Yesterday's dessert was an organic grapefruit that came from Happy Box. Never before had I tasted such a delicious grapefruit - sweet, soft, so juicy it ran all over my clothes. "This is the way food used to be", I thought. "It's a
tragedy everyone can't have one of these, they would fall in love with grapefruit all over again."
Personally, this organic journey started as a means of being socially and environmentally responsible. The chemicals that farmers are using in our soils are slowly killing us. The best and fastest way to stop this is to vote with your dollars. So that's what we did.
Now this journey is growing into more. The food really does taste better! It's more vibrant and full of nutrients. The eggs, those beautiful deep yellow yolks. The milk. Oh, the fruits and veggies. You eat them and you feel as if you're bursting with life.
To go back to pale, insipid grocery store findings would be an insult to our bodies. As long as we have the money to keep this up, that will never happen again.
So I'm trying something new, weight-loss wise. For the last week, the amount of processed foods this family has eaten has dropped waaay down. We have an "alternate" schedule, so we don't often get the chance to do family dinners. But we're almost always together for breakfast, so we have a cooked, sit-down meal together first thing in the morning. My typical breakfast is a 1/4 cup of Bob's Red Mill muesli mixed with 3/4 cups homemade, full-fat yogurt. Add a tsp of pure coconut oil and a tsp of ground flaxseed. Then I take some nibbles of what the boys are eating (oat flour pancakes, eggs,
labne,
zatar, olives) and round it out with a piece of fruit.
Lunch is usually salad from Happy Box with some homemade Asian dressing (made in my new
Pampered Chef Measure, Mix, and Pour - oh how I love thee!) and some wild caught salmon or chicken breast of questionable origin (GFS) with half an avocado and a slice of bread with butter. Dinner?
Homemade fried rice, or minestrone, or some other leftover. And then usually there's a snack at night, either popcorn with evoo or a slab of fresh coconut and half an ounce of dark chocolate.
Now here's the kicker. I've lost weight. About 6 lbs in the last 10 days. And I'm not hungry. And I have a boatload of energy. This confounds Yasar - he doesn't see how it's possible. But it's absolutely true. Despite the high fat diet, the pounds are coming off.
True story: at the store the other say, I had one very dry turkey burger to choke down. Thinking it could use a little help, I dunked it in some of the BBQ sauce on the cut table. After finishing the meat, it was like my appetite woke up and I was instantly ravenous, looking for things to shove in my mouth. I will tell you the list of ingredients on the sauce container is long, and has lots of -ose endings. Take from that what you will.
I haven't come to any raw conclusions about this except that our bodies weren't designed to eat all the processed foods on the market today. Going back to unprocessed foods is working for me. I don't feel deprived - quite the opposite. And last night I took a 4-mile walk with my kid.
I feel like I'm getting my life back.
Andrew chose the colors and the design for my pedicure. Let's all give him a hand! Reddish purple would not have been my choice, but the final result is awesome. WTG Drew!
Knead for at least 10 minutes by mechanical means or 15 minutes by hand, adding flour as needed to make a soft, slightly-sticky dough.
Rub some olive oil in a large bowl. Turn dough into bowl and flip around to get it coated with the oil. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place.
Punch down, put into a greased loaf pan. Let rise again, covered.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then finish cooling on a wire rack.
Once upon a time, we had a dream in our hands....
MRFP Beta Box 2.1 In Da Howse! (my house, LOL!)
Sourdough bread with olives? Oh, baby....
Cheese, butter, and eggs.
My one little green egg (I'm saving it for Andrew).
Dry goodies - brown lentils, black beans, white basmati rice, and quinoa. All in green compostible bags.
Kamut? This is going to be something new for us.
Hopefully that's enough t.p. to get us through the month. It's not double-roll.
And my dinner tonight. The menfolk are in Columbus, so I got to sit down with some of that amazing colby cheese, a slab of sourdough bread with my spreadable butter (equal parts softened butter and evoo mixed together), a couple medjool dates from the Middle Eastern store (which are amazing, mushy and sweet - YUM!), a glass of zinfandel (thanks Shari!), and a well-loved book. 
