Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Back Where I Began

The project is over. I should be fine going out to eat. Tonight I got dinner at Subway just because I could and I did not feel like cooking anything. As I drove there, back, and while eating, I could not shake the feeling that what I was doing was wrong.

While reviewing my seminar's film "Down to Earth: Small Farm Issues in a Big Farm World", it hit me. Sarah Hackney from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said,  "We all eat three times a day. We all have three times a day to choose what we put into our bodies and where it comes from". Wow, eating is more then just fueling our bodies. It is a way to vote with your money, for what is good for you and the environment.

I do not have to deal with the rules anymore, but who says I have to stop following them. Most food that is processed has been giving me stomach aches and I am starting to run low on Alka-Seltzer. Why should I put myself through that when I am craving apples and carrots, not cheetos or oreos?

I think for the most part, I will choose to eat local, unprocessed food from now on. It is cheaper than take-out or processed food from the store. It is less likely to make me sick. It tastes better. I know what I am putting into my body, which makes me more comfortable.

How about you, do you think about what you put into your body? Your children's?

In case you have not seen the documentary I mentioned earlier, you can find it here. It is only 35 minutes, so I encourage you to watch and consider where your food comes from.


Monday, December 9, 2013

The Final Numbers

So I am officially done with the Real Food Thesis. The experience has been amazing. One good way to show what I learned is through the piles of data I collected. So here are some of the final numbers.

  • Average spent on food per day: $4.88
  • Per week: $34.19
  • Per month: $136.75
  • Total Spent on food: $630.66
  • Total Eaten: $488.39
  • Total Food Waste: $47.93 (7.6% of what I spent on food total).
  • Days on the project: 112, 100 of which followed the rules entirely (other days were breaks or I was sick)
  • 16 Weeks long
  • 10 lb. lost
What do you think? I am personally shocked by how little I spent a day. The most I spent on food while following the diet in one day was $8.57 on September 24. I had Jamba Juice for dinner, and that cost $4.90, but it still followed the rules. The least I spent on food in one day was $0 because I was eating lots of free food. Other low days were caused by me being sick. Days that I was home were not calculated into this. If they were, I would have averaged $4.36 per day.

I will have one or two more posts before I call it quits. Thank you for following me on my journey.



Saturday, December 7, 2013

6 More Hours

Yes I am counting down almost to the minute now (355 left). I am ready to be done with my real food thesis. Are there any restaurants open after midnight? I am craving a pizza. I am so ready to go out with friends and eat at a restaurant. My fridge is becoming empty, so I will probably go shopping tomorrow. Honestly I predict that I will still primarily buy non processed food, but I will give you a report tomorrow.

There is one aspect of this project that I will be ecstatic to not do any more....calculate how much everything I eat costs. With this restraint gone, I think my dietary patterns will change and I will not associate as much stress with eating. Who knows, I might even eat more when I am not required to track it. I am excited to be done, but I am glad that I have gone through this process. I have learned to cook a lot of different things such as meat and hummus. I have also learned more about eating a balanced diet and noticing when my body tells me I need something.

I can do this.... 340 minutes left!!!!

Friday, December 6, 2013

A New Addiction that Goes Crunch!!

So last night was the premier of the film my seminar has been working on all semester. With any large event, there tends to food, in our case, we provided fresh local free food for the attendees. During clean up, there were leftovers, so nearly everyone got to take some food home. I got a gallon of apple cider, a whole box of assorted cranberry muffins, and best of all, corn chips.

I did not realize until last night how much I have missed crunchy food. No worries, these chips contain stone ground white corn, water, oil, lime, and sea salt. They are also GMO free. Back to crunchy food, when you reheat dishes, even if they had a crunch someplace, it tends to go away. These chips seem even crunchier then I remember. I may have even eaten half of the bag last night alone. The rest may not survive today. I do not know why, but there is something satisfying about hearing a crunch when you bite down on a chip. Even when I started getting a stomachache, I kept eating them. That crunch is addictive.

