From the Farm to the Table: A Story in Pictures

We picked up our second box of food from Full Circle Farm today - so exciting! I decided to take a bunch of photos to show you the bounty and what I did with it.

It's here!

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Oooh... look at it all!

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Oh crap. Where am I going to put this? Can you tell I just went to Costco?

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There's a little room over here...

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Posed veggies - Those are cremini mushrooms and arugula

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Gorgeous new citrus fruits, tomato, and avocados

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Dinner-making in progress. Note my compost bowl.

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My ever-present chef's helper with a spoon on her head, right before she was banned from the kitchen for not listening. Hiring a new sous-chef if anyone is interested.

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Cooking in progress with my pan already nearly overflowing. Those are roasted golden beets on the right for the salad.

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Finished arugula salad with roasted golden beets and radishes. I made a dijon mustard/caper/maple syrup/olive oil concoction for dressing that was surprisingly good.

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Finished, steaming chili with ground turkey, eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, carrots... pretty much as much as I could fit in there.

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So, there it is! A gorgeous, yummy dinner in just under an hour with lots of great organic veggies. The bean and veggie chili was one of the recipes in Food Matters and the salad was my own invention. Delicious!

One Month Ago Today...

... I got a wild hair after seeing Jamie Oliver's TED talk and Food Revolution and embarked on this journey to revolutionize the way we eat. It feels like so long ago and yet not. We've come a long way together!

What hasn't surprised me at all:
-I've been totally grossed out and distressed by many of the things I've read. Reading about this subject is much like watching Hoarders for me: it makes me all twitchy.
-The food is all delicious.
-Lauren won't eat it.
-It does cost more to eat this way.
-I've found it a little difficult to eat out.

What has been surprising:
-How accessible organic food is, especially with all the local CSAs.
-It doesn't cost THAT much more to eat this way.
-I haven't had to spend much more time in food prep.
-How quickly I began thinking about going full vegetarian.
-Just how delicious the food is.
-How willing Jeremy has been to go along with all of this, especially in regards to eating less meat.
-How interesting and enjoyable I find all of this.
-Just how many resources are out there, both in books and on the web.
-Just how good I feel. My running is going great: I've been running faster with much more ease. I haven't been overly tired at all and just feel great all day. I've lost about three pounds without even trying. Anything I've given up has been totally worth it and I don't crave most things any more. I'm ready to keep going!

I have a lot more reading and learning to do, and I hope you'll join me!

Tonight's dinner was absolutely delicious! I made the Pan-Cooked Grated Vegetables and Crispy Fish from Food Matters by Mark Bittman. Somehow, I had a reading comprehension fail and didn't see that I was supposed to grate the vegetables. Instead, I cut them into bite-sized chunks, using sweet potatoes, red-skin potatoes, purple-topped turnips, scallions, and a few left-over mushrooms. I just added more ginger and curry powder and it turned out great. I think the trick for that might have been adding a few golden raisins for that little tast of sweetness. I served the fish (I used tilapia) over the veggies and had some asparagus on the side. It was amazing! I would definitely eat this again. And again and again.

Meat

Makes you want to read it or at least look for pictures, right?

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

I picked up this little "Delicious Living" magazine from a holder outside the local vitamin shop. This month was all about eco-living and eco-eating, so it was perfect for right now. Like Mark Bittman said in Food Matters, "Your personal food policy is more potent that anything else you can do in the realm of climate change, animal welfare, the environment in general, and certainly your own health." That being said, I thought I would share their eco-eating tips:

1. Eat less beef, more plant-based foods.
2. Eat whole foods; limit processed products.
3. Eat locally and seasonally; avoid air-freighted food.
4. For fish, go lower on the food chain (e.g.; mussels and scallops instead of tuna and bass).
5. Eat small-scale local organic.
6. Reduce waste (e.g., compost and buy only what you need).

Nothing we really didn't know, but I think it's a good reminder on this Earth Day. It's a lot like the Food Rules, which I've found helpful for guiding my eating. I don't need a ton of rules, but it helps to have clarity. I really recommend Food Rules for everyone.

Another great read that I'm just getting into is Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman. He had me in the Preface with the quote above, and the first chapter has been great. His general premise has to do with lessening our meat consumption, given the environmental and health impacts of eating too much meat. Some interesting facts:

-Global meat consumption is expected to double within the next 40 years.

-The people in many developed countries, including the U.S., consume 1/2 pound of meat per day. (Ick.)

-We raise 60 billion animals per years for food - 10 animals per person.

-40 calories of fossil fuel are required to produce 1 calorie of beef protein.

For me, the signs are continuing to point towards vegetarianism. Beyond the obvious ethical issues I have with the way animals are raised and killed in this country, I just can't in good conscious contribute even more to the environmental damage that's happening every day in our world (she says with her SUV in the driveway. Ignore that hypocrisy, please!) Never mind the health problems that have come about because of massive meat consumption in this country. Frankly, meat hasn't been tasting that good lately whenever I've had it. I don't think it will be hard to give up. I just have to figure out a way to do that with Jeremy being the meat-lover he is.

