Chilton County Peaches

My Earth Fare post is forthcoming…in the meantime:

Yesterday afternoon I had to run an errand, and on my way home I passed a little produce market that I’ve seen a hundred times.  I noticed a sign that wouldn’t have caught my attention 2 months ago.  Unless you’re a local Alabamian, this won’t mean anything to you – but the sign said “Chilton County Peaches.”  My car turned in to the parking lot as if under a spell and I made my way to the peaches sitting in their little baskets, soaking up the heat of the afternoon…the scent hanging in the air was sublime and I spent a lovely 5 minutes choosing just the right peaches.  The lady at the register sorted through them and declared two of them “too soft” and went to the back to get two better ones.  I love buying from small businesses like this.  Imagine caring about your customers enough to make sure that they are getting the best you have to offer.

When I got home, I added the peaches to my now-overflowing wooden fruit bowl that sits on the corner of the kitchen counter…there are onions hanging in a net bag, garlic and tomatoes, apples, bananas…  I couldn’t resist trying a peach, even though it was nearly suppertime.  I stood at my sink, and took a bite of the best tasting piece of fruit I’ve had lately.  I unashamedly licked my fingers, not wanting to miss even a tiny taste.  I started thinking about writing about eating that peach…and just as quickly I thought, “Who wants to read about you standing over the sink eating a peach?”  But that’s the thing, isn’t it?  I write because I have to write.  I love writing about what I’m doing, what I’m discovering, about the fact that I haven’t had a single Double Stuf Oreo in a month…and I don’t miss them.  Really!  Most of all, though, I feel like I’m ME when I write.  I honor my passions, my interests…the things I value when I take the time to write them down.

So, this morning, dear reader, I had the most delectable breakfast.  I sliced up a peach, poured a couple of tablespoons of organic cream into another bowl and frothed it up a bit with a fork, then…THEN, I drizzled that slightly thickened cream over the peach slices, the cream mingling with the peach juice.  I took a bite and the taste, the scent, the texture was unlike anything I’ve ever had.  I’ve always heard the phrase “peaches and cream” but never thought about actually eating it.  The velvety cream wrapped around those bright saffron slices of peach…it was spectacularly good.

This is a perfect example of how learning to eat real food has changed my life.  A month or so ago, I would’ve grabbed a Toaster Strudel or Pop-Tart, gulped it down with a huge glass of milk, barely tasting any of it.  Now?  Picking out peaches, taking them home, choosing one from my bowl, slicing it, preparing the cream…the whole process felt like a ritual, an homage to the amazing foods that are out there that I overlooked for so long.

Already, the thought of one of those “breakfast pastries” makes my stomach churn.  I can’t fully explain to you what a difference this new philosophy is making, not to mention that while I’m not counting calories, I’m willing to bet that this decadent breakfast would win out health-wise over any of that junk I used to put in my body.  To date, I’ve lost a little over 14 pounds eating cream and whole milk and rich cheese and real butter and fresh local produce.  I feel like I’m getting away with murder!

I hope you can enjoy some lazy summer mornings, delicious meals, and for the lucky few that can get them, some Chilton County peaches.

What we’re eating…

I’m going to run out of titles soon.  How many ways can you say “here’s the food we’re consuming”?  “Here’s the Grub ”?  Umm…no.  “Fancy Fixins’”?  Ewww.  “Food: the Sequel”?

Let’s see.  Last night we had what I thought was a very tasty and satisfying meal.  And, no meat was involved!  I’ve found that buying good quality meats and poultry is what drives up my grocery bill.  So any time I can do a meatless meal that is still hearty and delicious, that’s a great thing.

I cooked Cheesy Vegetable Chowder and Ultimate Cheddar Bay Biscuits (click the names to see the recipes).  The chowder was soooo creamy and good.  It may be my new favorite soup.  I diced the potatoes (Yukon golds, 5 lb. at Organic Harvest on sale, $2.99), the celery, onion and carrots the night before, and stored them in water in the refrigerator overnight.  Once the vegetables were simmering, I made the cheese sauce.  Using whole milk to make the roux really added so much creaminess to the soup.

 

 

Roux thickening on the left, veggies simmering on the right

 

 

 

After the potatoes were tender, but not mushy, the cheese sauce was mixed in.

At first I thought the chowder was a bit thin, but after settling for just a few minutes, it was velvety and just the perfect consistency.

