Loves, Hates and Love-Hates

Since I began this blog, there are several times when I want to post to the whole world about one little thing, like when my local Publix is completely devoid of produce. It's difficult to justify a whole post about such little things, so today I am sharing some of these with you in the form of some current loves, hates and love-hates. 

LOVES

• Coconut Butter/Manna - I seriously almost wrote an "emergency post" about this stuff. Go buy it right now. You can get it online at Amazon.com, Thrive.com or at Whole Foods or Trader Joes (I buy Nutiva or Artisana brand). Nothing could be more appropriately called manna, defined as "spiritual nourishment of divine origin," - it is that delicious. I've been having it on roasted acorn squash topped with cinnamon and raisins. I am pretty certain that a spoon does just as well as a squash however. Good luck limiting yourself, my tablespoons magically double in size when I go to eat this. 
• Raw Sauerkraut - I just made my second batch of sauerkraut (batch one with green cabbage and batch two with red). It is so easy, so good, contains tons of probiotics and is an awesome way to use up a bunch of cabbage. Here is a link to the

  

  Purple Cauliflower Cilantro Rice,
  with Pesto Scrambled Eggs and Sauerkraut

  
  recipe I use, but the basic steps are:
• Vegetables: Thinly slice the cabbage; shred carrots and garlic in food processor; roast, peel and dice jalapenos. 
• Put 1/3 of cabbage in a large bowl and top with 1 tbsp of salt. Using your hands you basically knead the cabbage until water starts coming out of it. Repeat with the next 1/3 of cabbage and then the next. 
• Add in your carrots, garlic and jalapenos and combine.
• Put in mason jars, leaving two inches from the top and pressing down as you add to ensure water is coming up above the vegetables. Stick a big outer cabbage leaf on top for one final press down. 
• Store in a cool dark place for 2-3 weeks, checking on it every 2-3 days, pressing down as needed.
• Then, put in fridge and enjoy on things like eggs, salads, tacos, sausage, the possibilities are endless.
• Colored Cauliflower - Did you know you can get purple, green and orange cauliflower in addition to white?!? So fun. 
• Organic Girl Greens - I hate washing and drying lettuce (see below). Yes you can buy the bags of lettuce, but what if you want lettuce wraps? - then you are screwed. Enter the savior, Organic Girl Greens ROMAINE LETTUCE can be purchased already washed and dried. I have no problem spending the extra money for probably half the lettuce if it means I don't have to wash and dry it. Note: I have not seen this at Publix, only at Whole Foods. 
• Natural Calm - If you are a type A, high-strung, high-stress person, with trouble sleeping and muscle cramping at night (or maybe you are less of an abomination than me and only one of those applies to you), this stuff is magic. Its tag-line is the "anti-stress" drink and IT WORKS. It makes you a little bit of a zombie, so take it before bed, but it has helped to keep my mind from racing and legs from cramping in order to get to sleep at night. I purchased mine on Amazon. 

HATES

• Washing and drying lettuce - If somebody knows the easy way to wash and dry lettuce, PLEASE comment or let me know. Seriously nothing aggravates me more. It never completely dries, if you set it out to dry too far in advance from when you want to eat it, the lettuce gets limp. Not to mention that water gets everywhere. So thankful for Organic Girl Greens (see above).
• Smoked Salmon - seriously I equate this stuff with vomit. The one thing I have hated on my 30-day meal plan was smoked salmon in toasted Nori. I shocked my mother by getting 1/3 into my wrap before the gagging started. It may make me a bad pre-New Yorker, but I will not be ordering a smoked salmon bagel any time soon. 
• Olive Oil Regulations - FYI a bottle of olive oil does not have to contain 100% olive oil to be labeled as such in this country. The FDA requires a specification of other ingredients only when there is a representation of olive oil on the bottle other than on the ingredient list and main label and the USDA's labeling requirements are optional. Time for a bar exam phrase - caveat emptor - buyer beware. Read your labels, look for high quality olive oil in dark green bottles (prevents oxidation) that provide you with a press date AND an expiration date. For more information check out this podcast. If you are local, head to The Sacred Olive for some seriously yummy stuff. 

LOVE-HATES

• Whole Foods - since I have been strictly following a 30 day meal-plan with very specific items Whole Foods has become my staple grocery store. Now, if you are someone that loves to cook, then you probably love the grocery store and your time there as much as I do. I love grocery shopping. However, you get very attached to "your grocery store," know its ins and outs, the staff, exactly where the pine nuts will be, etc. Changing locations is hard, just switching from my Nashville Publix to the Winter Garden Publix. Switching BRANDS almost killed me. I think the first time I went to the closest Whole Foods (30 minutes away), I was there for two hours. It is getting better, but as soon as I am comfortable there I am sure it will be time to move to New York. The first thing that I had to learn was if I want grass fed and pastured meat, then I have to go on Wednesday morning because that is when it comes in. So on Wednesdays, I head to Dr. Phillips for a Bar Method class and grocery shopping. 
• Love:
• I want to buy everything. 
• I can usually find even the most random ingredients on my list. 
• Fresh and organic products make it easier to avoid all the bad stuff. 
• The produce staffers let me sample any of the fruit I want to try. 
• The staff are so knowledgeable and helpful. They know the answers to all of my questions, go to the back and track down anything I cannot find, make me 4 individual packages of 1/4 lb ground beef, slice me 4 oz fillets of fish and individually wrap them.
• They give me ice in my bags with my cold/frozen items (and chocolate). 
• They carry paleo-friendly products.
• They donate my reusable bag credits to charity. 
• Hate: 
• I want to buy everything AND its expensive. 
• It is far away. 
• Often there is just one thing on my list that they don't have do to whatever organic provider they use being out. 
• They mix-up/disperse the conventional, local and organic versions of different products, meaning that I just grab whatever I see first instead of what I want. 
• The buggies are small. 
• The Dr. Phillips Whole Foods does not carry Sinless Chocolate, which is completely raw and devoid of bad things and I love it. 
• Salmon - my journey with salmon has been a real love-hate experience. As I mentioned above, I hate smoked salmon, I dislike sockeye salmon, I don't mind wild caught canned salmon and I enjoy keta salmon. It all comes down to how fishy tasting the fish is. Keta salmon is a hair lower  than sockeye in the fabulous fatty acids that make salmon so healthy, but everything else is pretty much even. Plus, I am more likely to get in any amount of the good fatty-acids by eating keta Salmon than by dreading eating sockeye. If you hate salmon, give the keta a try. Get the detes here 

Lemon Rosemary broiled keta salmon
with lemon roasted asparagus, olives and
Japanese Sweet Potato.

If there are any current products out there you love and think I would like please share! I am excited to be coming off this laid-out meal plan in a week and getting back to experimenting in my own way.