Chipotle Fundraiser

I just got an email from the Jamie Oliver mailing list and it had a link to info on this brilliant fundraiser from Chipotle: on Halloween, if you go to Chipotle dressed up as "a horrifying processed food product", you get a burrito for $2. Hilarious!

Read about it HERE...
What processed food product would you dress up as?

Wandering

If you've been wondering where I've been...

We Do Iceland

Planning for the trip and then actually tripping have taken up pretty much all of my time the past few months.

I've got new posts coming soon though! In the meantime, go check out our photos of the most incredible place on Earth!

Biscuits

Biscuits are kind of a big deal in my family. Second only to pie. My grandma or my mom making biscuits for breakfast has always been a very exciting occasion. And sometimes an adventure when fighting over the last one with 5 younger siblings.

The legacy started with my Great-Grandma Sorenson who lived on a farm in a tiny little community in central Utah with her husband and two daughters. She would make lunch for Great-Grandpa and the other farmers who were working on their farm that day. She quickly became famous for her biscuits (and her pie...but that's another post) and the farmers would always look forward to working on the Sorenson farm so that they could eat her cooking.

A few months ago I decided that I too needed to acquire this biscuit making skill and tried out a couple of recipes. They were all failures. Or, maybe not failures, but they definitely did not compare to the legendary biscuits I had been raised on. So then I did what I should have done in the first place and consulted with my mom. All it took was one Skype video call, while both making biscuits at the same time, to learn the family secrets to incredibly high, flaky, fluffy biscuits. Which I will now unveil to you lucky readers. :)


Sorenson Girl Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter*
1 1/2** cups milk*** -- I usually use the buttermilk leftover from making butter

Heat oven to 450.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.
Cut very cold butter (I usually use frozen) into 1/4" cubes and then,using a pastry blender, cut into flour until the mixture resembles fine crumbs (don't overwork -- you'll end up with flat biscuits).

On a sheet of wax paper (approximately 15" long) add a thick layer of flour (about 1/2 cup). Then, pour the milk into the bowl and mix until just barely moistened (it will be quite liquid-y). Pour batter out onto floured wax paper.

Add a sprinkling of flour on top of batter and pat out into a rectangle about 1/2" thick (your hands will get very messy). Then, using a side of the wax paper, flip the rectangle over onto itself and pat back out to 1/2" thickness. Repeat this process once more.

Then, using a biscuit cutter (or a small juice glass), cut out round pieces of dough and place so they are touching on a baking stone. You will cut out two circles for each biscuit and stack them.

Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with butter, honey, or jam. Or make a sausage biscuit with sausage and cheddar cheese.



Then, prepare for your mind to be blown. These things are -- not even exaggerating -- like crack to me. I can't stop. So, I always halve this recipe when making just for our family which yields about 5 biscuits. This way, I can only have two (when really, I want all 5). Growing up, my mom would double this recipe in order for everyone to get one with just a few leftover to fight over.

*Great-Grandma used straight cream skimmed from the top of their fresh milk. No wonder they were so good!

**This is the secret -- the liquid is double what is called for in other recipes. Also, the folding over. Some recipes call for kneading the dough which is just nuts because that makes a tough, not-flaky biscuit. Tough and non-flaky are not words that should ever be used in the same sentence as biscuit.

***If you want to use cultured buttermilk, decrease baking powder to 2 teaspoons and add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. Cultured buttermilk is also a bit thicker than regular milk so add an extra tablespoon.

Egg Bagels

My husband and my son are both bagel fans. Egg bagels, in particular. After years of buying Sara Lee Egg bagels I discovered, to my horror, that not only do they contain high fructose corn syrup but also Yellow #5. WHAT!? The HFCS is bad enough, but not a huge surprise. But food coloring in bread? Why? So that they look different than the plain bagels? Needless to say, I was disgusted.

Thus began my quest for a better bagel. The recipe I tried is from a blog called Brown Eyed Baker which I had not previously heard of but now enjoy quite a lot.

The bagels seemed a bit intimidating. Reading over the recipe, it seemed like there were a lot of steps and lots of things I'd never done before. Like, boiling dough. However, by just following directions (surprise!) I was able to produce some pretty tasty bagels, I must say! The only thing I will change next time I make these is boiling the dough longer. I did them for only 1 minute per side as the recipe advises, but they were not chewy enough for us. The 1 minute per side produced a bagel that was just barely different than a roll. So, 2 minutes or 2.5 per side is what we'll do next time.

Bagel making is quite magical actually. There's a step where you test the dough to find out if it's ready to be retarded (I guess to stop the rising?). You do this by dropping a raw bagel into a bowl of room temperature water to see if it floats. If it does, you put the bagels in the fridge overnight. If it does not float, you let them sit for a few more minutes and try again. I had try twice before it floated on the third try. Magic!

Also, I froze half the batch for a couple of weeks and they thawed perfectly. We eat don't eat food very quickly around here so I'm always stoked when I can freeze something successfully. Let me know if you try these out!

