Freezing Lemon Juice

This year, we had a TON of lemons!  Lucky us!

One of my favorite things to do with these awesome little guys is juice them, freeze the juice into ice cube trays, and then save the cubes in a big Ziploc bag to use all year long.

Real Food Dinner Ideas

After a conversation with a friend the other day regarding eating habits, she asked me to share with her what we eat on a regular basis...

So, I thought it would be good to make a list that I could reference and share with others as well!

Dinner Ideas:

***As a general rule all of our ground beef/steak is grass-fed, chicken is organic and free-range, eggs are cage-free/organic, and bacon is nitrate free
***Bread, tortillas, pasta and all baked goods are whole grain

• Tacos - make your own.  Either using black beans, fish, chicken, steak, or ground beef 
• side ideas: cheese (shred yourself), avocado, salsa, grilled veggies, sour cream, guacamole, olives...
• Bacon, lettuce, avocado sandwiches (we don't like raw tomato, but you could use it)
• Whole chicken in a crockpot <--Recipe link
• Make chicken stock with the leftover bones then have...
• Chicken Noodle soup (Recipe link) the next day or
• Beef Stew (use the chicken stock from above... NOT beef boullion)
• Macaroni and Cheese - Homemade
• Grilled chicken, fish (wild caught), or steak with a "side" see below for list of sides
• Homemade Chicken Nuggets (Recipe Link)
• Spaghetti (or other pasta) with either ground beef or Homemade meatballs...
•  I usually buy the organic marinara from Vons or Traders for this, but we have also made our own sauce with fresh tomatoes
• Meatball sandwiches using the meatballs from above
• Pizza (homemade, a good meatless option)
• a whole grain dough recipe has been tough for us to find that we like, so we use either Trader Joes whole wheat pitas, their wheat dough (which is NOT whole grain, so not great), or we have been trying different recipes
• We use a mix of whole milk mozzarella, sharp cheddar, and fresh parmesan...all freshly shredded.  (preshredded cheese includes an anti-caking preservative)
• Eggplant parmesan
• use homemade whole wheat breadcrumbs
• Quiche (Recipe Link)
• Salad... endless possibilities (link)...with homemade dressing
• I try all sorts of dressing recipes off the internet... as long as they have real ingredients
• Almost all storebought dressing is full of preservatives and soy, it takes about 3 minutes to make my own and they taste SO much better
• for the kids we do the salad ingredients in bowls and they can choose what they want either on a salad or seperately
• Omlettes, fritada, waffles, pancakes, french toast, hootennanies (these are a cross between scrambled eggs and french toast)
• whatever breakfast for dinner you can do using whole grain flour/bread
• Use fresh fruit and 100% pure and organic maple syrup

Side Ideas:

• Brown Rice
• Quinoa
• Whole grain couscous
• Noodles and breadcrumbs
• Baked potatoes
• Red, sweet, yukon potatoes (roasted)
• Grilled/roasted veggies (whatever is in season)
• FRUIT!! <-- We have fruit at every. single. meal.

Real Food Defined

I have mentioned in several posts that we have started eating 'Real Food'.  By this I mean food that is as close to it's original state as possible.  At the present time, these are the general guidelines I go by when purchasing and preparing food.

• If the food has a label, look at the ingredients list instead of the nutrition information. 
• Can you pronounce all of the ingredients? 
• Would your Great-Grandma know what these ingredients are?
• Are there more than five ingredients? 
• Are there any hydrogenated oils? 
• Are there any preservatives?
• Whole Grain: When eating a grain, eat a WHOLE grain. 
• Whole wheat flour, whole grain corn, brown rice, oats... just look for the term WHOLE. 
• Fats and Cooking Oils:
• Butter, olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, and a few others fit the bill. (NO-soybean oil, vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower or safflower oil)
• Produce:
• Aim to buy as much produce at farmer's markets and through CSAs as possible. 
• When buying at the supermarket try to buy organic if it is fairly cost effective, or at least as local as you can.  I would buy strawberries grown in the USA over organic strawberries grown in Chile. 
• Keep the 'Dirty Dozen' list of the most pesticide-ridden fruits and veggies in mind.  Aim for organic items from this list when possible.
• Meat: Here is my run down on buying meats...
• For chicken, I buy local, organic and pastured whenever possible... at the least organic...and at the VERY least vegetarian fed. 
• Beef, buy 'GRASS FED' and organic.  If possible, look for a local source.
• Sausage and bacon, look for 'uncured' and nitrate/nitrite free. 
• Sweeteners:
• Local, raw honey...NOT from a grocery store.  Raw honey is good, raw AND local is better.
• 100% Pure maple syrup
• 100% juice, preferably fresh squeezed and as a sweetener and not a beverage
• Sugar in (major) moderation.  Unrefined, organic cane sugar is a good choice when baking at home. 
• Dairy and Eggs:
• Eggs should be organic and cage free.  When possible, I buy from a local farmer directly. 
• Dairy should be as whole as possible. 
• Whole milk, cream, sour cream, plain yogurt, cheese, etc. 
• I look for pasturized, not ultra-pasturized milk products. 
• I am exploring the option of raw milk products...like raw cheese.
• Avoid pre-shredded cheese products due to the anti-caking additive used. 
• Avoid canned goods due to BPA used in the lining of the cans. 
• Use dried beans and grains, prepare them yourself
• Frozen fruit and veggies are ok, as long as you don't cook them in plastic in the microwave.   
• Overall, aim to prepare as much food at home as possible!!

Positives

At the begining of my research, I found a lot of the information to be really depressing.  Looking back, it sounds so silly.  Yet, despite the fact that I knew a change would be for the best... I went through a little mourning period.  I guess we kind of have to do that when it comes to major change.  Mourn the loss of what was to really move on to what IS. 

In January, as I was really diving into my food research 'eating healthier' was kind of a vague idea for me.  I went to the grocery store looking for better quality chicken, shelf-stable products that did not contain high fructose corn syrup, tried to aviod soy and wheat products, and aimed to buy a lot of fruits and veggies.  There were several foods suggested, and I readily went searching for them, regardless of the cost.  This was a poor decision... and I decided to slow down and make smaller changes. 

Last month, in the process of my reading I came across this blog: 100 Days of Real Food.  This blog is the journal of the Leake family and how they went from eating similarly to the way we did to eating nearly entirely "Real Food".  (I put that in quotes because I realize that term must be defined at some point.)  Through reading that blog I realized that we COULD change our eating habits... it was do-able.  The decision they made and the "rules" they made for what to eat were strongly based on a few books and ideas written by Micheal Pollan.  <---More on Pollan's writing soon!

Through seeing what the Leake family did, I really started to look at this journey in a more positive way.  Instead of what we couldn't eat... I started seeing what we COULD.  Instead of hearing about the diseases that might be caused by the horrible way we, as American's, eat... I started to see the diseases that COULD be avoided by eating better.  Instead of worrying about the food we were now eating being different from what we were used to eating... I started to actually taste the food we were preparing and really LOVE it.

So at this point I am gaining momentum and excitement for this "Real Food" life.