I have Food, Inc. on my DVR and I'm planning to watch it this weekend. Be prepared for a rant to ensue!

Carb Week!

No, I don't get to eat lot of them, though that would be fun.

Last night, I read the next week's chapter out of The Great American Detox Diet and found that this week is about carbs. I was actually excited about this, as I don't know much about carbs, besides hearing that they're bad for you and then that they're good for you and then bad for you again.

Basically, carbs aren't the enemy as long as you're eating the right ones. Same with fat, actually. It comes down to refined and unrefined carbs. Unrefined carbs are those that have not been processed down, so it's your whole wheat pastas and flours and brown rice. Your body takes longer to process these, giving you a steady stream of energy throughout the day. This is the opposite from refined carbs, like white flour, pasta and rice. Those go into your system and process much more quickly, giving you a quicker high of energy but then also a faster dip. Unrefined carbs also help you feel fuller longer, so you don't feel tempted to snack.

So what did I go out and eat today? Sushi with white rice. You can't win them all.

I will, however, be working to include more complex carbohydrates in my diet. The tally so far: more water, less sugar, less caffeine, more healthy fats and fewer bad ones, and more unrefined carbs. Check, check, check. I think I can handle this.

Observations from the guinea pig: Three of the six pounds I had gained were already gone this morning. I knew it was mostly water but was still disturbed. I'll be interested to see how long it takes the other to go away.

Tonight's dinner was a Chicken Not-Pie from Food Matters. It was decent. I think I'd need to tweak it a bit. I served it over some whole-wheat pasta, so the whole thing was a little bland. It also had a little too much chicken and I had cut my veggies too big. Live and learn. I definitely will try making it again.

Experiment Failed

Given that this is my pre-birthday weekend, I've indulged a little bit in the good ol' Standard American Diet. Fat, sugar, salt, caffeine... you name it, I've had it. I was feeling a little cocky yesterday, thinking that going back to the old ways hadn't really affected my body.

Not so much today. Last night, I put more nails in the coffin by eating bar food (reasonably healthy bar food, but still) and having beers. Three of them, to be exact. I knew I had to be ready for a long run this morning, but I'm invincible, right?

Ugh. No. I woke up this morning, feeling just gross. Mostly in my stomach, but my head was hurting too. Not fun. I met up with my running partner for our 12-mile run at 8, knowing it wasn't going to work. Luckily, she was understanding and we took a great long walk in the morning sunshine. Not what I needed to do for my training schedule for sure, but it was nice. I've always known that what I eat affects my run, but this was a very specific cause and effect response. I'm a little disappointed in myself that I fell so far off the wagon, but there's nowhere to go but up, right? I have to shape up quick; my first half marathon of the season is only 14 days away!

To get back on track, I made three different meals tonight to eat for the week. I made the Veggie Loaf again, and this time I'm going to freeze it. I also made a quick vegetable soup, using a recipe from Food Matters by Mark Bittman. In addition to onions, tomatoes, carrots and celery, I added broccoli and okra. We'll see how it turns out! I also made the Eggplant and Chicken Parmesan recipe from the same book. I didn't use chicken, though, instead adding zucchini from my Full Circle Farms box. It was very easy to make and really delicious! Even better, it made quite a bit so we have some for lunch tomorrow and even after. I'll be able to go back to the health eating again quite easily.

Tomorrow is a new day on The Great American Detox Diet, so we'll see how it goes. Still drinking water, still moderating caffeine, will be dropping sugar back out after this weekend (ugh) and still trying to eat healthy fats. I'll let you know what I learn tomorrow.

Starting the Morning Off Right

Every morning I walk into the kitchen and think, "Dammit! I meant to make some oats last night!" I adore steel-cut oats, but they just take so, so long to cook that I've been wanting to make them in the evenings to have in the morning. Until I get distracted by Lauren or cooking dinner or something shiny and then forget, of course. I've been eating whole wheat toast with a little peanut butter, which is good but no substitute for oats.

Finally, last night I remembered what I wanted to do, so I made another recipe from The Great American Detox Diet: Hearty Morning Oatmeal Porridge. Basically, it's just whole oat groats (pre-steel cutting), simmered for a (really, really) long time in water and a little orange juice with some nutmeg and cinnamon. When it's done, you stir in some maple syrup and top with chopped nuts. I used almonds and walnuts and also added a little flaxseed oil and raisins. It was delicious and kept me full right up until lunch time.

Pre-fixing up. Not very pretty, but delicious!

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Tonight's dinner was awesome. I made the Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing from Food Matters by Mark Bittman. I mean, c'mon, everything is better with bacon, right? It was heavenly, and was certainly enough to eat for dinner. I highly recommend it! Now, what was it I said about maybe going vegetarian?

Once again, my photography talents make the food look much less appealing than it was, but you get the idea!

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I picked up two new cookbooks tonight at the library that I'm excited about. One is an old familiar: Mooosewood Restaurant New Classics. I also got Skinny Bitch in the Kitch which is actually a vegan cookbook. I never would have guessed from the title, but there you go. You can't judge a book by its cover, right? I'll let you know when I try some of the recipes out!