Food for Thought

I am currently reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by the amazing Michael Pollan.  He has quickly become my favorite author of all time.  Although reading Eat Love Pray has put Elizabeth Gilbert a close second.  The way that Michael Pollan views food is unbelievable.  He definitely loves to eat and wants to put every pleasure back into it and remove the guilt.

But why do we have the guilt?  Why do we feel the need to count every calorie, carb and fat gram?  Could it be that our food is no longer good for us?  I cannot claim these theories as my own but I would love to.  When you stop to think they make complete sense. (I am paraphrasing on these theories... forgive me if they are not exact.)

1. With all the diet food that is on the market, why are we, as a nation, the fattest we have ever been?
2. If our food is so healthy then why do we need to add more to get more?
3. Why are there so many food related diseases that weren't around 50 years ago?

Let's look at the first theory.  When margarine came on the market back in the early 1900's it came with a yellow ball that you needed to break up and knead into the margarine in order to make it look like butter.  There was even a bill passed to have it dyed pink so that the consumer would not be confused and think it is actually butter.  But why is butter so bad for you?

If you stop to think about the ingredients... aren't they just milk and cream.  So how much purer could things get?  At the beginning of the 1900's didn't everyone use real butter?  And I doubt the rates of obesity and high cholesterol were so few that people didn't really think about it.

All the food in the supermarket is low-fat, nonfat and includes all kinds of added nutrients to make up for the fact that they are void of any to begin with.  I bought into it too.  I thought that nonfat foods were better for you and I even ate margarine for all my life.  But I have made the switch.  I see that all the processed food in the supermarket are nothing but a mixture of corn and chemicals.

Go right now and look in your pantry... Macaroni & Cheese, Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, Chicken Nuggets, Rice R Roni or any boxed item that you add water to to create dinner for your family.  How many ingredients do you count?  Five, Six, Seven... more like 47... Now stop to think for a second.  How can any of this be good for me and my family?  I am not judging you as a person or a parent... but how much better would you feel if you actually made your family real Macaroni and Cheese or even real Tuna Helper or Chicken Nuggets.

It is easy to do and you can find many recipes right here on my blog.

Now to elaborate on the second one... If you stop to think about it it makes complete sense.  My mother in law recently bought some Chocolate Cherrios from Costco.  Now Costco is one of my favorite stores and with two growing boys it is slowly becoming where I buy my groceries from.  But she bought them because they are made with whole grains and REAL cocoa.  But she failed to stop and look at the ingredient list.  Sugar, Corn Syrup and Cocoa are listed as 3 of the first 4 ingredients.  How can this be good?

Ingredients are listed by weight so the first ingredient makes up the bulk of the item... so if sugar and corn syrup are next what does that say about the "healthy cereal"?  Regular Cherrios would be a better breakfast food... but so would a couple of scrambled eggs?

Chocolate Cherrios

As for the third theory... many of the disease we face now in the 21st century were so minute in the last that no one knew how to treat them.  Heart Disease, High Cholesterol, Cancer, Diabetes... all these were so few and far between that you actually had to have inherited them from your family to have them.

Nowadays kids are getting diabetes... just from eating junk food.  Kids teeth are rotting away because parents give their kids soda in their baby bottles and sippy cups.

I have made the switch for my family.  We eat real butter, real cream cheese, real sour cream... non of the low fat stuff.  If reading is something that you don't have time for... check out Michael Pollan's Food Rules... I was able to read it in one afternoon and I bet you could do it on your lunch break.  These are little helpful hints that helped me to see that a change needs to be done.

He wants food to be enjoyed... he says that you can eat all the junk food you want... but you have to make it yourself.  If you had to make a cake from scratch you would take the time to enjoy it and not scarf it down in one sitting.  Make fried chicken but make it from scratch.

I hope this offers a little bit of insight as to why I am doing this...

Quick Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo

My husband and I love pico de gallo.  One may call it salsa but we think of it as a side dish.  We love to cook up some chicken or fish and cover it in pico de gallo.  It works as a great condiment on just about anything.  You could even consider it your vegetable with dinner.  Here is my easy recipe...

Pico De Gallo

4 large tomatoes
1/2 red onion
1 jalapeno (or chili of your choice)
handful of cilantro
lime juice to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Chop all the ingredients and combine on a bowl.

I have a handy dandy hand powered chopper that does all the work for me... that is how we are able to enjoy it all the time.  No chopping necessary.  If you have a food processor you could do the same thing.

Happy Eating!

