We decided to write today about how we’re all doing for the Real Food Challenge so far. I know it just kicked off a few days ago, but it’s only going for a short month, and we promised Friday wrap-ups, so here goes. ***comment with your wrap-up by Sunday and you’ll be entered to win a copy of Food, Inc.
*****
Alan here. Week One has been “challenging” here at the Roost. We make most of our food from scratch already, so I’ve been trying to find more local, whole, nutrient dense ingredients. That’s been very difficult given the time of year, the weather, and my unwillingness to drive 1 1/2 hours to a store that has “local” food. So, this week we mostly failed on the local part. Next week should be even more challenging because we will start running out of our stored apples, squash, and some other things. Better planning for the garden has already begun. The only complaints I’ve had from the kids is in the snack department. Lots of “there’s nothing to eat!” and “I don’t want another apple!” They learned to expect morning and afternoon tea as well as three meals per day when we lived in NZ. Popcorn and apples lose their appeal pretty quickly. All our attempts at crackers have been failures. I did find a new recipe last night that I’m going to try. Fingers crossed.
Our biggest success has been getting everyone on board for getting a grain mill and narrowing the search. I think we have decided and will be ordering next week. (No I’m not going to tell you what we are planning. You’ll have to come back to find out.) It’s an investment, and without all the eaters willing to switch to mostly whole grains it wouldn’t be worth getting. Sitting on the shelf looking pretty doesn’t make our food better. We are also committed to trying to grow a small plot of grain this year. More on that later too.
*****
At Chiot’s Run it’s been a busy busy week. This week has been prime sugaring season as next week looks to be as well. Since we’ve been busy collecting and boiling down sap (and working on the Real Food Challenge here), I haven’t had time to make any “seasonal” meals, in fact I haven’t had time to cook at all. Not to mention we had a big snowstorm last weekend and I wasn’t able to get to the farmer’s market. As a result, we’ve been eating mainly food from the freezer, bean soup from local heirloom beans and tomato soup from homegrown tomatoes along with some homemade sourdough bread have made up lunches and dinners. For breakfast we’ve been enjoying soaked oat groats all week, topped with maple syrup, walnuts, cinnamon and ginger. If you want to see some photos and an explanation of our sugaring efforts, head on over to my blog and check it out.
*****
It’s Kim here…well this week has been quite interesting so far!
Hubby and daughter are not feeling well…and snarly. Our oldest son graduated college, can’t find a job so moved back in. That means that I now for the first time in 4 years have all 5 of my children ages 2 to 24 living under one roof…MINE!
So here is the unvarnished truth…I have done well with the challenge, hubby is grouchy about it, daughter is whiny about everything, big boys think I’m crazy, and little one doesn’t care what he eats!
I have tried making homemade pasta…I suck! I have never been very good with a rolling-pin. So after watching Jamie Oliver on YouTube over and over again I contacted Amazon.com and had them send me one of those pasta roller/cutter things. It arrived this morning. I pray it will save me from this pasta disaster!
On a brighter note I have made 6 loaves of multi-grain sandwich bread, 4 loaves of raisin cinnamon bread, 2 huge batches of sticky buns, and a batch olive oil bread for homemade pizza…all since Monday! So I may have failed in pasta 101 but got an A+ in bread making!
We have made cashew milk numerous times and now have the recipe down to the minimum amount of sweetener the kids will allow!
I keep forgetting to soak the beans so it has been lentils 2 nights so far this week…which I love but they makes hubby gassy. Hmmm, could be one of the reasons he is grouchy.
My oldest kids keep going to the frig, looking in and saying “mom there’s nothing to eat in here” which I reply “if you want something to eat you’ll have to make it“. To which I get a not so well hidden eye roll as they slump off to their computers. My 24-year-old college educated un-employed son had the nerve to call me a hippy yesterday… a crazy vegan hippy granola to be exact. Well at least I’m not living with my mother!
I have noticed more than usual Taco Bell wrappers in the garbage can in the garage…they think I don’t notice but oh I do! Taco Bell is sooooo not part of this challenge!
So 5 days into this the verdict so far is…good for mama…on the rest the jury is still out!
*****
At our house things are going a little better. I haven’t had a full on mutiny yet (sorry, Kim!), but I have had some weird looks from the Hubby – “Jennifer, I don’t know about this…” and some funny expressions from the Kid – “You want us to eat that?” I’ve made two new kinds of cheeses this week as well as crackers and tortillas. Each was accepted relatively well and even … dare I say it … enjoyed!
