Perfect Flavor

I teach a cheese class at a local culinary vocational school to both students and average jill’s & joe’s that typically sells out in two days or so.  And I can’t take the credit for it.  With a class of 50-60 students, they come to see how cheese is made in the hopes of being able to make it at home.  What they don’t know going in to this experience is just how simple home cheesemaking can be.  Now, we’re not talking triple creme camembert or 18 month-aged parmesan.  (Which can become easy with a lot of practice and exprimentation.)

We’re talking simple, fresh, soft cheeses, like ricotta, impastata, queso fresco, queso blanco, creme fraiche, cream cheese, mascarpone, mozzarella, yogurt, fromage blanc…you get the picture.  Now most of us born-and-bred Americans don’t use a lot of these cheeses in our everyday cooking/consumption.  Ask any French or Italian expat, and they’re tell you that these cheeses were a part of their daily diets back home, and are quite difficult to find in the U.S.  Once found, they tend to be expensive.

At Perfect Flavor, we made all of these cheeses and found that our customers, grocery stores, and restaurant clients hesitated not to get their hands on these locally sourced and produced cheeses.  Why?  Locally made soft, fresh cheeses are in high demand.  We were the only local creamery making a lot of these cow’s milk cheeses.  And for those local-food conscious individuals, being able to purchase these specific cheeses on a local level helped them complete their missing link of locally sourced, handmade and home grown foods.

Now that we’re no longer selling our cheese in stores due to this not-so-little expectation of ours, people are constantly complaining of the lack of these products on their local shelves.  My answer?  Make your own…and here’s how!

Today, we’re going to start with one of the simplest of all: Ricotta.

True ricotta is extremely different from that found in commercial grocery stores.  First of all, real ricotta made with local milk (raw milk from a local milk share IS preferred) has a sweet, complex flavor.  In other words, this simple cheese is far from its bland sister found at the grocery store.  And why skimp on flavor when it’s easier to make ricotta at home than it is to go out and buy some–cheaper, too!  Also, as an added bonus, what if I told you that you could make homemade ricotta AND from-scratch bread all in the same go-round?  Well, you can.  Both recipes could not be any easier, and are great for beginners.

Homemade ricotta can be great on its own, in a savory dish OR a sweet dish.  Often pureed with a little cream and organic sugar, ricotta is the very best healthy dessert served with some fresh,  seasonal fruit.  Also pureed, it can be used to make an ethereal cheesecake.  Mixed with a little sea salt and fresh herbs, it is fantastic as a spread for crackers or crostini.  And of course, there exist its typical uses: filling for cannoli, stuffed shells, lasagna, ravioli, and more!  Making it at home ensures a nice medium curd that is soft like a cloud and oh-so-healthy.  Here’s the recipe:

Ricotta

1 gallon whole milk, preferably raw and from a local farm (never skim, which would make the cheese too dry and rubbery.  If you’d like to experiment but cannot get your hands on local milk just yet, go with organic whole milk, just keep in mind that store bought milk is already over-processed and produces a small, grainy curd)

3/4 cup white or apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt

Process:

Gently heat milk in a stock pot or large saucepan over medium-high heat to 190 degrees F.  Be sure to stay near the milk toward the end, constantly whisking the bottom to prevent major scorching and an even more major clean up later.  Once at 190, remove from heat and pour in vinegar.  Let sit 30 seconds, then begin to whisk slowly.  You will begin to see the curds separate from the whey (yes!  Just like the Miss Muffet rhyme).  What you’ll be looking at are big, puffy, cloudlike white curds that will float separately of the yellow-green watery whey.  Add your salt and stir to incorporate.  At this point, you can strain out your curds through a fine-meshed sieve set over another large bowl or stock pot big enough to hold the whey. Why?  Well, you’re saving the whey, of course!  Now you can package your ricotta in an airtight container and store in the fridge.  It should keep for at least two weeks and usually longer, depending on the freshness of the milk.  To keep it moist, pour a little remaining whey over top to cover.  Ricotta does not melt when cooked, and is great cold, but preferred when warmed.