Anyway, I know that from Sunday onward I am going to go and buy chips and other crunchy foods to enjoy, hopefully in moderation.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Cleaning Out the Fridge

Just for fun, here is a post of what I ate today, all brought to you by my fridge/pantry!

Breakfast:
oatmeal with sugar

Lunch:
Lentil soup
snickerdoodle cookie dough

Dinner:
corn
turkey

I did not have to cook a thing, just reheat in the microwave. It makes the week less stressful knowing that I have food put away that is simple to reheat. It may not be the most balanced of diets, but as long as I am full and my brain is functioning, I am ok.

This is how I plan to eat until the project is done, focusing on leftovers and cleaning out the fridge.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Short and Sweet

As I begin to write this post I have 5 days, 12 hours, and 18 minutes left of this project. Thanksgiving break was a wonderful and I must have gained a few pounds with all the food that I ate.

As I go into this last week I have to admit it is harder and harder to keep to my rules. I am trying my best, eating lots of leftover turkey. I already used a loophole today and ate a doughnut, but it was free. I will finish this project strong. Some motivation for me is that I am going out to eat with friends on Sunday. I can make it that long.

I have 94 days on this diet under my belt and I am still averaging around $5 a day. My main goal this week is to not give up as I have made it this far.

Sorry for the short post, but I do not have much to say.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Thanksgiving Part 2: The Feast

I still feel so stuffed from yesterday. Here are some photos of what we made and ate:

The turkey turned out fine, a little drier then what I wanted but my family said that it tasted good.



The gravy was.... well thick. And rather flour and starch like. I have concluded that making gravy is an art that I have not mastered yet, but this was my first try.



My dad cooked a beef tenderloin in addition to the turkey. This has been tradition for many years and it is delicious.



I also made french bread; they turned out to be the largest loaves yet and the best tasting. Sadly I forgot to take a picture of it before it was eaten.

Here is all the food laid out on the table to serve. French fries, olives, pickles, and cranberry jelly from a a can were also on the menu.



I made an apple pie from scratch for dessert. The crust was nice and flakey with my secret ingredient.


So that is my Thanksgiving dinner that served 12. There is a ton of leftover turkey, so that will be going back to school with me.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Thanksgiving Part 1: Cooking

Today, the day before Thanksgiving, my family and I are preparing some of the food. I was put in charge of the turkey since I convinced my parents it was a good idea to buy a free range one from Becker Farms that ended up being 22 lbs. I spent last night researching how to cook a whole turkey, as I have never cooked turkey before.

The Turkey.
I decided to not follow any particular recipe. My friend Jamie taught me how to cook a whole chicken a few years ago, so I decided to adapt the approach. No, I did not measure anything. Basically I made a paste out of butter, and fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme and rubbed that underneath the skin. Then I filled the cavity with the remaining fresh herbs and some chopped onion. Then the whole turkey was put in a reynolds turkey bag in order to keep in the moisture.

Yay giblets!!
My mixture that went under the skin.
Turkey almost ready for the oven!!
I will update later with how it turns out.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Not So Healthy Diet

In my process of eating what is left in my fridge, I find I tend to favor certain foods. Bacon. Cookies. Cookie dough. Banana bread. None of these things are exactly healthy for me even if they are organic. That is a big thing to take away from this project. Just because food is advertised to be organic, free range, or otherwise healthy for you, it is not if it is all you eat. Sadly I cannot survive on bacon and cookie dough alone, even though that would be wonderful. I need to instead balance them out with fruits and vegetables and rice.

Cookie dough for dinner??
College is a time of abusing freedom and learning from it. I hope to learn in advance not to do things that are bad for me, but I am afraid some mistakes have to be made so that the whole value is learned. Already this semester I have gotten tired of biscuits and lentil soup and butter. Others are escaping my mind at the moment. So at some point I will be tired of bacon, if that is even possible.

What food do you want to eat day in and day out?

UPDATE: Don't worry mama bears, I have already learned from my poor diet choices. Unsettle stomach is a good lesson to remember. 

