What worked/what didn’t

So, last night’s bean burritos?  Fantastic.  The beans were full of flavor from the garlic that had slow-cooked along with the beans all day, and the chipotle chili powder.  This is a bit smokier in taste than “regular” chili powder and I’m glad I used it in these beans.  We also had some basmati rice cooked in vegetable broth (I got a four-pack of 1-cup cartons of Pacific Foods Organic at Whole Foods for about 3 bucks), some cumin and a chopped jalapeno.  Note: I washed my hands SIX times after chopping the jalapeno.  Six.  This morning if I touched my finger to my tongue, it still burned.  Anyway, I also roasted and chopped a medium sized poblano pepper that went really nicely in the burritos.  Lastly, some regular (not light) sour cream and some white cheddar cheese – very sharp and it only took a sprinkling to add to the creaminess.  The guys added some ground beef (grassfed – one pound at Publix – $7.99…more on this in a minute) that I browned, drained, and added back to the pan with some of the homemade taco seasoning I mixed up over the weekend because I had the spices on hand.  Delicious and no MSG!  I was able to make enough seasoning for at least three total meals.  Recipe here: Homemade taco seasoning.  I tripled that recipe and stored the mix in a small airtight container.

So the beans were absolutely a success, and we’ll have this meal again in the near future.

Now, on to an item that I use daily and really feel I can’t be without.  Coffee creamer.  I love good, strong coffee liberally laced with French Vanilla creamer, like this International Delight stuff. Not so bad, right?  The problem comes when you study the label.

Non-Dairy Product Ingredients: Water, Sugar, Palm Oil, Corn Syrup, Contains 2% Or Less Of The Following: Sodium Caseinate* (A Milk Derivative), Dipotassium Phosphate, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Mono And Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Carrageenan, Salt. *Sodium Caseinate Is Not A Source Of Lactose.

Yum!  Have you had YOUR sodium steroyl lactylate today?  And don’t you wonder what “natural and artificial flavors” really are?  I can think of a lot of “natural” substances that I don’t want in my food.

So I decided I’d study and concoct my own creamer.  Last night I simmered a cup of cream, a cup of whole milk (both organic), 4 tablespoons of pure maple syrup, and a tablespoon of pure vanilla extract (note: next time I plan to use vanilla beans).  It smelled so great bubbling away on the stove.  This morning I eagerly poured a healthy dollop into my waiting cup…but no.  It was not to be.  It wasn’t BAD, but it wasn’t what I wanted, either.  I’m going to keep researching and tweaking the recipe.  Or, my tastes will change and I’ll be happy with just real cream.  Either way, I’m done buying this junk from the store.

Today David and I ate lunch at Organic Harvest, which is a great little store.  Link here: Organic Harvest Market and Café.  We both had sandwiches – he had a chicken pesto on whole wheat, I had a roast chicken with tomatoes and feta and a spicy sauce.  Very very good.  Then we did a bit of shopping and found some good deals.

We got a gallon of organic milk from Alabama cows that eat grass.  And at $6.89/gal. it’s cheaper than the milk we buy at Publix (which works out to over $8/gal).

We also found another one pound package of grassfed beef, on sale for $7.99.

Okay, about this meat: yes, it’s expensive.  But I feel strongly about buying this for a couple of reasons.  I need to know, to the farthest extent possible, that the animals providing food for me lived a decent life, eating what they were intended to eat.  Also, my plan is to cut way down on red meat consumption (especially ground meat), to certainly no more often than once per week – and then less frequently as I add other recipes to my collection.  So I can afford to buy the better quality meat since I won’t be serving it very often.

We bought two boxes of cereal, both Cascadian Farms brand. Neither was over $3.00/box, and one had a coupon on it for a dollar off two boxes.  Publix would have a hard time beating that price.  And finally, we picked up a couple of pears, a couple of apples, some lemons…and a little over a pound of demerara sugar, a natural brown sugar, for my iced tea experiments.  I want to cut out refined, processed white sugar, and I use the overwhelming majority of that in sweet tea, which I do not want to give up.  I drink one glass per night, shot through with the juice from a big lemon wedge.  So, I’ll try to improve upon it.

More and more, this whole concept clicks with me.  Instead of spending my precious money on a bunch of junk that sits in my stomach like a rock, I’ll spend it on higher quality real food that is full of flavor – so full of flavor that I want to enjoy every bite.  And I’m taking fewer bites now – significantly fewer.  The pants I put on today buttoned easily, with room to spare.  A month ago I had to work to make those fasteners meet.

That’s it for now.  I’ll keep updating here as I make new discoveries.