Potlatch

Did you know that “POTLATCH” is the original version of our modern day Potluck? Yup!

“A custom of the First Nations peoples of the Pacific north-west coast, where a ceremonial period of feasting was accompanied by lavish giving away, and sometimes destruction, of goods and property. Those who gave away or destroyed the most property earned the greatest social prestige. Anthropologists have described the ceremonies as a form of ‘war with property’. The Potlatch also had important elements of economic distribution, social bonding and political processes, all central to the maintenance of a society. The Canadian government considered the practice to be destructive of the stability and established hierarchy of native communities and it was outlawed (from 1884 until 1951) and rigorously suppressed.” (taken from here)

In any case, this entry is called Potlatch because there’s a whole buncha tidbits in here for you to enjoy:

“Feed yourself for $1.00/day” Way way way too extreme, but it can be done. I think if you can swing it on $5.00/day per person, you’re doing well. The only comment in there that I wholeheartedly supported is:

“But beyond saving money, writes Green¬slate, “the most noticeable benefit was that, for the first time in our lives, we knew exactly what we were eating.” For instance, store-bought tortillas list as many as 30 to 40 ingredients. “You’d need a dictionary or the Internet to try to figure it out,” he says.”Which was mentioned after they figured out how to make their own tortillas.

You should also see a link at the end of this article to another (more sensible) article about a couple who spent only $50 on groceries for one week – AND they’re foodies! Leading by example, when I return to a land where a single tomato doesn’t cost $5.00 and carrots are available most of the time, I think I will do a little side project on how to eat whole foods cheaply and post about that (which serves a double purpose since I will also be unemployed AND have tons of free time on my hands!) You know who also has great ideas to eat on the cheap? Clean Eating Magazine! I should go sign up for a subscription right now and have it sent to my sister’s house - DONE!

On Breakfast Television this morning, they were talking about coupons, and I realized how much I missed being little-miss-frugal…there is no way to be as frugal on this island as I was at home, and I almost cannot wait to get back to that!

Cavemen among us? I got a hoot out of this article, Men (mostly) who have decided to revert back to their ancestors’ way of eating and living…made me wonder if they’re all hairy and smelly and stuff!

My friend (Hi Dominic!) went home recently and got to go to a Cabane a Sucre (Sugar Shack - sounds so unrefined in English!) where he got me some Maple Taffy – Mmmmmm! I was never a big Maple Syrup fan, BUT, Maple taffy on the other hand…wow! It took me back to when I was a little kid and we ALWAYS took school trips out to the Cabanes in the early spring and we went touring around and saw all the buckets filled with sap and we’d watch them boil the sap over a fire in a HUGE cauldron and then they’d pour some over the snow and we’d get our popsicle sticks out and twirl the chilling maple taffy onto them and into our mouths - OMG that was the best treat in the world! Then we’d have a big ol’ Cabane breakfast with HAM and EGGS and PANCAKES and syrup on everything! Ah…those were the days! I am totally bringing my kids out to the Cabanes EVERY YEAR because a) it’s an important part of our history and b) it’s a great way to see how a whole food is produced for us to eat. Some friends make Maple Syrup up at their cottage (Hi Leanne!) and I am hoping for an invite to help out next year! (Also still counting on that canning lesson :D) Quebec did a little study on Maple Syrup and found out about some good antioxidant properties…

And – I’d like to take a moment to do another recipe review:
I made this Spiced Lentil Soup on Sunday and I highly recommend it! It’s yummy, easy, and you put everything in your slow cooker to boot (perfect for weekday suppers – it’s hearty enough to be filling, and there’s NO FAT!) – I had to sub in some stuff like I found that I had NO CURRY POWDER at the last minute! Someone must have stolen it because I have alllll my other spices, but no curry! So, instead I threw in 3 teaspoons of Tumeric (which is supposed to be super-dee-duper good for you anyhow), and although it doesn’t make the soup spicy, it made it taste very exotic (and good!). Also, since I put the kybosh on most canned goods, I have been filling my freezer with alternatives, such as home stewed tomatoes. I winged that one – I just took a buncha tomatoes, chopped them up, put them in a pot with a little water and set them to simmer til they were soft, plopped them in a freezer bag et voila. Stewed tomatoes. I also almost always use organic low sodium vegetable broth, because to this day I cannot deal with the idea of consuming factory farmed chickens (or any meat for that matter!) and since I don’t know the source of the chickens in chicken broth, I cannot bring myself to eat that either (plus, it cuts down on fat consumption anyhow – which I have to save all my fat consumption for BUTTER now that I have given up the low-fat-low-calorie-low-whatever spreads.)

