Peanut Butter Oat Clusters **RECIPE ALERT**

I know, I know, I know.  I've been bitching and moaning about having Au Naturale sweet treats at work to combat the Evil Bar of Doom.  Yet I've never actually made any.

Behold the Benevolent Snack of Redemption!  I've been sitting on the ingredients to make this for a while and I'm now kicking myself that I haven't done it before. It is so ridiculously easy-- and fast-- I will never hesitate to make repeats.  Even with the time that it just took to sit in the fridge to harden, this was less than a half hour.  And I'm someone who always needs twice the time to cook anything.  I even took a pic of the complete ingredient list:

I didn't need the microwave, though

I've posted the recipe as written below, but I did make some substitutions.  Specifically, I used skim milk instead of 1% and almond butter instead of peanut butter.  No fancy reason why- I just simply didn't have the other two on hand. Also, I recommend using a small saucepan; I used my big one and kept pushing everything to one corner so it would all mix completely.  Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Oat Clusters

Ingredients:

2 tbs 1% lowfat milk

2 tbs peanut butter

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup hand-rolled oats

Directions:

1. Heat milk, peanut butter, and chocolate chips in a saucepan over low heat for 3 minutes or until chocolate has melted.

2. Stir in rolled oats.  Remove from heat.

3. Using a spoon, ice cream scoop, or mellon baller, scoop 8 clusters onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet.  Refrigerate for 10 minutes, or until hardened

all ingredients melting in the pan

completed clusters

clusters... close up!

Edible Chicago

My lovely boyfriend borrowed a copy of the magazine Edible Chicago for me- what a sweetheart!  I was thrilled to find this read, since I actually had been pondering how to find like-minded organizations/publications/people in order to expand my Au Naturale knowledge and sources.

The publication is a quarterly one and includes articles with seasonal recipes, restaurant profiles, and information about how and where to eat local in the Chicagoland area.  "Eat local?" you may ask. "Duh, just go down the street and you can find an abundance of restaurants and stores, and you can just eat local there.  Idiot." you mumble to yourself.

Before you judge, though, let me clarify "local".  If you follow this blog with any regularity, you have probably read that part of my Au Naturale conversion is to not just eat organic and additive-free, but to eat locally and sustainably as much as possible.  When finding certain items in the dead of winter, however,  sometimes you have to compromise.  I admit that the pacific wild-caught salmon I had for dinner last night (btw- an "excellent" choice on the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch chart, which you can download here) was garnished with (among other things) organic grape tomatoes labeled "from Mexico".  That is about as non-local as you can get.

Truthfully, the actual writing in this publication is just okay.  But I was elated to see them visit and profile local farms and the organic and sustainable methods they use.  Even better, they include a list of Chicago-area stores where you can find the farm's products-- a boon to me, since I had been feeling like I've only had two to go to, and in an instant my store list tripled.  In the current issue Edible Chicago focuses on Iron Creek Farm in Indiana, who is not only certified organic, but is also experimenting with hydroponics in a greenhouse in order to grow greens and tomatoes in the dead of winter.  Tomatoes in February from Indiana instead of Mexico?  Sign me up!

But what I love even more is the reinforcement of the types of farms, products, and stores I want to patronize.  As you've seen, I do some online research on the farms that provide items like my eggs, cheese, and meat, but I'm always just a little suspicious. After all, there is a lot of scrutiny of the organic/cage-free/vegetarian-feed, etc. industry as it's not as tightly regulated as it should be, and I'm tempted to jump in my car and visit these farms.  (It'll never happen, though.)  When I see multiple sources such as this magazine or the Slow Food movement's Chicago chapter all visiting, profiling, and recommending the same farms, I feel more convinced that the food I am buying from those specific growers is truly the food I want to eat.  And you never know what you might learn- there is an article in this edition about NorthStar Bison, a bison ranch in Wisconsin.  Bison from Wisconsin!  Who knew!  Again, sign me up.

Are you a loyal reader who doesn't live in Chicago?  Fear not!  Visit www.ediblecommunities.com to find the magazine for your locale- they are everywhere, including multiple boroughs of New York.  Read online or subscribe through the mail.  Happy local eating!

