Trodding Along

We've done fairly well sticking to our meal plan. GFDF has had a couple of hiccups. I'll just chalk it up to a learning experience and leave it at that. There's no question to me that DD, DS and I all react to gluten if not dairy so it's time to really buckle down and not take any more chances at a reaction. As a result, I have cleared my schedule of anything that might tempt me for the next 3 weeks at least and the only visiting we're doing out of our house is a place I *know* will be safe.

I've not used the ground pork or ground beef yet. I've been meaning to get chili going this week (it was supposed to be last night's meal, but we had the last blue crab meal of the season Sunday which pushed the roast to last night and then I needed something easy tonight which was some tilapia and broccoli) so maybe I can remember to soak the kidney beans tonight to be ready for dinner tomorrow. I have a cornbread recipe to try.

I am loving Polyface's sausage in my soup, and I usually sneak a few pieces out of the 1 lb package to fry up with breakfast or, in yesterday's case, lunch.

I also rather enjoy the Freedom Roaster chicken despite it's small size. It's nice to know mentally that I'm enjoying the meat of an animal that wasn't bred to make its breast meat so large that it can't walk properly sometimes. It still gives us two meals plus stock. Today I mixed leftovers with a small organic granny smith apple, a handful of chopped walnuts and some mayonnaise for lunch. Tasty!

I am a big fan of Google, so I started a separate calendar from my main account to write up my meals. I want to see if there's anyway I can integrate that into this blog.

I finalized my UNFI buying club order a couple of days ago and the delivery will be this coming Monday. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle it with a baby and a 3 year old but it's a learning experience right? My total ended up being close to $350.00. I'll have 5 types of beans in stock plus almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, vitamins, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, safe-for-us chicken stock (in case I don't make enough for the week), "superfruit" spread (I don't know how I feel about the term superfruit), olive oil, maple syrup and sweet orange essential oil (it smells so good). It'll be good to have a nice stock of these foods.

However, I started reading Mark's Daily Apple and his Primal Diet. I've known people personally who have followed the Paleo Diet. It's not even a diet, so I don't like using that word, but it's intriguing. I have a feeling it will be my new "thing" to research. No grains, legumes/beans, sweets. High fat which I already subscribe to. It's not necessarily so low carb that you go into ketosis (like many people did with Atkins) but I already knew you didn't need a lot of carbs daily anyway so it's not much of a deviation for me. What I need to find out is what foods constitute fats, proteins and carbs.

I also learned yesterday about the dangers of root canals, which I haven't finished reading yet, but I am intrigued. And, considering I've been told I should get one, it's important reading for me. Apparently the alternative is having an implant placed then a crown but again, I still need to read up on it.

Sorry for the long brain dump, but life got busy and I didn't get to post sooner so this is what you get! :)

In Happier News

Yesterday I started a batch of sauerkraut and ginger carrots. DD helped hammer down the cabbage to extract its juices. It's the perfect preschooler kitchen job. ;) Now they sit in the corner of the kitchen for a few days. I'll probably taste them tomorrow to see how they're doing.

I had an MNO last night (Mom's Night Out) but I still made the rotiserrie chicken for DH and DD. Then, when I got home, I pulled the meat off and threw the carcass in the crockpot with an onion, some celery and carrots overnight. The house smelled great this morning!

Now the sausage soup is going for lunch then I'll use the remaining stock and leftover chicken for arroz con pollo tonight.

I managed to score some andouille sausage at the farmers market. I'm planning some red beans and rice soon. :)

GFDF Setback

I should have known better.

We went to the Farmer's Market last Sunday. There was a vendor of gluten free baked goods, and DH pointed it out, and I said "yes, but it's not dairy free". The guy heard me and pointed at some stuff that was also dairy free. I looked at the ingredients and sure enough, no dairy! Yay! We happily took home our safe chocolate chip cookies (I'm sure you see where this is going). I spread them out throughout the week to help take the edge off. As DD and I were eating the last cookie on Saturday I looked at the package and thought "Hey, there's no mention of chocolate in here. I wonder if he included the ingredients of the chocolate chips?" Even though the farmer's market is a good 30 minute drive I made it yesterday to talk to him because, of course, his contact information is not listed on the farmer's market's website. Turns out he uses Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips. *cry* I told him about Enjoy Life chocolate chips, and he asked where to get them, and I explained to him that Wegman's grocery store was maybe 2 miles down the road and they carry them. But, he told me, he lives all the way out in Winchester and there's no Wegman's there, and when I pushed about natural food stores he complained about the high price point, and that he'd contact Bob's Red Mill who he gets his gluten free stuff from... *facepalm*

I'm trying to take the lesson that sometimes reading the ingredients list isn't good enough but I feel so disappointed. Today is day 1 all over again.

