Some days are just busier than others and I knew today was going to be one of those days. I planned ahead yesterday and made double portions of everything so I could easily stay on track today. I had my local eggs and greens for breakfast and then I finished up my wheat berry sald for lunch and then the rest of yesterday’s chicken for dinner. 
       This got me to thinking about busy lifestyles. That’s not to say that I don’t have a lot to do—I do—but I’m not held to a nine-to-five schedule or bound by a rush hour commute. I’m heading into Week Two bearing that in mind.
 
Before I head off to bed… a word about those salad greens I found at the Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. They’re from Sky Farm Exquisite Salads. You check them out by clicking here.

This is what their salad looks like–and it tastes as good as it looks. If not better.

Some days nothing goes as planned. I don’t know why. It just does. I’m still new to yogurt-making and so I can’t say just what went wrong, but something did. No yogurt for breakfast—which is a good thing, really. I wanted to shake things up with this challenge and if I find a comfortable, reliable breakfast the first day and never progress from there, then I’m defeating my own purpose.

That said…

I love the fact that I can buy my eggs from the farm stand up the road. Sometimes they run out, and I have to wash them off myself (gasp!). The extra effort is well worth the comfort of knowing that there is nothing in my eggs that shouldn’t be there; the hens that laid them roam freely—I can go visit them if I have a mind to—and they’re not fed anything they shouldn’t be fed. All that leads to both a better egg and peace of mind for me.
       Breakfast, then, was a scramble of eggs and kale and onions from a nearby farm stand, accompanied by whole wheat bread and butter—both of which I made myself. I should mention here that I don’t actually spend my entire day kneading bread and churning butter. As much as that kind of quaint lifestyle appeals to a certain part of me, there’s another facet of me who is truly appreciative of modern conveniences like bread-makers and blenders. That’s not to say that I haven’t made both butter and bread by hand and from scratch, mind you…

Around lunchtime, I found myself experimenting with the wheat berries I cooked yesterday. The end result was a wheat berry salad with tomato, cucumber and onion tossed with a drizzle of olive oil, lemon and a little salt. On impulse I pinched a few mint leaves from the plant on my deck and added them, finely chopped, to the salad. I thought it was pretty good… That is, until I went back to the salad bowl for dinner. Can I just tell you what a huge difference a few hours in the fridge can make? So fragrant and delicious.

On to dinner…

I fell in love a while back with clay-pot cooking. Serious, head-over-heels, butterflies-in-the-stomach, chills-up-my-back l-o-v-e. Everything I’ve made so far has been out of this world. I found my first clay pot (I now have four) a couple of years at a tag sale. Pristine and unused. I didn’t even fully realize what it was, I just liked it and shelled out the whopping $1 it took to make it mine. Later—much later—like a year (I don’t always get to things right away), I came a clay-pot cookbook from the mid 1970s—and everything I’ve made, from Curried Chicken with Guinness to Eggplant Imam Baaldi, has been so tender and wonderful and just indescribably delicious.
       So for dinner I decided to revisit the recipe that got me hooked—Garden Fresh Chicken Breast. Here’s the recipe and a piece of advice:

If you have a clay-pot, use it; if you don’t, go out and get one—and then use it.

Garden Fresh Chicken Breast

Ingredients:
6 to 8 chicken breasts, halved (I like to use thighs or tenderloins, instead)
2 T flour (I use whole wheat)
2 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
2 T butter (I use olive oil)
1 clove of garlic, crushed
½ lb. mushrooms, sliced thin (great to experiment with different kinds of mushrooms here!)
1 C shelled peas (I leave these out due to childhood trauma over having to eat my peas)
2 bay leaves
2 stalks of celery, chopped fine
½ C dry white wine
2 T fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions:
Soak the pot (top and bottom) in water for at least 15 minutes.

In a paper bag, mix together the flour, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and shake until coated.

Brown the chicken in butter (or oil) and garlic. Put the browned chicken in the bottom of the clay-pot. Add the sliced mushrooms, shelled peas, bay leaves and celery.

Heat the chicken drippings in the pan and add the white wine and parsley. Mix well and pour over the chicken.