We did have some unusual activity this week and I didn’t get to make as many munchies for the kid as I’d like. I also totally flopped at my first attempt at sourdough pancakes even if the dog loved them. Now that it looks like winter is passing us by, I’ll be spending even more time away from the kitchen. If there’s one thing I did learn it’s that I need to have some snacks made and some fast dinners at hand or prepared and in the freezer (yes, I kept forgetting to soak beans too). This weekend I’ll make an extra meal and a big pot of beans that I can keep in the freezer or refrigerator. I’ll get my hand on some more popcorn, and probably break down and buy some apples and celery for quick snacks.
Overall we’ve done pretty well. I look forward to this next week to see what kind of meals I can create without burnout and too many weird looks.
*****
So how’s the Real Food Challenge going for you so far? Let us know by Sunday, March 7th and we’ll enter you in a drawing for a copy of Food, Inc – the film that motivated this very challenge. We’ll announce the winner in Monday’s post.
My challenge is going ok. I made soaked granola bars yesterday. The kids didn’t even try them. Maybe they’ll be desperate enough this weekend when the almond bars I made Tuesday run out. I cooked a pretty local meal of pan fried pork sausage (local hogs, locally made sausage), turnips (local) homemade cordito (sauerkraut), also local. The only thing not local was the spicy mustard, but it was processed by a local food maker.
My husband’s German ancestors would not have felt weird or out of place at my dinner table that night.
I found some chicken feet @ the Asian market, which I was pretty pumped about. I think I’m going to do like one of the blog authors suggested and try to do some prep or make snacks for the week on Sunday. Kids & dh are going to be out, so instead of spending the whole day online, I’ll be more productive!
I think that’s the key to enjoying Real Food and still having a life. One big day of prep can put you on easy street for the week. (well maybe no easy street, but functionally sane anyway…) Snacks are the hardest thing for us too. Some of it is learning new skills, and some of it is changing tastes. Can’t wait to hear what you do with the chicken feet.
My biggest victory was getting a full gallon of fresh, locally grown, harvested and pressed olive oil. No more Costco-half-rancid-already stuff. Last Saturday, I also got chicks that we are raising for egg production. We’ve worked on the coop this week in between rainstorms. The one of children I babysit came over throwing up unexpectedly and threw me for a loop on my green smoothies. I am renewing my effort to get a full quart daily today.
I roasted a couple of chickens this week for a couple of meals worth of meat. I made broth with the bones. I recieved my water kefir grains in the mail and began my first batch. this children have grown used to seeing milk kefir and kombucha on the counter, but they are really interested in the “raisins, lemons and eggshell” concoction I have going.
I have a tutorial up about how to clean chicken feet and make them broth ready:
http://nourishingthecrew.blogspot.com/2010/02/week-four-chicken-feet.html
My first week has been ok. I haven’t tried making anything new. Though I made bread for sandwiches and toast. We used it for pizza last night and also tomatoes from last summer that were in the freezer. I made a big pot of beans.
My biggest challenge this week was not planning ahead. I would find myself gone from home all day and having not planned on any food to bring and feeling kind of hungry.
I am going to make crackers today and stock up on some local cheese.
No complaints from the family though, so that is nice!
I think I have not done too good. My kids told me today they are really burnt out on granola. I reminded them they love granola and they responded not when it is all they have to eat. I will have to get busy this weekend and do more cooking. We do buy raw milk from our milk man who delivers three days a week to us, so that helps some. I have to admit to making whole wheat pancakes for dinner last night, like I said creativity would help for sure. I thought we did not eat processed food, but in not using it have found how much I do rely on it in the cooking I do. Ah well there is always beans and rice.
We had a great week! My husband loves the fresh baked bread so much that I can feed him pretty much anything. As long as he has fresh bread on his plate or can smell fresh bread baking he is a happy man. No one really noticed that I switched to real butter and I was the only one using artificial sweeteners to begin with so I was the only one who had to make that change. We continue to dehydrate apples as our primary snack food and my 19 month old loves them (so does his mama)! I got a book about canning today and some of the supplies. It isn’t really canning season in Western PA right now but I want to learn…. garden planting is just around the corner and I am trying to plan a little better this year so our harvest is more spread out and I can can things to use all winter. Thanks for the motivation and inspiration everyone!
Deb, I’m already buying my pickling supplies, taking stock of my canning jars and seeing how many lids/rings I bought at the clearance sale last fall! It’ll be canning time before you know it!
