Homemade German

I've taken quite the break from rating recipes. Between the 100 Days of Real Food flop, writing about all the eats in Chicago, and cooking/blogging my way through The Pioneer Woman Cooks, rating recipes sat on the back burner.

Since I rejoined the working world from my momentary unemployment, I haven't been able to cook as many gourmet meals as filled the summer and fall of 2014. We still enjoy the occasional fresh loaf of bread and a few staples that I have been able to perfect. However, at most, we experience one new dish per week.*

*As I made my menu for this month I decided this simply would not do. 

Another issue I have been facing, aside from now working and having a Hubby who works nonstop, is the want to give my blogs a face lift. Without saying too much more, I have been spending more of my time in contemplation about a way to combine my blogs rather than actually writing on my blogs.

Alright, confession time is over.

As was discovered during our trip to Chicago, Hubby has recently been embracing his German heritage. For months, I received subtle then not so subtle hints that he wanted me to explore cooking authentic German meals. Today I bring you not one, but two of what I consider to be the most traditional German meals.

Up first: Bratwurst 

Recipe: Beer-Simmered Bratwurst

Source: Food Network

Time: 45 minutes

Ease: 1

Taste: 10

Leftover Value: No leftovers! 

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

I'm going to admit something that makes many question my own Italian heritage.

I don't go gaga over sausage.

There, I said it.

This doesn't mean I don't eat sausage. I do. I have even had my moments of drooling over a particularly impressive link; however I have also had many moments of 'Eh, this is just okay, I’m not sure I’ll finish it'. 

When I searched for a bratwurst recipe, I knew I wanted something that would be full of flavor. Who could offer a more flavorful recipe than Bobby Flay, the King of Flavor? Even using a Flay recipe, as I made the bratwurst I prepared myself for the let down that sausage often is to me. This is possibly why I readied some gorgeous rainbow carrots and salt and vinegar potatoes (instead of traditional mash) as sides.

The process of making the bangers was unlike any I have ever used to make sausage before, so I put a lot of faith and hope into the accuracy of the recipe. The bratwurst is simmered with seasonings and beer for five minutes. After five minutes, the pot is removed from the heat and the bratwurst continues to sit in the liquid for thirty more minutes.

I was a little confused about whether or not anything could be done with the liquid after this point.

After a little trial and error, I think no.

When the thirty minutes is up, the sausages are grilled for 4-6 minutes per side. I did this in the broiler and it worked just fine.

I used generic bratwurst that I purchased at my local supermarket, so I’m definitely chalking up the texture and flavors created within the bratwurst to Bobby Flay’s intriguing recipe.

Even better, it was incredibly simple, something I have been seeking more often these days in recipes.

In fact, both of these German recipes were surprisingly simple. Up next is a German meal so popular, it made it into a song.

“Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles”.

Have you guessed it yet?

Recipe: Wiener Schnitzel

Source: Bon Appetit

Time: 30 minutes

Ease: 3

Taste: 4

Leftover Value: 2 

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Down the Drain.

I read the recipe about a dozen times before allowing myself to come to the conclusion that wiener schnitzel is breaded essentially the same as chicken Parmesan. The difference lies in the way it is cooked.

Ever order chicken at a restaurant and the breading bubbles and becomes like a sheet spread around the chicken rather than a crumbly mixture?

This is achieved in the strangest of ways. The veal is placed in a heated, greased skillet and basted with hot oil heated in a separate pot.

While it was an educational process, the flavor of the schnitzel was pretty bland. I served it with a classic butter egg noodle, but was searching the entire time for richer more complex flavors.

I don’t think I have completely satisfied Hubby’s craving for food of his ancestors. It wasn’t much longer after I had made these two meals that he then mentioned he wants me to make German potato salad.

Good thing summer is almost here. 

Abandonment Issues

Do you abandon books?

Do you ever get two or three chapters in and decide, "This book is too terrible to endure any longer?"

Or, do you trudge through on principle?

Even though you recognize early on that the book within your grasp is not for you, still you power on for fear of hurting that poor book's feelings, or worse, for fear of admitting there was a book you didn't finish reading.

I know the struggle.

I liken my 100 Days of Real Food challenges to such book abandonment issues.

