Eating Simply, Nutriously, Deliciously
Food entering my body is getting more of my attention, and so are the ingredients sneaking in alongside what I think I’m eating. But after reading ingredients on packaged foods, I’m not sure what I’m eating. All of which has led me to prefer simpler eating. And with local produce available in produce stands, farmer’s markets, and grocery chains, we can eat simple food that is nutritious and delicious.
Karen and I strolled among food booths at Ohme gardens Saturday night. My most vivid memory is a fresh slice of baguette bread with a three-layer stack of sliced red tomato, mozzarella cheese, and a section of roasted yellow tomato, all glistening with olive oil and seasoning.
That is a meal of fresh fruit, protein, healthy oil, carbohydrates, and fiber that is economical and easy to easy to recall even with my increasingly intermittent memory. All those features have made it one of our daughter’s favorites after her recent conversion to a vegetarian diet.
One of my proudest meals was a reward after catching two spring Chinook salmon on the Icicle River in June. Under the leadership of our guide, Shane Magnuson, I landed a seven-pounder and a seventeen-pounder. We instantly froze every fillet but our dinner that night. I bathed the reddish flesh in olive oil and lemon juice, and added dill, salt, and garlic pepper. I turned up the sides of the foil and grilled it on the top rack of our gas grill.
That salmon was the moistest, most flavorful salmon we’ve eaten. Karen roasted fresh asparagus in olive oil and added a salad of romaine lettuce, spinach, olive oil, walnuts, and vinegar.
The salmon was expensive, but considering Karen and I will eat seven meals with it and fed all our grandkids and kids on the fourth July, well worth it.
And here is what happened when I make a small detour to processed salmon. Friday night I slapped two frozen salmon burgers on the grill, while Karen steam roasted fresh green beans. Curious about the different salmon sources, I checked the package of “wild ocean caught” salmon burgers for the ingredients. Instead of eating Chinook salmon straight out of the Icicle, I ate pink and/or keta salmon, a more “delicate” flavor than Chinook (meaning less tasty). Enhanced taste and color apparently came from the ingredients on a lengthy list including canola oil, water, spices, mesquite smoke flavor, vegetable extractions (whatever those are), natural flavor, and color added.
Compare those ingredients with the single ingredient in apple cider from The Cider Works, a local, Orondo orchard: fresh pressed apples. I drink an apple a day without seeds or sticky hands.
And I avoid squinting at the list of ingredients squeezed behind the creative marketing on the front of an apple juice bottle, which was probably written by a frustrated creative writer who is forced to produce propaganda in order to pay off her student loan. Trust local, wholesome food with fewer labels.
Karen and I strolled among food booths at Ohme gardens Saturday night. My most vivid memory is a fresh slice of baguette bread with a three-layer stack of sliced red tomato, mozzarella cheese, and a section of roasted yellow tomato, all glistening with olive oil and seasoning.
That is a meal of fresh fruit, protein, healthy oil, carbohydrates, and fiber that is economical and easy to easy to recall even with my increasingly intermittent memory. All those features have made it one of our daughter’s favorites after her recent conversion to a vegetarian diet.
One of my proudest meals was a reward after catching two spring Chinook salmon on the Icicle River in June. Under the leadership of our guide, Shane Magnuson, I landed a seven-pounder and a seventeen-pounder. We instantly froze every fillet but our dinner that night. I bathed the reddish flesh in olive oil and lemon juice, and added dill, salt, and garlic pepper. I turned up the sides of the foil and grilled it on the top rack of our gas grill.
That salmon was the moistest, most flavorful salmon we’ve eaten. Karen roasted fresh asparagus in olive oil and added a salad of romaine lettuce, spinach, olive oil, walnuts, and vinegar.
The salmon was expensive, but considering Karen and I will eat seven meals with it and fed all our grandkids and kids on the fourth July, well worth it.
And here is what happened when I make a small detour to processed salmon. Friday night I slapped two frozen salmon burgers on the grill, while Karen steam roasted fresh green beans. Curious about the different salmon sources, I checked the package of “wild ocean caught” salmon burgers for the ingredients. Instead of eating Chinook salmon straight out of the Icicle, I ate pink and/or keta salmon, a more “delicate” flavor than Chinook (meaning less tasty). Enhanced taste and color apparently came from the ingredients on a lengthy list including canola oil, water, spices, mesquite smoke flavor, vegetable extractions (whatever those are), natural flavor, and color added.
Compare those ingredients with the single ingredient in apple cider from The Cider Works, a local, Orondo orchard: fresh pressed apples. I drink an apple a day without seeds or sticky hands.
And I avoid squinting at the list of ingredients squeezed behind the creative marketing on the front of an apple juice bottle, which was probably written by a frustrated creative writer who is forced to produce propaganda in order to pay off her student loan. Trust local, wholesome food with fewer labels.
Posted by JSR at 7/16/2009 4:56 AM 
Categories: Adventures in Retirement:Health for thriving, Common Sense
Tags: farmers markets local food; nutrition slow food food ingredients regional food
Categories: Adventures in Retirement:Health for thriving, Common Sense
Tags: farmers markets local food; nutrition slow food food ingredients regional food
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