Eating My Words

In a posting from the other week, I froze with trepidation in my building's cafeteria due to a lack of Au Naturale offerings.  While the cafeteria has many healthy options, per se, I wasn't sure that I could trust that things were organic, house-made, free from HFCS, etc.

Yesterday I went down to grab a quick salad and stopped by the display table- you know, the table they set up with sample plates of all the weekly specials, such as the wrap/burger/sandwich/burrito of the week, and the daily hot selection.  What was new there, however, was a big sign with the food service provider's "mission" and "best practices".  I was pleasantly surprised to read some of the commitments they make in their food service, including:

• some burgers (such as the black bean I ate in the last post) and all sauces and marinades are made from scratch in-house
• all dairy products come from rBGH-free cows and farms
• they locally source products whenever possible and feature local Chicago-made products on the shelves
• they cure their own deli meats in-house

and some others that I don't remember now.  Sorry, no wierd sketchy random photos like I took in the bread aisle.

While they don't mention anything organic, or using pasture-raised meat, or even specify the ingredient lists of their sauces, therefore making me still question the Au Naturale-ness of their offerings, I'm still impressed that this provider is taking steps to keep their services from being fully "manufactured".  I think it goes a long way to demonstrate that going back to the way we all should be eating is a trend (even though I'm loathe to use that word) that is spreading even among big business, albeit slowly.  The fact that they also would advertise their practices goes to show that more consumers are caring about where our food comes from, too-- why bother bragging about your food standards if it's not at the forefront of people's minds?

We still have a long ways to go, but I am pleased and give a salute to my cafeteria.  I shouldn't freeze up with fear quite as much anymore when the cold compels me to dine down there.

Jordana: 1, Evil Bar of Doom: 0

There was a birthday in my office today, which inevitably means birthday treats for general consumption on the Evil Bar of Doom.  I was able to avoid walking past it all day so I couldn't even tempt myself with the knowledge of what treat was there.

And then my co-worker popped into my office and said, "Look!  Cupcakes!", waving a grocery-store chocolate cupcake at me with one hand as she licked scrumptious looking frosting off the fingers of the other.  GRRRR.

But fear not, loyal 3 or 4 readers: after dining on my favorite breakfast of the homemade toast, almond butter and banana followed by a tofu salad (with just olive oil and balsamic as my dressing) for lunch and half an 100% organic all-natural oatmeal raisin cookie from Hannah's Bretzel as a snack, I was overjoyed to remember that I had an organic apple in the fridge.  Sugar craving quenched by thinking ahead.  One step forward! Let's hope I don't take a step back later, and that any remaining cupcakes will be in the trash by the morning.

Reflection & Lessons Learned: A Month In

It's been about a month and a half since I've begun this journey, so I thought it was a good time for reflection in a Stuart Smalley kind of way. (I planned to write this at the month mark, but I kept finding more fun things to post instead, such as homemade butter.)  I keep going back and forth on worrying it is too much journaling and not enough recipes or vice versa- which means I'm probably keeping it evenly balanced.

I started to type a list of all the little things I've learned, but looking at the list I realize they can be summed up in a few wider-ranging observations:

1)  While some things have been way easier than I thought, the key to succeeding at this is planning, planning, planning.  When I slip it is almost always because I simply don't have a better option around.  The jelly bellies on the Evil Bar of Doom have been a huge downfall for me.  I have organic and natural rye crisps and potato chips at my desk, but that doesn't satisfy when you prefer sweet over savory.  I need to think and plan ahead, and start stocking my shelves with a variety of Au Naturale snacks and, on the same line, basic staples.  The other night I saw a delicious recipe for chicken that called for mustard, and I hadn't yet made the homemade version I found to replace the factory bottled stuff.  So no-go on the recipe.  I should just have things like that and other condiments at the ready right now.