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Eating Out the Fridge

My original title for this post was "Cleaning Out the Fridge" but I realized that I was not throwing food out, so the title was not quite appropriate. In four days I am heading home for Thanksgiving break. Therefore I am trying to eat the food that will spoil first. Then I will not come back to school with a stinky fridge or a mess to clean up.

I have to admit that I have not been keeping as good a track of when my food will spoil to begin with. So far nothing smells to funny, so I will take that as a good sign.

I need to eat a lot of yogurt, pancakes, muffins, and cheese before I leave. On a positive note, I will be cooking less and just eating leftovers. It is kinda nice, not cooking as much.

Thanksgiving break will be great, lots of food and lots of cooking for my family!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

To Grandma's House We Go

Today I want to tell you some of my favorite food memories from visiting my Grandma and Grandpa Vinkemulder's house as a child. My sister and I would visit several times a year as they were only an hour away from us.

My fondest memory comes from Christmas time. We would go over, along with my cousins Tommie and Michele to make sugar cookies. Grandma always had the cutest shaped molds. I remember the gingerbread man and the stars. After they were baked came the best part, frosting and candy. Several if not all of the cookies had more frosting then cookie to them. There were different colors of sprinkles and I liked eating those straight. Cait, my sister, loved covering her cookies with red hots. They were always too spicy for me. When we got older, gingerbread houses came into the mix. The candies that came with them always tasted stale, but I ate them anyway. Grandma did not care, even if my mother got on my case that I had too much sugar.

Another favorite experience was afternoon lunch. It is a tradition for us to make ground bologna and pickle. Yes, that means taking a ring of bologna and sending it through the meat grinder. Then you grind up the pickles the same way. My sister and I never really liked pickles so we got our share of bologna before the pickles were added. This was my grandpa's favorite, he had it growing up as a child. We would then make sandwiches. Mine would be bologna and cheese, but I remember my sister once tried cinnamon swirl bread, bologna, jello, mac and cheese, peanut butter, and sun chips etc. She said it tasted good. The most important part of the sandwiches was how they were cut. Grandma called them choo-choo train sandwiches. You cut the sandwich into lego sized pieces and then place them around the edge of the plate like a train. I always found my food more entertaining to eat this way. Her cheese also came from a block and you had to use a cheese slicer, that was so much fun.

Last but not least were my Grandma Vink's chocolate chip cookies. These are the best cookies you ever had. When we came over the cookie jar was always full and I would always try to snitch a few before lunch when my mom was not looking. I remember my first week of final exams in college when I received a special delivery. A box of 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies from my grandma. She said she took them to the post office when they were still warm to have them shipped in one day.

It is these traditions that I hope to pass along to my children and grandchildren. These wonderful memories spent around food and family.



In loving memory - Mary Vinkemulder

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

What Do You Want for Snack Time?

So, I am taking the GRE tomorrow. All the advice I have seen says to bring a snack for the 10 minute break. Most articles specifically say a granola or energy bar. This poses a problem with my thesis of what would make an equivalent snack. Yes, I could break the rules and go buy an energy bar, but that could also end up making me feel sick during the exam if it has food dyes or preservatives.

Overall here are my criteria:
  • protein
  • natural sugar from fruit
  • I can eat it in under 5 minutes
  • tastes fine at room temperature
I have considered a sandwich, but it would take to long to eat and would take to much blood flow away from my brain to digest it. Right now I have some dried cranberries and mixed nuts in the house. This is my best bet, but I am afraid it will make me to thirsty. You are not allowed to have water in the testing room. I could take an apple, but I will probably not finish it.

What snack would you recommend?

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Where Do I Keep Everything?

I was thinking, I really have not discussed where I keep all my food for this project. At my house I have a small fridge, as my roommate uses most of the full sized one. I also have some shelves and a cabinet.
Here we go.

My food corner:


Inside the cabinet. I tend to forget what is in here :/. So far I have not come across rotten food, just sprouting potatoes


I am in my fridge every day and yet stuff still goes bad. I am still working how to use the door space more effectively.