Soup is simmering away featuring Polyface breakfast sausage and soaked beans a la Nourishing Traditions (I used vinegar instead of whey) and stock from the Freedom Ranger chicken. Back on track. :)

Getting Started

Did our Polyface pickup today! I am the proud owner of 5 weeks worth of 3-4 meals a weeks worth of meat. My total came to $156.17 including almost $10 in delivery fees (charged per pound). A lesson already learned is that I will need to buy individually packaged ground beef per pound and not per 5 pounds. I'm trying to convince my husband to make 5 batches of chili so we can thaw the raw ground beef then freeze the extra chili but I don't know if he's going to go for it!

Our budget up until now has been $125 per week for groceries for 2 adults and 1 child (my newest is exclusively breastfed so we'll be good until at least 6 months, still have 4 months to go!) which hasn't grown much from when it was just 2 adults eating solid food. In order to budget accordingly, I added 5 weeks of grocery budget together ($625) then subtracted my Polyface total ($156) which came to $469 then I divided it by 5 weeks again ($93.8). This is a little complicated because we're eating gluten and dairy free which makes things more expensive. Even my husband is vowing to eat grapes, strawberries and apples during the day at work (this is an amazing improvement over Doritos and white bread and Nutella or sometimes nothing at all to eat).

My order with Peapod is $96. I feel really good about that knowing the only stuff in a package are some meat, some frozen corn and peas, DH's cereal, raisins, dry beans and Larabars. I also have some leftover cash from last week's Farmer's Market trip that I'll be repeating tomorrow so I might score something not red (we have apples, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes and red bell peppers in our grocery order haha) like peaches.

This week I am also starting a batch of sauerkraut and ginger carrots a la Wild Fermentation. If we truly have a problem with dairy/gluten then our gut needs to be repopulated with good bacteria and this is a great way of doing it. Hell, even if we *don't* have dairy/gluten issues these are good foods to eat. While I wasn't a fan of them the first time I tried them I find myself craving them lately which is a good sign!

My week looks a little like this:

Sunday

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Leeks, Bacon, leftover Buckwheat Pancakes

Lunch: Miso Soup, Rice with Furikake

Dinner: Rotisserie Chicken, Corn, Roasted Sweet Potatoes

To Do: Make Sauerkraut, Ginger Carrots, Soak Beans for Soup, Stock in Crockpot overnight

Monday

Breakfast: Buckwheat Pancakes, fake butter, maple syrup

Lunch: Sausage Soup

Dinner: Arroz con Pollo

Tuesday

Breakfast: Leftover Pancakes, fake butter, syrup

Lunch: Sausage Soup or Arroz con Pollo

Dinner: Beef Medallions (from grocery store) topped with sauteed mushrooms and onions, Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Tomato Salad

Wednesday

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Bacon

Lunch: Sausage Soup or Arroz con Pollo

Dinner: Pork Chops, Cabbage, Red Potatoes

To Do: Soak kidney beans for chili

Thursday

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs

Lunch: Sausage Soup or Arroz con Pollo

Dinner: Chili using ground beef and pork from Polyface

Friday

Breakfast: Buckwheat Pancakes, double batch since we need to pack safe foods for tomorrow's Renn Fest trip!

Lunch: Whatever is left from Soup or Arroz

Dinner: Leftovers!

Saturday

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs/Leftover Pancakes

Lunch: At Renn Fest, so Steak on a Stake or Turkey Leg

Dinner: Leftover Chili

I'll post later this week to let y'all know how we're doing sticking to this. In addition, we are on day 6 of no gluten or dairy. I feel awesome despite feeling deprived at times because I know we're eating more fruits/veggies since we can't eat, well, any crap!

GFDF?