Pizza

Homemade pizza is probably our favorite food to make and eat. This is how we do it:

The Crust

We used to always use Trader Joe's pre-made pizza crust. It is tasty, contains very few ingredients and always turns out perfectly. Then, during my all-from-scratch-challenge in April, we tried out the Pioneer Woman's pizza crust recipe. It is so fast and easy and also has only 4 ingredients (not counting water). It has become my new standby.

The Sauce

Likewise, we also used to use the Trader Joe's pizza sauce. However, now I make up a batch of Jamie Oliver's tomato sauce which is the perfect amount for two pizzas PLUS pasta later in the week. The only changes I make from Jamie's recipe are not straining it (I like it more rustic and chunky) and I add a couple teaspoons of balsamic vinegar while it's simmering away. Amazing!

The Toppings

Some of our favorite combinations are:

Margarita - fresh mozzarella, basil, tomato (thinly sliced), garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil
Greek - mozzarella, feta, red onion, basil, kalamata olives (halved), oregano
Veggie - mushrooms, bell peppers, red onion, spinach
Pepperoni - Gourmet pepperoni from TJ, red pepper flakes, oregano
Sausage - spicy Italian sausage (removed from casing and cooked), green bell pepper, fresh tomato

The Technique

Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees, with pizza stone (a MUST) on very bottom shelf setting. Sprinkle flat cookie sheet or pizza peel with corn meal. Shape dough on lightly floured surface then transfer to cookie sheet. Throw the toppings on.

When oven has come to temperature, gently slide assembled pizza from sheet onto hot pizza stone (I leave the stone in the oven and just pull the shelf out). Bake for 8-11 minutes, until crust is golden and all cheese is melted.

Slide pizza from pan to cutting board and let cool for 5-10 minutes (this will help keep your toppings on the pizza when you cut).


Homemade pizza is SO much better than take-out. There is really no comparison. It's cheaper, fresher, better for you, tastier and fun to make! I would rather do the work to make it myself than buy it out any day. I think I'll make it tonight. :)

The Slow Cook

A new favorite blog -- The Slow Cook. This blog is written by Ed Bruske, a former reporter for the Washington Post who is now a personal chef, lecturer, and teacher. He and his family have turned their front yard into an urban vegetable garden and he records their gardening adventures along with some investigative journalism articles on school food and food industry issues. He also has lots of links to other good resources and videos.

I'm in the midst of reading "Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen" which are articles he wrote after spending a week in the kitchen of his daughter's elementary school.

You must go check out this blog -- so much great information! It's going to take some time to get through it all.

The Omnivore's Dilemna

Of all the food industry related books I've read over the past few months, I think this may be my favorite -- The Omnivore's Dilemma. It may have somewhat to do with my crush on Michael Pollan, but it really is an awesome book.

Pollan follows 4 different kinds of meals from the earth to the table -- industrial, big business organic, local organic and finally foraged. It is truly fascinating to see where our food is coming from and what impacts what food we eat has on the environment and our communities.

My favorite part of the book was when Pollan visits Joel Salatin's farm--Polyface Farms-- for a week. Salatin is one of the farmers that makes an appearance in the documentary Food, Inc, which is where I first heard of him. He is so passionate and quirky and just cracks me up. I mean, take a look at him. The perfect farmer!



If you only read one book on the topic, please read this one. My second favorite would be Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck (my review HERE).

Summer Loving

Did you forget about me? Here I am! The month of May just whipped past and left me spinning in its wake. I'll try to better about posting from now on.

Summer seems to finally be here and as much as I complain about the hot weather, I am LOVING all of the new fruits and veggies that are showing up at the farmers market and in our CSA box. The sugar snap peas were here and gone in a flash but I enjoyed every second, as with the asparagus. My favorites in the last couple weeks have been beets, cherries, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, tomatoes and we even just got our first taste of blackberries thanks to some generous friends who have a grandma with a blackberry bush.

A local pick-your-own farm has blueberries ready for harvesting and we will be all over that sometime this week or weekend. I am so excited -- it's one of my favorite times of the year, not to mention a certain 2.5 year old boy who is obsessed with blueberries!

I must go take the granola out of the oven but I'll be back soon with all kind of new goodies. In the meantime, eat good food!

Some Favorite Blogs Regarding Food

Just wanted to tell you all about a couple of blogs that I'm obsessed with right now. Reading through their archives is keeping me from finishing the books I desperately need to finish before they are due back to the library.

The first one is Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project. It is written by a public school teacher (I think middle school) who is annoymously documenting the lunch kids are being served everyday for the entire school year. It's really interesting and disturbing. There are also lots of guest blogs from all kinds of people -- other teachers, teachers in other countries (the guest bloggers from France and Japan are fascinating! Such a contrast with the US), other people who have anything to do with food service or moms trying to change food served in their own kids' schools. Apparently, she's pretty internet-famous! And she even got a call from Jamie Oliver himself, who just wanted to chat!

The other is Dissertation to Dirt "The story of a former PhD-track graduate student and her new fiancee, Travis, who decided to leave behind an emergent life in Boston to pursue a career in organic farming."

