Another Step in the Process

In Chicago, we lived in an itsy-bitsy studio. It was the bargain of the year at only $585 per month; divide that by two, and you've got the deal of the decade! (In case you were wondering, I also walked uphill both ways in the snow to get to work.) Boston gave us a garden apartment - which is just the fancy real estate term for the cramped space next to the boiler, laundry facilities, and trash. They throw in a bunch of steaming, clanging pipes and very little sunlight for no additional charge. But, now, we live in sunny CA, and for the first time in our married lives, we have an outdoor space! Hooray! We've taken total advantage of the situation and covered every square inch with potted plants. The babies (no, we don't have pets, and we don't have human offspring) are leafy greans including mesclun, watercress, thyme, oregano, basil, lavender, rosemary, sage, mint, cilantro, parsley, hot peppers, tomatoes, marigolds, and nasturtiums. Our green thumbs are not yet tried and true, but we're jumping in with both feet! The cool San Francisco seabreeze might provide obstacles to a bumper tomato crop, but we're hoping that the Mission sunshine will move things along in the right direction. It's difficult to remember not to water desert natives like sage and the succulents while the poor, dehydrated mint wilts in the other corner. Chives sprouted from seeds, but Golden Gate Gardening informed us that it could take up to two years for a substantial crop. No worries, though, we already have one embryonic tomato! I'm looking forward to regular herb harvesting and the day to come when I can slice into a homegrown tomato. Even if nothing else comes of it, the daily nurturing is soothing; peeking through the window at our crops puts a smile on my face every time.

When Cheating isn't that Bad

Just after my earlier post on cheating, I trekked over to my local Whole Foods to pick up ingredients for this week's recipes. Feeling particularly guilty about said confession, I searched high and low for a soy sauce that I might not feel so bad about using. What I found was Bluegrass Soy Sauce. This is what the company has to say about their microbrewed, small batch, single barrel product,

"This sauce is from the only small batch soy sauce brewery in the United States. It's made from whole non-GMO Kentucky grown soybeans and pure limestone filtered Kentucky spring water. The result is a smoky, brothy sauce with hints of oak and a mild sweetness reminiscent of fine Kentucky bourbon."

A small, U.S. company brewing "all natural-preservative free" soy sauce containing only: non-GMO soybeans, wheat, sea salt, and spring water. Now that's something that I can feel good about.

(P.S. The photo above is from the company's website. It is not my work.)

We're Cheating

...but only a little

In an ideal world, I would not put one droplet of "processed" food into my shrine of a body this year. But, guess what? I do not live in an ideal world. Do you? Because, if so, I would like to be invited over to your place! What do I mean?

I am a regular contributor to the Boston Globe which means that I spend a fair amount of time testing recipes for my columns. My editor would absoulutely have a fit if I asked the readers of the Boston Globe to embark on an unprocessed mission and make things like homemade ketchup or tortillas. That being said, we have a few things in our pantry and fridge that do not meet the criteria for the year. However, (and this is big) we reside in one of the most expensive cities in the country (if not the world). And, I have the (un?)fortunate pleasure of working an hourly job as a baker. Bakers, I will have you know, are not the highest paid folks out there. So, in an effort to avoid bankruptcy in 2010 (something else that I highly recommend), we will be eating the results of our Boston Globe recipe testing even though the dish does not fully meet our "unprocessed" standards.

We will, nonetheless, keep our goals and parameters in mind when creating new recipes for the Globe. We are most definitely making an effort to include a minimal number of ingredients that do not fit our plan. I will give you an example. Today, I am testing an adobo pork recipe that calls for soy sauce. (All of the other ingredients in the recipe do meet our demands.) Since, I have yet to figure out how to ferment my own soy sauce, I will be using commercially prepared version. To be clear, this does not mean that we will be commercially prepared soy sauce in other dishes. If we make exceptions, it will only be for the Boston Globe recipes. Just because we have it in the house does not mean that we are free to use it.

Please accept my confession, and don't judge too harshly! ;)

A Little Secret

I'm going to let you in on a little secret -- I have lost 21 pounds since September. My 5'9" frame is now happily down to 155 pounds, but I would still like to shed another 10 pounds that I have been kicking around. "Unprocessed" should help!

