What Are The Best Foods To Eat Organically? {Part 2 of 2}

You Don’t Have to Eat Everything Organically!

Have you ever wondered what the most important foods to eat organically are? Organic produce costs an average of 29% more than conventionally grown produce (Tracie McMillan 2012). And so with every type of food– from a head of lettuce to chocolate syrup– now boasting that “USDA Organic Certified” label, which foods really offer enough nutritional benefit to warrant the extra cost?

I began to answer that question last week, click here to read part 1.

My family simply cannot afford to purchase all of our food organically; many people can’t. And the good news is that it is not necessary to eat all of your food organically. When it comes to choosing organics, some foods really do offer exponentially greater health benefits–but not all of them. When you apply a little bit of knowledge and strategy to your organic plan of action, you can optimize the nutrition in your diet while protecting your budget from exploitation.

Last week, although I did point out which fruits and vegetables are more worth their organic weight, I ended with the sightly unconventional claim that I do not believe fruits and vegetables are the most important foods to eat organically. No, when it comes to where I invest most of our grocery budget in organics, I reach for butter, eggs, beef, milk, and other animal products!

“Wait–You Eat Animal Products?!”

{Why We Don’t Eat A Plant-Based Diet}

When we traded in our modern American diet for whole foods two years ago, we began with an almost-vegetarian kick. Our knowledge of whole foods and nutrition was in the embryonic stage, and so we were at the mercy of many current whole food fads and debates; this included the strong push to not eat any animal products (meat and dairy), but instead to eat a diet comprised of only plants (a “plant-based diet”).

For a while we fared just fine, and learned a lot about vegetarian cooking; how to prepare vegetables and use them creatively in a wide range of dishes (because one can only tolerate so many salads…) But there were a couple of reasons that a plant-based diet did not work for us:

My husband was roofing 40+ hours a week. His highly physical job required him to take in over 4,000 calories a day. It would require an immense amount of vegetables to meet that caloric need.
We live in the Midwest, where fresh local produce is not available year-round, so we would have to be eating a whole lot of imported (and expensive) produce during the colder months.

Although we enjoyed some aspects of our plant-based diet, we ultimately realized that very few people can sustain or thrive off of such a diet for an extended amount of time. This is because traditional meats and dairy provide our bodies with a very dense concentration of nutrients and minerals that would otherwise be unavailable to us.

In light of these things, we decided to begin re-incorporating meat and dairy into our diet. At first, I was fearful. Everything I had read about animal products being toxic kept ringing in my mind, and my biggest fear was that we were making a poor dietary decision that would poison our bodies. But then I started to research, and concrete facts began to overshadow and dismiss my fears (isn’t that usually the case??)

Why is Organic Meat and Dairy More Important than Organic Fruits and Vegetables?

Without getting too scientific, let me introduce this one idea that has revolutionized the way I view food: bio-concentration.

Doctor Catherine Shanahan in her book “Deep Nutrition” instructs: “If you have a limited budget and you want to get organic, skip the low-fat fruits and vegetables and head over to the butcher aisle”. And, “Organic animal products give you more bang for your buck because they benefit from bio-concentration.”

Bio-concentration says that meat and dairy products, over fruits and vegetables, contain a higher concentration of either:

Healthful nutrients, vitamins, and minerals
Or unhealthy toxins and pesticides

Nina Planck seconds this argument in her book “Real Food”: “The higher up the food chain, the more important ecological methods are.…That’s because chemicals accumulate at the top of the food chain, especially in fatty tissue. If there is pesticide residue in, say, a stick of industrial butter, it comes from the many bushels of industrial corn and grain the cow ate.”

Contrary to what many popular diet fads of our day tell us, there is a healthy, wholesome, and very beneficial way to include meat and dairy in our diets. The key here, like in every other area of our diet, is to understand what exactly we are putting into our bodies.

We have to get to the source of our food!

When we eat meat and dairy, we have to understand, as best as we can, where that animal came from, and what that animal’s diet was like. The best way to do this is to buy directly from a farmer, whether from the farm itself or at a farmer’s market. The next best way is to buy from a health food store where they are happy to point you to their sources, and help you understand the origins of where your food is coming from.

