September Conservation Tip

It's that time of the year again, it's time for

  OCTOBER UNPROCESSED 2014

What it is all about?

To raise awareness how much processed food we are eating, Andrew Wilder, author of the "Eating Rules" blog, came up with the idea to cut out any processed food, starting with three simple rules:

1. When you eat grains, eat only 100% whole grains.
2. Don’t eat high fructose corn syrup.
3. Don’t eat hydrogenated oils, trans fats, or anything that’s been deep-fried. 

That was 2009...
A year later, in October 2010 he tried again, this time trying to get more people to join him by taking the pledge: October Unprocessed. 415 joined him.

In October 2011 over 3000 took the pledge. It was my first year to sign up and it changed our eating habits quite a bit...annoyed comment of our son: "Why don't we have any junk food in our pantry anymore?" 

October 2012 saw more than 6000 taking the pledge!

Last year, October 2013, 15.500 people took the pledge!!!

Can we beat this in 2014? Let's try.

Here is all you need to know:

To learn more about Andrew and his mission, check out his blog:

eatingrules

Ready to take the pledge?

Take the pledge

Want to follow along?

eatingrules on facebook

Need support and/or want to communicate with like-minded folk?
Join the facebook group:

October Unprocessed 2014 facebook group 


This is the fourth time now that I'm taking the pledge. In these years our eating habits have changed quite a bit. To the point that the challenge is ALMOST no challenge anymore.
There is one food item though, I'm really fond of although I know it's not good for me, the one item that makes October Unprocessed a real challenge for me. I can hear my family and friends murmuring the name while they read this, they know me...it's.....Nutella....

And you can't make home made Nutella, right? That's what I thought until a friend suggested searching the internet for a recipe....I really didn't think there was a good tasting recipe out there, but the Brown Eyed Baker proofed me wrong. 

Here the recipe slightly adapted but with all the credit going to the Brown Eyed Baker:

The ingredient list is surprisingly short

You will need:

2 cups of  hazelnuts
1 cup of powdered sugar or 3/4 cup of liquid honey
1/3 cup of Dutch processed (or any other unsweetened) cocoa powder 
2 tablespoon hazelnut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon of salt, sounds strange, but don't omit it 

all my ingredients are organic, but that's just me. I could not find hazelnut oil in any store so I ordered it online, quite pricey but you won't need much.

How to:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread the hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 6 to 10 min. I usually shake them up a bit half way through. You need to watch them, every oven is different, my first try burnt.....
Once roasted give the nuts in a glass bowl

Now comes the tedious part...once the nuts cooled down sufficiently to be handled, cover the bowl and shake it, hard...until the skin around the nuts loosens.
Pick out the "clean" ones and put them in the food processor. Repeat with the remaining nuts. Once you done it should look like that:

Time to let the food processor work. Let it run for a few minutes, until the hazelnuts release their oil and the nuts are transformed into a smooth paste.

Once that stage is achieved add all the remaining ingredients. If you are using honey instead of sugar make sure the honey is liquid and add it to the running food processor.

Let the processor run for a few more minutes until the paste becomes loose and shiny.

That's it. It will make about 1 1/2 cups and stores well in a mason jar. It does not need to be refrigerated and regarding to the Brown Eyed Baker it should be good for a month....I can't vouch for that because it never gets to be that old in our house...;-)

Now enjoy it on a home made bread with home made butter and you are ready for October Unprocessed 2014!

Yes, I will admit, it's not 100% like the "real" Nutella, but it comes pretty close and the hazelnut aroma comes out even better than in Nutella. The consistency is a bit coarser. To make it smoother I tried honey, which gives it a slightly different taste and does not change the consistency much. I just like honey better than sugar.