The freezer, otherwise know as the place food disappears for months only to be rediscovered. Case in point, the zucchini muffins I found last week that were made in early September.


My other cabinet. Baking dry goods and containers and cups.


So that is where all of my food lives. I like having it organized. It is actually a little messy right now, so I might empty stuff out later and clean all the shelves.

How do you organize your food?




Sunday, November 17, 2013

A New Type of Farming

For my seminar I have been doing research on different science topics. This past week, I wrote an article on vertical farms. They are what they sound like, a farm that goes up instead of side to side.

So why the interest? Aren't current farming techniques sufficient for our needs? In actuality, by 2050 the world's population is expected to reach 10 billion and we are in need of new techniques to grow more food. Vertical farms might be the answer. They utilize shelves to grow more plants.

Aquaponics are used in these systems. Basically fish are raised in containment and their "dirty" water is then filtered through the plant roots, providing them with nourishment. This closed loop system can be seen as efficient as it eliminates waste and puts it to good use.

To help to explain this concept more, and so that you can visualize it, here is a video. And it has British accents!


These types of companies also exists in the United States. For instance FarmedHere LLC opened its doors in Chicago in 2013.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Final Farmers Market and Three Weeks Left

So today was not the final farmers market of the year, just the last one to occur during my project. That is right, I have 3 weeks, read 21 days, left of this diet. Huzzah!!! Honestly I am ready to be done and it is taking more effort to stick to my rules and not sneak around them.

I got some cool stuff at the farmers market today.


I got eggs, BACON (yay!!!!), onions, and apples. Bacon was the main thing that I wanted to get. I really missed it, it is probably my favorite meat in the world. The rest were necessities and I would rather get them from the market then from the store.

I also got myself a present to help keep my stress low in the coming weeks.


Lavender! Hopefully it will bloom in the coming months. For now I can rub the leaves and smell them, lavender has a very calming effect. Except if you are my sister, she dislikes the smell of lavender.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Building Patience

My roommate made an interesting comment today. I was stating how I was excited once this project was over, I would be able to eat instant soup. I really do miss the convenience in having food at the snap of your fingers when that craving strikes. She mentioned that by cooking food, you can build patience and character.

Those who know me well know that I am not the most patient person in the world. It has been challenging to have to wait for my food. Annoying to say the least. Cooking every meal requires planning, making sure you have all the ingredients, and allotting time to cook and eat.

The last 4 years of college I lived in the dorms, eating processed food whenever I wanted. It was the easy option, although expensive. So far, living off campus and making my own food has been rewarding. I do not have to worry about contamination of my food with peppers, and I can have whatever I want when I eat. This actually makes life less stressful.

Back to building patience and character, I think I have improved on both accounts. I am used to food taking a while to make and I appreciate how good home-cooked food tastes. My patience is only tried when I have a craving that I cannot satisfy immediately. On character, I think I have grown as a person. I am more independent about what I eat and more willing to take chances and try new foods.

Have you noticed any changes in me over the course of this project?

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Me Want Cookies

This evening I have been craving sugar to the point of eating it out of the bag. Don't worry it was only a tablespoon. About an hour later this craving intensified, so I began to wonder why. What is my body telling me by craving sugar? Does that mean I am lacking something in my diet? After a brief search on the internet, this is what I found:

When you are craving sugar, such as cookies, ice cream, and candy it means that your glycemic (sugar) levels are low. Low blood sugar should not be remedied by giving into pure sugar, as that can cause your blood sugar to spike and then crash again. That is why I wanted more sugar an hour later. What I found is best is to eat a piece of fruit. It has a lower sugar level and the fiber found in fruit is good for you. Eating legumes and carbs can also help as they slowly release sugar therefore not creating as much of a sugar high and crash. We are designed to crave sugar as a survival instinct, but this is not a problem in most modern day societies.

