Too Much Flour

I must admit. I kind of cut loose on vacation in the food department. While we did bring in all kinds of healthy food to Block Island and we didn't drop the ball with dinners and veggies, it wasn't quite the same as eating at home.

I have a well stocked pantry at home where I keep nuts and Larabars and healthy snacks. I have yogurt on hand and oatmeal at all times. But with limited space in our city car, I couldn't bring the entire refrigerator with us to the Island. So we definitely went out and bought our fair share of Goldfish crackers, bagels, muffins and hot dogs. Even if most of it was locally baked and 'high-quality', what really got me was all the flour.

I didn't realize it, but I don't usually eat alot of flour. And I mean all flour, I am not just bashing white flour here. I will eat pasta once or twice a week, and of course my homemade pizza. I do get a hankering for a bagel once a month or so, and my City Bakery croissants are really a substance that should be controlled by the DEA. So I do eat flour. I love my flour products and I have no intention of going flour free (for now). But to go from eating flour foods maybe 6-8 times per week to 3-4 times per day? That is where I got into trouble.

On vacation we would have bagels for breakfast, Goldfish crackers (more on that later, yipes!) for a snack, sandwiches for lunch and pretzels for a snack in the afternoon. A few days of that and I was in a bad way. My tummy is still a little upset, I was very full, but constantly hungry and my energy is pretty low. I cannot wait to detox and get back to whole grains and raw veggies. I was never anti-carbs. I have always loved potatoes and embraced pasta. But after a week of changes from the norm and I could see it clearly. All this flour was really a problem. Eating potatoes never makes me feel like this.

There are people still that do not think that obesity is related to our exorbitent sugar and flour intake as a country (or perhaps they just haven't publicly admitted it), but I am completely convinced that it is as a result of just a week of change from my normal diet. I am so used to my body running at top efficiency, slow downs as a result of something I can control like diet is not acceptable. I recently read an article that I think summed it up pretty well. Dr Michael Roizin wrote for ivillage that "White bread...is made from wheat grain that has been stripped of the outer shell and germ. Why is this a bad thing? When you eat breads and pastas from this type of wheat-also called enriched, bleached, unbleached, semolina or durum-or rice flour, your body quickly converts this carbohydrate to sugar in your bloodstream. Your brain likes the feel-good rush of the sugar and sends out the message, more, more more!" That is EXACTLY what I felt like after eating too much floury stuff.

I am going to limit my flour intake more than normal this week to get back to feeling like myself. I am even thinking that I should upgrade from the 'half-white' or brown flour I have been buying and go to full on whole wheat. I have been a little nervous because so many people have told me that you can't use exclusively whole wheat in most applications. But to heck with that. I suppose I should just try it and see what I think!

I will report on my findings later. Uggh. I can't wait to get back to normal. Next year I am packing more yogurt and no more Goldfish!!!!

CSA Week 5

Okay, so I missed last week and gave the share to a friend. I like giving away a share better than selling it. And my friend took care of the cat, so I really owed her!!

This week we received cherries, one bunch of scallions, broccoli, a bunch of beets, a bunch of dandelion greens (so exciting!!), bok choy, a head of romaine lettuce, one cucumber, one yellow squash, one deliciously delectable and somehow intimidating tomato. What the heck am I going to do with THE FIRST TOMATO OF THE SEASON?? I am going to have a hard time coming up with something good enough in which to use that first tomato. A salad just isn't good enough. This is hard to live up to!

Upon receipt of the veggies, I am pleased to say that I made a new meal and it turned out quite well!! I made yummy ground beef patties with scallions and cumin with rice and a cucumber yogurt sauce. I actually think the kids would eat this. It was super easy.

Ground Beef Patties

Mix one pound of ground beef with
1/4-1/3 cup of breadcrumbs

2-3 scallions

cumin to taste (I used enough to make it the dominant flavor)

granulated garlic, salt and pepper to taste

2 beaten eggs

I mixed everything up and fried the smallish patties in a teaspoon or two of peanut oil. I served them over rice and served with a mix of yogurt, diced cucumbers and scallions with dill and salt to taste. Even DH said this one was a keeper. And he doesn't say that all the time.

And by the way--does anyone have any suggestions for the beets? I really dislike beets, but I am willing to give them another chance....

Guest Blogger at Fed Up with School Lunch

Most everyone has read this by now, but for those of you who join later or stumble upon me from a different avenue, I wanted to provide a link to my Guest Blogging appearance on Fed Up With School Lunch. It has been a real pleasure being featured!!

Sugar and School Lunch

Block Island

We are back in New York from our lovely vacation. We again visited Block Island, RI. DH and I got married on Block Island in 2004 after a couple of visits to the island. We have absolutely fallen in love with the island's old world charm. It is truly a land that time forgot.

We began renting a house last year and came back to the same place this year. Renting the same house allowed us to relive all the happy memories from last year. But this year, it was so lovely to have both the kids (I was 8 months pregnant during our trip last year which made things difficult). Thing 1 & 2 really bonded on the trip. They have begun playing together. Thing 2 was crawling all over the place and blowing raspberries while Thing 1 talked to him and laughed. It was really enjoyable.

Block Island is a small island 13 miles off the coast of Rhode Island. The Island was named by Adrian Block during his expedition of the New England coastline in 1614. The first settlers arrived in 1661; there were 16 families from the English colony of Massachusetts. The Island lands were parceled off to each of the families and many of their descendants still reside on the Island today. In fact some of the second or third generation settlers are buried in a historical cemetery right across the street from the house we rent. The island is covered in well preserved history. Although there is a thriving modern tourist industry, there are many examples of architecture from the 1700's and 1800's and the island retains an undeveloped character.