If you couldn't tell from my first post on this subject, I do take a little issue with the obsession with real food. I think it is important to eat healthy and necessary to be aware of what we put in our bodies, but I feel like the trend now is to be so concerned with healthy living that it becomes an unhealthy obsession.

I was starting to grow that way with this challenge. At the start, I said I wasn't going to be an insane stickler to the rules. Still I found myself anxious over maintaining each week's guideline. I was crossed between getting annoyed at myself for wanting to be a rebel and getting annoyed at such over the top rules including my two least favorite: only natural sweeteners and 100% whole grains.

When we went to Chicago I told myself ahead of time that there would be no Real Food concerns that week. This was with every intention that I would bounce back into the 100 Days of Real Food challenges when my vacation ended.

I could blame that week. I could say it threw me off. I could say that I'm just now getting my eating habits back together and regaining focus of the mini challenges. But instead I've chosen to be realistic.

This book stinks.

So, I am abandoning it.

While this was never a diet, I feel that too many people struggle with diets because they choose diets/ways of eating that do not match their reality. Instead of living a balanced way of eating, people are torturing themselves to follow unrealistic and unnecessary diets in hopes of results and possibly even happiness.

For me, it is about the experience, the challenge of it all. I wanted to eat healthier, so I chose to follow an extreme program, one that overall I didn't agree with and couldn't stand. I knew from the start that giving up all sweeteners was going to be an issue for me; I knew that going 100% whole grain only was going to drive my palate insane, but still I said I would do it.

Thank God I went away for a week. Was it the bakeries, the burgers, or the pizza that set me straight? I’ll never know. I just knew I wasn't going to continue with something that denied me of flavors and culinary masterpieces a moment longer.

100 Days of Real Food? Filled with rules and restrictions that could make your head explode?

No way!

Instead I’ve chosen to have a Lifetime of Good Food. This can’t be accomplished by starving yourself and it can’t be accomplished by setting insanely strict standards. Because ‘good’ doesn’t merely mean good-for-you, no it covers far more than simply the healthiness of food.

To maintain a Lifetime of Good Food, here are a few of my standards. A few noteworthy elements of the 100 Days of Real Food mini pledges (challenges) have been reworked to match a lifestyle that promotes happy healthy eating.

A Lifetime of Good Food: 

Happy Healthy Eating Habits

1. Stop eating when you feel full. 
2. Incorporate fruits and vegetables into meals as often as possible.
3. Drink mostly water, but you know you’ll never pass up a cookies n’ cream milkshake if it’s staring you in the face.
4. Try new foods! Never cooked with fresh artichokes? Grab one and try it out! Don’t feel compelled to do it with every meal, but do it as often as you can.
5. Eat locally grown/raised food when you can. Can you buy your eggs at the Farmer’s Market down the street? Do it! Does the house around the corner sell tomatoes? Buy ‘em there! But don’t go out of your way or cause yourself more stress on a weeknight shopping trip just for the sake of eating local.
6. Read labels. If there are tons of things listed that you don’t know, look for a different option.
7. Don’t read labels. If you really want Doritos, you better go buy some Doritos!
8. Plan ahead. The best way to ensure you aren't scrambling to throw something together at each meal is to plan ahead. 
9. Make good choices. Sugary drinks, decadent cakes and cookies, deep fried foods, sure they all spell L-O-V-E for me. But they also spell health problems and thick thighs. Keep ‘em to the minimum.
10. Cheat. Regularly. At least once a week. Pick one day/meal that you are going to throw care to the wind and indulge. Then get back on track with your Lifetime of Good Food habits.  

Note: This post is not meant to condemn anyone who is a fanatic about eating healthy. It is simply meant to lift the spirits of quitters like myself who are seeking the best plan for their lifestyle. This is my best plan. And even this plan, as simple and lacking of every possible get fit quick formula there is, requires dedication and determination.*

*And the occasional bag of Doritos.**

**Sorry, I desperately wanted to further emphasize the alliteration I started there.

Trying New Things is Always in Style

Of the fourteen different 100 Days of Real Food mini challenges, I have been looking forward to this past week’s the longest.

Week Six: Try a minimum of two new whole foods that you’ve never had before.

This challenge was the perfect opportunity to take whole foods I pass by in the supermarket and think, “I wonder what that tastes like,” or “I wonder how that is cooked” and to actually explore and find those answers for myself.