What are the Best Organic Dairy Products to Buy? (If You Don’t Have Access to Raw Dairy)

Just a quick word on this, and most of it is comprised of my own opinion. There are two major organic dairy brands: Horizon and Organic Valley. We choose to buy Organic Valley, as it works with a co-op of small farmers who raise their cows on grass. And their organic “Pasture Butter” is absolutely the most luscious butter I have ever eaten.

There is One Step Further Than Organic

Okay–I may have tricked you with this two-part series. You see, there is a missing part. Or more like it is the evening before I publish this post, and I just now realize that I have left out a huge (HUGE) factor that drives the decisions in what meat and dairy products my family eats.

Although we do purchase organic milk, cream, yogurt, and other dairy products, whenever possible we try to take it a step further and make sure these products come from grass-fed cows. The same rule goes for our meat. And so I challenge you–stick with me as I dive a little deeper into this issue next week. I will remove the “organic” label from the equation, and take a closer look at something far more important: the living conditions and diets of the animals our food comes from.

Trust me, if you want to learn how to incorporate meat and dairy into your diet in the most delicious nutritious way possible, you won’t want to miss next week’s post!

What We Eat Organic, and Why {Part 1 of 2}

Jan20

We Don’t Eat Organically

Some people think that we eat “organically”; and ok, I guess we do–sometimes. But what does it really mean to eat organically? The “organic” label adorning many food items is a strictly regulated label; farmers and producers must jump through many hoops and pay their fair share of time and money to boast that label. A claim that someone eats “organically”, however, is a much looser label. To be honest, and contrary to what I have heard some explain my family as, I don’t actually think of our way of eating as organic. Let me explain.

What is “Poorganic”?

“Poorganic” is a whacky, slightly-explicit-sounding label giving a name to those who, in the words of blogger Stacy over at “Stacy Makes Cents”:

“…seek to eat good, local food when we can – living within our food budget – not always seeking out organic, but choosing nourishing foods even if that means I shop at Kroger and buy conventional lettuce. And we try to keep our sanity intact, which means we buy some foods pre-made instead of spending our entire lives in the kitchen.”

I don’t consider ourselves “Poorganic”, the name is just a little too quirky for me to claim. However, this idea does give a voice to a tension that many of us face. It is that disheartening strain between trying to feed our families good (real) food, and trying not to break the bank in the process.

Although I do have a chronic over-spending habit when it comes to buying ingredients, for the most part I try to stick within a budget. This means that we cannot buy everything organic. Over the past couple of years eating whole foods, I have had to research and determine just what of the “organic” labels can fit into my cart and into our budget. We’ve had to pick and choose what we eat organically—and I have found that this is completely acceptable!

So, this week and next I would like to share with you some of what I’ve learned when it comes to eating organically…or not. I want to answer the question: What is most important to eat organic? There is a balance between organic and our budget, it will look differently for each of our families, but once we find it we can all shop with a clear conscience when it comes to how much we are spending, as well as what we are feeding our families.

Which Organic Fruits and Vegetables Should We Buy?

When most people think of “organic”, they think fruits and vegetables. I mean, the main point is to avoid pesticides, right? And those pesticides are applied directly to fruits and vegetables. I will agree that it is important to eat organic fruits and vegetables–sometimes.

The truth is that some produce is just fine to eat conventionally (not organically), because they receive minimal to no pesticide application. Fortunately, each year the Environmental Working Group provides an updated guide that can help us understand which fruits and vegetables are “dirty” (covered in pesticide residue), and which are “clean” (minimal pesticides, and ok to eat without an organic label)

Major on the Clean, Get Creative with the Dirty!

When it comes to choosing which organic produce to invest in, eat up all the conventional items from the clean list that you can get your hands on. For those produce items with higher pesticide residues, consider these ways of including them in your diet without having to pay outrageously marked-up prices for the organic label from the grocery store:

Buy from farmers markets, where organic produce is often cheaper, and all of your money goes to local farmers instead of corporations
When at farmers markets, the “organic” claim is not too important. You’ll find that many farmers, who cannot afford the fees to become certified organic, are still growing organic foods by nature. Ask them about their growing policies–they don’t mind!
Grow your own! (If they grow in your part of the world, that is)
If you don’t have space for a garden, ask a friend or family who gardens if they’ll grow a few plants for you, even pay a small price, you’ll still be paying less than you would be at the market.
Some supermarkets and whole food markets sell produce that is “past its prime” at a discounted price, check for organic!

