On Track: #Unprocessed Day 12

I’m finding it hard to make daily posts.  I think that’s mostly because on some days it would just be a list of food.

I feel I’ve done pretty well.  I have to say that because I already cook from scratch so much to begin with, this challenge probably hasn’t been as hard for me as it may be for others.  I am finding room for improvement, which is good.  I’ve found some great pasta products that don’t fall into the processed category, and a good bread as well.  Those are things I just can’t fit in making on a daily basis.

Tonight I revisited a recipe that I haven’t made in a very long time.  As an added bonus, I got to make it with organic grass-fed meat that I picked up from a local farmer at the last Farmer’s Market of the season.  (I picked up a roast for tomorrow too).

Sweedish Meatballs and roasted green beans were on the menu for dinner tonight, and they were delicious!

I didn’t have any cheats again today.  Yay!

Chocolate Almond Oatmeal

 

This was breakfast this morning, and it was great!

Ok, so the picture doesn’t look that great, but I promise it was yummy.

Overnight Chocolate Almond Oatmeal

1/2 cup steel rolled oats (not quick cook, instant, etc.)

1 tsp flax meal

2 tsp cocoa powder

1 Tbs almond butter

2 tsp maple syrup

1/2 cup milk of choice (dairy, soy, almond – they all work)

Mix it all up in a bowl, jar, etc., and let it set overnight.  In the morning, give it another good stir and enjoy!  I like to warm it up and eat it that way.  The original recipe calls for 1 tsp chia seeds and cacao powder instead of cocoa powder (they are not the same thing, but cocoa made a good substitute, taste-wise).

Missing Pounds & Unprocessed Day 8

 

There is nothing really exciting going on around here today for once.  I kind of like that.  I may actually get the chance to read the book for book club this month.  (An Assembly Such As This).  It seems I have misplaced a couple of pounds since the beginning of the month.  I can’t complain there either.  I’m not sure if that has anything to do with eating unprocessed, or all the busy I’ve been up to, but whatever.  I’ll take it!

Unprocessed October report:

The Good:

• Toast and Jam (Prairie Grain Bread Company bread and home canned no-sugar added jam)
• Coffee with homemade peppermint mocha creamer
• Homemade chicken noodle soup
• Meatloaf
• Baked potato
• Romaine lettuce salad, parmesean cheese, bolthouse farms dressing

Where I cheated:

• Salad dressing (I’m sensing a theme here.  I need to make my own at some point)

Writing this all down is showing me exactly where the processed stuff is sneaking in, and I’m learning.  Eating unprocessed takes preparation.  All the things we turn to for convenience can be made by us in our own kitchens if we take the time. For me it’s about checks and balances.  What do I have time for, vs. what is not worth it.  I’m feeling pretty ok with the cheats so far.

The Grand March

For anyone interested, here is the link to the Grand March that our Vintage Dance Group performed at the Welkin Waltz: A Steampunk Formal on Oct.5.  I am still hoping that video of the vintage group dances will surface.  We had a lot of fun.

Balls, Achy Feet, and Food

 

I was going to give myself a free day yesterday due to having dinner / dancing tickets for an event we had been planning.  As it turns out, I was sewing up until the very last minute, and we missed the dinner portion, which means I DIDN’T CHEAT AFTER ALL!  (So that’s the bright side of that situation).

My husband and I have been practicing with Clockwork and Gears Vintage Dancing weekly for the last couple months and we presented a lovely Grand March for the attendees, as well as assisted in teaching some vintage dances.  Dances were a HUGE part of community and culture in Victorian times, and beyond.  We had a lot of fun.  My feet hurt today.

There were a lot of cameras and video taping going on, which I hope will be shared so I can see it and relive the night.

My sister snapped these pics of us as we were on our way out.  Thank you!

We’re celebrating her birthday today.  Cake has never been one of my ‘things’ so I should have no problem turning it down, since I know this particular cake will be of the processed food kind.