I scheduled this challenge for almost halfway through all of the challenges because though it is exciting, having to cook and/or eat two completely new-to-you items each week is quite a commitment, not only in grocery shopping, but also in meal preparation.

I started out simple by choosing items I didn’t necessarily have to cook. I also stuck to one food group: fruits.

My first week’s choices:

Papaya

Star fruit

Kumato tomatoes

I decided that the items I will choose as I continue this challenge are going to be whole foods that I have never purchased and/or prepared at home. I say that because chances are some of these items I choose I may have actually tasted once before or had as an ingredient in something ordered at a restaurant.

I chose these three fruits out of a simple process of elimination. It was towards the end of the week and I hadn’t fulfilled the challenge yet. I knew I wanted to try star fruit after watching a Chopped episode where contestants were given star fruit in one of their baskets. Unlike the Chopped chefs, we ate ours raw and didn’t get too fancy by making it an ingredient in a meal. Then I saw the papaya and thought it was possible I had tasted it before, but couldn’t recall. Either way, I had never actually sliced, diced, or served one in my house. The Kumato tomatoes were my last choice after Hubby pointed to Elephant Garlic and suggested I try it. In case you have never seen Elephant Garlic…it is monstrous! I wasn’t ready to figure out why it was so huge nor did I want to try to find a recipe in which I could use such massive amounts of garlic. The Kumato tomatoes were right next to the garlic, so I suppose Hubby thought I was being rather cheeky in choosing them over the garlic. But the truth is, I’ve always looked at Kumato tomatoes and thought they were interesting, and in the same breath, a little strange. Brownish green tomatoes? Doesn’t green usually mean not-yet-ripe, and brown mean mushy-and-old? How could they possibly be tasty?

I served all our new-to-us whole foods for breakfast. We had funny eggs on our snow day and I thought that star fruit would make a perfect side.

I’m not sure how I feel about star fruit. For starters, it is pretty expensive. Only one cost $1.99 at Acme (of course, Acme doesn’t always have the cheapest prices). I liked the texture, it had a crunchy sweetness, but something about the flavor wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t hate it, but I’d rather spend half the money on a juicy orange.

I cut up the papaya and Kumato tomatoes for Saturday’s breakfast. Not even remembering that Hubby has a love for tomatoes and eggs I decided I would make a quick breakfast sandwich with the Kumato tomatoes as the star. I scrambled a few eggs with mozzarella cheese and some sliced pork roll—umm, yumm!—and served them on whole-wheat English muffins with two slices of tomato on top.

It was such a thrown together, quickie of a breakfast that I didn’t think Hubby would even mention it. But immediately he told me what a delicious and wonderful meal it had been, reminding me of how much he loves tomatoes and eggs—which, of course, I had forgotten. The papaya wasn’t as thrilling as I had expected— in fact it was pretty flavorless. Though the caviar-like seeds inside intrigued me and made me want to learn more about the papaya fruit.

What I especially love about this challenge was that instead of limiting what I could eat, it gave me the push to try out new and different food options. I’m going to branch out to new meats and grains eventually. This week I’ve purchased beets and tomatillos (apparently I’m on a tomato kick) as my two new whole foods.

I’m terrified of beets…so we’ll see how this goes.

Limited Drinks and No Fast Food--How Will We Ever Survive?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think going completely cold turkey and taking the 100 Days of Real Food challenge would have been easier than taking the 100 Days of Real Food mini challenges.  Part of my issue is that I'm constantly thinking to myself, 'Wait, what was the new challenge this week? And wait, what was last week's challenge?' 

Then of course there are the times I miss blogging about a week--like last week for example. I started the post, but life got in the way.

Thanks a lot, life.

As the week progressed, and I continued to not post about the fourth week's challenge, the realization sunk in that if I had just given everything up, then I would at least know that basically everything is off limits.

Of course then I considered that if I had made such a move I might not be writing this post from the comfort of my home. Instead I might be writing it from my jail cell, reflecting on how jumping blindy into a food challenge led to the worst food rage known to man.

Even so, I am recognizing that I am now making better choices in my eating. I question what I really want, I question what I really need, and I drink water constantly and eat more fruits and vegetables than ever before.

Homemade Kale and Basil Pesto

The most difficult challenge thus far was certainly last last week:

Week Four: "Real" beverages: Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine (preferably red) will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day). 

