100 Days of Real Food: A Review

Fold massive pile of scrubs or peruse new cookbook? Tough Choice

I first saw Lisa Leake's blog 100 Days of Real Food, probably via pinterest, when I stumbled across a post that addressed packing healthful and varied school lunches for your kids. The topic of school lunches is one that I feel pretty strongly about, but that's for another post.

Leake's blog was full of great recipes, meal plans, product reviews and videos and had a very accessible tone so I added it to my blog roll and started following her on facebook. Be warned, though, people on facebook can get downright nasty in their comments to even the most innocent posts. Like the time she candidly showed her kids taking homemade uncrustables to eat at the airport. Holy nut allergy sensitivity!

As soon as I saw she had finished her first cookbook/guidebook, I pre-ordered it. That was back in January and a whole bunch of life happened in between, so I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived on my doorstep a week ago.

My first impression upon taking it out of the box was that this was no amateur job. There was clearly a ton of work and thought put into the content and organization so that it covers all the bases, gives you the tools and confidence to get started in your own journey to more healthful eating and food-prep for your family, yet still provides references to go out and learn more on your own.

Coming in at 339 pages, not including the reference section, this is one hefty tome. Yet, full of beautiful photos and a voice that is not at all condescending or pandering it invites you to bring it to your couch and flip through while you sip your coffee (with grass-fed cream, of course).

Starting at the beginning of her journey and walking you through the changes she made for her family without getting totally bogged down in the details, Leake leaves you with the understanding that this is not an all-or-nothing proposition. By first simply looking at the ingredient lists of the foods in your pantry to better understand what may or may not have been great choices to using her meal planning (even broken down by season so that you can utilize farmer's markets if you desire) and grocery shopping list templates you can start building your own whole food life. The first 123 pages focus on giving you the information you need, while the second half has the promised 100 recipes, broken into the following categories; breakfast, lunchbox, snacks and appetizers, salads and sides, simple dinners, special treats and, finally, homemade staples.

I love that there are examples provided of what she adds to the given lunch box recipe in order to pack a full meal for her kids.

Pizza bites made on mini whole wheat pitas; H will love these.

Breakfast tacos

Eggs in a Basket

These cinnamon apple chips will make a great addition to the rotation of after-school snacks (and sweet treats for me) this fall!

I know I'm sounding like a broken record here, but yet another thing I really like about her approach is that she does not shy away from the fact that committing to a more healthful way of eating definitely involves planning, organization and work, but that it's worth it.

In reading the book, you better understand that this is not an extreme 'diet'. You aren't ordered to immediately open your pantry and pull out the dumpster to rid your house of these dirty, dirty foods that are clearly killing your family right now. There also aren't a ton of rules to follow, calories to count, or food groups to eliminate, it's simply about understanding what you are eating (and feeding your family) and how those foods can either benefit your overall health, or not, then eating controlled portions of those foods (which Leake also addresses).The guiding principle, adopted from Michael Pollan, is that you should eat foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry.

Dairy, gluten and legumes are all whole foods and the elimination of them from a lot of trending food plans has been a real turn-off to me. Seeing great whole wheat bread recipes, the use of home made corn tortillas and real cheese made my heart sing.

That said, she also has several recipes that would accommodate people who need/want to eliminate those foods and there is even an index in the back that organizes the recipes by dietary need so they're easy to find.

Don't you just want to sit down at the table with her?

I especially appreciate that she candidly addresses the issue of budget. Her family's second round of the 100 Days of Real Food Pledge, involved her doing so on a budget that was voted on by her readership. For a family of four, she had $125 a week to spend on groceries. In her state, a full food stamp allotment for her family size would have been $167/week, so it was definitely a challenge, but they achieved it! You can read her posts about how she did that in the hyperlink above. A huge, and very real, barrier in a lot of people's minds when they think about making the change. Bottom line: eating whole foods certainly doesn't mean you have to/should shop there.

The only sections I skimmed (and they were small) were the ones addressing strategies for eating at friends' houses or when you're on vacation, or how to share the whole foods love. I'm just never gonna be the girl who eats before she goes out to eat, or offers to bring something to a friend's house as a guise, or is the huge party buzz kill talking only about Monsanto and GMO's. While these things are important topics to explore and research for your own personal benefit, it's a huge turn-off to me when people are trying to overhaul their eating habits and it's all they can talk about. Blech.

Overall, Leake's book is a great addition to any collection of resources on the whole foods movement, especially because it provides the specific help of meal plans and recipes to add to your rotation so you have not just the research, but the practical application. If you haven't already, definitely read Michael Pollan's books including The Omnivores Dilemma, In Defense of Food and Food Rules. There are additionally some really great documentaries available, most of which you can stream on netflix, such as Food, Inc., King Corn and Food Matters.

