I am not a fan of summer heat, but I am happy to tolerate it when I can enjoy summer produce! Yesterday was one of those days when I didn't get home until 8 pm. I was hungry and tired, but not so hungry that I wanted a regular meal. Sometimes that means berries and cream, but I didn't want anything sweet, so I whipped up this little concoction and it was just perfect.

I've looked up gazpacho recipes before, and they always seem to have a long list of ingredients, or they make a really big batch, so I don't often bother. I don't know why I thought I had to follow the rules, so last night I didn't. I just rummaged around and threw what looked appealing in the beaker that came with my immersion blender, and whipped it up. 

Here's what I used:

A small, Persian cucumber, coarsely chopped
A couple Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
A clove of garlic, crushed
A dash of each of the following: cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, parsley, and ancho chili pepper 
A glug of olive oil

I blended it all together and then topped it with a small, chopped avocado, a drizzle of olive oil, and a little ground pepper. Perfect! The only thing I would do differently next time is to keep some of the cucumber and tomato seperate, chopped them finely and stir them in at the end for a little more texture. Bell peppers (any color), radishes and celery would probably be nice additions if you like them. 

Lesson learned: don't worry about finding the perfect recipe, if you've got good produce, there's a good chance you'll end up with something delicious. 

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I've been wanting to write this post forever, but I wasn't sure how to go about it. Food, eating, weight, nutrition, they can be such sensitive topics. Earlier this year I started reading and learning more about these things, and have discovered some stuff that has really helped me a lot, so I wanted to share. I'm sure there are others out there with similar experiences, so if this can help even one other person, it will be worth writing this all down here!

A favorite breakfast: slow scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, sliced tomatos, red onions, and capers

Last year I talked about trying to eat less meat. I didn't become a vegetarian, but I did greatly reduce my meat consumption. I made up for that by adding lots of pasta, bread, and soy into my diet. I gained back a lot of the weight I had worked hard to lose a couple years before, I was feeling tired and depressed, and in a nine month period I was sick three separate times (as in stay in bed for a few days, fever, achey, sniffley, sick), for most of my adult life I am pretty sure I have also suffered from IBS. I was feeling like there was no way I would ever be a healthy weight, unless I starved myself (and how is that healthy, mentally or physically?), and I was destined to be tired and have a crappy immune system for the rest of my life. After all, I was eating "healthy," right? 

In March, I happened upon a book called Why We Get Fat, by Gary Taubes. Coincidentally, Netflix kept recommending a documentary called Fat Head, in which Taubes is briefly mentioned. I read the book and watched the movie, and found myself going down a nutrition rabbit hole that I still haven't crawled out of four months later. I am not good at explaining science, so I will mostly just give you lots of links to things that explain things better than I can. 

So first of all, Why We Get Fat, despite the title, isn't a diet book in the sense that it gives you meal plans, it's more about the science behind how our bodies use the food we eat. The theme of the book is basically that the conventional wisdom we've all been hearing for the last thirty years (low-fat! healthy whole grains!) or so is completely wrong, it's not as simple as calories-in-calories-out, and it's not dietary fat that makes us fat, but rather sugar (in the form of HFCS and other sweeteners, grains and other carbohydrates) that is the cause of our current obesity epidemic. He cites lots of studies, so he has the science to back up all his ideas.  In Fat Head (be aware, the documentarian is very much a libertarian, and while there is not a lot of political content, it is there. I tend to be libertarian-leaning, but I keep politics away from my blog 🙂 so I didn't mind it, but if you have strong, differing views, I just hope it won't keep you from all the other good information), there are some great bits explaining all this too, and also some stuff about cholesterol, and why it's not quite so evil as we might think. 

Homemade Pho

Next up, I found the Weston A. Price Foundation, which is all about eating traditional, whole foods, like raw dairy, natural meats including organ meats, eggs, and of course fruits and vegetables. There's tons of nutrition info on their site. 

I also bought a copy of Real Food by Nina Planck, that I'm still reading. She was a vegetarian and was becoming increasingly sick and gaining weight, but now embraces a similar diet to the Weston A. Price Foundation. Speaking of vegetarian, I am also reading The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Kieth, which is very eye-opening. She was actually vegan for 20+ years, and her health has suffered drastically because of her diet. She looks at all the arguments for not consuming animal products, and explains, logically, why she no longer supports those arguments. I'm not done with that one yet either, and I don't know if I will agree with everything she says, but so far she has made some very compelling points. 

