Scott and I have a special food project for March. This is the type of announcement that will probably make you look at us with crazy eyes.
Crazy because you’re already doing this and know how easy it really is.
Or…
Crazy because you think that we’ve gone all hippy and stuff.
Scott and I are going au Natural in March.
Wha?!?!?!?
Yes--as in food. We’re keeping the clothes. But for one month we plan to ditch everything processed, unless we’ve done the processing ourselves. No boxed pasta or potatoes, no canned baked beans, not even those packets of dry onion soup mix, and if we can help it even packaged bread. Yes these things make our dinners [seemingly] easier, but what the heck is Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate?
Now, we haven’t gone completely crazy-pants. While we’ve talked about making our own butter (and actually already have!), we will not be making our own milk or cheese. We’ve come up with a few rules that we’ll try to abide by:
1. We will not consume any pantry food that comes from a box or a can (the exception might be canned tomatoes or dry pasta).
2. We will not consume any processed fridge products other than dairy items.
3. If a recipe calls for a processed condiment (such as ketchup), we will carefully analyze the feasibility of making said condiment from scratch
4. We will limit our eating out together and alone but will not avoid social gatherings such as family dinners.
Everything else should be as natural and unprocessed as possible. Yup—we’ll even attempt to make our own bread. Though we will not be grinding the wheat to make the flour. ;)
I’m honestly not sure how this month will pan out—it’ll either be really awesome or we’ll be perpetually hungry. Maybe it’ll be good weight loss for us? Either way I’m sure that we will learn so much about what we’re putting in our body and I’m hoping we’ll realize that it’s not as difficult nor as time consuming as we think to eat more naturally and less processed. I know it will take a lot of planning and I simply cannot do this without Scott’s help.
This is a personal challenge but we would love if you joined us for the month of March.
I realize that this takes a bit of planning, but please feel free to join us at any time. Since everyone has his and her own food limitations (we’re working with severe fresh fruit/vegetable allergies), you make up your own rules. But I do urge you to write down your intentions for the month as you’ll be more likely to stick with those intentions. Our wrap-up post will post on April 7th where we’ll report how the month went including successes and hiccups. But I'll also probably do some progress reports on Friday throughout the month.
So what do you say? Wanna go au natural with us? If so, just let me know in the comments below! :)
I'd love to hear your tips for eating naturally! Goodness knows I need them!
I kinnda had to start living like this when my sone was about one and I thought 'shit I cant feed my son the crap that we eat' funny your daughters more or less the same age as my son when I did this!
ReplyDeleteDried pasta and tinned tomatoes are a must in this house though! I mean even Italians use tinned tomatoes. Also Ketchup we use, I did make it from stratch a few times but it so wasnt worth it - good luck though
Oh and another huge bonus was all the weight I lost
I have to disagree with Jessica. I've made my own ketchup and it was totally worth it! The ketchup ended up being way too spicy (I used chipotle peppers) for us to use daily, but it's great on chicken and beef. I would love to make my own ketchup again some day. You can keep tweaking it until the flavors are just how you like. We already try to eat as few processed things as possible, but I don't think we'd be able to do this challenge for March. Maybe we will try in April? Good luck! I can't wait to hear how it goes.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of this but I have to admit I'm sort of looking at you with crazy eyes. I always attempt to eat healthfully but can't imagine baking my own bread, even though in an ideal world I would love to try it. But I know you both have full-time jobs and a baby, so I am very interested to see how this works out for you guys! Maybe you will inspire people like me. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty much how we eat normally - my husband has been baking bread at home for 20+ years. I chuckled to myself last year, when our grandsons were staying with us and wanted some chips. I sent my husband out into the garden to dig up some potatoes - how much more basic can you get?!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your endeavours!
Jane
Jane
Jane
I think it's a great idea. I can't wait to see how this pans out. I'm also pretty sure that if I told this to my wife she'd probably want to do it. So I'm not going to tell her.
ReplyDeleteI'm not giving up Cheetos for nobody.
Trish, what about drinks? You gonna squeeze your own orange juice? Even V8 is processed. You just going to drink water and milk the entire month?
Thanks for sharing your idea. We are already making dietary changes at our house, and I think this will give me some added incentive. Our kids are all grown so I recently decided to start NutriSystem to lose weight. Of course, being on that program, we are supplied with packaged meals so we can't go totally natural, but I am at least certain that the meals are nutritious, low in sodium and low in fat. With this program we add our own fruits, veggies, dairy products and bread. So my challenge will be to keep those areas as natural as possible - make my own bread (although right now we're not eating much bread), cook fresh vegetables, no canned fruits, etc. Hopefully this will help with the weight loss and overall health.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your plan. And kudos for doing this while your children are young rather than at my stage.
