I love Milano cookies.  No other cookies – or other junk foods, for that matter – seem as luxurious as Milanos and the other Pepperidge Farm cookies.

Well, they’ve just come out with a new variety – Strawberry (It still has the old chocolate filling, but with strawberry added, as well.) – and are having a contest.  If you share your “Milano Moment” on their Facebook page, you can be entered to win a case of the new cookies.  I think a widget should show up below, that will let you click through to the page.  (If not, I goofed up the technical side of things.)  So take a break from the healthy, whole-foods diet and see about winning yourself a treat.   And while you’re there, don’t forget to check out the coupon!

Filed under: Contests by Rachel
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Random.org’s number generator picked comment number 7.

April, on April 21st, 2010 at 6:29 pm Said:
Husband and I use a vinegar-water spray to clean nearly everything in the home. The only “cleaners” we buy are shower and toilet. Works for us!

Unfortunately, April didn’t leave any way to contact her, so I had to pick again.

LaVonne, you should be getting a yummy prize pack full of Cascadian Farm cereals and granola bars.

Filed under: Contests by Rachel
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Giveaway Update: The winner is LaVonne!

[UPDATE: Thank you to Amy for very gently, lovingly pointing out that I have communicated poorly - she didn't put it that way! - in my opening paragraph.  Because I'm not sure how best to reword it at this point, I'm just going to add some clarification here.  "The liberal set..." in the paragraph below is intended to refer to those liberals who also specifically fit the description that follows; it is not intended to describe or define liberals as individuals or as a group.  If I have caused offense to any other readers, I sincerely apologize, and ask that you would have the grace to forgive the big old foot I have crammed into my mouth and see past that to the intent.]

With Earth Day coming up tomorrow, we are hearing a lot of emphasis on “going green.” Despite its apparent ownership by the liberal set who embrace “Mother Nature” as god and value animal life over human life, going green is a good thing!  In the very beginning, God put Adam in the garden “to tend it and keep it.”  Even after the Fall, Adam and Eve were told to “fill the earth and subdue it.”  We’ve been given a stewardship.  As faithful stewards, we should do what we can to make as little negative long-term impact as possible on this earth that has been entrusted to us.

For some of us, that seems a daunting task!  Our modern lives produce so much trash, pollution, and chemical contamination (of our bodies, water supplies, and the ground itself) that we don’t even know where to start!  What works for me is baby steps.  Trying to change all of my cleaning supplies and personal care products over to healthier, more earthy-friendly versions is overwhelming.  But searching for one healthier, safer substitute is doable.  (Seventh Generation has some interesting statistics about how much pollution we would eliminate if every household replaced only a single bottle of something every year!)  Recycling every potentially recyclable item is overwhelming.  But getting in the habit of recycling cans is doable.  Cutting out all of our household’s excess electrical usage is overwhelming.  But buying one power strip to enable “vampire” plugs to be turned off is doable.  (They make some that have two types of plugs, so that you can turn off only half the power strip.  This is great if, for instance, you need your DVR to stay on, but would like to turn off the television.)

This year, why not celebrate Earth Day by choosing one baby step to take – either a lifestyle change (like using a different product or beginning to recycle), or a one-time change that will have an effect in the long-term (like installing a power strip that will allow you to turn off electronics when not in use, or a timer on something that is currently always on)?  If you want to introduce a little bit of accountability, or just gain a bit of community in the process, consider taking one of Cascadian Farm’s pledges on Facebook.  These pledges are simply eight different baby steps (you choose which one(s) to commit to) in the quest to become more “green.”  For everyone who signs a pledge through May 31st, Cascadian Farms will donate $1 (up to $40,000) to the Organic Farming Research Foundation, which “fosters the improvement and widespread adoption of organic farming systems.”  We all know that’s not only good for the earth, it’s good for us, too!  So visit Cascadian Farm on Facebook and sign a pledge, and your baby step can actually be two baby steps – the one you commit to, and the extra $1 donated to the Organic Farming Research Foundation.

I pledged to check my fridge before grocery shopping, to plan to use what’s in it, rather than buying unnecessarily and wasting food – good for the earth and for my budget!

To Win:

For a chance to win a “Live Green” prize pack from Cascadian Farm, including a reusable grocery bag and Cascadian Farm cereals and snacks…

Required entry – leave a comment on this post telling us one baby step you’ve made.  (If you’ve found a good “green” product that works, please tell us what it is!)

