Meghan - Day 5

Today I was at home, so took the time to make a nice brunch and prepped for the next few days. I had originally wanted to make an omelette but realizing that it would stick to the pan, so I decided to go with a scrambled eggs instead. I added broccoli, peppers, onion, tomato sauce, spinach and some cheese after it came off the stove. I had another pizza crust so cut it up into smaller pieces and put a few on the grill to toast them up. Also BBQ some chicken breasts (which I will use later in my cacciatore) and some potatoes with onion and rosemary.

Had a good size breakfast/lunch with the toast, eggs and veggies and the potatoes and onions. Had a snack of grapes and a pear this afternoon before I headed out to pick more grapes to put in the freezer before they completely wilt away.

The picking of the grapes was not hard but it was the sorting, cleaning and then pulling them from the stems that took way to much time. I wanted to flash freeze them on cookie sheets and then will put them in bags after they are frozen so we can eat them as a snack or put them in smoothies later.  I also took some of the kale from the garden and blanched that in hot water for all of maybe a minute before removing it into ice cool water to stop the cooking. I then took the kale and put them in muffin tins so they will freeze into little pucks so they can be added to tomato sauce or soups of just sauteed in a pan, whatever you feel like. By not fully cooking them I am still getting all the nutrition value of being fresh but can store it for longer by being frozen. Also gathered from the garden some herb and put those in freezer bags, so that I can add them to soup, stews or can defrost then chop up and roast with other veggies. I am thinking well into the winter so by doing this now, I can have on hand and not need to buy produce that's coming from far away.

For dinner I really didn't feel like cooking so had some of the potatoes and onion, BBQ chicken breast on salad (lettuce, greens from the celery, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber) with some purple beats. For a bed time snack, I had a few hazel nuts but I don't know if this cut it for enough food today, will know if I wake up hungry eh. For today I met my fruits and veggie requirements, some dairy and some meat and only half of the grain requirement. I think tomorrow morning, oatmeal and apple sauce is calling me.

Meghan - Day 4

Leftover pizza - tastes great

This morning I woke up hungry! Not the best way to wake up in the morning but it did get me out of bed and going faster given that it was 6:30am. I was going to have any normal breakfast of a hard boiled egg but I know that was not going to cut it so I had some left over pizza for breakfast. I know doesn't sound that great but I was in a hurry and had to eat something along with my egg. It did sustain me though until I had lunch 5 hours later. 

Today is another long full day at school so had make up a salad the night before with lettuce, greens from the celery, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and goat feta, also had a slice of pizza too. I also had carrots, celery and an Ambrosia for my snack which I actually ate most of along with my lunch, mostly because it had been so long and it would be another several hours before I would be out of my lab class and able to eat again. After class I was hungry again and also feeling a bit off as I had not had enough protein; only the egg in the morning, a bit of cheese on both slices of pizza and the bit of feta on my salad, so definitely not enough. Came home and a few slices of cheese along with my dinner of leftover pizza and salad. 

Mary's colourful beans

My evening snack, as I didn't want to wake up hungry again was some hazel nuts, some local sunflower seeds and grapes that came from a friend's parents yard. The sunflower seeds actually came from the UBCO Preservation Farm and Research Initiative, my roommate works on the team and has had the sunflower heads drying on our living room table for the last few days so it was great to finally taste them once she had harvested them all. I can't get over how they taste so much better then the dried ones we are use to. Fresh is always better but these taste so nice. Definitely recommend trying some if you even have the opportunity or of course plant some in your yard, their sunny heads are sure to make you smile and when they are finished you can eat them, all around good for your health.

Also wanted to share that Mary gave us some lovely beans from her garden and a few that her son had dried (another source of protein, wonderful). They look so tasty I have set them up to soak overnight so can cook with them tomorrow. Also Mary gave us a jar of her canned tomatoes, they look so yummy. I will split them between the three of us tomorrow so everyone can enjoy.

 

Mary's canned tomatoes

AMY - Day 5

Day 5 was really good, I ate well today! I had oatmeal with blueberries and milk for breakfast, (which was all food groups again), and I am learning that not every food group has to be separate, for example quinoa (not that I found it locally but in general), has a lot of great things for you like protein and it's more of a carb as well! Anyways, for lunch I again had snack foods, apples, cheese, peppers, roasted chestnuts. I find with the dense buns that I only need a little bit of grains to be full, like 2 or 3 buns with dinner maybe and that fills me right up. For dinner I had a thick stew, I put beans, chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, a splash of wine, rosemary and water in a croc pot this morning and it cooked while I was away all day, the perfect solution! Today was probably my favourite meal yet! (Although those chicken skewers were pretty good as well). I made the same style of buns when I got home, but cooked them on a lower heat, and rolled them in oats before putting them in the oven! They were really good! My dinner came out a lot more flavourful than I expected, usually I see chicken broth and spices in this kind of recipe but since I made mine up it didn't include these things. Which means my goal of the day can be checked off! Also, since I lacked with bread at lunch, but had extra cheese and vice-versa in dinner I would say that my meals today did pretty well in relation to the Canadian Food Guide! This weekend I want to try and make something new, perhaps like Julianas quiche or a pizza like Meghan.

