And We Are OFF!

Finished up with our last rule for a while. Attempted to stay clear of all four-legged animal meat and limited all other meat consumption significantly. With the excitement of our trip growing I have to admit that we have not paid very much attention to our food rules. Last night we went out to dinner and Ryan asked, "What's our rule again?" I do have to say that I was impressed with him earlier this week because he ordered a veggie sandwich (that is huge for him, actually I believe it's a first).

I now have two days of unemployment. During this time I plan to transform my body into that of a superwoman, pack a month's worth of gear into a bag half the size that I actually need....or maybe want......and mentally channel the spirit of Pocahontas (don't ask). The Great Food Experiment will resume the first week of November 2010!

Pear Crazy

This past weekend we got a bag full of asian pears from Ryan's parent's tree. Because we only have a week left before the big rafting trip I have officially gone pear crazy. It started with a delicious pear tart with a walnut crust. We then had pear sandwiches with blue cheese and caramelized onions. AND then I added pear to a macaroni and cheese dish and it was surprisingly good--Ryan even requested that I make it again. Also, I can't forget the pear smoothie (Brooke, it wasn't green but it was a smoothie!) and the number of pears we have just eaten plain or in salads. I would have taken pictures but all of this dishes have already been devoured. I am currently about to make a pear spice cake. Any other suggestions for pears? I'm thinking pear butter or jam would be a good way to store what we don't eat.

Rule #24.....Our Last Rule For a While

Rule #23 went well. On one occasion we ate lamb chops (at Ryan's parent's house) but we were sure to eat more veggies that night and I only ate one chop (Ryan ate two but refrained from a third!). It was just one of the many delicious meals we had this weekend at their house! Ryan continues to state: I don't think we ate much meat to begin with. And I continue to think he is in lunatic. Our next rule: Eating what stands on one leg (mushrooms and plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows, pigs, and other mammals). Very similar to this past week but differentiating between the meat. We will try to continue to eat mainly veggies. Also, this will be our last rule for a while. We are going on a trip to raft the Colorado River and will not get a choice what we eat. Basically, we will be eating what is offered and what is offered will be dependent on what can keep in the 100 degree heat for multiple weeks......We will post pictures of some of the food when we get back. I'm thinking a lot of canned items and thawed stuff. We will be back at the end of October and will resume our rules then!

Some random foodie pictures from this week:

The co-op by Ryan's parent's house lets you grind your own flour! Never seen this before but was curious if fresh ground flour tasted better......


The raspberry pie that Jill, Ryan's step-mom, slaved away all day making for us (Ryan and I picked all the raspberries from their garden).

"Well, That Would Look Weird"

Ryan just made me laugh so incredibly hard that I decided I would have to blog about the incident. As I was in lying in bed and quickly checking my emails before going to sleep I realized I had an email from a friend that I am having dinner with tomorrow. She sent me the name of a restaurant where she suggested we dine. I mentioned this to Ryan, because I had never heard of said restaurant and he wanted me to look it up. I then started reading him the menu. He thought it sounded good until I told him that we might not be able to get any of the entrees, as they all have meat as the main course and would not fit with out rule. He then exclaimed in a panic, "Oh no! What are we going to eat then?" "Ryan, the entrees have all the meat dishes, we can always get a salad or something." He then replied, "Well, that would look weird!" (this is the comment that made me laugh uncontrollably. Maybe it was the tone of his voice, and the undertone of sheer panic or maybe it was picturing my carnivorous boyfriend ordering a salad. Either way, I was in a state of hysterical disbelief). "What?!?!! Why would getting a salad look weird? Who cares? This is what vegetarians have to do all of the time," I responded. "But Zoe, we are not vegetarians, so it would look weird." Ryan continued to be insistent on this point. I have no idea what he will do tomorrow but I guess I am going to look weird because I already have my salad picked out.

Leaf crazy and Rule #23

This past week we had leaves everyday....chard, kale, various types of lettuce, arugula, spinach, etc. etc. We added leaves to things we would normally not just to make this goal and everything turned out to be very tasty. In terms of the eating mostly plants part of the rule.....we were pretty good about this too. I thought I was going to have to take back the part about this being hard for Ryan because we ended up cooking ZERO meat this week. However, when we went to our friend's pool party with spicy black bean garden burgers in hand, Ryan ended up backing out and eating a beef burger and hot dog. To his credit he also loaded the burger up with veggies and had two salads so all in all I am not complaining. He impressed me. See some of our leaf pictures below.

This next week the rule is pretty similar to last week's: Rule 23: Treat meat as a flavoring or special occasion food. This means we will not eat any meat as a main course unless a special occasion arises. The only special occasion I can anticipate would take place at Ryan's parent's house this weekend, as they are known to cook amazing dinners with locally farmed meat (Ryan's step-mom has a fantastic rule where she only eats meat if she knows where it came from).

One of our many salads this week.....


We never figured out what the darker leaf was in this picture--it was really stringy, bitter, and I almost wondered if I was supposed to cook it before eating.