This shouldn't have been so challenging. I haven't had a need to drink soda since the 9th grade, I rarely drink juice and if I do it is usually Bai 5 drinks which are 100% natural using only natural sweeteners and colors and coffeefruit extract (the fruit that surrounds the coffee bean). Basically it is the most amazingly good-for-you drink out there that has tons of flavor and a teeny tiny 10-calorie count per bottle. While I do drink wine, if I have more than two or three glasses in a week, then that was one crazy week!

Milkshakes are definitely an occasional weakness, but specialty coffees hold the key to my heart. Lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos, basically anything with frothed milk and espresso makes me weak in the knees.

The only problem is that most of these drinks contain a lot of sugar. Luckily a cappuccino and your bare bones latte are still just espresso and milk, but of course during the past two week's my mouth desperately has been craving the sweet flavor of caramel throughout my drink.

I've been strong.

This pictures was not taken during the last two weeks, I promise. Ps: It's a Salted Pretzel Latte--yum?!

Most of the time.

I'm still keeping up with the other challenges. I haven't been able to loyally serve two fruits or veggies with every meal, but I start out my day with some fruit, occasionally adding a little peanut butter in the mix. At lunch I've tried to have a veggie and fruit, but most days I'm lucky to have brought anything with me for lunch. 

While I'm at it, I'll cover what Week Five looked like:

Week Five: No fast foods or deep-fried foods: No fast foods or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.

Because our eating habits have been slowly changing, we actually haven't had too much of a struggle avoiding fast foods. Of course, this might depend on what you classify as fast food versus what I classify as fast food. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, etc...those are my "fast foods". Things like Wawa (which if you don't live on the east coast you don't have and my heart cries for you), Panera, and Qdoba I don't really lump into the 'fast food' category. It's like I saw on a sign at Pei Wei a few weeks ago: Food fast, not fast food. Naturally, you still have to be cautious. There are healthy and not-so-healthy choices at such places. And yes, what they are cooking with is probably not 100% natural. And yes, some might have items that are deep-fried (meaning now I've got to avoid them!) but they aren't of the same exact caliber of your typical fast food burger joint.

McDonald's used to be a dear friend of mine, but after a few months without it, I went and ordered a small fry (this was probably three weeks ago, before the fast food challenge) and I wasn't impressed. Maybe it was a bad batch, the wrong time of day, they had been sitting for a while, or perhaps my tastes have changed and the thrill of McDonalds is wearing off.*

*Note: I still ate that entire fry. I had to be sure.

I'm really learning, most of all, that when I'm hungry the worst-for-me-things are usually the most convenient (cookies, cakes, chips, chocolates--looks like today's letter is 'C'). But in the end they always leave me wanting more.

The same, I think, can be said for dinner. I've noticed when I overstuff myself* on fatty foods, foods that don't have a lot of 'real' foods to them, I feel bloated but longing for something better, almost regretting having chosen something of a lower quality.

*Note: This was the first challenge, and everyday I work on reminding myself of the importance of not overstuffing myself.

Though I haven’t been overly strict, yes I had one caramel latte two weeks ago; I wouldn’t say I’m miserably failing these challenges. If anything, they are alerting my mind to better standards for eating and living healthy.

More Fruits and Veggies, Please!

We've reached week three!

The three completed weeks haven't passed without their challenges. As I said at the start--- I'm trying. Trying with the realization that I will occasionally fail. Like when I was nibbling on a Twizzler the other night and realized, Wait a minute, I'm pretty sure that Twizzlers have 'Low fat' printed on their packaging. And sure enough, there was "LOW FAT" printed bold for all the world to see.

I'm finally reaching a point where I am truly listening to my internal cues and stopping eating when I feel full. There are only two times I still struggle with this: 1. When eating pasta, and 2. When eating out.

I don't think I need to explain the deliciousness of pasta. The issue with eating out is that I know the leftovers won't taste the same reheated and, chances are, I probably won't end up eating them anyway. If I don't eat the entire meal, or a major portion of it, I feel as though I've wasted my money.

This is a mind over matter battle that I'm fighting.

Week Three: Eat a minimum of two different fruits and/or vegetables with every meal.