What about chocolate? Oddly enough it does not fit into the sugar cravings. Chocolate has magnesium in it, so when you are craving it, that might actually mean that you need magnesium. Magnesium is found in leafy greens, so try eating those (I know a harsh alternative to chocolate). From what I read dark chocolate in small quantities is also ok.

The other main craving I have faced is salt. Normally I crave it during the summer when I am working outside, and that typically means I am dehydrated and actually need salt and electrolytes. My coworkers know that I will put salt on my biscuits and bread or just eat it strait out of the box. When you are not dehydrated, salt cravings are caused by stress. Instead of eating, try slowly breathing and doing something to relax before you binge.


What are you craving right now?

Sources
What Your Cravings Mean
13 Ways to Fight Sugar Cravings

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Survey Time

One of the main goals of this project was to prove that I could eat organic food with no preservatives while maintaining a college student's budget. It is now time to establish what a college student actually pays for food.

I have created a survey that I would like you take. Please only take it if you are a current college student (graduate and doctoral are ok too). The survey is completely confidential. I would also appreciate it if you could pass it on to any other college students that you know.

Once I get enough data collected, I will post the results here. I am really excited to see what information I get.

Here is the link
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KKPGDH7 

And don't worry, it is only 10 questions and should be quick and painless.

Here is another goat for your troubles.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Grocery Bags

Shopping bags. I bet that you probably do not think much about what carries your food from store to car. Paper or plastic? How about neither. With this project I have been making my best effort to use reusable bags when I buy groceries.


These bags are sold at  most stores now for as cheap as 99 cents. So why do I use them? One of the first reasons is that I am sick of the accumulation of plastic bags at my house. Honestly I have no idea what to do with them all. They can be small trashcan liners, but that is all that I have thought up. The same goes with paper sacks. Because of my childhood the only other use for them that I can think of is weaving projects for elementary school kids.

Only 1-2% of plastic bags are recycled in the USA. This means that 98% of them are going into landfills.

Target will credit you $0.05 for each reusable bag you use. This is the only store that I currently shop at that I could find if they give a bag credit. Who knows, it could catch on at other stores.

Further Reading:
Retailers push reusable bags to save money, environment

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Food Feast

This weekend I got to go home and see my family. This morning my sister Cait, her boyfriend Josh, and my cousin Michele got together to cook. Cait and Josh tackled the Eggs Benedict while I worked on hummus, and Michele made kale chips. My aunt Linda sat conveniently close, I believe to be the first taste tester.

Here my sister Cait shows off her mad cooking skills!



The finished Eggs Benedict! The yoke is running away!!



So much hummus!! I got my mom to try it, and gasp...she liked it :)



More lemon rosemary chicken for dinner! Yay protein (I am eating it Mama Carnivore).



I have had a lot of protein today. Eggs, ham, hummus, and chicken. Plus milk in hot chocolate if that counts. I am also so stuffed after dinner; I have not had this feeling for a long time. I am also gaining my energy back.

Friday, November 8, 2013

My Friends Are Amazing

As you may have already figured out, I have been sick with the flu for the past week. I have not been posting as much because my diet has not been that interesting. Biscuits, biscuits, and more biscuits.

Today I finally felt up to cooking. I made scrambled eggs sandwiches with provolone cheese, and of course, biscuits. Sadly my appetite was not up to the meal and I only finished half, but that is something. I also made hot chocolate, since it is a nippy day.

This afternoon my friend Elise came over and brought me food.  She made some ice cream in her little ice cream maker. That will do wonders for my sore throat. It tastes much like a chocolate frosty, not too thick and not too runny. Ice cream for dinner it is.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Different Kind of Diet

So what have I been up to the past few days. Lots of sleeping, up to 14 hours a day. I have also not been eating that much. I have had lots of biscuits, some butter, and rice. This is the best I can do for sick food without breaking the rules. Oh, and I have also gone through one gallon of orange juice.

On the plus side, I am not eating that much food, therefore I am not running out. I am hoping to be back to normal tomorrow, where I get to go to a super fancy luncheon for my seminar. I cannot say no to free food.

