Egg-venture and Rule #9

Sadly, this post is coming on time because we ended up getting rained out of our camping weekend. I woke up this morning and still wanted some type of adventure so we decided to go on an egg hunt. The positive thing about living out in the middle of nowhere is that we live in the land of family farms. We found a place close by that advertised fresh farm eggs. We called ahead and they said they were open. When we showed up we found a little house with a barb wired gate all around the perimeter and a big scary looking dog standing guard. We parked outside of the gate and starred at the "OPEN" sign. And nothing happened. There was no doorbell, or intercom, the gate did not open, and no friendly people appeared. The dog barked at us a few times before we decided to head to Freddy's and get some expensive organic eggs. On the way we spotted another sign in a family's driveway advertising eggs. This house was almost polar opposite of the last scary house we visited. The yard was full of flowers and bee boxes. There was a friendly couple who greeted us. The only similarity was the scary looking dog. But as soon as we stepped out of the car we realized it was just a big puppy wanted to give us slobbery wet doggy kisses. We asked for 2 dozen eggs and thought we heard wrong when the woman said a dozen was $3! Most organic eggs are $5-7 so this seemed like a complete steal! And the eggs were beautiful! A rainbow of colors and varied sizes. We also got to see where the chickens lived and were impressed with their huge coop and how happy and healthy they looked. We will definitely be coming back to buy more eggs from this family so if anyone would like us to pick some up for them let us know! I really don't think this deal can be beat!

As far as the rule for this week, it didn't even feel like we were on a rule. Apparently, nothing we normally eat makes health claims. Next week will be Rule 9: Avoid food products with the wordoid "lite" or the terms "low-fat" or "nonfat" in their names. This rule is making the point that most foods advertised as low-fat or nonfat are not necessarily more healthy due to the additives used to make them such. The biggest challenge we are anticipating is not being able to drink our non-fat milk (whole milk is just gross once you have lived your whole life on the nonfat stuff). We may try almond or soy milk for the week.




Where the happy chickens live


BIG puppy dog


Rainbow of fresh eggs!


Our first brunch creation

Fava Beans

I know, you are probably thinking, "Fava what?" I had no idea what these things were either when they showed up in our box of produce. That's one of the best parts of joining Organics To You--unusual stuff shows up at your doorstep that you would never ordinarily buy in the grocery store. So, Ryan and I were able to experience the deliciousness of the fava bean. Honestly, we had no idea what to do with them so they sat in our fridge for a week (thank goodness they did not spoil!). Our good friend Allison, who is a definite foody, sent us some recipes to help inspire us (Thanks Allison!!!). We decided to cook them in the Japanese style--where you marinade them in all sorts of yummy stuff and then char them on the grill. Little did I know that Ryan wanted to focus on the french onion soup that he had been dreaming about for the last week. "Zoe, you need to learn how to grill." "But that is your job?" "Not anymore." So that was that. Along with eating the fava beans I used my first grill ever. I think this would not have normally happened this way because Ryan is very particular about grilling. I believe he was skeptical of the fava bean so he did not have his usual grilling enthusiasm. I also think this was brought on by the fact that I did all of the dishes except washing the huge cast iron pot and he was not pleased about that. The conversation around that went something similar to the grilling conversation above except replace grill with "wash big huge heavy things." UUghhhh. Well, despite our switching of household roles the meal was a great success. We ate the fava beans piping hot off the grill. They are very similar to edamame but the bean is bigger and a little more creamy. The spices get stuck to your fingers when you peel the pod and then you get to lick it all up. After the fava bean appetizer we ended with Ryan's french onion soup. mmmmmm yum. Also, I may publish Sunday's reflection and upcoming rule post late again because we are going on a camping trip for the 3-day weekend!

and then came the HAM!