Day 4

 

Today was crazy busy, and my bed is calling me.  So here it is in short form: 

The Good:

· Oatmeal with cinnamon, coffee and homemade coffee creamer

· Shredded potatoes and 2 eggs

· nuts

· Homemade chicken noodle soup

Where I cheated:

· None. Yay!

Today’s menu ended up light on the fruits and veggies.  I didn’t get the chance to make noodles again today, but I was able to find some Amish ones at the store that passed the kitchen test (nothing in them that I couldn’t find in my own kitchen).

Tomorrow my hubby and I have dinner tickets to a Victorian / Steampunk ball which we bought months ago. I’m going to give myself a free day tomorrow, since I will have no way of knowing for sure if my dinner foods contain processed foods. I’m betting they will.

Segmented Sleep, Anxiety, and a Bit of Unprocessed Day 3 Accounting

 

There's an interestng article on segmented sleep over at slumberwise.com.  It explains how they slept back in the days before electricity.  It also explains the way I sleep a lot of times; due to my kids’ schedule and my hubby’s schedule being so different. I don’t pretend that my sleeping this way is ideal in our day and age.  I’m not sure which is better, actually, but it seems to work for me and allows me to meet my kids’ needs and still spend some time with my crazy busy hubby during the week.

Life threw some curve-balls at me today, like it does sometimes.  My morning was crazy.  One of my kids has severe anxiety.  It’s a struggle to get said child out the door each and every day.  School is a huge stress.  Not your usual “I don’t like school” stress, but serious meltdown type stress.  We see a therapist once a week, as well as other treatments, which seem to help some.  This morning I got a call that my kid was in the office with hives all over any exposed skin.  It was only 1st period, and they had been outside.  Because of medical interaction warnings the usual treatment of benadryl could not be administered until we could see a doctor, or at least speak to our Pediatrician.  Checking a kid out of school with the kind of anxiety issues my child has is always bad.  Each day is a miracle that they even get there.  It was hard to get them to school the first time. Once we’re home, if we need to go back, we get to go through all that again.  I was able to take my kido back to school a couple of hours later, after the hives had gone away.  We still don’t know what caused them.  The secretaries at the school were even so great as to call the maintenance dept. and the district to see if something had been done on the grounds (fertilizer, etc).  Nada.  So we may never know.  It could have been the anxiety.  I’m hoping it was something environmental, but that doesn’t sound good either.

This all happened right at the time I was about to head back for my second sleep cycle.  It shifted everything later, putting a wrench into the entire schedule of the day.

I was going to make my bread that didn’t get done yesterday.  I was going to make crackers and noodles.  I was going to go the the Farmer’s market.  I was going to finish my hubby’s vest.  I was going to do my meal planning.  None of that happened.  I did get a nap though, so that’s good. 

Here’s my accounting of food today for the challenge:

The good:

· Coffee with homemade creamer

· Cinnamon oatmeal. This was so yummy!

· Banana

· Almond butter on toast

· Lentil soup for dinner with a glass of milk

· I will have some kind of snack before bed as well

Where I cheated:

· Orowheat 100% whole wheat bread with lunch

The lentil soup was surprisingly good. It didn’t look like it was going to taste good, at all, so I was surprised. The look of it was reminiscent of my Mom’s navy bean soup and ham, which I hated as a kid. I have yet to get over that, so I have no idea if I’d like it now. I’m inclined to think I wouldn’t.

The cinnamon oatmeal was to die for!  It was SO GOOD!  Of course, I like oatmeal done most ways.

A crucial part of being able to maintain this challenge is menu planning. That HAS to get done tomorrow. Todays dinner was hacked together, and I think everyone around here knew that.

Unprocessed Day 2

10/2/13

I found some recipes for homemade, flavored coffee creamers and now have peppermint mocha and French vanilla in my fridge at my disposal. I know it sounds silly, but giving up coffeemate was my biggest scare. So… yay! I’m craving cheese (my favorite snack) and I don’t have any organic in the house. Tillamook is close, with only 1 added ingredient (color) and grass fed as often as possible cows. We’ll see if I can hold out.

