spiphywarfare

Category: Real Food

  • Whole Wheat Bagels

    Whole Wheat Bagels

    I was ready to try something new with whole wheat today. After church I set up the KitchenAid to grind some wheat into flour. The little man got into the action to help with this part.

    They were amazingly simple to make and required very little time where I was actually having to do something. I had to let them rise for an hour, boil them for one minute, and finally bake them for about twenty minutes. Getting the dough mixed probably took about thirty minutes including grinding the grain.

    The ultimate test came when I dropped one into the toaster and covered it with butter after it came out. Once that was done it was very plain to me that I was having breakfast for dinner. A couple of pieces of bacon, a scrambled egg, chipotle mayo, and a little smoked cheddar finished off my day. This thing was more hardy and filling than any bagel I’ve ever had.

    I have no doubt one of these things could power me through an entire day. Hmmmm, wonder what breakfast will be tomorrow.

    This article was first published on November 23, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • First Shot at Sausage

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    I tried something completely new this past weekend. I made sausage.

    I initially intended only to put three heads of garlic through the grinder attachment of the KitchenAid. While I had it out I thought, I might as well grind up the pork shoulder roast my lovely wife picked up for me. It occurred to me that I was more than halfway through with making sausage. Something I’d been wanting to try. So off we went.

    Once all the spices were decided on, I started dumping them in with the ground pork already in the mixing bowl.

    The hog casings were not as gross to handle as I thought they would be. Even the little man got in on the action. He was enjoying keeping the casing straight until he asked, “What is this stuff anyway, Dad?” Strangely, he lost most of his interest in helping about that time.

    As they came out I twisted them into a few different lengths. I figured I’d cook a few individually then later smoke a few lengths.

    That evening when it was time to eat, I cut one of the shorter ones off and tossed it in a pan with some sliced onion. I’m fairly certain my wife would have been quite justified in questioning my sanity shortly after. Not many mid-forties men go running into the living room yelling, “Look, it’s a sausage!”

    I did.

    It tasted good and had zero sugar or chemicals.

    This article was first published on November 19, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Reveille

    Reveille

    I can’t see it, but I know it’s out there. Somewhere the sun is clawing through the darkness. It will announce its presence with burst of wonderful color.

    Down below, many of us will miss it, caught in the rush of life. Are the kids ready? Do I have my school assignment ready? Am I forgetting anything for that presentation?

    I’ll just stop and grab something to eat somewhere.

    Stop!

    Take a moment and take the time to cook. I know I have another long day ahead of me. I need a breakfast that will last. A carb-filled fiasco handed stuffed in a paper sack isn’t going to do the trick.

    I toss some butter in a pan and put about a third of a chopped onion on it. I follow that with a chopped jalapeño. I scrambled three eggs while the onion, peppers sautéed. I tossed in a quarter cup of some leftover, diced ham and poured in the eggs.

    When it was done, I topped it off with a little bit of sour cream, some cheese, and a dot of hot sauce for some extra color.

    Eggs, ham, cheese

    In all it took about twenty minutes, and I am sure was less costly than anything I could have picked up on the way to work.

    This article was first published on November 10, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Apparently There is Bad Publicity

    “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

    “Any publicity is good publicity.”

    I don’t know how many times or ways I have heard sayings expressing the general idea that bad press is still press. According to Plunkett Research, there are $177.8 billion dollars spent on advertising in the U.S every year. To get an idea of how big that number is, 177.8 billion seconds will take 338,280 years.

    SOOOoooooo it would seem reasonable to assume that getting your brand or product out there is a good thing. I’d always assumed that was kind of where those saying came from. Even bad stories get you exposure.

    What if the government mandated your product be identified? How excellent would that be? Apparently it’d be terrible.

    Oregon recently had to decide on whether to pass a bill requiring labeling of GMO products. It failed. The cash and other contributions given to defeat this bill are outlandish.

    Monsanto Corporation boasts on their website how adding genes to various vegetables gives them resistance to disease. Why then, would they feel the need to give almost $6 million dollars to keep the state of Oregon from requiring genetically modified foods to be labeled as such? What is worth $20 million to an advertising agency to keep voters in Oregon from knowing what they are eating? Why is PepsiCo willing to fork out over $2 million to defeat this bill?

