Header change!!

My regular readers may have already noticed, but I changed the heading for the blog.  Last week I had a few extra minutes (I KNOW, it can happen!) while sitting waiting for my tires to be rotated to clean up my laptop.  I stopped in to have it done on my way to work, so with my laptop on my lap, I figured it was a good time to clean up my hard drive.

One of the things I noticed was all the recipes I had downloaded, saved, bookmarked, filed into folders, yadayadayada that I never looked at again.  Found some really great ones that I will definitely try; but then found some real doozies with ingredients that were never to be found in my pantry.

One example: liquid aminos.  Liquid aminos??  How that is unprocessed I just don't know.  But ingredients like these got me thinking.  Again.  Yes, I do think a lot.  For those of you who read my blog often, many of my posts are because I was "thinking."

The last time I sat here thinking, it was about a conversation with a co-worker and defining clean eating and it led me to take a quick check on my eating habits.

Which is a good thing.  It meant I wasn't thinking about cookies.

So this latest "thinking" has made me realize that clean eating doesn't have to be nuts, with all sorts of strange ingredients.  It doesn't.  It just needs to be simple, using real food ingredients to make some delicious meals.

I've participated in October Unprocessed the last few years, and each year I see all these people making their own cheese, almond milk, even grinding their own flour.  At the end of each month, the number of people who post about slipping, falling off their wagons, and can't keep that up is not surprising.  People go from one extreme (eating mostly processed) to the other (living off the grid) in one month will never stick with it.  It's too overwhelming.  I'm not here to encourage those choices.

I'm here to show the average person, most likely you are a mom, who wants to raise their kids in a healthy way without all the additives that are not good for us.

So if you are new here, welcome.  If you are a regular reader, you are going to see this blog switch to more of a recipe place.  I want to show how easy it is to just use whole ingredients to make fabulous food for your family.

Happy Eating!!

P.S. If you want that cookie recipe, leave a comment and I'll post it for you.

What IS clean eating? NOW...

I am sitting here eating a piece of pineapple carrot cake I purchased at a farm market over the weekend.  OMG so NOT clean.  How ironic that I am eating this, while blogging about eating clean.

Why do I have this round tin of badness?  We went out last weekend with my sister-in-law for a wine tasting, and the tasting room was in a small farmers market.  Part of the tasting was a coupon for $5 off at the farm market, if you spent $25 or more.  Well, it's so easy for me to spend $25 on fruits and vegetables normally.  In March in New Jersey, not so much.  We're still awaiting all the now to melt.  There was a very limited selection, and if the coupon didn't expire in April we would've considered taking the hour drive back to use it at a later date.  So around the market I went, picking up apples, lettuce, cucumbers...knowing that none was grown here (well, maybe the lettuce in a greenhouse) but still happy to be coming home with fresh yummies and happily avoiding a shopping trip once I got home.  I was a little short with what they had that I wanted...so I came home with a pineapple carrot cake.  I was pleased with the ingredient list; nothing but recognizable ingredients, no preservatives, so home it came.

I think I have been doing this more than I realize.

Let's look back at the post from November 17, 2102.

My Clean Eating Rules

Here was my rule:

My "rule" is this: is it in it's natural form?  
Yes? I can eat it.
No? Why not? How has it been modified? (I am not grinding my own wheat into flour...) How many ingredients are on the label and more importantly WHAT ARE THEY? If I don't know what it is, I WILL NOT EAT IT.  With the exceptions above. :) But even in my exceptions, I read labels closely.  Minimal ingredients are key for me.  

I am still following my rule.  But I think those exceptions are growing more and more.  I still only purchase pasta, cereal, graham crackers, yogurt, macaroni & cheese (see yesterday's post,) will pick up a loaf of bread every now & then if I don't have time to make a loaf for sandwiches, but haven't added anything else back into my pantry that isn't a one ingredient item.

The exceptions are when we are out.  I admit I've brought home donuts a few times more than I want to.  I'm starting to get lazy and not wanting to put in the effort to bake everything.  I loved making donuts in the beginning; it was fun, I was proud; now it's a chore.  Am I getting old and grumpy?  Not sure.  Am I tired from work?  Not sure. The thought of the dishes afterwards gets overwhelming, after cooking and cleaning up from dinner.  I find that if I bake in the afternoons, on my day off, it's a bit more fun.  But overall, I am feeling lazy.  I still refuse to bring home a box of cake mix - we won't have cake before that happens - but if we are out instead of going hungry when I don't like choices (like I used to,) I will get that hot dog on the run, or grab a sandwich from Starbucks.  I used to plan my shopping trips and errands around eating, and I don't do that anymore.  Now it's all about how much can I get in one day in one trip from store to store to store.  