Place the covered pot in a cold oven (this is important—do not preheat the oven). Set temperature to 480 degrees and cook for 45 minutes.

Ta-da! So fabulously delicious—trust me. Just as an aside, I was out of dry white wine and I haven’t yet gone to a local winery to get more, but I did happen to have the right amount of sake leftover and sitting in the refrigerator just waiting for a purpose.

The above recipe is from “The Clay-pot Cookbook: A New Way of Cooking in an Ancient Pot” by Georgia McLeod Sales and Grover Sales. (Atheneum, ©1974 Georgia MacLeod Sales and Grover Sales).

 In two short days, I’m discovering that this project isn’t just about eating and the shopping and cooking that go with it. I’m thinking more about waste…food that doesn’t get eaten, time that gets eaten up by things that don’t matter, everything that goes into the garbage can.

I decided when I was mapping out the guidelines for this project that I would include the use of stuff I already had on hand—and actually, I made a concerted effort last week not to stockpile any items in anticipation of the coming challenge. I did, however, take a survey of the freezer and pantry and decided to incorporate a few of the things that are basically sitting around taking up space for no reason other than the fact that I haven’t felt like doing anything with them. 
       This week, in addition to buying only food that is locally grown, I’m facing my freezer. There’s no reason not to use up that package of frozen stew beef and in having a bit of a clear-out, I’m making room for more local fare.
       Normally, I think of beef stew as more of a cold-weather dish. But the last week or so has had its ups and downs and I felt in need of a little comfort food. What better way to marry together my fresh, local produce and nicely packaged freezer items than to throw them together in a slow cooker? All day long, whenever I walked through the kitchen, I felt transported somehow to my grandmother’s kitchen, which was always full of happy memories, thereby improving my mood and sense of well-being.
       What is it about our olfactory senses that make time travel seem so possible? How can a delicious whiff pull us out of the doldrums and onto Cloud Nine? If there’s one other aroma that can work its magic on me, it’s the smell of freshly baked gingerbread. 

My love of cooking doesn’t flow over into a love of baking. But when I do bake, I like to do it from scratch. To that end, the box of organic, whole grain gingerbread mix that someone handed off to me has been sitting on a shelf in the cabinet. Waiting.
       On a whim, I picked up the box to see just what would be needed to put the mix to good use: a cup and a half of milk, some butter and an egg. What a perfect way to use up the cup and a half of buttermilk left over from the weekend’s butter-making.
 
All in all, I’d say it was a good day. No food was wasted and now there’s more room for the local bounty from next week’s shopping adventures. The coming days are going to be even more challenging as my Items-on-Hand diminish and I continue to buy only local. 

In the interest of sharing a little comfort and joy, I thought I’d post the current version of my beef stew for the slow cooker, so here you go. Enjoy.

Beef Stew
Since I’m still making the transition to going completely local, I wanted to note the ingredients in this recipe that are local: flour, onion, carrots, garlic, red wine—and of course, the water.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. stew beef, cut in bite-sized chunks
½ C whole-wheat flour
1 tsp paprika
4 T olive oil
1 medium (or ½ large) onion, diced
2 carrots, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
2 parsnips, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
2-3 stalks of celery, sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1/8 tsp ground cloves
3 ½ C water
½ C red wine
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Combine the whole-wheat flour and paprika then dredge the meat to coat. Heat the oil in a skillet and when it begins to shimmer, add the meat, turning to brown it on all sides. You may need to do this in batch so as not to crowd the pan. Place the browned meat in the slow cooker. Add the vegetables and remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for ten to 12 hours or on high for five to six hours. Make sure you remove the bay leaves before serving.

Note: You have noticed there are no potatoes in this recipe. When I made beef stew for the first time a number of years ago, the recipe I used didn’t call for them. To tell the truth, I didn’t even notice until I was eating it. I happened to have mashed potatoes left over from the night before, so I heated them up and spooned some on top of the stew. I liked it so much that, as my recipe has evolved, I’ve kept the potatoes out of it just so I can serve the stew with a dollop of mashed potatoes on top.

