The challenge continues.

As I open up the blog and check my last entry, I notice that I was then doing 140 burpees a day. Today I have 240 burpees to do. 240 burpees seemed impossible in the past, absolutely impossible. The thought of doing that many push ups and jumps every day, increasing one a day for a whole year, up to 365, seemed absurd. But it is not. The secret is to break it down.

The same holds true for food. The secret to eating well is merely breaking it down to many tiny tasks, instead of one overwhelming chunk of time that no one, including me at the moment, seems to have, or even want to have. I don't blame anyone. Why spend hours toiling in the kitchen when one can be outside enjoying the end of summer? Or studying, which is more like my own reality right now. 

But eating well is essential to keeping good health, and to not gain weight, which is another reality I face as a 42-year-old woman. There is no way around it. It does not matter how much I may exercise, if I don't eat well I will get sick, and/or gain weight, and break out into pimples on top of it. I say it, because I have experienced it. When I don't eat well, my face becomes oily, and I break out. Simple. I start to eat better, my face becomes clearer/cleaner, no pimples. And I fit into my pants. Easy to maintain, hard to fix. 

So how do I break down food? Cook in the morning. In the evening I am too tired to deal with anything except for what is absolutely necessary, which means the exam of the day that I am freaking about. Use the mornings! While I make coffee, I make brown rice. Or cook beans... or roast beets, eggplants, sweet potatoes, squash, cauliflower, garlic, onions... any hardy vegetable that I can coat with olive oil and sea salt, I will roast. I roast in my cast iron pan, so that way I don't have to worry about clean up and scrubbing. Just wipe it down with a paper towel when done cooking- courtesy tip from a climber who camps and cooks in his camper. And yes HE cooks. Don't have to be a woman to cook, or a housewife to cook- anyone can cook. A lot of it has to do with just getting into a habit, so that there is no thinking involved. Just doing...

What about all the chopping? The chopping... I do it while I heat up the food that I precooked in the morning. It takes about 5 to 15 minutes to heat up anything, so I use that time to chop: cabbage, red onions, carrots, radishes, cucumbers, parsley, cilantro, celery, tomatoes, green onions, peppers... any vegetable that can be eaten fresh. Or sautéed... kale, collards, chard, spinach, chinese cabbage, onions, mustard greens, turnip greens... 

I usually chop a little extra, so that I have some left over for the next day- call it a bonus. Have enough containers, even if they are yogurt containers, to keep the left overs. Good storage is important for eating well. Because there is always something in the fridge or freezer waiting for me at the end of the day... even if I am completely wiped out from a long school day, and don't feel like doing any extra work other than opening a beer. And studying some more, of course. 

But why go through all that trouble anyway? Cooking , chopping , storing... because I want to feel good everyday, because I want to have energy everyday. Because I want to stay lean and look good, and because I don't like to get sick. Simple. 

It is so easy, especially here in the south, to go and buy fried chicken, fried food, barbecue, go to Chick-fil-A... people: Chick-fil-A is JUNK FOOD!!!! eat chips, a cold cut sandwich, a snack, a bar... but remember, our bodies don't magically make vitamins. We need to eat them to have them. And we need to eat them in real food, not vitamin complexes that we buy at the store. That is processed food at its best. Eat food. Eat clean- less animal food, more grains, vegetables, beans, fruit, nuts, seeds. 

You will thank yourself years from now, when you are still active and well, instead of... insert your own future dream image of yourself, and how you want to look and live when you are older... and live to fulfill that dream.

2013 Food Challenge: Parsley and Cilantro

Parsley and Cilantro

I have not been doing too well with the 2013 Food Challenge, and I apologize. With the last stages of divorce unfolding, injury, loss of job, looking for job, getting ready for school and my 13-year-old to remind me daily of how bad I am just-in-case-I-forgot among other life events, a food challenge was not something I thought I could keep up with any longer.

But I was wrong. If I can keep up with a fucking burpee challenge as I travel across the country, getting on my hands and jumping around on filthy gas station grounds from Florida to Colorado to Florida in 9 days, then I can certainly keep up with my own food challenge.

And that was the challenge this week. Living in a hotel for 6 days with a hot plate, a microwave and the bathroom sink. True to the principles I learned at the Climbers Ranch, I had a cooler-full of ready-made foods like soup and beans, and a cast iron pan at hand. Eggs, garlic, broccoli, butter, kale, parsley and cilantro.

Why parsley and cilantro? Just like kale, those two incredible greens need no knife in order to be eaten. Hold them by the stem, and pluck the leaves out using the same technique used for kale: take two fingers, and run them through the stem. Wherever the stem breaks, that means the part that is left with the leaves is soft enough to be eaten. Then I can decide: eat the leaves whole, or chop them up as finely or coarsely as I wish.

Use them on eggs, meat, soups, pasta, beans, quesadillas... such an easy way to add freshness to a meal. Color, vitamins, life. Just sprinkle at the end of cooking, on top or on the side, and watch a monochrome meal come to life. Or sautée it with garlic, salt, olive oil or butter, and add it to pasta or polenta, with or without tomatoes, with or without onions. Cheap, simple, beautiful.

