I'm BAAAAAACK!!!!!

Hey there!  Long time no see!  I’ve been on a hiatus from this blog (obviously)…but I’ve had a good reason.  Well, reasons.  First…busy, busy, busy I have been!

Second…and probably the most important reason…I had to do some serious thinking about what I wanted out of this blog…why I’m writing…where I want the blog to go.

You see…back in May I went to a one day blogging conference, Bloggy Boot Camp.  A very good friend of mine is one of the founders of Bloggy Boot Camp.  She lives across the country from me, and even though we have been fast friends for over 12 years, we had never actually met in person (long story).  So…the main reason I went was to see her.  But, I figured as new blogger I would benefit from this conference as well since really, I had no clue what I was doing (and still don’t).

The conference was a barrage of information, and honestly left me feeling a little defeated (not because it wasn’t a great conference…it was…with amazing speakers who shared incredible information).  I left feeling like I had no direction and really had no business having a blog.  That maybe blogging was not a good idea for me.  One of the first things they talked about was the “End Game”.  Your end game is essentially your vision for your blog.  Where you want to go?  Do you want to make money, do you want to write for fun?  What is the purpose of your blog? 

I had no end game.  I had nothing.  I started this blog on a whim because I have a lot to say on the topic of real food and healthy food choices in general.  I started it on Blogger because it was free.  I’m a WAH mom on a budget.  I didn’t (and don’t) have extra money to be throwing at a blog.  Then I started thinking…if I made some money doing this, then I could afford to have a “real blog”…meaning self-hosted using Wordpress.  It just went downhill from there for me.  It suddenly started feeling like a job.  I already have three jobs…first I’m a wife/mother/keeper of the house.  I also have two other income producing jobs that I do from home.  I did not have time for a FOURTH freaking job.

So, realizing I was a loser by not having an “End Game” and by using the free Blogger platform (which meant to me that nobody would take me seriously as a real blogger)…I began feeling defeated and decided to take a break. 

Then a few days ago I had an epiphany.  I don’t give a flying shit what people think (sorry if that offends you) (actually...I'm not sorry...if you offend that easily I can't help you, lol).  I don’t care if people don’t take my blog seriously.  I don’t want this blog to be a fourth job.  I want it to be fun.  I want it to be a place where I can share my knowledge and maybe help someone along the way.  I want to know that if I don’t post for a couple of weeks, it’s no big deal.  I want it to be on my terms.  I don’t want my blog to be a source of stress.  What I want it to be is a creative outlet for ME. I don’t care if I make any money.  I just want to let all the pent-up information I have out for the world to read (even if the world is only five readers, lol). 

So there’s my end game.  My blog is not a job.  My blog is not a money maker.  It's my creative outlet.  I can say what I want to say just as easily on my free Blogger platform as I can on a self hosted Wordpress page that I would have had to shell out my hard earned money for.  The words are the same.  I don’t care if I’m not viewed by the blogging community as a legit blogger.  I don't F-ing care.  And that…is the most freeing feeling in the world!!! 

So…enjoy my blog.  I’ll post when I can, and that’s all I can promise you.  

CONFESSIONS OF A COFFEE SNOB

(and why you should buy organic coffee)

Yep…Ms. Healthnut over here is a coffee snob.  I can’t help it, I just love it way too much to ever give it up.  My love affair with coffee started when I was 16 years old in a teeny tiny coffee house in Flagstaff, Arizona called Macy’s (I won’t say how old I am now…let’s just say this was a LOOOONG time ago).  My very first coffee there was a Cafe Mocha and I was forever changed.  The owner, Tim Macy, knows his stuff when it comes to all things coffee.   Macy’s also has amazing baked goods and food.  Actually, I’m sure Tim does not remember this, but I used to work the drive-through at the Arizona Bank in downtown Flagstaff.  Tim was one of my customers.  He knew how much I loved his coffee…but also how much I loved his cream cheese brownies.  Sometimes when he would come to make his deposit, he would bring me one of those brownies…wrapped up nicely…and sent right through the drive-through tube!  To this day, I have NEVER found coffee that is as amazing as the coffee at Macy’s, and Lord knows I have tried.  I live on the other side of the country now, but on the rare occasions that I get to visit, guaranteed you will find me at Macy’s. Check out this interesting video of Tim explaining how Macy's got it's start. 

