The First Trip to the Grocery Store

Updated on Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 5:03PM by The Urban View

Why was I doing this? If you know why anyone whould be asked to avoid any intake of iodine for 8 weeks, then you you know why I am at the store. At Whole Foods in fact, attempting to purchase a salt free week's worth of groceries. Avoiding Iodine, means avoiding commercial salt. Because commercial salt is iodized. To achieve no iodine, I am looking for items with no idoized salt.

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The inventory

Last night I ate rice.

This morning I have had orange juice and oatmeal.  The oatmeal was made with no salt.  I hear in my mind the voice that would inspire and innovate and reassure the next 8 weeks of cooking and eating, and desperately avoiding bland food.  I cannot abide bland food.  I've been eating salsa since I was two years old.  I stood up in the high chair to reach across the table and have some of what everybody else was having - so the story goes.  And now I hear in my grown mind, a voice.  It carelessley remarks, the one thing I can't eat without salt is oatmeal.  This from someone quite adept at eating salt-free, or anything free for that matter.  Sugar-free? I've done that too.  Protein carbohydrate balance, done that.  Glycemic index reference, been there.  Dairy free, very do-able.  And now I've eaten salt free oatmeal.

It was slow cooking, not steel cut, the heartiest most rustic and the most flavor i could get out of plain rolled oats, no butter.  Butter can have salt in it.  Salt can have iodine.  I cannot have iodine.

I inventory the things in my kitchen and put everything through the dishwasher.  Even things that perhaps are not "supposed to."

 I find:

the oatmeal

rice

Salad greens, romaine and boston

fresh tomato, broccoli, and carrots

coucous, hummus powder

aborio rice for risotto

a frozen slice of pork loin

balsamic vinegar (it is the 90's after all)

For lunch I have

pan seared pork loin, a 3 oz. portion, in balsamic vinegar sauce made from pan drippings and no salt.

I come up with sometin g called provencal beef - 3 oz

steamed carrots and green beans, no salt no butter

I could have had cousous.  Later I would think back on this with a kind of reget for my own loss.  Not a loss of creativity, the couscous was in the pantry and could have been cooked with no additions seasons or flavorings and still added to my dinner.  Not a loss of creativity, but a loss of the obvious.  A regret for losing the chance to expereince that which is right in front of you.

Sunday

Bagel - no salt sprouted wheat variety

coffee at church

artichoke angel hair pasta for lunch with tomato, broccoli, mushrooms, garlic, marjoram and basil.

Mushroom Burger - homemade, served on sprouted toast.

Mushrooms and burgers

Stuffing mix:

Daikon radish

carrot

apple

onion

All finely diced.

In olive oil, I sauteed mushroom stems and garlic, added chervil, chives and thyme.

tossed all with bread crumbs made from no salt sprouted bread, added a pat of no salt butter.

I froze several portions of this.

Once I had "stuffing"  I made a burger - of sorts.

Chopped Stuffing mix

chopped mushroom caps

eggplant , chopped to a small dice

zucchini, small dice

thyme

3 egg whites

non-iodized salt and pepper

Baked 30 minutes in muffin cups or a loaf pan.

Kind of a homemade garden burger ( I was fond of garden burger at the time)

Taste: Iffy.

Stroganoff

no salt blue spelt flat noodles

milk made from a 1:4 ratio of almond to water

cornstarch

Sautee onions and mushrooms inolive oil.  I used plain white button and chantarelle.

Add tarragon white wine vinegar.

non-iodized salt and pepper.

stir in browned ground beef (3 oz.)

Taste:Pretty decent.