Day Zero

Tomorrow begins the October Unprocessed 2011 Challenge.

Daughters and I have perused the rules and suggestions, one of which is to make a custom plan that suits our needs and goals. Check and Double Check.

Because one of our needs is to continue drinking milk, we are following the advice of Challenge experts by adding one Deliberate Exception to our personal plan: we will continue to drink homogenized milk, though it is processed. I know, I know, raw is where it's at. But we can't afford raw milk right now. We do buy a more expensive local milk, Lochmead, because it is hormone and antibiotic free, plus the dairy does not ultra-pasteurize, a process I believe Louis Pasteure would find abhorant. But that's another post. Perhaps someday raw milk will be affordable to those with tight food budgets, but until then, well, we do what we can.

Our journey's goal is to explore the world of unprocessed foods by eating only them for the month of October, 2011. We are heading into this challenge with a sense of discovery and excitement. What will we learn about our current eating habits? How will our food tastes change, if at all? What will be the economic result? How will we feel in the beginning, middle, and end of this adventure? Will this be hard or easy? And, most enthusiastically we wonder, will our participation in the Challenge yield only a short term diversion or a long term life-style shift?

Cassie, Caroline, and I (and Tom, on a sort of wait-and-see basis) are heading into this month free of expectation and micromanagement, one day at a time. Menus will be made a day in advance so that we don't find ourselves up a creek, hungry, and thus tempted.


Enthusiam abounds! (And to be honest a sort of, 'What are we getting ourselves into?' feeling. Kind of like the feeling one experiences in that pause when the roller coaster harness and safety belt are in place but the ride has yet to move. Yeah, that feeling. Which is okay because I LOVE roller coasters.)

Preparation for tomorrow's foray into unprocessed-land were made today, just so you know. Pizza was eaten, as well as ice cream. Cravings subdued, we await October, rested and eager.

'Here we go!'

October Challenge

Beginning Saturday, the first of October, I am participating in October Unprocessed 2011. The goal? To eat only unprocessed foods for the entire month. The long definition of 'unprocessed' can be found here. The short version is: Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.

I'll be writing a post here on Vivacita every day.

Cassie and Caroline are joining me which makes the prospect all the more fun! Normally the girls and I aim to eat this way, but we are sloppy about it. Very. I'm hoping that the experiment will help clarify for us just exactly what we are eating by forcing us to think, plan, and read labels.

I hope you'll join me here for this unusual adventure!

Getting excited!

Variety is the Spice of Life

Sausages.

Six flavors, four chicken, two pork.

Cooked together, presented together, cut into pieces for sampling.

Served with brown rice, fresh from the garden salad, and farm fresh cantaloupe.





Variety. Discovery. Taste. Joy.

Australia's Favorite Cookie

Some years back Tom's and my friend, Cecily, who lives in Tasmania posted something about being tempted by a treat in her cupboard. The sweets, as I recall, were called Tim Tams. I asked her what they were and she courteously replied that they are a type of cookie.

I'd never heard of Tim Tams until then and what's worse, I've never seen them so couldn't taste them.

Until today.

Walking the aisles of our market this morning my head did a double-take when I saw a random display of Tim Tams. "Tom! It's Tim Tams! The cookies Cecily was talking about."

"Better get some," he replied.

We did.

After smuggling the cookies to our room, in a brown paper bag so the kids' dessert-radar wouldn't hone in, we carefully opened the package and sampled the crispy, gooey, caramel-infused, chocolate-covered wafers.




Now we know why the cookies in the cupboard were tempting Cecily that day so many years ago.



Mmmmm.....

Bread Therapy

No yoga exercise, no meditation in a chapel filled with music will rid you of your blues better than the humble task of making your own bread. ~~ M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

Pasta

Simplicity. Pasta is simplicity.

Flour, eggs, salt, oil, water. A rolling pin and floured board. Deft fingers, a little energy expended. A sharp knife. No machines necessary.

Today it's egg noodles, this weekend ravioli.

Money saved, quality food enjoyed, contentment.

With grocery prices creeping ridiculously high, and with me being the sort of woman who doesn't just 'take it', there are solutions being found. Most of those solutions are in the form of learning to make the foods we love, as well as learning how to buy better food so that with each bite satisfaction results quickly and pleasurably. I've noticed that when eating non-foods, or what Michael Pollan calls food-like substances, my family and I remain hungry, even after eating large quantities. It's that satisfaction factor. I'm sure of it.

Somehow, making the pasta myself, exerting myself, pouring love into each roll and cut, watching the stuff dry, then cooking it and adding a fresh, homemade sauce results in a richer experience for my family and me. We eat with heightened awareness. Each bite is appreciated as we know the food's origin, and who took the time to learn to make it, and who put forth the effort, and why. Love. We reach satiation, leaving the table ready to undertake whatever is in our minds to do.

At home I serve the kind of food I know the story behind. ~~Michael Pollan

It's a beautiful thing.

Noi cuciniamo é mangiamo! We cook and eat!

Ciao!

Chicken Tetrazzini

A horrid event occurred in my life seven days after my last post here. Explosions of pain, suffering, grief. Waves of soul-wounding darkness, followed by a completely unrelated storm that crashed soon after. A person hunkers down into survival mode. Hunkered and surviving is where I've been since July of 2010, slowly finding the courage to come out of the fox hole, to capture life again, and then, to live.

Much has happened to me because of events over which I had no control. Strength has been discovered, and fear. Jolts of reality, disillusionment, discouragement, and mistrust have forced self-evaluation, decisions, forgiveness, priority. During the recovery and healing process I wondered if I'd ever feel like 'me' again? Would my smile return, my laugh, my love of writing, my joy of foods and cooking?

Slowly all have returned, better and brighter than before. Like a beautiful gem I've found that the fierce rubbing of my heart has brought out the shine.

Family meals, once taken for granted, are now joyous celebrations, each and every one. Flowers, candles, laughter, lovely dishes, and perfect food. It's true that appreciation grows deeper once a thing is nearly lost.

I'm back. Heart and soul healed. Any moment a threatening crisis can intrude, crashing, crumbling beauty, washing it away. But only for a time. Beauty remains in the heart. It burns always, triumphantly, though sometimes imperceptively. Survivors fight for beauty, for life, for peace, for restoration, for love.

And sometimes seven months after a storm they make a Chicken Tetrazzini for their family, with love. And in the serving, savoring, and lingering there is a moment, a magical, special correcting moment, recognized. The last remnants of pain completely dissipate. Months-long heartache is set free. It floats away on the laughter, the moans of ecstasy over the experience of deliciousness. In that space there is the realization that the long dark trek is over; the light has been reached. Time heals wounds. Love conquers all. And beautiful food exploding with flavor, texture, and color comforts, confirms, assures. Releases. Restores a hurting family into a happy family once again.

The desire to tackle a new recipe for my family's joy has proven to me that my heart has mended. It is able to express its cherishing, is brave enough to expose vulnerability again, to risk failure. Deep, deep relief and appreciation to the One who never lets me go.

'The storm has passed, family. We are strong. We made it. Eat, drink, be merry. Where there is love there is a Way through and out and into the arms of the One who reconciles masterfully. We are here. We are here...together. L'Chaim! To Life!'

Click here for Giada De Laurentiis' Chicken Tetrazzini recipe.