 

Finished product:

The Cheddar Bay Biscuits were also a hit.  Next time I’ll use salted butter (I always keep unsalted on hand because I mostly use it for baking) and I’ll watch to make sure the edges don’t overcook.  This time they went just a minute or two too long.  These are like the biscuits that Red Lobster serves, and I’ve traditionally used this mix to make them:

Oh, they tasted good, these little Betty Crocker biscuits.  Kerry would get all excited when I’d say we were having them.

And just look at all we were getting for the low, low price of $1.49:

Enriched Flour Bleached (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Partially Hydrogenated Soybean And/Or Cottonseed Oil, Vegetable Oil (Palm, Palm Kernel), Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Corn Syrup Solids, Salt, Dextrose, Garlic, Buttermilk Powder, Modified Corn Starch, Whey, Dried Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Colored With (Artificial Color, Yellows 5&6), Whey Protein Concentrate, Maltodextrin, Reduced Lactose Whey, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Disodium Phosphate, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Disodium Guanylate, Disodium Inosinate. Contains Wheat, Milk And Soy Ingredients.

Gulp.

Now, I’d love to show you my beautiful pan of made-from-scratch Cheddar Bay Biscuits, made with organic wheat flour, and natural ingredients.

 

Except I forgot to take a picture of them.

 

They DID look like these, and they were savory and moist and full of flavor. 

I had one small biscuit and a couple ladles full of soup, and enjoyed both tremendously, one smooth and delicious bite at a time.  The biscuits are very filling and buttery and kind of heavy (as they should be in this case) so it’s not likely we’ll have these often, but when we do, we shall enjoy the heck out of ‘em.

Which is the whole point!

Otherwise, what else is going on?  Well, I visited Whole Foods yesterday.  Again. Second time this week.  I just love being there, surrounded by all the beautiful food.  I went to get just an item or two…and you know how that goes.  I found a nice pinot noir on sale, so since that’s part of the Mediterranean way that was really a necessity.  I got some beautiful, soft, non-grainy garlic powder that smelled SO GOOD…enough to fill my spice jar at home, $1.29.  I also bought a basil plant and a rosemary plant ($2.99 each) and put them in a container on my deck.  I’m planning to do a little container gardening – maybe a tomato plant, some lettuces…who knows?  I also got a fresh organic demi-baguette, flavored with rosemary, $1.39, and some heirloom tomato salsa, which was my splurge item…a very small container was $3.50, but the guy who rang up my groceries was raving about it, so I think that’ll be a nice treat, to savor….perhaps I’ll slice up that baguette, toast it, add some salsa, and drizzle with olive oil.  Now my mouth is watering!

So…even though our most dreaded time of the year is here (summer…which should be growled through clenched teeth) I am doing my best to stay positive and enjoy the life that’s opening in front of me.  Mine!

I hope you’re enjoying the ideas and recipes I’m collecting.  I hope, as I learn, that maybe you’ll find something new to try – and also, since I’m trying to include prices when I can remember them, you’ll see that you CAN eat better, even with a budget.  When I found those Yukon potatoes on sale, I snapped them up – THEN found a recipe to use them with…sometimes you have to think on your feet.

A quick “programming” note: I’m considering changing the name of my blog to more accurately reflect what’s happening here.  To borrow a phrase from the same Floyd song I’m using now…what do you think of “Coming Back to Life”?  Let me know in comments.  Thanks for reading and, happy eating!

www.blogspot.com Tags: whole food, nutrition, eating well on a budget, soups, biscuits

In the beginning

So, I thought I’d start by just going over a few of the initial changes I’ve made in my kitchen.

Once I finally wrapped my head around the whole “good fats in moderation are good for you” concept, the first thing I did was buy whole milk instead of 2%.  I can hear some of you gasping.  I felt completely BAD buying those first couple of containers, like a food cop was going to jump out of the dairy case and cuff me for trying to clog my family’s arteries.  Obviously, some folks don’t do milk or dairy, and that’s great, but in my family we do like milk, so…why whole milk?  Well, it tastes really good.  The idea behind this whole food concept is to up the quality of your food, enjoy it slowly and thoroughly, and you eat less.  It’s true.

So change #1: whole milk.
I’ve been buying organic milk for several years now, either this brand or Horizon.  But I always bought 2%, occasionally forcing myself to buy skim for my own consumption.  Blech.

Last night before bed my stomach was a bit empty.  I poured maybe 4 ounces of milk into my Bama jelly glass and sipped it over the next 15 minutes.  It tasted amazingly good, and it filled my stomach just enough to let me go to sleep feeling comfortable.