What About Items Made From Fruits and Vegetables?

The amount of pesticide residues is also worth considering when it comes to purchasing other food items made from fruits and vegetables. Anything that is made from produce on the “Dirty Dozen” list, aim to purchase organic. This includes foods like:

Apple sauce and 100% apple juice
Wine and 100% grape juice
Raisins
Apple, grape, peach, nectarine, pepper, or strawberry preserves or chutneys
Any canned, frozen, pickled, or dried versions of the “dirty dozen” fruits and vegetables

Produce is Not The Most Important Thing to Buy Organic

Like I said above, I do believe that it is important to buy organic produce when our budget allows, and I have suggested some ways that we can do this knowledgeably, investing our money where it really counts.

However, I do not believe that fruits and vegetables are the most important food for us to be buying organically. I may be a little unconventional in my organic creed, but I have a lot of research and personal experience invested in these convictions. Stay tuned next week when I’ll share with you what I believe to be the most important organic foods we should be investing in.

{A Simple Kitchen How-To} How to Slice Peppers with Minimal Waste, and Pan-Roast Them

Jan17

My New Monthly Simple Kitchen How-To Posts!

Throughout this year, in addition to my regular weekly posts, I will be publishing a monthly Simple Kitchen How To post. These posts will be aimed at enabling readers with some very basic but transformational know-how and skills that they can utilize in creating their own wholesome recipes.

These are cooking techniques that Grayson and I have researched and learned over the past two years, and we use them very frequently in our own kitchen. They are versatile skills that can be used across the board in the kitchen to create a great variety of meals. So grab your notepads and knives and start cooking!

First, a Confession.

I don’t know how to slice a vegetable. There, I said it. Now let me explain.

Several evenings ago as I was preparing for this post, I sat down to show my husband the photos I had taken to demonstrate how to slice a pepper. I was quite proud of the pictures. The lighting was nice. The perspective of photo, creative. But all of my pride came crashing down when Grayson pointed out, “You look like your about to slice your finger off!”

Fortunately, my husband has been perfecting this skill of how to slice a vegetable, in the closet I’m sure because I had no idea he was honing this artistry and sharpening his knife skills behind my back. It must be all those Gordon Ramsey videos he’s been watching.

And so after I did the initial cutting of the pepper, I handed over the knife, and stood back slightly astonished as he gracefully demonstrated for me how to properly hold a bell pepper while slicing it, so as to not slice yourself in the process. My fingers will forever be indebted to him.

One thing I’ve learned about cooking is that the education never ends. I will never “arrive” as a cook. I’m always learning, always developing, always adapting, and always growing. Oh, and sometimes failing along the way. But I am very grateful to be on this journey right alongside my best friend, who just so happens to be a pretty dang good cook.

How to Cut a Pepper with Minimal Waste

1) After washing and drying your pepper, cut off the stem.

2) Hold your pepper upside down on a cutting board, using the now-flat top of the pepper as a base. place your knife blade at the top (well…technically the bottom) of the pepper.

3) Carve each 4 sides of the pepper. You are simply cutting the flesh away from the core and seeds.

How to Slice a Pepper without Losing a Finger

This is the part I needed some assistance from my husband on, so I’ll let him take over:

Keep in mind:

Keep the palm of your hand flat against the cutting board.
Ladies–I found out by experience that if your finger nails are too long, you won’t be able to properly hold the pepper down. You may just need to make a small sacrifice and get the nail clippers out…

How to Pan-Roast Peppers

1) You can leave your peppers in slices, or further chop them into smaller pieces.

2) Heat a cast iron (must be cast iron) skillet over medium heat. After a few minutes, place your peppers into the skillet. You should hear a nice “sizzle” Season with salt and pepper.

3) Cook your peppers for 15-20 minutes. Stir every 4-5 minutes. The goal is to get some very nice black blistering on the peppers, but don’t cook them so long that they turn mushy.

Keep in mind:

Only roast 2 peppers at a time, they need ample space to properly roast.
Don’t add any oil or other liquid! In fact, make sure your peppers are dry before adding them to the pan. Liquid will produce a more sautéed effect than roasted.

