The Plan:
Day 1: Lemon butter cod, Wild rice with mushrooms
Day 2: Mushroom and leek quiche, Frozen fruit smoothie with super greens powder
Day 3: ♥ Heart-shaped ♥ Homemade pizza (in honor of Valentine’s Day this week!)
Day 4: Roasted beets with orange yogurt dressing, Beef patties
Day 5: Egg salad sandwiches with radish, Orange and apple slices
Day 6: Homemade tomato soup (from frozen supply), Grilled cheese sandwiches
Day 7: Easy gluten free meatballs with homemade pasta sauce
This meal plan was curated using local foods that are in season now or preserved during the peak growing season in the U.S. Midwest. The plan is an exact replica of what our family is eating this week unless we are out of town. Meal plans are developed using whole foods and my meal planning system (click here!) and are meant to be healthy and easy to prepare. Most recipes will take no more than 30 minutes of active cooking time. Occasionally meals may require all day slow cooking, advanced prep, or some oven time. Recipes are provided when available. I sincerely hope this will help with your own meal planning!
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage: (preserved when in season and coming out of my root cellar, freezer, canned, or dehydrated stash)
- Ground beef and ground pork from Mastodon Valley Farm meat share (freezer)
- Super greens powder (dehydrated)
- Pie crust, tomato soup (freezer)
- Strawberries (freezer)
- Beets, radish, apples (refrigerator “root cellar”)
- Homemade pasta sauce (canned)
Into Storage: nothing this week
Notes: Toxic Chocolate?
You guys. I almost had a breakdown recently when I heard that dark chocolate could be bad for you. Chocolate is life! At least it is for me. Here is the good news – after a little research, it turns out that not all chocolate is created equal and I can still eat it (with a note of caution). Valentine’s Day is this week so I want to make sure you have all the details on what chocolate is safe to eat.
Here is what happened: Consumer reports analyzed 28 bars of dark chocolate and found that all of them contained either lead, cadmium, or both. In one ounce, 23 of the bars had heavy metal levels that exceed safe limits set by California’s maximum allowable dose level. Let’s be honest, the majority of us are eating much more than 1 ounce at a time!
What is the problem with lead and cadmium? Unfortunately high levels of lead can negatively affect brain development in young children and cause kidney, neurological, immune system, and reproductive problems in both adults and children. The affects of high levels of cadmium are less well known, but could lead to lung cancer.
Many of the brands with the heavy metals are popular, like Dove Promises, Lindt, Equal Exchange, Godiva, Trader Joe’s, Hershey’s, Chocolove, and my favorite, Alter Eco. All of the chocolate bars tested contain 70% cocoa or greater.
What to do? Here are some ideas
- Stick to brands that tested below the safe limits (Mast, Taza, Ghiradelli, Valrhona)
- Limit your chocolate intake to 1 ounce or less a couple of times per week (boo). And don’t forget to include hot chocolate mix and cocoa powder used in baking when you are tallying it up.
- Switch to milk chocolate, which is much (much) more diluted cocoa, resulting in less concentration of heavy metals. Trade off is a lot more sugar and dairy. However, you can find chocolate made with soy or oat milk instead.
- Switch to “medium” dark chocolates (40-65%) to lesson your exposure.
- Encourage your favorite chocolate company to test regularly for lead and cadmium and to source chocolate from places that are actively working to reduce these heavy metals in the raw cocoa beans
- Pregnant women and children under the age of 6 should avoid dark chocolate since there is no safe level of lead for children.
So, there is some hope for me! Maybe aim for the milk chocolate hearts this Valentine’s. Or find yourself some non-chocolate treats.
If you want to read more, I like how this Parents Magazine article breaks it all down.
And here is the original Consumer Reports article.