And because in every Potlatch there’s always at least one ‘surprise’ or misfit dish, check this out! (I’m an egyptology-hobbyist and lately they have been making some AMAZING discoveries over there in the sand!)

More from Rodale

And Men's Health and Women's Health magazines (online)

So, I've been reading more about Organic food than I care to admit! I'm just curious about how organic a food needs to be in order to actually be deemed organic...and also, I want to know if organic food is really necessary.

I am not doubting my choices, I am just suspicious now of 'companies' and their products.

The following are two really good articles from Rodale (which is the publisher for the magazines I mentioned above, and, they claim, pioneers of the organic food movement in the states):

15 Ways to change the world.

and


The 20 best organic foods

Enjoy!

On the menu this week...

I have been a little bit delinquent with my posts lately because I haven't really been doing anything to post about! :) I reaped the benefits of all those soups that I had made and froze and ate all my home-made bread :) So, now I must replenish!

Today I am making a yummy lentil soup in my slow cooker and a layered blackbean casserole that I hope turns out because I think the recipe wasn't tried out before being published....the pan they said to use seems to big, but we'll see how it works out....it has cheese in it, so how bad could it be?? :)

And someone needs to tell me to stop making those almond butter cookies becuase once you try those, you will NEVER go back to regular chocolate chip cookies (NEVER!) I've been meaning to try them with all natural peanut butter instead of (the stupid expensive here) almond butter, but haven't been able to bring myself to mess with something so already perfect!


ED NOTE: I am TOTALLY making the Layered Black Bean Casserole AGAIN - YUMMY!

Vegetables can be fun!

I had a blast with a little thing called Spaghetti Squash! What a hilarious vegetable!

You warm it up to soften the outer skin (as much as possible anyways!) Cut it in half, then bake it cut side down....I think for about 40 minutes...then when it cools for a bit, spoon out the insides which come out like strings of spaghetti! HA! I never had so much fun with a vegetable in all my life (I lead a sheltered existence!)

In any case, I put some in a bowl and topped it with salsa and Parmesan and MMMMMM YUMMY!

Honey, I love you!

I take a Natural History course at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, & Zoo (BAMZ) and last week's lesson was on honey production in Bermuda where I got to meet beekeepr #5 Mr. Furbert. I was fascinated, even tho' I do not like bees, and I am not really all that partial to honey (Dr. Oz says honey helps cure ulcers FYI)...honey is a natural food, so I paid attention. I was fascinated to learn that the honey producers are the females (girl power!) and the honeybee pretty much lives to make it's food, which is honey...and that's all it does all day long, save for the queen who eats and has babies, and the drones who procreate with the queen...although while it is producing it's honey it does alllll kinds of awesome things for all the other food we eat - basically, it pollenates EVERYTHING.

I think the most fascinating part was that they can choose what the baby larvae grow up to be by feeding it specific food...so, if they need more worker bees (females) they feed it one kind of food (bee milk or bee bread - a mix of pollen and honey) if they need more drones (males) they feed it someting else (which I forget) and if the hive needs a new queen, they feed the larva royal jelly which they produce out of their heads...gross but true....oh, and they also make their wax from 'wax glands', and when I heard that, all I could think about was human ear wax, soooo that kind of made me think it was gross (you'll know why in a second!)

The honey in Bermuda is sooooooo yummy! So, I knew I was going home with a bottle...but Mr. Furbert also had honeycombs (not the cereal) for sale...and you know, I could not resist trying something new! This is as natural as honey can get! STILL IN THE COMB! So, being the selfless blogger that I am, I taste-tested this for you - and YUMMY it was deeeeee-lish! Tastes just like honey actually - hahahahaha! Well, you can eat the wax too...so I tried that and it was like tasteless gum, but on hot toast it was the bomb and nothing like ear wax at all!

