Lori, Author at Fake Food Free

Culture-filled Friday: Strogonoff de Frango

August 14, 2009

For some reason I feel the need to introduce this recipe with a bit of explanation. Now, if I were one to associate negative terms with food I might call this post “Fattening Friday”. However, I try not to do that because I feel like even high calorie, low produce cultural foods should be savored. So instead I’ll go with “Culture-filled Friday” because if there is one entrée you will find on almost every menu in town it is Strogonoff de Frango (Chicken Stroganoff).

Stroganoff is a dish of Russian origin, but this area of Brazil has embraced it as its own. It is made differently due to the absence of sour cream, and has a topping of batata palhas (match stick potatoes). It can be found in many different forms – over rice, over a baked potato, on a pizza – you name it. I honestly think every restaurant has some version of it on their menu except for the sushi places. Heck, they would probably even make it for you if you made a special request.

While I’m not a huge stroganoff fan, my husband loves it. Here is a picture of his stroganoff potato from a stuffed potato restaurant in the mall. Huge, huh? And they say portion sizes are big in the U.S.

About a year ago I was spending the day with the wife of one of my husband’s coworkers and she made us Strogonoff de Carne for lunch so I was able to witness the process. It is a rather simple dish and hers had wine in the sauce as well as Worcestershire sauce. Most often when my husband orders it he orders the chicken variety so when I wanted to make a meal for him recently, I decided it would be culturally-correct of me to finally give stroganoff a try.

To be honest, the recipe I ended up finding for the chicken variety was tasty and this is coming from someone who isn’t the biggest Brazilian stroganoff fan. Something I think made a huge difference is that I had some spicy brown mustard on hand and I used it instead of yellow. It gave the dish a robust, tangy flavor that really stood out. I’d recommend that substitution. I served ours over potatoes because I had a few that needed to be used up.

So if you are looking for a stick-to-your ribs dish of Russian origin, but Brazilian flare – here you go!

Strogonoff de Frango

From FloridaBrasil.com

3 chicken breasts, sliced or cubed
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
½ cup ketchup
1/3 cup mustard (I used spicy brown)
1 cup jarred mushrooms, sliced
1 cup heavy cream (original recipe calls for crème de leite so if you can get the Nestle table cream often found in Latin food markets, use that)
Match stick potatoes

In a bowl, mix together the raw chicken, garlic and mayo. In a deep skillet or soup pot, melt the butter and add the onions, cook about three minutes. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown and cooked through. Mix in the mushrooms, ketchup and mustard. Stir in the cream and remove the pan from heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over white rice or a baked potato and top with the match stick potatoes.

Gorgonzola & Black Rice Stuffed Peppers

August 13, 2009

Growing up, I never really liked my mom’s stuffed peppers (sorry Mom). I’m not sure what it was about the combination of tomato, rice and beef, but it was never appealing as a kid. Now, I enjoy those flavors more, but when it comes to stuffing veggies I like to branch out and try some different combinations.

I picked up some green bell peppers at the market last week. While the red and yellow varieties are much more to my liking, I often buy green to toss in recipes and to top our salads. Bell peppers in general are full of vitamin C and vitamin A, and I figure a few extra antioxidants here and there certainly can’t hurt.

I also learned an interesting tidbit of info when I was refreshing my nutrient knowledge. By the way, I typically research foods on WHFoods.com. It is such a great site that pulls together the latest research articles on all kinds of foods. Anyway, apparently bell peppers contain a recessive gene that eliminates the compound capsaicin which is responsible for heat in other varieties of peppers. I guess I found this especially interesting because I’m not all that familiar with the dominant and recessive genes of my fruits and veggies.

Moving on. Instead of adding these peppers to another dish, I decided a stuffed pepper sounded good for dinner last night. Given my so-so view of the traditional stuffed pepper, I took stock of what I had available and got to work. I had some black rice that needed to be used up. I love Gorgonzola cheese with walnuts so that gave me the idea that the nuttiness of the black rice might go well with a sprinkle of the cheese.