Go check them out! I have a few more to share, but I want to get back to reading. :)

In Defense of Food

Have I mentioned how much I love Michael Pollan? He is so fantastic. I just read his book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. The book is about this: Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I've been trying to write a summary of the book now for an hour and I'm failing miserably to communicate anything. So I'll just quote from the book cover. :)

"...most of what we're consuming today is not food, and how we're consuming it --in the car, in front of the TV, and increasingly alone--is not really eating. Instead of food, we're consuming "edible foodlike substances"--no longer the products of nature but of food science. Many of them come packaged with health claims that should be our first clue they are anything but healthy. In the so-called Western diet, food has been replaced by nutrients, and common sense by confusion. The result is what Michael Pollan called the American paradox: the more we worry about nutrition, the less healthy we seem to become.

But if real food--the sort of food our great grandmothers would recognize as food--stands in need of defense, from whom does it need defending? From the food industry on one side and nutritional science on the other. Both stand to gain much from widespread confusion about what to eat, a question that for most of human history people have been able to answer without expert help. Yet the professionalization of eating has failed to make Americans healthier. Thirty years of official nutritional advice has only made us sicker and fatter while ruining countless numbers of meals."


I especially like his rules for eating. They include...

Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food

Avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than 5 in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup

Get out of the supermarket whenever possible

You are what you eat eats too

Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism

Pay more, eat less

Do all your eating at a table

Try not to eat alone


Go read this book! And also, if you haven't already, you can read a ton of articles Michael Pollan has written for The New York Times on his website HERE. He is my my favorite!!

Challenge Re-Cap

Holy crap April went by fast! Did it for you, too? May just totally snuck up on me and I'm actually kind of disappointed -- there are so many other things I wanted to do for this blog during April! I'll just have to keep it going so I can get to everything. :)

So, I feel like my challenge to cut out processed/industrialized foods and only eat from-scratch food for the month of April was a complete success. True, there were a few instances where I was in a position in which I didn't have many choices and a couple times where I chose to sort of cheat. But overall, I'm very happy and feel like I'm in such a great space mentally and physically.

In order to be 100% honest, here's a list of my cheats:

2-3 Chipotle meals (traveling)
2 In-n-Out meals (also travel)
1 gelato
3 cupcakes
2 meals at weddings
2 meals at LA Farmer's Market
2 meals in Sequoia Nat'l Park
prepared chicken salad and rolls from Whole Foods

What I'm most proud of is making meals ahead of time to take on the road with us. I believe there were about 6 times where I made sandwiches and fruit to bring along to eat while traveling in the car or to eat as a picnic after getting some place. It was fantastic! Cheaper in some instances, and WAY better quality in all instances! We will continue doing this for sure when at all possible.

I learned to make my own tortillas (and can't ever go back to store-bought), have nearly perfected my yogurt making method, discovered an excellent pizza dough recipe, my butter making skillz are killer, we wasted much less food, and I learned to be even more organized in my meal planning and preparation, along with eating with pure enjoyment.


These photos are of yet another Jamie Oliver recipe, that I mentioned once before. This is the Shrimp and Avocado with an Old-School Marie Rose Sauce (his dishes always have these long names. :) I had no idea if we would like it or not, but we all ended up loving it. Very tasty. Can't wait to make it again, in fact!

So anyway, I hope everyone had a successful April and is inspired to continue eating well. I will keep on with my research and I'll share what I learn in case you want to continue on this journey with me! Coming up also are a couple more tutorials and lots more recipes. Thanks for visiting!

Classic Tomato Spaghetti

Oh bliss. This Classic Tomato Spaghetti was another perfect Jamie Oliver recipe. If you haven't bought this cookbook yet, go get it asap. Truly, everything I have made from this book has been incredible. I'm in love. It's all my favorite food to make and to eat.


And now it's May! My challenge is officially over. I'm working on a post recapping the month -- my trials and triumphs -- so watch for that coming soon!

Egg & Soldiers

Never in my life did I think I would eat a soft-boiled egg. The thought of a runny yolk was repulsive. But then I did try it. With my farm-fresh eggs from my CSA box. And I was sold.

Apparently, in the UK this is called egg and soldiers -- a soft-boiled egg with salt and pepper and some buttered pieces of toast to dip in. It is soooo good. I can't explain it. Also good to dip, some thin, raw asparagus spears (a la Nigella).

My perfect egg is actually medium boiled -- for about 7 minutes -- with buttered asiago ciabatta. Heaven!

Cinnamon Granola

3 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup nuts (I used pecan pieces)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1 tablespoon flax seed
1 tsp cinnamon
(Mix dry ingredients)

1/4 cup butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1/6 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
(Mix wet ingredients)

Combine well and pour into a 9x13 pan. Toast in a 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes -- stirring once after 10 minutes and then every 5 minutes until browned. Watch closely for the last 5 minutes because it happens pretty quickly.


Cool and store in an airtight container. Serve with milk or yogurt or add some dried fruit and eat as a snack-y trail mix. The cinnamon MAKES it. So good. I have a hard time controlling myself around this stuff. Enjoy!

The Unhealthy Truth

I just finished this book, The Unhealthy Truth by Robyn O'Brien, and can't recommend it enough. The author researched the dickens out of accredited European and Australian studies to find out why things like rBGH, genetically engineered crops, artificial colors and other additives have been banned from use in countries like England, France, Italy, Norway and New Zealand.

