Wherever you go, there you are: An experiment in getting ethical food in the middle of nowhere!

This blog post will document my effort to maintain our high maintenance, "clean" "conscious," "ethical," healthy eating regime while in the middle of nowhere U.S.A.. Without getting too specific (for the sake of privacy-- what privacy? it's 2011. good point.), I'll just say that my husband and I will be traveling to an unincorporated town in Wisconsin, that's at least four hours from any city that has a Whole Foods. So, in order to put my money where my mouth is, I'm conducting my biggest experiment yet! I'm not going off this nutritional plan; somehow, some way, I'm sustaining it. Even if I have to eat snow and forage for twigs in the forest. The Null Hypothesis of this experiment posits that "it is not possible to sustain a hippie, clean eating, slow food, Non-GMO, ethical diet in the middle of Walmart's middle America without access to a city." My goal as this experiment's Principal Investigator, is to prove that the null hypothesis is bullshit wrong.

I will be updating this blog as the experiment progresses over the next week. It begins in Los Angeles, as I prepare for travels a few days in advance. I think ahead. Hmmm... are there any local farms? There must be. What about CSA programs? Where will I get raw milk? It's dairy land, there must be raw milk somewhere! In my afternoon research, I have found only 4 farms listed and a couple others off the beaten path that sell raw milk. It's dairy land; this is a seriously controversial issue (it's not hippie dairy land California, after all.). Will I drive 6 hrs for milk? I might, just to prove a point that the consumer always has the power. I can't find meat yet. Then I try a search at the very helpful, grass fed site, EatWild and I find a bunch of great farms, but still many hours away. I'll have to research that when I'm actually there and can get a sense of the conditions. In the meantime, I'll support online sellers, to sustain us for the first day or two.

To begin: I have ordered a box of grass finished and pastured meat from U.S. Wellness Meats. I was concerned about shipping issues to this very rural area, where at times overnight shipments have been delayed by days. So I put an e-mail into U.S. Wellness and here's the first exchange I've had in my experiment:

Hi There,

We are ordering this so we have access to high quality meat while we are traveling in Wisconsin. We are hoping to receive this shipment by Friday, Feb 25. If this is not possible, please let us know. We may be willing to pay an increased Fed-Ex charge if that's something you offer.

Thank you for providing great meat products!

Julie
---

Hi Julie,

Thank you for the patronage.

Your order should land in Wisconsin on Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.

No extra Fed Ex charges required.

Sincerely,

John Wood

founding member

"Our animals eat right so you can too!
U.S Wellness Meats
204 E. Lafayette Street
P.O. Box 9
Monticello, MO 63457
URL: www.uswellnessmeats.com
Toll Free: (877) 383-0051
Direct: (573) 767-9060
Fax: (573) 767-5475
YouTube: http://www.grasslandbeef.com/Page.bok?template=video.html

--

Thanks so much John! It means a lot to me and my family that we have access to such great quality meat!

Julie

--

Hi Julie,

Your welcome and thank you for the kind words.

John

--

Well that's a pleasant start to my experiment. Next, I order an organic sampler box from Diamond Organics. Not quite as pleasant. The produce looks gorgeous and they have some quality pasteurized, but non-homogenized milk products. Though not on the "best" list by Weston Price Foundation, they qualify as "good," so that's good enough for this experiment. No trip to a dairy farm will be necessary this phase. The reason it's not so pleasant however: the shipping cost. Yikes! If I wanna be deeply ethical and "green," I'd drop this idea. Shipping distance is about 2,500 miles (talk about not local) and they only ship overnight because the products are perishable. Not only is there airplane fuel involved, the shipping fee was the same cost of the order. Great idea Jules, overnight ship a heavy box of potatoes. I'm exaggerating (only slightly). That said, we will be receiving two boxes of organic, slow food. I'm looking forward to being there for their arrival. Big bunches of Organic Kale right there in Walmart country. Before I bad mouth Walmart too much, they are negotiating changing their model to include more of what I've been talking about. So if you can't drop your first born's tutition on shipping organic to your midwestern home, please have the courtesy to vote for the health of your people, by buying whatever organics they have at Walmart.