For extra entries (leave a separate comment for each additional entry, so I can be sure to count them appropriately) -

1. Make a pledge through Cascadian Farm’s Facebook page.
2. Become a fan of Cascadian Farm on Facebook.
3. Become a fan of Titus2Homemaker on Facebook.
4. Email a friend about this giveaway, blog about it, or share it through some other form of online social networking.
5. Subscribe to my feed.

US only, please.  This giveaway will be closed to entries at midnight, EST, on April 30th.

Note: The information in this post, about Cascadian Farms, their pledges, and the Organic Farming Research Foundation, and the prize package, were provided by MyBlogSpark and Cascadian Farms.

Filed under: Contests, Frugality & Economics, Health & Safety, Politics/Current Events by Rachel
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We used a very scientific method.  I put names on slips of paper, my seven-year-old mixed them up (after I had mixed them some), and my two-year-old drew one.  The winner is:

Pamela, who said:

I’m just starting to learn more about real food though I have always considered myself to be ‘healthy’ in my food choices. I too am wanting to try making my own kefir, I am trying to first figure out the raw milk debate…so much information to digest!

Congratulations, Pamela!

Filed under: Contests by Rachel
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I firmly believe that eating whole foods is one of the primary ways we can stay healthy.  There would be far fewer people questing  for the “best diet pills,” the “best anti aging products,” the latest and greatest cellulite burner; far fewer people permanently on statins and hormone replacement, etc. if we would all just eat real food. (Unfortunately, it’s getting harder and harder to find real food, as the government systematically outlaws it.  Check out this exposé of the war against real milk.)

A lot of you are visiting from Kitchen Stewardship, and you already know all this.   But we still have to meet the challenge of preparing this real food, right?  So today I’m giving away a cookbook to help us do just that.

Wholesome Home Cooking is a Lancaster County cookbook put together by Katie Stoltzfus.  I believe the author is Amish, so it is not directly available online.  The least expensive source I’ve found for it is Kauffman’s Fruit Farm, for those of you who don’t win this copy and want to purchase your own.   Wholesome Home Cooking is assembled in the style of a church cookbook, with recipes submitted by a variety of women.  But this one is designed to use whole foods, bone broth, sourdough, etc.

Now, Kauffman’s sells another one that I discovered I personally like better.  It’s called Wholesome Sugarfree Cooking.  Wholesome Home Cooking focuses more strongly on soaked grains and fermented foods, which are not such a large focus of my own dietary philosophy.  It uses a lot more Sucanat/Rapadura (less processed, but still processed, cane sugars) than I would prefer.  Wholesome Sugarfree Cooking does describe the process of soaking grains and does contain some fermented foods, but I felt the emphasis was more on whole foods than on fermented foods, which was a better fit for us.  It also used almost no Sucanat/Rapadura, using whole sweeteners like honey instead.  (Sucanat does show up in one or two recipes, where the consistency/texture of the sugar is important.)  Most of the recipes were “normal,” just with whole ingredients.  That’s how I prefer to cook. 

Bottom line, it is my opinion that Wholesome Sugarfree Cooking would be the best introductory cookbook for someone new to whole foods.  But Wholesome Home Cooking may be a better fit for someone very dedicated to the Nourishing Traditions philosophy.  Unfortunately, I did not know anything about Wholesome Sugarfree Cooking until after I bought the book for this giveaway, so I don’t have a copy of that one to give away at this time.  (Maybe eventually!)  But I do have a copy of Wholesome Home Cooking to give away.

To enter, leave a comment on this post, with something about real food.  I don’t care what, but it needs to be a real comment, not just “please enter me,”  or “I want to win this ’cause I like real food.”  You could tell me why you prefer real food, tell me something that makes it difficult to eat/prepare real food, share a favorite recipe – whatever.  Just contribute to the discussion.

For extra entries, follow me via the Google Friend Connect box on the left, subscribe to my feed, and/or become a fan on Facebook.  Leave me an extra comment telling me about each of these things that you’ve done, so I don’t have to figure out how many entries you should have.

For another extra entry, go visit Kitchen Stewardship’s Real Food Faceoff and leave a comment there.  (Then come back here and tell me you did so I don’t have to go look you up to see if you did this.)

This giveaway will be open through January 31st.

Filed under: Book Reviews - Other, Contests, Kitchen, Cooking, & Recipes by Rachel
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