I suppose the next change is really more of a series of smaller changes.  I took a few of the recipes I found in the books I’ve mentioned (French Woman Don’t Get Fat, The Fat Fallacy) and tried them.  We had some pasta with leeks and parmesan cheese, drizzled with plenty of olive oil.  Delicious!  And along with that I prepared some pork loin chops.  I still have some work to do if we want to have those again because to say they were a bit tough is being generous.  But, we also had another pasta dish another day, this one with lots of zucchini and diced tomatoes, again with a good amount of olive oil and some basil.  We had some whole wheat bakery bread toasted with a slathering of the new butter I’m buying: Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter.  Ingredient list? “Pasteurized Cream, Salt.”  Yes, it has to be left out for a few minutes to be truly spreadable.  This is not hard to accomplish.  You set it out, you do some of the other stuff that needs doing, and when you check it again, it’s ready.  It is a beautiful creamy yellow and tastes so good.  It even says “milk from grassfed cows” on the package.  Yes!  That’s exactly the kind of REAL FOOD I’m looking for…

So change #2: try new recipes that are heavy on the vegetables, and don’t skimp on the good fats to increase their palatability.  (Just learned that new word from yet ANOTHER new book: Low-Fat Lies, High-Fat Fraud).  Tonight we’re having bean burritos.  In the past, when we wanted burritos, I’d buy a couple of cans of store beans, plop ‘em in a saucepan, and voila!  But today, I put a bag of rinsed and sorted pintos in the crockpot with a good amount of salted water (and I used coarse sea salt), two whole garlic cloves, a tablespoon or so of chipotle chili powder, about a teaspoon of cumin, and some bay leaves.  When I get home I expect them to be tender and ready to eat along with some monterey jack cheese that I’ll grate right before we eat.  We’ll have some of the fresh salsa that Publix sells in the deli (all natural, lots of veggies, no weird ingredients). I’ll let you know how they turn out.

The last change that I’ll list for today is more of a behavior than a food choice, per se.  I am slowly learning to savor the food I eat.  It took me by surprise when I started consciously putting down my fork between bites – because I realized that I usually shove food in like I’m being timed.  Also, I’m simply chewing my food.  Tasting it.  Enjoying it.  I’m not saying I’m trying to chew a certain number of times, but I’m actually using my teeth, consciously noticing the flavors and textures.  Another surprise: when I took note not to put more food in my mouth while there was still the bite I had just taken in there.  Seems crazy, I know, but when I began to pay attention, I came to see that I was eating too fast and not even coming close to appreciating what I’m putting into my body.

Change #3: slow down and savor it.

As far as finding some substitutes for the store bought things we’ve been buying for years, I have two things to share today.  Stephen loves Chunky Chips Ahoy cookies.  Kerry does too.  I’ve been known to indulge, as has David.  So, I figured I’d find the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I could and make it with the best ingredients I could afford.  So, I made these: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies from the wonderful blog 100 Days of Real Food.  I recommend the recipe heartily.  Next time I’ll be doubling it so that we have a treat that isn’t packed with chemicals.I used organic whole wheat pastry flour, good unsalted butter, and pure vanilla extract.  I used Nestle semi-sweet morsels because I had them on hand already.  And these turned out beautifully!  David and Kerry thought they were great.  The only drawback was that when Stephen asked for “Chis Ahoy” and I smiled brightly and brought over one of these beauties, he picked one up, sniffed it delicately, and said, “No.  Chis Ahoy peas.”  Ah well.

The other new recipe I worked on this week was a homemade granola.  Since I’ve been eating more yogurt (whole milk with cream top) I remembered how good granola goes with yogurt.  So I studied some recipes and kind of cobbled together my own.  To make about 4 1/2 cups total, I used 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats, 1 cup of sliced almonds, 1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut, a 1/2 cup of walnuts, about 1/4 cup each of flax seed and sunflower seeds, a scant 1/8 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, a drizzle of honey, and about 1/8 cup of coconut oil, warmed slightly to liquefy.  I mixed all that together, spread it on a foil-lined cookie sheet, and baked it for 1 hour, 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes so it browned evenly.  The house began to smell SO GOOD after about 30 minutes.  The end product was golden, crispy, and smelled delicious.

I tried about 1/2 a cup of this for breakfast, with a generous amount of whole milk.  And let me tell you…it beat any cereal I’ve tried.  It was so very good!

Well, this has grown very long.  I guess I’m still pretty excited.  I’ve always loved to cook and this feels like such an adventure.  Thanks for coming along!  More to come!