We are eating a lot of foods we have not been able to eat for a while. Biggest news: Ryan finally got to buy his ham! Last night he made the split pea soup he has been talking about for weeks and 3 words: Best Soup Ever!!! I had a little when I came home late last night and I'm thinking about eating some more for breakfast! We are still reading labels and avoiding highly processed foods, but we haven't really discovered anything we want to eat and can't due to the rule. What an easy week. AND I need it because it's final crunch time with school! Also, this is a good week for soup with rain, rain, rain, rain, and more rain. Do people know that I wore wool the other day and it's almost June!?!?! Next up, french onion soup! We also have some fava beans we will be cooking up soon thanks to Allison who found some good recipes for us! More to come!

Rule #8 & Super Sweet Sixteen Seattle Splendor

First off, I have to apologize for this being late. I like to always give our readers a reflection of the previous week's rule and a glimpse of the upcoming rule on Sunday. As you can see, today is Monday and I am just now posting. This post would have come sooner but we had some clothes drying issues in Seattle, I know, not the exciting story you wanted me to relay to you regarding dragons and tornadoes and such. Yes, it was just us sitting around Ryan's parent's Seattle Condo, wishing we had a deck of playing cards, and waiting for a dryer to finish drying some sheets. Not quite sure how else to explain our 1AM Portland arrival. Yawn.

The past week we followed a more challenging rule than expected. Only eating ingredients a third grader can pronounce is just too subjective for me. At certain times I was thinking that third graders are ssoooo young and wait, can kids even read yet in third grade? In other moments of weakness I was sure that third graders were the most genius creatures to walk this earth. Really, what it boiled down to is that we needed our own pocket-sized third grader. Sadly, none of our readers volunteered to loan us one to shrink wrap. We coerced Adele for a while but I don't think she wanted to travel in our suitcase to Seattle with us and do 26/7-year-old things. Or maybe she did but I don't think her parents would have approved.

Seattle was wonderful! I got to see old friends that I have not seen in far too long. Marya was the Super Sweet 16 birthday host and the most gorgeous one ever at that! Ryan and I ate too much food (literally, I felt sick from eating too much, Ryan would like to blame the alcohol but I know it was from the food--this was due to us staying in his parent's condo across the street from Whole Foods--think gourmet cheese, bread, ice cream, bread, cheese, cheese), we went shopping, tea tasting with Allison and Josh, played with Diego and Claire's cute puppy TORTUGA, and went to a Padres/Mariners game with Rosanne (and Tim, even though he did not sit with us because he was busy playing). Ryan and I also salsa danced around the condo and then I danced with all my college loves at Marya's party. It was SUCH a fun weekend.


Ryan making his step-mom's salad dressing recipe in her kitchen in Seattle




Turning Ryan's parent's kitchen into our own as we salsa dance while caramelizing onions and drinking wine






Seattle adventuring












For this upcoming week we are on Rule 8: Avoid food products that make health claims. I am thinking this will be the easiest week yet but I have been wrong before (I know, hard to imagine). So far, our only limitation will be cheerios: "Lowers Cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks." Good thing I have never been a cheerio fan. Sucks to be Ryan. Side note: Speaking of breakfast I have recently fallen in love with something to help mix up my oatmeal mornings. Almond butter. A little more nutty, less salty, and a tad sweeter than peanut butter. Back to the point: We will be posting as we discovery more foods we can't eat throughout the week. The idea behind this week's rule is that foods making health claims usually involve packaging, which means they are processed, include additives, and other questionable ingredients. Also, "real food" should be healthy enough to sell itself and not be scientifically engineered with god knows what to be this, that, and the other. All I am thinking is here comes the bubble tea because a) I have missed you, and b) you make no health claims, I hope!!!!