Life is moving too fast.  I think it's time to slow it down.

Kathy

What IS clean eating? THEN...

Had a conversation yesterday with someone about "clean eating."  Was trying to explain exactly what it is, and found that I was having some problems getting her to understand exactly what it was.  Why?  Cause I was having problems explaining exactly what it was.

There are so many different definitions, from the die hard "I only eat what I grow" to "I only buy one ingredient foods."  Does it have to be organic to be clean?  Or is non-GMO enough?  Why can't I just buy apples, cook them awhile, throw in sugar & have applesauce instead of buying it - isn't that eating clean?  Well, if I could make it myself, it's clean; but just because I can make it doesn't mean I have to - I can buy it.  Right?  Maybe I'll just stop buying stuff in a box.  Okay, I eat clean.

This makes me think a lot about the title of this blog.  CLEAN EATING - MY WAY.  Clean eaters all seem to have their own way of interpreting what they consider clean, so how do newbies find their way around this mess?

If you are a newbie to clean eating, and you stumbled upon my little piece of the internet today, welcome!

I thought I would take some time and think about what "clean eating" means to me now, and how it's evolved over the years.

Here is my first post about my clean eating "rules" My Clean Eating Rules Post #2  This is the second post on this blog, dating all the way back to November 17, 2012.  Wow have time flown!

How has our clean eating grown over the last 2.5 years?  Let's see.

I still don't have a pasta maker.  We now eat gluten free pasta primarily, as wheat products really bother my hubby's acid reflux.

I do own and love a bread maker.  Love it.  Some recipes don't come out perfect in it, but love it.

Yogurt.  My glucose levels have been going up, and my Chobani intake has gone down.  I eat them periodically but not on a daily basis anymore.

I make my own graham crackers as much as possible.  They aren't the same, but still good.  SO disappointed to find the blogger who posted the recipe has taken down her site.  I highly recommend you ALWAYS print out recipes when you find one you like.  You never know when a beloved recipe will go bye bye.

Pretzels.  Never took up the challenge of trying to make again, but we rarely seem to eat them.  If I buy, I look for an organic brand or one with as few ingredients as possible,

Breakfast cereals.  Hugely fighting this battle with my kids.  The battle was easier before I had a teenage driver in the house.  Now if he wants something I am not willing to buy, he drives himself there, and buys it.  With his own money.  All I can hope is that he my teachings will stick somewhere, and come back out when he's a real adult.  I know that once he goes off to college that his choices will be limited, so this battle with him is about over.  My 15 year old, still complains a bit, but knows he's stuck eating what I buy and gives in much easier.

Macaroni & Cheese. Still buying organic brands (not the Kraft one though) as the boys need that something to make after school/clubs/gym when I am not home.  While my 17 year old is a great cook, I can't expect him to whip up a cheese sauce between school & the gym.  LOL

So that's where I was when this blog started, and where I am now with each category.  My ramblings has made this a very long post.  I'm going to end this here today; tomorrow I am going to come back with an in-depth look of my pantry, where I have started slipping, and where I have gotten better.

For now...
Happy eating!
Kathy

October Unprocesssed starts tomorrow!!!

Ready for another October Unprocessed?  I am!! Well, almost.  I found out last Friday that my gallbladder will be coming out on the 6th; so there will be a small crimp in my plans as I recover from my surgery,  I won't be doing much cooking (or probably eating) for at least a week.  Which means my daily posts won't happen as planned.  My diet the first week will be simple foods like broth, pasta, rice; boring!!  But it will be worth it in the end to not have to deal with the pain anymore.

I decided I have a few small goals to meet this month; scaling back my plans for the month but only pushing them off a bit, I still plan on doing everything I planned.

Goal 1: to learn more about alternative choices to cane sugar. I want to research how to replace cane sugar with honey or maple syrup SUCESSFULLY (I haven't been successful yet, seems the liquid affects the recipe) as well as how to use (or not use) products like date sugar.

Goal 2: to learn how to successfully replace wheat flours with other types of flours.  I used a hazelnut flour in a recipe not knowing you couldn't just substitute it.  Terrible results!  Apparently it's missing some important part, like a binding agent?  I have coconut flour I tried substituting for wheat flour in breading a backed chicken breast - came out terrible. Dry and powdery...blech.