What I ended up with was a green bell pepper stuffed with black and long grain white rice, topped with savory Gorgonzola. The flavors went so well together – lightly nutty and salty with a touch of sweetness from the pepper.

I have a feeling this will now be my go-to recipe for stuffed peppers. My husband enjoyed it because the texture had a hearty, meaty taste without the dish actually containing meat. It is an ideal meat-free dish to incorporate into your week.

Gorgonzola & Black Rice Stuffed Peppers

4 small round green bell peppers, or two longer peppers
1 cup cooked long grain rice (wild or brown would work too)
¼ cup onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup bread crumbs (white, wheat, spelt)
¼ cup chicken stock
½ cup cooked black rice
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 oz Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly coat the surface of a square glass baking dish with olive oil. In a large bowl mix together the white rice, onion, garlic and bread crumbs. Add in the chicken stock (or use water if you prefer a vegetarian option) and stir to moisten. Stir in the black rice (this will turn the mixture a dark purple). Mix in the egg and season with salt and pepper. If the mixture is too dry to stuff the peppers add a little more chicken stock.

Cut the tops off of your 4 round peppers or split your 2 longer peppers in halves. Clean out the seeds and large veins. Place them in the greased baking dish and fill each with the rice mixture. Top each with an equal amount of the cheese by pressing the crumbles into the rice. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until the pepper begins to brown and is tender. Serves 4.

Local Pineapple & Morning Glory Bread

August 11, 2009

It’s been such an exciting experience to have foods I once considered exotic or tropical become local and in-season. I mean, five years ago I never would have imagined that I’d be living in a place where I could get pineapples at my local Farmer’s Market (Feira), but that is exactly where I’m at and what I do.

Pineapples are popping up at the market and disappearing as fast as they are set on the table. I was waiting for my husband to meet me after work the other night. I ended up standing around for about a half an hour and during that time I watched a 10 foot table covered in pineapples stacked three and four high dwindle down to about 15 individual pineapples.

When we finally decided to get some for ourselves the farmer was getting ready to close up shop. We picked out two we liked and he threw an extra in because he didn’t want to take any back home. We ended up with three pineapples for R$5 which is just a little over 2.50 USD. We even got this special one – a double topper!

So I’ve been using up pineapple quite a bit over the last week and most of it has gone into juices. However, with one remaining in the fridge, I felt the urge to bake something with it. As I was doing some magazine reading over the weekend I came across a recipe for Morning Glory Muffin Bread from Southern Living. We used to make Morning Glory muffins at the bakery I worked in, but it’s been years since I’ve had it. Considering the fact that I don’t have muffin tins here and the recipe was for bread, it was settled.

I altered the recipe using extra virgin olive oil, walnuts, pumpkin pie spice, whole wheat flour and mascavo sugar. Then, of course, I used diced fresh pineapple instead of canned crushed. It turned out great and I just love the way the bread is slightly savory, but then you bite into a flavorful pocket of sweet pineapple, a raisin or tender carrot. It is a great energy-dense, nutrient-rich breakfast bread!

Morning Glory Bread
Adapted from Morning Glory Muffin Bread from Southern Living Magazine March 09

½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted for five minutes and cooled
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup mascavo sugar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup fresh pineapple, diced
½ cup carrot, shredded
½ cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease and flour a large loaf pan of about 8 x 4 inches (mine is a little larger). In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, baking soda, ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. In a medium size bowl whisk together the sugar, olive oil, eggs and vanilla until combined. Stir in the carrot and pineapple. Pour the sugar mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Incorporate the walnuts and raisins.

Transfer to your prepared loaf pan and bake for about 45 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes, de-pan and allow to cool completely. Makes about 12 servings depending on the size of your slices.

Because I kind of like corn…

August 7, 2009

Corn has a pretty bad reputation if you think about it. All those bright green stalks that symbolize summers of my childhood; those crisp, sweet kernels from a just-picked ear. Their beauty has been tarnished because of all the not-so-great things that corn is turned into. You know the syrups and starches, the vast overabundance of it in the food supply, not to mention it being on the don’t-eat list for those once popular low-carb diets. Oh, poor corn.