How to Use Your Roasted Peppers

These peppers are an extremely versatile ingredient and can lend beautiful color and roasted flavor (and aroma) to almost any dish! For just a few ideas, we enjoy them:

In soups
On sandwiches
In omelets
On pizzas
In calzones (Click here to learn how to make calzones from scratch!)
In spaghetti (or in other pasta dishes)
In egg bakes

Try it out, then comment below to let me know how you used them and how you liked them!

Dinner Idea: For a very simple and delicious meal, brown 1lb grass-fed ground beef, add homemade or organic marinara, stir in 2 pan-roasted bell peppers, toss with 1lb cooked spaghetti.

Our Favorite Easy Whole Food Snacks – And How to Roast Nuts and Make Trail Mix at Home!

Jan13

How We Get Our Child to Eat Real Food

Our two year old is a scrawny little stick. I recognize that it is simply his body type, but it still seems as though we are on a constant mission to fatten the kid up. More than fatten him up, we are really just trying to remind the child to eat! It seems as though building block towers, locating dead flies, escaping nap time, and counting trains, “one, two, fiy, ayt, ten!” is just so much more important than consuming food.

And despite my greatest aspirations and efforts, he is also picky. But we’ve found a way to remedy both his picky preferences and his forgetfulness surrounding eating: we make delicious (and simple) healthy snacks that he just can’t resist!

Why We Cannot Make Everything from Scratch

In preparation for this post I asked my readers via Facebook what one word came to mind when they thought of “Healthy snacking.” One reader responded with “Battle”. I love that response, because it speaks to my own feelings, at times, towards making healthy snacks for my family. There is a tension of not enough time, and that tension can only be relieved with the acceptance of this:

We cannot always make everything from scratch.

If we tried, then we’d have no time left for building tents, reading storybooks, and sitting and cuddling, which is what our children need so much more than granola bars made from scratch. But–what we can do is this: we can make sure that most of their snacks are made at home.

All of the snacks I’ll outline below are relatively simple to make and don’t require too much time. However, making food at home always requires some time sacrifice. Yes, we strive to always have homemade options for snacks available, but sometimes life gets sticky, time runs out, and bellies still grow hungry.

This means that on occasion I do hand out a snack cup with pretzel sticks or Annie’s organic crackers. Organic? Yes. Processed? Yes…. But we have to realize that we can only do so much! So do yourself a favor and celebrate what you can do, keep challenging yourself to learn and do a little bit more as you can, but don’t let anyone (including yourself) look down on you for not making everything from scratch!

Some of Our Favorite Simple Healthy Snacks

That said, here are some of our favorite simple and delicious whole food snacks, all of them approved by my picky two-year-old!

Plain whole milk yogurt flavored with simple homemade fruit syrup (recipe here). Or you could mix in some raw honey, or organic fruit preserves. You can also mix in homemade granola (recipe here), and organic raisins (grapes are a high-pesticide fruit, so aim for organic)
Easy no-bake, grain-free granola bars (recipe here)
Organic apple slices with homemade peanut butter (recipe here)
Unsweetened applesauce, homemade or store-bought organic (Apples are a high-pesticide fruit, so aim for organic)
Banana slices, each topped with a dollop of homemade peanut butter and an organic raisin
Organic or high-quality cheeses made without artificial coloring
5-minute gluten-free, grain-free muffins (recipe here)
Fruit crumbles – a dessert healthy enough to enjoy as breakfast or a snack! (Click here for apple & pear, or here for strawberry rhubarb!)
And our favorite simple healthy snack–homemade trail mix!

How to Roast Nuts and Make Trail Mix at Home!

Why Make Trail Mix At Home?

First, why make your own trail mix? When there are vast options and mixes out there to choose from (just walk down the trail mix aisle at Target!), why would you want to take your time to make it at home?

Next time your at the market, take a look at the ingredient lists on trail mix packaging. Your likely to find a whole lot of extra ingredients beyond nuts and fruit. Most (if not all) of those trails already mixed in their bags contain candy, dried fruits coated in corn syrup or sugar, and nuts prepared with toxic hydrogenated (highly-processed) vegetable oils.

All of these unhealthy ingredients are unnecessary, and can be avoided by simply making your own trail mix at home. Trail mix is also a lot tastier when there’s an element of time and love mixed in.