I have been using All Recipes to look up common recipes with whatever ingredients I desire! It's a pretty cool system, if you have a few foods in the fridge to use up but don't know what dish to make with them this will generate common or popular recipes with the foods you choose!

Meghan - Day 3

Today is Day 3 for our challenge and so far I have to say things have been going well. Still have not met my grain requirements each day but hopefully starting today that will change. Started the morning our with another hard boiled egg, a pear and some mint tea (which was mint that I dried from our garden). Then I was off to the Farmer's Market to meet Amy and hunt around for other sources which I had been told about. Sadly the bread producer that I had been told about by two friends was not at the market on Wednesday so Amy was not able to buy any bread but we did get to chat briefly with Wolf from Green Croft Gardens who had both oats and whole wheat flour! Hurray! I bought some oats but had to be realistic about if I was going to have the time to make anything out of the flour, so declined on that. Both of these along with buckwheat flour, rye and spelt were from Wolfgang's Grain and Flour in Enderby. We also talked to a friend a mine at the market and he told us how to make our own butter which may be very cool but we need to find some whipping cream to do that. He said you can make the butter the old fashion way by putting it in a bottle and shaking it until you see the water and the cream separate. This does require time and a strong arm so if you do not have either it can be done in a mix master as well. Just whip it up past the soft peaks and let it go until you see the water and the cream start to separate, add a bit of salt and or any herbs for flavour. As I have not come across any local whipping cream yet, still no butter but interesting to learn and would be neat to try it.

Lunch was at school on the run again before starting work. I had made up a salad with lettuce, greens from the celery, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, squash seeds and goat feta from Carmelis which I bought at the Okanagan Grocery on Gordon. I do not understand why when we get celery at other locations then from the farmer themselves that they remove the greens. I want to know what they do with it as I really enjoyed having it to put in my salad along with my lettuce and spinach. It's just like when you put the greens from the beats in your salad, so tasty but not done that often. I wish I could see more of that but I guess what this tells me is I just need to keep buying from the farmer and cut out the middle person. Snack during the day was some cheese and an Aura apple.

Homemade 100 mile veggie pizza

Dinner was late, which by the time I got home, prepped and was sitting to eat it was over an hour later. I am not complaining just that eating at 8pm is not ideal for you to sleep well. Anyway, for dinner I made up a pizza with the pizza crust that I had picked up at the Farmer's Market on Sat. On my pizza I put the tomato sauce that I canned last year (as I am still trying to use it up having done such a big batch), zucchini for my parents garden, bell peppers, spinach and mini tomatoes all from the market. Along with cheese from D Dutchman Dairy. I did it up in the oven and it smelt so good I wanted to eat the whole thing but I restrained myself so that I could have it for lunch and dinner the next day. For today, I met the fruit and veggie requirements, dairy requirements, most of the grain requirements but not any of the meat or alternative requirements.

Juliana Day 5

Today I went back to oatmeal for breakfast. The one nice thing about it is that it keeps me really full for a long time! It was tempting today to put cinnamon and sugar on top. I really noticed the sugar cravings kick in today. I was craving sweet things like never before, I was even craving juice and I don't even like juice. I noticed that keeping super hydrated helped to curb the cravings slightly. Today was also a leftovers day, I had my crock pot stew for lunch. I'm not sure if it was the cravings getting to me today or what but I was not into it today. I really wanted to give up today just like when you have a bad day on a diet but I pulled through right until dinner. I was rushed to get to work and I needed dinner but I'd already had leftovers and was completely unable to eat the same thing yet again. I quickly scrambled some local eggs with cheese on top. I put it on top a non-local bun:( I needed the carbs for work, I just couldn't serve all night hungry. I felt so guilty but I'm using the failure to see where the weakness was in my planning and preparation and realize that was it, my planning for today was weak due to a lack of time. I would really recommend that anyone who wanted to successfully complete a long period of time on "The 100 Mile Diet" needs to set aside a proper amount of time for preparation, we obviously started this at an inconvenient time as small markets are closing up, and produce is becoming more scarce. A good time to start this diet would be in the spring or summer. I've also found that the more people you tell he more advice you get and the more tips about where to find the best local food. For example my mom told me about a great butcher in Summerland who you can buy half a cow or a full cow. She usually goes in on one side with another family. It works out to $1.79/lb and that includes all types of meat (t-bone steaks, sirloins, ground beef) A quarter of the cow fills up a freezer and  a half of meat and costs $300. Another lady I know told me about some great markets on Gordon street. The more people you talk to the more advice you get and the more people begin to think about making changes to their own food choices. So, I failed a little bit today but the importance of planning and preparation has been reinforced for me. Tomorrow is a new day:) Thank you Mary for the canned tomatoes!