Until my next update, here's an *uplifting* video for you and a link to an informative blog about buying organic online if you live truly in the middle of nowhere, go here: http://hubpages.com/hub/--Buy-Organic-Online. Yes, I fall asleep studying this and that's why I've started having dreams about cows.

Trying not to clip my own wings (oh, and a recipe for high protein flax bread. why not?)

It's 1776, and I say to you, "One day a rectangular thing called a 'display screen' will float from my living room wall and show me colorful moving pictures of the world. People will talk to me and the display will be called a 'plasma' display. The display will work because of a solution that consists of millions of phosphor-coated miniature glass bubbles containing plasma. An electric current will flow through the display screen, causing certain plasma-containing bubbles to emit ultraviolet rays, triggering the phosphor coating to produce the proper color (red, green or blue). That's how I will watch pictures on the wall in my home." Remember, it's 1776, oh and then I tell you that "I will write about this topic, on a thing called a 'laptop' which has another type of display, and a thing called a 'keyboard' in which I can communicate with the world and watch these moving pictures in my very own lap, while on my couch."

(The picture is Abigail Adams. In 1776, she was fighting for women getting the right to vote, get an education and not be treated like second class citizens. Had she not been having to fight for archaic bullshit that seems like basic humanity, she might have been dreaming of a plasma tv)

This idea probably would have landed like a fart in church... 1776, a time when the Declaration of Independence was drafted in ink and electricity wasn't due to fully hit the suburbs of wealthy industrial countries until the early 1900s- 125 years later. 100 years later, I'm watching my old school plasma tv and typing this on my laptop. So what's my point? My point is that the unimaginable must be, and is always possible. Had I told you about my plasma tv in 1776, you would have told me to fuck off, in a slightly British accent you may have said, "Please do fuck off." I would have felt dismayed, because it was only some intuition and a dream I had, a slight glimpse of possibility, but nothing close to reality of a modern 1776 lifestyle. That kind of dismay sucks and is present now- everywhere. You've been there-- shot down by your own fear, or by another. Hey, don't misunderstand me I'm not some magical thinking, cupcakes and rainbows dreamer. As proof, I worked at UCLA for many years in a scientific research program, and we conducted blockbuster, big money science-- no cutsie pseudo science. So I'm the first person to fall prey to, and advocate, what's called healthy skepticism. I think skepticism is very important for survival. So much so that I openly offer a YouTube video to teach you how to be a skeptic.



All that said, why am I writing about this topic? It's because at any given moment, I can fall prey to my own personal skepticism (read: self-doubt), and my own fears about possibilities. I'm not trying to invent a plasma television, I'm just trying to invent a yummier high protein bread, have a little faith in my own goals (which I've got a laundry list of) and not clip my own wings. I've come to think lately, that for reaching some of my goals I'm just going to shut the skeptic off. I'm trying not to clip my own wings, but today was tougher than others. Rather than fully immersing myself in finishing a task for a big (hush hush) opportunity I've received, I watched 17 Again on Cinemax and gave myself a headache. It was only a few hours of my mostly productive day, but it was the few hours delegated to the most important thing of my day. If you know me, you know that I've been trained to call this Upper Limiting (it's a form of self-sabotage...to learn about this very helpful concept check out Gay Hendricks). For now, for tonight, I'm done with it! Because the miracle plasma tv exists, so do my dreams.

As for my recent dream... as promised, yummy low carb bread... dreams do come true. You can make sandwiches with this bread, and if you add a bit of cinnamon and sweetener, it makes some damn good low carb french toast. For serious, people.