This weekend I get to go home. I hope to teach my sister how to make hummus and teach my family to like it. The tables are turned, the picky eater bringing a new food to her family. Believe it or not, I was an extremely picky eater as a child. I still kinda am.

Any suggestion of what I should eat to get better?

Monday, November 4, 2013

This Week Could be Cheap

If the last two days are anything to judge by, I will be spending a lot less on food this week. So far I have spent $5.39 in two days. So why is it so low? I currently have a cold and more likely the flu. Therefore my appetite has shrunk considerably.

Right now I am eating biscuits and orange juice. I am going to try my very best not to break the rules and get better at the same time. I am really fortunate that I just made myself a large batch of biscuits, so that should hold me out this week food wise. I can also make rice. Seeing that I get dizzy when I stand up, cooking is not exactly a priority. Sleeping on the couch sounds just fine with me.

What are your remedies when you get sick? I know chicken noodle soup is a good one. I have one bag left of it frozen, but I will save it until I have an appetite.

I am sorry for the short post, but it is time for me to go crash and get better.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

A Different Type of Restriction

Photo from wikipedia.org
I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but now is a good of time as any. I have another restriction to my diet besides the whole no processed food organic thing. I have food allergies.

I was diagnosed with food allergies my freshmen year of college. They originally thought I was allergic to 26 different foods including pork, turkey, beef, apples, bananas, cantaloupe, spinach, broccoli, yeast (brewer's and baker's), all nuts, shellfish, peppers, potatoes, etc. I cannot remember the rest. For a periods I eliminated all of these from my diet, sustaining on Pediasure, a child's nutritional supplement. I guess this is one reason why this project is not as hard, my diet is not as nearly restricted.

So what am I actually allergic to? After eliminating everything, I brought back foods one by one. When they did not make me sick, I assumed that I was not allergic to them. The skin prick test is 40% accurate if the result is positive. I am allergic to bell peppers (I include all related peppers in this group just to be safe) and all shellfish. That is not that much to deal with.

Are you, my reader, allergic to anything?

Saturday, November 2, 2013

A Number's Game

I thought now is as good of time as any to update you on the money side of this project. I have just completed week 11 and I have 5 more weeks to go. Almost 3/4 of the way done. Of the first 77 days, I have stuck to the diet for 70 of them. The 7 days off included the 4 day trip to Washington DC, 2 days at home for labor day weekend, and today where I went home to visit family. I am anticipating one or two more weekends home and thanksgiving break to not be calculated in the totals.I am finding that on those days I am not monetarily counting, I am still eating following the rules, I am just not the one paying for it.

So far I spend on average $5.32 on food per day. I have spent $554.58 on food, eaten $372.10, and wasted $41.93. That means I have $140.55 in food sitting around my house waiting to be eaten.

I have a maximum of 35 days left on the project. This will be more like 30 counted monetarily for the project due to family gatherings. I do hope to do all the calculations for thanksgiving dinner though.

I am amazed on how little I spend per day on food. Most of it is still organic or right from the farmer's market. I think the main thing that helps me is that I make everything from scratch, I am conscious when things will expire, and I have a smaller appetite. I also cook in bulk.

How much do you spend a day on food? Do you wish you could spend less?

Friday, November 1, 2013

Stuck on Side Meat

This past week I have been stuck in a rut. Every day at some point I have biscuits and bacon. Typically for breakfast. Then there is biscuits for lunch, and maybe for dinner. It is just easier when I have them lying around then to make something different.

The remnants of my breakfast.
I can see how these two foods were go to foods for early settlers of America. Bacon (or side meat as they called it), would keep cured in the smokehouse all winter long. It provided vital fat and protein, necessary for their diets. Biscuits provided carbohydrates and were a carrier for other foods such as jam or butter. They also helped fill up the stomach and decrease the feelings of hunger.

The sad thing is that I only have a few biscuits and 2 pieces of bacon left. I will have to wait a week at least until I could get bacon from Becker Farms again. I can always make more biscuits though. The nature of this project is forcing me to eat different things. I will need to find another source of protein since my bacon will be gone. Therefore I will need to cook my chicken or beef, eat eggs, or make more hummus and eat more nuts.

