Ceres Secrets

It was many moons ago, but will admit that I do know first hand what it is like to experience hunger and food insecurity. Hearing about the Food Stamp Challenge both online and in the media has brought back a flood of memories for me and a deep sense of gratefulness that there is always hope. It is in remembering the struggles of poverty and my own humble past that I have set the foundation for this menu. It has been created to feed 2 people for a week with no more then $1.00 per meal, but elements of the menu and grocery list can be tweaked to accommodate a family of 4 for less then $84 if extra or larger (family sized) items are bought at the store. $42 0r $84 may seem like quite a bit of money to many people trying to pare down expenses or exist on a shoe string budget. However, this amount can easily be reduced by Read more…

Filed under: Food Stamp Challenge on June 22nd, 2007 | No Comments »

Rather then complain for a week about how hungry and lightheaded my husband and I are on a Food Stamp Budget of no more then $1 per meal/$3 a day each, we have decided to do something different. For the many people that live on $21 or less due to various reasons, for far longer then a week, we have been inspired to offer a grocery list, menu, quick, easy, and fairly healthy recipes that can be made in 15 minutes or less with no prior experience in the kitchen. Grocery items were chosen due to their ability to stave off hunger, consistent low prices, and year round accessibility. Wal-mart was not my first choice of places to shop and was chosen strictly because it is a national store that can be found in many communities across the US. Our participation in the Food Stamp Challenge will kick off tomorrow morning and I will post our menu directly after breakfast. Recipes and updates will follow for the next 7 days.

The Grocery List
($42 for 2 people/$1 each per meal for the course of 7 days)

$5.00 for 2 Loaves of Baker’s Inn 100% Whole Wheat Bread (5 gr. of Protein and 3 gr. Fiber per slice with 16 slices in each package)

$1.47 for 18 oz. of Read more…

Filed under: Food Stamp Challenge on June 21st, 2007 | 1 Comment »

At this very moment I am sitting at my desk slowly savoring my last cup of coffee for the day and the next several days for that matter. Our windows are open and there is a slight breeze billowing through the sheer white summery curtains throughout our home. As sunlight pours through my kitchen illuminating the light sky blue colored walls, the scent of a cast iron skillet cooked breakfast of buttermilk buckwheat pancakes, fresh strawberries, bacon, and pure maple syrup lingers in the air creating a fragrance that no candle or essential oil could ever be compared. My pantry is neatly organized and stocked with a wide variety of local, organic, and sustainable foods that are fully capable of providing the elements for a delectable feast with little more then a moment’s notice. In the depths of my cool basement there is a tall shelf stocked with an assortment of overflow small kitchen appliances, canning equipment, seasonal gadgets such as an apple/peeler/corer, and a small row of neatly arranged Ball jars cataloging the results of my first attempts at canning a taste of our local seasons. Yet, for a week I am going to use my imagination to pretend that none of that exists…

I have always believed that Read more…

Filed under: Food Stamp Challenge on June 21st, 2007 | 2 Comments »

A little over a month ago, when my husband and I had decided to participate in the widely debated and discussed Food Stamp Challenge, our purpose for doing so, was to bring awareness to the alarming problem of food insecurity in this country and to take some time to reflect on what we could do within our own community, to help aid organizations that reach out to those in need. Unfortunately, our plans were put on hold when my husband was rushed to the emergency room, diagnosed with a ruptured appendix, and had to undergo surgery, just days before the challenge was scheduled. Thankfully there were no complications, he is currently doing much better, and our life is beginning to resume as normal again.

Although we had to postpone our participation in The Food Stamp Diet, it has still been weighing very heavily on our minds. Since that initial post, we have been astounded by the large number of people who have found this site by searching for quick, easy, and inexpensive recipes that could be afforded on a poverty level or food stamp budget. Due to the nature of the searches and key phrases used, we do not feel that many of these searches were done in correlation to the highly publicized Food Stamp Challenge. Instead, we truly suspect that there are a large number of people struggling to make ends meet and desperately seeking solutions for feeding their family on a shoestring budget for a number of reasons. Whether they are on food stamps or not is negligible at this point. The fact that they found this site while looking for viable solutions is enough to have further inspired us to offer what assistance we can.