While whey is not great-tasting on its own, it makes a great substitute for milk in the following bread recipe.  Also, I’ve found that my dog absolutely loves whey and gobbles it up any time I have extra.  After eating/drinking it frequently, her coat becomes softer and shinier.  Amazing and so healthy for her!  Here’s that bread recipe I was talking about, adapted from Ricki Carroll’s “Home Cheese Making” book.  It is not only fluffy and delicious, but so quick and easy to make that you have no excuse NOT to make homemade bread for yourself and your loved ones.  It practically makes itself in an hour and a half from start to finish, with only about 10 minutes being actual hands-on time.

Italian Feather Bread (perfect as an accompaniment to an Italian-themed dinner starring your very own Ricotta)

1 cup warm water (100 degrees)

2 packages yeast (or 4 1/2 teaspoons)

1 tablespoon sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

3/4 cup hot whey (120 degrees)

2 teaspoons salt

5 1/2-6 cups all purpose unbleached flour

Process:

1. If you need to proof your yeast to make sure it’s still alive, then mix it with your warm water and sugar and watch it dissolve and grow.  If you use it often and know it is still kickin’, simply add the water, yeast and sugar directly to 3 cups of the flour in a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.

2. Add your butter and salt to the heated whey and whisk to melt.  You do not want to add this mixture to your yeast if it is too hot, as it will kill the yeast.  I find that adding cold butter helps to bring down the temp to about 100, which is where you want it in order to keep the yeast happy.

3. Once you have added your whey/butter/salt mixture to the 3 cups of flour, mix until incorporated.  Add a cup of flour at a time, not to exceed 6 cups, until the dough looks manageable enough to knead by hand.  If you only need to add 4 cups of flour, then go for it.  The less flour, the better the bread!

4. Knead until smooth and soft (like a baby’s bum).  If it seems to get too tough and resistant, let it sit under a damp towel for 5 minutes, then go back to kneading.  Don’t worry if it seems a tad sticky, just remember to flour your HANDS constantly and NOT the bread itself.

5. Divide your dough into two portions and either shape into large loaves, each on its own parchment/silpat-lined baking sheet OR place shaped loaves into individual buttered or oiled bread pans.  Since this bread is great for sandwiches, I like this option because you WILL have leftover bread and this way it can go into lunches for the week!

6. Cover with damp towels or oiled plastic wrap to rise for 45-60 minutes in a warm place.  Heat the oven to 425 degrees.

7. Once risen, brush with a beaten egg white (if you like a glossy bread) or just leave plain and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden in color.  You can go on feeling the bread to judge its doneness, just keep in mind that a stiff crust in the oven will turn into a soft crust once slightly cooled, and that is the nature of this bread.  Cool on a rack in order to avoid a dewy underside!  (did I just say that?!?!)  =)

Happy Cheese & Bread Making!

Long before we got Perfect Flavor up and running, making fresh ice cream, cheese and yogurt, we were making yogurt at home.  There are many, many reasons why we thought that making our very own yogurt at home was important.  From a crunchy point of view, we loved the idea of making lots of our own food from scratch.

From a healthy point of view, we were discouraged for some time over the state of commercial yogurt.  Turn over almost any commercial yogurt in the store and you’ll see ingredients way beyond just milk and cultures (which are the only ingredients that should be in there!).  You’ll see ingredients like gelatin, pectin, corn starch, powdered skim milk, chemical dyes, HFCS and more!  All of these ingredients are completely unnecessary to the production of yogurt, but are added by big, BIG commercial producers of yogurt to ensure a “consistent” product every time that is smooth, thick, and creamy.  What does this mean exactly?  Well, it means that dairy products are inconsistent by nature.  Depending on the type of cow, the ever changing fat content of the milk depending on the cow’s diet and the season in which the cow was milked, and the cultures used.  In fact, yogurt made with just milk and cultures can often turn out slightly different every time it is made.  PLUS, real yogurt, like the kind you find in Europe or the kind you make at home, is MOST often much thinner than the kind we’re used to from Yoplait, Dannon, or other brands.  Adding unnecessary ingredients like pectin, gelatin or other stabilizers is only added to increase thickness, and like I mentioned before, consistency.  If you see a yogurt on the shelves with any other ingredients besides milk and cultures, then in my opinion it is not a true yogurt.

When we began making yogurt and selling it at Perfect Flavor, we encountered almost immediately many customers who were very confused when they saw how “thin” our yogurt consistency was.  It was only when we encountered chefs, the family members of dairy farmers, europeans, and a small number of educated local consumers that we got the response we were looking for.  Finally, they said, here was a yogurt that was the real thing!  And we agreed.  Now, the question is, how can you achieve this real yogurt at home for less money and more fun than buying it at the store?  Easy.

