Day One - Starting Strong

First thing I notice about this first day of the challenge is that our food choices are not much different than what we are used to eating. Second thing, the sweet tooth is going to be the hardest hurdle. Not that I wanted anything sweet today. (Had ice cream yesterday, remember?) But it's the missing of the little nibbles such as Tom and I buying a half dozen peanut clusters from the bulk food section to eat on the way home. Can't do that.

However, we used our brains. We bought peanuts. Just peanuts. They are crunchy, and good, and unprocessed. Good alternative. I think we'll get the hang of this.

Since I don't want to spend a lot of time on the computer documenting my journey - but I do want to document it - I will use photos now and then (each is worth a thousand words, you know).

I made yogurt last night, just to get the ball rolling.

Oatmeal for breakfast, which is very common for us.

After making a menu for the week, Tom and I went grocery shopping for unprocessed foods. A few alterations in our regular choices, such as peanut butter made there in the store, evaporated cane juice sugar, natural sour cream, and Bob's Red Mill all-purpose flour that meets the challenge requirements. Amazing how many things have sugar in them! But again, how exciting that so many of these good options are available at the grocery store. We live in a time of great opportunity. This colorful food, added to what we harvest from our garden, pick up at farmer's markets, and thaw from our well-stocked freezer is just plain beautiful!

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!