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I made my own granola mix today with rolled oats, raw cashews, raw almonds, and sunflower seeds. I sweetened it with honey, brown sugar, and maple syrup, and spiced it up by adding cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger powder, and a touch of clove. It’s the perfect amount of sweetness to rid me of my sweets craving. It’s now day 6 of the Unprocessed Challenge, and I’m not gonna lie… I am longing for some milk chocolate. I’m not gonna give in though! I plan on making pumpkin puree out of an organic pumpkin I picked up at the farmer’s market for only $3, then turning that into Pumpkin Spice Cake! Om nom nom.
Yesterday I made my first criss cross apple pie. The crust was made with white whole wheat flour, flax, and butter. The white wheat flour is still whole-grain, but had a more subtle wheat flavor and was much lighter in texture than regular whole wheat flour. The apple filling was simply made with Cortland apples from the farmer’s market, organic butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. I also made organic vanilla honey ice cream with heavy cream and skim milk from Kilgus Farmstead, and honey from True Nature Foods to go with the pie, and topped it with fresh raspberries, also from the farmer’s market. It was a great end to Alex’s feast of artichoke soup, dosa (Indian crepes), curried potato, coconut chutney, and French rabbit stew.
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![I’m going on day 4 of the October Unprocessed Challenge. It hasn’t been too difficult—I even went to a baby shower and got away with eating a shit ton of food without breaking any of the rules (the gracious hostesses provided us with baby carrots, homemade salsa [fresh from a garden], hummus, baked sweet potato fries, freshly popped popcorn, and an all-natural chocolate cake with butter cream frosting). I also drank from a buffet of fine beers. At work, I have been abstaining from eating our delicious sandwiches typically made with sourdough or ciabatta bread, and have been sticking to steak, arugula, and tomato salads and our soups that are made from scratch. It’s not bad at all!
Sure, I pout a little when I remind myself that I can’t anymore Belgian milk chocolate bars and put a little dab of Sriracha to give my food a nice kick for another 27 days, but it ceases to matter when my lovely boyfriend makes me organic ribeye steak and eggs with fresh rosemary and herb salad for breakfast.
If I had done this three years ago, I probably would have gone hungry. It is much easier for me now because I have conditioned myself to cook with whole foods rather than pre-made, processed foods. I usually try and stay away from preservatives and chemicals, but I am being extra careful now.
Today I made 100% organic Vietnamese-American shrimp fried rice with brown rice, green beans, carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Normally I would have made Chinese-style fried rice, but Kikkoman soy sauce contains preservatives, so I used preservative-free fish sauce, rice vinegar, and ground white pepper in lieu of that. And instead of drizzling Sriracha on top as the nice finishing touch, I sprinkled some spirally red chiles on top that I got from the farmer’s market last week. I also made a couple of jalapeno popper grilled cheese sandwiches (without the processed cheese and on whole wheat sprouted bread instead of white, of course) for me and my roommate.
This is what I consider to be eating good in the neighborhood… not Applebee’s.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsiy8zi0TJ1qmzofro1_500.jpg)
I’m going on day 4 of the October Unprocessed Challenge. It hasn’t been too difficult—I even went to a baby shower and got away with eating a shit ton of food without breaking any of the rules (the gracious hostesses provided us with baby carrots, homemade salsa [fresh from a garden], hummus, baked sweet potato fries, freshly popped popcorn, and an all-natural chocolate cake with butter cream frosting). I also drank from a buffet of fine beers. At work, I have been abstaining from eating our delicious sandwiches typically made with sourdough or ciabatta bread, and have been sticking to steak, arugula, and tomato salads and our soups that are made from scratch. It’s not bad at all!
Sure, I pout a little when I remind myself that I can’t anymore Belgian milk chocolate bars and put a little dab of Sriracha to give my food a nice kick for another 27 days, but it ceases to matter when my lovely boyfriend makes me organic ribeye steak and eggs with fresh rosemary and herb salad for breakfast.
If I had done this three years ago, I probably would have gone hungry. It is much easier for me now because I have conditioned myself to cook with whole foods rather than pre-made, processed foods. I usually try and stay away from preservatives and chemicals, but I am being extra careful now.
Today I made 100% organic Vietnamese-American shrimp fried rice with brown rice, green beans, carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Normally I would have made Chinese-style fried rice, but Kikkoman soy sauce contains preservatives, so I used preservative-free fish sauce, rice vinegar, and ground white pepper in lieu of that. And instead of drizzling Sriracha on top as the nice finishing touch, I sprinkled some spirally red chiles on top that I got from the farmer’s market last week. I also made a couple of jalapeno popper grilled cheese sandwiches (without the processed cheese and on whole wheat sprouted bread instead of white, of course) for me and my roommate.
This is what I consider to be eating good in the neighborhood… not Applebee’s.
(via healthifyme)
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In China, what you eat tells who you are
In a nation reeling from tainted-food scandals, organic products are mostly reserved for the rich and political elite. Chinese government officials have exclusive suppliers, who do not advertise.
(via speakerforthetrees)
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(Source: melanie-is-healthy, via nnylaetruoc)
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Margarine vs. Butter
Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow colouring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavourings….
DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?
Read on to the end…gets very interesting!
Both have the same amount of calories.- Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine.
Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.- Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few andonly because they are added!
Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.
Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.And now, for Margarine..
- Very High in Trans fatty acids.
- Triples risk of coronary heart disease …
- Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)
- Increases the risk of cancers up to five times..
- Lowers quality of breast milk
- Decreases immune response.
- Decreases insulin response.
And here’s the most disturbing fact… HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!
Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC… and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT.These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).
Open a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:
- No flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)
- It does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?
(Source: crossfire-of-my-own-thoughts)