There are two main ways to make yogurt at home.  The first is using an incubator: a small piece of equipment that you can purchase for little money online.  The second is using an oven.  I have used both methods and find them to both be effective!

I first came across the act of making yogurt at home using an incubator when I lived in France.  Needless to say, I was in absolute awe of the fact that I could watch my French hostess pour milk mixed with culture into small glass jars placed in an incubator at night, and in the morning have delicious yogurt in time for breakfast.

When back from France but visiting my dear friend, Samira’s, Bengali mother in Toronto, Ontario, I was curious about the delicious yogurt we ate at her home at almost every meal.  It was then that Samira’s mom taught me how to make homemade yogurt in the easiest way possible: at home with the help of an oven.

For the incubator method, your equipment needs are a little higher, therefore you’ll want to give yourself a week or so to procure your necessary tools.  You’ll need a medium saucepan, a working thermometer whose range starts at at least 100 degrees, great quality raw milk or organic milk (the less processed and pasteurized, the better!), an 8 ounce cup of plain, unsweetened yogurt as your starter (choose Brown Cow, Stoneyfield Farm, or Seven Stars–better yet: a local brand is BEST, but remember to look for the brand with the right ingredients.  You do not want to start your yogurt off on the wrong foot with unnecessary ingredients) and of course an incubator.  My current favorite yogurt incubator is Euro Cuisine.  For this model, make sure to purchase a set of extra glasses on amazon.com so you can make a batch of yogurt while one is still in the fridge.  I like this model in particular because not only is it easy to use, but it’s got glass jars.  With the constant questions raised with the health risks of plastics, especially plastics that are coming in contact with your food while being heated, go with glass and rest assured that you’re not adding any phthalates into your diet.  This incubator is also very easy to clean and has only two buttons: an on/off button and a timer to use for setting how long your yogurt incubates for.  Here’s the recipe:

Take 1 quart of milk, place in your saucepan and heat until the milk reaches 110 degrees F.  This will happen sooner than you think, so stay near the stove and keep an eye on your thermometer.  Remove your milk from the stove and have a pitcher on hand.  Spoon all 8 ounces (1 cup) of your yogurt into the pitcher, then little by little, add the warm milk while whisking until you have a smooth yogurt starter/milk combination.  The small amount of yogurt you have added will be very happy to be mixed in with the warm milk, and once incubated, the cultures present in the mixture will begin to multiply and thrive, turning your milk into full-on delicious yogurt.  Pour your milk/culture mixture into each glass jar, tighten lids, and place in the incubator.  Allow to incubate for as little as 10 hours and as long as 16 hours (the more time the yogurt is in the incubator up to 16 hours, the thicker it will be and the stronger the taste).  I make this yogurt after dinner, allow it to incubate overnight, and place in the fridge in the morning.  The yogurt is ready to be eaten once it is done incubating-at room temp or cold.  Just for your own personal knowledge, the incubator keeps the yogurt at a constant 108 degrees F.  Do not be worried about food poisoning here!  Even though you wouldn’t normally leave milk out on the counter overnight, introducing yogurt culture actually combats the growth of negative bacteria that might make you sick.  Think of it this way: yogurt culture is good bacteria that kills off the bad bacteria naturally.  This does not mean that you would want to never refrigerate your yogurt, just that in the 10-16 hour window that it’s not refrigerated is not going to hurt you.  In fact, those cultures present (probiotics) aid in digestion and help the digestive system to break down all of the food you eat in a healthy, natural way.  This yogurt, once refrigerated, will last in your fridge for up to one month, however this all depends on the freshness of your milk and yogurt starter used.