     The group opposing labeling GMO’s claims they fear the destruction of family farms because of costs associated with labeling what someone is eating. Why then are their top thirty supporters corporations? (PDF based on Oregon Sec. of State records)There are reports that GMO foods lead to organ failure. Perhaps this COULD be the reason that makers would oppose labeling products properly.

    Unfortunately, I’ve asked several questions here without providing any answers. Obviously private companies operate for a profit. I can only think these corporations must feel that their profits would go down at least as much as they donated if the labeling was required? I would love to know why they feel that way.

    This article was first published on November 8, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Cooking & Joy

    Cooking & Joy

    It’s a bit late in the evening. Today was a hectic day, and things didn’t quite go as planned. A late dinner awaits me. As it cooks, the smell of smoked bacon, garlic, onion, and a load of spices fills the house. While the pot of beans cook I decided to make use of the time by going through some folders filled with photos.

    I noticed that many of the pictures had my children helping out.  Something kids love to do before they hit the teenage years. Even though I have not been eating better and cooking healthier for long, it has paid benefits beyond how I look or feel.

    V pours oil JH-pours-salt

    Just about every time I walk into the kitchen the kids run in behind me asking “Daddy can I help?” The answer is almost always yes. Knowing that I am passing on healthy habits while I spend time with my family is somehow very satisfying. Much more satisfying than the bowl of beans will be in just a few short moments.

    (NKJV) Ecc. 6:7 All the labor of man [is] for his mouth, And yet the soul is not satisfied.

    Changing your lifestyle is about more than what and how much you eat. It’s about focusing your life on those things that are important. God. Family. Contentment.

    Everything else is chasing the wind.

    This article was first published on November 3, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Pan Grilled Tuna

    Pan Grilled Tuna

    One of the most frequently cited reasons for not eating healthier is “I can’t afford it.” That ranks right up there with not having the time or the know-how. I understand all of those. There is no magic formula to address them either. They can be overcome with a little effort and dedication if you are willing.

    But today, once again, I’m talking about affordability. Affordability doesn’t always line-up with ease. For one thing, the USDA recognizes that “produce prices tend to be more volatile” than prices for staple foods. I think this statement can extend beyond produce to any fresh food. Prices for food free of stabilizers, preservatives and other chemicals has a reduced shelf life and is effected more by seasonality. This reduced shelf life translates into lost profit for retailers if the product isn’t sold and with a little effort, you can turn this to your advantage. For instance…

    This package containing two tuna steaks was in the local markets sale area. If your on a tight budget, the slightly more than 40% reduction in price can move fresh tuna steaks from the realm of a special evening meal that needs planning to, “Hey, how about this for dinner?”

    On Sale Tuna

    The steaks in this particular package found their way into a grill-pan. Prior to that, they were briefly soaked in a whisked together mix of:

    • Olive oil
    • Sesame oil
    • Red wine
    • Red wine vinegar
    • Salt & pepper

    I spooned it over them while they were cooking in the pan.

    Tuna-Cooking

    Cooked for a little less than a minute on each side they were then put on a plate to rest.

    Cooked-tuna-on-plate

    I followed up with a little of the oil mixture above that had been set aside and a tiny bit of wasabi paste.

    End result, a delicious, affordable tuna steak for about half of what you would expect it to cost.

    When relying on cost-savers to eat healthy, you do have to put forth a little more effort to ensure you are still getting a quality product. I would recommend that you shy away from reduced-price meat that has been highly seasoned if you can avoid it. Firstly, there have been cases where grocers were accused of using lots of seasoning to hide meats that were about to go bad. Second, you can’t be sure what that seasoning contains and one goal of healthy eating is to get more control over what goes into your body. If you shop at a reputable grocer you should have no issues.

    Concerned over cost saver meats/poultry/seafood? Read more:

    This article was first published on October 19, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Chicken Jalapeño Scramble

    Chicken Jalapeño Scramble

    Need a quick, affordable breakfast? Try this one on for size. A word of caution, you better be hungry.

