Criminal Behavior.

I am a criminal.  I wasn't caught, but I did the crime.  I calmly and guiltlessly went through the Self-Checkout and stole these two chocolate bars tonight:

Inadvertant shoplifting.  Have you ever done it?  Did you fess up, even if you'd made it all the way to your car?  This wasn't wrong change from the cashier, that I could correct with a question (which I do on an alarmingly regular basis - how much wrong change do I pay for in mark-up on goods??)  I didn't realize I'd shoplifted these until I got out to my car with the cart, popped my trunk, moved a bag, and the chocolate bar fell down from in front of my purse to the bottom of the cart.

When I realized what I'd done, emotions flickered through me like northern lights:  guilt, fear, elation, fear, smugness, guilt, and then finally, victory.  I'm not sure why that last one was in there but I noted it because it was so .... American.  To feel victorious about something we absolutely did NOT intend to do, but turned out well.  Like a slop shot in pool, or hitting all the green lights on a street without having to slow down.

So I guess if the Grafton Five-0 want to arrest me, they have reasonable suspicion.  But according to Wikipedia, they do not have probable cause, and I guarantee the evidence of my crime will be long gone.

Whole Grains!

Richard and I are dragging our reluctant children on a new adventure - whole/raw food and juicing!  For two and a half weeks we've been on the no-processed-food train, and we're feeling good.  We have tons of fresh veggies and fruit everyday, both in juice form and raw food form.  We're cooking healthier, using whole grains and less meat, and we've switched to about 75% organic.  Our goal is 100% organic. 

I have been drinking LOTS of water, and whenever I have a processed food craving, it's usually because I've forgotten to drink water in the last hour or so and my body is trying to tell me it's thirsty.  So I drink a couple of long pulls from my filtered water bottle, and poof!  The craving is gone. 

I have been craving carbohydrates, however, and so I have been nosing around the internet for whole grain, organic, healthy recipes for breads and sweets.  Sunday night I made a - well, let's call it "rustic" - loaf of Flax Seed Wheat Bread.  It didn't rise very well because in addition to the generous amount of flax seeds the recipe called for, I loaded it down with sesame seeds, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), sunflower seeds, and poppy seeds.  I have never made bread before so it was only AFTER it was very much not rising that I started looking into what not to do with bread. 

However, it did turn out edible, but I would not use all the seeds next time, just the flax seeds.  I also read through the comments posted to the blog I found this recipe on, and people who used milled flax seeds found out that was an oops too, because milled flax really soaks up the moisture in this recipe. 

So here it is, my beautiful brown rustic little brick:

Within 20 minutes of pulling this out of the oven, and with dinner running an hour late and 5 hungry people hovering in the kitchen, it was down to this:

And then there was one.  It was on my plate, and it was loaded with organic strawberry jam:

I also made some Apple Oatmeal Whole Wheat Muffins.  Delicious!  I didn't take any pictures, but I will next time.  There will definitely be a next time.

For the last few weeks, I've been daydreaming about chocolate chip cookies, and wondering what in the world I was going to do about it.  All things in moderation works pretty well with many things, but chocolate chip cookies is not among them. 

So tonight I searched for some healthier version of chocolate chip cookies.  I knew I wouldn't find a completely healthy substitute, but I was looking for something with less or no refined sugar, and using whole wheat so they were more satisfying than white flour cookies.  I found a great recipe in Healthy Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies, on diynatural.com.

They turned out chewy, moist, and very, very satisfying to my sweet tooth, without being overly sweet. Just perfect!

Well, as we continue our dive into this new territory, I'll keep posting recipes we've tried.  Even the ones that brick out.  :)