2) At the same time, despite the Evil Bar of Doom, I find adhering to this new way of eating is helping me with my willpower which has always been notoriously weak.  It's easier to say "no" to something I crave not just for the sake of saying no, but because it is filled with Bad Stuff.  I just tell myself to go find something equivalent that counts as Au Naturale.  I admit I still have a ways to go, but it helps more than anything I've tried before in keeping me from gorging myself silly on stupid food that I was only eating because it was right in front of me.

3) It's so easy to slip into old habits without realizing it- but I'm getting better! For example, on the rare times I drink the generic coffee at work, my only option is the mini creamers sitting by the machine.  I have always been immediately distrustful of any type of cream that claims to not need refrigeration.  So I should always keep fresh milk on hand at work.  More recently, on the evening of the big Snowstorm of 2011, I decided to enjoy a nice cocktail while sitting by a warm fire.  Something bourbon-y seemed just the thing, so I immediately went to make a Maker's Mark and Diet Coke, a normally wonderful combination.  But as I reached for the Diet, I realized that was a huge no-no.  So, by choice, Maker's on the rocks it was.  And it was pretty good.

4)  The things that I thought would be easy are harder (see planning above), and the things I thought would be hard are surprisingly easy.  I have been able to find almost any recipe I want to make things at home.  Very reassuring.  Everything seems to be do-able: cream cheese, soy sauce, homemade cadbury cream eggs (oh yes, that will happen) can all be made from scratch.  And they will.  By me.  Don't worry, loyal 2 or 3 readers, I will document it all for you.

5)  I've realized I really want to learn more about nutritional info, how things are grown, sourced, etc.  as well as learn simply: What is anything?  One evening I was super lazy and ate a frozen Amy's breakfast burrito for dinner (hey, first day after the snowstorm, it sucked getting home).  Amy's is known for using all-natural, all-organic ingredients in her foods, but I couldn't help noticing the words "sodium benzoate" on the label.  It specifically stated that it's a natural firming agent in tofu, but the words still scared me.  From the brief research I did I learned that sodium benzoate is indeed used as a preservative, but also  can occur naturally in some foods.  It then begs the question on why, if it is naturally occurring, must it be listed in an ingredient list?  And the questions go on.  I want to find the answers!

6) I need to either relent on or severely limit my food choices when eating out at restaurants or at friends' homes.  No chance am I going to ask my friend who has graciously invited me over to her house for a party what she puts in her food.  I either need to learn to recognize the options that are most "safe" or just suck it up.

7) Finally, I need to take more time for myself and this blog.  With such a busy life it can be easy to push my cooking and baking adventures aside.  But I'm so excited to see it through I just need to make it happen and think of this as a way to relax, as opposed to yet another thing I have to do.  I will almost certainly fail if I think about it as the latter.

So, based upon these initial lessons learned, expect to see more posts on all of the above.  And more recipes!  Thanks again for joining me on this journey.

Bread and Butter **RECIPE ALERT**

The weekend is drawing to a close, and I enjoyed it in a fully Au Naturale way filled with delicious food and just as delicious leftovers: homemade mac & cheese; fish tacos with homemade guac; organic yogurt for breakfast; and a quick trip to the winter farmer's market for eggs and milk.  It felt good to be back on the wagon.

One thing I needed to address, though, was the inevitable demise of the farmer's market wheat bread (of which I have waxed poetic about through this blog) and the handrolled butter, also of the farmer's market.  Both had inconveniently bit the dust at the same time. Also considering my wheat ran out at the same time as the remainder of my homemade rye, trying my own wheat seemed like a good choice for my next baking adventure.

Of course I needed the butter to go with it, and if you read my very first blog entry you'll know why I am hesitant to buy even organic store made butter.  The problem with flame retardant, it seems, is not so much the butter but the packaging surrounding it, causing the chemical to leech into the butter itself.  This does bring up the problem with modern packaging- plastics vs. metal (and the included protective coating) vs. vegetable wax, etc., but that's another blog entry for another time.