Homemade Bread Crumbs

If your kids are like my kids which are like all kids, they don't like crust on their bread.  I got tired of throwing away all these crusts.  Trust me I have tried leaving them on but my son just eats around it.  So instead of throwing them away I started putting them in the freezer.

I start with a large freezer storage bag and just start piling them in.  After a few weeks the bag is full.  This is when I take them out and put them under the broiler.  I usually just make sure that they are browned and slightly hard.  Then I pop them into the blender or food processor and then I have fresh breadcrumbs for all my favorite foods.

Baby Food

Making your own baby food is one of the easiest things for you to do.  I used a great book called Super Baby Food.  You can also search the internet for other great ways to make your own baby food.  I did just that for my sons.  When I couldn't make their food I would buy Earth's Best Baby Food.  I have some baby food in jars and was trying to come up with creative ways to use it.  I am open to any ideas you have... here are mine.

1. pour into popsicle molds for a great treat... works nicely for teething.
2. pour extra into ice cube molds and save for smoothies.
3. feed to older children... my 2 year old loves to eat the fruits.
4. add to soups (carrot is great to add)
5. mix into meatloaf for added nutrition and keeps the meat moist.

I love to mix some fruit and vegetable to make popsicles... my son gobbled up the pear/carrot combo.

Happy Eating!

Tomatoes

My family loves tomatoes.  My oldest son loves to pick them right off the vine and eat them.  He even begs me for more but I have to cut him off since him tummy gets upset after the 10th one... I have had the most abundant harvest in the past weeks and have been trying to cook with them.  My newest recipe is a take on traditional marinara sauce.

Mexican Marinara Sauce

1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 poblano chili, chopped
4 cups pureed fresh tomatoes
1 bunch of cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander

Sauté chopped onion, garlic and chili in a pan with salt and pepper.  When soft add tomatoes, coriander, oregano and chili powder. Cook until tomatoes are a deep rich red color.  Add finely chopped cilantro to taste just before serving.

Happy Eating...

Steel Cut Oats

Growing up my mom always let me eat pretty much whatever I wanted... pizza was definitely ok.  In her eyes pizza was better for me than all those sugary cereals that were on the market.  I loved to eat Golden Grahams with my dad.  She would often make me some apple and cinnamon oatmeal.  Which consisted of the apple cinnamon oatmeal in a packet and some extra chopped up apples.  It tasted great and I was happy to eat it.

But since I am trying to get away from the packaged variety of anything I have found a new love... STEEL CUT OATS.  As it turns out I currently have 11 pounds of them to work through.  I have found many different recipes online for them but have finally worked out my favorite one...

Steel Cut Oats

Steel Cut Oats

3 cups water
1 cup steel cut oats
1 cup milk
2 tbsp brown sugar

Bring water to a boil and slowly add the steel cut oats.  Reduce heat to low and cook covered for 25 minutes.  Most of the water will be absorbed.  Stir in milk and cook uncovered on low for 10 minutes.  Stir in brown sugar and you are done.

I like to add 5 chopped dried apricots but you can add any fruit you want, raisins and craisins are great!

Store the rest in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.  I find this recipe makes 3-4 servings.  To reheat put in a bowl and add a splash of milk and microwave for 90 seconds.

For a morning time saver cook the night before and you could even put them in individual containers for an easy grab and go breakfast at work.

Happy Eating...

Inspiration

I think that everyone needs to find inspiration in their lives... mine came in the form of two adorable little boys.  My children have become my future and my pride.  I look at them everyday and marvel at the fact that my husband and I were able to create two perfect little beings.  I take being their mother very seriously and am doing everything I can to give them the best of everything.

One afternoon I decided to sit down and watch a harmless little documentary called Food Inc.  I have always been curious about my food and where it comes from.  My father was a chef for a while and I loved to cook with him.  I even dabbled in vegetarianism... although that never quite stuck.  So I sat down to watch the movie that would change my life.

I didn't really learn anything new but it did light the fire within me to do something about my food.  Food became my obsession.  I began watching every documentary I could and read every book I could.  I eventually found a writer after my own heart, Michael Pollan.  He taught me that I need to eat food.  And no, not everything you find in the supermarket is food.

So little by little I have been working to get my family to eat food.  I am in charge of purchasing the groceries and in charge of what they eat.  So I have made it my "job" to make everything that I can from scratch and make my family less dependent on fast food and processed food.  It is not that hard to cut out fast food but to get your family off processed foods in a time where time is everything is the challenging part.

Join me on my quest to create delicious meals and snacks for my family.  I am still learning here and want to get my family as far away from processed foods as possible.