All of these ingredients (plus alot of other scary things) are perfectly legal (and sometimes subsidized by the US government) here in the United States. The research she cites show why allergies, asthma, ADHD and cancer rates are on the rise -- they all coincide with the introduction of toxins into the American food supply.

O'Brien also uncovers the link between the Big Agribusiness and government agencies like the FDA. The book is both facinating and horrifying but it's a really good introduction into these subjects, and includes tips on how to gradually wean your family off of highly processed foods to those that aren't as bad.

The book is written from the viewpoint of a mother learning about how these unhealthy foods are affecting her young children. I think this book is a must-read for all mothers. What we're feeding our children is so important! Everyone needs to have the knowledge to make informed decisions on what even so-called "healthy" processed food contains.

Yogurt Fruit Smoothies

Into a blender:

1/2 cup homemade plain yogurt
+
1/4 cup milk
+
1/2 cup frozen mango
+
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
+
1 banana
+
1 teaspoon ground flax seed

Blend until smooth. This is another favorite afternoon snack around here or for breakfast along with a soft-boiled egg and soldiers. I used to add a couple teaspoons honey until I realized that it's sweet enough without. If you'd like your
smoothie sweeter, just add a little squeeze of honey in there before blending.

I'm working on a post about the yogurt making, so please stay tuned. I just want to perfect my method first. :)



P.S. Have you seen these stainless steel straws??? I want some so badly! I hate buying anything disposable, so I'd love to get these for our smoothies and lassis intead of using plastic. They are so on my wish list.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes

1 large egg
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons ground or whole flax seed
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or so frozen or fresh blueberries

Whisk egg until fluffy then whisk in remaining
ingredients (except blueberries) just until smooth.

Gently fold in blueberries.

Cook on griddle heated to medium heat. Serve with butter
and real maple syrup. Makes about 10-12 pancakes. I usually
halve the recipe, but you could also make the whole batch
and freeze the left-overs. Just thaw at room temp for 10 or
so minutes and then warm in the toaster.


These pancakes are one of our favorite breakfasts. We also
will eat them without butter or syrup as a quick snack.
They are very filling (don't let the photo fool you -- eating
three of them would be quite a feat) and a healthy weekend
breakfast. Make some and eat them!

Mireille Guiliano

These two books -- French Women Don't Get Fat and French Women For All Seasons (both by Mireille Guiliano) -- are the first food-related books I ever read (besides cookbooks). They are full of wisdom about sensible eating, taking real pleasure in eating, recipes for amazing food and how to reach your equilibrium with food.



Seasonality, moderation, quality and immersing oneself in the act of eating are all key to maintaining a healthy body and mind. There are lots of other bits of wisdom and plenty of recipes (especially in French Women for All Seasons) interspersed with her wit and elegance. These are books that I enjoy re-reading when I need a dose of motivation and inspiration.

What I Have Been Eating This Week

Alright, so keeping detailed log is just too much work for me. But here are some of the yummy things I've been eating lately:

More homemade yogurt (post coming soon!)
Smoothies
My new-found perfect whole wheat bread (also coming soon!)
Walnuts-in-shell from the farmers' market
Homemade guacamole
Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce (a Jamie Oliver recipe)
Pastured chicken roasted with veggies and homemade gravy (another Jamie recipe, love him!)
Buttermilk biscuits (buttermilk from making butter)
Pastured soft-boiled eggs and "soldiers" (post coming soon for this one, too!)

And that's all I can think of at the moment. Tasty, right?

Real Food by Nina Planck

Hi friends. Sorry it's been a few days. I've been too busy reading, cooking, and eating to write about what I'm reading, cooking and eating. :) Also, my photographer has paying gigs that take precedence over my little blog. Psh!


I'll get to what I've been eating in my next post, but first I wanted to talk about the book I just finished reading. It is called Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck. This book was recommended to me by my friend Morgan and luckily I found it at the library the other day (I love the library so much).

Real Food is about eating traditional foods. The foods that humans have been eating since always. The foods that we ate before the industrialization of foods changed everything. I absolutely love this book. It reconfirms everything I've always instinctively felt was the "right" way to eat, backed up by why it's the right way.

She shows why low-carb and low-fat and low-sodium and low-cholesterol and other deprivatory (is that a word?) diets are actually bad for us. Butter and lard are better than margarine. Whole raw milk is better than industrialized milk that is full of hormones and dead white blood cells, missing valuable nutrients. Pastured beef, chicken skin, chocolate, and eggs all have an important role to play in our health. And of course, most of all, lots and lots of veggies and fruit. Put most simply, eat whatever you want, as long as it's not industrialized. Planck shows that the cause of modern health problems are due to high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and other non-traditional, "fake" foods.

