What's in a Label? All Natural vs. Organic

All Natural!
I see this on food packaging all the time, and I must admit I have some questions. Yes, I want my food to be made from natural rather than manufactured ingredients; however, horse poop is natural, and it is certainly something I'd rather NOT have in my morning cereal.

Here's What I Found.
Organic refers to how a plant is grown or the manner in which an animal is raised; all natural refers to how that plant or animal is then processed into food for human consumption. Though a food may be organic, it may be processed "unnaturally" with the addition of unnatural preservatives or artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, etc; in addition, a food labeled all natural may be composed of apples that were chemically fertilized or wheat that was treated with a chemical pesticide, a chicken that has been treated with hormones or antibiotics, etc. Food companies do not have to list these potential contaminents.

As of now, the USDA does not regulate manufacterers' use of the term all natural as strictly and as clearly as they do the use of the term organic. Organic foods must go through a very rigorous evaluation process to earn the organic seal. You can read all about that by perusing these brief PDFs from the USDA:

• Organic Labeling and Marketing Information
• Organic Production and Handling Standards

You can also go the the USDA website for the National Organic Project: The Holy Grail for information on our country's organic program. Beware--You can find TOO much information there!

This helpful article on The Mayo Clinic's website does a good job of condensing the information from the above sources to discuss the differences between the labeling of organic foods. If you don't visit any of the other links, visit this one. Since many farms are in transition from "conventional" farming (such an unfortunate, ironic term) to organic, often foods are made with a percentage of organic ingredients. The article is also a pretty good place to start if you're asking the question "Should I buy organic?" It addresses the key differences between organic and conventional farming.

The Bottom Line
After reviewing all this information, I think that the key to making healthy choices for my family is to actually make the decisions myself rather than trust product packaging. I still have to read labels--and then read between the lines. One of my personal rules of thumb is something I've gleaned so far from my reading of Food Matters by Mark Bittman*: Eat real food. If an ingredients list contains items that I don't immediately identify, I'm going to be extremely hesitant about feeding it to my family.

A Few Recipes to Try
We were adventurous eaters this past week! The following recipes were approved by a two-thirds majority of our family (L is still pretty hard to please).

• I never knew I liked broiled eggplant, but these Eggplant & Goat Cheese Sandwiches enlightened me. Tip--Be sure to totally blacken the bell pepper; it's much easier to peel that way. I made no changes to this recipe and we loved it. In fact, we were both almost done before I realized I didn't get a pic of them. They were gorgeous, I assure you. :)
• I think the above sandwiches would have gone GREAT with these French Onion Tartlets served by Michael's sister Amy during our first visit to her very own apartment. They were delicious! A tip from Amy--use a big skillet! That's a lot of onion.
• This Shiitake Mushroom & Sweet Pea Risotto was tasty but so rich I probably won't include it in our regular rotation. It was a nice treat. Instead of chicken broth, I used Edward & Sons Not Chick'n Bouillon Cubes (I found them at Whole Foods), which tasted remarkably like the real thing--and had a very short list of ingredients.

My Dad has been on me about only posting once per week. LOL. Perhaps this week I'll try a double feature. I think next up will be a distinct shift in gears for this blog: A discussion about caring for the fatherless (another topic weighing heavily on my mind). We'll see how the week goes...

Enjoy your day!

*I'll be sure to tell you more of what I think of Bittman's book after I finish it.

Toddler in Transition

I get this question a lot: How is your daughter doing with the vegetarian thing?

The answer: Pretty good!

I do not know all toddlers, so I cannot speak for them; however, I'm happy to share my observations about our little girl as she discovers new tastes and textures.

Before we started this transition, I never knew what L would or would not eat. The same is true now. At the same time, I think this was the best time for us to make a switch in our diet. At her ripe old age of 21 months, she is very open to exploring the world around her--and everything is so new!--that she seems really open to at least trying new things; however, I've also observed that toddlers are pretty moody little people as they try to navigate through human emotions for the first time, so L's trying new things can largely depend on what mood you catch her in.

She has promptly refused some foods that we have offered her. For instance, she took one nibble of tofu and unequivocally pronounced it "shucky." Since her mouth is so little, it's hard for her to get a bite of tofu with something else, and she definitely doesn't like it solo.

On the upside, I feel like I now have a wider variety of healthy foods to try out. One of the things we've been pleasantly surprised she likes is baked snap peas. These whole snap peas are baked until crispy, like potato chips. She asks for them all the time and seems to love their crunch. 



Enjoying a snap pea & yogurt.

I think that the best news is that L is barely two years old, so she has not had much time to develop definite preferences (at least not any she won't forget soon--lol). In addition, we didn't really have a junky diet beforehand. She has always really liked fruit, though we are continually forced to be highly creative when it comes to getting her to eat vegetables. In addition, we thought she had a milk allergy and switched to organic soy early on. Though the allergy alert proved false, she likes the soy milk so much we just stuck with it (and it's cheaper than organic dairy!).

Though she certainly has many opportunities to make healthy choices, L is yet a toddler and most often prefers the staples: bread (in all its forms), cheese, bananas, and "gold fish" (Annie's Cheddar Bunnies). It's hit or miss with anything else, but we'll continue to offer her healthy options in hopes that--one day--she'll be a good eater too.

This week I'll leave you with my go-to stirfry recipe, Honey-Glazed Chicken Stir Fry. Grab a bag of frozen stir fry veggies from your grocer's freezer section for a SUPER fast meal. I make it with these changes:

• tofu rather than chicken
• double the sauce, adding an extra 1/2 teaspoon corn starch so it gets nice and sticky

Also, my mom brought to my attention that I left an ingredient off of the recipe for her Tuna Mac Casserole. Oops! I sincerely apologize if you made it and it didn't turn out so well without the one can of cream of celery soup! I went back and made the change on the original post for future reference. Many, many apologies!!