The thing we love the most about Block Island is that the land is preserved. The beaches are some of the most diverse and beautiful. Crescent Beach has fine powdery sand with amazing dunes. Whereas the beaches along the Great Salt Pond are sometimes rocky but offer warmer water and smaller waves for the ponds, as well as tidal pools that teem with small fish, sand crabs, horseshoe crabs, shellfish and various birds. The kids LOVED seeing all the small animals, big enough to be interesting and small enough to not be scary.

But (of course) being on the Island made me think about food and sustainability. We carted in four big bags of food that we bought in the city so that we could eat high-quality nummies and organics all week at the house. All the island food that I could see was brought in on boats from the mainland. I kept looking for farms on the Island, but didn't see any. I know the 1661 and the Manisses Inn has a farm that they harvest for meals at their inns and restaurants (we were married at the 1661 Inn, so we learned that then). DH and I agreed that we didn't even see many people's houses with vegetable gardens, but it must too difficult to plant in April and weed throughout the season since most people aren't living there year round.

There was a farmer's market on Wednesday morning and Saturday morning. I thought for sure that this would be the place to find locally grown produce. Possibly even a farmer from the mainland willing to pay for the ferry to sell his goods to the islanders. Unfortunately there was no produce around. I did find that there are some farms on the island, fresh flower farms (the island has abundant flowers and wildflowers) and several homey kitchens making up jams and jellies and baking cookies, breads and cupcakes. The balance of the stalls at this farmer's market went to local artists of pottery, jewelry and other wares. The market was quaint and fun for the kids. The cookies were amazing. The jewelry almost came home with us, but I was strong. I was a little sad not to see a stronger local food movement on Block Island. Mostly because there is such an immense sense of community and focus put on supporting local business. Not to mention that ecology and preservation are hallmarks of the Island's culture. I suppose that farming on Block Island has fallen by the wayside now that land is at a premium price. When just 16 acres of undeveloped land is on the market for more than 4 million dollars, I suppose it seems difficult to justify a couple heads of lettuce and a few bushels of apples a season.

Either way, our family will be going back every year we can. We will cart in all our healthful food and cart out all out garbage to leave this pristine place as untouched as when we first arrived. There truly is no place on earth quite like Block Island.

Notes:
Block Island History. Block Island Guide. http://www.blockislandguide.com/ 4 July 2010.

Facebook!!

Hi Everyone! I am actually happy to be back from vacation and to get back into the swing of things. I wanted to point out that I have created a Facebook page for The Table of Promise. I encourage you to 'like' my page and join in the conversation. I have provided a link, or you can click on the link to the right. Or at least help start the conversation. I love your comments and I am always eager to hear them!

See You In A Few Days!

I am taking off the rest of the long weekend, but will have many things to report when I return. Have a lovely birthday America!!

Sour Cherries

Oooooohhhh, there is no fruit that makes me quite as excited as cherries. They are only good for a couple of weeks in June and maybe early July. But the BE ALL, END ALL cherry, the most elusive of them all, is the sour cherry. Not every orchard grows sour cherries, and it seems like they are only good one week out of the entire year. And it always seems like I am on vacation when they are available. I have only purchased sour cherries once before and they were so delicious that I still remember what I did with them, the world's tiniest peach and cherry pie. I swear the store I bought them from only had the smallest containers available, so there weren't even enough to make a full pie. But it was amazing!


Cherry has always been my favorite flavor. Red is naturally my favorite color. And there is no pie quite like cherry pie. I loved cherry pie when I was a child, but as I grew up I realized that no one ever made a cherry pie from scratch. The 'eatin' cherries were too sweet and hard and no grocery store carry sour cherries. So people are forced to buy that horrible gelatinous mess called cherry pie filling. Gross. Sour cherries even during the one week they are available are so delicate that they cannot be distributed aggressively by grocery stores. I have only ever found them at specialty stores and the farmer's markets.


At my farmer's market the cherries arrived last week or the week before but just now was the first time that I saw sour cherries. Fortunately the farm I usually buy from had big buckets of them. But as is normal, I was going on vacation. It was a very inconvenient time for me to be buying sour cherries. The Orchard was selling pints, quarts and double quart sizes. Thing 1 was stealing strawberries out of all the open containers. Thing 2 was in the Ergo carrier trying to pull Thing 1's hair. My bag of milk and eggs and turkey was so heavy already that it was leaving a red mark on my arm. I had so much going on, and I was staring at the cherries. What to do??


I finally took action before they were all gone. I bought a double quart. I was not going to let this opportunity pass me by again.


I prepped them the next morning, took off the stems, cleaned them up and pitted them. Cherries are no longer a hassle now that I own a cherry pitter. It works for olives too. See the picture below.

You just pop the little bugger on that plastic thingy and depress the plunger and you have pitted cherries. I will set Thing 1 up in his high chair with a bowl full of cherries and just let him go to town. He gets every one outThese sour guys were so soft and delicate that the pits came out super easy. I got my cherry pitter at Zabar's on the Upper West Side. I have looked everywhere. Nothing at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond or other local places. I highly recommend getting a cherry pitter and I found some places online. There is nothing else in the kitchen that can replace the ease of this little machine. Whoa. So worth the $8.

I plan on making a pie with these cherries. Or maybe jam. Or maybe muffins!! I have what feel like about 3 pounds of cleaned and pitted cherries. They sit in my freezer now awaiting my wicked double crust or some other something. I cannot wait. Success!!