Having PCOS and being hypothyroidic means that I have battled the proverbial bulge for my entire life. In high school, I ran cross-country and wrestled, keeping things to a slim 145. College brought the inevitable freshmen 15 and then some. What can I say? I really like to drink! After college, I brought things back down to around 140. Unfortunately, my methods were neither advisable nor sustainable. I ate very little -- ironic since I was attending cooking school at the time -- and exercised incessantly. The only up-side to the whole charade was completing the Chicago marathon and then Bordeaux. I managed to fit into my size 10 wedding dress a few years later, and kept things reasonably under control for a little while thereafter. Things started to slip when I tried to balance 3 jobs (one of them working in a bakery) with school and a new marriage. Then, I "moved" to Argentina where all-day wine tasting and calorie-laden (but oh-so delicious) asados, consumed in the name of research, helped me balloon up to 176. Yet, all is back in balance now -- thanks to the good folks at Weight Watchers and a turn towards an "unprocessed" lifestyle. I am at my happiest between 145 and 155. Deviation happens; you just gotta reel it back in.

That being said, I offer a few motivational thoughts in case you were pondering letting go of a little extra baggage.

1. Rome was not built in a day. You didn't put the weight on in a day, or even a week. You will not and should not take it off that quickly. Slow weight loss, brought about by lifestyle changes, means it will stay off longer.
2. The silver lining theory -- if you never get fat, you never experience the joy of watching the scale go back down the other way. While I am not a proponent of yo-yo dieting or roller coaster weight loss, enjoy every pound lost if it means a healthier you.
3. Learn to cook. The more you know about food -- even basic preparations -- and what you are putting into your body, the more successful and healthy you will be.
4. You are going to have bad days. Thankfully, we get tomorrows. It's the one do-over that life gives us. Don't dwell in the past.
5. Little changes matter. Take the stairs. Drink more water. Substitute one snack item for something healthier. It all adds up.
6. Find a buddy. Workout with them. Confide in them. Have someone you can vent to when you just can't eat one more piece of lettuce!
7. Celebrate any and all victories! If you are trying to change a lifetime's worth of behaviors, one meal made with whole-wheat pasta instead of white pasta is a victory. 5 pounds lost might be 1/10 of the way to the finish line. Then, challenge yourself to the next test!
8. If you aren't into working out, a 10 minute walk around the block is a great start. Go for 11 on day 2. Before you know it, you'll be logging 5 miles a day!
9. Most importantly, "unprocessed" isn't just about 2010. I am hoping to implement changes that will last for the rest of my life. If all goes as planned, maintaining a healthy weight should prove much easier.

Above: November 2009. Below: June 2009. We were a little inflated in June!

Clean Food

My mother in-law gave me a copy of Clean Food by Terry Walters for Cristmas with the hopes that the book would provide inspiration for our project. Simply put, I adore this book, and I could not agree with Walters' philosophy more. I have not tried out the recipes, but I plan to do so just as soon as I can. Check it out her site or the book -- she emphasizes many of the priciples of "unprocessed."

1st Amendment

The past three days have been o.k. - just o.k. It seems that we should have done a little bit more prep before the project started. For example, I really wanted some brown rice and lentils last night, but who wants to eat lentils and rice without hot sauce? (Hot sauce is on this week's to-do list.) Today, I had a 95% vegan day...yum, veggies! However, I did sample a few bits of white chocolate. As I was doing so, I thought, "This can't possibly be good for me." So, that's it. Bye-bye white chocolate. See you next year???

An Inspiration, Not an Exact Definition

Since it is actually January 1st – how the hell did that happen? – we have been forced to solidify our guidelines for 2010. There is much debate over terms such as “processed,” “natural,” “organic,” “wholesome,” etc. In this post, we are not attempting to universally define these words. What we sought were working parameters for our diet in the year 2010 and hopefully beyond. Our resources are not unlimited, and neither is our time – and we understand that our readers are limited by similar constraints. The goals of this project are to have fun, be healthy, and open both your minds and ours to a new way of thinking about nourishing our bodies. So, while you may define processing of food as shipping, washing, handling etc, we have not taken our ideas to such an extreme. We know that you might argue that items such as milled flour should not be a part of our “unprocessed” diet, but our intent is to keep the project accessible to everyone. If our guidelines and recipes are so far detached from mainstream American life, and our readers are therefore not inspired to replicate them at home, we have lost sight of the main goal.

