Tonight was all about feeding my soul. It has been way too long since I made it to Bonfire. I'm not sure I've been over there since my man was home for his vacation in January. This evening, I put on comfy clothes, and kicked back with my friends around the fire, while I nursed a tall glass of sweet tea heavily spiked with sweet tea bourbon. It was so cold last time I got to do this that I had a hard time relaxing. This time the weather could not have been kinder to us. It was in the mid to upper 50s all night, and the air around the fire was perfect. Talk almost exclusively centered on the planting season that is nearly upon us. The Bonfire leader has moved her garden area closer to her house, and ringed the tilled area with the last of the fence segments we gave her a couple years ago when we pulled it out to put in our privacy fence. She has a little greenhouse where magic has already started happening, and I'm so jealous. My man has wanted to do a big garden area exactly like the one she has started, but there's no way I could do that this year while he's gone. I have too many rodents to evict first. My shed has unwanted squatters under it, and all of my grass, front and back, feels so spongy it's like walking in a bouncy castle everywhere I go. It's time to go invest in sonar pest control options. If anyone knows how to get rid of the grubs that the voles have been feasting on in my yard, without poisoning every insect, on up the food chain, please let me know.
Now that I have completely changed how I eat, and started adjusting how I cook, from ingredients to methods, I feel like I need to proselytize, to convert everyone to eating real, slow food. I can't stress hard enough how good my body feels, and how startling the absence of pain really is. I used to feel so gross after I ate, slightly sick or slightly greasy or even slightly poisoned. Now I react to food the way I'm supposed to, like it's actually feeding me all the way down to my cells. I thought maybe if I actually provided specifics on how I changed methods and recipes, I can convince people to try a little of it. I've always loved to share when I found good things. This massive change I'm undergoing definitely qualifies as a good thing. And yes, what I'm about to describe is really the way I eat, and it takes me less effort to do this than to get myself out the door to go to a crappy chain restaurant around town.
First and foremost, I'm being more choosy with ingredients. Whenever possible, I get organics, avoiding GMOs, antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, Audrey II, etc. Secondly, I have given up all processed food. If it has an ad campaign, I don't want it. I have slowed down when I cook, eschewing the microwave at all costs, even to reheat. (Storing in glass means I can reheat in the conventional oven, so nothing comes out tasting like nuclear hot rubber the second time around.) Since I have gone gluten free, I'm off the blood sugar roller coaster, and I have a ton more patience for waiting between meals. I use real butter (Kerrygold is excellent, and doesn't use milk from cows fed GMO corn), coconut oil, and whole eggs (frequently). Breakfasts are far more satisfying when they are vegetable frittatas (my favorite: diced red onion, yellow pepper, asparagus, sauteed in butter, add spinach and arugula to soften, then eggs beaten with a little cream, top with muenster cheese and ground pepper, finish in a warm oven for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is brown.) or poached eggs over a salad of spring greens, sliced avocado, tomato, and lemon vinaigrette. It powers me through a day far better than cereal or bagels ever did. Last night I learned that chicken cordon bleu does quite well with a gluten-free all purpose flour in the cream sauce, and last-second substitutions for sherry. (Flatten chicken breasts, season with sage, ground coriander, parsley, marjoram, salt and pepper, put a strip of swiss cheese and ham down the center, and pin closed with toothpicks. Sautee in butter, pour in white rum to deglaze the pan, then sour cream, heavy cream, and chicken stock to make a braising liquid. Cook covered in a 350 degree oven for half an hour, then remove chicken breasts and stir in all-purpose gluten-free flour to thicken the cream sauce.) And this evening, I decided that boeuf bourguignon does not need flour to thicken the sauce, but a few diced potatoes thrown in during the last half hour of cooking do the job quite nicely. (Cut uncured bacon into small segments and brown in a dutch oven, remove and use the fat to brown stew beef, after patting it dry with a paper towel. Remove beef. Use a little coconut oil if there isn't enough bacon fat left. Brown diced onion and carrot, adding garlic near the end. Put meat back in the pot. Pour in a cup of good red wine and beef stock, enough to cover the meat and vegetables. Add chopped fresh tomato, bay leaf, thyme, paprika, coriander, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for a couple hours, add chopped potato and simmer another half hour.)
You get the idea. I eat well, and I enjoy the process of eating for the first time since I was a very young child. My body feels whole and pain free again. My skin is like silk. My brain feels alert, and I feel emotionally flexible and resilient. I have blood tests ordered for next week, and you know if I see good numbers, I will be talking about it. I feel like there is such power in taking control of something as elemental as eating, and I have been frustrated for years watching the quality of the food supply deteriorate, and the people do nothing to fight it. This is one of the most revolutionary things I have ever done, and I am damned proud of myself for doing it. I am going to bang this drum loudly until I convince everyone I know to see the light.
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