The Living Well Report

If you’re into local food, you can’t get much more local than your own back yard. After some hemming and hawing revolving around the fact that we have no clue what we’re doing, we decided to wing it last week and plant our first ever garden.

We chose a 12 foot by 16 foot spot in the corner of the back yard, shaded but sunny enough during the day. Here’s a rough estimate of what we planted:

• 3 pumpkin
• 12 beefstake tomato
• 6 cucumber
• 3 lettuce
• 12 bell pepper
• 1 rosemary
• 1 basil

We’ll keep updating the 2007 Vegetable Garden topic as the growing season progresses.

If you’re a fan of Raisin Bran cereal, but you’re not a fan of additives like corn syrup when you just want a good bowl of cereal, you have some choices: One, you could write to Kellogg’s (makers of both Raisin Bran and Total Raisin Bran, among others) and express your dissatisfaction, or you could forgo the activism (this works well if you’re hungry) and simply make your own raisin bran without the excess corn syrup and other undesirable ingredients.

Here’s how I made my own raisin bran last Saturday morning:

• I proceeded to my local grocery store, where my first stop was to the scan the cereal aisle in search of a suitable replacement for the bran part of the raisin bran cereal. After several rejections– even the venerable Total contained corn syrup and some other additives I hoped to avoid– I settled on Grape Nuts Flakes. I know: it’s a bit of an unlikely choice, given the original Grape Nuts are personally something I’m not overly excited to try and have consistently avoided for nearly three decades. I think that’s the general consensus of the public as well, though that conclusion is only anecdotal; yet perhaps that could explain why Grape Nuts Flakes have been introduced. This was a risk, as I was choosing the bran base based on ingredients rather than flavor, but I’m happy to report that Grape Nuts Flakes is delicious and worthy, even on its own. Better, it is comprised of relatively tame ingredients, a low sugar count, and of course, whole grains.
• Next, I sought a boxed raisin brand to complete the bran. My fear was that, like many modern food brands which have stood the test of time, Sun-maid raisins would contain additives I wished not to consume. Fortunately I discovered that Sun-maid raisins contain, amazingly, nothing but actual raisins. Hence, I had my raisin and my bran.
• The third and final ingredient I already owned, and here’s where you may debate my choice. To add a bit of additional sweetness, I decided to coat my raisins in sucralose (commonly sold as Splenda brand). You may argue that Splenda’s health effects haven’t been properly studied, and I wouldn’t argue that point. You may also argue that the raisins are sweet as nature intended them; if that’s your preference than simply skip the part where I add additional sweeting to my raisins.
• Now for the mixing: I started by filling a typical cereal bowl with Grape Nuts Flakes.
• Next, I empty 1/2 of a box of raisins into a small bowl. This is on the low side in a typical bowl of cereal- if you like many raisins, add the entire box.
• To the bowl of raisins, I add about 1/2 teaspoon of Splenda (or sugar, if you prefer), then I shake the bowl around until there’s an even coating on the raisins. Be sure to de-clump any raisins at this point. Note: Skip this step if you don’t want to add additional sweetener to your raisins.
• Finally, dump the bowl of raisins into the bowl of Grape Nuts Flakes, stir, and add milk.

When you decide to eat healthier, you don’t need to eschew all your old favorites– simply taking the time to re-create them using choice ingredients can be a great way to cut the junk but keep the comfort food.

Homemade bagels are nothing short of a staple in our house. Beyond their obvious place as a breakfast anchor, they’re also great bookends for a variety of sandwiches. This BLT uses Applegate Farms Sunday bacon, a healthier, delicious alternative to heavily processed bacon. Rounding it out is tomato, romaine lettuce, and of course the fourth requirement in a great BLT: Mayo.

Most of us snack, so if you’re going to grab something between meals, make sure it’s a great choice. One of the best ways to get into the habit of grabbing something great is to make it easy and quick to grab something as you’re passing through. Few things will accomplish those goals as effortlessly as a fruit bowl on your kitchen table or island.

Beyond the aesthetic appeal of a fruit bowl in your house at all times of the year (it picks you up in winter and fits with the season in summer), keeping a bowl of some basic choices like apples and pears means that you’ll be more likely to grab something good for you rather than reaching into the cookie jar or driving through the fast food lane. Having the fruit bowl in the middle of your kitchen is also a convenient reminder of your daily fruit intake.

A thank you to our local farmer’s market and my brother-in-law for this sandwich. Thinly sliced chicken breast is topped with my brother-in-law’s homemade BBQ sauce (a concoction of real Maine maple syrup, ketchup, and more…recipe to come), then placed on fresh pesto bread (from the farmer’s market) and topped with farmer’s market goat cheese, sliced tomatoes, and farmer’s market mixed greens.

When visiting a local farmer’s market, you except to see greens, cheese, some meats, and bread- but the biggest surprise I found at our local Orono Farmer’s Market was the table of fresh hand-made Asian dishes like the veggie spring rolls above. The proprietor also had pork spring rolls, real crab rangoons, General Tsao’s chicken, and some other things. We tried these veggie spring rolls cold, and they were outstanding: Perhaps a little bit greasy, but overall a great mix of mildly spicy and crisp.

More photos below:

Who doesn’t love a good french fry? My three year old son is particularly fond of fries, but isn’t so fond of ones that aren’t loaded with fat. Imagine my surprise when he ate these without hesitation or wrinkly nose! These fries are low in fat, taste great and take about 25 minutes to bake in the oven. Figuring about 1 small/medium potato per person, rinse and peel potatoes. Cut into thin strips and lay flat onto a baking sheet covered in non-stick cooking spray. Make sure all fries are laying flat on the sheet. Spray fries with cooking spray and dust with salt and pepper. If you like other seasonings, rosemary and garlic powder taste great for example, go ahead and apply whatever you like. Pop into the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, turning once halfway through.

I’d always wanted to try home-made pizza on the barbecue, so when I stumbled upon this recipe I talked Jason into helping me test it out. The recipe includes the dough, too, but I already had a favorite dough recipe of ours, so I skipped the first step and continued on with steps two and three. It can get a little bit tricky the first time around, so it’s helpful to have everything ready when you step out to the grill - sauce (and a spoon), cheese, toppings all in bowls, bowl of oil with garlic (and brush) and if you are grilling two pizzas at once it might benefit you to have another person there to help. It’s hard to enjoy cooking if you’re stressed out about things burning or just unsure of what you are doing! I guarantee that after you taste this pizza it will be difficult to eat it any other way. Good luck!

A lean ground turkey burger, with garlic, served on an organic bun courtesy of Barowski’s. With lettuce, provolone, relish, vegan mayo, and mustard. Organic fries on the side.

Our family loves bagels and when we started eating healthier, it was difficult to find any that didn’t have either enriched flour or high fructose corn syrup or both. Rather than give up a food that we all enjoy, I tried a home-made bagel recipe found on allrecipes.com.

Substituting half whole wheat flour and half white wheat flour in place of the bread flour was the only change I made to this recipe. The bagels are very easy and quick to make using a bread machine and taste delicious - almost a cross between toast and a bagel.