Now go forth and meal plan; school starts in two days!

Yarn Along With Her

Once again, Small Things is featuring a Yarn Along so we can all show what we're knitting and reading. I've been obsessed with fun and chunky knits lately, so I'm currently working on this chunky lace cowl in a great raspberry color.

My neighbor brought over a birthday gift for me and I love it! I've had so much fun with cookbooks lately, and this one is no exception. Based on their blog of the same name Our Best Bites is a collection of easy foods with an emphasis on healthful ideas for a family meal together. Something I've been pretty passionate about lately.

What are you knitting and reading right now?

Knit Lits

Over at small things, she was hosting a yarn along for knitters who also love to read. In addition to talking about what you're currently working on, you get to talk about what you're reading as well. Lucky me, I just wrote a post about a couple of my current obsessions reads, but I didn't show what I'm working on. In taking a break from newsboys and large afghans, I thought I'd take a couple days to bust out a new stuffed animal, Ella-funk, which is based on a great pattern from Ysolda Teague (Elijah) and knit with hand painted wool by cosymakes. I love that there's no seaming involved, although some did criticize that picking up stitches for each body part was fussy. I only had trouble with the first two rounds of each new appendage, but after that it was easy-peasy.

I also just finished seaming the body of a 'tattoo' pillow for my friend (for which I'm exchanging yoga classes; long live the barter system!) on which I'll be writing Happy instead of mom, and changed the pattern so that it was about 3 times as big as the original pillow. In addition to the fun stuffed pieces, I have the first sock of two different pairs that are just waiting to be completed.

As for reading, I just finished The Island by Elin Hilderbrand and am currently reading Deep Down True and Arms Wide Open: A Midwives Journey by Patricia Harman, which I expected to be over the top crunchy, but is actually really easy for me to identify with and written in a very thoughtful way, so I'm taking my time with it.

Wait, are you sensing a theme? Yes, I almost never have the discipline to do just one thing at a time. If having one project in process is good, then four is great. Having the characters from several books swirling around in my head is way better than focusing your attention on a single plot-line, right? Sadly, I often find that the answer to that is a resounding no. Therefore, I had to put myself on notice. No more projects may be cast on until I've bound off or put away all of the projects that are sitting around the house mid-knit. Not another spine will be bent until the last page is turned on the books I'm currently reading. Will I be able to curb my enthusiasm? With only one project and book going at once, I definitely notice a significant decrease in the clutter; books on the counter, multiple balls of yarn in the bag by my bed instead of just enough yarn for one, you get the picture.

Plus, with the long days of summer, I want to make sure I'm focusing on the two reasons that I've become so passionate about creating a home that's full of healthful meals, honest fun and a commitment to building a strong family.

Smash, Bang, Crash!

Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas

My review

So far, there are a couple of reasons I really like Smashed. (I'm only 30+ pages in, so bear with me.) First, she's exactly my age, so when she's talking about things that happend in highschool, etc, it's kind of fun to see the social parallels, but secondly,she's from New England. I'm more than a little obsessed with all things New England since I'm a transplant. (I've watched The Departed and the Dennis Lehane movies more times that I can count). Her bio says she grew up in the 'suburbs of Boston', but when she's talking about a girl who goes to her regional high school andsays "Billie lives in the bordering town of Clinton..." I gasped in excitement, because that's just up the road!

It's a bio that I'm hoping doesn't turn out to be bogus like that of James Frey.

From the inside flap:

"Koren's story is that of thousands of girls like her who are notalcoholics-yet-but who routinely use booze as a shortcut to courage, asstand-in for good judgement, and a bludgeon for shyness.

A crucial book for any young woman who grew up under the allure of booze, orfor anyone who is concerned about someone locked in a pattern of dangerousdrinking, *Smashed* is eye-opening, wise, utterly gripping and destined tobecome a classic."

I wanted to read it before sending it off to my 15 year-old niece as a'cautionary tale' (yep, I'm *that* aunt) and have found that it's really good, frank, and I think that most parents would benefit from reading it even if your kids aren't there yet.

She says in her preface "I grew up in the Northeast, a white, middle-class teenager among other white, middle-class teenagers, which plunks me down in one of the highestdemographics of underage drinkers..." and...

"I am fourteen, which is the norm these days, when the mean age of the firstdrink for girls is less than thirteen years old." *

*Devon Jersild, *Happy Hours; Alcohol in a Woman's Life, 96.

Even though the 'times are different' it hasn't been all THAT long since I was in high school, but I feel like I've forgotten a lot of the nuance. Oh yeah, and I never drank in high school.

