It's been awhile since I've posted...

Yesterday and today I worked on my recipe binder while watching the World Cup Semi-finals. (One truth is that one needs to really WATCH the World Cup, because soccer has a lot more action than American football.) Now the whole stack of loose recipes that I saved from magazines, newspapers, and the internet are in plastic sheet protectors and ensconced in a 3 inch binder. The recipes are now categorized into divisions: salads, main dishes, soups,vegetables, breakfast foods, appetizers, and desserts. Most of the recipes are grain-free, OR they have a little regular flour or other thickeners which I think I can substitute with blanched almond flour, coconut flour, or tapioca flour. When I make those substitutions and the recipe doesn't work, I'll toss it.

A few weeks ago I went to Whole Foods and asked about their grass-fed beef. I learned that it is grass-fed until the last 60 days, then it's grain-fed. I went to our local New Leaf Grocery store and found out that they do carry 100% grass fed/finished beef from Pacific Pastures in Humboldt County in Northern California. They also carry 100% organic/truly free range chickens. (We really have to read the labels and figure out what it means when they say things like "all vegetarian fed", as though chickens shouldn't eat bugs and worms, which they would do naturally.)

I bought some of their 100% grass fed/finished beef, and it really wasn't a whole lot more expensive than what one can find other places for the feed-lot beef we've become accustomed to buying. I also bought one of the chickens. The difference in flavor is remarkable! I used the carcass of the chicken to make soup, and it was delicious.

I've been making Waldorf chicken salads lately. I love using organic grapes, apples, celery, walnuts, and the organic/free range chicken in this salad. Sometimes it makes a great meal at lunch, but other times I'll have it for dinner.

The main thing I've learned over the past few years is the importance of making sure to have protein at every meal (and snack), and to include one or two vegetables and/or fruits as well. However, I've also learned about some things to avoid--usually because they are too good/addictive. One of those things is the Cashew Clusters that are sold at Costco. This delicious combination of cashews, almonds, pumpkin seed kernels, with sugar, rice syrup, sea salt, and honey are low in sugar (4 g/serving) and have zero cholesterol. BUT they are sweet and crunchy, and I can't eat just one--the label says that five is a serving. I confess that I've never eaten just five.

So, just because something is grain-free does not mean it's something that one should eat with abandon. Sad, isn't it.

More later...