Even though I fall into patterns for a week at a time, they are not forever. At some point I run out of a food item and I have to eat whatever else is in my pantry.

What is your favorite food? What would you do if you ran out of it?

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

What will be in your Christmas stocking?

So my folks have been asking me recently, what do I want for Christmas. Honestly, I do not have many ideas yet (that is sure to change), but I did think of something I hope to find in my stocking. In my family typically your stocking is full of your favorite candy. In years past I have found jelly beans, dark chocolate, an assortment of candy canes (especially sour ones), pop rocks, you get the idea.

So what do I want this year? Peppermint candies, not any peppermint candy though. Hammond's Candy. When I visited my cousin in Colorado over the summer, we toured their factory. They still make and twist all their candy canes by hand. But I do not want a candy cane.

I want this:

Old fashioned ribbon candy. They make it on original machinery. The type in particular that I want is the All Natural version, there is no artificial sweeteners or colors. I got some when I was in Colorado but they barely made the plane trip home, soooo delicious.



What is your favorite type of candy?


Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Eggceptional Eggs

I recently had a friend ask me what the health benefits were from eating organic or free range eggs. I surprised myself that I could not put into words why they were better. So after some research, I have come up with a few reasons:

  1. There is a difference in diet. Commercial/generic hens eat a grain meal that can consist of corn, soy, and/or cotton seed. Free range chickens sometimes have access to a similar food, but they also eat grass, seeds, worms, and bugs.
  2. Free range grocery store eggs are different from free range farmer's market eggs. The commercial  free range type may be set up similarly to generic eggs (chickens live indoors with a concrete floor) with the exception that there is one small door allowing the chickens to go into a small fenced-in grass area. They typically do not choose to go outside.
  3. A study done by Mother Earth News concluded that free range eggs had the following as compared to a commercial/generic egg.
    • 1/3 less cholesterol
    • 7 times more beta carotene
    • 1/4 less saturated fat
    • 3 times more vitamin E
    • 2/3 more vitamin A
    • 2 times more omega 3 fatty acids
  4. If you have not noticed, free range eggs are a darker yellow then commercial eggs.
Left: Commercial egg; Right: farmer's market egg.
Photo from The Nourishing Gourmet.

So what do labels mean on the carton?
  • Free Range/Free Roaming - hens are not in a cage, they typically do have access to the outdoors, USDA does not regulate this term
  • Certified Organic - hens are not in a cage, they have access to outside for an unspecified amount of time, they are fed a vegetarian organic diet
  • Omega 3 - Slightly higher omega 3 levels through altering the hen's diet
  • Cage free - hens are not in a cage, they typically do not have access to the outdoors
  • Natural - no regulation for this term, may not mean anything
So... what kind of eggs do you eat?

Sources:





Saturday, October 26, 2013

Chocolate Surprise

Today I managed to oversleep (I am embarrassed to say I got up at 11:50am). This means I missed the last regular farmer's market of the season, and I really needed to get some groceries today.

I decided to go to Marsh to get the few things I needed. I was able to get organic milk and organic butter, 1 peck of apples (they were local!, from Goshen, IN), and most importantly, chocolate.

Unfortunately Marsh does not carry any of the normal brands of chocolate that fit my rules. However, I found a surprise in the candy isle:


Dove chocolate is Rainforest Alliance Certified! That also goes for  most of the Mars company (which own the Dove brand). So even those these chocolates are not organic, the cocoa is made in a more sustainable manner then say Hershey chocolate. I was able to warrant this purchase because of the certification and because I needed chocolate and this is the best that I can get at a standard grocery store. Believe me, you want me to have chocolate :).


Cleaning Time

With all the cooking I have been doing this semester, the kitchen has to be kept clean. Not only to prevent germs, but aesthetically I prefer a clean organized kitchen. I think it is whiter then I have ever seen it.