    Slice up a couple of jalapeño peppers, half an onion, and toss them into a skillet with some butter to sauté. While that’s going on, I cracked two eggs into a bowl and beat them well. I prefer to add about a tablespoon of heavy cream to my eggs, but that is not necessary.

    Next, pour your eggs into the skillet. Grate some cheese of your choice, I used a mix of Colby Jack & Pepper Jack. Put a bit of the cheese into the eggs and set the rest aside. Give the eggs a quick stir.

    The little wife picked up a package of chicken at the store pretty cheap. OK, real cheap. I took one of those that was already cooked, diced it up, and in it went. The whole thing took about twenty minutes and cost less than the price of a fast food breakfast. It tasted better too.
    plated-cheesy-jalapeno-chicken-scramble

    This article was first published on October 14, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Acquired Tastes

    He says none of it adds up to food but is just a chemical nostalgia. link

    Janice Norris quoting Bruce Weinstein in her article Let’s Take Back Out Country. Her story is an excellent read. She is convinced that eating real food can make us lose our taste for the fake stuff.

    That is something I can attest to personally. After years of eating a less than healthy diet, I made some changes in the way I ate and lived. Those changes affected my tastes.

    I will never forget the moment in the produce section that I walked past the tomato bin and was struck by a completely foreign idea. I wanted a tomato. I’d never wanted a tomato in my life before. In fact, I’d check everything that might have tomato on it before I’d dive in. Quite frankly, maybe “inspected” everything is more accurate than “checked”. I was serious about not eating tomato.

    Today, I love tomato. I make sure to get them for salads, burgers, and anything else they can go on. I’ve had the same experience with mushrooms and other foods.

    Janice is right on target.

    This article was first published on October 11, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Veg-Heavy Stir Fry

    We were talking about a dinner we’d made and the wife pointed out that this was a myth-busting meal. Whether through ignorance or malice I cannot say, but low-carb diets are often maligned as not containing enough vegetables. So, I present to you a veg-heavy stir-fry.

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    We’ve turned food preparation time into family time together. Everyone gets in on prepping the ingredients before we start cooking two batches. We’re blessed to have two wok-style pans. That way I can add a little sausage and egg into mine as well as a little extra kick. We each took what we wanted and tossed it into a pan of hot oil.

    • jalapeños
    • bell pepper
    • cabbage
    • almonds
    • mushrooms
    • snow peas
    • broccoli
    • onions
    • zucchini
    • garlic
    • water chestnuts
    • sausage
    • eggs
    • sriracha
    • assorted oils
      • olive
      • sesame
      • chili

    Myth buster. Low-carb is not low-vegetables. Secondly all of the ingredients for this, allowing about $3.00 for the oils, cost about $15.00. These two pans worked out to six individual meals. Myth two busts an excuse too, at $2.50/meal it’s hard to claim eating healthy is too expensive.

    cura ut valeas

    This article was first published on October 9, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.

  • Green Beans & Sausage

    Green Beans & Sausage

    One of the reasons I hear time and again for not eating healthy is, “I can’t afford it.” That used to be one of my personal favorites. If you think the only way to eat healthy food is to eat only locally grown, super-organic, ultra-natural whatever, then you’re right. That’s not the only way.

    You do have to be dedicated. You do have to understand that making better food choices involves effort. That’s not a bad thing because EFFORT IS FREE!

    The effort involves looking in the right places in the store when you are there. Our local Market Street has the best produce around, and a quick trip in the store netted me a meal on the cheap.

    • 9/10ths of a pound of green beans – $1.05
    • one onion – $0.31
    • one-half pound of polish sausage on sale – $0.84
    • plus about $0.50 worth of raw almonds
    • maybe $1.00 or so worth of homemade bacon
    • and about $0.10 worth of garlic

    Put everything but the sausage in a pot of water, and boil for an 1 1/2 hours or so. Heat up the sausage in the microwave or a skillet.

    Green Beans with Sausage

    This made my entire meal plus provided servings of truly excellent green beans for two others.

    This article was first published on October 5, 2014 and was recovered using AI and web.archive.org.