It was brought to my attention that some behavioral issues I've been having with my DD could be food related, so this week we are beginning a trial of no gluten or dairy. Thankfully my meal plan was mostly GFDF (that's gluten free dairy free) so it just took a little bit of tweaking to adjust. Here is my meal plan for the week:

Sunday: Roast chicken, corn, spinach. Making chicken stock overnight in the crockpot for soup this week and...
Monday: Arroz con Pollo
Tuesday: Grilled chicken breasts and leek risotto
Wednesday: Beef tenderloin kebabs and basmati rice
Thursday: Sirloin medallion steaks, mashed potatoes, another veggie
Friday: Meatloaf and sauteed squash (from an America's Test Kitchen recipe)
Saturday: BBQ for our Bradley Class Reunion, so I'm guessing we'll take some chicken breasts since I bought a family pack.

Tomorrow morning the groceries will be delivered (2 months of free delivery from Peapod could not have come at a better time than adjusting to having two children!) then we're off to a farmer's market to hopefully snag some sausage (one more week until Polyface sausage! woohoo!), whatever veggies/fruit are in season (hopefully watermelon!), and then over to Wegman's to get some final GFDF supplies (like Earth Balance spread to replace butter and hazelnut milk to replace the milk in my coffee). Yes, I have to do this trial too because allergens can pass through breastmilk. This will be a good time to see if there is anything food-wise affecting me or my little DS for that matter.

My plan for snacks are rice cakes, larabars, applesauce, mandarin oranges, frozen peas and whatever fresh fruit/veggie I can get us to eat. It's going to be difficult because all she wants to eat is gluten-based products but I'm hoping we'll get to the other end of the tunnel quickly!

Order Placed!

Today is Wordless Wednesday and I could post a picture of my new chest freezer that was delivered yesterday. I'm not going to. It's broken! :( They're delivering a new one tomorrow.

I just placed my order with Polyface. The deadline is this Saturday for delivery the following Saturday. I was sad to find, though I had items saved to my cart but I had not checked out yet, that the eggs and ground beef were out of stock. Thankfully the 5 lb package of ground beef was available so it won't affect my next 5 weeks. I'll continue to buy eggs from another farm, but I like that Polyface eggs have been tested for various nutrients and compared against the USDA standard egg, so I need to remember to order at the beginning of the window next time. Here's my order:

1 x	Pork Pon-Hoss (Pork)	$6.00
5 x	Breakfast Sausage Links (Pork)	$22.50
5 x	Ground Pork (Pork)	$22.50
3 x	Broiler, Whole (Broilers)	$9.75
2 x	Freedom Ranger (Freedom Ranger)	$8.00
1 x	Chicken Feet (Broilers)	$1.00
1 x	Chicken Livers & Hearts (Broilers)	$3.00
1 x	5 lb Ground Beef (Beef)	$4.25

	---------
Sub-Total:	$77.00
Virginia Sales Tax + Virginia Sales Tax:	$3.86
Total:	$80.86

I bought a few extra things this time around to try out. Pork Pon-Hoss I think is similar to scrapple and it's time I've ventured into the lands of organ/alternative meats and products. I'm hoping it turns out good and maybe I can get DH or DD to try it as an alternative to sugary breakfast foods. I also bought chicken feet to add to my stock (which I have done before, so I won't be squicked out) and some chicken livers and hearts. I might try some pate with crackers and the hearts I think I'll brown in a saute pan or something because damn, those are really good. I should also add that that dollar total is not the official total. Some of these things are per pound costs, so the chicken and ground beef will be 4-5 times that price (I won't know until they pack my order).

So far my week has gone fairly well. On Monday (since it was a holiday) I put my whole Nature's Promise chicken (from Giant grocery store) in the rotisserie for an hour and change. It came out very juicy and delicious. After dinner I picked it, put the carcass in the crock pot with an onion, some celery and onion and let it go on low for 10 hours. The next morning I had stock! I made my sausage soup with it and still had almost a quart leftover. Last night I made arroz con pollo using some of the leftover chicken and stock. I still have one full chicken breast left and it's not in my meal plan so I'm not sure what to do with it.

I also baked a loaf of bread (I got the recipe from my friend Nicole). DD had a blast helping me measure ingredients and pour them into the mixer. I explained to her every step of the way what would happen, how the dough would rise, and when it came out of the oven it would be delicious bread. It's an all-purpose loaf and it's texture is very soft but the flavor was lacking - maybe more salt? I'm not sure. I need to look up the next loaf to try. I have some King Arthur White Whole Wheat (just a soft wheat instead of the hard red winter wheat of most whole wheat flours) flour that I could use in a 50/50 loaf.

Tonight's dinner is meatloaf with corn on the cob, spinach and... something. My potatoes went bad before I could use them otherwise I'd be making mashed potatoes. For now it is lunch time - soup!