It’s one thing to talk about accepting a 30-day challenge…to plan for it, gear up for it—it’s quite another to actually do it. Day One has come and gone and I’m so happy! I have to say, it feels really good to move through the saying and into the doing. So there were a couple of glitches along the way—mess up and move on. 
       The first thing I’ve learned is that I need to change my shopping days. I usually go shopping on Monday. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any farmers markets in my area on that day. The serendipitous thing is that I’ve been wanting to get to the farmers market in Rhinebeck, NY (Sundays 10 am. to 2 p.m.) and this past weekend I finally made it. 
       Once there, I made practically a beeline for the Wild Hive stand. First, because I know Don Lewis and then because they are my source for local grains and flours. Can I just say that I love doing my shopping in a place where vendors give hugs because they’re that happy to see you? Try it—you’ll see I’m right. After I bought some spelt flour and wheat berries from Don, I made my way around the market and picked up some great stuff—super fresh mixed greens, juicy peaches, cucumbers and on Don’s recommendation, locally grown cantaloupe from the vendor across the aisle.

I need to stop for a moment here and share this: On nice days like today, I bring my laptop out on the deck and do my writing here. I just heard a weird noise behind me and whirled around to see four wild turkeys walking around and calmly picking through the leaves and grass, looking like they’re having themselves quite a lunch. Wish that camera was working! Not a bad office, I must say…

OK, the turkeys have gone their merry way. Aside from changing my shopping day, I found more room for improvement. I loved my farmers marketing experience, finding amazing local food and chatting with the vendors, but I realized that despite the chit-chat, I didn’t find out anyone’s name, I didn’t introduce myself and at the moment, I can’t tell you exactly where the peaches and the cucumbers and the cantaloupe came from. This week when I go back, I’ll make sure that my interactions are even more meaningful. I’ll even take the (working) camera and get a few snapshots.
       I’m also finding that I need to manage my time differently. I made a lot of great stuff—whole wheat bread, granola and beef stew, but I didn’t leave myself a lot of time for lunch. Or for that matter, dinner, and so I ended up kind of snacking on a variety things that fit my challenge guidelines. That’s not the way I want to eat and so I’m adding another guideline.

Another interruption, courtesy of Mother Earth—there’s a tiny grasshopper sitting on top of my laptop watching me as I write. I love my job.

I don’t want ever want to stand in front of the fridge again, wondering what I can eat. I like having a plan. As much as I like knowing where my food came from, I also like knowing what I’m having for breakfast, for lunch, for supper. If I need a surprise, I can throw in a random snack. This prompted me to add another condition to Challenge Guidelines.

1. Local, with regard to this Challenge, means my food must be grown and produced within a 100-mile radius (see Going Local)
2. There is a List of Exceptions to which an item may be added after careful consideration (to date, the list is simply olive oil, lemons, salt, pepper and a few other spices)
3. Each meal should be planned in such a way as to optimize its savoring and enjoyment

So Day 1 was a success between delicious food and lessons learned. One down, 29 to go!
 

The 100-Mile Diet got me thinking about what I eat and where it comes from. I grew up knowing where my food came from since it was pretty much the barn or the garden. Or maybe the neighbor’s barn or garden. Somewhere along the line, though, I lost track and the 100-Mile Diet brought me back.
       So for this challenge, I’m following my version of the 100-Mile Diet. I went to their Web site, typed in my zip code and discovered that a good portion of my 100-mile radius winds up in Long Island Sound; frankly, I’m not eating anything that comes out of Long Island Sound. So I adjusted my circle just far enough north to avoid the polluted water and was happy to discover that I can safely enjoy the bounties of most of Connecticut, upstate New York, western Massachusetts and a bit of southwestern Vermont.

Experience has taught me that it is not wise to run headlong into such an undertaking with no real plan. So I’m making one. My 30-Day Challenge will begin on Monday, August 2; in the meantime, I’ve been scoping out local farm stands and farmer’s markets, planning menus based on what’s in season and making a few crucial decisions.