Oh yeah...

Sorry peeps, it's raining today so I am posting left right and centre! :)

I forgot to mention that Dr. Oz (who's show I watch everyday at 4 whilst trudging on my eliptical at work! Everyone needs their motivation!)had a lady on who took a 28 day challenge to ditch all the packaged foods in her life....it's was pretty interesting because that's pretty much what I am doing (and then some!)! Check out the plan here...(There might be a clip on the site there somewhere too!)

WWOOFing

Soooooo I have always wanted to do this, but never had the time. This summer I will have the time, sooooo I get to do it.

I know you're all dying to know what the heck I am talking about so without further ado:

WWOOFing is basically going to stay on a farm where you trade labour for room and board. Best part about this is that these farms are organic! Soooo not only do you get to learn about farming, but you get to learn about sustainable farming! Cool eh?

You can WWOOF all over the world, but I am focusing on Canada.

There's an annual fee to join any WWOOF organization to cover their admin fees, which is fair.

If you're looking for something fun and different to do over your vacation, this could be it! PLUS, other than travel fees and the admin fee, it's pretty much free!

BEES!

I learned all about honey production yesterday!

I'll talk more about that in a later post (like HOW FREAKING COOL IT IS) but, I just wanted to let people know that there is a mite epidemic that is affecting bees across the globe, and some bee keepers are using persticides to get rid of them....try to only get organic honey (which is as expensive as Maple Syrup but worth it in the long run!)

Less than yesterday!

I stepped on the scale today again because I was having a self-masochistic moment this morning - and the needle was not in the same position it has been in for months! It indicated a lower amount than what I was expecting...Surprised, my first thought was that the scale was broken...because although the main purpose of this switch to whole foods is not loosing weight (butter and cheese are whole foods!) but to feel better, I was kind of expecting weight loss to be a side effect...but it wasn't, so I gave up on that hope! I mean, I feel GREAT so that alone is motivation enough, plus, once you really get on the bandwagon, your body protests non-whole food choices, and it even rebels again imitation food choices (trust! it's not pretty!) and then you actually begin to crave weird things like apples and celery and roasted cauliflower instead of chips and cookies and cake and candy. I have had the same tub of ice cream in my freezer for WEEKS (maybe more like a month!) and it only has one scoop out of it! If I was eating the old way, that baby would have been GONE in a weekend! I crave greek yogurt with honey now instead - WEIRD!



And I mean, I have not been watching what I eat at all....Green & Blacks makes a very yummy organic milk chocolate and almond bar - actually, all their chocolate is yummy- and even though I am supposed to have given up all chocolate because of the caffeine content, I am only human (and a girl human to boot) and I already had to give up wine! I use butter on toast (and everything else!) and helllooooo - I made a dish of Mac N Cheese last weekend (with quinoa macaroni - highly recommended!) and it was cheesy goodness! MMMMM!



Somehow, someway, I lost a few pounds....SO, my quest to be healthy is working, I feel great, my spirits are high, I am not hurty all the time (although still some of the time, sadly I don't think this arthritis will go away until I move home and away from such damp conditions), bodily functions are in check I believe, my bp, although it wasn't 'high' has dropped and seems good, I have energy, and I am pretty happy and I am having a blast learning all these new dishes. As a side effect, I dropped a few pounds - yay for me! My skin, however seems to be freaking out as I am having tiny breakouts everywhere and it is very dry lately....but I think that's a combination of this new way of life and ditching most of my beauty products in an effort to remove toxins from my life.

SUCRALEGE!