Butter is crazy-beyond-easy to make.  Below is the recipe, in 3 lines or less:

Homemade Butter:
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt (optional)


Pour cream into food processor or blender and blend for 10 minutes, or until the butter separates.  (For me, the butter began to form after only about 5 minutes, then liquified, then resolidified with the yellowish color we are generally used to).  Strain out the liquid, and season to taste with salt if desired.  Press butter into a small bowl with back of spoon to further remove liquid.

That's it!!  And it is beyond delicious.  Store-bought butter, it's been nice knowin' ya.

As for what to put beneath the butter, please enjoy the below wheat bread recipe: it is easy to do for even those who don't have much experience baking.  I used as many organic ingredients as possible and also added 1/4 cup of flax seed to give it even more of a nutritional boost:

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients

• 3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup honey
• 5 cups bread flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2. Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt (and flax seed if you desire). Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
3. Punch down, and divide into 2 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely

My apologies for no photos of the bread, as they would have pretty much looked just like the rye pics but a little lighter in color.

Instead, please enjoy pictures of the other tasty meals of this weekend:

colorful tacos, no?

fish tacos with accoutrements 

marinated spicy fish for tacos.  Yum!

taco bar.  Notice the "400 Pound Monkey" Beer bottle

Baked Mac & Cheese

On the Road Again

Last weekend was blissfully Au Naturale for me.  A very lazy weekend with my best man involved dinners of jasmine rice and sustainable fish on Friday; range-raised meat with a mint pesto sauce on Saturday; and homemade chili and red velvet cupcakes at a friend's house for Superbowl Sunday. The hosting couple keeps a kosher household, which means that the meat must be raised and killed humanely and often involves cooking with the good ingredients, so I felt pretty confident that their offerings met my goals.  Breakfast and lunch were up to par, too: organic granola and yougurt; humanely-and-free-range raised eggs served with my heavenly wheat bread; freshly ground peanut butter; cheese and crackers.  Ahhh.  I was proud of my meals and happily stuffed.

In the midst of all of that goodness, we killed the last of my summer farmer's market wheat bread so decided it was time to bake my own.  I found a recipe with about 500 good reviews... and then proceeded to mildly screw it up.  The bread's not bad, it just didn't rise quite the way it should have and we're pretty sure that we know what we did wrong.  Take 2 is set for this weekend.

Unfortunately, the joyous weekend was followed by another few days on the road for work, this time down to Kentucky.  I had plans to bring some fruit and homemade snacks with me, but long story short: I didn't.  Not that it mattered.  I landed in Kentucky just in time for a few days of snowstorms (and I say that liberally- for Kentucky a snowstorm is 3 inches) which screwed up my schedule royally, giving me time for things like decent lunches and no excuses to gobble down gas station snacks. 

The trip was not without it's hiccups, though.  Because my exhausted body ran out the door at 5:30am to make my flight and I forgot the apple, an airport breakfast would have to suffice.  However, my choices were limited as the nearest coffee stop had just the nastiest looking bananas as the only natural option.  I couldn't go without food, though, so I grabbed a pre-packaged muffin.  When I got to my gate, I stopped to read the ingredient label and almost wished I hadn't.  We'll just leave it at that.

I was able to make do for the rest of the trip considering I spent most of my time in small towns in rural western Kentucky.  I lunched at Subway, where I had some foresight to grab a bag of Mrs. Vick's jalapeno chips to snack on in the car.  While not truly organic, it had none of the added preservatives of the other chips on the rack.  Dinner was a steak at a chain restaurant, with just some spices and plain grilled asparagus.  Again, not perfect as I'm sure the cow was raised in a feedlot with a corn diet, but probably the best I could do considering I was staying in Paducah, KY-- yes, Paducah, look it up-- and all the "real" restaurants in town had shut down early because of the snow.  All 3 inches.  Which had been plowed by then.  Okay, okay, moving on....

For the most part, the rest of the trip ran that way.  Not 100% Au Naturale, but avoiding at least the prepackaged and preservative-filled foods, as far as I could tell.  Eggs, fruit, and salad filled my day.  One client I visited graciously offered to buy me lunch in the school cafeteria.  I ordered a chef's salad, as it looked to be the safest thing on the menu.  Unfortunately, this small cafe's version involved iceberg lettuce, pickles (pickles in a salad?), and a couple of other random things.  It was... interesting. 