High Protein Flax Bread
(189 calories per serving, 7g carbs, 10g protein)

DRY INGREDIENTS
2 Cups Organic Golden Flax Meal
1/4 Cup Natural Flavored (unsweetened) Whey Protein Powder (cold processed, grass finished is best)
1 Teaspoon Sea Salt
1 Tablespoon Organic Baking Powder
(Optional 2 tsp of Sweet Tree Coconut Palm Sugar for sweeter uses, like French Toast)
(Optional herbs like Garlic Powder, Thyme, Rosemary for savory uses, like BLT sandwich)

WET INGREDIENTS
1/4 Cup Melted Extra Virgin, Cold Pressed Coconut Oil
1/4 Cup Water
4 Beaten Eggs

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350. Put parchment on a baking sheet. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Add wet ingredients to dry, and combine well. Let mixture rest for a few minutes to thicken, and for flax meal to absorb wet ingredients. Pour batter onto pan, spread out and evenly away from the center of pan. Batter should not touch sides of pan, but you can experiment with your own pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the bread springs back when you touch the top, or when the edges are brown.Cool and cut into slices. The result is a pan style flat bread, approx 3/4 of an inch.

Los Angeles Farmer's Markets - 7 days a week

MONDAY

West Hollywood Monday Farmers' Market

Day: Monday Hours: 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Location: Plummer Park -

N. Vista and Fountain Ave City: West Hollywood County:Los Angeles

Manager: Beth Smith Office Address: 8300 Santa Monica Blvd, W. Hollywood, CA 90069 Phone: 323-845-6535

Web Site: Click Here to open

TUESDAY

Old L.A. CFM

Day: Tuesday Hours: 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Location: Marmion Way between Ave. 57 & 58 City: Highland Park County:Los Angeles

Manager: Misty Iwatsu Phone: 323-255-5030 Web Site: Click Here to open

Culver City CFM

Day: Tuesday Hours: 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Location: Main & Culver City: Culver City County: Los Angeles

Manager: Steve Whipple Office Address: 9770 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232 Phone: 310-253-5775

WEDNESDAY

Los Angeles Medical Center Certified Farmers’ Market at Barnsdall Art Park Day: Wednesday Hours: 12 noon to 6:00 pm

Location: Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd. City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles Manager: Matthew Bachler Phone: 323.463.3171Fax: 323.463.1062 Web Site: Click Here to open

L.A. Adams/Vermont CFM

Day: Wednesday Hours: 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM June - August & 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM September - May

Location: 1432 W. Adams, St. Agnes Catholic Church City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles

Manager: Leroy/Ida Edwards Office Address: 1866 W. 94th Place, Los Angeles, CA 90007 Phone: 323-777-1755

West Los Angeles Kaiser Permanente Certified Farmers’ Market

Day: Wednesday Hours:9:00 am to 1:30 pm

Location: 6041 Cadillac Ave. City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles

Manager: Cynthia Ojeda Phone: 562.495.1764 Fax: 562.495.1853

THURSDAY

Central Avenue Farmers' Market - Will re-open 2010

Day: Thursday Hours: 12 noon to 5:00 PM

Location: 4301 S. Central Ave. City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles

Manager: Laura Gonzales Office Address: 6605 Hollywood Blvd. Suite 220, Los Angeles CA 90028 Phone:323-463-3171 Web Site: Click Here to open

Century City CFM

Day: Thursday Hours: 11:30 AM to 3:00 PM

Location:Constellation Blvd & Avenue of the Stars City: Century City County: Los Angeles Manager:Jennifer McColm Office Address: 19301 Caladero St., Tarzana, CA 91356 Phone:818-591-8161

L.A. La Cienega Farmers' Market

Day: Thursday Hours: 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Location: South La Cienega Blvd and West 18th Street City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles

Manager: Cynthia Ojeda Office Address: 838 Pine Ave - #302, Long Beach, CA 90813 Phone: 562-495-1764 Fax: 562-495-1853

L.A. Seventh & Figueroa Thursday Farmers' Market

Day: Thursday Hours: 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Location: South Figueroa Street & West 7th City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles

Manager: Kat Antal Office Address: 725 S. Figueroa St.#1850, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Phone: 213-955-7176

Little Tokyo CFM

Day: Thursday Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Location: Los Angeles City Hall City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles Manager: Susan HutchinsonOffice Address: 2464 Lindsay Lane, Los Angeles, CA 90039 Phone: 323-660-8660 Web Site:Click Here to open

Westwood Farmers' Market

Day: Thursday Hours: 12 noon to 6 p.m.