I haven’t gotten around to making my bread yet. We’ll see if I get to that today or not. It may need to wait until tomorrow. I need to get Chris’ Victorian waistcoat finished ASAP and I need to add a ruffle to my bustle. The ball is Saturday, and that’s throwing a wrench in the food prep time.

Tomorrow is Farmer’s market day! On the shopping list:

beets (why did I not grow these again this year?)

Kale

Bell Peppers (mine didn’t do well this year)

Honey (stock up for winter.  I love local raw honey)

This was dinner tonight:

The good:

· Jim’s organic coffee

· Homemade organic coffee creamer

· Kashi cinnamon harvest cereal with milk

· Salad with home canned organic beets, fresh home-grown tomatoes, organic greens

· Salmon with herbs de province and roasted brussel sprouts & greens as a salad

Where I cheated:

· Bolthouse farms yogurt dressing

What Qualifies as Unprocessed–My Personal Definition

 

A friend asked me how I decided what was considered processed vs. unprocessed since it’s not always obvious. 

Good question!  Thanks for asking.

I happen to like how they define it over at eatingrules.com.  The following is taken straight from their site:

_________________________________________________

The “Kitchen Test” Definition

The first question I’m always asked is, “How do you define processed?”

Obviously there’s a wide range of implications in that word, and we will probably each define it slightly differently for ourselves. My definition is this:

Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with whole-food ingredients.

I call it “The Kitchen Test.” If you pick up something with a label (if it doesn’t have a label, it’s probably unprocessed), and find an ingredient you’d never use in your kitchen and couldn’t possibly make yourself from the whole form, it’s processed.

It doesn’t mean you actually have to make it yourself, it just means that for it to be considered “unprocessed” that you could, in theory, do so.

________________________________________________________

These are the guidelines that I am using while deciding what is processed vs. not.  I can use flour, for instance, without having to grind it myself as long as it’s unbleached and un-enriched (which is what I use anyway).  For my purposes I will also consider raw cane sugar as un-processed as well.  (You can find that in the ethnic section with the Mexican foods, not with the other sugar, usually).

I hope this helps!  I’m always open to questions if you’re curious.

Unprocessed Day 1

10/1

I went shopping and was reminded why eating this way exclusively is hard even though I already cook a lot from scratch, and already attempt to eat this way. It’s expensive. (I should note that in addition to eating unprocessed, I am also avoiding GMO’s as much as possible, which means buying organic).  I’m excited about Kroger’s organic line of foods and was really happy to find almond flour in a smaller bag! I need to find a good recipe for homemade crackers. Does organic bacon exist?

The good:

· Fresh garden tomatoes

· Organic banana

· Simply orange orange juice

· Chicken cacciatore – organic, free range thighs from Trader Joe’s – all other organic produce.

· Roasted Green Beans

· Organic Cereal with milk

Where I Cheated:

· None. Woot!

October #Unprocessed 2013

What would happen if I went for an entire month without eating any processed foods?

I’ve been moving my family toward eating cleaner and more un-processed anyway, so when this challenge popped up on my Facebook newsfeed I thought “Hey!  We can do that.  I think we can do that.  Can we do that?  How close are we already?”

I started really thinking about the things in our diet that are still present and adding them up.  I realized I’m not as close as I want to be to eating only real food.  So here is where my very neglected blog comes in.  This will be my place of accountability through this month.  It may not make for exciting reading for some, but hey… This is about being accountable to myself and my family.  Hopefully, if someone is reading this, they may find something helpful.

On that note: If you are reading this and you’re interested in recipes, etc.  Just let me know.  I’m happy to share.

So here we go!  We’re doing this!  If you want to join in, click here to find the guidelines and officially sign up.  (You don’t have to officially sign up to play along).