Week three was a toughie, too. Mostly because it required buying a lot of fruits and veggies and making sure those that needed prepping were ready. Our breakfasts and lunches are pretty much grab-what-you-can-on-your-way-out-the-door. This doesn't work too well when you need to have two fruits or veggies as part of your meal. We had carrots, but they needed chopping. We had mangos, but they needed slicing. Two days in, I went to the grocery store and grabbed a bag of clementines and a bunch of bananas. At least they work with the grab-what-you-can approach.

Though I love fruits and vegetables, the issue I've always had with them is their short life span.* Of course there are ways around this, i.e.: canned, frozen, etc.**, but again, I haven't been the model planner over the course of the past three weeks of challenges.

*Of course, I realize, that means they are actually natural--and good for you!
**Yes, these would also be ways around all the chopping and slicing barriers I faced. Don't judge me.

The thing I love about fruits and vegetables is their low calorie count. I've started tracking what I eat in My Fitness Pal, again. I did this about a year or so ago and lost about 15 pounds. When I have a meal that consists of mostly fruits and vegetables, I find my calorie count is usually slashed in half.

This gives me extra calories for coffee and chocolate.

I'm kidding.

Okay, maybe not.

While every single meal I ate last week didn't always have two  fruits or veggies on the side---Valentine's Day was this weekend, after all---I certainly ate more of these two food groups than I usually do.

For a better part of the week, I either skipped breakfast (the horrors, I know) or ate a clementine and a banana. Lunch was the most difficult meal to incorporate two fruits or veggies, and again, if I had been a better planner it wouldn't have been. Most often I ended up having another clementine and a small leftover portion of veggies from dinner as my two fruits or veggies.

For dinner I wanted to make a major effort to incorporate two fruits or veggies, but I also wanted it to be in an out of the ordinary way.

Here are two of the most unusual combinations:

This melon salad with Parmesan and prosciutto was the edgiest dinner. Luckily, Hubby ate it without complaint! The steak I served with it was a little tough, convincing me that some exploration in the world of steak is a necessary part of my future.

The below salad pushed the limits of our usual at home salads. We aren't fancy salad people, at least at home. I love the varieties and flavor combinations that I've tasted in salads in my foodie travels, but at home some romaine, cucumber, tomato, and a little vinaigrette is about as far as I usually take it.

This salad consisted of mixed baby greens, diced pear, cheddar cheese, and a cranberry dressing. The cranberry dressing called for a few tablespoons of cranberry sauce. Since I knew that there was cranberry sauce in the dressing, it was a little difficult for my brain to push past that as I ate the salad. The flavor wasn't horrible, it was just a thicker texture than is expected in dressing. Next time I think I would boil some cranberries until the liquid reduces and use that as my cranberry flavor. It would certainly give the dressing a thinner consistency.

Having two fruits or veggies with every meal isn't an easy transition for someone who usually averages one or two fruits or veggies in an entire day. My goal is to at least have one with every meal and to really focus on making dinner more fruit and vegetable oriented.

How Low Can't You Go?

It's been some time since my first post about following the 100 Days of Real Food 14-week mini challenges for eating better. Reason being, Hubby and I repeated the first week due to our lack of preparation. As we finished our second week challenge and entered into our third, I faced the ever pressing reality that eating healthy takes a lot of thought and preparation.

But let me not get ahead of myself. Here they are, the highs and lows of our second week challenge: 
Do not eat any food products that are labels as "low-fat", "lite", "light", "reduced fat", "nonfat".

 As we came to the end of our first go at the first week challenge (before we had decided we needed to repeat it) we came home from grocery shopping with a gallon of 1% low fat milk and about a dozen nonfat yogurts. Some habits are difficult to break, even when you have every intention of breaking them. 

The reason we have always purchased 1% milk is merely a calorie counting one. However, what I have learned from 100 Days and other sources, is that the fats taken out of milk (making it low fat or nonfat) consist of nutrients that are actually good for you.*

*But of course, this is the type of "real food" that makes me wrinkle my nose and raise my eyes in that judgmental way that occasionally takes over me. The way I see it, so long as they are only removing good things, rather than putting in bad things, I don't see that food as not real or bad for me to eat.

However, the 100-calorie snack packs and slew of other prepacked items with the words "LOW FAT" screaming in bright bold colors are items that I am consciously avoiding. In all truth, I have been avoiding them for years after realizing that they don't fill me and ordinarily don't taste very good.