Goal 3: to learn how to make my own condiments, like ketchup, mustard and mayo.  Problem I have is that we use them so sparingly I'm afraid they will go bad before we can use it all.  We literally use 2 tablespoons of mayo a week on my son's two ham sandwiches he takes to school for lunch.  Most home made recipes say it lasts a week or two.  A lot of work for something we rarely use.  Mustard is a tablespoon a week at most.

So I think that's it to start.  As I start to feel better, I may adjust my plans, but this may be a shortened "month" for me...

Good luck everyone, and HAPPY EATING!!
Kathy

October Unprocessed 2014

It's that time again!  October Unprocessed via Andrew at www.earingrules.com - time to step back, think about what you are eating, how it is made, and how we can make our daily lives a little bit better by putting healthier options into our bodies.

I've been thinking about what I want to get out of the challenge this year; we live pretty much 75-90% clean around here.  My teen boys toward the 75% side of the range, my husband falling into the 80-85% range, and myself the upper 90% end.  There is something every season that just reels me in.  Right now?  That darn Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks.  :)  I know there are recipes out there that are supposed to be just as good, but part of the draw is the fact that someone else is making it for me. :) So what to do for this year's challenge?

I decided I want to put a little effort into learning more about specific types of foods and cleaning up the options.  I want to learn more about sugars, for example.  I get questioned on that a lot - "if you eat clean, how can you still use sugar?  It's so processed."  While I buy organic "pure cane sugar" for some things, turbinado for others, and local raw honey for still more uses, (and there is a bottle of agave on the shelf too) I use it sugar so sparingly I count it as part of my 10% unclean.  I want to learn more about other types of sugars, like date sugar, coconut sugar, etc to find some different options and how to best use them so I can change that % a bit.

Last year I watched a few members of the Unprocessed Facebook group making things like cheese, peanut butter, and almond milks that I was thinking I may try to do something like that as well this challenge.  I have a slightly busy month at work, so I'm thinking one per week; it will take some pre-planning and investigating but hoping it will all work well in the end.  I'll report back what I choose to try and how each one goes.

Lastly, my goal is to report in my daily menus - not only to hold myself accountable for staying on track but so you all can hold me accountable for making good choices as well.  There will be a small amount of deliberate exceptions I'll post in the beginning; life is too short to deprive yourself of something that makes you really happy, like wine from the winery I work at (they do add sulfites plus it's a job requirement to taste all the wines) and a s'more at our firepit.  Marshmallows are made by me though. :)

It's only September 17th so I have some time to get my plans in motion; if you haven't taken the challenge before I suggest you do, and also to join the Facebook group for helpful tips, ideas, advice and support.

Happy Eating!
Kathy

Book Review - Recipes I Can't Make

Okay, I have spent a lot of time in the last few days reading thru the "mix" portion of the book:  Make-A-Mix.   (If you click on "book review" on the right, you'll see related posts.)

Here is the list of the recipes that have an ingredient that is "un-clean" - if I search the grocery I may be able to find an acceptable option, but at this point I am going to focus on the ones I don't need to hunt for a new ingredient for.  So here are the ones I will be skipping for now and why:

Breadmaker Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Cornbread Mix - uses milk or buttermilk powder
Graham Cracker Crust Mix - uses box graham crackers
Hot Roll Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Whole Wheat Hot Roll Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Quick Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix - uses dry buttermilk
Lemon Pudding Mix - uses powdered lemonade mix
Beef Gravy Mix - uses non fat dry milk
Chicken Gravy Mix - uses non fat dry milk
White Sauce Mix -  uses non fat dry milk
Home-Style Dressing Mix - uses MSG "if desired" (can you even buy this??)
Hot Chocolate Mix - uses non-dairy creamer
Russian Refresher Mix - uses powdered lemonade mix (popular drink at one time??)

This leaves me with a whole lot to try!  I am hoping no one puts a hold on the book before I can finish getting through it. :)

As I mentioned earlier, there is a "mix" section and a "recipe section" (made from the mixes.)  Nice concept.

Before I can try the one I really want to try, the brownie mix...I gotta go buy more cocoa powder.  These sure use a lot!! But I guess if you are making a "mix" you want extras to have on hand, right?  The chocolate pudding mix is almost gone. And that makes 6 batches. So much for losing weight. :)

Happy eating, Kathy

Final Product Review - Clean Candy #5

Here we are...the last of the 5 candy bars Unreal 5.

Product info can be found here:  Unreal 5 which can be compared to a Milky Way.

Open it up, take a nice sniff...so far so good!  Looks very similar.  I am not a Milky Way fan, so let's start with that.  Totally a Snickers girl, love me some peanuts.  So this taste test will be a little unfair since I don't usually eat this type of candy.