Over the last few years, I've been kind of doing this, but not 100%. There are a few things that I refuse to give up (I've been a "cold cereal for breakfast girl" my whole life), but almost all of our meals are cooked from scratch using non-processed ingredients. I'm not as strict with condiments that are difficult to make myself, but I figure that since we don't use that much, it doesn't have as much of an impact.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could join in but I know I would beat myself up if I couldn't do it 100%. With work as crazy as it is this time of year, there's no way I would be successful.
I do have a recipe for wheat bread that is delicious and I love that it doesn't use any milk or eggs. My kids devour it when I bake it and it's pretty easy. Whenever I give some to a friend, they nearly always ask for the recipe. I use my Bosch, but if you have a kitchenaid you could do it. Let me know if you want me to email it to you. Also, about the wheat, I do grind my own. The grinder was kind of expensive, but from what I've read, wheat loses the majority of its nutrition within a day of being ground. That's why I went that route. Who, knows? I'm sure it's still better than store bought!
This sounds like a fabulous idea! Keep us posted. I bet you'll feel better at the end of the month.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea and best of luck! I have been thinking of doing this, but decided it would be too much work. Oops! But I didn't think of the details so maybe you will inspire me to try it also, when I see your updates.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
I absolutely adore you, but yes, I'm looking at you with crazy eyes. You're doing all this WITH A BABY? Color me impressed.
ReplyDeleteI can't do it. I'm such a picky eater, and I have my staples. Without them, my life would be much, much more difficult. I know that sounds pathetic, but I don't cook meat and rarely eat it. I have stock meals that I make regularly, and while much of it is au natural, not all of it is.
I'm counting calories and trying to be healthy, but yeah - I'm holding on to my whole wheat pasta. Come try to pry it from me. ;)
I don't think you're crazy. But then I don't tend to think of "hippy" as an insult either. :) I'm sure it will be quite challenging, but I hope you guys have fun and do well. And you know, given some time, many things can get tons easier, too, if you garden and can.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with this, Trish, I'm excited to hear how it goes! Since you started talking about this on Twitter I've been trying to think about what my acceptable level processed-ness for food, and, if I were to join you, what the rules might be. I can't see myself not using staples like canned tomatoes and beans, even if they are a little processed. But I do think it would be a challenge to not used boxes mixes or spice mixes (I use taco seasoning all the time) and to stop eating frozen meals and pre-prepared items that way. Also, canned soup, that would have to be out. And to go out to eat at fast food places. I don't eat out often, but often enough. Bread might be hard too... but I have been talking about learning to make bread, so maybe this would be the month.
ReplyDeleteAnyway... that was just me rambling. I have to try and figure out where my processed food weaknesses are before I can decide if this would be a good challenge for me (and whether I could get the Boyfriend to go along with it!).
*Jessica - Yup--you're absolutely right!! I've always made all of Elle's baby food--so part of it is making sure that she continues to eat healthy and fresh foods, but also--if I go through all that effort to make sure my daughter eats fresh, why wouldn't we do the same for ourselves? I think that there will be some things that we can't get away from using (like ketchup), but it will be a fun experiment! I'm sure we'll learn a lot (and if we lose some on the way...that's great too!). ;)
ReplyDelete*Lu - We don't eat a ton of ketchup (it was just an example), but we do want to also try making mayonnaise! Though one of the cheater things about the challenge is that if it's too hard we can just not eat it. ;) I definitely think there's a trend for eating this way and if it is as easy as people say it is then maybe we'll continue. But, feel free to join at anytime--the rules can be your own!
*Heather/Book Addict - LOL! Hopefully making bread won't actually be that hard--though I've never attempted it before! But I do feel really lucky that Scott is 100% on board with this project--he might even be a little more on board than I am. Anyway--if you change your mind, feel free to hop on board at anytime. Like I said--you totally make your own rules.
*Jane - Thanks for the comment! Funny about your grandson as cooking baby food for my daughter is really what started all of this! I began to wonder why I would be willing to make her fresh foods (other than I love her to pieces) but not do the same for my husband and myself. I've never made potato chips before but I'd bet they would be yummy--do you bake them or cook them in a fry pan?
