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Welcome, February! It’s the first day of the 28-day Real Food Challenge, and Jenny over at Nourished Kitchen has given me quite a challenge, indeed! Of course we would start with cleaning out the pantry. It only makes sense. Here’s a photo of my pantry right now:
As you can see, there are some very definite “contraband” items there. Lots and lots of storebought bread. Organic cane sugar. Crackers. CRACKERS?? Yup, this is the ugly truth. I didn’t even straighten the shelves before taking the photo. Five hungry kids can do a number on an organized pantry in about 30 seconds anyway.
But here’s the thing: we live in the part of the country recently paralyzed by a snow storm. We are just now (three days later) able leave the house because of ice on the streets. We were warned that power outages were extremely likely, and this is an all-electric house. I have NO alternate cooking sources, so I had to plan some foods that we could eat which would not require cooking. I planned very carefully, cooked ahead with all the advanced notice I received, and then bought some emergency food like bread and crackers. The crackers will go downstairs to our emergency food shelves in the garage where, I’m sure, they will live happily for many years, or until the next time the power goes out. (Or until I figure out how to make hardtack for long-term emergency storage.)
See the cereal there on the top shelf? That’s my husband’s cereal. He will not part with it and I’d be risking banishment to outer darkness to even suggest it again. Yes, we’ve made homemade granola. Yes, even soaked granola. It all gives him horrible digestive problems. Boxed cereal doesn’t. And being an insomniac, he relies on boxed cereal if he gets hungry at 2AM. Yes, I’ve read about the horrible things they do to the grains and how extruded cereals are awful and all that. I buy the best cereal I can find, lowest sugar, no preservatives, organic, etc. but it’s non-negotiable. It’s also the #1 reason he probably won’t go grain-free.
I need some sugar to make water kefir, so I’ll box, label and store the small supply I require on an inaccessible shelf. But I’m not willing to sacrifice the strides we’ve made with our allergies by doing without kefir right now.
What I will do, though, is move “his” sugar and “his” cereal all up on the top shelf and then put a sign on that shelf that those of us participating in the challenge may not eat anything on this shelf. I’m sure hubby will enjoy having “his” food all to himself!
Another of the challenges is to throw away any pantry item with more than one ingredient. Sorry, but I’m NOT tossing my fish sauce! It’s a recipe from Nourishing Traditions, so I call “exempt” on that one. Other than that, I think I’m okay. I’ll check in again next Monday with how I did through the week on this challenge.
Kale by Another Pint Please..., on Flickr
Just as the neighbor kids were ready to go back to school after their holiday break, we were hit by a snow storm. In Tennessee, storm = half an inch of snow. Schools closed the day before the storm “just in case” and were closed for three days after, until the streets were completely cleared. Having lived in snow country, I just rolled my eyes and sighed. But, there are no snowplows, sanders and salt trucks here, so I can (sort of) understand the concern.
One of the kids’ public schooled friends came over to play. We don’t get to see her much and it was great to catch up with her and what’s going on in her world. The kids hung out together for most of the three days, and on the third day, they came home and said, “LaBelle has chicken pox.”
I called, and sure enough, she started getting blisters on the second snow day, but LaBelle was too scared to tell her mom. She had received the chicken pox vaccination, so we had a 50/50 chance that this could be a new strain to which none of us were immune. We have all had chicken pox except our two youngest.
Not being a vaccinating family, we adhere to strict quarantines when we are exposed. So, I told the kids they would not be able to leave the house for the length of the incubation period (up to 21 days) and on day 19, they both bloomed. Because chicken pox is communicable two days before blisters appear, there was no way to know if we were contagious any time during that 21 days.
Our nutritional therapy includes the following vitamins, minerals and nutritionals: (Please keep in mind that some nutritional sources might be better, but we are attempting to stay seasonal and local even in the midst of illness.)
- Beta-carotene: Sweet potatoes and winter squash are good sources, as are (you’ll hear these a lot) dark leafy greens like collards, turnip greens, kale, spinach and broccoli.
- Vitamin A: We’ve upped the cod liver oil dosage during this illness. Beef liver is an excellent source of vitamin A, but I can’t get the kids to eat it. I have been able to successfully hide chicken livers in our food, and those are also a very good source. Raw milk, cheese made from it, and pastured eggs are also excellent sources of vitamin A and so easy to add to our meals!
- Vitamin C: Oranges, of course, which help for the dehydration that accompanies fever, but even better are Brussels sprouts and broccoli and those dark leafy greens again.
- Potassium: More winter squash, broccoli and (can you guess?) dark leafy greens.
- Zinc: I’m too chicken to try oysters, the very best source, but we’re eating alaskan king crab, pork, crispy cashews and almonds and raw milk cheese.
- Vitamin E: Crispy almonds and sprouted sunflower seeds are wonderful sources of vitamin E, along with (say it with me now) dark leafy greens.
- Shiitake mushrooms are easy to add to meaty dishes and have antiviral properties.
- Licorice root’s antiviral properties target a different set of viruses than shiitake, making it a good complementary aid.
- Aloe vera juice cools and soothes the blisters.The girls tell me that it works better than calamine lotion in the tests we’ve run.
This post is part of Prevention, Not Prescriptions.
The Dark Side of Fat Loss