First bite...good, not great.  Again, I am predisposed to not like this type of candy bar, but am trying to look past that.  Not sure if it's the relation of nougat to caramel, but there is too much nougat for me.  It almost tastes like a vitamin company candy bar I used to eat when I was younger.  A family friend sold the vitamin products so my mom would buy them for me.  Can't for the life of me remember the name of the company, but getting that familiar taste in my mouth.  I wonder if those were first beginnings of cleaner candy?

So anyway, would I eat it again? Yes. Would I chose it if there was another choice? No.

Here is my final ranking of Unreal candy choices:

5...Unreal 5 (this one)
4...Unreal 41 (plain m&ms) - cause of the aftertaste
3...Unreal 77 (peanut butter cups) - cause there needs to be a little bit more peanut butter inside
2...Unreal 54 (peanut m&ms) - only 2nd cause there needs to be more in the bag
1........Unreal 8 (snickers) cause I am a Snickers girl!!

I would not hesitate to buy any of them again!  The thought of being able to eat candy without all the yucky stuff inside makes me so happy.  Going to head over to CVS this weekend and buy 1 more of each for my kids to taste test...and see what THEY think!  They will jump for joy when they find out they can have candy again :)

Happy snacking!  Kathy

Product Review - Clean Candy #4

My boys & I took advantage of a beautiful day and went for a walk to our nearby CVS. Guess what they had...Unreal candy!!! So excited because now I can taste the other two that Staples did not carry.

First of all, CVS was more expensive.  Staples charges $.90 per candy bar, and CVs charges $1.19.  They were on sale 2 for $2.00, so that made the choice to buy the two types I had not tried yet all the easier.  But at $1 each they are still a bit more expensive.  On the positive side, I probably spent the difference in gas. So I can reason it out that I can pay a bit more when taking a walk.

So which one to try today...

we're going with Unreal 54.  Product information here: Unreal 54 aka peanut M&Ms.

If you remember, I liked the plain M&Ms but the coatings kindof left an aftertaste.  Let's see how these do!

Colors are the same as the Unreal 41.

These are tasty, nice ratio of peanut to chocolate, coating has a crunch to it.  I still get a bit of the natural flavoring aftertaste but no where near as strong, the taste of the peanut offsets it nicely.

Only problem...there needs to be more in the package.  Cause I want more!  Will definitely be buying these again. :)

Happy snacking!  Kathy

Book Review

After making my chocolate pudding, well really while EATING my chocolate pudding, I decided since I had the window open from Amazon still open I'd read the reviews that were posted.  138 from a book first published in the late 1970s!  121 5 star, 11 4 star, 3 3 star, 1 2 star, and 2 1 star.

It's interesting to read what people said about the book.  Some commented on "how could they only use white products (flour, sugar)" and others were all over how great it is. It's funny; cause when you think about how different we (some of us at least) eat now versus then.  I was born in the 1960s, so I grew up in the age of prepared foods - the easier the better, right?  Sigh.

I am curious to try some of the recipes commented on, like the hot chocolate mix, chocolate syrup mix, brownie mix and muffin mix.  The snack cake mixes seem to be a hit too.  I am half way through the 121 5 star reviews...LOL

Oh, the lemon pudding mix uses powdered lemonade mix, so won't be trying that one.  I have made a lemon meringue pie from scratch a couple years back...lots of work but it tasted fabulous.

According to some of the 5 star reviews, the original 1978 edition has been updated to remove a lot of the shortening and replaced it with melted butter...mine is from 2006 so I must have the updated version.

Do you think anyone will notice if they don't get a pudding for dessert tonite? Two servings are not enough right now...Kathy

Book Review - Chocolate Pudding Mix

Checked this book out of the library this week: Make-A-Mix by Karine Eliason & Nevada Haward & Madeline Westover.

It is partially "mix" recipes and partially recipes to make with your mixes.  Since I am still looking for acceptable replacements for some of my family's favorite foods, like tacos and pudding, this book seemed to give me some choices worth trying.

Over the next few weeks I am going to try to make some of the "mixes" and see what happens!

Since I am still missing desserts, I decided to start with their chocolate pudding "mix."  The copyright notice in the front of the book say I am allowed to post their recipe; even though I am linking back to their book & I got it for free from the library, I will just post my opinions.  Don't want to do anything I am not supposed to!!

