Dough Girl

I've been trying my hand at homemade pastry, seeing as I no longer use the pre-packaged, convenience options in the grocery store. To promote intestinal healing after my allergy diagnosis, I needed to avoid all forms of soy and I had to stop buying my once-favorite refrigerated Pillsbury pie crusts. As you can see below, nothing in their ingredients list declares soy as an ingredient, but it turns out that citric acid can be derived from soy, so this product was a 'no-no' in my initial recovery. The source isn't specified, and talking to a phone rep didn't help: best to just avoid it, they'd say.

"Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Partially Hydrogenated Lard with BHA and BHT to Protect Flavor, Wheat Starch, Water. Contains 2% or less of: Salt, Rice Flour, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Propionate (preservatives), Citric Acid, Yellow 5, Red 40."

When I tried out recipes to make my own pastry, it was initially such a hassle and took extra time, but I eventually discovered that doing it often makes it easier (who knew???), and also that a good pastry only needs 4 basic ingredients: flour, water, butter and salt. What is all that other stuff in the convenience product? Even though I don't have to be quite as diligent because the flare-up inflammation is under control, I can't bring myself to go back. So, now I tend to dress up my leftovers in a pie crust when I'm not putting them on pizza, and have had to contemplate how avoiding soy contributes to weight gain ... hmm !

Here are some of the spurious ways that soy gets into our food supply when we rely on conveniences from the grocery store (http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/the-biggest-obstacle-to-a-simpler-truly-fulfilling-life/):

The ingredients that are usually made from or contain soy:
Lecithin
Monosodium glutamate or MSG
Mono-diglyceride
Hydrolyzed plant protein or HPP
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein or HVP
Vegetable oil
Vegetable shortening (like Crisco and the other solid white shortenings in a can)
Vegetable broth
Protein
Protein concentrate
Protein isolates
Guar gum, vegetable gum, gum arabic - up to 10% soy protein can be added during manufacturing
Glycerol monostearate
Natural flavorings
Thickening agents
Stabilizers
Liquid smoke (some brands)
Vitamin E
Citric acid (can be derived from fruit, corn, or soy)


And then there are those products containing soy as an emulsifier, a flavoring agent, additional protein, etc., etc., etc.:
Almost all commercial bakery items (breads, cakes, cookies, doughnuts)
Cake mixes, cookie mixes, pancake mixes, any baking mixes
Breakfast cereal (check label carefully… some cereals contain no soy but have a cross contamination notice)
Anything breaded
Self-basting turkeys (call the company for ingredient list)
Canned tuna (even the tuna packed in water is almost always flavored with vegetable broth)
Canned meat products unless otherwise stated
Processed and prepared sliced meats (deli meats)
Ham or smoked anything (check ingredient list)
Hot dogs, packaged cold meats, sausage
Imitation crab meat, imitation bacon bits
Canned soups, broths, or stocks
Dried soup mixes (the flavor packet)
Frozen vegetables with sauces
Almost anything labeled as vegetarian
Sauces: teriyaki, Worcestershire, soy, shoyu, tamari, sweet and sour
Gravies and marinades
Bouillon cubes
“Dairy free” products
Half and half (check ingredients)
Fresh cream (a very few heavy creams are soy free)
Dairy topping in can or packaged mix
Some yogurts
Ice cream (a few of the gourmet ice creams are OK, but most supermarket ice creams are not)
Purchased pizza
Peanut butter (look for 100% peanuts only, with or without added salt)
Baby formula, baby foods
Most seasoning blends (again, check label carefully)
Spices (some manufacturers are adding smoothing agents and anti-caking agents that contain soy… I have had problems with garlic powder, ground cinnamon, and chili powder)
Margarine
Butter substitutes or anything with “butter flavor”
Salad dressings
Mayonnaise
Ketchup
Almost anything “diet”
Crackers
Potato chips, corn chips, and just about any kind of chips… if you’re lucky, you might find some potato chips without soy
Popcorn
Unpopped popcorn (not all, but check the label)
Soft drinks (not all, but check the label)
Energy drinks, energy bars
Beverage mixes like hot chocolate, instant tea, or lemonade
Most candy and most chocolate (exceptions: some baking chocolate and chocolate made with cocoa butter instead of lecithin)
Chewing gum
Cooking sprays (except one 100% olive oil spray that may or may not contain soy)
Carob
Microwaveable meals
Restaurant food
Fast food
Herbal teas
(http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/the-biggest-obstacle-to-a-simpler-truly-fulfilling-life/)

Tranquil Mist

Before the ice came:

Tranquility reigns:

A gauzy mist, like a veil,

Hangs over the lake.

A Week's Difference

 

Wind blows a shimmer

 

On the surface of the lake

 

Like silvery ice.

This picture is already a week old. This is what it looks like now:

The water has stilled ...

Disruptive winds can't affect

Solid, grey crystals.

The Sun's Puppet

Sunshine! A glorious thing, even when temperatures are low. Coming from the subtropics, I think I am particularly susceptible to the presence or absence of sun. I'm 'up' when the sun shines, and 'down' when it's gloomy - I yo-yo back and forth, as the weather changes, the sun's puppet. Light drives my mood.

Right now, in the temperate northern hemisphere, I'm counting the days till the solstice, when daily darkness starts to recede by mere minutes each day. Just 11 days to go till we get a little more daily light, when we hit the planetary limit of how far we can tilt from the sun. It's the turning point I've come to look forward to; it's onward and upward from there (... till next year). I think my personal healthy light limit is more like the time of the equinox - it can start getting lighter for me from there!

I'm lucky enough to have a desk in a sunlit area of my home. It makes it a nice place to be. A nice place to hang out (vegetate?) or work, or read. Light shows up the dirt and dust, though, and light streaming in through my windows makes my computer screen hard to read, but I can live with that!

When there's no sun, my workspace changes character dramatically - too cold to sit at for long, too dreary to feel inspired, too grey to be a source of energy.