Adding my two cents to the conversation Bonnie started...
So, quite a few inspirations are bouncing around in my brain. For me, going unprocessed is mainly about health. And not just about getting skinny, although that is DEFINITELY part of the plan!! I also want to eat food as food was intended to be - to break my addiction to additives and weird chemicals that make food taste yummy, but make my butt plump alarmingly! And I'd like to eat food that could NOT survive a nuclear holocaust with little to no change in appearance or flavor.
Although my motives are similar to Bonnie's, my lifestyle is NOT. I'm not a mom, I'm a student, so my challenges are different. (Somehow, I doubt my professors will be as apt to join me in the kitchen as Jono and Alia!!) So how does this unprocessed thing look like for my context?
I'm kicking around some ideas.
I think my greatest ally will be the freezer.
In the summer, it's pretty easy to pick up some tasty looking fruits and veggies at the store and just go nuts. In winter, not so much. But things like black bean chili freeze really well. In talking with my personal advice guru, Aunt Kathy, we thought about making and canning chicken broth and using the cooked chicken to made casseroles to freeze or just a tupperware of protein to throw into a dish!
Canning also attracts me. I think it would be awesome to make a giant batch of sketti sauce, can it, and keep it in the cupboard. I remember my mom making apple butter and granola from scratch (the granola wasn't canned, obviously), and I want to follow in those footsteps! Something that just occurred to me... homemade granola over some homemade yogurt would be a fantastic breakfast!!
I realize all these things are almost impossible to create by myself. But how cool would it be to have a day (or even a weekend as Pammy suggested) to get a bunch of ladies together, cook in BULK, and everyone take home cans and containers full of healthy, easy, food! It would be cheaper and it's such fun to don and apron and cook with your favorite people. There's just something...primal and satisfying!
So those are my thoughts.
What are yours?
Fantastic Jill !! I love that you are wanting to make some changes too ! I didn't actually even think that others might like to join me in some sort of way ... How cool !!
ReplyDeleteWe make granola ... You know, my kids eat raw oats, right ? Just rolled oats with milk. Not cooked. So ... I thought, why not take those oats, mix 'em with some seeds and nuts, and see how we go. They still eat 'em. We stir plain old greek yogurt through and top with blueberries or mango for some sweetness !! I'm going to do a post ... it's yum !!