It is with those thoughts in mind that my husband and I have decided to Read more…

Filed under: Food Stamp Challenge on June 20th, 2007 | No Comments »

As I sit here at my laptop, and look around at all of the modern conveniences that life in this century has afforded me, I can not help but wonder if my great grandparents would recognize most of them. If they were to be able to travel through time and space for a visit, how would my everyday existence appear to their old world eyes and sense of accomplishment? Would they be impressed with the fact that my home and life is stuffed to the gills with time saving gadgets which free up my time, only so it can be over scheduled and filled up with a million other distracting tasks, preventing me from savoring the moment at hand? Above all, could they comprehend the fact that living green and practicing sustainability is something I am learning and not second nature? Yes, these are questions that make me wonder about who I am and what I can do to leave something more behind me then an enormous carbon footprint in this world… Something that would make them feel proud of the legacy they have left behind them as well…

At the moment, the steps I am taking still seem small and insignificant to me, but all of them have enriched my life, giving it a deeper sense of value, and purpose. In my journey, towards eating local, living greener, and incorporating more sustainable practices into my life, I have found that Read more…

Filed under: Recipes on June 15th, 2007 | 7 Comments »

What would you do if you woke up to find a baby robin sitting on your fence? Read more…

Filed under: Seasonal Notebook on June 15th, 2007 | No Comments »

Just two weekends ago, my husband and I laid our heads down on our pillows, slept under the soft Friday night light of a Strawberry Moon, and dreamed of fields that went on forever… As a result, we woke up bright and early the next morning hungry for the sticky sweet taste of strawberries and a day that began in an orchard full of perfectly ripe fruit waiting to be picked.

With tall travel mugs full of freshly brewed, steaming hot coffee, and the largest Read more…

Filed under: Eating Local in Ohio on June 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

“There’s no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, a state of bliss
Can’t keep my mind from the circling sky…”

Pink Floyd Lyrics (Learning To Fly)

The weather has been incredibly beautiful here in Central Ohio for quite a while now and my days have literally been skipping by, blurred on the edges under a dreamy blue sky filled with wispy white clouds. As I contemplate the inevitable end of Spring and the rapidly approaching close to a two year sabbatical that had allowed me the opportunity to travel on business with my husband, I just can not help but want to get out in the fresh open air and absorb the natural world around me. Abandoning myself to the simple pleasures of the season has been inherently blissful and I often find myself considering ways to bottle it up and preserve the moment forever. Camera in hand I capture only a fraction of the beauty and words fail me when I try to express it. An assortment of long abandoned oil paints have been calling to me from the darkest corner in my basement. I suspect that it is only a matter of time before they dramatically emerge, take center stage, and colorfully guide me through a whimsical Summer journey across a vast expanse of a blank white canvas. In the meantime however, I think I will Read more…

Filed under: Seasonal Notebook on June 14th, 2007 | No Comments »

The trees are full of lush green leaves, the birds are busily foraging for worms in my newly planted garden, and I all I can think about is Saturday morning, when my husband and I will be heading out to a local pick your own farm to go strawberry picking. Yes, it seems as if I have been waiting for this moment for a very long time… To say that my jelly jars and canning equipment are ready is an understatement and Read more…

Filed under: Eating Local on June 1st, 2007 | 2 Comments »

If you have been reading my blog then you may have already noticed a trend, that I am a huge fan of quick and easy techniques that make “Living the Good Life,” simple and easily attainable. There are many reasons for this, but for the most part it is merely a reflection of how I live. Life is busy, it gets hectic, sometimes chaotic, and like the average person, the list of what I would like to do and what I will actually will get around to doing might as well exist in two entirely different lifetimes. Still, I don’t like the idea of life passing me by without being fully immersed in its beauty, depth, and complicity either…

For that reason, I am adding a new category to Ceres’ Secrets called “Simple Pleasures.” If you only have a moment and are searching for a way to indulge in something decadent with the most minimal amount of complication, stress, and active involvement time, then this is the place to look. The posts that reside here will offer effortless solutions for making those never ending “Every Days” seem a bit more special. It is my greatest wish that you will find something manageable among them that will help you savor the quiet unhurried moments in life that often slip by unannounced while awaiting the grand ones.

With that thought in mind, it only seems fitting that I should share one of our favorite simple pleasures first, Read more…

Filed under: Simple Pleasures on May 29th, 2007 | No Comments »