At the sushi bar: field greens with tuna sashimi

Of course I also watched Food, Inc. and another documentary about the corn industry, called King Corn. Both of which are very educational about the sad, sad state of the industrial food industry in this country. Cows should not be eating grain, for one thing! And chickens shouldn't have to grow up in such deplorable conditions. We need to support local farmers as much as possible, there are better ways to raise our food. I knew all of this already, but I don't think I let myself realize just how bad it was. It's become very important to me to not participate in that any more. I wish I lived near Polyface Farms, they are doing some amazing things. All that is really another post, however, so I'll save it for another time. 

All this led me to all the various incarnations of the paleo diet (caveman diet, evolution diet, primal diet), and I read The Primal Blueprint. I liked the philosophy in this one, it's very much just a blueprint, you decide exactly what you want to eat within certain guidelines (no grains, no processed food, limited dairy-depending on your sensitivity, and carb consumption is based on your goals, but definitely under 150g per day, everything as natural and organic as possible), and try to stay within those guidelines 80% of the time. No calorie counting, no strict menu or stringent meal times. It's not a Diet-with-a-capital-D, it's just a way to eat that will nourish your body and help you make the switch from burning sugar for fuel to using fat as fuel. There's also more about exercise (avoid chronic cardio, move slowly, lift heavy things, and play!), but again, no strict regimen to follow.

Almond-crusted chicken Parmesan with zucchini noodles

I started following these guidelines on April 1: no grains, no seed oils (canola, soybean, corn), no soy, no legumes, limited dairy. There were a couple weeks of carb flu-I was tired and felt foggy, but even with those negative symptoms, everything else started feeling so much better, things that I didn't expect. I slept better, my mood improved, I didn't wake up with my sinusus full of snot, I was full and satisfied with the food I was eating, and the minor sweet cravings I had were easily satisfied with fruit or dark chocolate (Green & Blacks 85% dark is my favorite!). I have been a sugar addict as long as I can remember, and I feel like I've really kicked the sugar habit.

So far this summer I've suffered very little from allergies, even cleaning my dusty shed hasn't sent me into never-ending sneezing fits like it normally would. I'm reserving full judgement until early fall, when my seasonal allergies are generally at their worst, but I'm feeling optomistic. And that IBS? I don't know how to put this delicately, but it is nearly 100% gone. I feel like what I am eating is so full of nutrients that my body is using almost everything I put into it, so there is very little waste coming out. Was that delicate enough? And you know what else? Gassiness is almost non-existent. I've also heard of lots of people seeing improvement with things like migraines and arthiritis by eating this way, so please consider this if you suffer from those problems.

I really think that diet and nutrition have far more to do with our health than we realize, and getting all the vitamins and minerals we need to function well from real food is far more effective than taking pills or supplements. I didn't expect to see such dramatic differences so quickly, but it has been amazing to see so many changes in the way I feel.

Salmon with basil mayonnaise, grilled zucchini, and sauteed spinach

So what do I eat these days? There are a few pictures in this post, and you can see more here. I eat two or three eggs nearly every day, I have big salads full of seasonal vegetables, doused with lots of olive oil and good vinegars, topped with various proteins. I buy grass-fed beef as often as possible. I regularly eat fish, and pot roast, and roast chicken-including the skin, with mashed cauliflower and vegetables over which I pour the pan drippings. I eat sushi (the rice is a once-in-a-while treat), and when I'm craving something sweet, I'll eat a yam. I don't eat things that have a list of ingredients on a package. About the only things I eat that come in cans are tomatoes and coconut milk, otherwise I'm just shopping the perimeter (excluding the bakery, of course!) of the store. 

Some days I eat three meals. Some days I eat two and a little snack of berries (with raw heavy cream, if I have it). Some days I might just eat once. I'm not constantly hungry like I used to be, and I don't get the 3:00 pm munchies like I used to. I'm eating and enjoying good food, but I'm not obsessed with constant thoughts of food any more. Saturday I spent the day running errands, and at 4:30 I realized I hadn't eaten and was starting to feel it. There weren't many good options nearby, so I went to Bob's Big Boy and ordered a burger and ate it without the bun (I did nibble some of the french fries, not the best since they were probably fried in seed oil, but I just considered them a rare indulgence and suffered no ill effects) and I was good for the next few hours. 

