So I'm making sauerkraut because well, I like it, especially the Latino kind you get at taquerias, with carrots and chile flakes in it. Yum.

But also because I've been insprired by my new cookbook, Nourishing Traditions. Very interesting reading, and full of great recipes. It has really changed the way I look at food, and encouraged me to stop being lazy and make more of my own food...and I mean really MAKE it, not just buy some delectable but processed Trader Joe's stuff and slap it together.

I'm taking it with a grain of salt (I certainly won't be getting rid of my microwave anytime soon) but plenty of what Sally Fallon says makes perfect sense. It boils down to this...stop eating processed crap made from artificial ingredients, sick factory-farmed animals and chemical-intensive agriculture.

Eat organic, unprocessed foods that reflect the heritage of our human evolution. Enjoy eggs, drink milk, eat meat from grass-fed free-range animals, soak your grains overnight before eating for better digestion, and eat some fermented foods every day to replenish your healthy bacteria levels. Butter is good. Transfats and highly processed vegetable oils are bad. Eat like humans have eaten for thousands of years, except with the benefit of refrigeration and Whole Foods Markets.

So tonight I started some sauerkraut, yogurt, and gingered carrots a-fermenting. I've already made a pot of chicken broth from a whole organic chicken. Easy as pie, and now I have the chicken meat to use in another recipe. Most of them are not weird at all, just chicken casseroles and rice dishes and some tasty-sounding vegetable recipes. Kind of standard stuff. But none of it starts with processed foods or unhealthy ingredients. No "add a can of cream-of-mushroom soup" type instructions.

I've already saved money on my groceries, in spite of buying organic, Whole Foods-level stuff. A head of organic cabbage and a whole free-range chicken and a gallon of organic milk still cost much less and do more than prepackaged entrees that serve two people. So far, I like it. But moderation in all things. This is the way I've wanted to eat for a long time, but I'll still indulge in some packaged goodies too.