How To Roast Nuts and Make Your Own Trail Mix

You’ll need:

8oz raw almonds
8oz raw pecans
8oz raw walnut halves and/or pieces
8oz raw (blanched) peanuts
6oz raw pumpkin seeds
1lb honey sesame cashews (These are available Trader Joes. You can also substitute for 1lb other various nuts)
1 1/2 cup organic raisins
10oz dark chocolate in chunks (I use part of a Trader Joes 72% 1 Pound Plus bar)
1/2 – 1 tsp ground sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tsp cinnamon. Arrange in two baking pans, and bake for 350 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring the nuts half-way through the baking time.
Remove roasted nuts and seeds and transfer to a large bowl. Allow to cool completely (If they are at all warm, they will melt the chocolate, which you don’t want.)
Once completely cool, mix in raisins, sesame honey cashews, and dark chocolate. Add more salt to taste. Enjoy!

Trader Joes: The Best Deals For This Recipe (No, they don’t pay me for this)

I have found the best deals and selection of nuts and seeds at Trader Joes. This is where I buy all of the ingredients for this mix, except for the peanuts and raisins. Trader Joes does not carry raw (blanched) peanuts. They can be difficult to locate. If your local health store doesn’t carry them, you can substitute already-roasted peanuts, just add them after roasting the rest of the mix. And the only reason I don’t buy raisins from Trader Joes is because my two-year-old consumes an extraordinary amount of raisins, so we have to buy them in bulk elsewhere. Aside from these two ingredients, everything else comes from Good Ol’ Joe.

Purchasing your ingredients from Trader Joes, the ingredients for one batch (about 13 cups) of this trail mix will cost you approximately $26, which comes to about $2 per 1/2 cup serving. You might not save money making trail mix at home; nuts and seeds are expensive ingredients any way you buy them, but making food from scratch isn’t always about saving money, it’s about providing our loved ones with delicious, nourishing treats.

How to Store Your Trail Mix

Store your trail mix in an airtight bag or container. I use the word “store” loosely, because 4+ pounds of trail mix seldom lasts more than a week around here. We keep ours in a glass airtight container on the counter, easily accessible for nibbling. Not even our busy little two-year-old can pass by that trail mix as it glimmers through transparent glass beckoning him come, come and push that little white lid, watch the magic happen as it pops open, and partake of the treasure within.

Whether your child is like mine—too busy to remember to stop and eat—or you’d just like to replace some of their more processed snacks for more wholesome (but simple) options, this trail mix is a great place to begin.

A Tasty Gift…or Currency….

We’ve given this trail mix as gifts, and even used it as currency to pay babysitters. On that note—if you don’t feel like running out to Trader Joes to stock up on the ingredients, then feel free to come by our place instead and watch the boys for a few hours, I’ll happily trade some trail mix for that 😉

A Challenge to Help You In Your Whole Food Journey

When you’re switching to a whole food way of eating, the thought of cooking everything from scratch is just too overwhelming, so start small. Here is my challenge to you: try making a new whole food snack from scratch every month. You can start with the list I gave above. As you introduce whole food snacks, they will naturally replace the processed snacks in your diet and home.

A couple of weeks ago I presented a challenge to readers for 2014: invest a little more time this year in your health. Replacing processed snacks for homemade ones is one small but powerful action step that will help you gain momentum in pursuing that bigger vision: a more abundant and healthful lifestyle!

Share your thoughts, comment below! What is one snack you currently enjoy that you’d like to learn how to make from scratch?

A Vision for 2014 on From Famine to Foodie, and How We Need You to Make it Happen!

Jan6

A Conviction Put to Words

I have a conviction. It’s one that I never intended to share on the blog. It’s personal; convictions often times are. It’s a conviction that has stirred deep down in my heart since we began this whole food journey almost 2 years ago, but one that I’ve only recently been able to put into words.

It began with a car ride. We were in the midst of year-planning for the blog, and my husband threw me this question: Why are you writing the blog? A simple question, I thought. I’ve been doing this for almost two years, of course I knew why I was doing it….or did I? I mumbled a few answers; words I had written, published. “To inspire people to eat better.”

He kept prodding, explaining that the “why” of the blog would be a much more personal answer. I began to grow aggravated, mostly at myself for not having the words to answer this seemingly simple question. Finally my burgeoning irritation erupted into a string of words composing the clearest explanation for the blog I’ve ever been able to communicate, and it was this:

“I have a strong conviction that many people are missing out on the abundant life Christ intended for them, and not serving Him to the fullest capacity, much in part because of choices made surrounding what they eat, and because of a lack of nurturing both the body and soul.”