Boldly Venturing Into the Unknown (or buying groceries, whatever)

This past Saturday I ventured into our "local" (I.E. a solid 20 minutes away) Whole Foods Market for the first time. It was quite the experience. In fact, I was completely nervous about it. Once I stepped inside, I was at once comforted and uncomfortable for the same reason: There was so much good stuff to see and try! On some aisles, it was almost like shopping in a foreign country. I'm always up for a good adventure--after all, what is the point of life if we're always to stay in our comfort zone?--so I heroically charged ahead and have some observations to share with you all.

A few things I learned:
1. Not everything in a Whole Foods store is organic OR good for you. I kind of knew this going in, but you really have still have to be careful about product labeling as well as calorie & fat content--particularly with vegetarian items. (Can anyone say Amy's Organic burritos? Oh, my: the fat!) Going to the WF store does not simultaneously grant a license to purchase everything you see. It was still my responsibility to be a good consumer.
2. Some things at the WF store are also available at your normal grocery store--for a much better price. I did a lot of scouting while I was there, making notes of their brands and prices to compare to what I might pay at Walmart.
3. Shopping at a WF showed me things I didn't know I needed. I kept seeing things that I didn't realize I'll need to start buying, like organic flour and sugar. (BTW, I read that wheat is among the foods ranked highest by the EPA for pollutant contamination. Can you believe that?) As I made these discoveries, I also made a note for myself to look for and price them at Walmart as well.
3. WF stores have a "store" brand as well...and it is generally much cheaper. My, I learned this lesson quickly!
4. The Whole Foods Store is for cooks. Yes, they have many quick and easy meals too, but probably the most unexpected and best surprise of all was my discovery that the WF store carries many ingredients for recipes that I have not yet found anywhere else, particularly in regards to Asian dishes and spices in general. I now proudly have fish sauce in my cabinet that I plan to use in a Pad Thai recipe I found this week.
5. I'm so excited to try new things! Since I went in with a grocery list (recommended!), I didn't grab very many new items to try, but I did come away with ideas for a few new dishes to add to our menu.

Unexpected perks:
1. Awesome paper bags. At first I felt guilty for using a store's bags (and I probably will go ahead and bring my big canvas tote next time), but these babies are 100% post-consumer recycled and were quite useful later in the week when I took a meal to some friends who have a new-addition (actually TWO new additions--twins!).
2. Whole Foods Market has a deli-style restaurant. This is probably common knowledge to all of you, but I'm REALLY excited to head back sometime for a bite to eat with my honey.
 

My loot, carted away via the tiny little double decker grocery cart (which I found VERY handy when navigating through the crowded aisles).

Best Finds:
1. Locally made honey
2. FISH SAUCE!
3. Baked snap peas - They are crispy like chips, and Laila loves them!
4. Organic yogurt - the only kind I can find at our Walmart is Greek style, which is good but not all the time.

Alas, Disappointment
1. I didn't find a lot of veggies we can eat out-of-hand for snacks. Fruit was abundant, but I wanted some fresh sugar snap peas. :(
2. Pricing. It's expensive. Though we've made the decision that it's worth it to invest in good quality food for our family, it's going to take me a bit to grow accustomed to the higher prices. At the same time, I will continue to look for good options in our local grocery stores, who continue to carry more and more organic items.

In other news, I made my first tofu dish. I used a Pad Thai boxed meal, and added my own tofu. We surprisingly really liked it! Though I do feel like I now have a strange marine animal living in my refrigerator. Did you know you have to cover leftover tofu with water and change it daily? What!! I'm learning so much.

A few recipe recommendations:

• Empanadas - I think these would be good with ANYTHING inside of them, but the key seemed to be using a good salsa. I used corn and black bean, which was delicious. Another idea would be to plan these for the day after a taco bar so you can use up your leftovers. The avacado salad they recommend in the recipe makes a good compliment...but so did fresh guacamole! Just use a pastry blender to mash up the avacadoes; add a splash of lime, a few teaspoons of finely chopped onion, some ground cumin and salt. Pretty tasty!
• Mom's Tuna Mac Casserole - Such a yummy comfort food for this time of year. I made this with organic ingredients (except for the mayo & cream of celery) and some sustainably caught tuna (which I found at Kroger). It was gone within 24 hours! You can add whatever veggies you'd like. We used a truckload of chopped broccoli and it turned out great (measurement approximate).
  INGREDIENTS:
  1 Box Mac & Cheese (Annie's is a good brand)
  1 can tuna
  1/3 cup milk
  1/4 cup mayo or salad dressing
  1 can cream of celery soup - updated 1/26/2011. I'm sorry I left this out initially!
  1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  1 cup shredded cheese (we like cheddar)
  1 tablespoon butter
  1 teaspoon paprika
  2 slices bread, chopped
  DIRECTIONS:
  Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 quart casserole dish with nonstick spray. Boil macaroni noodles until tender; drain. Mix together all but the last three ingredients (including the cheese packet for the macaroni) and put in prepared dish. In medium bowl, melt butter. Mix in paprika, then add bread and stir to coat. Top casserole with bread and bake for 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Future blog topics that I'm milling about in my mind:

• A toddler (namely, mine) in the midst of a dietary transition
• Food-righteousness
• All Natural vs. Organic foods
• Seemingly unrelated, I've also been thinking a lot today about adoption, especially after I read another article in Christianity Today called "Abba Changes Everything" by Russell D. Moore. This is a topic that's been weighing on our minds for several months now. I hope to add my thoughts about it later.

You'll have to wait for those, though, as my aforementioned toddler is now rousing from her nap. :)

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think, either by commenting here or just checking one of the boxes below.