I was very proud of my ability to resist the McDonald's drive-through, if you remember how that went on my last trip, until I was headed back to the airport to come home. It had begun to snow again, the roads were slow, and I was running late for my last meeting.  When I finally got out, it was 4:15 and all I had to eat that day was breakfast.  I had precious little time to get back to the airport- I had budgeted for the one hour trip but knew because of the weather I would need some buffer time- and considered not eating, but decided that would have been a bad idea so through the drive-thru I went.  In the end, though, I forgave myself this indescrection: the 1 hour drive turned into a 4.5 hour nightmare, causing me to miss 2 flights and have to spend an extra night in Nashville.  If I had gone until 10pm (when I finally arrived at the hotel) without lunch, it would have been very, very bad.  Needless to say, dinner was room service: chicken quesadillas and a big glass of wine.  I earned it.

So the challenge of eating on the road continues.  I hope the next trip fares as a better read, my loyal 3 or 4 readers.  I quickly made up for the week at a sake tasting last night-- a super Au Naturale liquor, as I learned-- and look forward to another blissful weekend with some baking and cooking adventures to get me back in the groove.

Lunchtime in the Tundra

In theory it would be great for me to pack a lunch every day.  Eat healthy, save money, all that good stuff.  But the reality is that it's just damn hard.  Many evenings I simply don't have the energy to clean up the kitchen after cooking, much less make yet another meal.  Mornings... well, if you've ever met me you know mornings aren't my strong suit.  I can barely get it together to make coffee before I sprint out the front door.  I've tried making double dinners and taking leftovers, but that gets boring quickly.  I've also tried preparing a week's worth of food on Sunday but by Thursday, it's pretty gross.  So, out to the cafes and restaurants it is.

Yesterday, however, made me realize I need a contingency plan.  While I was in the mood to make one of my increasingly regular visits to Hannah's Bretzel for one of their tofu or alaskan salmon sandwiches to which I've become addicted, it was the day after the big Snowstorm of 2011 which meant that the temperature was in the negatives.  The windchill just made it dip further into the negatives.  My office building is right by the lake, so those of you from Chicago know that it was even more frigid right there.  Despite my cravings I decided it just wasn't worth it to get frostbite while walking over the Chicago River, so down to the building cafeteria I went.

Our cafeteria really isn't too bad.  There's the make-your-own salad bar, the fancy salad and wrap bar, sandwiches, soups, burgers, hot station, and more.  Plenty of choices.  But as I looked around, unsure of what I wanted, I also realized that there weren't many options that would fit an Au Naturale lunch.  The specialty salad and wrap station, a favorite, was featuring a turkey wrap with asparagus and other tasty veggies and stuff.  I couldn't help wonder what that turkey was made out of.  Turkeys, yes, I know, but the super-pale and unnaturally pinkish color and the glossy sheen made me wonder if it came out of a large pack, stuffed full of nitrates and processed beyond belief.  So a wrap was out.

I could have done the make-your-own salad bar, but beyond the obvious fact that all of the options were bagged from huge factories and non-organic, I just simply wasn't in the mood for a salad.  So that was out, too.

Pre-made soups were most likely not made in-house and contained an absurd amount of sodium.  The mexican station and custom sandwich station scared me off because I didn't trust the bread and tortillas (see the ingredient list from the beefsteak rye in a previous post and you'll know why).  I was getting exhausted and overwhelmed.

Finally I settled on a veggie burger from the burger station.  It was one of the few things in the cafeteria that specifically stated "made in-house" and contained barley, lentils, celery, carrots, and more.  I was wary of the bun they put it on, but I no longer had options.  On my way out, I grabbed a pre-made packet of mustard and inspected it closely.  Only about 5 ingredients, and I recognized them all.  I determined that the mustard was safe.

