Saturday, October 8, 2011

Keeping It Simple

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day, right?  It's easy to pour a bowl of cereal or grab a power bar and be on your way.  Michael Pollan has a very simple answer for what you should eat: Eat food.  Look at what you're eating.  Is it food?  Or is it filler, MSG, HFCS, modified something or other?  There are great cereals, even "power bars", not loaded with sugar and fillers.  But if you make the time, there's nothing better than protein and fiber to energize you long-term.  This morning, I made enough home fries for six and fried up some eggs and made toast.

The toast came from a honey wheat bread recipe I modified by added a 1/2 cup of Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Cereal mix and using leftover honey water from canning peaches instead of the separate honey and water from the original recipe (Idiot's Guide to Easy Artisan Bread).  The dough didn't rise as much, but unlike the three other times I made the bread, the center wasn't gooey.  I made the dough and my husband baked it, also 20 minutes longer than the recipe stated.  It was very dense and sliced well.  Being slicable has been key in testing out recipes.  One loaf a week does the trick, so making bread is not overwhelming.

The home fries are even easier.  Dice and sauté some onions in oil or butter.  Throw in some pre-cooked diced potatoes with skins on.  (I microwaved red potatoes.)  Finely chop kale and any other vegetables on hand.  (I threw in my African eggplant.)  Season with salt, pepper, and your choice of curry powder, garlic powder, ground coriander, fresh or dried thyme, or oregano.


Looking to lose weight?  You can still eat food.  Just eat less and exercise.  I'm not a doctor or dietician, but your body needs certain vitamins.  I lost weight on the Atkins diet, cutting out carbs, then gained it back.  Eat less, of course.  Too many Americans want two of everything: two eggs, two toast, two scoops of ice cream, two cars...  See how you feel with just one.  At the very least, you're saving money.  In the last 6 weeks I've lost 8 pounds, eating food that is actually food, and exercising.  Many people just do a food diet where they're eliminating something.  Eliminate junk, yes.  But if you don't exercise, your metabolism will slow down.  Exercising also makes you LESS hungry.  Find something aerobic you enjoy doing and do it three times a week.  For me, it's tae kwon do.  A friend of mine runs and is running in Boston this weekend for Breast Cancer Research.  My dojo is breaking boards for breast cancer research at the Providence Waterfire tonight at 8:30.

I'll also be doing free soil testing at the Burriville Farmer's Market (135 Harrisville Main Street) from 9-12:30, so bring in your dirt!  I'll have free hand-outs from my blog on a first come basis.  I hope to see you there!

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