I'm sure there will be cooking posts in the future, and I'll share some of these delicious recipes I've been making. I probably won't be bombarding you with diet posts, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! This has made a huge difference in how I feel, and I think it could benefit a lot of people. Oh yeah, and weight loss? It's not pouring off of me like it does for some, but I've lost nearly 20 pounds over the last few months. I have more to go, but I feel confident that it will keep coming off almost effortlessly, as it has been.

And now for some links!

Paleo/Primal sites:

Mark's Daily Apple (by the author of The Primal Blueprint)

Latest in Paleo (a podcast I sometimes listen to)

Robb Wolf (author of The Paleo Solution, which I haven't read)

Cooking Sites:

The Primal Palate (they just announced they are publishing a cookbook, and it looks really beautiful)

La Tartine Gourmand (Not specifically paleo, but I've made several of her recipes, many of which are just naturally gluten-free, and her stories and photography are beautiful.)

Everyday Paleo (I don't have her cookbook yet, but it's gotten some good reviews)

Whole Foods Advocates:

Food Renegade

The Weston A. Price Foundation

Balanced Bites

Nourished Kitchen

There are tons more, but that's a lot to get you started if you're interested. 

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A list (this post is brought to you by Instagram (and Magic Hour)):

1.Summer hair. I'm growing mine out, but when it's hot I hate it on my neck. I've been doing this a lot, although I obviously need to work on my bobby pin placement:

2.Summer nail color. I'm pretending I'm trendy and wearing this lavendar on my fingers and toes. I've only just discovered Essie, so obviously I'm not really up on any trends. It's formaldahyde-free (as well as missing some other yucky chemicals found in most nail polish), and there are so many great colors. You can get some at Target.

3. Summer reading. What are you reading? I've got a stack of books to enjoy, but I'm re-reading Harry Potter just for the fun of it, and I just finished listening to A Game of Thrones, which was epic and brutal, and kept me entertained on my drive to and from work for nearly three weeks (it was 34 hours long!). I'm not quite up for the second book in the series yet, so I took a break and listened to a Stephanie Plum novel, which is definitely a guilty pleasure. In the stack on my nightstand I've got a copy of Centuries of June, which the publisher sent, so I need to get on that soon. It sounds highly entertaining, so I'm looking forward to that one. Also there is a gift from my sister-in-law, called Enslaved by Ducks, which I suspect will hit very close to home, as it is the story of a couple who adopt various animals and the hijinks that ensue. I can't tell you how many times I've watched all the little creatures in our yard, and thought about the comedies (and tragedies) I see and what great stories they would make. 

4. Summer farm. My garden has not materialized as I hoped, as we have had some crazy weather (frost, in June, triple-digit tempuratures earlier this month, followed by another frosty night last weekend), so I have to be content with nurturing the two new little hens I brought home last week. They are month-old Buff Orpingtons. My buffs were all stolen in the Great Chicken Robbery of 2009, and I've missed having some in my flock. These two are sweet as can be, with that same mellow buff personality that I love. 

5. Summer crafts. I have been cleaning out our disaster area of a shed in the hopes of doing some more wood-working type projects, but until that gargantuan task is finished, I am contenting myself with some smaller crafts. I may even put a few things in my etsy shop again soon, who knows! Last weekend I made some tiny mushrooms for some tiny terrariums, because what could be better than a terrarium? A teeny, tiny terrarium, of course! I've got some moss to add to these, and hopefully enough chain to make them into necklaces. 

6a. Summer food. Do you know what season it is right now? Fig season! They are one of my favorites. This is a good way to make them: slice in half, and wrap each half with prosciutto. Then drizzle with good olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Grind a little pepper on top, and enjoy!

6b. More summer food. There was also some yellowtail tuna caught by some co-workers who went on a three-day fishing trip and graciously shared their haul. I sliced up a piece and coated the slices in olive oil and herbs and just seared the outside. Served with agrodolce relish (tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion, minced garlic, all sauteéd in olive oil and finished with a spoonful of red wine vinegar and a spoonful of sugar), coconut basmati rice, and arugula. 

What's on your summer list? 