Ryan's veggie quiche complete with spinach leaves


When we went to my mom's for brunch she used one of my favorite leaves (arugula) to make savory crepes. They were amazing.

Rule #22...bring on the leaves!

Rule #21 I did not like and I did not seem to pay much attention to. Really, what it boils down to is that I did not understand this rule. Is there any food that is pronounced the same in EVERY language? When I was in India they had Subway but the sandwiches were all changed around to incorporate Indian specialties. And I am pretty sure they did not call them sandwiches.

This upcoming Rule #22 I am much more excited about: Rule 22: Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. . For this week we are going to try and eat a leafy dish every day. Also, we will have all our main courses be plant based. When discussing this rule with Ryan he seemed to think it would be easy for us, saying "I think we eat mostly vegetarian anyway." I have to disagree. Ever since I moved in with Ryan I have found myself eating a lot more meat. I attribute this to Ryan's willingness to touch/cut up/clean all the dead animals. When I lived by myself I really only ate meat when I went out to dinner or if it was pre-prepared (not saying that makes eating meat better....just saying I rarely ate it). These upcoming rules will limit our meat consumption considerably so it will be interesting to see if Ryan objects.

Rule #21

This past week was pretty easy. We drove to Bend for the weekend, and YES, it would have been more convenient to stop at a fast food joint to fill our tummies and keep us awake. However, doing so would have caused us to miss out on the excellent fry bread we had in Deschutes Crossing. And the homemade ice cream in Sunriver was better than a bizzard. All in all, this was a great rule to have this past week.

This upcoming week, Rule 21: It's not food if it's called by the same name in every language (Think Big Mac, Cheetos, or Pringles.), will force us to do some research. I am guessing mostly food served by big food cooperations will go against the rule. I am also pretty sure that hamburgers and pizza are universal terms. Can you think of any others that we might accidently not think about?

Rule #20

Rule #20: It's not food if it arrived through the window of your car will be incredibly easy for us. We rarely eat fast food aside from a yearly (or so) trip to Burgerville to get pumpkin milkshakes, sweet potato fries, spicy black bean garden burgers or their sweet walla walla onion rings! I still hold the claim to fame that I have never eaten at a McDonalds (Yes, I am that girl, and yes, my mother is so proud!). Although, when I was daydreaming about making it to this rule as we were driving a few days ago, I stated to Ryan, "I can't wait for this rule because I will be able to eat anything....and the first thing I want to eat is a DQ cookie dough blizzard!" Ryan was like, "Dear, that is the one thing you will not be able to eat it." Damn, my dreams were dashed. Store bought ice cream will have to suffice for the heat wave.

Last week's rule (#19) Ryan hated. Note to Margot: we ended up agreeing with you and decided that wine could not be considered as being made in a plant, but we decided against big cheese companies, which equally killed him. Also, we could not drink beer because apparently our friend who works at Deschutes informed us that the place where their beer is brewed is called "The Plant."

This week we anticipate eating a lot of salads because our food bin arrived with HUGE heads (yes, plural) of lettuce. Also, who wants to cook in this heat???? Another thing I just realized, thanks to a visit with Ryan's dad and step-mom, is that we have not been making enough/any smoothies for breakfast. A perfect alternative to hot oatmeal when you are trying to stay cool on a summer morning. Ryan's dad even puts ground up walnuts in his smoothie concoction!

Rule #19, Take Three

Late. The days are going so fast, it's hard to keep up with them. Rule #19: If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't, is very similar to the last two rules. Bottom line: Don't eat foods that are processed in factory settings. The confusing thing about this weeks particular rule is that some things are made from plants and come from plants. The big question in Ryan's mind: Can we drink wine? Answer: Undetermined. Wine is made from grapes (plant) but it is processed with preservatives (made in a plant). Oh the dilemma. Also, do bakeries count as plants? In my mind, a local bakery is not a plant, whereas I am sure that Wonder Bread has an impressive plant.

In other news, Ryan got the urge to cook "Cornish Game Hens" in 80+ degree weather. I don't know who cooks "Cornish Game Hens" in the first place and much less in the summer!

"Why would anyone think to eat this?!?!"

Ryan thought I was trying to poison him last night when I gave him a raw red dandelion green to try (picture of his face after eating below!). The greens showed up in our food bin and I almost put them in a salad. Luckily, I tasted one first and realized how bitter they were (quite the kick!). I did some research and realized that if you saute them in bacon fat it takes out a lot of the bitterness.


We also cooked the vegetable that we had no idea what it was. We cut it open and sure enough, no seeds, and yellow rings. It was a GIANT beet (Allison, I think the picture looked deceiving but I appreciate the research you did....now I want to try one of those crazy squash!).


Aside from the two veggies I made homemade foccacia bread topped with roasted garlic. Ryan loved it evidenced by the fact that we have NONE left.


The next night we had a meal of ALL veggies. This was pretty new to us because we usually always have some type of meat or bread-like substance (rice, noodles, etc). The meal included grilled corn on the cob, portabello mushrooms (which were cheaper than regular mushrooms! Not sure what was up with that but we took advantage!), sweet potatoes, and kale with caramelized onion.