*Paxton - LOL! I'm not giving up my coffee creamer or sweet and low, so I don't blame you for the cheetos. Wonder if you could make them yourself? Bahahaha! In terms of drinks, I'm fairly simple--I drink my coffee and then water the rest of the day and have a glass of wine in the evening. I almost made one of the rules to be "mama still gets her wine" but didn't want you all to think I'm an alchy. ;) BUT if I did drink V8, then sure--why not try throwing all that stuff in a blender and giving it whirl??
*Tami - good luck with your weight and health goals! I definitely think that eating more naturally and fresher can help your body also be more natural and healthier! I'm not very familiar with the nutrisystem meals but have had friends who used them in the past. Glad to hear that you'll also be incorporating some of these ideas into your own personal plan! :) Look forward to the journey.
*Kristi - We just received our Girl Scout Cookies last night so that end up being a point of weakness for the two of us. We cook our main dishes mostly from scratch but the sides are all processed--which is silly because it doesn't take that much more time to chop up some vegetables. It'll be interesting for sure and I'm sure that we'll have little cheating points along the way. Interesting about the wheat grinder! I was joking when I mentioned that--didn't know it was something that people could do themselves (I feel like an idiot just saying that). And YES! Would love the wheat bread recipe. :)
ReplyDelete*Bermudaonion - It'll be a fun experiment! Or a crazy one...
*Leeswammes - LOL! You're allowed to make up your own rules! ;) So if you just want to give up one thing, that works, too. But it does sound hard, huh? If you change your mind, you're always welcome to join in!
*Picky girl - Is that why they call you picky girl? ;) I think that this might be easier than you think, BUT it does require a lot of planning--something which we haven't really done yet! I wasn't going to announce until Saturday after we'd had time to hit the grocery, but there were a few people on twitter yesterday who were interested. Who knows--maybe in one week we'll call it a disaster and break out the girl scout cookies anyway. Ha!
*Debi - Yes! I do want to start gardening and canning!! Which would make this challenge much more feasible in the summer or fall. But...once Scott gets something in his mind, it's hard to shake free. ;) And I do think this might be easier than we expect--but hopefully we just have fun in the process.
*Kim - I do hope that you'll join us in some level or fashion! As I said, the rules are TOTALLY up to you and what you're comfortable with. I actually made a recipe the other day that called for Taco Seasoning and I didn't have any on hand so I made some (Thank you Google and Pinterest), but I wasn't sure how much to use. Definitely still a lot we need to figure out as well. For the most part we've stopped with the frozen meals, but our downfall will be the sides we eat with dinner (boxed potatoes and boxed pasta or canned baked beans). I'm sure we'll learn a lot about our own weaknesses. Take your time if you need to think about it more!
May you be successful! I applaud you both, it is not an easy thing to do. There are a couple of things I think I could never give up, but you never know. Our GS cookies just came too
ReplyDeleteWow, what a big under-taking! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI found a good, easy bread recipe here. I don't even have a mixer and I make this bread twice a week now, because my fam likes it better than store-bought bread. What do you know.
ReplyDelete(not reading comments before mine!)
ReplyDeleteHave you read Make the Bread, Buy the Butter? What about The Kitchen Counter Cooking School? That one REALLY made me want to do this. I think I'd try it, with a bit more notice, and if it were summer. And I'd never be able to give up boxed pasta.
Day 1 - Palio's Pizza Restaurant
ReplyDeleteDay 2 - Covino's Italian Restaurant
We are on a roll with our project.
LOL!!!
Delete*Nise - LOL! I'm not sure I can hide the GS cookies for the entire month without major rebellion. But we'll see how it goes. ;)
ReplyDelete*Kailana - I really think this will be easier than people think!
*Jeane - Thank you so much for sharing the bread recipe!! I definitely want to try out a few different varieties. Do you use it for sandwiches?
*Lisa - I'm halfway through Kitchen Counter Cooking School and have ordered Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. The only boxed pasta we're giving up is the kind with the flavor packet that you add to water, butter, and milk. Regular dry pasta is too hard to make from scratch!
*Scott - I blame you. But at least *I* didn't have TACOS yesterday for lunch. :P Think we just need the weekend to plan and YOU need to hang the dry erase board in the kitchen!! xoxo
Trish, you guys can totally do this! I did essentially the same thing for four weeks Jan 9-Feb 5, following that WholeLiving action plan I described on my blog. Once you wrap your mind around your rules and get some recipe or menu planning inspiration, the whole challenge will take off and it will become second nature to you. I'm afraid it also turns you into a bit of a food snob as you read labels and think about how things are made in a food processing plant!
ReplyDeleteI did bend the rules for a few things:
1. I used canned beans rather than soak and cook them from dried. Mostly to save time. I made sure that the beans I bought only listed organic beans, water and salt as the ingredients.