So I measured out the dry ingredients of my cleanest unsweetened cocoa powder, granulated sugar, cornstarch and salt and mixed it all up:

And then proceeded to actually make the chocolate pudding.  You add milk to a cup of the mix & cook in a pot, stirring just like you would a package mix.  You are supposed to stir in butter & vanilla at the end; since I need to eat low fat, and I couldn't see why I would need butter anyway, I left it out.  I let it sit on the stove while I took pictures, and that film that I love formed on top, just like the box mix.  Take a look:

It's cooling as I type...but sure smells like chocolate pudding.  One thing I can say is that it makes more than the 6 cups of mix. I have a 6c storage bowl that it would not fit in.   But once I used 1c of the mix, it fits nicely.  If you do the math on the dry ingredients, it's a bit over 6 cups.  But once you whisk them together and add in the extra air, it will not fit.  Go for a bigger bowl if not using any right away.

So extra mix is stored, the family's portions in bowls, covered & put in fridge for dessert tonite...and mine is just about cool enough to try. :)

Here goes: it's good!! The taste is slightly different...maybe not as sweet?  Would the butter have made a difference? Hmmmmm...I use fat free dairy milk but it is still thick, creamy...it's good. Will definitely make again AND will be looking through the book to see what other pudding recipes these ladies have included.

Yummy!! Happy eating! Kathy

Product Review - Clean Candy #2

Ready for the second test? I am!!

Today I am trying the Unreal41...similar to an M&M.

Product info here:  Unreal41

When I open the package, I can't help but feel the excitement of M&Ms...the colors are not as bright, but that's okay, cause they are made with natural colors, not artificial.  The ingredients say they are colored with: beetroot juice, turmeric root extract, purple cabbage juice.  There are 6 different colors in the bag.  The yellow and the orange are light enough colors that I can see the chocolate through them.

My first bite, it tastes like something I have had before, but I can't tell you what it is.  Reminds me of an Easter candy from long ago...but not sure which one.  Going to bug me until I figure it out!!

Slight after taste to these...whether I mix the colors or not, but it is more pronounced when I mix the colors.

They are yummy, and I wouldn't say no if offered them.  I do want to try the peanut version of them though.

Off to enjoy the rest...and one more to try tomorrow!!! I may have to wait until Monday, though.  My kids will be around and want me to share. :)

Happy snacking!!! Kathy

Product Review - Clean Candy #1

Yeah, I know, CLEAN candy?

I recently read in a magazine about a new line of candy called "Unreal."  Since it is flu season I am not spending much time out and about; but while in Staples yesterday (buying black printer ink so my son could finish printing out his homework,) I noticed that they had a display with three different Unreal products.  I was in a snacking mood, so said why not? And bought one of each. At $.90 each, I thought that was pretty fair, based on the candy bar prices at the local pharmacy.

I am a big fan of chocolate, candy, &...well sweets in general.  While I enjoy the occasional peanut butter cup I prefer NOT to make my own.  Dipping a bar of dark chocolate in my organic natural peanut butter sometimes does the trick, but when I am sitting in the movie theater, smelling the popcorn, listening to the crunch around me, yes I do want something.  I am conditioned, I know that. But I also want something.  These products may be the answer!

First, a little background on Unreal.

http://getunreal.com/

According to their website, the idea came from a 13 yr old and his dad and an argument over Halloween candy.  Unreal products contain no:
  * artificials
  * hydrogenaters
  * corn syrups
  * preservatives
  * GMOs

They are by no means a health food, but if you need that peanut butter cup fix, which would you choose?  The ones with or without the above?  I can't wait to see how each one tastes.  The cashier at Staples gave me her opinion.  I can't wait to formulate my own.

The website lists five different products, but my Staples only had three in their display, so we are going to start there.  Over the next three days (I'd love to eat them all at once but I am trying to be good) I will review what I think of these "clean" candy bars.

Today, we start with:  

Unreal77 - Peanut Butter Cups Unjunked

Here is the product information:  Peanut Butter Cups

There are 2 cups in the package, and they do not have a paper wrapper like the popular brand does.  The first thing I notice is that they are thinner than the "other kind."  So, not as much peanut butter filling.  The ratio of peanut butter to chocolate is important, so let's see.

The chocolate is firm, the top of the peanut butter cup does not push in when you touch it without some force.  More than necessary for the other kind. First bite is tasty, and quickly the first cup is gone.  No funny after taste or anything.  I like the consistency of the peanut butter filling better than the other brand, and can say I like it over all.  I do wish there was a third one in the pack. The serving size is smaller than the other brand, so maybe that is why I am left wanting for more.  Or maybe I just like them that much. :)

I rate this "unjunked" candy very much.  As a once in awhile treat - I will MOST CERTAINLY buy this one again.  Will it be a daily treat? Alas, no, my gallbladder would not appreciate the fat. But I will be buying this again as a cleaner alternative to those luscious peanut buttery treats!