I forgot to take a before pictures, so here is the after one. Just imagine a lot of clutter and dishes for the before.


Yes, on the stove are 3 towels that my mom hand wove for me. They are much better at absorbing liquids then store bought towels. It makes my kitchen feel more like home.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Not So Secret Hot Chocolate

So I had someone ask about my hot chocolate recipe. I am slight embarrassed to say that it is not entirely made from scratch (but that is on my list of to dos).

I make hot chocolate with 2 cups of 2% milk with 2 tablespoons of this:


I got it at Earth Fare, a natural grocery store. The ingredients are: natural cane sugar, Dutch processed  cocoa (with alkalai), and natural vanilla powder. The serving instructions are 1 tsp per cup of milk, so I triple the amount of powder I use making it extra chocolately. I allow this in my project as it has less the 5 ingredients and all of those ingredients are not really processed.

I hope that answers your question Anonymous! 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Bananito

Musa acuminata, anyone? Otherwise known as a bananito (I am not kidding), this is another variety of banana. (It is also called a manzana, stubby banana, or ladyfinger). In our grocery stores, we have only one type of banana, the Cavendish banana. They originated in Eastern Asia, Southern China, India, Philippines, and Malaysia. See if you can tell the difference between them below:



Now where would I get such a strange, fat little fruit. Well I work in the greenhouses on campus where we happen to have a few banana trees. They were ripe today and my boss said I could take 4 bananas to make banana bread for this project.


This is the recipe that I used for the bread. The bananas were a little harder to mash up, maybe I should have waited a day for them to ripen a bit more. It turned out well, I can't wait to try it!


It looks delicious!


Sources:
Musa acuminata - Colla.
Photo print

Not So Vegan Mac n' Cheese

I got a large head of cauliflower at last Saturday's Farmer's Market. Large is an understatement. I knew that I would not be able to eat it raw before it went bad. Therefore I needed to make a dish with cauliflower as a base. I stumbled upon Cauli "Mac" N' Cheez on The Healthy Voyager blog.


I substituted all of the vegan cheese ingredients for real cheese ingredients, hence making the recipe no longer vegan. It is still vegetarian.


This is one of those recipes where I kept forgetting steps and having to go back and redo them. For instance I did not blot the cauliflower dry when I drained it and I also forgot to grease the pan. Both of these were remedied before it went into the oven. I set it to 350 instead of 370, nearly doubling the cooking time.

Verdict. It is tasty and cheesy. It may have been cheaper with noodles though, cauliflower was the most expensive ingredient at 5 dollars.  The whole dish cost $10.84, with 8 servings.

Circumstances Outside of My Control

I woke up at 6:20 this morning, burrowing under my covers seeking warmth. I thought this was normal until my roommate came knocking on my door a few minutes later stating the power was out, and oh we had just had the first snow of the year. I hop into action, getting dressed with many layers.

Then it hits me, no power means that I cannot cook, and I need breakfast before work. I figured my school would have power, so I drive over and get breakfast in the dinning halls. It cost me $4.90!! I got a small hot chocolate from Starbucks for $2.75. (Note to self, my homemade hot chocolate tastes 10x better). I also got potato rounds for $0.95 and 3 pieces of bacon at $0.40 each.


It is quite nice having breakfast prepared for me, but I can already tell what I have been eating the past few months is not only cheaper but of a better quality. For example my hot choclate cost about $1.90 and my bacon is $0.30 per slice.

Here is to hoping the power is back soon so I can get back to cooking!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

A Day of Cooking

Today I prepared a lot of food. First thing I made biscuits, even putting in the effort to roll them out and cut them round. Each one ended up costing $0.08.



Next I made hummus using the recipe in the previous post. I used a bit too much garlic, note to self for next time.


Finally, this evening I made sugar cookie with my friends Elise and Taylor. We used the same recipe that I did a while ago. We added 4 tablespoons of milk which made the cookies much less dry.


I am finding that I do not like sweets as much anymore. Maybe I am losing my sweet tooth. 

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