Food Shopping « 100 Days of Real Food

How to cook with coconut oil

By 100 Days of Real Food, on February 7th, 2012

Until we took our “No Refined Oils” mini-pledge last year I had never before purchased or cooked with coconut oil. And, like many others, I was surprised when I first learned that coconut oil is – or should I say “can be” – a solid. I set out to use unrefined coconut oil in baked goods (like muffins, banana bread, pumpkin bread, and waffles) instead of the typical refined oils like canola/vegetable/grapeseed, which are obviously always in liquid form. Coconut oil, on the other hand, can actually change from a liquid to a solid (and then back again without causing any harm) pretty frequently because the melting point is 76 degrees F, which is fairly close to room temperature. And since my husband is a little stingy with the A/C and heat usage in our house, I’ve found that our coconut oil is actually in liquid form in the summer and in solid form in the winter…talk about throwing me for a loop! So I thought it was pretty appropriate to put together this post today on how to work with these changes in consistency.

Coconut oil tips that I’ve collected from various sources… Continue Reading »

Special Offer: Lunchbox Meal Plans from The Fresh 20!

By 100 Days of Real Food, on January 27th, 2012

I don’t know about you, but at this point in the school year I feel a lunch rut coming on. It can be a challenge to come up with real, portable, creative (and for my daughter’s school – nut-free) ideas for the lunchbox every single day! If you feel like you could use some “fresh” inspiration at this point as well then I have the perfect solution for you. One of our long-time sponsors, The Fresh 20, has expanded their dinner plan offerings to now include lunch! And aside from getting their 6-week lunch plan package The Fresh 20 has put together the cutest little lunch e-book that contains lots of “getting started” tips as well.

Now feel free to visit their website to purchase this package OR you can buy it here and get something extra for free. I just love getting the best deals for you guys! As a special bonus “The Fresh 20” is going to offer our readers 3 weeks of FREE dinner plans when they order the 6-week lunch plan package. Don’t forget this means they’re doing all the work for you (including making out the shopping lists) and it’s all “real food.” So just to recap: Continue Reading »

Cookbook and Meal Plan Offer from Deliciously Organic

By 100 Days of Real Food, on January 13th, 2012

A lot of readers have been asking lately if I can recommend any other “real food” blogs or cookbooks, and I think Deliciously Organic is your answer. It’s both a blog AND a cookbook…and weekly meal plans, too! And for one week Carrie Vitt, the lovely woman behind Deliciously Organic, is extending two very special offers to my readers. Here’s the deal… Continue Reading »

Real Food Tips: 10 Common Misconceptions

By 100 Days of Real Food, on January 5th, 2012

Don’t be fooled by these misleading food myths:

A healthy diet means eating “low-fat” and “fat-free” food products…wrong!
Michael Pollan basically abolishes this myth in his book In Defense of Food, and you can check out our mini-pledge post from week 6 for some detail.

Mutli-grain crackers are better than crackers made from white flour…wrong!
“Mutli-grain” is a misleading buzzword because unless those grains are actually “whole grain” the product is really no better than those made from refined grains (like white flour).

It’s “natural” so it must be a good choice…wrong!
If a product is natural it simply means it wasn’t made from any artificial ingredients, which is certainly desirable, but don’t forget that white flour, sugar, and even high-fructose corn syrup are all derived from “natural” ingredients and they are also all highly refined.

Organic packaged food is better than conventional…okay, mostly true. Continue Reading »

Natural Food Dyes for Holiday Cookies

By 100 Days of Real Food, on December 21st, 2011

This year I wanted to make fun and cute holiday cookies with my daughters without resorting to the dreaded artificial food dye. I admit that in January I went through the trouble of making my daughter’s 6^th birthday cake from scratch with freshly ground whole wheat and local eggs from the farmers’ market, but then I topped it off with artificially colored icing. Even though we made a lot of drastic changes during our 100-day pledge I guess some things are still evolving around here. So this holiday season was my chance to figure out how to make icing that’s colored naturally without breaking the bank.

I did a little research and found that “natural food dyes” do exist, but they are rather expensive at $17 a pack (which includes red, yellow & blue), and the finished product can be really pale. Continue Reading »