Calamity Shazaam in the Kitchen

I made it through most of the day without succumbing to the plastic pumpkin-o-candy. Breakfast was two slices of bread (toasted with Silver Brook Farm grape jelly), some plain yogurt with granola, and about a gallon of Red Zinger tea. Lunch was two more slices of toast, stars-squash-carrot-onion-potato soup, and mint tea. Everything to this point - homemade except for the tea. Then around 4pm I had a candy breakdown which involved me frantically tearing into Kit Kats and Snickers in an utterly mortifying way. Once the nausea passed and I was home for the night, trying to avoid the candy-for-tricker-treaters bowl, I decided to make some comfort food, since clearly my body is crying out for that kind of lovin'. So I chopped up some potatos and fried them up in a little butter & olive oil & paprika until they were lovely and browned. Then I beat some eggs together with a little grated romano cheese and made a little omelet. All I can say is yum-ola. But then of course I broke

I really had all the best intentions of eating so naturally and healthily but sadly I was on the road this weekend and filled myself up with crap. The good news: it made me feel like crap so it's been easy to jump back into healthy eating. The bad news: I still feel like crap. I have these allergies that are kicking my ass. Grrr. But at least I didn't eat too terribly today.

For the most part of the past two weeks I have been pretty good about eating what I make from scratch. I know I am going to sound like more of a hippie-earthy-crunchy-nutball, but I actually feel very different. Except for the sinuses. They are stopped up nice and snugly, but eh it could be worse. For the second week in a row my bread came out - astounding! And I've actually used up all that fresh food I bought. Because sometimes when I go on a health food jag I get all enthused about eating all sorts of veg and fruit, but then I sort of look at the pretty tomatoes and then decide to get french fries for dinner...

In browsing for local food sources, I came across this blog: Food On the Food . It is worth the read, browse through some of the older posts for some great posts on the joys and difficulties in eating completely locally, as well as for finding great local links. I am terrified of going completely local. Coffee does not grow on this side of the equator. I would probably die without coffee. Since I don't want to die, I will never be able to do that 100-mile diet. But I sure do admire her for doing it, and reading her blog inspires me.

So last week I challenged myself to eating only things I made from scratch. I did better than I thought - I slipped on Monday night with salami and cheese and then again on Friday when 7 munchkins accidentally flew into my mouth. And probably I need to write off Saturday since I ate out for every meal. But I am back on track today. There is soup on the stove (curried carrot) to be pureed and frozen, the bread is on its second rise, the pizza toppings have been cooked, yogurt is going to start tonight, tomato sauce is next up, and once the game starts I think I am going to make some chocolate chip cookies. Maybe. My good friend MadcapMo gave me some of her fabulous Sassy Sauce and that might do for the sweet tooth I have been suffering from lately! And at some point I am going to have to make something from the lovely Baer's beans I got at Russo's on Saturday. Let's just see how far I make it this week!

What happens when I send the Evil Twin to get a little sliced & cured meat for hors d'ouvres? She brings back salami and pancetta. The salami falls in the right category fo'shuh. But the pancetta? Uncooked pork belly on a cracker with cheese anyone? Blech! However the sunny side of the story is that I now have a nice bit of thinly sliced pancetta for the next time I make linguini!

Well it wasn't the munchkins that did me in! Miraculously I have managed to steer clear of those naughty little things for two full days. It was however the wine and the salami last night that I could not resist. Ok well, moving on shall we? Today I stuck to my homemade guns and ate pretty much everything homemade. I made pizza with local cheese and farmers market veg last night and had that for lunch today. Yum! And then tonight I fell off the wagon again with some organic veggie chips and hummus. But eh, at least it's not a munchkin. Plus I can honestly say that I actually feel less foggy than normal.

So this week I am challenging myself to eat only what I make from scratch. I quickly realized however that I need to make an exception for caffeinated beverages. But even so, I am going to limit that to tea and coffee I make myself. It's been easy enough so far, no one has waved a box of munchkins in from of my face yet.... What I've made for today: 2 - slices of toast with jam (I made bread last night and unlike Friday's batch, it doesn't suck. The jam I made earlier in the season with some overripe strawberries) 1 - dollop of homemade yogurt with homemade granola. The Yogurt Babushka rises again! 1 - container of farmer's market soup with organic orzo 1 - honeycrisp apple Notice there is no chocolate in that list. Right there is another reason this challenge is doomed!