But the experience made me realize, like with my ongoing snacking dilemma, that I need to prepare some emergency options to keep in the office freezer for days like today.  Right now I'm lunching on organic chicken noodle soup from the grocery store that I forgot I had at my desk.  And Amy's Kitchen makes some really tasty food that is also completely all-organic and all-natural, and most often vegetarian and vegan.  In fact, it's some of the best tasting frozen food out there.  I will make a note to stock up on my next grocery run.  But until then, either I freeze over the bridge to get my Hannah's fix or I find some other options that are closer.

Gold 'n Plump Chicken

That was what the big sign said on the side of the barn as I drove past during the business trip of the previous post.  I believe I was on the Minnesota side of the river at this point.

The name kind of made me shudder.  I realize that is a bit presumptuous.  You know, "don't judge a book by it's cover" kind of thing.  But I feel if it were a small, sustainable, truly natural family-owned chicken farm, it wouldn't need to resort to a catchy play on words, like using "Gold 'n" instead of "golden".  And, to reference yet again my often-referenced movie bible "Food Inc", this was just the type of chicken farm they profile: a big, long sheet metal barn with just a few small air vents on the side.  No sunlight was getting through that sucker.  I wondered how many chickens were crammed inside, and how many dead bretheren they were having to step over to eat their corn and soy-based and who-knows-what-else feed.

(I did want to make a comment about how I saw no chickens outside, then remembered it was about 15 degrees.  Never mind.  I prefer my boneless, skinless chicken breast frostbite-free.)

Anyhoo, since seeing that barn I felt it was necessary to research the company to make sure my knee-jerk assumptions weren't just knee-jerk assumptions.  Being the kind of 21st century gal I am, I went immediately to the internet.

At first glance it looks just fine.  They profile the honest, hard working American families who contribute to the Gold 'n Plump family.  The tagline under "Story" says "Chicken done the right way, not the easy way.  With only the best care.  Meaning nothing added you don't want.  No shortcuts.  No compromises. Just wholesome, delicious chicken.  From our farmers to your family's table."

That doesn't sound too bad, right?  They care.

And truthfully, I do believe they care.  They're not specifically in the business to poison people.  They want to make a chicken that tastes good so people will continue to want to buy their chicken.  But tell me- what chicken company wouldn't?  So how do you tell the ones who really raise their chickens in a fully Au Naturale manner from the ones that cram their chickens in a windowless barn, feeding them stuff they weren't biologically designed to digest, and pumped full of antibiotics?

You do more research.

I certainly am not going to claim to be an expert on the full operations of this particular company.  To do so would be slanderous and probably a bit misleading.  But I wanted to find out as much as I could, especially when a number of miles down the road I passed a big factory-like processing plant that announced they were the feed manufacturer for Gold 'n Plump Chicken.  The fact that there is one big feed manufacturer for all the chickens- when the farms are supposedly small and family run- was my first clue it wasn't all good.

My second clue was from an article I found about a young entrepreneur who was also doing a social good with all the food waste around the Twin Cities area.  Basically he started his business by driving around to all the bakeries in the area who make fresh baked goods daily, picking up whatever they hadn't sold, and carting it away to his processing plant to turn it into feed.  As his business grew, the types of food waste he picked up expanded to ice cream, potato chips, crackers, vegetables, cups of pudding, and more.  It does seem like a great way to recycle, actually.  Otherwise the food would be thrown out and many resources would have been wasted.  In any case, a number of companies signed on to use his feed including-- you guessed it-- Gold 'n Plump.  That means that the chickens they sell are themselves eating a combination of old, stale donuts, ice cream, pudding, and who knows what else. "Nothing added you don't want to eat"?  Personally, I wouldn't want to eat stale donuts as part of my dinner- it doesn't take a genius to figure out what would quickly happen to my overall health.  So logically, I don't want to eat their chickens.  How healthy can they be with a diet like that?  Sorry, Gold 'n Plump.

The lesson of this story?  Know what you eat.  Don't believe catchy tag lines.

P.S.  The happy ending to this tale:  About 20 minutes down the road, there was a simple sign hammered into the ground pointing the way to an organic chicken farm.  It made me smile.