We will, of course, be eating a form of processed foods. If I brine a batch of pickles, I have indeed processed the cucumbers. However, I have taken control of where my food came from and what went into it. I control the process. I know what I am eating.

In addition, we have only partially –not completely – lost our minds. We do reside in one of the best “food cities” in America. To suggest that we will not eat in a restaurant for the duration of 2010, is insane. So, we have built in an exception to the rules. Each week, we will permit ourselves one meal consumed in a restaurant. When we dine out, we will, however, choose items that we believe fit best within our parameters.

Goals:
-Have fun!
-Challenge ourselves to think outside the proverbial box
-Teach friends and family how to make simple changes that benefit their health
-Lose weight
-Be properly nourished
-Maintain healthy blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels
-Prevent cardiovascular disease and diabetes

Not Allowed:
-commercially canned food
-boxed food
-commercially frozen food (although exceptions may be made for peas, lima beans, and soy beans)
-commercially produced condiments such as: ketchup, soy sauce, mustard, mayo, etc
-anything containing HFCS or just plain old corn syrup
-hydrogenated or trans fats
-anything with preservatives or additives (especially those that cannot be pronounced by a lay person)
-anything prepared outside of the home including (but not limited to): bread, cookies, chips, pasta, soup, candy, crackers, juice, pickles
-fast food
-soda and other bottled non-alcoholic beverages
-industrial cheeses such as cream cheese, kraft etc
-commercially ground meat
-commercially smoked or cured fish and meat -- including deli meats
-anything containing nitrates
-commercially cultured non-cheese dairy products such as: yogurt, sour cream etc
-pre-portioned and shrink wrapped meat (we will purchase larger cuts and trim/portion them ourselves)
-spice mixes such as chili powder, curry powder, etc
-artificial sweeteners

To Be Used With Discretion:
-processed and refined sugars (other than honey and maple syrup which we have deemed “in” for now)
-white flour, corn flour and/or starch, rice flour

Seemingly Questionable But Still Allowed (At Least For Now):
-chocolate
-beer (is homebrew in our future?)
-wine
-liquor
-vinegar (until we can find a mother and cultivate it)
-plain olive oil and canola oil
-unflavored sparkling water (although we plan to purchase the machine which carbonates tap water)
-coffee & tea

What We Will Try To Eat More of:
-whole grain and whole grain meals
-fresh fruits and veggies
-whole fish or large sides
-sustainable shellfish (in the shell, whole)
-home-fermented foods high in pro-biotics such as pickles and yogurts
-whole birds
-buffalo or grass-fed meat (as opposed to corn fed beef or pork)
-foraged, local foods

Finally, we knew the January 1st deadline was coming. Yet, we didn’t anticipate just how quickly it would sneak up on us. What we have listed here is a beginning. As the year evolves, our guidelines will too. We hope that we have piqued your interest, and we look forward to hearing your opinions and thoughts on our project, our recipes, and how to make this blog a better resource for your health.

Until next time, Bon Appetit.

Pictured above is our lunch of Dungeness crabs (rated Best Choice by the Monterey Bay Aquarium) hosted by Ben's boss on a houseboat in Saulsalito -- one heck of a way to welcome the new year!

Tweet, Tweet

With the January 1st start date looming, I finally succumbed to the madness that is Twitter! You can follow me there @kboehmgoodnick

Here's to using technology to share my love for food in 2010, not to create the food I eat!

(Instead of their dove-like logo, I chose to supplement this mini-post with a photo of the truffle-studded, roasted capon -- aka "nutless" rooster -- that we served on Christmas day.)

Processed vs. Unprocessed

Between out of town guests and desperately trying to finish my thesis, I have been way too busy for words. In theory, by this time next week, I will have already submitted the final version of the thesis that has taken me all of 2009 to write. Yikes!