It's About Time

Figuring out how I want our family to live and eat is confusing. There are so many options. There's vegetarian, vegan, raw, traditional, Feingold, no carb, low carb, whole foods, etc, etc, etc. On top of that you've got to consider the sources of your food, the ingredients in your food, any food sensitivities, and above all else the cost to maintain. Like many Americans in this economy we are trying to be smart with money. We'd like to one day be debt free so that translates to keeping costs to a minimum and trying to keep food from being wasted.

Not long before DD was born I decided to have a look into local grass-fed, grass-finished beef and pasture-raised chicken. I found a co-op and they recommended becoming a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation. I bought a copy of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig. The traditional diets that they spoke of struck a chord in me. It just made *sense*. All of the suggestions are backed up by studies and data not to mention Dr. Price's findings when he went among the traditional peoples. I started talking to many people through these co-ops who had seen significant increases in their health and quality of life. I learned about the Raw Milk Revolution and we started drinking it at home.

Over the last three years I have wavered in following it completely. Some times we've had to budget out the good stuff for the cheaper alternative (pasteurized, homogenized, factory farm milk and Costco meat). It is easy to get into old routines, though thankfully we're not subsisting on Hamburger Helper and Mountain Dew which was the status quo when my husband and I met!

Last week we were able to finally sit down and watch Food, Inc. I knew what was going to be in it (though there were a few things that surprised me still!) but it was important to get my husband on board. He needed to watch it and really grasp it. I needed him to want to improve our diet if not for him then for our kids. Seeing Joel Salatin on his farm and talking about food and farm and life really brought out the urge to focus back on good, pure food again.

The next day I went over to my Polyface account (Joel Salatin's farm) and started perusing costs. I compared it to the other co-ops I am involved in and found Polyface to be the cheapest option. Deliveries happen every 5 weeks except a break in the winter. I looked up this chest freezer that is small enough to live in my dining room yet large enough to hold a few chickens and some ground beef, ground pork and sausage. I know in order to do this I will need to purchase that chest freezer and meal plan for 5 weeks at a time a week before the delivery dates in order to have the order placed in time.

My plan at this point:

1. Sundays are Roast Day. I will either rotisserie or roast in the oven one chicken.
   
2. Polyface is trying out a batch of Freedom Ranger chickens as an alternative to the Cornish Cross. I'll be buying one of each initially to compare them.
   
3. From Sunday's chicken: I will clean the meat from the bones and put the bones immediately into a crock pot and make stock. The meat will be used for at least one additional meal that week.
4. I will purchase 4 lbs of ground beef and ground pork. Each week will have one pound allotted of each ground meat for use in meatloaf, burgers, meatballs, Pork 'n Cabbage, chili, stuffed peppers/tomatoes, bolognese, etc.
5. I will purchase 4 lbs of bulk breakfast sausage for use in my mom's awesome sausage and bean soup (which I will post the recipe for at a later time) to be made with the stock from Sunday's chicken.
   

Now, this does not take into account the produce side of things. We only have a month and change left for harvesting a lot of good produce that could be frozen or canned. I am trying to be realistic and not too gung-ho, but I'd like to try to at least buy some bulk tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, garlic, and carrots (depending on what's in season as I don't have a photographic memory to remember!) and puree it into sofrito (the base I use for our Spanish foods like lentejas and arroz con gandules/pollo) to freeze in FoodSaver bags. I also like the idea of finding a farm selling not-very-pretty tomatoes at a discount in order to sauce them down and make pizza sauces and tomato sauce for use over the fall/winter for chili, bolognese and little pita pizzas. As apple season progresses I will try to do the same for apple sauce.

I will also strive to bake bread on Sundays as well. I will start with an all-purpose loaf and gradually work into a whole wheat loaf then into sourdough. I will also plan for a meatless day each week in order to use beans and incorporate more fiber into our diet.

In addition I am getting involved in my United Natural Foods buying club to purchase bulk grains, nuts and beans as well as vinegars/spices and personal care items (shampoo, conditioner). I'm trying to stay away from canned goods because of BPA in the lining (there is no current alternative).

The above is my starting goal. From here I want to get more into preparation of grains/beans, addition of organ meats to our ground meat (which I have a recipe for and will post at a later time), and learning the different cuts of meat, how to cook them and eating well on a tight budget. My goal for this blog is to have a place to be accountable and see progress in not only the learning process but our health overall.