Is it REALLY Organic?

Just saw this interesting article from Dr. Mercola.  If you try to buy "organic" there are 3 guidelines you should know about.  Just because the label says "Organic" doesn't mean it's all "Organic".  Here are the rules...

• Products labeled "100 % Organic" must contain only organically produced ingredients
• Products labeled "Certified Organic" must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients
• The label "Made with Organic Ingredients" can contain anywhere between 70 to 95 percent organic ingredients

In order to ensure you're actually getting your money's worth, you need to make sure the food you buy bears the "100% USDA Organic" label.

My advice is...don't stress about it, do the best you can!

What's in your ketchup?

I was at Vons last night to pick up some vegetable oil and ketchup for French Fries.  I was making cheeseburgers and fries for the boys, their favorite...heck EVEYBODY'S favorite!!  As I was walking to the register I started to read the ingredients on the bottle of Heinz Ketchup.  The third ingredient...THERE IT WAS...High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Now, if there is ONE ingredient you should make sure you never consume its HFCS.  This stuff is awful, and has been an ingredient listed as partly to blame to the rise in obesity in this country...not the ONLY reason, but part of the reason.
HFCS is added because it helps preserve food longer and they don't have to use as much.  That is due to the fact it is sweeter than regular sugar and is a cheaper alternative; thus putting more money on the bottom line of processed food manufacturers, at the expense of our health!
HFCS  is absorbed rapidly in your body causing insulin spikes that lead to diabetes and obesity.  Not to mention that the corn used is genetically modified.  Our bodies were designed to handle a lot, but when we start feeding it food in which man has altered the chemical structure - THAT is altering Creation!
Luckily, it is easier and easier to find foods without HFCS, and it is becoming considerably cheaper too.  Seriously, don't eat this stuff.  Take care of your "temple" and nourish it with what it was designed for!

I bought THIS instead!

The Sandwich!

On "Eat What I Created" the first thing I do is decide if what I'm about to eat is natural, or found in creation.  Next, I look at the ingredients list, hopefully there's no more than 4 or 5 ingredients, otherwise it's loaded with a bunch of chemicals that I can barely pronounce.
The bread for this sandwich is from La Brea Bakery purchased at Stater Bros.   La Brea Bakery is known for their artisan (handmade) breads with very few natural ingredients.  Everything else is pretty much a vegetable, here's the ingredients list:

- Whole Grain Bread
- Boursin Cheese (Garlic)
- Cucumber
- Grilled Red Onion
- Roasted Red Pepper
- Avocado
- Arugula (tossed in balsamic dressing)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Salt & Pepper

Grill the bread.  Spread a thick layer of Boursin cheese.  Layer a few thin slices of cucumber.  Pile on a few grilled or sauteed Red Onions (I usually cut them in thick rounds and place em on the grill and brush them with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt, grill them until their are nice an soft and a little charred).
Next, pile on the Roasted Red Peppers (I buy them in a jar).  A few slices of Haas Avocado.  Top it off with Arugula (balsamic dressing below).  Serve with something crunchy, like some good all-natural potato chips or pita chips.

Balsamic Salad Dressing:
1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar
2/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. fresh cracked pepper
with a wire whisk, whip vigorously until an emulsion is formed)

IN THE RAW!

Ahhhhhh, back home in Southern California after 3 weeks in rainy Seattle.  I feel GREAT this morning after breakfast.  I bought everything at Trader Joe's last night.  A few slices of Ezekial 4:9 Bread (Cinnamon & Raisin) with Kerrygold butter, and a few slices of Raw Milk Cheddar Cheese.  The cheese is very mild for a raw milk cheese.  I tend to like mine a little more tangier, but this is good for those who've never experienced raw cheese.  Let me just say, if you've had real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese before, then you've had raw cheese.  Real Parm-Reg comes from unpasteurized cow's milk.
I was reading up on all the healthful benefits of raw milk cheese, I'll never buy the other kind.  Loads more vitamins, plus CLA (conjugated linoleum acid) which speeds up weight loss.
Just make sure your Raw Cheese comes from a  reliable source, supermarket or specialty cheese store.

Trader Joe's Raw Milk Cheddar!

Man shall not live by Sprouted Grains alone...

I've seen this bread in the stores for years.  I think I even bought it once like 10 years ago and only ate one piece.  Well, I don't know if my taste buds have changed, or this new healthy lifestyle is starving for a good time, but this bread was AWESOME this morning with coffee!!  The ingredients are on the photo below.  Just toast up a few slices, find some good "EWIC" butter, and THAT is good breakfast right out of creation!

Day 5 - Eggplant Parmesan

If you can buy Organic then go ahead, if not do the best you can.  Here's what I use:

2 or 3 Organic Eggplant
1 28oz. Can Tomato Puree (Muir Glen Organic)
2 Cups fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
1 Cup fresh Mozzarella Cheese (Costco has great FRESH Mozzarella)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Get a large saute pan nice and hot.  Pour olive oil in to a bowl.  Slice eggplant crosswise in 1/2 inch slices.  Dip each piece of eggplant in to the olive oil and then place it in the hot pan.  Do this until all eggplant are golden brown on the outside.  Shred or slice the mozzarella and shred the parmigiano cheeses.  Open the can of tomato puree and spoon a thin layer on the bottom of a small baking dish (last time i made this I used a 9 inch glass pie pan).  Place one layer of eggplant on top of the sauce.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Add half of the mozzarella and half of the parmigiano cheese.  Spoon in just a little sauce scatter all over, very light.  Next, another layer of eggplant, salt, a little more salt, and top with rest of the cheese.  Bake at 400 until lightly browned on top and bubbling!  Mangia!

Day 4 - FREEDOM

We went back to Pike St. Marketplace this afternoon, specifically for a taste of Beecher's Handmade Cheeses.  Gina wanted to try the grilled cheese sandwich, and I noticed that their Mac & Cheese was one of "Oprah's Favorite Things" so I had to investigate.  The Mac & Cheese is SO famous that they have the recipe displayed in the store (http://www.beechershandmadecheese.com/recipes_WBMacncheese.php).  I am here to report that it is one of the BEST mac & cheeses I have ever tasted.   Their own flagship and jack cheese, with swiss gruyere...WHOA!!!
Everything in this recipe is found in creation.  Now granted, the pasta and the sauce both have all-purpose flour, which isn't really found in creation because of the bleaching agents they use.  So, if I was going to make this at home I would find an 100% organic unbleached flour.  Everything else in their recipe is great!  Their cheeses are all-natural and handmade, so just make sure you find all-natural cheeses if you're going to stick to the program and make it yourself.  Or, just save yourself the hassle and order it online and have it shipped to your house :)
So I was thinking, there are a lot of rich foods like this that can be bought or made at home that fall under the "EWIC" plan, but you definitely can't live off of food like this, it's great once in a while but not all the time.  At the same time, the core of this program is not to put you under a bunch of rules either.  We've been given every good thing from the beginning for our bodies to use as food to eat and enjoy in abundance.  We've also been given self-control, we just need to access it!
So, I came up with a tag line, "Eat What I Created: in moderation and temperance".  Moderation is balance and freedom, temperance is self-control.
Eat What I Created means that we have the FREEDOM, and we've been given the SELF-CONTROL to enjoy everything that has been put here on this Earth