As with most every aspect of life (ie childbirth, breastfeeding, most health problems, child-raising, home and body products), I believe that the more natural and "old-fashioned", the better. So this book made perfect sense to me and really reinforced what I felt deep down is the best way to eat. And after being stuck in a "diet" mind-set for the past 8-9 years, it was very freeing. It's a relief to break out of that and concentrate on health and whole foods, rather than on fat grams and calories and carbs. I'm confident that by combining eating real foods with an active life-style, I can still lose the bit of weight that I'd like to lose and not hurt my body in the process. I won't be winning any hot body contests, but I'd much rather win the long, healthy life contest anyway. :)

If you're interested in how all the vitamins and fats and cholesterol and proteins and acids all work together for our bodies' benefit in traditional foods (and how they DON'T work in industrialized/processed foods), please read this book!

Butter

Could anything be easier?

1 pint organic whipping cream
+
1 tsp salt or 1 T honey



Allow whipping cream to come to room temperature (EDIT: Otherwise it will take forever. Trust me on this). Pour into Kitchen-Aid mixer with whisk attachment.
Cover bowl with a tea towel. Turn on to high and whip for 3-5 minutes. The butter and buttermilk should now be
separated, with the butter pretty much all in one clump.


Put a strainer over a bowl or jar and strain the butter milk from the butter. Save, covered, in the fridge for drinking or baking (I'll be sharing my favorite butter milk biscuit recipe soon!). Return all butter to the mixer bowl and add a few inches of very cold water.




Cover with tea towel again and mix on high for a minute. The water should be cloudy. Discard water. This process is to remove excess buttermilk from the butter so that it will keep longer. Repeat this process 3-4 times until the water is clear.

After draining off the water, there is still going to be some water that needs to be removed. Either press butter with the back of a spoon to force water out, lightly press with a spatula in a sieve or squeeze butter in a tea towel (gently). Ta da! Butter!


For salted butter, return butter to mixer bowl, add 1 teaspoon of salt and whisk on high. Ta da! Salted butter! OR squeeze in about a tablespoon of honey and beat in. Ta da! Honey butter!






The butter can be wrapped in waxed paper in the fridge or kept in a butter crock (my preferred method). Enjoy on all manner of foods!


BENEFIT OF MAKING YOUR OWN BUTTER: A pint of organic whipping cream is less than $3.50 and produces 1/2 pound of butter + 3/4 cup of buttermilk. Buying organic butter from the store is $7-8. So it's not a huge savings but you do get about 1.5 cups of free buttermilk. Plus you can be assured that the only ingredients are cream and salt. And it is very tasty.

Day One-Three

Well, people, how's it going? I meant to post on the 1st about how my first day of the challenge went but my night got away from me. So instead, here's a re-cap of the past few days.

04/01

BREAKFAST
oatmeal (organic oats from our CSA)
brown sugar (Trader Joe's organic)
tiny bit of butter (homemade and organic)

SNACK
2 organic kiwis (from our CSA)

LUNCH
Minestrone soup

SNACK
guacamole (homemade with ingredients from farmers' market)
carrot sticks (organic from our CSA)

SNACK
honey stick

DINNER
Shrimp & Avocado with Marie Rose Sauce (from Jamie's Food Revolution cookbook)
mandarin orange (organic from our CSA)

DESSERT
Paciugo gelato


First, let's talk about dinner. Wow. I didn't know what to expect with this one, but the delicious looking photos in the cookbook really made me want to try it. The dish is super simple -- lightly breaded shrimp seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika along with a watercress and avocado salad drizzled with Marie Rose sauce (which turns out to be mayo, ketchup, worcester, lemon, salt and pepper -- I left out the whiskey that the recipe called for!). So, it sounded kind of strange but turned out to be super good! We all loved it -- even the two-year-old kid. We will make it again for sure.

Second, let's talk about dessert. This was not one of my anticipated cheats. A friend's birthday just happened to be that day and we were invited out to celebrate. However, as far as cheating goes, I think this barely qualifies. We went to a gelato place called Paciugo and it is amazing. At Paciugo, all of their gelato are made by hand every morning. The ingredients are all natural, with no preservatives or artificial ingredients. So, even though I personally did not make this, it was not made in a factory and only has good, real ingredients. Woot! Good to know that there is such a place to go for a treat now and then. :)


04/02

BREAKFAST
oatmeal (organic oats from our CSA)
brown sugar (Trader Joe's organic)
tiny bit of butter (homemade and organic)

LUNCH
guacamole (homemade with ingredients from farmers' market)
carrot sticks (organic from CSA)
yogurt (homemade -- tutorial coming soon!)
*weird snack-y lunch*

DINNER
chicken pesto sandwich (homemade bread and pesto, grilled free-range organic chicken breast)


04/03

BREAKFAST
oatmeal (organic oats from our CSA)
brown sugar (Trader Joe's organic)
tiny bit of butter (homemade and organic)
*do you sense a trend here?*

LUNCH
greek salad
fruit
chicken
tiramisu
baklava
*Remember I had a wedding to go to? So this was a cheat day in that I didn't make the food myself. However, the food was really good quality and fresh and real, so I felt good about it anyway. Plus, best baklava I've ever had!*

DINNER
Classic Tomato Spaghetti (from Jamie's Food Revolution - really yummy! Simple and fresh and fast. I'll add a photo as soon as I can.)