Location: Vets Garden City: Westwood County: Los Angeles Manager: Mark Wall Phone: 310- 861-8188 Parking: FREE Web Site: Click Here to open

FRIDAY

Echo Park Farmers' Market

Day: Friday Hours: 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Location:Parking Lot #663 on Logan Street, south of Sunset Boulevard City: Echo Park County: Los Angeles

Manager: Holly Calhoun Office Address: 6605 Hollywood Blvd, Suite 220, Hollywood CA 90028 Phone: 323-463-3171 Fax: 323-463-1062

L.A. Eagle Rock Farmers' Market

Day: Friday Hours: 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM

Location:2100 Merton Avenue City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles

Manager: Robert Sapp Office Address: 4771 Eagle Rock Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90065 Phone: 323-225-5466

SATURDAY

Crenshaw Farmer's Market

Day: Saturday Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Location:Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles

Manager: Betty Brown Office Address: 6605 Hollywood Blvd. #220 Phone: (323) 463-3171 Fax: (323) 463-1062 Parking: Public parking at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza.

East Los Angeles Farmers Market

Day: Saturday Hours: 9:00am - 2:00pm

Location:East L.A Civic Center; 4801 E.3rd St. City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles

L.A. Silver Lake CFM

Day: Saturday Hours: 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Location: West Sunset Blvd & Edgecliffe Drive City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles Manager: Edwin Gomez Office Address: 4019

Watts Healthy Farmers' Market

Day: Saturday Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Location: Ted Watkins Memorial Park (103rd and Central Ave.) City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles

Manager: Ashley Hiestand Office Address: 6605 Hollywood Blvd, Suite 220 Los Angeles CA 90028 Phone: 323-463-3171 Fax: 323-463-1062Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029 Phone:323-661-7771

SUNDAY

Atwater Village CFM

Day: Sunday Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Location: 3250 Glendale Blvd. (at Brunswick) City: Atwater Village County: Los Angeles Manager: Pompea Smith, Joyce Chan Office Address: 6605 Hollywood Blvd. #220 Phone: (323) 463-3171 Fax:(323) 463-1062 Parking: Public parking lot is located across the street, just West of the market. Web Site: Click Here to open

Beverly Hills CFM

Day: Sunday Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Location: 9300 block of Civic Center Drive City: Beverly Hills County: Los Angeles

Manager: Greta Dunlap Office Address: 455 N. Rexford Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 Phone: 310-550-4796 Web Site:Click Here to open

Hollywood Farmers' Market

Day: Sunday Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Location: Ivar & Selma Avenue City: Hollywood County: Los Angeles

Manager: Pompea Smith Office Address: 6605 Hollywood Blvd. Suite 220, Los Angeles CA 90028 Phone: 323-463-3171 Fax:323-463-1062 Parking: Cinerama Dome: $2 for first 2 hours with Market Validation (entrance at Ivar & Delongpre). Metered Parking: Check Parking Enforcement signs. Some meters FREE until 11AM on Sundays. Doolittle Theatre: Limited free parking. LA Film School: $2 parking; at NE corner of Ivar & Sunset. Transportation: Near the Hollywood & Vine Metro Station - Red Line Web Site: Click Here to open

Larchmont Village CFM

Day: Sunday Hours: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Location:Larchmont Blvd Parking Lot #694 City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles Manager:Jennifer McColm Office Address: 19301 Caladero St., Tarzana, CA 91356 Phone:818-591-8161