With the exception of having to switch our milk drinking habits and having to overly screen our yogurt choices, this week was a cinch. It made me almost want to jump right into the next challenge.

I say almost.

Hello Stomach, Are You There?

Here is where my human side comes out to play.

Earlier this week I should have blogged about our first week challenge: Listen to your internal cues and stop eating when you feel full.

This week, we should have begun the second challenge: Do not eat any food products that are labeled as "low-fat", "lite", "light", "reduced fat", "nonfat".

Only the problem is that while grocery shopping this weekend, Hubby bought enough low-fat yogurt to feed a family of two. Enough yogurt that expires well before the remaining twelve weeks of challenge would occur. I told him not to worry, that I would just switch the weeks around again.

And then I didn't.

It wasn't an I-forgot-to-do-that kind of thing. It was an I-know-deep-inside-I-failed-miserably-and-must-make-it-right kind of thing. If the first challenge gave me difficulty, I knew I was going to have to strive harder to endure fourteen weeks of stacking challenges.

Listen to your internal cues and stop eating when you feel full.

Not gonna lie, that is a difficult thing to do, especially when you really truly deeply appreciate food, as I do. I don't necessarily eat just to eat, but I eat to awaken my mouth with flavors and to immerse myself into experiencing the variety of choices in what is available to eat and how it can be eaten. 

*I also eat so as to not turn into a much less glamorous version of myself known as my hungry alter ego, Jessica "B". 

Add onto that the fact that I am American and bigger is better here, and you might understand why it might take more than a week to remember to scale back when filling my plate at dinner time.

If none of this makes sense to you, God bless you.

If you are nodding your head along with this post, God bless you, too.

That all said, the first challenge is being played again this week. So far, I'm losing but I am convinced that as more challenges are tacked on I will finally get into the swing of adjusting my life to fit my new eating habits, rather than adjusting my eating habits to fit my life.

Wish me luck.

And Now For Something...Completely Different

I told you something new and exciting was coming.

It turns out I needed a little me time before I decided to commit to blogging about my new venture. Hence, my short absence.

I have been following the 100 Days of Real Food blog for about a year now. In a sentence, the blog's author, Lisa Leake, her husband and two children challenged themselves to eat only real food for 100 days. Following this, Leake has continued to feed her family a diet of primarily real foods. On her blog, she offers readers a 10-day pledge* as well as meal plans and a slew of resources for eating real food. While it is certainly commendable that Leake and her family have committed to such a lifestyle, her passion goes a bit overboard to borderline obsession. It puts me in mind of a Wall Street Journal article I recently read which states in a medically eloquent way that the eating healthy obsession has actually become unhealthy for some.

*Please note: While Leake refers to these commitments as 'pledges', I call them 'challenges' at home, because Lord knows, they are challenging.

While we aren't looking to make a lifetime pledge to eating only real food or foods with only five ingredients, Hubby and I did decide it was time we started eating better. This is partially due to wanting to lose a little weight but also due to just wanting to feel better all around. If I've learned anything from doctors, proper eating is key.

We decided we would take the 10-day pledge. I'm realistic. I knew I would never, ever survive a 100-day challenge. And if you sit there thinking, it's just real foods, how hard could it be? Just check out Leake's Real Food Rules.

I was just finishing up blogging about my recipe challenge when we took the 10-day pledge. So I was a little tuckered out and surprisingly not in the mood to photograph any food I cooked.

Here, in a nutshell, is how it went:

Days 1, 2, 3: Ate only real foods. Began the day with a banana and whole wheat bread*. Lunch was a mixture of PB&J, fruits, and leftover real food dinners. Dinners were filled with veggies, pan fried chicken and fish.

*Not all whole wheat breads are equal. To find one that is actually "real" you have to search the ingredients list and/or search for the whole grains approval stamp.

Day 4: I cracked. It was a Saturday, I had been busy all morning and hadn't eaten a thing when noon rolled around. Hubby took me to Starbucks, and I was under the impression he would be cheating, too. So I ordered a caramel macchiato and a breakfast sandwich.

Then Hubby ordered a black coffee and I wanted to ring his neck like a wet towel. This proceeded to tears, a quiet car ride, a breakfast sandwich being thrown out the window, and a trip to Cracker Barrel.