The truth is when it comes to fresh corn and more natural things made of corn, I like the stuff. Corn is very popular where we are in the Brazil. When we have visited the coast, you can find people selling it on the beach, there are restaurants in town completely devoted to items made of corn, it is a common pizza topping and then there’s fubá.

It took me a while to figure out the exact origin or makeup of fubá . By the way it is pronounced fu-BAH, with a big emphasis on the BAH. Most sources equate it to cornmeal in the U.S.; however it is a very fine cornmeal. It is used as a flour here and can be found in the form of cakes (bolo de fubá), cookies (biscoitos de fubá) and, according to a recipe on the package, even soufflé.

I wanted to try making some things with fubá so over the past couple weeks I gave the cake and the cookies a try. I also should mention that I didn’t do any playing around with different (i.e., less processed) ingredients because I really want to try the original first.

The cake was once given to us as a gift and I’ve had it at parties, so I was able to compare what I ended up with. I baked it in a loaf pan instead of a Bundt or sheet cake pan and I really liked it like this. I could enjoy it as more of a bread. It is similar to a sweet cornbread, although not as course and the butter makes it incredibly rich. It is one of those cakes that can very tempting for breakfast with some coffee.

Bolo de Fubá

200 grams butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup fubá
½ cup all purpose white flour
½ cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 Tbsp finely ground, unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a standard Bundt pan, large loaf pan or square cake pan. Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and mix well. Add the fubá, flour, milk and baking powder, mix well. Stir in coconut.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown and baked through. Let cool and de-pan.

Cookies made with fubá have quickly become one of my favorites here. The first time I had one we took a chance at a bakery and ordered it by looks alone before I knew of the flour and I was intrigued. It is a slightly sweet cookie, and rather dry, but this is actually a good quality that makes it unique. This cookie stands out because it contains erva doce which is anise, so it has that very slight liquorice flavor. I’m not a huge fan of anise, but I find I enjoy it when it is subtle as with these cookies or pitzels.

When searching for recipes on the web, I found a ton, all with something a little different. So I decided to take the easy route and go with the simplest one. They are not exactly like the ones we’ve had at the bakery regarding texture, as shown in the picture above, but the flavor was just as tasty.

Biscoitos de Fubá
Adapted from Tudo Gostoso

1 ½ cups Fubá
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 egg yolks
½ Tbsp anise seeds
½ cup butter, melted
¼ cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Stir the fubá, flour, sugar and anise seeds in a mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks and butter and mix well until the dough is dry and crumbly. Add enough milk to make the dough stick together so that you can form a ball. This was about ¼ cup for me.

Roll the dough into balls about the size of a golf ball. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet, 12 per standard sheet pan. The original recipe includes the step of rolling them in cornmeal first, but I didn’t do this. Flatten the cookies by hand or with a glass. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the sides and bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack. Makes about 18 cookies.

So I’m wondering – have any of you who frequent ethnic/cultural markets come across something similar to Fubá? I’m interested if I can find a similar product when I’m back in the U.S.

Also, for a great variation of Bolo de Fubá check out 5 Star Foodie (winner of the Mango Challenge and box of Brazil goodies ).

Clean Pantry Creates Great Desserts – Peach Walnut Galette

August 3, 2009

With two months to go in our apartment, this weekend I started the process of a pantry purge. I’ve been taking stock of what is in my cabinets and, in all honesty, discovering a few things I completely forgot about. For example, my search brought me to a huge can of peaches which we received as a gift back in December.

At this point I’m sure you are wondering why we would receive canned peaches as a gift. What? You don’t give and receive canned foods in heavy syrup? Just kidding. Every Christmas the company my husband works for (the branch here in Brazil) gives holiday boxes to employees. These huge boxes are filled with all kinds of goodies and really serve two purposes. First they often contain holiday foods such as panettone, wine and nuts. Second, they also tend to have shelf stable, commodity-like goods for those on limited funds; things like pickles, lentils, prunes and…canned peaches.

