October: Unprocessed - Brownies

October: Unprocessed is Andrew Wilder's challenege to give up processed food for an entire month. Read more about it or join the challenge at Andrew's blog Eating Rules. I'll be blogging about my experience during the challenge and hopefully sharing some recipes. Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.

When I signed up for October: Unprocessed I knew the first thing I would be craving is sweets. Not a problem - I have lots of wonderful REAL foods to choose from when baking. Sugar is a no-no but honey is on the “approved” list. Butter, cream and chocolate are also options as ingredients. I am swapping white flour for whole wheat whenever possible and I made the switch in the recipe below.

Googling "brownie" and "honey" bought me to a recipe for Honey Chocolate Brownies. Tweaking the recipe made for a drier, more cake-y brownie that became more dense after spending the night in the fridge. I added pecan butter from Sprouts as filling. Another even more decadent idea would be to drizzle it with Angela St. Cyr's 100 Mile Caramel Sauce. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!

HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BROWNIES WITH NUT BUTTER FILLING

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 ½ cups honey
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp ground flax seed
½ tsp. salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp Vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa powder

In a small bowl mix the cocoa powder, whole wheat flour and the flax seed. Set aside.

Beat the butter with mixer until creamy. Slowly add honey and applesauce. Add the eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix in the dry ingredients and the nuts. Pour batter into greased 9x13x2 inch pan or Sur La Table's Baker's Edge Brownie Pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

Cool and cut into squares. Refrigerate overnight. The next day, slice lengthwise, spread with any nut butter and make a brownie sandwich.

October: Unprocessed - The First Weekend

October: Unprocessed is Andrew Wilder's challenege to give up processed food for an entire month. Read more about it or join the challenge at Andrew's blog Eating Rules. I'll be blogging about my experience during the challenge and hopefully sharing some recipes. Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.

Day Three – I’m sort of shocked that I haven’t cheated even once. Temptations are everywhere. I leave the house later than usual so I have no time to cruise over to Starbucks and blow the challenge. The community candy jar at work is stationed right at my eye level and filled with Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Pops. It’s taunting me. Thankfully the Costco keg of Red Vines that usually sits beside it has been emptied for the week.

No one I know is trying to change their eating habits so I am on my own. It's nothing new - I've been making lifestyle changes for a year while hubby lives on sausage and cheese. C'est la vie. I can't twist his arm.

Tonight was typical for me. For a half hour I listened to a coworker moan and groan about her “diet.” Translation – she hasn’t eaten fast food since her dinner break last night. She finally succumbed to the call of the vending machine and I thought that would be the end of it. But noooooo. She started rhapsodizing about her Baby Ruth bar as if it were the most expensive Swiss chocolate in the world. I fought the urge to throw something at her, and then I felt bad when she actually choked on the damn thing. Wow. Food karma is a b*tch.

Temptations and the lack of support are tough but when it comes to eating heart healthy, time management is probably the biggest hurdle for me. Odd hours at work leave little time to prepare meals so I handle most everything on my days off. For items that don't freeze well I fit in preparation when I can. It's not usual for me to be outside grilling chicken and vegetables at 8am or baking bread at midnight. Thanks to the challenge I can't be a slacker and stop for fast food on the way to work so I've got to find the time to prepare everything I need. It's going to be tough, but exciting too.

During my meal planning I started to make a mental list of the convenience foods I’ll need to replace in my diet, like bottled barbecue sauce. I cannot find a recipe for barbecue sauce (that I’d eat) which doesn’t include items like ketchup and soy sauce. It looks like I’ll be playing with tomatoes and spices on my day off.

For the last three days breakfast was oatmeal with fruit or an omelet made with local eggs from the Downtown Mesa Farmers Market . Lunch was a sandwich with chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. The bread is on my own multi grain and I pack a tiny container of home made mayo with my little blue gel freezy thing. My lunch bag gets packed with plenty of fruit for snacking.

The goal for this week is to try some new recipes with honey since sugar is off my ingredient list until November. Wish me luck!

October: UNprocessed Challenge

October: Unprocessed is Andrew Wilder's challenege to give up processed food for an entire month. Read more about it or join the challenge at Andrew's blog Eating Rules. I'll be blogging about my experience during the challenge and hopefully sharing some recipes. Unprocessed food is any food that could be made by a person with reasonable skill in a home kitchen with readily available, whole-food ingredients.

So. . . it was a year ago today that I woke up in CICU at Banner Heart Hospital after my emergency double bypass. Quite a shock, that's for sure. I drove to the hospital, walked in on my own two feet only to have the doctors tell me later that they're not sure how I was even alive. One hell of a wake up call. (Read about it here)

365 days later - I'd iike to say that I work out religiously, lost the excess weight and completely changed my eating habits, but I'd be lying.