Day 5 and 6: Repeated the same as Days 1-3.

Day 7 and 8: I cheated in small ways. I ate one or two food items that had only one or two "not real" additives.*

*Like sugar. Because I needed a little chocolate in my life, and no matter how they package it, chocolate bars made without delicious white sugar taste like bitter mud.

Day 9 and 10: Finished the challenge on two days of real food only.

Whew! That was a pretty large nutshell!

Despite my lack of control, I learned a lot from the ten days of attempting to eat only real food. I learned to really read food labels. I learned that I eat less when I eat real food. I also discovered, after this past week of being able to eat what I wanted, that I feel better eating real food. Maybe it is a trick of the subconscious, but I suppose it is a rather positive trick.

So what now? I'm sure you've guessed that this isn't the end of the road. Leake realizes that not everyone can jump into real food eating immediately. It is certainly a gradual process. Enter her 14-week mini pledges. Each week has a different pledge. For instance: Week 4 is "No fast food or deep-fried food". We have decided to mix the order of the pledges up and to build each week upon the next.

The next fourteen weeks on this blog I will be writing about how these pledges (challenges) are going. 

Please know that the most difficult part of this challenge will be the eventual forfeiting of sugar and white flour from my diet. Also, please know that I do not intend to keep these eating habits forever, but only to complete this challenge and instill a framework for better eating habits in my house.

The I'm-Being-Good Brownie

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Whole-Wheat Brownies
Source: 100 Days of Real Food
Time: 30 minutes
Ease: 2
Taste: 4 
Leftover Value: 8
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Down the Drain

Here is my point of view on making substitutions for wonderful things like white sugar, white flour, butter, and eggs: If it works, let's do it!*  I've said time and time again my feelings on whole-wheat flour and how anymore it simply is not allowed in my kitchen.  However, I'm still debating my stance on white whole-wheat flour.  It's not quite as cardboard-like as your regular whole-wheat flour, however, it isn't exactly as smooth and inviting as good ole' unbleached white flour.  

*And of course, if your health dictates that you can't have these things, then of course, make substitutions!!

I've substituted applesauce for eggs, black beans for butter, and I've even half and halved my flours to incorporate some of the good stuff.  In the end, in my humble unprofessional opinion, there is no perfect substitute for the basics in the traditional world of baking.

With that said, enter Dark Chocolate Whole-Wheat Brownies.

I sensed these brownies were not going to be perfection, but I wanted my guilty conscience to feel better about the continual snacking that I do.  These brownies use white whole-wheat flour, coconut oil, and offer a choice between honey or maple syrup.  I thought the maple syrup would be too... mapley...so I used honey the first go 'round.

When I started mixing I ran into an issue with an ingredient in the ingredient list: 1 to 2 eggs.

What is that supposed to mean?  Shouldn't the recipe's creator have known what is best regarding the number of eggs?

I knew from the hundreds of times that I have punked out and made boxed brownies that the difference in the numbers of eggs used will be the difference between a fudgey vs cakey brownie.  Because of the high amount of coconut oil and honey (1/2 cup each!) I thought a more cakey brownie would better spread those flavors.

I was wrong.  That extra egg made the brownies the densest, driest, blandest brownies of my entire existence.

Not to be outdone by a simple brownie, I decided to make them again, this time with only one egg and maple syrup instead of honey.  In the first version, not only had they been drier than the dessert sands, the honey flavor overpowered the brownie, even more so than the flavor of chocolate.

With the maple syrup and one egg they came out to have a better consistency, but it was still not a fudgey brownie.  The flavor throughout was much more enjoyable, but ultimately they were still rather dry and unexciting.  I suppose if you were on a strict diet and couldn't eat traditional brownies these would certainly work to feed the craving.  Since that does not exist in my life, I'm letting these bad boys go down the drain.*

One positive about them was that they were super easy to cut into squares.  I'm sure you've experienced cutting brownies and having their edges move with your knife as you attempt to slice a line down the pan.  These brownies stayed put, allowing me to make a beautifully clean cut each time.

*Note: My sister-in-law, Mallory, who is currently on a major health kick (she lost over 20 pounds using My Fitness Pal**) loved these brownies.  Of course, she has cut a lot of unhealthy fats and processed foods out of her diet so her tastes I'm sure have changed a little thanks to her healthier lifestyle.  That said, don't expect to be in chocolate heaven with these.