Now, for those of you interested in trying your hand at yogurt making before committing to a piece of equipment, making it at home in your oven is a great way to start.  Here’s what you’ll need: an oven, a heating pad, a towel, mason jars with lids, a saucepan, a thermometer, milk and 8 ounces of yogurt culture.  Here’s the recipe:

Repeat process above by bringing 1 quart of milk to 110 degrees F, removing it from the stove and adding yogurt culture and milk together in a pitcher.  Meanwhile, prepare your oven: Turn your heating pad on its lowest setting and place the heating pad in your oven to gradually warm the oven.  Make sure you can still create a draft-free environment for your yogurt by ensuring that you can close the oven door with the cord of the heating pad sticking out the side.  Clean your thermometer and place it inside the oven but not on the heating pad.  This is to make sure your oven is maintaining the proper amount of heat for incubation.  Your desired temperature is 108 degrees.  If this means that you’ll need to increase the heat to medium, then do so accordingly.  Pour your milk/starter mixture into your clean mason jars, loosely screw on lids, and place in oven on top of your towel but not directly on the heating pad.  The heating pad should just be sitting somewhere in the oven.  Put a note on the outside with not only the time you put your yogurt in, BUT that NO ONE should turn on oven while your yogurt is incubating.  If the yogurt reaches 120 degrees or higher, the culture will die and you will not make yogurt.  This yogurt, if made at night, will also be ready in the morning, however you may want to experiment with it to let it go a little longer than 10-16 hours in order for you to reach your desired consistency.  Periodically before bed, check the thermometer in your oven by gently opening the oven door, or better yet, just by looking through the window, to make sure the temp is staying at an even 108 degrees F.  If you must open the oven door, do not jostle your mason jars.  Yogurt does not like to be moved at all while it is incubating.  If it does move, the consistency will be chunky and not smooth.

Troubleshooting:

If your yogurt, once incubated, seems to thin, refrigerate it first and the yogurt should become thicker in the fridge, especially if it’s got fat in it.

If your yogurt has lumps, this means that when you combined your milk and yogurt starter, you did not whisk thoroughly enough and distribute the cultures throughout the milk.

Any other questions?  Contact me!

We like to add a bit of organic sugar, raw honey, fresh fruit or wheat germ to our freshly made yogurt.  Have fun with flvoring yours OR just eat it plain!

Here’s to your health!!!

Want a smoother smoothie? Tired of those stubborn icy pieces that don’t get quite blended in? Try this tip that I learned from my good friend, Kristie, when we both had to get to work at 4:30 am and needed to bring along a quick, easy, and healthy breakfast:

Freeze your fruit! That’s right, instead of using fresh fruit, place your freshly purchased fruit, like blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, bananas, etc. into the freezer after washing and shaking dry. Place the fruit in a gallon size ziploc bag or rubbermaid container and allow to freeze overnight before making that morning smoothie. If, by chance, you prefer to buy locally grown fruit when it’s in season, then when strawberries are in season, for example, buy enough for the year and freeze the strawberries in smaller containers, like ziploc bags, that you can easily shake to separate the frozen fruit if it’s stuck together. Also, as an extra tip, let your fruit thaw in its bag, in a larger bowl, overnight in the fridge and what you’ll be left with is delicious all-natural juice that can be used to also flavor your smoothies or salad dressings. Strawberry balsamic, anyone?

Anyway, as usual when it comes to food, I digress…

Here’s the Smoother Smoothie Recipe:

Combine 2 cups frozen fruit with…

1 cup yogurt*

1/2 cup milk*

add a bit of organic cane sugar or local honey if desired. However, in-season fruit is perfectly sweet on its own!

*as many of you know, I am a real dairy girl, and therefore love milk, yogurt, and cheese in its most unadulterated form. Therefore, I use whole milk (full fat) everything! It’s much more decadent, not to mention that full fat dairy has the right kind of fat in it that is truly healthy.

Blend in a blender until smooth and eat right away. The frozen fruit will give your smoothie the chill that you’re normally going for when adding ice if eaten immediately. Also, the texture of your smoothie will be rich, creamy, and thick, as opposed to a thinner smoothie made with fresh, not frozen, fruit.

No doubt my friend, Gleamer: the Smoothie Queen, has already discovered this tip for making smoother smoothies for her beautiful kids who, lucky ducks, get to enjoy smoothies all the time. Gleamer, if you’ve got any more tips, I’m sure we’d love to hear ‘em!

There’s bad, better, and best as far as I’m concerned when it comes to cleaning products that I keep in my home.

I think it’s safe to say that products that fit into my “bad” category are the cleaning products and brands that most of the US population uses in their homes. Things like bleach, Formula 401, Windex and especially Clorox cleaning products like bleach, wipes, and sprays. We stopped using these products long ago. In fact, when I met my husband I was still using them to clean up my apartment and it was my husband who introduced his method of natural cleaning, but we’ll get to that later.