Asparagus Dedication

We had another great dinner last night and made quite the discovery. Ryan was in charge of cooking up some fish and carrots. I was in charge of the salad. The discovery=eating raw asparagus. We never knew this was possible until a recipe posted on our Organics to You Facebook page proclaiming it so! I was so unsure about this recipe that I checked several other sources and apparently asparagus is just fine raw. Well, why don't more people eat it in such a fashion?......That is what Ryan thought at least and why he was scared to try my raw asparagus salad. Aside from trying it, Ryan also thought it was unfair that he was in charge of more than half the meal. Little did he know (or I know, for that matter) how long it takes to prepare raw asparagus. Hours. You have to shave it down to thin little strips. I did this with our potato peeler because we don't have one of those fancy mandolins. As you can see by the pictures posted below, we were still cooking at 10pm! We didn't eat until around 10:30pm. And we did not finish eating until around 11:30pm (that is how you know it was a good meal!). Ryan eventually tried my salad and loved it, even though I do not think I will be making it again in the near future due to the lengthy preparation time. We both decided it was something that would be served in a fancy restaurant. The restaurant would put a tiny dab of the salad on a large plate with some thinly sliced toasted bread and a little drizzle of something or other and VIOLA $12 starter. This made us laugh as we piled it into our mouths. Asparagus has a surprisingly sweet flavor in it's raw state. The salad also included shaved fennel bulb. The fish was baked in freshly squeezed orange juice, garlic, basil and paprika. The carrots were sauteed in butter and brown sugar. All accompanied with a fine bottle of wine. Delicious.

We will be traveling to Seattle today for the weekend. Wish us luck following the rule as we are away from all our natural comforts and familiarities....not that Seattle is that different, but still!

Tortilla TIME!

We finally made our handmade tortillas. Oh.My.Goodness. Hot, fresh, tortillas are ssooooooo good. A billion times better from what you can buy in the grocery store. And this was incredibly easy and fun to do. So, if you need a date night with your lover I highly suggest this activity! We piled our tortillas with avocado, onion, tomato, black beans, cilantro and hot sauce. I felt like I was back in Mexico. Everything was so fresh and tasty. We would have used some cheese but we were concerned a 3rd grader might not be able to pronounce Enzymes. My mom works with 3rd graders and she said that the "Y" as an "I" sound is confusing at that age. We didn't get a chance to test this word on Adele so we played it safe.

Can You Pronounce Everything in this Soup?

Today was one of my final days of internship and my wonderful coworkers took me out to lunch to celebrate. We set the date and then I went and did some research on the restaurant we were going to. Eating out and following food rules is difficult, which is why I have just been straight up avoiding it. This has made my mouth water at times when i go watch my friends eat restaurant-made meals. But gee-golly-whiz my pocketbook has been more than happy with my new lifestyle change! When I allow myself $300 for recreational activities per month and I spend exactly ZERO it can't really be beat....just saying that Starbucks, I love you, but you kill my wallet and my waistline. SO, I was proud of myself for doing the necessary research to ensure that I could eat and follow my food rule.

I decided on a salad but was concerned about the dressing. What if they had some weird preservatives in the dressing, as many do, that a third-grader could not pronounce? Was it a risk worth taking? I decided to play it safe and ask for oil and balsamic vinegar on the side. I was SET. Sadly, the unexpected occurred, as it often does when you are least expecting! The salad came with a soup. The waiter set a bowl of minestrone soup in front of me. I thought about sending it back. I thought about offering it to my coworkers. I thought about just letting it sit there and not touching it. I even thought about calling the waiter over and asking her if she could easily pronounce all the ingredients in the soup (Can you imagine?!?! Because I did and if I was a waiter and someone asked me that question the soup would end up on their face, or I would at least imagine it as such!). No, I was not brave. I did not want to make a scene. I ate the soup. I'm not sure what was in the soup. I may have broken the rule. I might never know. But, I think what counts is that I tried. AND, I had a fun lunch and ending to a rocky up and down and all around internship!

In happier news, Adele (our cute little 1st grader, almost 2nd grader, but has the mad reading skills of a 3rd grader) can pronounce Sulfates!!!!!!!!! HIGH FIVE ADELE! I don't think Adele knows why Ryan and I have taken recent enthusiasm in her reading ability, but I think she likes it. What other random adults get beyond excited when she can successfully read all the ingredients on a food label??? I mean, we jump up and down, high-five and I think I even started screaming when I heard the crystal clear "sulfates" come out of her mouth. Thank you Adele for being such a food reading label genius! I think I shall celebrate your reading ability by drinking a glass of wine!

Happy Birthday to ME! (and can I borrow your 3rd grader?)

