Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Food

As soon as I had a baby I knew we needed to think more about the food that we put into our bodies. Maeve did not tolerate dairy well so I was dairy free for a very long time. I was dairy free again after Finnegan's birth because he also reacted to dairy. For those few years, I spent a lot of time on vegan websites, using vegan recipes and of the mind set that dairy wasn't a necessary dietary component. It seemed odd to me to consume the milk of another species.

Over time I grew weary of soy and slowly introduced the kids to dairy. I started reading more about whole, real food and began to make almost everything from scratch. We expanded our garden and picked as many apples as we could in the fall. I avoid vegetable and canola oil and cook with real fat. Bacon fat, lard, butter, coconut oil and olive oil occasionally. We drink 2% milk and will soon be switching to whole. The thickness of whole milk has always been a turn off for me, but my husband likes it and I know the kids will too.

I recently signed up for the 28 Day Real Food Challenge in an effort to bake more with honey, molasses and maple syrup instead of white sugar. On Day 1 I was supposed to go through my pantry and toss "refined oils, white flour, sugar and low- and skimmed-milk products. Ditch the boxed cereals, margarines, shortenings, frozen pizzas, sodas, lemonades and juice drinks, packaged crackers and cookies, processed cheeses, dried pastas, iodized and refined salts." I don't have most of the stuff on that list, but I do have white flour, sugar, boxed cereal and dried pastas. I'm not going to toss them. I can avoid using them for the 28 days, but I think it's silly and wasteful to throw away food, even if it's not the most nourishing. I will buy whole wheat flour, but I've been needing to do that anyway.

Today is Day 2 of the challenge and I was instructed to choose wholesome foods. Thankfully, everything that was listed is already in my pantry, minus the whole wheat flour which I'll be picking up soon. I am excited for this challenge and hope that even if I don't follow the directions completely, I walk away knowing more about food and learn to do without so much pasta which is always my back-up when I'm feeling lazy. My great Sicilian grandmother is probably turning over in her grave. And speaking of my Sicilian grandma, she made the best pizza I've ever tasted. She served it cold, it had very little sauce and cheese, the crust was super thin and it was absolutely delicious. That is some real food that I want to know how to make.


2 comments:

Abby said...

Pasta is a staple for the kids. I just figured I will have to finally start making it. I bought a pasta machine for Danelle and I last year and have yet to break it out. But, it is so simple, there is no reason why I shouldn't.
And the sicilian pizza sounds like the way I used to eat it. Too much cheese gums the thing up. I do like sauce, but once you figure out that recipe, let me know ;)

Heather said...

I need to get the pasta attachment for my mixer. I make all of our other noodles so there's no reason I can't make pasta.