2. I was dairy free during the cleanse, but I did use organic, unsweetened soy milk [ingredients: organic soybeans and filtered water] but technically that's still a processed food. I still want to try to make my own almond milk. I hear it's very easy!
3. I was also gluten free for the first three weeks so I didn't have to worry about the flour. But I do have a great pizza dough recipe that is very easy and was a big hit with my family. Let me know if you're interested and I'll grab the link for you.
4. Here's a recipe for roasted tomato ketchup that I've been meaning to try since I did the cleanse. It's from one of my new favorite websites.. My New Roots -- Parsely Root Fries with Roasted Tomato Ketchup.
I'm thinking about joining you guys on this.. hmm..
In the meantime, I'm excited for you guys and know you're going to rock your challenge. Well, as long as you don't keep going out for Italian. haha! ; )
Good luck! :D
*Christine - thanks for all of the tips and suggestions! I would be interested in the pizza dough recipe if you don't mind. People think we're really crazy but we're not giving up any types of foods--just processed foods. We can still eat sweets...as long as they're processed by US. ;) And thank you for the link to the kethcup--looks amazing. I do hope you'll join us! :)
DeleteHere's a link to the original recipe: Basic Pizza Dough.
DeleteI also posted it with a very minor change--substituted some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour-- plus added instructions, tips and recipe ideas on my weekend cooking post today: The Best Homemade Pizza Dough.
I'm thiiiis close to committing to joining you. I've made a point of going au naturel all day today.. just in case I jump in. ;)
March won't work with us, with five birthdays in the family and a bridal shower and then going out of the country for a quarter of the month, and spring break on top of it, but I would love to try this another time! I'm excited to hear about your progress.
ReplyDeleteI admire the huge commitment you and Scott are making here. It's something I wish I did when I was younger. Can't wait to hear how well it went for you. Good Luck.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! I can't imagine my kids being okay with not eating boxed macaroni and cheese but I sure would be!! I think I shall just watch your journey and learn :) And I'll focus on just learning how to cook better (or more edibly) Ha!
ReplyDeleteI would love to commit to this for a month, but I know the flak I'd get from my family. I should try, at least in the house to give them a little awareness. What a great idea. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI bet one of the things you'll really be surprised about is that you will have lost your taste for most packaged foods. You'll be able to taste the off / chemical flavors. Good luck and I think you'll love this journey. It will be difficult at first but you'll adjust. And the little one is getting the cleanest, healthiest start.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true! I only have a few boxed meals that I still like, but most of it is so bad taste wise.
DeleteAgreed!
DeleteThis sure will be a bit more work than usual, but making pasta and bread can be fun. I am looking forward to reading about your experiences...
ReplyDeleteinteresting idea..that I can agree with...but so much work.
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely and I support it! I will not join in myself because I am low on energy atm and sometimes there does sneak a box in the house. (only once a week, tops). But please visit my blog if you need ideas. I have a lot of recipes that would fit the purpose. I am planning to make my own peanut butter soon for example :) Go you! And keep us updated!
ReplyDelete*Amanda - You have lots to look forward to this month!
ReplyDelete*Diane - I definitely think that starting this now will make things easier in the future--but it's never too late! ;)
*Samantha - Ha! Honestly I'm not sure what Scott will do without his boxed Mac and Cheese either. ;) It'll be an interesting experience for sure.
*Carol - LOL--you're family doesn't have to know, do they? ;) Definitely easier when everyone is on board and willing to help.
*Beth F - Thanks for the support--I definitely don't think it will be HARD, just need to be organized! ;) and I agree that I'm sure we'll come to find fresh much tastier than the processed!
*Rikki - I think that this month we'll be able to make bread but not ready for the pasta yet. We definitely don't have the appropriate equipment!
*Caite - LOL! I don't think it'll be that much work--just a lot of planning. ;)
*Uniflame - I don't think that this will be HARD, just a lot of planning. I'll definitely be by for ideas--only trouble is the fruits and veggies as hubby is allergic if not cooked correctly (sounds weird but true)
A great experiment you're undertaking here. We've all become accustomed to the convenience of packaged and canned food. I think you're in for a very creative month and I'm positive your taste buds are going to come alive. I look forward to following your progress.
ReplyDeleteWow! good luck! I do cook with fresh and stay away from processed foods as much as possible but not making my own butter! I hope you enjoy your experiment. It sure would be wonderful to be so self reliant and so much healthier!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to follow your progress on this one! Girl Scout cookies could pose a real problem for me this month...