Back to coffee.  I drink it, every.single.day.   Most of the time I drink it more than once a day.  My afternoon coffee break is one of my most prized rituals…second only to my morning coffee ritual.  I know it probably isn’t the healthiest thing, but to be honest…I.DON’T.FREAKING.CARE. 

There are, however, things I do to make my coffee healthier.  First, I make sure my coffee is Fair Trade and organic.  Did you know that coffee is one of the most highly pesticide sprayed crops out there?  If you drink coffee daily and you are not drinking organic, you are exposing yourself to high levels of pesticides (yes, this includes all you pod drinkers too if you aren't buying organic).  Second, if you don’t like your coffee black (which I don’t), make sure you are using a high quality creamer and sugar.  I use organic heavy cream, or half and half from a local dairy (from grassfed cows).  To sweeten my coffee I use organic coconut palm sugar.  Every once in a while I use regular (gasp) cane sugar  (if you use regular sugar, please make sure it is cane sugar, otherwise there is a good chance you are getting beet sugar, which is a GMO crop).  Other good options for sweetening your coffee are pure honey or pure maple syrup. 

Do not drink decaf coffee (and really…what is the point of that anyway).  It is highly chemically processed and you just don’t need or want that.

Enjoy your coffee…just think about ways you can make it healthier!!!

Pico de Gallo and Guacamole

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone!  I wasn't going to make any more posts here before switching over to my new format, but I decided to go ahead and post this recipe in honor of the big game!  Pico and guacamole are two of my favorite foods...I can't go long without making them and I pretty much always have them on hand.  Perfect game day food!  Today I will be serving them with carne asada tacos.

Please make sure you use organic ingredients whenever possible.  When in season, use only locally grown tomatoes.  Store bought tomatoes are many times ripened using ethylene gas.  If they are out of season, buy organic.

THE PLAYERS

(extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper not pictured)

Pico de Gallo

4 medium tomatoes (seeded and diced)
1 large onion (diced)
1 jalapeno (diced)
1 small bunch cilantro (chopped)

Mix all ingredients into a bowl.  It's that easy!  If you like it spicy, do not seed the jalapeno.  If you want it milder, remove seeds before chopping.  Refrigerate.

Guacamole

2 large avocados
1/3 cup prepared pico de gallo
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mash the avocados in a bowl, add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Refrigerate.

Make these today!  You will thank me later!

Homemade BBQ Sauce

I decided to try making homemade bbq sauce for the first time last week.  It is so hard to find organic bbq sauces at a regular grocery store and the conventional ones are full of crap ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, artificial colorings, and gmo's.  

I do want to preface this post by saying these are ketchup based bbq sauces.  Yes....I know ketchup is technically not a "real food"...it's a condiment.  Condiments are the one area where I have yet to make my own (except for salsa, and now bbq sauce).  For now I am happy to buy organic and call it a day.  At some point I will probably attempt to make my own mayo, but as far as mustard and ketchup...I doubt it.  I do plan on fiddling with these recipes at some point using fresh, local tomatoes when they come back into season.  I would also like to add that yes, these recipes do contain sugar.  Please make sure you use 100% pure cane sugar (or you run the risk of your sauce containing gmo's).  I think honey or maple syrup would work wonderfully in these recipes.  Next time I plan on trying local, raw honey.

And now...back to the regular scheduled programming.

I made two different kinds of sauces.  The first one is a spicy sauce that my son found a bit too spicy for his taste.  I love it though!  The second one I made specifically for my son, which is a sweet & smoky sauce.  It was perfect for him.  I found these sauces to taste much better than store-bought versions.  Below are the recipes.  Don't be intimidated by the lengthy ingredient lists...the recipes come together very quickly and are super easy to make.