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Taken with GorillaCam, edited with PS Express, Tiltshift Generator, and Lo-Mob

Taken with GorillaCam, edited with PS Express, Tiltshift Generator, and Lo-Mob

Taken with GorillaCam, edited with PS Express, Tiltshift Generator, and Lo-Mob

Oh, all right Spring, I guess you are welcome to come now, you and your pretty, pink, blossoms. 

I'm not sure which version I like best, I think the first one is my favorite. What do you think? 

Tonight is knitting group, so I'll show you some knitting in the next post. I've joined the Knit Knit Café Westknits KAL, which is fun, since I haven't really done a knit-along before. 

Here are some links I've been collecting recently:

I'd like this camera case for my iPhone.

Brooklyn Tweed is going to take us on a tour of the mill where Shelter yarn is made. The series starts here. I think this will be fascinating. 

Doesn't orange-vanilla marmalade sound delicious? 

I would love one of Ann Wood's ships, but maybe I can make do with my own teacup instead. She very generously shares the how-to. 

I'm currently cooking a lot of quinoa. These recipes look delicious, and this one is for sure. I know, because I've made it about three times in the last two weeks. 

I like brownies, but they are so rich, I don't have them often. These seem like a really good idea. White chocolate?! Raspberries?! Yes, a very good idea.

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Taken with GorillaCam, edited with TiltShift Generator and Labelbox

This post is a combination of iphoneography, app review and cookbook review. Three for the price of one! The iphoneography part is self-explanatory. I try not to overdo the TiltShift Generator, but I really love that app. You don't have to do the whole depth-of-field blur thing with it, like I did here, it's equally handy to quickly lighten and brighten just about any photo. I think it's an iphoneography staple, so you should just get it.

Today's review is actually the other app I used above, Labelbox. Labelbox is free, and super fun to use for adding tape-style labels to your photos. It's easy-peasy, too. Just choose your tape style (there's 8 included, and a pack of four more you can purchase in the app for 99 cents), slide your finger across your image to apply the tape, and type your label. If you're not happy with the result, just tap and hold the tape and it will disappear. 

There are some limitations that I would love to see addressed, like the ability to resize or move a label once it's applied, but I can live without that in a free app. It does save your image at nearly full resolution (1435 x 1920), which is a big plus. This would be a lot of fun for digital scrapbookers, and it's also great for sharing photos on facebook and twitter. It's a fun little app well worth the download.

Let me tell you about that salad now, because it was delicious and I will probably be craving it regularly. I've still been working on my quest to eat less meat and more vegetables. I haven't been cooking much of interest lately, and eating out way too much, so I thought it was time to step it up a bit and start bringing my lunch to work more often than not, and cooking dinner on weeknights and not just the weekend. I recently picked up Appetite for Reduction, about which I've heard lots of good things, which might surprise a lot of people, since it's a low-fat, vegan cookbook. I don't plan to become vegan, and I have no fear of oil (particularly olive oil, yum!), but this is a really great book and I pretty much want to try everything in it, that's how good it is. 

So far I've made the Vietnamese Noodle Salad with grilled tofu that you see above, and the Quinoa, Kale and White Bean Stew. Mr. HeyLucy, a soup aficionado and carnivore, loved the stew and requested that it be put into regular rotation around here. I also caught him nibbling at the grilled tofu as I was packing my lunch this morning and had to swat his hand away. I kind of didn't blame him, though, because darn, that tofu was delicious, as was the whole salad. The dressing is a simple, oil-free blend of soy sauce, sweet chili-garlic sauce, agave, lime juice and some water. It's just the right blend of salty, sweet and tangy. The tofu is marinated in the dressing, and then grilled, which gives it a nice texture and a lot of flavor. I think that's one of my favorite things about the book actually, it doesn't try to make "fake meat" replacements, it's about eating good food that doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is. Everything looks really flavorful, and there are all sorts of herbs, spices and interesting ingredients used, but nothing that seems like it would be difficult to find at your local grocery store. Most stores carry quinoa now, right? 

Appetite for Reduction my be billed as a low-fat, vegan cookbook, but really, it's just a whole bunch of real, good, and good-for-you food.  