While I’m not one to buy those peaches in all that thick syrup I did want to use them up. Like most foodies these days I turned to Twitter to seek out a good recipe for them. Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod caught my attention with a Peach Galette she made several months ago. Considering I just made bread last week, I was looking for some type of pie-like creation so this fit with my vision perfectly. In addition, I had never made a Galette before so it was a new challenge.

I substituted a few of the ingredients I had on hand. For example I used mascavo sugar instead of white sugar, and I used whole wheat flour and just a little white flour for the crust. In place of the corn meal I used fubá flour which is a corn flour here, yet much finer than corn meal. (I’m planning to post more about fubá in the next week or so.) I drained the peaches and rinsed them well to get the syrup off. Since they were canned I also used very little sugar. I added walnuts for a little crunch.

I was so happy with the results and my husband was a big fan as well! I will definitely be making this again and next time I will be using fresh peaches!

Peach Walnut Galette

Adapted from Cooking Light and Two Peas And Their Pod

Crust:
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup mascavo sugar
1/4 cup fubá flour (corn meal or corn flour works as well)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup whole milk

Filling:
4 cups diced peaches
¼ cup chopped walnuts
¼ cup mascavo sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp cornstarch

1 egg white
1 tbsp fat-free milk
1 tbsp mascavo sugar

Feel free to use a food processor for the dough. I don’t have one so I mixed the ingredients with a hand dough mixer. Combine the flours, sugar and salt. Cut in the butter and mix/process until it is evenly distributed about the size of peas. Pour in the milk and mix until a cohesive dough is formed. Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes.

Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl mix the peaches, nuts, sugar, cinnamon vanilla and cornstarch. Stir to mix well ensuring the peaches are well coated with sugar and cornstarch. In a separate small bowl whisk together the egg white and milk.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out into a circle about 14 to 15 inches wide. You can bake the galette on parchment paper. I baked mine on a pizza pan covered in foil because that is all I had. It worked fine. Once the dough has been transferred to your baking pan, pour the peach mixture in the center leaving a border of dough around the outside at least two inches wide.

Gently fold the edges of the dough over to the filling ensuring it all comes out shaped like a circle. Brush the crust with the egg white and milk and then sprinkle the galette with mascavo sugar. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. The crust should be browned and the filling bubbling slightly. Remove from the oven and cool the galette (still on the baking pan) on a wire rack. Let rest at least 20 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

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I also need to extend some thank yous today for an award I recently received. The One Lovely Blog Award came from Alison at Live Listen Cook and Rebecca from Chow and Chatter, two blogs I really enjoy reading. Alison shares a lot about her workouts, eating and daily health practices while throwing in some great recipes and product reviews. Rebecca is a RD who offers great cultural recipes and healthy nutrition news and advice.
Thanks for the awards! I read a lot of great blogs, but for this award I’ll narrow it down to three.

Delicious by Nature
Two Peas and Their Pod
Off Her Cork

Links to a Healthy Weekend

August 1, 2009

As a kid, whenever August rolled around it always marked the end of summer. As an adult I enjoy the fact that it still feels like there is a bit of summer left, well, at least when I’m in the U.S. Still more hot days, summer salads and frozen desserts. So how has your summer been so far?

Last Sunday was my 6th wedding anniversary! My husband was away on business that took him to Ecuador, Costa Rica and the U.S. If you are feeling bad for me, I’m sure that will quickly go away when you read my posts later in December of celebration trip to Antigua. Since our honeymoon we’ve tried to go to the Caribbean each year and have since moved that trip from July to December.

I did end up with some great food gifts out of the whole deal though. Nut butters and energy bars were among the goodies as well as some chocolate from Ecuador. Then to top it off, he brought me Bourbon Balls!

If you’ve never had a bourbon ball then you are missing out. It is a bon-bon of sweet creamy filling with a hint of bourbon flavor, covered in dark chocolate and topped with a pecan. It is difficult to leave Kentucky without picking up a few so if you ever make it there try them out.

Such great reading throughout this last week of July! Here are some posts I’m sure you’ll enjoy as much as I did.

The Road Forks is a great blog I’ve come across recently and I just have to share. I don’t have a specific post but this blog is all about travel and food. So if that is your thing you are going to love it. Check it out!