VS

In the meantime, harsh chemical cleaners, like Clorox brand products, are toxic and are known to be hazardous both for humans AND their pets. In fact, if you’re wondering why Fluffy always seems to piddle in the same spot, annoyingly so, which requires you to constantly be on hands and knees cleaning, consider this: the smell and toxicity of the product you’re using is repulsive to her, which is why she is using the strong ammonia in her urine to blot it out and bring her habitat back to some sort of controlled normalcy when it comes to comfort. And do not be fooled by Clorox’s new “green cleaning” line of products. Unless the ingredients are words you both understand and can pronounce, they are not natural.

So if you don’t want to have to poison your pets or lock away your cleaning supplies from your toddling tots, what other option do you have? This brings me to my “better” category…

For things like dish washing detergent, clothing detergent, and dish soap, using a natural cleaner, like a product from Seventh Generation , which refers to a Native American ideal of making decisions with the philosophy in mind that whatever you decide will not only affect your generation, but will still be suitable for 7 generations to come, is the way to go. In fact, their new TV commercial hits home when it comes to the reason why folks who want a more natural approach to housecleaning turn to what Seventh Generation has to offer. They openly declare that when using their products, it is unnecessary to hold one’s breath when spritzing and spraying in order to clean. And it’s true. How often have you found yourself holding your breath when spraying some Clorox product? Seventh Generation products actually smell great. Plus, you can opt for the fragrance free varieties. BUT, you may say, “natural cleaning products are much more expensive than regular brands.” And this can be true, but here’s where the “BEST” category comes into play.

What if I told you, that for pennies, you could keep your house clean using only ONE cleaning implement? Sure, for clothes washing and dishwashing our family still uses Seventh Generation products, but for cleaning counters, dusting, cleaning mirrors and windows, and sanitizing, guess what we use as our truly multi-purpose cleaner? Vinegar!

White Distilled Vinegar that can be purchased in 1 or 2 gallon jugs is actually the answer to all of your cleaning woes. To get started it’s simple: Purchase an empty plastic spray bottle that has never before been used. (I would normally suggest reusing an old empty bottle, however mixing vinegar with bleach or ammonia can cause a chemical reaction which creates a poisonous gas, so please don’t do that. Besides, your empty bottle will last you years.) Also, buy your white distilled vinegar at the store, and fill your bottle 3/4’s of the way full with vinegar. Top it off with water from the faucet, and you’ve got a mega cleaning product that can easily wipe away grease, spaghetti sauce, dust and more without the use of harsh chemicals. Plus, one bottle usually lasts at least a few months. The tougher the stain, the easier it is to clean: simply spray on a heavy layer of your vinegar cleaner and let sit for 5 minutes, then wipe down with a clean white towel (no paper towels here!) that has been soaked in warm water.

For those of you who might be worried about the smell that vinegar imparts, simply add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, like lavender or peppermint. Even orange or eucalyptus would work nicely. We don’t mind the vinegar smell as it evaporates quickly, so for us, we like to leave our cleaner plain and simple.

Even more importantly, you may be asking yourself if vinegar really has the power to disinfect surfaces the way bleach or other harsh chemicals can. The answer is, of course, that we wouldn’t use vinegar unless it sanitized surfaces. In fact, we believe that vinegar kills enough bacteria in our kitchen with out creating a completely sterile environment, which is actually better for you and your family in the end.

In the times of hand sanitizer, bleaching kids toys, and generally being freaked out at the thought of one single germ in your house, using vinegar will not only teach you that you shouldn’t be afraid of your own kitchen, but that simpler is better. After all, can’t you see the hypocrisy in worrying about bacteria while all the while inhaling harmful chemicals?

I think the trade-off is easy to see, and swallow.

Oh boy, here we go. I am trying as hard as possible to hide my haughty laugh of incredulity as I write this up in the full coffee shop which I am presently calling my typing home. As I sat in bed enjoying my breakfast this morning…don’t worry-I got it myself, we gave our butler the day off…and while Colin was getting ready for work, a segment was advertised as coming up on The Today Show in a matter of minutes. The subject of this segment? “Are you Skinny Fat?”