For example, what do I do about olive oil? After two-plus hours of Googling my brains out, I still don’t know if there’s any such thing as olive oil—or my second favorite, grape seed oil—that is locally grown and produced. So I’ve made a List of Exceptions—not as a loophole, but as a matter of practicality and what is important to me. For me, olive oil has been a healthy addition to my diet and so it makes the list. 
       Also making the List of Exceptions is the lovely and so very useful lemon. I use a lot of lemons. I start off my mornings off with a mugful of hot water and a slice of lemon for cleansing. It’s also how I gave up coffee. I don’t use bottled salad dressings, but rather olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. I use lemon zest and juice in a lot of my cooking and just when you might think that little lemon has nothing more to give, I use the rest for cleaning. On balance, I’ve decided that lemons are valuable enough to make the list.
       The only other items are things like salt, pepper and spices—all of which I already have in my spice cabinet. The policy here is that if I have it already, I’ll use it, but if I run out, I won’t replenish it during the challenge.

By the way, if you come across a resource you think will be helpful in this endeavor, please feel free to pass it along!

About the artist: Love my lemon? Local CT artist–and my good friend–Kae Kean has done a beautiful series of fruits and vegetables for me and I love them! You’ll see her work cropping up in this blog from time to time. Feel free to contact me any time for more information.

So I started trying to come up with ways to improve that percentage… I can continue my practice of Conscious Shopping (my eBook will be available soon!) and set a goal of increasing my local spending as I go. I also like the idea of pledging to eat only food from local sources one day a week or even make that one meal each day. OR, I thought (sometimes I think in all caps), I can dare myself. In fact, I can skip straight to the almighty Triple Dog Dare. As in, “Maia, I Triple Dog Dare you to go 30-days without eating anything that is not locally grown or produced!”

Hmm… points to ponder…

In my last post, I mentioned what a logical, rational person I am. Which is absolutely true. But it’s not the only kind of person I am. Sometimes I need a challenge. I need to shake things up—and things haven’t gotten shaken—or even stirred, for that matter—around here in a long time.

But I digress.

I came across this William James (psychologist, philosopher, author and brother of Henry—I know. I looked it up) quote a while back and it’s been glued to me ever since…

“To change one’s life: do it flambouyantly; do it immediately; no exceptions.”

Don’t get me wrong. I do believe that slow and steady wins the race and that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and all that sensible stuff. But. Sometimes don’t you just want to take a side trip and dance like a dervish? Don’t you want to kick down the walls of that box you’re supposed be thinking outside of and live like there is no box?

Here is where I am: TODAY I WANT TO DANCE LIKE A DERVISH AND LIVE LIKE THERE IS NO BOX!

And so it goes…I am taking that Triple Dog Dare. 
 

Beauty from the Inside Out

All the beauty products in the world are not going to make you look your best if your skin is unhealthy. The best way to give your skin that healthy glow is to actually be healthy. This means taking care of yourself by drinking enough water, getting plenty of rest and eating in a way that’s healthy.

Eat the Rainbow

And no I don’t mean Skittles. If you want to look good, you have to eat right. When you are healthy, you look healthy. Treat yourself to plenty of blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, plums and prunes. Yum! And oh, by the way, they’re good for you.
      Other skin-enhancing foods include carrots, sweet potatoes, collards, spinach, kale and beets. What do these foods have in common? They make up a rainbow of beautiful colors-an indicator that they’re rich in vitamins and antioxidants great for combating those skin-damaging free radicals.

Not Just Another Fish Story

The Omega 3 fatty acids found in cold-water ocean fish provide your body with the healthy fats it needs for energy and for absorbing vital vitamins. Wild-caught Pacific salmon is a great source of Omega 3s. You can also get Omega 3s from plant-based sources like flaxseed, walnuts, hazelnuts, strawberries and black raspberries.

For more information on what foods to eat for healthy skin, check out my article, "7 Tips for Healthy Skin," on Ezine.com.

Also check out the February edition of my monthly newsletter, "News from the Humble Neighborhood," (published Feb. 8 ) for skin-enhancing recipes and simple facial masks you can make from items found in your own kitchen.