This week marks the first week Ryan lost it! I mean, literally, I thought this food challenge was over AND all because of some split pea soup! Let me tell you the story. Ryan decided he wanted to make split pea soup so he bought all the necessary ingredients except ham. He could not find ham with 5 ingredients or less for the life of him. I tried to reassure him, "Oh, we just need to go to such and such store" and that worked for a while. But his quest for ham continued to fail and fail and fail. You see, ham is cured with all sorts of stuff. I then tried to offer Ryan alternative solutions, like what about bacon or sausage split pea soup? He would have none of it. The boiling point occurred Saturday morning. He threw the dehydrated peas on the counter and said, "I JUST WANT TO EAT SOME HAM!" (I am leaving out some choice expletives....for the sake of our more conservative readers, but repeat that statement and use your imagination). Well, I told Ryan he needed to calm down and eat breakfast. And he went on about how he is tired of eating homemade bread and oatmeal and how bad he is starving, etc. you know. I suggested he make himself some eggs and as he was eating his eggs and restoring his blood sugar he was able to calm down (he was acting like me! Ha!). I snapped a picture of him smiling for the first time all morning as he eats his eggs (see below). So, his eggs, which he would not give me a bite of, saved our food challenge. Thank goodness for the incredible edible egg!



Let's move on. Today, May 16th, was my breach the womb day! I was praying for sun, there was no sun. I was hoping for a picnic, there was no picnic. I was hoping for an amazingly perfect day, Ryan woke up sick. BUT, there were sun breaks, we did outside activities and Ryan turned unsick quickly in true Ryan fashion! It was a wonderful day with my loved ones. We woke up and had a good work out. I weighed myself for the first time in a while and had lost 5 more Ibs (15Ibs all together! Just from being conscious about what I eat!). We then went to a farmer's market with my mom and had a splendid time sampling what was under 5 ingredients and buying delicious food for my birthday dinner. We went shopping for some of my presents and then went walking around the beautiful Portland Rhode gardens (rhododendron gardens for those who aren't in the know). My mom cooked a birthday feast of grilled halibut with a variety of fancy farmer's market mushrooms, butter ball potatoes, asparagus, and an amazing salad of farmer's greens. We had great wine and cheese and ended with a strawberry filled birthday cake (a birthday tradition since my very first year of life). It was wonderful! I love my family soooo very much! I also got excellent presents (thank you, thank you!!!!).










Rule #7: Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third-grader cannot pronounce. Ryan is so thankful we are done with Rule #6 because it was his most hated rule. So anything will be better. We need to borrow a third-grader in case we run into foods we are not sure about. So far we have Adele (see cute picture below with Mr. Opiedog). She is a first-grader (almost second-grader) but is exceptionally intelligent. We have already quizzed her on a wide variety of ingredients and the only one she had trouble with was magnesium, so I think we are golden. Obviously, if we are not sure about the pronunciation of an ingredient we will know to avoid it. Otherwise, we will have to wait to quiz Adele, unless you want to loan us your third-grader for the week??? If so, we promise s/he will be well fed! Here goes rule #7!

Five Ingredient Dinner with Friends

Last night we had an amazing dinner with our best couple friend, Suraya and Jason. We were honored to help them christen their new grill (best purchase ever)! Jason made kabobs (I think we have a kabob theme coming about) and he marinated the meat in a homemade marinade of lemon, garlic and parsley. We have been starving on this rule because I have been so busy finishing up grad school that I haven't had time to cook (What's your excuse Ryan? :) mwhahaha). It was so nice to have our bellies full! Also, Jason made the BEST dessert. i have never had grilled pineapple before but I am already craving some more with tonight's meal! He poured a mixture of rum, brown sugar and cinnamon (I think?) on the pineapple as it grilled. It was then served hot on top of some Hagendaz 5 Ingredient vanilla ice cream!!!! See pictures below because Susie is modeling the ice cream. It is wonderful to have such great friends that will cook for you and follow your weird food rules! :)

In other news, I am thinking we won't be making homemade tortillas tonight because we have some other food in the fridge that needs to be cooked and I have a paper I should be working on.....Homemade tortillas WILL be happening soon though!