**My Fitness Pal is pretty much my favorite app for tracking my daily calories.  If you are looking to lose weight it is a fabulous way to hold yourself accountable and to see results.

Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups

Recipe: Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups

Source: Guest Recipe on 100 Days of Real Food

Time: 10 minutes prep, 4-6 hours in the oven (details below)

Ease: 2

Taste: 8

Leftover Value: 10

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!!

Growing up I always brought a packed lunch to school.  The only time I bought lunch was on Fridays--pizza day.  My packed lunch was never, ever exciting.  I had a choice between a cheese sandwich and peanut butter and jelly.  A cheese sandwich always seemed wrong to me.  It just begs to be slabbed with butter and fried.  That left me with peanut butter and jelly.  Everyday.  For thirteen years.  Can you see why I'm so intrigued by unique and different foods now that I'm an adult?

After reading the above link/recipe, I guess I am a little fortunate.  Of the few snack choices my brothers and I were allowed fruit roll-ups (the authentic ones) were on the okay-to-eat list.  My mother wasn't so insane about what we ate that she forced us to eat the leathery knock off brands that were actually good for you.

Of course, she was insane enough about our health to have chips, cupcakes, and any prepackaged crackers or cookies on the things-you-can't-have list.

I would have given anything for Dunkaroos.  Or the little crackers with cheese spread.  

That said, fruit roll-ups are near and dear to my heart.  You would think I had grown to hate them, but surprisingly today I can still enjoy all of the semi-healthy foods my mother forced me to include in my packed lunch.

However, the cup of noodles I would sometimes trade my peanut butter and jelly sandwich for is another story.

Making your own fruit roll-ups is extremely easy, but requires that you be present in your home/kitchen for at least three hours straight.

I first made the recipe following the directions to use mango, then I made it a second time and changed the mango to strawberries and the lime to lemon.*  The recipe calls for 3-4 cups of peeled mango and then states that should be about two mangoes.  No mango that you pick up at your local farmer's market will produce that amount of fruit.  My advice is to go for frozen fruit.  It's so much easier.  Just make sure you buy it without any added sugars.

*You'll see pictures of both throughout this post.

After pureeing the ingredients together, the mixture should be poured out onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment.  

This is the most difficult part of the recipe.  The mixture doesn't exactly smooth itself out for you.  It is also hard to gauge just how thick to spread it.

I found that tapping the mixture out with the side of my spatula was the best way to get it to evenly spread.  The keyword is even.  If it is too thin in some spots and thicker in others then it will dry out in the thinner spots.

And that's just not okay.

Because I don't own a dehydrator and don't plan on adding one to the abundant kitchen machinery I already have, I had to go the stove route.  The recipe states it could go for six to twenty hours set on 175.

To this I say, no.  No. No. No.

On my first attempt (with the Mango Lime Fruit Roll-Ups) I had them in the oven for roughly four hours on 170.  I had to leave the house for a few hours, so I turned the oven off and left them in the oven.  I figured they would still continue to dry out as the heat left the oven and that I could turn the oven back on when I came home.

But when I returned they were perfect.

When I made my Strawberry Lemon Fruit Roll-Ups I was home the entire time.  They had been in the same oven for about three hours and I figured they still had at least another hour to go when I checked on them and realized they were totally dried out.

One pan was okay, but not fantastic.

But the other did this:

And this...

It didn't taste horrible, it just wasn't a fruit roll-up.  It would have been a nice frill to add to the top of a smoothie or a fruity sundae.  

The point here is, don't be like me.  Check your fruit roll-ups frequently, at least every half hour.  Tap the top with your finger and if it is still a little wet, it needs to go longer.

Another thing I didn't do, but intend to tomorrow when I make another batch, is to rotate the pans from the racks they are on and from the way they are facing in the oven.  

Hopefully then this won't happen.

Thankfully my first attempt went really well showing me that it can be done and they can taste delicious.  The Mango Lime Fruit Roll-Ups are very tart, and the Strawberry Lemon Fruit Roll-Ups were my attempt to find a sweeter flavor.

My sister-in-law loves the mango though.  My brother loved the strawberry.

Go figure.