A Conviction Born From My Own Experience

So there it is, my conviction. And it is a conviction born of my own experience. I was living a less-than-abundant life. Tired. Weary. Unfocused. Sick. I was serving to a lesser capacity (Tired. Weary. Unfocused….sick….) And then we discovered something. We discovered that the real foods which God intends for us to eat, whole foods found in their most natural state, remedied much of this lesser experience. Our bodies began to restore. We gained energy, vigor, focus, health, and all-around well-being. This we had to share, and so my conviction became a calling.

A 2014 Vision on From Famine to Foodie

This year on the blog I am absolutely determined to invest my time where it matters, where it loves, where it grows exponentially by inspiring others to use a little bit more of their 24 hours in a day to learn, to create, to nurture, to allow their body and soul just a little more time each day to thrive.

How do I intend to do this? By inspiring, enabling, and educating.

By inspiring families through our own journey and showing that this really is a more abundant way of living. Every one’s journey into whole foods is a process, and a unique one at that. This is about discovering what way of eating best fits, compliments, and nurtures you and your own family.

By enabling others to cook whole foods with confidence through sharing simple cooking techniques that lie behind much of what we cook in our own kitchen. Basic know-how in the kitchen is so much more valuable than recipe cards. Versatile skills equip a cook with confidence to branch out and begin creating their own dishes aside from recipes with the ingredients they already have on hand. On this note, beyond my regular weekly posts, I will be publishing a monthly post featuring a simple how-to skill in the kitchen. These posts will equip readers with a versatile set of skills they can use to compose creative, delicious, and wholesome meals born of their own ideas!

By sharing the education I’m gleaning as I sort through the world of what we should be eating and feeding our families. Information out there is excessive and contradictory. I aim to wade through that information and share sound facts through the creative channel of simply telling our story as it unfolds.

We Need Your Help!

First–this is not about us making money off of the blog. In fact, we don’t, and we don’t intend to. This is about everything I wrote above: inspiring, enabling, and educating others to live a more abundant life and serve Christ to a fuller capacity through nurturing their bodies, souls, and families. That’s what this is about, and we need your help to spread the word!

Here are two quick but very beneficial ways you can help us.

Encourage subscriptions to From Famine to Foodie
Share From Famine to Foodie on Facebook

Encourage Subscriptions to From Famine to Foodie

First–if you are not a subscriber (if you don’t receive notifications of new posts in your e-mail inbox), follow the simple 2 steps below. And encourage others to do the same! Why are subscriptions important? They give me valuable realty space in e-mail inboxes. People are much more likely to click on a new post and read the blog if they receive notifications straight to their e-mail. In short, more subscribers means that our story and vision will reach more people!

Once we reach 100 subscribers (we are currently 27 away from that goal), we will switch the blog over to a self-hosted site! This means we will have a whole lot more control over the look and feel of the blog (no more pesky ads!). This will also give us much more visibility on the web (reaching more people with our story!), and more tools to use in reaching those people.

1. On the right-hand side of the blog, under my profile photo, type in your e-mail address and click “Follow”

2. After you click the “Follow” button, you should see this message pop up on your screen

3. Don’t forget the final step! Your subscription is not complete until you head over to your e-mail inbox and confirm!

Share From Famine to Foodie on Facebook

Subscriptions are our first priority, but visibility on Facebook helps make subscriptions happen! When you share From Famine to Foodie on Facebook, the size of audience that is exposed to our story grows dramatically. It’s a simple click of a button on your end, but it opens up a world of opportunity for us to speak into more lives!

1. If you haven’t yet done so, click here to go to the From Famine to Foodie Facebook page and “like” it to follow our story on Facebook!

2. After you “like” the Facebook page, click on the little button to the right of “message”, the one that looks like a flower…or a tire…?

3. From the drop down menu, click on “Share…”

4. Please take a moment to add a few words to your shared link on how you have been blessed or challenged by the blog; this makes things personal, gives us credibility from you, and greatly increases the interest of your friends and family.

Thank You!