The World Tastes Good celebrates the foods of Hawaii in a post this week. If, like me, you ever thought Hawaii was just pineapples, coffee and macadamia nuts this post is going to prove you wrong!

The Daily Spud offers all of us foodies some much needed help with her failure rating scale. Sometimes I think we are bit hard on ourselves when our hard work doesn’t turn out quite like we planned. Now you can analyze if it was as really as bad as you thought!

Health Nut shares some tempting Egyptian fare this week. This is a cuisine that is completely new to me, but I’m quickly learning has so many delicious flavors. I’m ready to start experimenting!

The Split Pea has just the recipe for using up fresh corn from summer. My mom used to make a fried corn growing up which I loved. This Trio of Corn Salad reminds me of that, but utilizes grilled corn with all kinds of additional tasty flavors.

Taking on the 30 Foods List: Single Serve Sweet Rice

July 30, 2009

If you will remember I have this ongoing list of foods I intended to make to celebrate my 30th year, the 30 Foods List. So far I’ve completed about seven, although I haven’t posted about them all, and guess what? Tomorrow is the last day of July! It seems maybe I was a bit ambitious considering that some of the foods I chose may require ingredients that I can’t get here in Brazil. I am still hopeful, but I am giving myself a little leeway and re-setting my goal to make all the foods by the end of 09.

One of the foods on the list is sweet rice, a very popular dessert here in a Brazil and in many other cultures as well. I made canjica a while back, a sweet rice-like dessert made with hominy, but I didn’t think this truly counted. Considering the sweet rice is a bit basic, I decided I need to make it original somehow.

The other day my lunch was screaming for something sweet to seal the deal and I had about a ½ cup of leftover rice in the fridge. I decided to turn that, along with a Palmer mango, into a single serving of sweet rice for dessert.

Really easy, wonderfully tasty and it meets a 30 Food List goal. That’s all the motivation I need so here you go.

Single Serve Sweet Rice with Mango

½ cup cooked long grain rice
2 T sweetened condensed milk
2T coconut milk
3T whole milk
¼ cup chopped mango

In a small sauce pan combine the rice and all three milks. Cook on medium high heat until the mixture becomes bubbly and thick, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the mango and heat through. Enjoy!

Here are a few other things I’ve already made on my 30 Foods List:

Beijinhos (also see the guest post at 5 Star Foodie)
Brigadeiro
Croissants
Irish Fruit Scones

Nutty Grain Beer Bread

July 29, 2009

Oats, wheat berries, ground flaxseed, sesame seeds and walnuts. These are a few of the things I had sitting around the apartment that were begging to be used. When I stopped by the supermarket on Monday and walked past the beer aisle I caught a glimpse of what all these ingredients had the potential to become – whole grain beer bread!

Much of the dark beer here in Brazil is Malzbier. It’s very low alcohol and some compare it more to root beer than traditional beer. I used to enjoy it when we first arrived, but it is rather sweet. I can’t even think of anything that equates to it in the US. It can be enjoyable as a dessert, but lately I’ve found that it’s just too sweet for my preferences. However, I have learned it is a great addition to beer bread.

Hungry for a nutty, grainy bread to complement my breakfast, and as a base for my overconsumption of goiaba (guava) fruit jam I decided it was time to use of my stash of ingredients and see what would happen.

I did a quick search for a beer bread to guide me and found Peanut Butter Boy’s Whole Grain Beer Bread. This got me off to a good start.

I used mascavo sugar (unrefined cane sugar) and cut back on it a bit due to the sweetness of the beer. Then I soaked my steel cut oats and wheat berries for a ½ hour. Threw everything together and let ‘er bake.

A definite winner. I’ll be making this one again and again. However, I would suggest soaking the grains a bit longer, perhaps 45 minutes, because there were still some rather hard bites to be found. I guess you could choose to sprout them as well, but I didn’t go that far. Also, any dark beer will do.

Fresh from the oven or toasted with jam the bread is full of crunchy texture with the mild sweetness of the dark beer. Hearty, healthy and filling – exactly what I was going for.