The workouts slowed in January when I wrecked my heels doing WiiFit. (Trust me, ignore the instructions and wear supportive sneakers!) As soon as I was able to walk comfortably again I injured my knee on the treadmill. It's frustrating when you want to work out but your body says "hell no!"

Eating is the one point I have improved on but I'd like to do better. Ultra high fat foods like my beloved salami are out. Moderation, portion control, and clean eating are IN - most of the time. (I'm only human! I pass 3 Starbucks and 2 Carl's Jr's on my way to work!)

Processed foods are something I've been trying reduce in my diet in favor of good old fashioned home cooked meals. Last month we gave up purchasing bread and we're eating my own multi-grain sandwich loaf. (more on that soon) This month I am experimenting with mayo and aioli made with heart healthy EVOO. I've come a long way but I'm no where near the clean eater I need to become.

While checking the news on Twitter this morning I saw a tweet about Andrew Wilder's Eating Rules blog. Andrew is challenging everyone to give up processed food for the entire month of October. How appropriate is it that it's starting in the anniversary of my second chance at life? Divine intervention at work again. I took a deep breath and signed on for the challenge. Lots of food bloggers participating so there will be a variety of interesting recipes and feedback as the month progresses.

Hide the Halloween candy and break out those Granny Smith apples. It's going to be an interesting October.

For more on the subject - Awake At The Whisk explains why we should reduce our consumption of processed foods and shares her own rules for the challenge here.

Lemon Verbena From The Herb Garden

So much for bringing the outdoor inside. The verbena wilted and looked terrible within five minutes of taking this photo. I'll be drying it instead of enjoying it in the livingroom. It smells wonderful!

Getting Things Done

Breakfast from the garden - a baby watermelon

It is a beautiful morning, pretty hot but cloud free. Just perfect for making a roast in the solar oven which I've been trying to do since Tuesday. As soon as I woke up I looked out the front door then ran for the oven to put it in the back yard to pre-heat. I cut up the roast so it will cook faster. After sprinkling it with dry onion soup mix I poured about a teaspoon of bbq sauce on each piece. That's all you need to do and it makes a very flavorful roast with lots of juice you can use indoors on the stove to make gravy. Cooking times varies as do the cooking temperatures but it's usually about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

The garden yield has slowed to almost nothing after all the very hot days we've had here in Mesa. Ben went to visit family in Tucson recently and we were lucky enough to be able to send some crook neck squash, zucchini and heirloom tomatoes to his mom. The tomatoes have stopped producing and the zucchini are much smaller. If you're used to seeing zucchini in the supermarket, that's about the size of the vegetables I am getting now. No more super sized veggies that made my coworkers laugh. The baby watermelons are still on the vine and doing well. The cushion of weeds they are sitting on sure helps to keep them from rotting on the ground. At least, that's my excuse for not weeding. :-)

We plan to add another raised bed in a month. It will be in a perfect spot so we can grow lettuce and tomatoes all winter. Also on the "to do" list is to remove all the soil from the big raised bed. Grass has taken over and quite frankly, the 10 year old soil isn't producing like it did in seasons past. Even though we add compost and manure yearly, it looks like it's time to make a fresh start.


The roast ready to go into the SOS Sport Solar Oven

Another item on my list of things to get done was to get a good sour dough starter going. We love sour dough bread and liked the idea of making my own starter from scratch. I found everthing you need to know about sourdough here - http://sourdoughhome.com and I mixed my first starter on Monday night. It did well for 3 days, nice and bubbly with a good sour smell. Then it finally died yesterday. No bubbles, no rising, just mush. Our water isn't the best here in Mesa so I am guessing that it was the constantly changing chlorine levels that did it in. I'll have Ben pick up some Evian today and I'll try again. Ooh La La - French sourdough! :-)

Low Fat Blueberry Ginger Muffins in the Solar Oven

Low Fat Blueberry Ginger Muffins

2 envelopes Nature's Path Flax Seed Instant Oatmeal (or 1 cup quick oats)
1 cup lowfat buttermilk*
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg white
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees or preheat solar oven.
Spray the muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray or use cupcake liners.

Gently wash and dry the blueberries. In a small bowl, combine the oats and buttermilk, and let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt; mix with a fork to blend and set aside.

In a large bowl and using a fork, beat the egg, add the applesauce, and brown sugar combine well.
Blend in the oatmeal/buttermilk mixture. Stir in the flour mixture only to combine, do not over mix. Fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and top with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar if desired.

In the oven - bake 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
In the solar oven - bake until done - it took mine about 30 minutes at about 275-300 degrees.

Makes a dozen muffins.

* You can use 1 cup of milk plus 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar if you don't have buttermilk. Let sit for 10 mins before adding to recipe. I use Fat Free Fortified Lactaid mixed with lemon juice and it works just fine.