Juliana Day 4

Yay Day 4! Today I started off the day with a delicious smoothie (milk, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and a raw egg, all local of course) It tasted like I was having dessert for breakfast which was a nice treat. It was just nice to have something different from oatmeal. Alisa and J.B's rule is that if they traveled they could bring home something from within 100 miles of where they were staying. I have a bottle of vanilla extract from Mexico that I bought from a market and brought home so I put a tsp of that in my smoothie as well.

Lunch had to wait until after school again so I was starving!!!! I tried Amy's little "bread" things she made from local flour, honey and buttermilk, they were actually so good!!!! The carb taste was so comforting. That's the thing with cutting grain out of your diet, it feels like you're never eating comfort food. When I got home I made goat cheese stuffed chicken breasts with steamed broccoli and carrots and some mashed potatoes.

For supper I sauteed up some mushrooms and cut up some fresh tomatoes. I put this with goat cheese over lettuce, topped it with local alfalfa sprouts and had that for dinner. I was hungry all night though so I should have included some more protein. My clothes are starting to feel really loose.

Ryan Donn

Getting into the spirit of local, I downloaded some local music to listen to with dinner. Ryan Donne is amazing! I also took the bus to work:) Tomorrow my goals are to get a bit more protein and eat a little more so I'm not so hungry.

Meghan - Day 2

Today I started by leaning on the food that I prepared on Monday as I had a long and busy day at school. Breakfast was a hard boiled egg, and another purple smoothly on the way out the door. I know I should have enough time to sit and eat but I am not a morning person so I tend to sleep until the last possible minute. So I eat on the run. On Friday I hope to make a slow breakfast and sit and relax while enjoying the morning, fingers crossed. I had made up a salad the day before and had shredded the chicken breast so that along with my grilled zucchini, tomatoes from my patio container garden, cucumber from the Farmer's Market and my roasted squash seeds I would have something to sustain me midday when hunger starts to set it. My goal is never to get to the point when I am so hungry though that I need to eat and as such I have lots of small meals throughout the day normally. I sort of believe in the 6 small meals a day philosophy but that's really hard to do when you have to pack food for 8 hours and haul it around with you all day.

Lunch on the go

Anyway, the salad for lunch along with some cheese and an apple for the mid morning snack had me set, plus I knew we were going to be having a great healthy snack during our seminar presentation in the afternoon so I may be able to get all my small meals in for the day. During our seminar, we offered the class, some colourful local carrots, celery, broccoli, Ambrosia apples (story to come below), some D Dutchman Dairy cheddar cheese from Sicamous which I have found at Jimmy's Fresh Meat Market, Choices and Natures Fare. There was also rice crackers and bean dip which I had to pass on but looked good and appeared to be enjoyed by all. Great work team for putting together such a thorough snack and thinking of everyones dietary needs.

On Tuesday nights I visit my maternal grandparents for dinner before I go to class again, so it was hard to call them up (at 84 & 93 years of age) and say, you must provide me with food within 100 miles but they had heard from the grapevine that I was doing this so we did have local potatoes, turnips and a parsley, mint and green onion salad that was local and the chicken was free range organic but I don't think it was local. But as Juliana pointed out, the original rules for the 100 mile diet as laid out by the book say that if you are invited out, you can eat was is served, so luckily there are only two times this week (which had been set a long time before we decided to do this diet) that I will have to eat what is served.

After class was finished I had a little snack of hazel nuts before bed. I am noticing that when you have to do something with your food source so that you can eat it, that you tend to eat less of that product, which is what I am finding with having to crack the hazel nuts myself. Maybe it's just the time that it takes for each action which gives your body a chance to say "hey, I am satisfied" or not, but it is something to think about, conscious eating which I wonder how many of us actually do. For today, I met the fruit and veggie requirements again, meat and dairy for sure but still no grain. Going to the Farmer's Market in the morning so hopefully I can find something.

So on a side note, I though I would share the story of the Ambrosia apple to you, on the off chance that maybe you have not heard of it or even tried the apple (which I can not recommend highly enough).  Ambrosia is what they call a chance seeding as it's a fluke of nature. This random shoot surfaced in Cawston BC in the orchard of Wilf and Sally Mennell. Year after year, pickers would see this apple as different and eat it for themselves, even though pickers tend to not eat apples often. Noticing its popularity, the Mennell's propagated trees for testing and patented the variety to ensure that it could be developed as a new product. Ambrosia is now grown not only in British Columbia, but in other parts of Canada as well as in the US, Italy, Chile and New Zealand. The Mennell's named the variety Ambrosia, meaning "food of the gods", for its honeyed sweetness and juicy crunch. Ambrosia is bi-coloured with a luminous pink/red blush over a creamy background. It is low in acidity, a honey like aroma, crispy and yet juicy at the same time. It is also a slow browning apple after cutting making it great for lunches, salads and cheese plates. Ambrosia are available now through April and can be bought at many vendors around town. If they do not have it ask the produce manager to bring it in.

Source: Ambrosia Organic Growers (http://www.organicambrosiaapple.ca/)