Keep the unused parsley and/or cilantro on a glass with water on the kitchen counter, and notice how it enlivens the kitchen as well. They give freshness in the spring and summer, and life during fall and winter.

Down to Earth Farm

Brian and Kristin Lapinski started Down to Earth Farm in November of 2007.

Brian always felt a calling to the sustainable food movement. After graduating from the University of Florida (UF), where he earned a Bachelor's Degree on Sociology, and a Master's Degree on Community Development, he travelled as far as New Zealand and Australia in order to internship and learn more about organic agriculture. The Lapinskis then returned to Jacksonville, their hometown, and moved into 2.5 acres on the Westside, where they started their farm.

Brian is committed to farming sustainably; he uses cover crops and composted animal manures for fertilizers, uses no synthetic pesticides, and practices crop rotation to improve the soil and fight bugs and disease. All of Down to Earth's planting, weeding and bug squishing are done by hand. Down to Earth is not certified organic, but if you visit the farm you will see for yourself how their food is grown- as opposed to relying on labels and stickers. I have visited the farm, picked and eaten straight from the plants, as well as purchased eggs from them. Their vegetables, and eggs, are beautiful, tasty, and grown with care.

It is well worth it to take a trip, on Saturdays, to the Riverside Arts Market, and find Brian and his assistants there between 10am to 4pm... or the Beaches Green Market, from 2 to 5pm.

Brian will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. And he is willing to discuss- and educate those interested at any time, on the different kinds of kale selections;  beet, sweet potato, turnip and collard greens... radishes, green beans, broccoli... arugula, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes... eggs and flowers.

I am grateful for the work of farmers like Brian that make it possible for us to enjoy the bounty, and beauty, of locally grown vegetables.

My New Iron BFF.

Sweet potato greens.

I had previously written about how I borrowed my friend's cast iron pan over this summer in order to keep my sanity. I mean, cook.
When I arrived back in Jacksonville and found my own place, I realized that keeping my sanity not only served me well, it was actually quite enjoyable. So I decided to keep on cooking- with my own cast iron pan. A simple 8 inch pan.
My cast iron pan stays on top on my stove. I don't ever put it away, as I use it for pretty much everything I cook. Bacon for the beans, eggs, spanish tortilla, mexican tortillas, granola in the oven,  meat, corn bread, roasted chicken, vegetables, greens... all I need to do, when done cooking, is rinse it, without soap, and put it on the hot burner for half a minute for it to dry. Done. It goes hand in hand with living simply, using my time efficiently, and eating well. Good, wholesome, tasty food that is nourishing, fresh, and free of crap- pesticides, hormones, antibiotics. Food that is not processed.

Roasted chicken.

My challenge living alone, or even when I have my children with me, is to eat a broad, good-quality variety of food, especially when it comes to vegetables. It is so easy to say to myself ''oh, this is so complicated to make, it takes so long, I don't have the time, I need to study, I want to go climb, I just want to go ride or run, I am too tired to deal...''  I don't want to commit to hours in the kitchen. I already must wash all dishes by hand, mine and my kids'- that takes time. I don't want to toil all day in the kitchen, I am done with that part of my life. But I still want, and need for my own and my children's health, to eat well. Bling! Along comes my BFF!

Portabello in coconut oil.

My BFF can cook anything in minutes. Baby spinach that is about to go bad because the package is too goddamn big for me to eat it all as salad? Throw it in the cast iron with butter. Sweet potato greens from the local farm that only last a few days before turning brown? Cast iron with olive oil. Left over mushrooms that my son asked me to buy and never ate? Cast iron with butter. My daughter doesn't want to eat anything for breakfast? Throw her in the cast iron. Just kidding, throw some eggs in the cast iron, and let her cook them. Zucchini, peppers, eggplants, onions, garlic... sautée them with the fat of choice on high heat, and no matter what kind of vegetables they may be, simple or complicated, they are ready to eat in a few minutes. Serve over, or with, quinoa, roasted potatoes, farro salad, rice, chicken, meat, pasta... the choices are infinite.
Thank you, cast iron, for being there for me. Your companionship and loyalty is deeply appreciated. Even if you burn me sometimes- I understand.

Down To Earth Farm at RAM Tomorrow!

Down To Earth Flowers

Down To Earth Farm will be at the Riverside Arts Market tomorrow, 10-2pm. 
They will also be at The Beaches Green Market, in Jarboe Park, 2-5pm.  

Come check out true local, fresh-picked, pesticide-free, nutrient-rich veggies that you never see in your not-so-local supermarkets... 
White scallop, zephyr (yellow/green) and green lebanese squash... red butter head, green and red romaine lettuce... sorrel... dino, red-russian and green curly kale.... spring onions... leeks... carrots... spicy arugula... and the first few flower bunches of the season. Tomato and strawberry plants also available, along with a few other possible surprises....

Watch Brian Lapinski - Organic Farmer on PBS. See more from 9 to 5.