SPICY BBQ SAUCE

2 C. organic ketchup

½ C. + 2 T. brown sugar (use pure cane sugar)

1 ½ t. organic yellow mustard

1 T. organic raw cider vinegar

3 T. molasses

1 ½ t. organic worcestershire sauce

1 t. kosher salt

½ t. black pepper

2 t. paprika

2 t. onion powder

¾ t. garlic powder

½ t. cayenne pepper

¼ t. crushed red pepper

¼ t. ground cumin

¼ t. ground ginger

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over med/high heat, then reduce to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use immediately or store in refrigerator.

SWEET & SMOKY BBQ SAUCE

2 C. organic ketchup

½ C. + 2 T. brown sugar (use pure cane sugar)

1 ½ t. organic yellow mustard

1 t. organic raw cider vinegar

5 T. molasses

1 t. kosher salt

½ t. black pepper

1 t. paprika

2 t. onion powder

½ t. garlic powder

1 ½ t. ground cumin

¼ t. ground ginger

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over med/high heat, then reduce to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use immediately or store in refrigerator.

Homemade Corn Tortillas

I made homemade corn tortillas the other day so I could make enchiladas for dinner.  Corn tortillas are very easy to make and taste so much better than their store-bought counterparts.  Not to mention the store bought ones are full of ingredients I can barely pronounce, such as:  propionic acid, benzoic acid, phosphoric acid, dextrose, guar gum, amylase.  Sounds yummy doesn't it!  

The ingredients in my corn tortillas are masa harina (white cooked corn, water, lime) and water.  Masa harina is a corn flour used to make corn tortillas or tamales.  If you are concerned about gmo's like I am, make sure to buy organic masa harina or purchase one that is imported from Mexico.  As of  now, Mexico's corn crops have not been tainted with gmo's.  Unfortunately, this may change in the near future.

To start, you will need a tortilla press.

A tortilla press is a must for making corn tortillas.  You can purchase one online and they are relatively inexpensive.

You need to make sure to wrap both sides of the press with plastic wrap.  This keeps the raw tortillas from sticking to the press.

Once you press your tortillas, bake on a very hot griddle or cast iron skillet for about one minute on each side.

Here is the finished product!

Corn Tortillas

2 cups masa harina
About 1 cup of water

Place the masa harina into a bowl and mix in water.  Start with 1 cup of water, you can always add more.  Mix with your hands.  You want a dough that is about the consistency of play dough.   Form dough into 12-14 balls the size of a golf ball.  Keep the dough balls covered with a damp paper towel while you work to keep them from drying out.  Place a dough ball in the middle of the tortilla press and press down.  Carefully remove tortilla and cook on a very hot griddle or cast iron skillet for about one minute on each side.  Keep cooked tortillas covered until ready to use.

These are best eaten the same day, but they will keep in the fridge for a day or two.  They also freeze well.

Great Find at Aldi Today!

I love shopping at Aldi for certain things, and I was pleased to find these items today!  SCORE!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!  I started Real Food the Real Way because I am passionate about food.  I'm even more passionate about real, whole, healthy foods.  I'm constantly posting pictures of foods I have prepared and various articles regarding gmo's (genetically modified organisms) and healthy eating on Facebook, so I decided to put everything here instead.  I'm hoping we can go on a journey together to healthier, better eating.

I would like to say...I'm not perfect when it comes to healthy eating.  I would say at this point, I get it right about 90% of the time.  I love to cook, but baking is my first love.  I LOVE cookies, brownies, ice cream...and I eat these things sometimes.  I just make sure that I make them from scratch, using as many organic ingredients as possible.  I make sure my family avoids gmo's at all costs...meaning when I do bake, I make sure the sugar I use is cane sugar and not derived from sugar beets (more on that later) and the ingredients I use are as healthy as they can be.  I've incorporated more whole grain flours, spelt flour, alternative sweeteners (honey, maple syrup), etc. into my baked goods with great results.  

My view for this blog is to educate my readers and learn new things for myself as I go along.  I will post pictures, recipes, food finds, articles, and whatever else my little heart desires. I hope you enjoy!