Nutty Grain Beer Bread

Adapted from Peanut Butter Boy’s Whole Grain Beer Bread

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 T mascavo sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
2 T sesame seeds
¼ cup chopped walnuts
2 T ground flaxseed
1/3 cup steel cut oats (soaked and drained)
1/3 cup wheat berries (soaked and drained)
1 can (350 ml beer)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, gently mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sesame seeds and flaxseed. Next pour in the oats and wheat berries. It is fine if a bit of the soaking liquid goes in to add moisture. Mix well and then begin pouring in the beer a little at time as you stir until the can is empty. Then stir until the dough is well combined.

Pour into your baking pan, spread evenly and bake for 45 min to 1 hr. Once browned and baked through, remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. De-pan and enjoy!

My Weekend Read – One Step Closer to Fake Food Free

July 27, 2009

At about 8:00 pm on Saturday night I finally began to read the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Less than 24 hours later I was finished. I guess that isn’t saying a whole lot since the book is only a couple hundred pages long, but I literally felt as though I couldn’t put it down. It was the ultimate thriller of all things food and health.

I read Omnivore’s Dilemma a few months ago and it was thoroughly enlightening. It confirmed many of the food related thoughts and views I had been struggling with as a person who spent her academic career studying nutrition, while also teaching me so much that I never even realized existed. It further fueled my desire to reduce processed foods and find ways to learn the origin of foods I do choose to eat.

I followed that up with Food Politics by Marion Nestle. A book that shook my nutritionist roots to their core and left me to question all that I had learned about nutrition thus far in my life and in my career. I mean all of this in the most positive way possible, but after that book I did need to take a break from nutrition reading to gather my thoughts.

I started In Defense of Food much in need of a motivational boost. Food, Inc. is out in the US along with other documentaries I’m seeing mentioned left and right on nourishing food blogs. I’m feeling a bit left out. While being abroad allows me to experience a new culture, I am also distanced from the changes going on in my own. I’ve felt unfocused lately with my own cooking and eating and what exact direction I’m headed.

Well I couldn’t have picked a better time to read the book. Consider my fire reignited and glowing brightly.

What Is It About This Info?

As I finished this book, I found myself wondering why it strikes such a cord with me. I’ve had that little voice that fake foods aren’t good for us for a long time, but nothing has really sparked my interest or driven me to change like Michael Pollan’s books. I’ve read plenty throughout the years about the dangers of refined foods, about how refined sugar has addictive properties and all that. However, all those books left me more knowledgeable, but not motivated to change.

What I’ve decided is that it has a lot to do with Pollan’s style. Through his writing he exudes a balance of logic and honesty. He isn’t a health fanatic selling the latest miracle cure or telling you that vegetarianism, meat-eating or non-dairy is the only way to live. He has science to back up his thinking, but he isn’t a scientist. He’s one of us, so-to-speak, trying to figure it all out too.

After reading his books with the information he pulls from himself and other knowledgeable people, not only do you feel as though you are more intelligent on the subject, but that you truly want to make long term change. Not only do you feel empowered, but also confident that your changes could actually make a difference.

A New Tradition

The book speaks a lot about traditional eating and how the past couple generations are more focused on industrial eating. This is why I think it is so hard for people of my generation to change. And by change, I don’t mean try, I mean change, as in throw out the processed foods – even the processed sugars and flours in moderation and on occasion.

A traditional way of eating comes from what we know, what we grew up with. Unfortunately if you are in my boat, you never knew a time when processed foods weren’t used. To change means we have to revert back to a time we’ve never known.

For me, this brings on visions of those meals and desserts that are my absolute favorites and which also use prepared, packaged ingredients. Things, at first thought, I would sorely miss and the elimination of which may even erase some fond memories. They’re okay in moderation, it doesn’t hurt to have it once a week/month/year, progress in food development isn’t all bad. Right? Well, these are the things I’m starting to question.

Don’t worry, I’m not becoming that foodie nutritionist, the one who doesn’t believe in an indulgence or splurge. I’m just sharing these thoughts and considering the fact that I may be redefining what an indulgence or splurge is for me.