Drink to your Health

If you’re like most people, you’ve promised yourself that this year you’re going to be healthy. Great idea, albeit a little vague. If you want to be healthy, you have to plan to be healthy. So where do you begin?
     Here is a really simple, truly easy first step on the road to good health. Start each day with a glass of water. I start out each morning with a cup of hot  water with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. This simple action is helpful for digestion and elimination. As an added benefit, I gradually stopped drinking coffee every morning without even realizing it. 
     In the spirit of keeping things simple, don’t get too concerned with exactly how much water you should be drinking every day, just listen to your body. If you’re feeling hungry, drink a glass of water. Sometimes your body is signaling for water, but you misinterpret the feeling as hunger. Have your water and then wait-that hungry feeling might be satisfied. Also remember that if you’re feeling thirsty, definitely drink some water, because that means you’re already dehydrated. On the other hand,don’t overdo it; don’t drink water simply because you’re trying to get in that eighth glass you heard about. Use the 8-glass rule as a guideline, but learn to listen to your body. 

Stay Warm

Can’t seem to get rid of that winter chill? Try this tip for staying warm throughout the day: at the end of your hot morning shower, turn down the water temperature. It might sound a little contradictory to turn on the cold water when your goal is to stay warm, but lowering the temperature-even to a point where you’re still comfortable-closes your pores and helps your body retain heat, thus keeping you warmer.

As far as cooking goes, beets are really wonderful because you can use both the greens and the roots to make completely different dishes. This week I started toying with that idea and ended up with a combination of oven-roasted beets (and other tasty root vegetables) and sautéed greens. These dishes are lovely on their own, but also delicious (my favorite) when served together.

I love this dish and wanted to share it, so I’ve decided to do is to post a few recipes in this blog in hopes of sharing and getting some feedback. I’d love to hear what you think!

Oven-Roasted Beets with Sautéed Greens

Ingredients:
A bunch of beets, including the greens
3 or 4 (or more, if you like) baby turnips, peeled and cut in chunks
6-8 fingerling potatoes
Olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 tsp butter (optional)
Kale
Mushrooms, sliced
Garlic, sliced
Balsamic vinegar

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Wash the beets and trim the greens (leaving an inch or so of the stalks attached to the beets) and set aside. You want to keep the beetroot intact, so that lovely color doesn’t run and turn the other vegetables pink.  Put the beets, turnips and potatoes in an oven-safe baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes to one hour, until vegetables are soft (a knife will slide in and out easily).

Meanwhile, wash the beet greens and kale (discarding the kale stems) and tear or roughly chop into bite-sized pieces. Wash and slice mushrooms. Slice the garlic.

When the root vegetables are nearly done, heat butter and olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter stops sizzling, add the mushrooms and sauté until soft. (Note: if you don’t want to use butter, you can just use olive oil instead. I just happen to like the flavor combination of mushrooms and butter). Add the sliced garlic and sauté until it begins to turn golden. Add the greens and sauté until they turn bright green and begin to wilt. Remove from stove; add a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar and toss.

Arrange the greens on a plate and place oven-roasted vegetables on top. At this point, I like to rub the beets to remove the skin and then slice the beets before placing them on the greens.

Go Beets!

Light a Fire

Instead of barricading myself in my office and trudging through the day’s work—as I am likely to do when I feel myself getting into a funk—I decided to take a different tack. I could keep complaining about the weather and longing for that crackling fire or I could take the matter in hand. So, an armful of logs and an open flue later, I find myself curled up on the couch with my laptop in front of a crackling fire—ready to take on the rest of the day.

Soup’s On!

Now on to that soup! I’ve been thinking a lot lately butternut squash soup. I love the sweet creaminess of this soup and the golden color always seems to lift my spirits. Suddenly, I’m feeling grateful for such a grey and gloomy day; without it, I may not have been inspired to put on my “chef shoes”—a.k.a. fuzzy-lined Crocs—and start oven-roasting and simmering to my heart’s content. So it’s turning out to be a better-than-lovely day, after all, despite its dismal beginning.
    The moral of the story? You have the power to control what kind of day you’re going to have. And if it happens to include a happily crackling fire and a bowl of your favorite soup, all the better!

For my favorite butternut squash recipe, please sign up for my newsletter using the form on the right. You even get a free gift for signing up!