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I just had a four and a half day weekend, and not much happened and it was fantastic. In fact, I barely left the house, and when I did, it was purely on foot, with Winston, to walk through the frosty meadow in the middle of our little valley. I didn't drive anywhere once I got home Friday afternoon. I made sure to run all my errands, and did lots of grocery shopping on Friday so we were well provisioned. Saturday was an official pajama day, so I made a hearty breakfast of bacon, potatoes, and eggs, and then a good, warm pot of soup for dinner (sausage and kale, a favorite around here). There was a nap and a lot of knitting while sitting on the couch watching Netflix. I might have accidentally cast on three new projects, as well as working on that one existing one, but I will save all that for another post. They are all pretty quick projects and one is almost done, so I don't feel bad.  

Sunday morning, we woke up to the sound of the snow plows scraping the street. Finally, we had our first snow storm of the season! It came down heavily all morning, so we decided it would be wise to stay put, and there was still soup to eat, and I also discovered that Downton Abbey was available to watch instantly on Netflix. Have you seen it? Why did they leave us hanging like that? I was happy to read that there will be a second season. If you love a good BBC costume drama, and you haven't seen it, watch it soon, so good! 

So, with all this free time, I spent a lot of Monday and Tuesday in my little house studio doing some general cleaning up, but also a little sewing. I've been keeping all my DPNs collected together in a little ceramic pot, which looks really cute, but is super annoying when I actually want to use a set, and have to shuffle through and find a whole set in the same size. So I made a case that I can easily tuck into my knitting bag, and now I will always have the right size needles as soon as I need them. 

The new case is the one on the left. On the right is my much-loved case for regular needles from Yvonne from one of our annual Christmas swaps ages ago. And underneath is a binder with page protectors where I keep all of my recently-organized circular needles. Cute, right? Let me tell you about all the things I did wrong with my cute, new case. I should have made some sort of flap to go over the needles, because now, if you turn it upside down, they all fall out. I sewed a piece of ribbon on both short edges, which means that when it's rolled up, one is uselessly rolled up inside.

I didn't do the best job on my little labels. They're just scrap fabric, with the numbers stamped on. I cut them out rather unevenly, but they are just tacked in place with a tiny bit of fabric glue, so I'm thinking I might remove them and stamp the numbers directly onto the polka dot fabric. Ah well, I can just make sure to store it upright, and the one ribbon is long enough to wrap all the way around to keep it closed, and the number labels are still kind of appealing in their wonkiness. Not every project can come out perfect, and sometimes I can just be happy with 'good enough,' and I really like my new little case, despite it's shortcomings resulting from my inability to think it all through before I sewed it. And it turns out that I have four sets of size 7 needles and no eights or nines. 

 Project number two was to make a batch of marmalade, which is one of Mr. Heylucy's favorite things ever, apparently. I didn't realize he liked it so much, but when I brought home a bag full of citrus on Friday, and told him my plan, he asked me multiple times every day when I was going to make the marmalade. I was greatly inspired by this post from Putting up with the Turnbulls. Heart-shaped bits of peel? Yes, please! I had some organic Meyer Lemons and some mandarins, so I went to work. My heart cutter wasn't quite as cute, but it was just as tiny and blister-inducing, but totally worth the effort.

So I set to cutting and cooking. I didn't add the cinnamon hearts, I just wanted to do a simple marmalade for my first time. I cooked and cooked and tested to see if it was set. I checked the internet and read that it would set once it reached 220 degrees, so I got out my candy thermometer and watched the tempurature carefully. The recommended 30 minutes passed. I waited another 15 minutes, and still, we were only at 210 degrees. Another ten minutes, and it crept up to 216. Then it started looking a little too golden, and then it was sticking to the pan. Oh no! I stopped immediately, and got it into the jars, and then I processed them to seal. I had been licking spoons and tasting regularly and it was really, really delicious. I made myself some toast this morning, and eagerly opened a jar. Not only had it set, it was set more than any other jam or marmalade I had ever had. I could scoop it out with my knife, but it was kind of hard to spread so I just made due with a few evenly spaced chunks. So, another not-quite-a-success. It does taste delicious, but I obviously need more preserving practice. I think my thermometer is not quite accurate, it's the same one I used to make three batches of caramel, and the first two batches didn't work either. I also wonder if the tempurature thing has to do with our altitude at all. I know water boils at a lower tempurature, so maybe I'll try cooking it to 210 or so next time. I will keep experimenting and figure this out! So it was another failure, but a delicious one, and I will keep trying. 

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