I cannot thank you enough for your support, encouragement, and help as we see where the Lord takes this whole thing! Thank you for taking some of your precious time to read what I write. That thought both humbles and baffles me. We are very excited to see where this year takes us in our own journey of health, and to likewise see where it takes you in yours.

-Eryn, Gray, Zeke and El.

Where Your Time Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also – How To Make Calzones From Scratch (With Recipe)

Jan3

That Looming Hour at the End of a Day

Looming at the end of our day’s to-do list, dinner often evokes a slight sense of both panic and dread as the hour grows nearer and prep time grows shorter. Time originally planned for dinner’s creation is increasingly swallowed up by the tasks preceding it.

Hours grow shorter and hungry bellies hover around the kitchen, conveying by their presence alone (and maybe some grumpy words) an increasingly urgent need for nourishment. An originally hopeful idea for a creative and wholesome dinner often gets put on the back burner, so to speak, for another time; a time with more time. Convenience wins in a convenience-dependent culture and takeout boxes take the place that rightfully belonged to a meal made with love and time.

Oh, time. If only there were more time and less tasks. Then dinner would receive its proper respect. Then dinner would become a star of the day. Then it would be celebrated. Then its preparation would calm rather than frazzle. Then it would lose its sense of burdensome task.

How Long Does it Take Me to Make Dinner?

I rarely pay attention to how long it takes to make dinner. Often its preparation builds throughout the day, growing anticipation for its (hopefully) glorious debut come dinner hour. By the time it is considered ready, laid on a plate before a husband hungry after a day’s work, I really have no idea how much time actually went into its creation.

Another (more honest) answer to this question would be this: by the time I’m done cooking a meal, including all of the interruptions for diaper changes, calming the crisis of a two-year-old, nursing the baby, picking up the crayons, letting the dog out, searching for the missing crayons, making a pot of coffee, taking photos of the ingredients, praying that the missing crayon isn’t in dog’s (or baby’s) stomach, watering the dog after I find her lapping water from the stand of the been-dead-for-days-Christmas-tree, taking photos of the toddler coloring on the baby’s head (oh good, he found the missing crayon!) …I have no idea how long it actually took to prepare a meal!

But somehow, intertwined between all other activities, tasks, moments, and lessons of a day, dinner ends up on the table. And it speaks of time.

Time is at the Center of Good Food

A culture of food centered on convenience gives no respect–no esteem or honor–to real food. Convenience robs food of its history and tradition, its uniqueness and nourishment, and its ability to bring loved ones together and warm souls. Time is our greatest asset. It is at the core of life, and how it is utilized reveals what a life will be. It is at the center of all we have to give, and when it is given, it communicates love and sacrifice on the behalf of another.

Let’s Put an End to the “Once Again”s

On the radio this morning I heard an advertisement put out by a national fitness center. “It’s the New Year, and once again it’s time to lose that extra weight!” It struck me just how very discouraging the heart of that statement is. “once again…“ It is the tone of failure. It implies a cycle. Lose, gain, lose, gain. Once again. A New Year kicks off our new-yet-so-very-old attempt to get fit. To get thin. To lost those extra pounds…once again….

But what if getting healthy wasn’t a drudgery? What if all it took was a bit of revolution on our part to how we see and use our time? Now, at the beginning of a new Year, is the opportune time to step back and look at our 24 hours in a day to see where our priorities lie. Now is our best moment of the year to consider what, exactly, we are declaring through our time spent. What does our time spent last year say about the importance of our health? Are we happy with what we see? As Barabara Kingslover put it in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:

“It’s easy for any of us to claim no time for cooking; harder to look at what we’re doing instead, and why every bit of it is presumed more worthy.”

Each of us has Only 24 hours in a Day

Reflecting on this past year, where did you spend your time? How much of it was mindlessly given away to scrolling through Facebook feeds? Pinterest? Staring at your phone even to the detriment of relationships sitting right before you? Or consider time spent in the car, commuting to too many activities which eat up more time but pay little dividend in things that really matter. Now can you say that you didn’t have enough time to invest in your health? I’m speaking to myself, too.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day. How do we breathe fuller life into each one of them? Ann Voskamp in her book one thousand gifts says it more elegantly than I when she writes, “Time is life. And if I want the fullest life, I need to find fullest time.”

Is our time full? Not full of activities–that would be a grave misunderstanding. But full of that which makes life more abundant? Only then does time expand, and our hours become more.