Melrose Place CFM

Day: Sunday Hours: 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Location: Melrose Place & Croft City: Los Angeles County: Los Angeles Manager: Jennifer McColm Office Address:19301 Caladero St., Tarzana, CA 91356 Phone: 818-591-8161

C is for Cookie

My inner child just had to post the cheesy, but heartwarming cookie monster song. He's my fuzzy blue Freudian Id. This blog post is inspired by love for my man, whose om nom nom nom love of cookies makes me want to bake! But now I'm baking with a new found sense of health and wellness, out of a deeper sense of love. Today's recipe experiment is another baking renovation of our household favorite: chocolate chip cookies. The original recipe belongs to Martha Stewart's Cooking School and her recipe for traditional drop cookies. I renovated it with new measurements and alternative ingredients. And, it turns out that "health food" can be pretty tasty after all. Just to give you an idea of their healthy qualities, these cookies are rich in good-for-you fats, including Omega 3s, and a ton of vitamins and minerals. Three separate taste testers have confirmed that they are very yummy cookies.

Double Chocolate Chunk Flourless Cookies
(Nutritional stats per serving: 1 cookie = 1 serving: 96 calories (76 cal w/Stevia), 3.0g protein, 7.9g carbohydrates (2.6g carbs w/Stevia), 2g fiber. 36 servings total)

1-1/2 cups Organic Golden Flaxseed Meal
1-1/4 cups Almond Flour
1/4 cup Whey Protein, or other protein powder (non-denatured, 100% grass fed is best)
2 Tablespoons Organic Cocoa Powder (omit this to create more traditional blond cookie dough)
1-1/2 Teaspoons Sea Salt
2 Tablespoons Baking Soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) Unsalted Raw Grass Fed, or Whole Milk Organic Butter
1 cup Grass Fed, or Organic Whole Milk Plain Yogurt (firm, not European style)
1 cup Organic Unrefined Blond Coconut Palm Sugar (This is a low glycemic sweetener, but if you want to reduce carbohydrates/calories further you can substitute with Raw Unrefined Stevia. If so, do not omit the Cocoa Powder, or your cookies will be green!)
2 large Free Range Eggs
1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Dark Chocolate Chunks, or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (you can modify with your own add-ins, ie., dried fruits, nuts, etc... this will obviously change nutritional counts above)

Follow these directions explicitly, or your cookie experiment will become a stiff cookie pancake:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. One rack in center, one rack in bottom 1/3 of oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment, or grease sheets with butter. Whisk together flaxseed meal, almond flour, protein powder, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Place room temperature butter, yogurt and palm sugar in separate mixing bowl. Cream together sugar mixture by mashing and stirring with a wooden spoon (or electric mixer), for approximately 3 to 6 minutes until the mixture is very light and fluffy. Don't over mix, or the cookies will become runny. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until thoroughly incorporated after each. Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions, allowing each addition to fully incorporate before adding the next. Then add chocolate chips, or other mix ins. Seal bowl and refrigerate mixture for at least 30 minutes, allowing flaxseed meal to expand and creamed ingredients to stiffen. Drop chilled mixture onto cookie sheets using a small 1-1/2 inch ice cream scoop (approx. 2 tablespoons per cookie), allowing for 3 dozen cookies.

Bake for 13 - 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Rotate cookie sheets top to bottom/bottom to top halfway through baking time. Serve warm. Cookies will be soft right out of oven, but will harden when cooled.

Pancakes Galore: Yup, a healthy breakfast includes pancakes. I knew it.

