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Real Food Face-Off: The Chicken Coop vs. A Heavenly Perspective

February 4th, 2010 · 9 Comments · Real Food Face-Off

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I’m pleased to introduce two of my faithful commenters here at Kitchen Stewardship today.  Paula and Jen often enhance my posts by adding information or stories, challenge me with questions, and build up the community here with encouragement.  I am so thankful for them!  A visit to their blogs will reward you with some good humor and real-life stories.  Today they’ll introduce themselves on their journey through the real food lifestyle.

Visit the Real Food Face-Off Introduction page for a full list of all the participants and the complete list of possible questions.  Each week, only a handful of the contenders’ answers will be posted here.

Week #:  Paula vs. Jen

motherhen jennifer mcl

I always admire the wit and down-to-earth straightforwardness of Paula at The Chicken Coop (aka Mother Hen).  She’s a frugal Catholic foodie who describes her family as a brood of chickens, and does it with style.  She also has a Nourishing Traditions recipe link with lots of soaking/fermenting resources. Jen at A Heavenly Perspective is a faith-filled gal expecting her fourth child and working through the real food ideas along with the rest of us.  She’s an exemplary baby-stepper and likes to get into the research behind the food.  She has yummy recipes at her blog,  including the egg nog I tried this winter for the first time.

Below are the answers to some real food questions, in the bloggers’ own words:

How do you describe the way you eat when someone asks you to define your food?

When someone asks me “what the heck do you eat?” I just say “If my grandmother wouldn’t recognize it, then I don’t eat it.” In one word I would typically say “healthy”. I am really beginning to like the term “real food”. I try to think in natural, organic when possible, fewest additives possible, make it myself if I can type of foods.

What was/is your major incentive for living a real food lifestyle? (How did you come to eat the way you do?)

My husband’s parents died within 4 months of each other.  His father died of congestive heart failure and his mother had pancreatic cancer.  We both decided we needed to lose weight to avoid their same mistakes.  The weight loss began and so did my food journey. I guess I have always tried to eat healthy and the best way possible. I believe we have a responsibility to eat well, and treat our bodies well and take the best care we can of the body and life we have been given.  This has fleshed its way out in a variety of forms over the years. I was a vegetarian, often vegan for a good 10 years. This has changed over the last year or so as I was introduced to and read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Real Food by Nina Plack. It has changed my perspective on foods and I have been making changes slowly but surely.  Also, with 3 young children and one on the way, I feel a lot more “responsible” about what we are eating and teaching them to enjoy.

If you only had energy for ONE make-from-scratch food, what would it be? Is your preference for taste or health?

It would be salad dressing.  My kids won’t eat veggies without some sort of “cover”, so this is the most important of all the things I make from scratch.  I do it for health, but it’s gotta taste good too! (Check out a gathering of homemade salad dressings this week!) Cooked beans. Though I do have canned in my pantry to fall back on, it is SO much cheaper and SO much healthier to cook your own and it really doesn’t take that much more time, just planning ahead! :-)    Health.

What was the hardest transition to make to real food?

The hardest transition was buying foods without high fructose corn syrup.  It’s very eye opening to see that HFCS is in everything, even pickles and bbq sauce! Coming from a long vegetarian past, adding meat and cooking and dealing with meat has been the hardest for me.

What’s next on your list of changes to make?

These are just a few of the new things I want to try this year. I really want to make the jump to only buying “good” meats, all the time not just sometimes. Organic if I can, local farmer with “good raising meat standards” for the rest.

And I really want to get a lot more organized in my meal and grocery planning. I think this is key in eating well because if you know where you are heading it makes getting there a lot easier and the more organized you can be and less time you spend digging through your freezer you could be spending actually making the food.

List your top 3 baby steps to move from a Standard American Diet to Real Food.

1.  Eliminate foods that contain HFCS.
2.  Find a local source for pastured eggs.  You’ll never go back to store eggs once you taste a golden yolk.
3.  Try making your own yogurt.  It’s really easy using a crockpot and it saves tons of money.  All we hear about is “probiotics” on those dumb commercials.  Well, you don’t need to eat store bought yogurt to receive the benefits of probiotics!		 1.  Switch to full-fat dairy products & butter.
2.  Cut out or severely reduce white sugar usage.
3.  Start reading labels and understanding them. See what is in your cupboards and you are buying regularly. Start being AWARE of what you are eating.

What does “eating healthy” mean to you?

Eating healthy to me means a meal that is low carbs (sugar), cooked in good fats (lard, olive oil, butter), contains a side of seasonal veggies, and a main course of some sort of local meat.  Keeping my blood sugar stable is the key to managing my health. Using the knowledge and understanding you have to eat well and take care of the body and life you have been given.

Name the top food scoring highest on both the nutritional and budget scale? (i.e., best health benefits for the lowest cost)

The top food would have to be cabbage or eggs.  Both are so versatile, both can be obtained at ridiculously cheap prices and both taste really good! I think I would say beans. That’s somewhat off the top of my head, but I would be surprised if after research and looking at different options if it wasn’t close to the top of the list.

Biggest drawback of real food lifestyle?

It’s hard to find quick things to eat at baseball tournaments, traveling on the road and staying in hotels. Having to use coupons and watch sales totally differently. Not necessarily a bad thing, but just different. That sale on boxed cereal just doesn’t interest me as much as the avocados on sale elsewhere. And many times I choose what is not on sale (ever) over some great sale because if I am going to spend the money, I want it on good food not cheap food.

What do you refuse to buy at a grocery store that you do eat from its source?

I will NEVER buy another tomato or watermelon at the grocery store. Not really a grocery store, but I still won’t eat much meat out that I would eat at home when I know what “brand”, etc it is.

Number one tip you tell your blog readers about eating healthy foods:

Stay away from carbs, it’s the Devil! Do what you can. Don’t do nothing cause you cannot do it all. Make changes as you can and don’t get too stagnant. If you are ready for more, add one more thing.  Don’t overwhelm yourself. But keep growing and learning.

Now it’s your turn! Please honor my real food guests with a visit over to their blogs, Paula at The Chicken Coop (aka Mother Hen) and Jen at A Heavenly Perspective.

Catch the #realfood chat tonight, 9-11 p.m. EST to meet many Face-Off participants!  Be sure to come back on Tuesday for the next installment of the Real Food Face-Off, Stephanie at Keeper of the Home vs. Carrie at Organic and Thrifty.  Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed to make sure you catch them all.  You can also follow me on Twitter.

Special thanks to Jo-Lynne from DCR Design for the fabulous Face-Off logos.  Please visit her if you are a blogger looking for design improvements!

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Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

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Hungry for more? Related posts:

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  3. Real Food Face-Off: Mama Says vs. MAHM
  4. Real Food Face-Off: Kelly the Kitchen Kop vs. Catholic Mommy Brain
  5. Real Food Face-Off: Feed Me Like You Mean It vs. Agriculture Society

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