So, not too shabby, right? As I mentioned, this month is kind of a crazy one to do this challenge. On Tuesday I am going to a concert directly from my kid's gymnastics class -- when am I going to eat dinner? I'm going to try really hard to bring something with me to eat cause I reeeeaaaallllyyy do not want to end up junk in desperation. And then on Thursday we're off to a friends' house for a few days to party. I'll be bringing along my own yogurt and a few other things and happily, my friends like to cook real food, too, so I should be good. Phew.

I will try to post every other evening or so with details (and hopefully a photo or two) about what I've eaten each day along with recipes, some favorite things and more information I learn about processed foods and the food industry. Please join me in this challenge! Even if you can't go hard-core and make everything from scratch, just cut out all fast food for this month. Make healthy, fresh food your priority even if it means some other projects get put on hold for a couple weeks. I know that you will feel so fantastic that you won't want to revert back to how you were eating before. Real food makes such a difference in how our bodies feel! Happy bodies!

For those of you who have already started doing this with me, please comment with an update on how you're doing. And good luck!

Eat Food

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy. I hate to give away the game right here at the beginning of a long essay, and I confess that I'm tempted to complicate matters in the interest of keeping things going for a few thousand more words. I'll try to resist but will go ahead and add a couple more details to flesh out the advice. Like: A little meat won't kill you, though it's better approached as a side dish than as a main. And you're much better off eating whole fresh foods than processed food products. That's what I mean by the recommendation to eat ''food.'' Once, food was all you could eat, but today there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in the supermarket. These novel products of food science often come in packages festooned with health claims, which brings me to a related rule of thumb: if you're concerned about your health, you should probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it's not really food, and food is what you want to eat."

So great, right?!

This is an excerpt from another Michael Pollan article. Read the rest of the article HERE. So amazing!

Michael Pollan

While waiting for my turn to check-out The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, both by Michael Pollan, I'm having a great time reading all of the articles he's written for The New York Times. They are brilliant! The articles are all quite long, but you should really go at least read a couple. They are full of so much good information and are really thought-provoking!

A few of my favorites so far:

Big Food vs. Big Insurance
Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch
When a Crop Becomes King
Power Steer

Please go read! I'm working my way through all of them.

French Country Salad

I recently had a super delish salad at The Cheesecake Factory called French Country Salad. It blew my mind. And so I had to make it at home. And I can not wait to eat it again.



FRENCH COUNTRY SALAD

*mixed greens
*skinny asparagus, grilled or lighly steamed (still want some crunch!)
*beets, boiled and cut into small cubes
*chevre (goat cheese)
*candied walnuts or pecans
*balsamic vinaigrette

BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE
(a variation on Emeril Lagasse's, which is my favorite!)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 clove garlic
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup + a tiny bit more oilve oil

Combine all ingredients in a pint jar or a cruet and shake like crazy until all combined. Keep the extra in the fridge.

Toss the greens with the dressing and transfer to serving bowl or board. Add the veggies and cheese around. Give a good couple grinds of black pepper on top. Serve with grilled chicken breast, crusty baguette and some sparkling water. A PERFECTLY HEAVENLY meal for lunch or dinner in my book.





P.S. My beets were red when I started boiling them. By the time they were done they were white. What the? That has never happened before -- I guess they were a different variety or something? Anyway, that's what those pink-ish chunks are. :)

Minestrone

This soup was originally based on a recipe from The New Basics Cookbook, but I've made so many alterations that it's really my own now. So here you go!


Cara's MINESTRONE

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely diced
1 leek, finely diced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 head of cabbage, roughly chopped into bite-size pieces
1 potato, peeled and diced (I also have used a parsnip, which was really good)
6 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
5 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt, to taste
15 oz red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz white kidney beans (or Great Northern), drained and rinsed
15 oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (I get this from Trader Joe's and it's amazing -- it's tomatoes and green chilies. If you don't want a spicy soup, just use regular canned diced tomatoes)
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar(the "secret" ingredient that I think totally makes it!)
freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish

optional: Italian sausage, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces

Heat olive oil over med-high in a large pot. Add garlic, onions, carrot and leek and cook until veg start to become tender (10 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally). Add cabbage, potato, stock and tomato paste and turn heat to high. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add 2 tablespoons of parsley along with the oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes.

Add beans, tomatoes and cider vinegar. Simmer until all veg are tender. Adjust seasonings and add sausage if desired. Stir in remaining 3 tablespoons of parsley before serving. Serve with Parmesan.

(You can also add pasta to this at the end. Add a few ounces of a small pasta before adding the sausage and simmer until pasta is cooked. We leave out the sausage and pasta generally to reduce calories.)


This recipe yields 6-8 servings and is only between 200-300 calories per serving (without sausage or pasta)! It makes for a tasty, quick, healthy, filling-but-not-heavy lunch. And, like all soups, I like this more the day after it's made. All the flavors really come out and blend.

To stick with my challenge rules, I'll have to make my beans from scratch next time I make this! I usually make this soup on Sunday afternoons and we eat it for lunch through-out the week. I'll have to plan ahead to get my beans soaking!

