Cheaters! And Rule #13

Well, you could say that we cheated this week. But you could also say that we followed the rule 100%. Turns out, we didn't even go to the grocery store this week so it was pretty easy to avoid those middle aisles. This week we turned into social butterflies....eating at baseball games (thanks Tim and Rosanne), breweries, street fairs (thanks Cimone and Erin), and Ryan's parent's house! Tonight we are hoping to throw some meat on the grill and have some friends over. I must say, however, that I don't think I like this rule because baking supplies are usually on middle aisles. So, thank goodness for friends, family and sunshine.

Next week will be a challenge and we have not been challenged for a while: Rule #13 Eat only foods that will eventually rot. So, does anybody know if salt ever rots? Or any spices for that matter? How about oils and vinegars? We are hoping that the portland sunshine will continue and we can just have a week of grilling because we know veggies and meats rot most definitely.

Rule #12: Avoiding the Middle

I had my first work week post-graduation and was super bad about blogging. Ryan and I tried to watch some TV....The Bachelorette.....Wipe Out......random shows while working out on the elliptical. Our list of no-no foods remained virtually non-existent despite Papa Murphy's pizza and Yoplait yogurt (we were only writing down foods we might otherwise be eating and even these two foods we have not eaten since starting this challenge). How proud were we that this rule did not effect us in the slightest. Or have they just stopped advertising food on TV?

In other news: Purchase of the week:

A Pineapple Corer


Ryan grilled an amazing meal of braised beef in the middle of the week. Little did I know, or he know more importantly, that this meal had a prep time of like 8 hours. When you start cooking at 6pm please plan on having a VERY hungry (and grouchy) girlfriend by 10:30 pm (he actually started the prep during his lunch break...). I didn't get a very good picture but I can honestly say that it might have been worth the wait...



This upcoming week we are on Rule #12: Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. Hard to believe it will be 3 months down! Sorry this post is so boring. I have just been adjusting to normalcy with a Monday-Friday 9-5 job.

Zoe, MSW, and Rule #11

Biggest news of the week: I graduated!!!! After graduation we enjoyed drinks at Mint before heading to our family restaurant, Ciao Vito. We had an amazing dinner there and then I went to my best friend's birthday party and ended the night with dessert back at my parent's house. It was a perfect day with lots of excellent food and drink.












I intended to take more pictures of the food we ordered but only got the appetizers. Sorry! The alcohol kicked in and I was distracted.








Our rule did not affect us much this week. I am excited for our next rule: Avoid foods you see advertised on television, because it is more straight forward than our previous few rules. The one issue is that neither Ryan or I watch much television. So if our readers can help us out and let us know about advertised food to avoid that would be great. We have started a list to write down no-no foods. So far it's blank.

With all my free time that school used to consume I have started working in my garden again. Maybe you will see some homegrown produce in the hear future. We also bought more farm eggs today and went shopping for groceries for the week. I was alarmed when I returned to our shopping cart and found the following box inside:



This would be the work of Ryan. I refuse to eat any of this and hope to find it advertised on television so Ryan can't eat it either!

You want....WHAT?

Tonight, after dinner, Ryan proclaimed his craving for chocolate cupcakes. I bolted out of my chair and ran to get my baking book, excited to make him something delicious to show him how much I love him! Instead of telling me how sweet I am....Instead of giving me a hug and kiss.....Instead of mentioning what a wonderful girlfriend he has....He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I meant I want the cupcakes that come from the box mix." "WHAT?!?!? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" "You know, the cupcake mix that comes from a box?" "We can't eat that, it doesn't fit with our rule!" I was completely outraged and could hardly believe my ears. He responded, "How does it not fit with our rule?" "Because we aren't supposed to eat foods trying to be something they are not?" "But what is box cupcake mix trying to be?" "Ummm....I don't know....Good?" Did my boyfriend seriously want some cupcakes made from powder? I was mortified. After arguing with him for several minutes about the obvious tastiness of homemade vs disgusting box mix he agreed to let me give the homemade cupcakes a try. I spent the next thirty minutes melting baking chocolate, creaming butter, sugar, and our fresh farm eggs, and heating the oven, while he made comments like, "That batter doesn't like as floury as the box stuff" and "I hope these will be as good as the box stuff." The timer went off. The cooling process began. The cupcakes were cool. Ryan took a bite and had two things to say: 1. I need milk. 2. These cupcakes are more dense than the box mix kind. The end. Ryan has yet to admit that box cupcake mix is gross and many people only dream about having a partner that would bake up a storm at the drop of a hat. Hmph.

Author's Note: After reading this post Ryan said, "I sound like such an ass." I wanted to point out that Ryan is the best boyfriend in the whole world and is rarely ever an ass, and was certainly not an ass during this incident. Instead he is suffering from serious misguidance about what a good cupcake tastes like.

Rule #10: Out with the Fakes

The most famous imitation butter.....We don't ever eat this stuff anyway, but this gives you an idea what won't be allowed this upcoming week.



Again, we were not incredibly challenged by the weekly rule. The only food we had an issue with, aside from milk/buttermilk, was popcorn. I always eat popcorn when I do overnights because the actual act of eating helps keep me awake. Popcorn is a logical choice because it takes a long time to eat, doesn't fill you up very quickly, and is pretty healthy. Luckily, I just did my last overnight (maybe and hopefully ever). For this overnight I couldn't eat my usual 94% fat free popcorn so movie theater butter was where it was at. Our rules lately have not helped our waistline (hello 15Ibs I thought I lost) and they are also not necessarily encouraging us to eat very healthily. Next week I am expecting this trend to continue and I am not anticipating a real challenge with Rule #10: Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not. Right now, I can only think of one food we currently eat that is pretending to be something it is not, Ryan's imitation salt, which every food rule seems to hate. Aside from this, the rules as of late are making me feel very confident about how we normally eat because we are having very little issue following them. Below are pictures of Ryan testing out our new immersion blender while he prepares some spinach soup. Amazing device!

Milk Crazy

Like previously predicted, the hardest part of this week's rule is avoiding non-fat milk. To substitute, we have stocked our fridge full of other types of milk. On Monday I made vanilla soy, banana, oat french toast. We topped it with fresh blueberries, strawberries and maple syrup. Then, last night I made blueberry muffins and used buttermilk. This was a little bit of a disaster because A) it's hard to find buttermilk that is not "light" or "reduced fat" and we ended up having to go to several stores! And B) The recipe said it made 12 muffins, which did not sound like enough to feed the people I intended to serve (my classmate's final day of school!) so I doubled the recipe. Eight cups of flour should have been a little hint (or a dead giveaway) that the recipe would make a TON of muffins...but I was tired and not paying attention (don't ask) and ended up with the biggest bowl of muffin batter that your mind can imagine. Ryan took a picture (see below) and my face is expressing, "WHAT did I DO?!?!?!" I also tried almond milk for the first time. Ryan described it best when he said, "This tastes exactly how you would imagine almond milk to taste!" I like it better than soy and I believe it is healthier. For breakfast Ryan has been covering berries with various types of milk. I am starting to see a berry and cream theme with this post. Are there any other types of milk we should try? Is almond milk the best alternative to cow?

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!!!!