I can't wait for tomorrow to try the next one!  Happy snacking, Kathy

P.S. The cashier at Staples liked them too. She thought they tasted better than the other brand.

Disappointments

Disappointments stink, don't they? Especially when you THINK you are doing the right thing.

We have an apple orchard not too far from us. They have lots of seasonal fruits & vegetables they grow on their farm, and each year they are offering more and more organic produce.  Their prices are reasonable.  Last year they opened a winery made from a lot of their fruits.  They offer various raw honeys, home made apple cider, pies, and assorted baked goods. 

Like apple cider donuts.  When you walk up to the store barn, the smell from the bakery barn is incredible.  You can see the steam rising from the bags when they walk out with a tray-full on a cool Fall day.  When you bite into a freshly baked donut, you feel like you are in heaven.  You know they are making them on site, throughout the day, and they are all gone by closing.  Guaranteed.  So you kind of expect a certain level of "cleanness" in the donut, right?  If there is someone in the bakery barn mixing and baking, most likely they are not adding spoonfuls of preservatives, chemicals, etc.  That's what the big bakeries do. 

On my way home yesterday, I looked at the bag the donuts came in.  Honestly, they don't usually make it the full car ride home.  They are lined up in small quantities at the registers, so it's the last thing you grab when you go to pay. So we get to the car, all grab a donut and start eating.  Then a second gets consumed on the ride home, with the bag going in the garbage can before even getting into the house.  This time I decided to read the bag. 

BIG MISTAKE.  I will not be eating these donuts anymore. Here are the ingredients:

Enriched, malted wheat flour (malted with malt barley; flour enriched with niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid,) apple cider, sugar, soybean oil, soy flour, non-fat milk, gelatinized wheat starch, sodium acid pyrophosphate, baking soda, dried egg yolks, salt, dried sweet dairy whey, lecithin, dextrose, vegetable emulsifiers (mono & diglycerides with BHT and citric acid to protect flavor,) toasted ground wheat, natural and artificial flavor, xanthan gum.  Cooked in: partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (soybean, cottonseed,) TBHQ and citric acid added to protect flavor, di-methyl polysiloxone.

What the heck?  What happened to flour, eggs, baking soda and apple cider??  

So disappointed.  Kathy

Planning meals in advance

How many people out there actually plan their meals in advance?  I find that it is so much easier to eat healthy when my meals are planned ahead of time, instead of throwing things together at the last minute.  Notice I said healthy, not clean.  Since I don't keep any prepared foods in the house (with my few exceptions, of course) I can't make a box of Stove Top Stuffing if it's not there. But I do find myself offering up veggie-free meals more often that I would like, since I never got to the farmers market.  I shamefully admit to serving protein only plates every now and then.

I got to thinking about how I could do better, and was reminded of when I first went back to work full-time.  My kids were young, they were in before and after school care, and my hubby was working far away. By the time we got home, I cooked, we dealt with any home work not done, we were all exhausted.  I ended up home sick a couple days and got this wonderful idea to plan out my meals a month ahead of time.  I printed out a free calendar I found online, inventoried my pantry & freezer, chose the sides that went with each meat, and even stuck little round stickers on each item as it got chosen for a meal with the date on it!  Yeah, I went a bit overboard but it guaranteed that something I was planning on using did not get used by the hubby for a snack or something. 

I listed out our favorite meals, scoured my cookbooks for others, and ended up with 30 days of pre-planned meals that I repeated every month.  Some favorites were served twice in a month, but otherwise there were no complaints of eating the same thing again, as there was a month between servings.  I was able to put together a shopping list for each week of the month, which made my life so easy!! It sounds like a LOT of work, and yes it was, but I had an entire day to myself and once I put my mind to it, it was worth all the trouble setting it up.

The biggest plus to this: I hung the meal calendar on the wall in the kitchen and never had to answer the "what's for dinner?" question!!!  I was able to keep this up for a whole year, then my hours changed, I stopped bringing as much work home with me, and I had more time to plan on the weekends as my son stopped playing football, so I stopped planning that far and just took it one week at a time.  We also found that with my extra income we were going out a bit more...maybe the fact my kids were older and better behaved in restaurants a factor too.