ReplyDeleteWow! I am impresseed that you are doing this! I am going to check back and see how you are doing :) I think that if you plan ahead on food you can do it, but if you get stuck somewhere (like an airport or something) without food with you - you are sunk. Well, I am looking forward to seeing how it goes!
ReplyDeletekepp to the outside perimeter of the grocery store and you'll notice it usually doesn't have the boxes of processed chemical stuffs.
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty much our life and has been for over forty years. You'll do fine!
ReplyDeleteI've got a book about grinding your own flour. It actually is very intriguing, but I haven't quite got myself to go that far yet.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! Ever since my Going Green Baby Board started talking about buying safe dishes, cookware, organic food, etc I've been trying to cook more and use less processed foods. The easiest switch so far has been giving up the Eggos for my kids. Both love the waffles and mini pancakes for breakfast so now I am baking big batches of buttermilk mini pancakes, whole wheat/white/flax mini pancakes and waffles and banana chocolate chip mini muffins for them and homemade breakfast burritos for the hubby.
ReplyDeleteI've also tried to do more frozen things like I mentioned on your other post and so far have done the lasagna, sausage pasta sauce, pizza sauce (the homemade crust wasn't a big hit but probably because of the whole wheat flour) and pasta fagioli.
Our other big weakness is my daughter loves McDonald's chicken nuggets. I've been on the hunt for a healthier, home made option and finally found a recipe that is baked and she eats it!
I can't get over how easy it is to make homemade bread and my husband loves it! I've done whole wheat honey bread, whole wheat hamburger buns and just the other day made homemade hot dog buns that turned out more like sandwich rolls but were great.
I really want to try making my own mixes for things like tacos, lipton onion soup. etc.
Debbie, Can you point me in the direction of your home made option chicken nuggets recipe? Thanks!
DeleteGood luck with your food endeavours and I shall look forward to hear how you get on with it.
ReplyDeleteI applaud your ambitions and wish you luck. I'm looking forward to your wrap-up column in April.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this idea. I was seriously thinking of doing this for Lent and then settled for the slightly lower hanging fruit- going to the gym more. I look forward to seeing how it goes for you!
ReplyDeleteAngler's Rest-Here's the nugget recipe:
ReplyDeleteCut up some chicken breasts/tenders and dip it in honey mustard (I didn't have honey mustard so I used 1 egg and 1 egg white)
Dredge it in a mix of 1 cup panko, 1/3 parmesan cheese and 1/4 tsp pepper.
Spray the cookie sheet with cooking spray and place the chicken on the sheet
Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown turning once.
I've frozen them and nuked them for her school lunches and she was fine with it.
I also just tried this chicken tender recipe over the weekend and she loved it too. http://pinterest.com/pin/238550111482264029/
I didn't read any of the comments, so maybe these questions have been answered, but I am lazy so hey.
ReplyDeleteAre you going to be eating rice?
What about fritos or lay potatoe chips. There is no other ingredients, other than potatoes or corn, salt and veg. oil.
Have you ever tried to make your own tortillas? Super easy! I was thinking of you when I had dinner last night, and wondered if what I was eating would count. Homemade spanish rice, guacamole, and homemade green chili all wrapped together inside my homemade tortillas. Yum.
How are you doing so far??? I think you're very BRAVE. :) Not that we use a lot of processed foods here (pasta from a box sounds gross to me! ;) but I'm not afraid of the occasional ketchup etc. (which is just tomato and salt btw - my organic bottle at least).
ReplyDeleteI really hope this will be a ball for you! Good luck & bon appétit!
What a wonderful and brave project! Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteI try not to use too much processed foods but sometimes I have no choice (spending the day entertaining an 11-month-old is quite exhausting as you may know!).
I do however really enjoy making my own bread and if you're interested, the bread recipes at King Arthur Flour are pretty great (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/bread). The walnut bread is yummy but the most time-saving one is the no-knead crusty bread, where the dough can be kept in your fridge for up to 7 days (and doesn't require an overnight rise) and pulled out whenever you want to bake some!
I think this is a fab idea, and some of the limitations like dry pasta, etc. are allowable. Can't go whole hog au-Natural` because it may lead you to fail. Not intentionally of course :) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOk Guys. Seriously. Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions and tips and tricks. While we haven't successfully gone COMPLETELY Au Natural in March, we've had a lot of fun trying out new recipes and finding our own tips and tricks for what works...and what's not worth the time. Still need to make that ketchup, though. ;) Thank you thank you again for your comments.
ReplyDelete