According to my nutritionist and my recent health research, the picture to the left portrays a healthy breakfast. What!? Impossible. These three items have been the demonized fat mongers of American culture-- well, not anymore. They have been reclaimed. Here's how.... The bacon you see is nitrate free and you can buy this kind of "healthy bacon" from a couple of places (Applegate Farms and U.S. Wellness Meats).Also, check out Caw Caw Creek Farm for happy, well-treated pigs and therefore more ethical pork products. According to yes, my nutritionist, and a book called Fat by Jennifer McLagan, bacon's fat is similar to olive oil: "45 percent of the fat in bacon is monounsaturated, the good-for-you fat that can help lower bad cholesterol levels. Better still, bacon's monounsaturated fat turns out to be oleic acid, the same fat found in olive oil." Even better yet, it doesn't go rancid the way olive oil does when you cook with it at higher temperatures. Find out more about healthy bacon from Bon Apetit's article on 10 Surprising Health Foods. The eggs you see are farm fresh, local, free-range eggs from happy chickens. They are so fluffy-- it's wonderful. I want to get to the "healthy" pancakes, so I will do a feature blog on eggs in the future. Do some research of your own; eggs are good for you! Oh, and the touch of butter-- whole milk, raw, wonderful butter... more on this in the future.

Yay, pancakes! Wonderful, warm puffy circles of heaven. My husband and I have been very focused on a high protein, low carbohydrate nutritional plan. Not only for weight loss, but for stamina and overall health. The nutritionist thinks that counting calories is a waste of time, so instead we count carbs, and the ratio of carbs to protein. A couple of readers of my last blog bemoaned the lack of carbohydrates (and grains which I accidentally omitted, and will add). I'm now here to say that I've reclaimed pancakes and they are are on the menu! Brian and I have been longing for bread products, and our much loved Saturday morning, pancake diner runs. Out of my own desperation, much research and studying, I can happily report that today's first Experiment in Pancakes was born! High protein pancakes. No way. Don't ask me how I figured this out, since I'm not a chef, but because of my new extreme nutritional plan, I've had to learn how to "substitute." This is my first ever self-designed recipe. Needless to say, I'm proud. I did a lot of research in the gluten free and low carb cooking communities and adapted other traditional pancake recipes. (FYI-You can purchase most alternative flours from Bob's Red Mill.)

This morning's Experiment...

Flourless High Protein Flaxseed Pancakes (aka Puffy Circles of Heaven)
(Nutritional value per serving: 193 calories, 15 g protein, 7 g carbohydrates,) 3 servings

1/4 Cup Organic Flaxseed Meal (Make your own, 1/8 cup flax seeds will make 1/4 cup flour)
1/4 Cup Almond Flour (or Make your own)
*1/4 Cup Whey Protein Powder (pick your own, grass fed is best)
*1/4 Cup Whole Milk
*1/4 Cup Whole Milk Plain Yogurt
2 Large Free Range Eggs
4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Real Vanilla Extract
1 Teaspoon Coconut Palm Sugar (or other sugar substitute of your choice)
1 Pinch Sea Salt

You don't have to double this recipe unless you are cooking for 4 or more people. One pancake is very filling.

Mix together Almond Flour, Flaxseed Meal, Whey Protein, Baking Powder, Salt and Sugar. Beat together Eggs, Milk, Yogurt and Vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix together thoroughly with a fork, or whisk. Let stand for a few minutes while preparing griddle. Heat griddle to medium heat. Melt extra virgin coconut oil, or whole milk butter and pour pancake batter onto hot griddle by 1/4 cupfuls. As they cook, they will begin to bubble like traditional pancakes. After many bubbles appear on tops of pancakes, flip over and allow to cook for another minute or two.

*For the lactose intolerant: You can substitute Whey Protein with vegan Raw Protein. It will reduce the protein content and the overall whole food benefits, but for your own Experiment you can also substitute the milk products with coconut products. EXPERIMENT WITH: 1/2 cup So Delicious Coconut Creamer, OR 1/4 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk and 1/4 cup So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk.

The photos below are of the experiment in process. To my surprise, they really turned out to be regular pancakes in both taste and texture. Totally Guilt free!