So now I need to use that concept and translate it into our current lifestyle.  I found a set of the calendars and could not believe how much processed stuff was on them, YUCK!!  We also have our new set of health issues to deal with too.  This is what I came up with:

5 week rotation (will skip week 5 if not needed but necessary for January)
each meal contains a protein, carb & veggie

Sun: pasta meal with salad & either meatballs or sausage for the pre-diabetic hubby
Mon: poultry meal with side of carb & veggie
Tues: beef meal with side of carb & veggie
Wed: pork meal with side of carb & veggie
Thurs: combo meal (ex: soups, stews, casseroles, ravioli, tacos - meals that put all 3 groups together)
Fri: pizza (had to give into the kids plus I need a day off)
Sat: protein repeat with side of carb & veggie (repeat pattern: chicken, beef, pork, chicken, beef)
   or leftover night. 

I am planning out my meals mid-way thru the week before.  I buy a lot of my meats from Costco, so I will take my calendar with me when I make my monthly trip there as well.  I find that if I just buy meats, then deal with what to do with them later, I am uninspired later on.  Soooooo...if this works out as planned, I can plan at least the protein portion of the month very easily!!!

To start myself out, I am using up what is in the freezer.  I made an inventory, and plotted in what I have.  Which was not a lot, just enough for another 9 meals, so next week I will head to Costco, take my time & my lists, and be creative!  I am reading about more and more "clean" products being found in their aisles.  I am hoping to offer as much variety as I can with what I do with each protein.  I am using chicken the most, since it is lowest in fat, easiest to buy natural, pretty decently priced, AND is the most versatile!!  I'll keep you updated as we go along.

I am guessing, my family will not even notice every Monday they are having chicken. :)

Happy planning!! Kathy

Potato Chips

I love making my own potato chips. I love that I can choose the best potato (we've grown some in our yard too) and I can choose the oil I feel the most comfortable using.  I even control the salt.  But what I don't love is the smell in my house afterwards.

I use a REALLY old deep fryer.  REALLY old.  Like older than me.  When my mom passed 13 years ago, I kept the stuff I didn't already have one of, like a deep fryer and a stand mixer.  As they break, I buy a new one.  The deep fryer is going strong, many many years later. 

Not sure if it is my deep fryer or all of them, since I have never had a new one, but when I use it my whole house smells like oil.  It hangs around for a day or so too.  I usually close all the doors so the smell stays confined to my lower level of the house (sigh) but some how I still manage to get the smell every where.

When I can company coming, that is the last thing I want my house to smell like.  Oil. So when entertaining for the college football bowls, you gotta have potato chips.  I did not want my house to smell before my guests arrived, so I went in search of the cleanest potato chips I could find.  What do you think??

Not bad in a pinch, when you need to serve a lot of people?? I'd love to hear if anyone has found other choices.

Happy snacking!! Kathy

Organic "Junk Food"

Just cause it's organic does not make it clean. Just cause it's organic, does not mean I want to put it in my body. Case in point:

Eat This, Not That   Check this out!! So Kraft Organic is not so great.

I bought a box or Nature's Promise Organic and Annie's Mac n Cheese to do some comparisons, before I read the above article. 

Just reminder to everyone that we cannot trust the packaging...you gotta read the ingredient lists!

Kathy

The 12 Treats of Christmas - 10th

"On the tenth day of Christmas, the treat lovingly baked by me...
 
s'more cookes!"

Yes, making "some more" cookies!  But these are SMORE cookies!

Whipped up a batch of home made marshmallows.
      (Marshmallow post)
      (this time I used Alton Brown's marshamallow recipe)
Bought a box of graham crackers (or you can make your own, see this recipe here:  Serious Eats Gluten-Free Graham Crackers)
Bought a bag of chocolate chips (you choose your favorite)

Inspiration for this recipe came from Christi at Tip Junkie. I cleaned it up a bit and took it off the stick.  You can find her original recipe here: S'mores Pops

So here we go!!

I pre-prepped the graham crackers before making the marshmallows. Got everything ready cause I knew the marshmallow would be sticky.  I wanted to have the pans ready for both the s'mores and to make more marshmallows (cause we already ate up the first batch.)  While the  marshmallows were mixing, I melted the chocolate, and put a dollop of it on one side of the graham cracker. Spread the marshmallow on the other half, put the sandwich together...and yum!!

The recipe says to put in freezer for a bit, but mine is so stuffed with my holiday meal I just stuck the tray in the fridge while I cleaned up.  The melted chocolate had got a bit hard, so I microwaved it a bit.  Some I sprinkled with mini Christmas M&Ms, for the kids of course. Not for me. :) Once a year artificial coloring can't hurt too much, right??

Yumm!! Happy Eating!  Kathy

Clean Eating & Sugar

One of the hardest decisions for me to make in in efforts to eat clean was to decide what "sugar" to use.  Unless you are chewing on the sugar cane plant directly, EVERY sweetener has been "processed" in some way shape or form.  So how can ANY of them truly be "clean?" 