Voting with Forks and Dollars

One of the most thought-provoking parts of this book is a short discussion about how we as consumers vote with our forks. I’ve never been one to jump on the bandwagon when it comes to boycotting things and/or companies. When someone says this company did this or that bad thing so we aren’t buying their products anymore, I’m not one to vocally join in.

Why? Well because it is the surest way I know to make myself out to be a hypocrite. Honestly, I don’t know enough about all of my spending patterns to confirm that I don’t support something that I’m not in complete agreement with somewhere along the line.

I know that I should, but companies own lots of other companies and it is difficult to be sure where exactly money goes. No, I haven’t researched every item I’ve ever purchased as a consumer. I’m getting better about it, but not there yet. So I may make my own quiet choices to not purchase from a specific company because of what I’ve heard from others, but I likely won’t be singing about it.

This part in the book really made me think though. I do need to consider my choices when it comes to food. As innocent as it seems, when I grab a bag of pre-made cookies because I didn’t have time to make something for that party, when I select a pancake syrup instead of maple syrup because the latter seems too expensive, or when I have that favorite nostalgic treat one last time, essentially I am supporting something I don’t wish to. Namely, the use of HFCS in foods or just fake foods in general. I’m beginning to feel more strongly that this is not okay. Not for me.

Voting with my fork and dollars is a power I have. It might be the only power I have in changing our society for the better. I feel like I need to be more responsible with this power.

There is another topic I want to discuss regarding the book, but I think it warrants a post on its own. I’ve already thrown a lot of thoughts out there with this one. Consider it Part 1.

I want to know what you think about the issues I’ve presented. Have you read the book?

This post has been submitted to Fight Back Fridays at Food Renegade

Links to a Healthy Weekend

July 25, 2009

Happy Saturday! Around here it is cool and gloomy. I am loving it because it means we still have at least a few days of winter left before things heat up.

I had a day full of fitness planned and started it off by sleeping too late to make it to the gym for spinning! Oh well, the rain has come now and I wasn’t feeling up to a walk through it anyway. However, I do need to get back into spinning or some other cardio to balance out my running. I’m really craving some cross-training.

Today I also wanted to mention that, if you haven’t noticed, my posts are swaying much more towards the Brazilian side of things lately. I have a feeling this is going to be a theme for the next couple months. We move back to the US in October and I am feeling the need to try out many of the recipes I’ve had on my list here and keep putting off. The time is now or never, it seems.

So if you enjoy that cultural side of things, stay tuned! The blog is going to be evolving A LOT this last half of the year. As I move from Brazil, to our trip in SE Asia and back to settling into a makeshift US kitchen and then perhaps a permanent one a few months later if we found a house, things are sure to be interesting!

Here are a few of my favorite things from the week. I hope you enjoy your weekend!

Food o’ del Mundo posted a tasty Curried Rice Salad this week. I love the use of dried cranberries. I never have been able to get into raisins, but the cranberries I like.

A Life Less Sweet posted one great pie this week with Fantasma Pizza. Cathy participates in Meatless Mondays and this is a recreation of one her favorite pizzas from a local restaurant. I’ll be trying it soon!

Not Derby Pie put a refreshing spin on a tart and tangy dessert with her Cherry Pistachio Crisp. It looks wonderful and I never would have thought of adding pistachio nuts to a crisp dessert. Yum!

Tossing Out the Diet and Embracing the Fat was an article from the NY Times this week. I enjoyed the fact that they included Steven Blair’s research. I’ve heard him speak several times and I enjoy learning about his findings. He is a major researcher in the whole “fit and fat” philosophy.

My personal opinion is that health is about fitness, not weight. It should be about how you feel. If you truly feel great, then that may be the best weight for you. At the same time though, I don’t believe in using that as an excuse. If you say you feel great yet you are overweight, get no exercise and eat fast food five times a week, well, I don’t think you are being honest with yourself.

Eat right, exercise and strive to be at a weight where you feel vibrant and energized! If that is 15 pounds more than what tables and charts tell us it should, so be it.

Photo of a sunset on the island of St. Lucia, 2007