Kim’s family is cracking me up with the “secret” Taco Bell wrappers. My family does the same thing when I’m away from the house (particularly on a vacation) – they sneak in all the food I won’t bring in. I know they do so now I just tell them to get rid of the evidence.
Great end of the week Food Challenge wrap-up – makes for entertaining reading. Congrats to all of you.
We have done well this week with the challenge. It is how we normally live, although I had to smile at the wrappers in the garbage comment, I see my husbands candy wrappers from time to time.
Alan, we have been seriously thinking of getting a grain mill, still looking at the various brands, etc. We would like to be able to purchase local organic grain from a friend. Also, whole wheat flour doesn’t store well for long, it would be better to store the wheat and grind as we need.
Crackers got made today. Here’s the link http://www.robertsroostfarm.com/2010/03/crackers.html
Unfortunately I only found out about the challenge this morning, so we’ll pretend the KFC after my late teaching day Wednesday never happened hmmmm? I’m working through existing stock in the larder, so haven’t had the challenge of shopping for things like local cheeses etc (not going to make my own, whatever Jen says). My question is– what constitutes local? I’m just 50 miles south of fantastic Wisconsin boutique cheesemakers, and I’m counting it!
In the meantime, planning on bread baking Monday; since I’m out of flour my first real challenge is finding some locally milled!
For me Local would be limited to places I could walk to in a day. I can realisticly walk about 5 mile an hour so for a one day round trip that puts local within a 20 mile circle of my house. 50 miles would be a push for me. Even with a sleep over at the end.
I don’t walk everywhere. We shop in Columbus quite often and that is 75 miles away. Right now those are the options available. But in my head and my heart 20 miles is local. I can know the people, the land, the climate. It is intimate. What happens there matters to me. What I do every day makes a difference at that scale.
Ok, you just stepped off the deep end now Alan. Sorry. Just thoughts.
Good luck with the bread.
For me local constitutes about 100 mile radius. Within this I can find grain, meat, cheese, etc. If I limited mine to 20 miles I’d be hard pressed to find many veggies. I don’t eat fully locally, I buy oranges, lemons, grapefruit etc. When I buy them I try to find a small grower from localharvest to order from. I also try to shop from small local places.
I think local depends on the area you live in. If you live in a city you probably need a bigger radius, if you live in an agricultural area, perhaps not so big.
I’d recommend reading the book: Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet -quite good read about one couple’s story of eating locally for a year.
Glad you’re here Xan! If there’s anyone that I know that eats her share of seasonal foods, it’s definitely you. I’m not sure anyone else could’ve taught me to appreciate winter squash!
The book Plenty is really a good read! They have a website where you type in your zip code and it gives you the 100 mile radius. I feel ripped off though, because about 40+ miles of my 100 miles is in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico! Yes, I can get fresh seafood, but I won’t go catch it myself LOL.
I’ve started my challenge with breakfast and I must say it is going well. Whole oats with various dried fruits and honey as well as home made yogurt with fruit puree. Really satisfying and yummy. I’ll have to find good bread with no preservatives at a local bakery so I can add lunch this week. I have no time to be baking bread right now. I look forward to continuing the challenge.
I summed up our week on my blog – http://jules138.blogspot.com/2010/03/real-food-friday-wrap-up.html
I’m reading these comments and feeling very thankful that I have two young children – a seven year old who is quite used to Mom’s crazy experiments and ideas, and a two year old who will happily eat anything I put in front of her. (And a husband who was raised on Real Food, so he’s used to it.) So glad I’m not fighting with teenagers like some of you – now *that’s a challenge! Y’all deserve extra credit.
)
Kim – the pasta roller is a must have. It’s also very handy for rolling out flatbreads extra crispy that rival chips!!!
Susy…can you come over and teach me how to use it? Jamie Oliver is busy! Kim
Kim, it isn’t any harder than a sewing machine. Just use small pieces, flatten them with your hand, and start at the widest setting, stepping down a small amount each time. Easy. Even I can do it. That’s what I used on my crackers yesterday and it was great!
Week One for me has been pretty low-key. After finishing the 28-Day challenge at Nourished Kitchen last month, I haven’t been in a hurry to tackle anything new yet. But I have continued working on things that last month I discovered I’m really not great at, like planning meals ahead of time. I did manage to plan ahead for just over half the meals this week, so that’s pretty good for me. Also, one of my goals is to gradually accumulate the tools that will make preparing real food easier. A dutch oven was on my list and I totally scored this week when I found an old school, 12 inch cast iron dutch oven a neighbor had set out for bulk trash. It was rusted, but sound, and is currently being refurbished. Woot!