Something Greater Than a Goal or Resolution

It is not a lofty goal. It is not an endless cycle of a resolution failed one too many times before. It is a decision today and again tomorrow. I will give real food time. I will give the kitchen time. I will give the farmer’s market time. I will give the dinner table time. I will watch yeast raise bread and vinegar pull nutrients from bones as stock simmers. Hours will become larger, fuller, as meat braises and vegetables roast. Time–I don’t have much of it, but I’ll redirect a worthy chunk of it to creating real food. My health and the health of my family is worth it; worth my time.

What does this look like for you?

With a little intentional thought and some steps of action that really excite you, it’s not hard to wrap your mind around this.

Maybe it means one of these:

Shopping at the farmer’s market for fresh ingredients every week
Trying a new, unfamiliar ingredient from the farmer’s market each week
Learning new basic how-to skills in the kitchen (I’ll be posting these throughout 2014. Stay tuned)
Reading a few books on whole foods. Contact me if you’d like some suggested reading
Making family dinners (around a table) a priority most days of the week

These are not mini goals. They are action steps towards a much larger vision–a vision of time well spent, invested in the health of bodies, hearts, and family.

An Opportune Time to Give Our Time Direction

Here we stand just over the threshold of a new year. Whether we were ready yet for its arrival or not, it is here. And time shows no mercy as the minutes tick by on the clock here and then gone forever. Time doesn’t stop. This has scared me. Only now am I beginning to see just how beautiful time is when captured, when allowed to be what it was intended to be, when used to create rather than given to all that is wind that is here and then forgotten.

This year above any goals or resolutions surrounding our health, let’s just decide with our will and our actions to devote more time to creating good food. This brings together families. This inspires the heart. This nourishes the body. This captures time and makes it larger.

Share your thoughts! Comment below: What is one specific way you want to invest time in your health this year?

How To Make Calzones From Scratch

A recipe for Sausage calzones with white cheddar and balsamic glazed mushrooms and onions

2 pounds pizza dough (click here for my easy pizza dough recipe)
2 Tbs coconut oil
1 lb pastured pork (from pigs that foraged freely)
8oz mushrooms, white or baby bella, stemmed and quartered
1 large red onion, sliced or chopped
1 Tbs butter
sea salt and black pepper
1 1/2 Tbs balsamic vinegar (not vinaigrette, but actual vinegar, found in vinegar aisle)
8oz fresh mozzarella
4oz sharp white cheddar cheese
1 egg
15oz homemade or organic pizza sauce for dipping

In a large frying pan over medium heat, saute your pork in 2 Tbs coconut oil until browned and cooked through. Remove pork and set aside
Melt 1 Tbs butter in the same pan, add your mushrooms and onions, salt and pepper, toss to coat
Pour in 1 1/2 Tbs balsamic vinegar, toss to coat
Continue to cook mushrooms and onions over medium heat for 6 minutes, tossing every couple of minutes to keep from sticking. Do not let your veggies get mushy. Remove from heat
Divide your pizza dough into two 1lb balls. Roll flat onto floured surface, about 12 inches in diameter. These don’t have to be perfect, but make sure there are no holes
Divide and layer one side of each circle with the following layers: Fresh mozzarella, pork, mushroom and onion mixture, sharp white cheddar. Leave about 1 1/2 inch edge around the filling.
Fold the empty half of each circle over the filled half. Use your fingers to fold the edge over itself upwards and into a spiral.
Use a knife to score each calzone every 2 inches or so
Beat 1 egg in a glass. Use a paper towel to lightly “glaze” the calzones in egg wash.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes until golden brown
Cut each calzone into 5 slices, enjoy with warm pizza sauce for dipping!

Keep in mind:

You can make these calzones ahead. Follow each step up through step 8. Then cover with plastic wrap and leave in fridge until you want to bake them. Add the egg wash just before baking
On folding the calzone: The idea is simply to seal the calzones. If you manage to make it pretty in the process, more power to you!
On the egg wash: Be careful to not lay it on too thickly, there should be no pools of egg.
These calzones can also be baked in a toaster oven. Just fit them together into an oiled 8×8 glass baking pan and bake in the toaster oven at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. I found this out from neccessity, when we didn’t have an oven for a month. Read more about that by clicking here.