I will be sad when these veggies go out of season (they've all been coming in our CSA box for the past couple of months), but will be just that much more excited to make it next winter! That is the joy of eating seasonally -- you're not likely to burn out if you can only have them at certain foods at certain times of the year! It really makes you not take anything for granted, too. Which is a lesson we all need to learn. :)

Jamie Oliver & Jamie's Food Revolution

I'm sure you've all heard about this show by now, Jamie's Food Revolution (Fridays at 9pm on ABC). I have been a big fan of Jamie Oliver for several years now -- I used to watch his various shows on the Food Network all the time. Then for Christmas, my husband gave me Jamie's beautiful cookbook Jamie at Home and I absolutely love it. The food is so rustic and earthy and beautiful and whole, not to mention delicious! So when I heard about Jamie's Food Revolution a few months ago, I was very excited!

The show is basically about changing the way Americans eat, starting with public school lunch programs (which are horrible -- I remember from my own school days!)and the way families eat at home. Of course the show is a bit "reality show"-y (it is on ABC after all, and produced by Ryan Seacrest) but I am just thrilled that a show like this is on network television. It is something that people need to see! If you've missed the first two episodes, you can watch them online HERE and make sure you catch the next episode on Friday. Also, take 10 seconds to sign the petition supporting Jamie's effort to change the food that is being fed to American kids at school.



AND, not only is there a tv show, there is a cookbook called Jamie's Food Revolution. It is incredible!! I have read it cover to cover probably about 5 times now since I got it a week ago. The photography is beautiful, the recipes are exactly the kind of food I love, and Jamie's personality makes reading about boiling rice super entertaining (to me, anyway!) I can't really express how much I love this book. I carry it around the house with me (even to bed!) cause I want it near me. Unbalanced? Probably. But I just LOVE it!

The book is so perfect for people who have not cooked before or who only know a few basics but is still great for people who cook regularly. The first section has lists and photos of the equipment and pantry items needed to have a well-stocked kitchen that will enable you to make healthy, fresh food easily and quickly. I actually already have bought several copies as gifts and I wish I could buy a copy for everyone! Teehee.

In the past week I've made a few recipes from JFR: Chicken Tikka Masala (holy CRAP I can not tell you how amazing it was!), A Cracking Burger, Lemon Dressing, and Shrimp and Avocado with An Old-School Marie Rose Sauce is on the menu for tonight. I also made Light and Fluffy rice to go along with the Chicken Tikka that turned out so perfectly. Seriously, that meal tasted exactly like we were at our favorite Indian restaurant. It was brilliant! So, basically, I'm in love.

Get yourself to Amazon or the bookstore and get the cookbook asap! I can not wait to make and eat every single recipe. And then, make sure to start watching the show this Friday at 9pm on ABC!

Fast Food Nation & Food, Inc.

As I said, my interest-turned-passion/obsession for real, local, organic, natural, unprocessed food has been something that's been building for the past several years. What has really made me want to take the leap into this challenge though has been all of the research I have been doing lately on the food industry, the history of food, and the effects that the commercialization and separation from our food is having on this country. Just after a bit of reading, it all makes so much sense and it is so obvious where we've gone wrong. There are several books that I recommend if you're at all interested in these topics. And even if you aren't. :)


It seems like this book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and the film Food, Inc. are all over the place right now. I don't know if that's just cause I'm in that scene or if they are really getting a lot of attention right now. I hope it's the later because I really think everyone should at least see Food, Inc. The movie is a good overview about where our food comes from, how it's produced, what is in it and what the costs to society and the environment are. The book goes more in-depth into all of these subjects, along with the history of the fast food industry. It is fascinating! There is also a book called Chew On This by Eric Schlosser which is the young adult version of Fast Food Nation.





Please watch the Food, Inc trailer HERE and go HERE to watch a great interview with the director (who seems like such a great guy, he makes me happy!) and go HERE to sign a petition supporting healthy food in public schools!

P.S. I promise this blog won't be all me pushing stuff. :) Food photos and recipes coming up!

The Rules

I am challenging myself to eat only food prepared from scratch ingredients for the month of April 2010. But of course I chose a month in which I will not only be staying at a friends' house for several days, but also will have house guests myself for 2 weeks. Luckily for me, the friends with whom I will be staying are on the really same page as me when it comes to food, and I can basically move in there with whatever food I want to bring along. Also luckily, my house guests will be my 19-year-old brother who will be subject to whatever I make him do and my mother, who is also on the same page as me when it comes to my "real food".