I made my usual bread over the weekend, a new batch of granola, and I have yogurt incubating in the crockpot (my first run with this method). We picked up our latest CSA share on Tuesday which is chock full of goodies, and I cooked up a big batch of black beans.
Our rules said we could eat things already in the house to avoid waste, but I’m pretty sure my husband has latched onto a bag of tortilla chips as the only “food” in the house if I’m not home. Sigh. I also had a meet up with a friend turn into a lunch date, so I decided I just had to order something small that I don’t know how to make at home. The lebneh was good. =)
[...] on Go to Olive Oil Bread Recipe pizza focaccia calzoneAlan from Roberts Roost on Real Food Challenge Friday Wrap-upcharmingformice on A Few Resources for the Real Food Challengesstacy on Real Food Challenge [...]
[...] can incorporate into your own Challenge. Also, make sure you post your progress with the Challenge here by Sunday. Everyone who comments or links on their progress will be entered for a chance to win a [...]
Not much progress here. Little one got sick and is latched on to Mama. She’ll have only yogurt, and my goal for next week will be to get that yogurt making down. As for this week, I ordered my bees for April so we can have our own honey, lots of my veggie seedlings turned my basement into a garden, and we had asbestos tiles removed from the other basement room so we are a go for the root cellar! Not much food preps, but conditions for them, in any case.
Love this challenge!
Well, things aren’t going perfectly for us either. But we’re making tremendous progress towards eating all ‘real foods’. I remembered to soak my beans and feed my sourdough starter (yay!), so we’ve had homemade chili and sourdough bread. We’ve also enjoyed chicken and sausage gumbo, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and red beans and rice this week. Breakfast has consisted of homemade muffins, cinnamon raisin bread, oatmeal, local eggs and toast. Organic breakfast cereal did make an appearance as well, even though I tried to avoid it. I live with cereal lovers… and they don’t do homemade granola.
I didn’t get time to experiment with tortilla and cracker making, as I had planned, but I’ll get to that next week. For me, I’m trying to keep the pressure light and enjoy this experience. I’ll be able to plant many of my cool season vegetables next week, so I’m excited about that. In the meantime, I’m relying heavily on our local CSA (growalabama.com) We are extremely blessed to live in a climate where we can enjoy fresh local produce year round. I will have my own fall/winter garden next year for sure.
My biggest challenge is my kid’s lunchboxes. I have ‘cheated’ in that department. I’ve been including sourdough deli pretzels (all natural), peanut butter, raisins, yogurt, bananas, and applesauce… none of which are homemade or local. But, I refuse to beat myself up about that. It’s important to me that my children look forward to opening their lunchboxes. And that means providing variety beyond what I am capable of producing at this point. That’s okay with me, as long as it’s all natural, quality store bought items with minimal processing/packaging. Some days, I am able to send homemade soup in a thermos, fresh fruits/veggies, or a sandwich made with homemade bread. I try to maintain balance without letting lunch become boring.
There’s certainly room for improvement, but to me, that’s what this challenge is all about. We’re taking steps, large and small, toward a more natural diet. I would love to be able to grow/produce most of what we eat someday. That’s the direction we’re headed. We’re getting chicks next week and expanding our garden as well. It feels really good.
Melissa
We are doing as usual here (pledged to eat local all the time.) I harvested a large bed of overwintered carrots and thinned the turnips with greens and we are trying to finish off the collard greens since they are bolting so lots of fresh veg from the garden, backyard chicken eggs and local milk. I found a new local yogurt since the family won’t eat my homemade yogurt (too runny, not sweet enough, etc). Local for me is 174 miles since that is the closest grains will grow. Here in Seattle they rust so they must be grown over the Cascades. And with two young kids we go through a lot of grains. This week homemade sandwich bread, breadsticks, Swedish pancakes and aebelskivors. DH was gone all week so we ate a lot of homemade jerky and hard boiled eggs on toast with homemade kraut, kimchee and applesauce. Not very exciting though. Next week we should branch out more.
I only found this challenge a few days ago and our whole household is sick but I’ve still made some progress. I am not committing entirely like a lot of others, but instead am focusing on grain products. I did make some bread the day I joined the challenge but it was in my bread maker. Last night I made a starter for English Muffins and cooked those up this morning and I was pretty impressed they were good. The directions were so simple I thought it wouldn’t work, but it did. In a few hours I’ll be moving into the kitchen to try my hand at a whole wheat tortilla recipe I found and hoping it works because the beans and rice are waiting for their wrappers! Hope to have a post up tomorrow with details of my success!