ensure you are buying the foods that are recommended and needed by the food banks.

Pretty easy, huh?  I just registered (it honestly took about 5 seconds) and now I can’t wait for Monday for the list to come out, so I can start buying and collecting my food.  This is such a great cause and I urge you to participate.  I can’t believe how many people in the U.S. go to bed hungry and live in poverty.  The statistics are staggering – check out Natalie’s post to see the facts and for further details about this project.  I know you’ll be as shocked as I am.  However, if we all participate in this project and just buy a couple of the recommended items per week for nine weeks, we can help these people.  Just remember, there is strength in numbers!  We can do this!

Thank you again, Natalie, for starting this project and for bringing this cause to my attention.  I know I can do more and this gives me the perfect opportunity.  Besides, I’m literally at the grocery store 3x a week, so this couldn’t be any easier for me.  It’s time for me to stop saying, ‘I wish I could do more’ and to start saying, ‘I am doing more’.

Do you have a cause that’s near to your heart?

Namasté,
Nicole