Well, I thought to myself, maybe they’re finally going to discuss the body type that most of us have. You know the one. It’s where you eat right (local, sustainable, organic food) and where you take good care of yourself (exercise in ways that feel good not bad, meditate, practice yoga, run after your toddler) and, voila, you’re left with not only great self-esteem, but a body that matches your “body type.” Like me for example: after years of working so damned hard to make my body match what the media was dictating, including dieting, over-exercising, skipping meals-on purpose, and constantly worrying about those extra few pounds, I finally wised up. I met my husband, realized that I was beautiful just the way I was destined to be, and over the course of four years, began eating local, healthy food, cut processed foods out of my diet, and began practicing well-being type exercises, like yoga and pilates, AND gained 30 pounds.

Me, enjoying delicious crab,just before being told by my doctor that I am borderline obese and would be unable to conceive. I am now 25 weeks pregnant.

While most of the time I was so thankful to look and feel better, including the added perks of being more curvy, going up 3 cup sizes, and turning even more heads on the street, there were times when I would fall back in to the media trap of thinking that I was overweight. In fact, when trying to get pregnant, I was even told by my ex-gynocologist that I was too overweight to conceive (due to my height and weight, my BMI classifies me as borderline obese). I quickly changed doctors, and with my next visit at my benevolent midwife’s office, I heard the following news: A)I was at the weight that my genes, heritage, and lifestyle dictated, and that B)my weight gain over the last four years was directly related to my happiness that I had finally achieved through meeting my husband and starting my family. What a fantastic “ah-ha” moment. With that news, guess what? I was pregnant within 10 days. I think it would be foolish to assume that none of the above isn’t connected. Self acceptance equals happiness.

So, getting back to this morning’s Today Show segment on Skinny Fat, I ignorantly thought that this segment would finally bring the news to women out there that what I already knew was finally being accepted. That my “fat” was my very own “skinny.” Well, no surprise, but I was wrong.

As it turns out, Skinny Fat actually refers to women who, gasp, ARE skinny on the outside, but fat on the inside. Are question marks circling around your head, too? Sigh, here we go…

Joy Bauer, contributing health editor to The Today Show, who’s book, “Your Inner Skinny” I think says it all as far as her approach goes, claims that even though we may appear to be skinny, that really deep inside we’ve got a terrifying combination of genes and heredity brewing that actually makes us in reality, fat, according to what doctors deem to be so. She compared two women: both of whom are skinny, one of whom is skinny fat. Basically, the one who is skinny fat has never had to do much to maintain her figure. She never works out, she eats what she wants, she is what most would call “blessed with good genes.” Not so, according to Joy. In fact, because she does not “take care of herself,” even though she may appear to on the outside, she is slowly bringing on her own demise: a long, torturous, fatty death. Joy said, in fact, that now “it’s not enough to be thin” anymore. Because being thin could mean “skinny on the outside, obese on the inside.” Her “obesity” is determined by using a tool, much like a vice, to pinch the outside layer of her fat, therefore measuring the relationship of her fat to her overall weight and height. Now, for those of us out there (me four years ago), this would be exactly the news that I would not need. To be told that appearing skinny still could mean that I’m obese on the inside would throw me into a disastrous cycle of obsessive exercising followed by extreme dieting. In fact, the skinny fat woman, after hearing of her major fat issues, said that she is now going to “work hard and watch what she eats,” which we all know is code for not eating as much. It is only since recovering from my faulted ways that I can hear news like this and not go off the deep end. But imagine how many women (and men) are out there who are taking this news to heart?

As my genius husband brought up after watching this segment in disbelief, what about the women from Fiji, Hawaii, or the Inuit or Yupik Eskimos?

An Inuit Woman

A Fijian Woman

A Hawaiian Woman

What if they were subjected to this fat-pinching device? No doubt they would blow this poor skinny fat woman on The Today Show out of the water. Wouldn’t we all agree, though, that their bodies are designed based on a mixture of factors: environment, heritage and genetics? From Joy Bauer’s point of view, these women would practically be knocking on death’s door. If it were up to her, they would all be put on strict diets and exercise regimes, only to lose half of their body weight and return home, where they would be unable to function in their own societies. Do only Joy’s rules apply to Americans? And what of this poor Skinny Fat woman on The Today Show? Could her natural body type, instead of being a ticking time bomb, instead just represent her potential Nordic heritage? Why should she change to have to conform to the current ignorant standards of our current thinking when it comes to body image, health, and the desire to be thin?