In the meantime, Ben and I have been mulling the concept of processed vs. unprocessed foods. How does one define them? How does the technical definition of unprocessed foods differ from the practical parameters that we will need to establish for our year of "unprocessed" eating. For example, refined flours are processed foods in anyone's book. However, $1400 a month might buy a lot of things (like your very own cockroach collection)in San Francisco, but it does not allow for a mill in the kitchen. So, we will continue to eat flour, but we will choose the least refined versions -- darker flours with more parts of the whole grain attached. I've listed some initial thoughts on the definition of processed foods:
*Canned
*Prepared foods (anything already made like cookies, bread, pasta, chips, etc)
*Purchased condiments (ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, etc)
*Cheese? (where does that go? are artisanal cheeses ok? kraft and cream cheese are definitely out)
*Soda
*Items with more than one ingredient
*Something that came from a factory
*Anything with preservatives or words that one struggles to pronounce (the dreaded HFCS - high fructose corn syrup is a sure no-no)
*Refined sugar (are honey or maple syrup all right because they are less processed?)

I would like your opinion! How do you define process foods? What kinds of things should we avoid? What types of seemingly processed foods can you make an exception for (think wine)?

After I sort through all the ideas, Ben and I will post the official parameters for 2010. Thanks for your help!

(The only processed foods in the burrito above are the tortilla and sour cream.)

Pantry Basics

For a while, my baby brother and I were living together (with Ben, of course) in Boston. We also worked at the same bakery/cafe -- where we eagerly staked claim on all the leftover goodies that would otherwise be thrown away. Needless to say, our grocery bills were quite low, and prep time for dinners was minimal. When Ben and I left Boston, Mike stayed behind to finish college. He continued working at the bakery (read: scrounging free food) until a unique research position became available. While he might have been ready to bid farewell to a bustling and often stressful place of work, he was not quite ready to give up the perks.

These days, Mike is cooking for himself -- learning how to nourish himself on a budget with all the free time that an employed, full-time student can muster. He asked me to assemble a list of essential pantry goods that meet the following criteria: inexpensive, easy to prepare, and a long shelf life. (Save the science experiments for school -- we all know what an undergraduate refrigerator can look like.) This is what I came up with:

1. Kosher or sea salt
2. Black pepper
3. Sweet Hungarian paprika
4. Rice (brown or basmati)
5. Dried brown lentils
6. Pinto beans (preferably dried but canned is also ok)
7. Stubby pasta shape (smaller shapes lend themselves to healthier sauces)
8. All purpose flour
9. Baking powder and/or soda
10. Oil packed anchovies (best in a re-sealable jar)
11. Hot sauce (something versatile like Tabasco or Sambal Olek)
12. Honey
13. Soy sauce
14. Canola Oil
15. Extra virgin olive oil
16. Red wine vinegar
17. Canned tuna
18. Onions
19. Garlic
20. Sun-dried or canned tomatoes
21. Lemons
22. Fresh or dried thyme
23. Parmesan cheese
24. Frozen legumes (peas, hulled edamame, lima beans)
25. Eggs

Some of these items will not grace our own pantry during our "Unprocessed" year, but they are all healthy choices. After all, not everyone has the time or resources to engage in such a project. Suggestions above are minimally processed and/or nutrient or flavor dense.

Choose brown or basmati rice. These are lower on the glycemic index chart than white rice; the starches are absorbed into the blood stream at a slower rate, making it a better choice for people who are insulin resistant. When possible, opt for whole wheat pasta to remove some of the white flour from your diet. Hot sauce, honey, soy sauce, garlic, and Parmesan cheese offer big bang for your buck, boosting otherwise drab bowls of beans and rice. Anchovies provide the double whammy of essential fatty acids as well as enormous amounts of flavor packed into just a sliver. Frozen peas etc. add a little green for vitamins; they keep for a long time, and they cook quickly. Eggs are a great source of inexpensive protein that stay fresh for longer than you might think. Try a runny-yolk egg on top of a bowl of lentils for a hearty, protein-rich meal with an impromptu "sauce".

I haven't listed fruit and vegetables because I don't consider them part of the basic pantry. Instead, I try to pick up a daily selection of each from a small, local market, keeping things fresh and eliminating waste. When shopping on a budget, seek out ethnic grocery stores; the prices are often much lower than larger chain counterparts.

Pictured above on the day that my new brother came home from the hospital. (I promise that this is the last of the old family photos for a while. More mouth-watering food pics to come!)