Processed Foods and Allergies

This is probably going to be a fairly short post today primarily because I have just a little time left on my nap countdown clock and secondarily because I don't have much to write about.  I am still baking our bread (I have two loaves of the ATK recipe bread in the oven right now, as a matter of fact) and I am still trying to adhere to the idea of no (or low quantities of) processed foods.  Honestly, after more than three weeks of this, I am still having kind of a hard time with completely removing processed foods from my diet.  I keep longing for the days when I could send my kids to school with some kind of granola bar for their after school snack, not to mention the ability to just scoop some animal crackers into a bowl for the twice daily snack for my toddler.  I know, I know.  That is just the lazy in me talking.  Sometimes though, I really wish food was easier for us - so much of it is complicated both by my own extremely high standards (or psychosis, whichever you prefer) and my son's food allergies.  I was actually just looking up allergen information for a  chicken chain fast-food place (you know the one), where my oldest daughter's softball team is having an end of season party this evening.  Pretty much everything on their menu contains some kind of allergen and though they say that they prepare their food to avoid cross-contamination, I have to question whether or not the minimum wage employee behind the counter knows just how dangerous a speck of egg can be to my son.  So, no processed chicken for him or for me tonight.  My husband will just have to take the older two to "dinner" on their own.  That is fine.  Really, it is, but it just brings to mind how often I will have to do this for my baby.  Just this morning, I almost had a panic attack at the gym because another little toddler was finishing her breakfast of a hard-boiled egg as she walked into the nursery.  I literally had to talk myself down and not rush back into the room to remind the ladies that my son cannot have eggs and shriek, "are you SURE she finished and doesn't have any more with her?!"  I wish I could say that the allergies would get easier and I really wish the no-processed foods thing FELT easier right now.  Ah, well, like I said, that is the lazy talking.  This is the hand I (really my son) was dealt and the lack of processed stuff is just the path I have chosen (be it permanent or temporary).  I will deal and for now, I guess I need to go check on our bread.  I can already smell it and it does smell heavenly (and not processed at all). 

Bread Making

It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since I wrote anything food related.  I have had a lot of ideas kicking around in my head since then (I should hope so), but have not really been inspired to sit down and actually write about any of them.  Today is different and should hopefully begin (again) more regular postings.  Today I want to write about bread; specifically about my recent brilliant idea to begin baking all of our bread.  That's right.  I said ALL.  I recently started reading the blog, 100 Days of Real Food (www.100daysofrealfood.com), and really took a good long look at the processed products that we consume.  One of those things, and perhaps the most oft-consumed processed food in our house: sandwich bread.  The blog suggests that any processed food you buy (and you will need to buy some) should contain five or fewer ingredients.  The sandwich bread available at my grocery store contained a list so long that it looked like a freaking paragraph and this was the "good", 100% whole wheat bread!  My kids have never even had white bread and, when presented with it, usually ask for something in the more familiar hue of brown.  I thought I was making the very best choice for my family; maybe I was, based on what I had close to hand, but reading this blog made me think that I could do better.

I started off by searching for a suitably low-in-ingredient-numbers substitute that I could purchase.  I tried the higher end, "natural" grocery stores (cough....Whole Foods....cough) and was pleased to find a couple of sandwich loaves for a moderately acceptable price.  But.....(sigh).....but, as I may not have posted on here yet, my son (now almost 18 months old) has severe and anaphylactic food allergies to eggs, nuts, tree nuts and possibly fish and shellfish.  Every single one of those sandwich loaves at Whole Foods stated that their products were made on shared machinery using nuts and tree nuts.  The baby can't eat any of it.  So, I decided to start baking bread to feed our family of five.

I have found a couple of decent bread recipes, but the only one I have repeated is the whole wheat sandwich bread recipe from America's Test Kitchen.  I saw it demonstrated on one of their programs and decided to try it.  I love it and the kids love it.  It makes a decent amount of bread (2 loaves, as opposed to other recipes that only make 1), is light, fluffy, tasty and wonderfully filling.  (Amazing what real ingredients - without "dough conditioners" - can do to fill a hungry tummy!)  It is not five ingredients, but I know every ingredient that goes into and I feel good about it.

Now, the only beef that I have with this bread recipe is the ridiculous amount of time it takes to make it.  (This is kind of typical for recipes from ATK, so beware when experimenting.)  You start the dough 24 hours in advance and then, after you mix it, the dough requires a total of 3 hours to rise before you bake it.  So, at 7 o'clock this morning, I was up, in my pajamas, drinking coffee with my toddler running around while I mixed the dough so it would have time to rise before lunch.  My oldest daughter (now 9) came downstairs and asked for breakfast.  I told her that I would fix her something after I finished with the dough, to which she replied, "why are you making all of our bread?  You know, we CAN just buy it at the store."  My reply was something to the effect that I actually enjoy making our bread, but the reality was slightly more complicated.

I think there are two reasons that the 100 Days of Real Food blog and especially making our food from scratch appeals to me right at this moment.  The first is fear.  I am, honestly and truly, afraid of our food.  I am afraid of the chemicals that might be contaminating the food I offer to my children to nourish their bodies and minds.  I am afraid of the science experiments that go on behind closed doors to genetically modify staple crops so that they can survive plagues of insects and epic droughts.  I am afraid of what this God-play is doing to our food supply.  In fact, I am just afraid of our food supply.  I am afraid of the hard truth that, someday, perhaps sooner than we think, we might just run out of enough to feed everyone.  I am afraid that this next presidential election could have far-reaching ramifications on our future and the future of our children.  I know it all sounds a little crazy and crackpot-ish, but it is my truth: I am afraid and I worry about what the future holds.  I often wonder if our parents worried about the world the way I do.  I know I am not alone in this worry and that I have done the best I can.  I have made the best choices that I can, especially where feeding my family is concerned, and I will continue to do so with the information that I have at hand.

Ultimately, that brings me to the second reason that making "real" food speaks to me right now: it brings me joy and a connection to people that make me happy.  My grandmother was a baker and an amazing cook.  She died almost 12 years ago and I still miss her so very much.  I have always felt a very deep connection to her through my cooking and I feel that deeper still when I bake.  My children make me happy (and equally frustrated, of course) and it gives me a soul-stirring joy to see them nourished with food that I made.  My son, God love him, is at such a difficult age - so independent, yet so much a baby still.  He is, however, currently my best eater and will try anything we put on his plate.  It is wonderful to see him eat with such relish and to know that I created it all from scratch.  Seriously, there is something deeply soulful to taking a bunch of raw ingredients and turning it into something deliciously satisfying. 

So, I don't know how long I will keep this "real food" thing up.  Right now, I like it and I am kind of enjoying being more stingy with my delicious bread.  Everyone gets a little bit every day and we all seem to enjoy our bread that much more.  If I come across prepared bread that meets my criteria, then, sure, I will buy it.  I am trying not to be crazy about this, after all.  Trying is, of course, the operative word.