The bottom line is this: we all look exactly the way we should, IF (and a big “if” it is) we allow our bodies to slowly get back to the size and shape that they were always meant to be. Instead of looking at an ex-Skinny girl and saying, “She’s really let herself go,” why don’t we look at her in admiration and hope, saying instead, “Wow, she must be really happy. Looks like she’s finally found herself.” My hope is that everyone watching The Today Show this morning can look inside themselves, instead of listening to a woman who does not know them, and ask themselves if there is anything they can change in order to get closer to achieving the body, heart, and mind that is the healthiest for them.

No, sadly I am not about to unveil or condone a definitive brand of soda in which we can all be happy drinking and feeding to our kids. I’m still wary of brands likes Jones Soda, simply because of the fact that, yes, they may use can sugar and not HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) BUT…what about that electric blue color for their Blue Bubblegum flavor? Not so good. I’m not big on chemical dyes=)

exhibit A:

Anyway, for those of you who have switched off of soda (I did years ago, except of course for the occasional sip–no one’s perfect) I’ve got some great ideas for ways that you can satiate your desire for a thirst-quenching carbonated beverage. And instead of spending lots of money on “natural” soda brands like Izze, why don’t you try to make your own at home? It’s simple. You’ll need the following*:

Your favorite natural juice, like grapefruit, orange, cranberry, pomegranate, etc. Just make sure that

&

A carbonated water, such as Perrier, San Pellegrino, plain ol’ club soda or seltzer, all unflavored. Just make sure that on the ingredient list the only thing you see is water or carbonated water. Perrier, for example, might not even have an ingredient list since it is simply naturally carbonated water “bottled at the source.” Buying your carbonated water in small, single serving glasses or cans is best, since once-opened, your bubbly beverage can only stay bubbly for an hour or two, max.

Now for the delicious part: Pour your juice first, then carbonated water, into a glass. I prefer no ice but like a chilled beverage, so I refrigerate my juice and water before drinking. Make sure to pour your juice in first, as pouring your juice over the water will result in an unmixed drink. Depending on the juice and my mood, I’ll either do equal parts juice and water OR if you’re using a more bitter juice, like grapefruit or cranberry, do 1 part juice and 3 parts water.

For an added twist of sophistication? Squeeze a little lemon, lime, or orange wedge into your glass, and when possible, make your glass as fancy as possible! This really adds to the decadence of the event. I love using a mason jar. And for extra fun, chill your glass in the freezer & make sure it’s at room temperature and NOT warm or hot-or else it will potentially burst.

This is, incidentally, also a great beverage for those of us who cannot partake in alcoholic beverages at a party but who might want to feel grown up anyway.

Exhibit B:

Finally, if you want to get really, really fancy, make some ginger syrup or mint syrup and add to sweeten things up in the best way possible. Here’s the recipe:

Fresh Ginger Syrup

4 cups water

2 cups organic cane sugar (aka evaporated cane juice)

1 cup peeled and chopped fresh ginger

Combine water and sugar and bring to a boil. Add ginger. Simmer until your liquid is reduced by half. By the end, you should measure approximately 3 cups clear syrup, after straining out ginger pieces.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 months.

Mint Syrup

2 cups water

2 cups organic cane sugar

4 cups fresh mint, roughly chopped. (This is a good one to make in the Summer when your mint is running rampant in the yard. A Spearmint plant will do, although really any variety of mint will work. Spearmint plants just seem to be the most prolific.)

Combine water and sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, quickly throw in mint and stir carefully so as not to burn yourself-the syrup will be hot! Watch the leaves turn bright green. Do not keep them in long enough to go brown or else you will be left with a slightly vegetable taste. Once the leaves are bright green, strain the minty syrup through a sieve into a glass bowl. With the back of a spoon, press on the mint leaves to extract more of their pungent oil. Don’t worry if there are tiny bits of mint in your syrup-they’re happy in there, promise=)

Store in and airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 months.

*Just a small disclaimer for those of you who read my blog regularly and are thinking that I am questioning your intelligence and creativity in suggesting an idea that you’ve been using for years: I DO realize that I did not invent the idea of making your own healthy carbonated beverage. Haha—it just occurred to me when watching The Today Show and seeing the “health” segment trying to encourage women to lower their intake of diet sodas that I realized I might need to make my idea a bit more public. For all of you soda-at-home pioneers—drink on!