One of the things I like most about being a Real Food-er is (virtually) meeting all the amazing people who make up this worldwide community of crunchy food fanatics. Many of them can be found blogging about their traditional-fooding lives, and most of them have been doing both of those things a lot longer than I have. Thankfully, they are around to teach me.
Whether about gardening or gadgets, farming or fermentation, pudding or politics, real food blogs are always buzzing with new things to learn, recipes to try, or interesting stories to read. So I thought it was time that I start sharing with my own readers what I discover from them.
Here’s what I’ve learned this week:
- British penises are disappearing. Yeah, um… you read that right. Ruth from Ruth’s Real Food hilariously exposed to us this week that obesity rates have led to 10% of British men unable to see their, uh, manlihood. Makes you wonder what the going rate is for vanishing genitalia of us Yanks, huh?
- I want a Nubian goat. I know, I know… I have a problem. I keep acquiring livestock animals and still don’t really know what to do with them. But just LOOK at how adorable these “dairy queens” are at Invited to the King’s Table. One of them follows this blogger around like a puppy, so much so that she could hardly get a picture of the goat cause she was so attached at the hip! I would pretty much LOVE it if my animals did this. Instead, I have to buy their affection with mango peels.
- Even the American Dental Association is starting to semi-admit the dangers of fluoride. In November 2006, the ADA actually advised parents to avoid giving fluoridated water to babies or using it to make formula. Shocking, considering the degree to which they continue to promote the toxic chemical as the ultimate in cavity prevention for the rest of the population. There is lots to learn about this critically important issue in a recent post by Small Footprint Family — it even includes a great video clip from the DVD, Professional Perspectives on Water Fluoridation.
- Five more reasons to love my bacon. Primal Toad gives us a great rundown of why our favorite fatty breakfast food is worth keeping on the table. Especially when it comes to turning a not-so-favorite dish into something a little bit tastier. After all “bacon makes other foods awesome.” Also awesome? The post includes a clip from one of the best comedians EVER — Jim Gaffigan.
- Zucchini makes great lasagna pasta. Probably one of the more nasty, processed foods I miss most is Stouffer’s lasagna. Salty, cheesy, packed with those deliciously addicting fake-grain pasta strips, prettily-crimped, with just the right amount of mushiness. How would I possibly be able to recreate this frozen guilty pleasure into any sort of a real, nourishing meal? Apart from sprouting my own grains, grinding them into flour, and transforming them into pasta with a machine (how I dream of thee, Kitchenaid mixer and all your magical attachments…), I thought I had to give up on this one. But after seeing this recipe by Mama’s Weeds, I think I could give my favored lasagna a real-food makeover, without even grinding a single grain. But dang if I still don’t wish for that Kitchenaid… (and some legit pasta every now and again).
What have you learned lately from your favorite blogs?
Ummm I love bacon…so I think I will eat it more often 😉
I’m having a really rough patch right now with everything. So excuse my bad attitude if it appears that way…But what I would really like to see is some more recipes for those of us who aren’t made of money or stay-at-home moms. I respect you a lot. So if you could pass this on to some of your other bloggers. I want to eat no processed food and I’m making a pretty good stab at it but sometimes I think you Traditional Food bloggers forget that not all of us are stay-at-home Moms. I’m a 53 year old hippie who has to hold down a job to keep a roof over my head. Grocery money is tight. This stuff is expensive and hard to find especially in god forsaken Indiana. So help us please. I can barely keep up with the water kefir grains.
Hi Molly! Thanks so much for your comment. I definitely know where you’re coming from — I also often come across recipes on real food blogs that seem a little out-of-reach for me, and finding real food is REALLY hard where I live as well. You have inspired me to write a post about this topic, it’s a very important one.
Til then though, what I have done to eat better on a budget is focus on a few things — increase good fats, buy in bulk, and make my own of what I know how. For instance, making kombucha is easy and CHEAP, whereas those water kefir grains are on the spendy side. Buying the high-quality, but pasteurized milk, and turning it into yogurt makes it more nutritious, without the cost of raw. And using the cheap, bulk butter from Costco to cook with, rather than the nice pastured butter I get from the farmer’s market, is better than no butter at all. Although, a better alternative yet would be bulk coconut oil, since that doesn’t involve CAFO production.
These are just a couple things I try to do to keep costs down. I really hope to brainstorm some more and get a bunch of ideas out on a post about this like I said — anything to help a fellow Hippie sister out! Thanks again so much for your input. Hope to see you around here again soon.