Things I Can Buy

flour (whole wheat and bread)
rice (brown and basmati)
beans (kidney, cannellini, black)
sugar (brown and white)
pasta (because I'm too chicken to attempt this yet. Plus, we eat very little pasta.)
yeast
salt
olive oil
vinegars
milk and cream (organic)
eggs (from our CSA, laid by free-range, organic hens)
fruits and vegetables (organic, from our CSA and local farmers markets)
honey (local)
meat and chicken (from a local farm or Whole Foods)
chocolate (highest quality, fewest ingredients)
dried spices and herbs

Plus (kind of cheats):

*jarred curry paste (cause I don't want to make it and I don't use it that often -- probably once per month)
*vegetable stock (only if I'm unable to make enough myself)
*canned tomatoes (I plan to can my own when tomato season hits in a few months)
*salsa (only because some of the ingredients are not yet in season. I will be buying salsa only that contains ingredients I'd use in making my own at home)
*Haagen Daaz ice cream (flavors that only contain milk, cream sugar, vanilla, egg yolk, fruit or chocolate)
*a cupcake from our favorite cupcakery in Long Beach when we drive down to the airport


Another event happening in April that I just remembered is my brother-in-law's wedding 3 days into the month. Dinner is being held at a Greek restaurant after the ceremony. I will stick as closely as I can to eating the freshest, whole foods offered. And I'll report back on how it goes. :)

In the past week or so I've nearly been sticking to only making everything from scratch as it is. Some of the things I've made are yogurt, butter, whole wheat bread, biscuits (using buttermilk from making butter), as well as the majority of our meals. It's definitely been more work and time consuming. I feel lucky that I have the time available to dedicate to my venture. Some of my other hobbies are going to have to be put aside for the month, but I'm super excited to be able to solely concentrate on health, fitness and making real, whole foods for my family.

Wish me luck!!


EDIT: Oopsie, I forgot that I'm going to a friend's wedding in April, too! Yikes! But I'll make it work. :)

Starting From Scratch

I have discovered a new passion. It's something I've more or less been into for the past few years but more recently I have started totally geeking out on it.

My passion is Real Food. Food made from scratch -- from basic, raw ingredients in their most simple form, prepared by hand with love and care. Food that is not made in a factory or filled with chemicals, artificial colors or flavors, or added junk just for the sake of adding junk. Foods that were once "convenience" foods have become all too often the norm. Made not just on those nights when there's no time to cook something from scratch, but every night. And even worse than these pre-packaged convenience foods, is fast food. Which most people eat several times a week. Sometimes at least one meal per day. And much too often, more than one meal per day!

Growing up, my family made most of our food from scratch. It was both a budget thing and we also just knew that what we cooked at home was usually far superior to anything we could eat out. From a young age I started helping my mother in the kitchen. I was making pie crust by the time I was 11. I could, and would, make meals for my large (8 person) family without a thought by that age, too. Every one of my 5 younger siblings is confident in the kitchen and is able to cook and bake for themselves and do so regularly.

I feel lucky to have been raised this way. I know many people in my generation, growing up in the 1980s and 90s, were not so lucky. And they are now adults who are unable to cook for themselves or their families (and I fear that it's even worse for the kids 10-20 years younger than me!). Actually, I shouldn't say "unable", as everyone is able to cook once they learn a few basics. But these people either believe it's too hard or complicated, or it just doesn't even cross their mind to try. And why should they, after all? You can buy anything your heart (or stomach) could possibly desire already made for you.

I believe they should try. Everyone should try. All it should take is a glance at the ingredient label on anything you pick up in the grocery store to make you question what on earth you're actually consuming. The number of ingredients in most products is ridiculous. And usually more than half of them are unpronounceable chemicals and flavorings and preservatives. How can that possibly good for us? As it has so much to do with health and wellness, I feel strongly that the quality and source of our food is vastly important. After all, what is more crucial than having a healthy, happy and strong body? It can affect every aspect of our lives.

“The way we eat has changed more in the past 40 years than in the past 40,000.″ This quote from Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation) gives me the chills. Granted, everything we now know and use in our modern lives has changed more in the last 40-100 years than it has in the past 40,000 as well. However, even with all of our advancements in medicine, science, and technology and our extensive knowledge about the human body, health, nutrition, hygiene, etc, we are now dying in staggering numbers from issues that stem from obesity and other ailments that can be traced back to what we consume.

We are no longer dying en mass from the black plague, or small pox, or dysentery, but we are dying (younger and younger) as a result of the kinds and quantities of fuel we are giving our bodies. And that is something I can not wrap my mind around. It is just so backwards and against nature, in my opinion. And I believe that nature is pretty damn smart.

I could talk about this all day. Which is why I started this blog. And also because I want to challenge myself. I have a goal and I think it'd be interesting, and also hopefully beneficial to others, to document my journey towards that goal. My challenge for myself is to, for one month -- April 2010 -- only eat things that I make myself, from scratch. No prepared foods. No preservatives. No eating out. At times it's going to be tough, even though I use few of these things as it is.

The most common things I buy prepared (yogurt, butter, breads, pasta, canned beans, and a few others) will all be made from their basic ingredients in my own kitchen. And though I rarely eat anything that can be considered fast food, not eating out in other restaurants or similar will be challenging (bye bye Starbucks). A factor that will make this even more difficult is that April will be a very busy month. Not only will I be a house-guest at a friends' home for a few days , I will also have both a brother and my mom staying with me for a week each.

In my next post I'll detail the "rules" for my challenge. This blog will also be a place where I review and recommend books I've read in my research on all topics of health, nutrition and anything food related; link to websites and blogs also dedicated to these topics; share photos and recipes; and tell you about my triumphs and hardships along the way.

Ready? Let's do this!

P.S. I promise I'll have photos with future posts. And probably not quite so much text. :)