Sacrilege
1.treating holy thing without respect

the violation, desecration, or theft of something considered holy or sacred

2. disrespect

the disrespectful or irreverent treatment of something other people consider worthy of respect or


Sucralege

1.treating sugar without respect

the omittance of something considered sacred or sugared

2. disrespect

the disrespectful or irreverent treatment of something other people consider worthy of respect or reverence

So, I made muffins on Saturday. No big whoop there, I make stuff at the weekends all the time. The big part of this deal is , as I was assembling the ingredients, I wondered what would happen if I just didn't put in the 3/4 cup of sugar the recipe called for...which, my friends, for a baker, is pure unadulterated SUCRALEGE! I didn't even consider a 'sugar alternative' like agave or honey. I. Just. Didn't. Put. Any. Sugar. In.

And no one died! I got a dozen healthier than normal oat muffins that taste great to me, although my Guinna pig said they tasted 'fine' but would be better with honey. And I have a healthy snack! I also attempted to make granola bars, and got a little crazy-creative and switched out the sugar with apple sauce and they turned into granola pieces instead of granola bars (but they are CRAZY sweet and delicious with those raisins I keep talking about!)


Oat Muffins (from the Cooking Club at my work!)



Ingredients:

¾ cup oats (I used quick cooking oats)

1 cup buttermilk (or substitute with 1 tbs of lemon juice and regular milk, let sit for 5 minutes so the milk can curdle)

1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/3 cup canola oil

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup organic brown sugar - OR SKIP IT!

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F. Coat a 12-cup nonstick muffin pan with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.

In a small bowl, combine the oats and the buttermilk. Let soak for 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In a large bowl, stir together the oil, egg, brown sugar and vanilla until well blended. Stir in the oat mixture and applesauce. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Do not over mix.

Divide the better evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Sprinkle some oats over the muffins. Bake for 11 to 15 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Remove to the rack to cool completely.

Recipes

Hi peeps:

Just wanted to note that if anyone wants any recipes that I haven't posted but that I have talked about, just e-mail or FB me and I will send them along!

Really good video!

Mark Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat | Video on TED.com

Um, WOW! I loved this talk - my pal sent it to me! It's 20 minutes of your life, and it's well spent!

After watching this, I was thinking about MY meat consumption since I started this...and it has severly declined! For example this week, with the exception of dinner on Monday (ham), lunch on Tuesday (ham), and a taste of chicken on Thursday, I hardly ate any meat (I did have some eggs, some tuna (in a pouch, not a can), and the best piece of rockfish I've ever had too. But I am talking meat meat, like pork, beef, and chicken.) And yesterday was the best example of all...I had zero meat without even planning it that way! I had tons of veggies and fruit and protein and carbs. None of which came from meat!

Speaking of meat...we had our cooking club on Thursday and the theme this week was "Baked" (of course I brought bread!)- I had some DEEEEEELICIOUS Mac N Cheese (that I am making as soon as I get back from the store!) yummy Oat muffins (I am making these, but I am afraid I'll eat them all at once!), super pumpkin squares, baked chicken with pear salsa (making this too!) Anyhow, we got to talking about fiber, and WHY it's so good at lowering cholesterol...apparently, when you eat fiber it binds itself to some kind of salt thing in your digestive track and escorts that out of your body. Well, your body absolutely needs this salt thing in order to digest food, so it has to make more of it. It needs cholesterol in order to make this salt thing, so it uses whatever you've got stored up. And that's how you get lower cholesterol by eating more fiber! Cool huh?

A lady at work and I were also chatting about beans (oh, I have the most entertaining conversations!) and she introduced me to dry roasted edamame (soy) beans...I am not a big fan of soy beans, I find them stinky and slimy! But dry roasted they are DELICIOUS! I'm a very snacky person (unlucky me, I am a grazer), so it's been a bit of a challenge to find good for me snacks with CRUNCH (since I've all but given up on crunchy morning cereal, replaced by oatmeal which is surprisingly yummy now that I 'fixed' it!)
They have more protein but less fat than peanuts...perfect - not that I am a big peanut fan anyways, but they are a good alternative to almonds which I eat often! These are lightly salted, which is ok for every once in a while!

just one more thing about BPA then I'll lay off for a bit!

I was on this website simplesteps.org
and there was this reallly great fact sheet on BPA that I wanted to share with you.

There....that's all....I promise not to talk about BPA for at least another week ;) KIDDING!