I'll post more when I finish the book...

Hana Hou!

(I took this picture at Molokini!)

I just finished the book Sweet Life by Mia King, and it has me waxing poetic about warmer climates and tropical fun.

The month before J's graduation from medical school, I took him on a trip for which I had saved (I know...shocking; I am not a great saver) to Maui. Granny and Papa came to stay with H at our home in Portland so that he could continue with his routine, and we could have a real vacation before leaving everything we knew for the next chapter on the east coast.

With our trusty copy of Maui Revealed in hand, we had an amazing ten days filled with fresh coconut and mango ice cream, gorgeous sunsets from the up-country (Kula) house that we rented from a friend of mine at work, sunny beaches, amazing views from Haleakala, a harrowing drive to Hana and, of course, a few days of plate lunch.

I wasn't sure if I'd get claustrophobic scuba diving, so wanted to try snorkeling first; it was such an overwhelming feeling of peace once your face is in that water, so clear and beautiful in the protection of the crater of Molokini. We attended the requisite luau, but mostly we just relaxed, drove around the island with the top down, wind in our hair, and enjoyed each other's company.

We flew Hawaiian, which has direct flights to both Maui and Honolulu and still has a meal service for us plebes in coach.

Having grown up in the waters of creeks fed from mountain snow run-off, dipping my toes in bath-tub warm water was deee-lish. I always knew I was a summer person, but that clinched it. Ironically, I'm also "Sweaty Betty" so this trip was well-timed and allowed me to embrace the wet heat before moving to the sweltering summer that was our first in Massachusetts.

Much to my delight, I learned that a part of J's residency is an elective month in the third year to Oahu in order to practice tropical and hyperbaric medicine. I think the keikis will love a trip to see Granny and Papa, then I can gracefully exit and join J for a good week of R & R. I foresee scuba certification at Central Mass Diving before departure.

This Haole can't wait to be laying on the beach with a book, by myself, slathered in Maui Babe tanning lotion (over SPF 400 of course), drinking iced tea and eating all the fresh fruit and Saloon Pilot crackers with guava jelly and peanut butter a girl could ask for...mmm...Hana Hou!

Card-Carrying Member

Like many families, J and I are making efforts to reign in some of the extraneous expenses incurred in the knitty household. I love to look at, browse through and ultimately purchase (too many) books. In Portland, I had become fairly good at going to the library as opposed to purchasing my own copy of a book that I would most likely only read once. My sisters and I have also started a chick-lit exchange and will frequently put together care packages that include several of the latest from Jennifer Weiner, Sophie Kinsella and a few of our other favorites to try and off-set the cost of our obsession which has been really fun.

In remembering the good ole days in P-town when the library was a walk (a longer walk granted, but a walk nonetheless) away, I realized with shock that I didn't even have a library card for any of the Massachusetts public libraries! I've not taken H to a story hour here! I've been buying every book I've read here thus far, and there has been A LOT of reading when you consider not only the ones I read on my own but my monthly book club books. Those are getting to be some costly care packages!

Ashamed of myself, I decided to drive to the labyrinth that is downtown Worcester in my quest for the public library as I'd heard it had a wonderful children's room. After about thirty minutes longer than it should have taken me to get there, thanks to failed leadership from my friend google maps (thirty minutes filled with H asking "What did you say to him, Mommy?" after I'd used yet another of my not so polite terms and phrases that inquire as to another driver's intentions on the road) we pulled into an empty slot and I fed the meter. I swear, I should be thanking my lucky stars that the dreaded Gd phrase is all that he's repeated after witnessing my road rage for three years.

I wrangled H inside, C securely in the sling, and proceeded to the membership desk. After walking away with my shiny new card, I headed toward the end of the library said to house the illustrious children's wing and expected something like the Iowa CityLibrary's Children's Room all shiny walls, high ceilings and toddler play centers. While it was certainly a nice space for elementary aged children, I have to say I didn't love it for H. There was a very small table with some Lego's on it, which had older kids playing at it, but there weren't many things that felt geared toward pre-schoolers. Darn. H must have been expecting the same, as he continually asked when he'd get to play at the train table...which are only at the IC library and every Barnes and Noble we've ever been to. Double Darn.

After reading a couple of books to H, we headed out and I saw a display of current fiction which included several of Jodi Picoult's books. I checked out My Sister's Keeper, secretly hoping it would be as much of a Debbie Downer as Nineteen Minutes. While Ms Picoult is phenomenal at character and plot development, they're pretty much suicide on a stick; do not read if you're feeling melancholy or are experiencing "the baby blues".

Speaking of card-carrying members...and the baby blues