Monday, July 22, 2013

10 Things We Buy Every Week and Soup

OK - I've been missing the Listicles as I work my way through the mounds of Convention Artwork I have to share, and this week's topic was easy to write about, so I'm taking a break from the artwork today to do some Family Journaling.

I'm not even going to try to make it crafting related...though sadly, I could. Instead I'm going to focus on the things we eat for our crazy, whole foods, gluten free, awesome diet lifestyle. We cook a LOT and GF/real foods takes up almost as much of my brain space as stamping, which says a lot! And I'm sharing the recipe for what we eat for lunch most days around here after my Listicle, so if you like soup, give it a try! If you don't like soup, try it anyways. It's delicious!

My crew of berry pickers
10 Things We Buy Every Week
1. Raw Milk - I travel 25 minutes to an amazing farm out by Newberg to get fabulous, wonderful raw dairy for my little clan of gluten sufferers. It's made a huge difference in our allergies and tummies, plus Farmer Charlotte is a rockstar who was recently featured in "Wise Traditions". She's as passionate about her cows (and our milk) as I am about stamping. Just sayin'.

2. Apples - Gabe is completely obsessed with apples. I try to buy seasonal at the farmer's market, but this boy is routine driven, and if an apple a day for snack time makes him calmer and happier, apples it is. 

3. Bananas - The other two kiddos in our house are bananas over bananas. I buy 6 every other day or so. Why? If I buy more they won't eat any, some kind of internal alarm that goes off and tells them to immediately stop eating all bananas so they can watch me go nuts over the waste of browning bananas. 

4. Butter - no margarine in this household! My enabling sister helped me pick out a huge sampling of local butters to find a replacement for my beloved Kerrygold until the GMO feed hooplah shakes out.  

5. Carrots, Onion, and Celery - plus other random veg, but always carrots, onion, and celery. Gabe claims to not eat any of them...yet he does, every single day. The trick? I puree the trio with chicken stalk and pour that in with any meat I brown up or pretty much anything I can stir it into easily. Someday I might tell him...for now I just giggle gleefully as he eats his mac and cheese.

6. Kefir - we buy unsweetened plain kefir to mix with the boys smoothies. Or drink with a spoonful of raw honey or crushed berries.

7. Applegate Salami/turkey - The boys favorite picnic lunch is either salami or turkey rolled up with...nothing. Handful of protein, party of three, please!

8. Bubbie's pickles - Any self respecting real foodie would probably ferment their own pickles. But the siren call of stamps keeps singing in my house, so we get our pickles from Bubbies - probiotic, crunchy, sour, oh-so-tasty! I even picked up a jar in Florida to munch while we were at convention. I'm eating a pickle right now...well, while I write this, probably not while you are reading it. Or maybe I am - I eat a pickle most nights around 8 p.m.! 

9. Tillamook Cheddar - We live in Oregon. We buy Tillamook cheddar, or as the boys call it, "yellow cheese". They don't eat American or other processed cheeses. I do sneak shredded Gouda  into lots of things for the Vitamin K. But the only cheese the boys will eat voluntarily is Tillamook cheddar. Or Mozzarella if it's on a nice GF pizza.

10. Something Seasonal - I try to buy veggies and fruits in season and from a local farmer if I can get it. Right now we're chowing on blueberries, picked by our own hands from local berry patches. It's fun for the boys, great for my pocketbook at $1.25-$1.50 a pound, and it always results in a nice afternoon nap time. 

Where's the meat, you ask? When I do recipes or people ask me about whole foods/GF I always mention that we eat a lot of meat. But we almost never get that at the store, as we have a great local farmer who fills our freezer with amazing beef and chicken. I've got a Smarty Pig account going for next year's goal of buying a pig from Farmer Chrissie. It's backwards from how I was taught, to save a little each week for the big meat bulk buy, but that discipline saves us so much in the long run while getting amazing pastured meats for my family....and there's something really nice about that well stocked freezer of possibilities. 

Gabe's Favorite Lunch Soup

2 Quarts Chicken Stock (homemade if you roll like that)
1 bag frozen organic sweet potato chunks
2 cups or so of chopped onions, carrots, celerey, leftover veg - cook's choice
Salt/Pepper to taste
Palmful of Garlic powder
Palmful of Onion Powder
Palmful of Dill...or Parsley...or a tsp of Garam Masala if you're adventurous

Saute the veggies in a spoonful of your oil of choice (coconut oil round these parts) until soft. Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until everything is soft. Puree in batches (or with a stick blender - I love my stick blender) until smooth as can be. Season to taste with your favorite spices.
Serve to pickiest child on the planet, call it chicken soup, and giggle to self as picky-pants eats soup with kale, white beans, and Indian seasoning while declaring it delicious so long as there are no lumps. Victory!

3 comments:

Cher @EcoBravo said...

I love your list! Your shopping sounds a lot like mine.
We just tried raw milk at my friends cabin. She's a chef and buys the milk from a back alley. So cool. Butter, always. Carrots, onions, celery are my basics too. I should have added carrots to my list!

Marilyn McLeod @ Pink Paper Cottage said...

Yup... I eat GF as I have to.... my list is almost exactly like yours except I'm not so fortunate to have a dairy around here in central Oregon to buy raw milk! darn.... or good meat that hasn't been grown unhealthily! I'm going to try that soup.. sounds delicious. I practically LIVE on carrots, celery and apples and bananas! I have to buy bananas about every 3 days, and then I use the "too ripe" ones for banana muffins or cake that I make myself (GF of course!). I think Bend does have a farm with good meats, so have to try to find it!

The Dose of Reality said...

My family is totally obsessed with apples also...we buy them by the bushel!-Ashley

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