Currently in my house we have the following:

White sugar: too processed for general use. But I do keep a bag on hand for guests to use in their coffee or tea, or for those times that it is important/required (but there are VERY few of those times.) 

Turbinado "sugar in the raw:" what I currently use for baking.  I love the molasses flavor to gives to cookies, pies, everything.

Liquid blue agave: I use this to sweeten my own coffees and teas, as well as adding to my morning steel cut oats when a bit of sweetness is required.

Stevia: cause I read somewhere that it is one of the better choices in eating clean.  I have yet to try it...

Local Raw Honey: Raw is the key word here, and it should be a bit cloudy.  Clear, golden colored honey has been processed a bit too much.  Local is key too, as it has been made by bees from flowers that are in your area; studies have shown that it helps with pollen allergies!

I am curious as to what YOU use to sweeten your foods!  Please comment back!! 

Kathy

Clean Snacking

One of the first things that happened to me when we switched from processed snacks to clean snacks was I lost 11 pounds. 11!!  Not all at once, but it slowly came off over a period of about 3 months.  I noticed that I was snacking a lot less, and I think the salt & preservatives from the processed foods were making me retain some water.

I think clean eating should be a diet all of it's own!  In order to snack, you have to make the snack. There is no more mindless handfuls or chips, or crackers, or cookies.  If you want it, you need to make it!  If I am in the mood for some potato chips, I have to get out the deep fryer, get out the mandolin, scrub the potatoes, heat up the oil, slice the potatoes, cook the potatoes, then wait for them to cool.  It sounds like a lot of work, but truthfully it is not. But how badly do I want those potato chips? I must really want them to go through the work to have them.

11 pounds!!! But then I plateaued and that was it.  But 11 pounds!!  I find that since we started eating clean, ALL of us snack less.

And that's good, right?  Kathy

Clean Eating for Thanksgiving part 2

Desserts!  My personal favorite part of the meal.

Due to gallbladder problems, I am in a strict "as low fat as I can go" meal plan at the moment,  but that will not stop me for preparing Thanksgiving desserts!  While I may not get to enjoy a lot of what I am making, I am doing everything I can to make sure I can enjoy part of it.  I will come back and post pics as I am cooking.

Desserts for our Thanksgiving Meal:
apple pie                                    toppings:  chocolate syrup, caramel, whipped cream
apple crisp
pumpkin biscotti
ice cream

I can't eat the pie, so the crisp is really for me. If I am just going to eat out the filling of the pie, I might as well make something else.

My apple pie is an old recipe of my mom's.  She had a Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook from 1953 that I have kept and use whenever I can.  I love old cookbooks, since they were made before most processed foods, they give you great recipes. One thing that drives me nuts is when I get a recipe and it calls for something already prepared. I don't like when tv chefs do that either.  I will do a separate entry on the pie.

I am thrilled to have found some GREAT cooking websites.  One of my favorites is Simply Recipes.  Elise's blog is my first stop for recipes.  In fact, most of what I am using today comes from there.

Elise's Apple Crisp

Elise's Pumpkin Biscotti

Elise's Caramel Sauce


Another frequent stop for me is Tiffany at The Gracious Pantry.  This is a great place for information on "real" clean eating.  For Thanksgiving, I will be serving her:

Tiffany's Chocolate Syrup


The whipped cream comes from  Kathy Maister's Start Cooking Her site is great as it gives instructions AND information about cooking, so you can be a bit more informed about what you are making.

 Whipped Cream

So that leaves me with ice cream.  I have an OLD (we're talking 20 yrs) hand crank which works really good.  I used to use this recipe: Vanilla Ice Cream 4 ingredients!! And I lower the sugar to 1/8 c turbinado. I can't find low fat whipping cream anywhere, sigh.  So I will be skipping the ice cream & caramel cause this year. But the whipped cream I may get a dollop of. :)

Unless you have an ice cream maker, you really won't want to try this.  So if I need to buy ice cream, what do I buy? The only one I have found so far is Breyer's Lactose Free Vanilla. Whether or not you are lactose intolerant, this is a decent alternative for when you cannot make your own, or you need to bring ice cream somewhere and you don't want to fill your body (or the body of others who will be eating it) with additives.

           Lid and side panel





 Here is the lowfat Breyers Vanilla:
 

           Lid and side panel






Both include a "gum" but the lactose free is "free-er" of other stuff.  So if I need to bring, this is what I buy.  So far...no one has noticed that it is lactose free. :)  Again, clean eating "my way."

Happy eating!!   Kathy