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1 S C R A T C H K I T C H E N E S S E N T I A L S S C R AT C H C O O K B O O K. C O M ON SALE 10/11/16 RODALEWELLNESS.COM FOLLOW ON

2 THANK YOU FOR PRE-ORDERING When it comes to switching to organic, it usually involves switching to all new brands. I hate the thought that someone might have a bad experience and think that something tastes bad just because it s organic. Let s put it this way, just because something is organic doesn t mean it tastes good and vice versa. So here is my list of essential pantry items and triedand-true brands that should be available nationally in your local supermarket. Although I confess, I will go to three different markets just to get what I want. So if you don t find it where you usually shop, try another market or find it online. You won t be disappointed. With love from the kitchen,

3 1 KETCHUP I love that Heinz has an organic version. The taste of Heinz is critical to my cod fish cakes. It s the only ketchup I buy. 2 YELLOW MUSTARD Essential for deviled eggs, egg salad, and hot dogs, I prefer Woodstock organic yellow mustard. 3 BROWN MUSTARD You can get a lot of gourmet varieties, but again, Woodstock is always good. You need a good brown mustard for Dijon vinaigrette and... hot dogs. 4 BBQ SAUCE A lot of people make their own BBQ sauce, and I m not about to go into the details of all the regional varieties. Suffice it to say that if you want a good plain tomato-based BBQ sauce, Woodstock gets the job done. 5 MAYONNAISE There are a few good organic varieties. Spectrum has one. And so does... Woodstock. 6 HOT SAUCE For years there was no organic hot sauce. None! Now I like Arizona Pepper s Organic Harvest foods. A little bit on a scrambled egg and cheese burrito and your day is off with a kick. 7 SOY SAUCE There are two kinds and both are great San-J and Ohsawa organic. 9 PEPPER Frontier and Simply Organic are the two big organic spice companies and probably supply most of the in-store brands as well. 10 GARLIC POWDER Garlic powder has a more mellow taste than fresh garlic and is good to use in salad dressings and things like rice pilaf where you want that milder taste. Again, Frontier and Simply Organic are good brands for this and all the other spices listed here. 11 CUMIN Required for great-tasting Mexican beans! 12 CAYENNE I actually grow my own cayenne peppers and dry them, but it s good to have some on hand to add some heat if you can handle it! 13 CINNAMON Important for baking, but also for putting on toast with butter and sugar! 14 PASTA While there are lots of unique and delicious organic pastas sometimes you can get a bad brand and think it s all bad. For me the most reliable brand for both whole wheat and white is Bionaturae. In fact once we did a taste test with kids, and they picked it, too. 8 SALT While I don t use just one brand, it s important to know that different salts have different flavors and qualities. Sea salt is of course the gourmet choice, but I also always keep a bowl of regular salt with iodine added, because iodine is good for your thyroid and not much else has it. For that salt, I use Hain.

4 15 FARRO If you haven t tried farro, please do! It s my daughter s favorite in soups, and it s good in salads, too. It cooks super quick and is delicious and hearty. My favorite brand is Nature s Earthly Choice. 16 RICE Whether it s white or brown, make sure it s organic. There are two great brands: Lundberg and Rice Select. 20 SARDINES Canned sardines are a lifesaver and so good. Once, when we were in Paris, I finally got up the courage to eat at one of the more authentic cafés on the Left Bank. My littlest daughter ordered sardines and they brought them in a can with the lid rolled back! She did not share. Wild Planet makes them. And so does a company called Cole s, which also makes a super delicious smoked trout in a can. 21 APPLEGATE FARMS MEATS I love this company and everything they stand for. Even though they were recently bought by Hormel, I m hoping they stay true. Their hot dogs are amazing and their salami, pepperoni, and sliced sandwich meats are delicious. 17 WHITE FLOUR You must use white flour for gravy and also for light and fluffy biscuits and crepes. King Arthur and Bob s Red Mill are the best brands. 18 WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR More nutritious than white, and I always mix it in with white whenever I can. Again, King Arthur and Bob s Red Mill are great brands. King Arthur has a white whole wheat that is really good. 19 TUNA It never fails, when I get home from food shopping, all I want is a tuna sandwich. You have to be super careful with tuna and the best brand by far is Wild Planet. I love the wild albacore tuna fillets packed in olive oil. 22 BETTER THAN BOUILLON For those times when I need broth and I m out of the homemade stuff in the freezer, I like Better than Bouillon organic chicken base. They also have vegetarian chicken, vegetable, and beef. But be careful because it s salty, so don t overdo it or add extra salt. 23 CANNED BEANS While dried beans are great and cheaper, canned beans are essential when you are hungry and you forgot to think ahead. I like Eden organic beans. But when it comes to baked beans, the only brand is Walnut Acres (may the original brand rest in peace). 24 GRANULATED SUGAR You don t need to worry about a brand, just go easy on the packaging. It looks a little brown, but it tastes awesome and you can use it just like regular sugar.

5 25 BROWN SUGAR Brown sugar is brown because it s got molasses still in it. The darker the brown, the more of a molasses flavor you will get. Fifteen years ago in Iceland you could get a granulated sugar that had molasses in it, and it was delicious and crunchy and great on toast and oatmeal. Last time I was there, I looked everywhere and it was GONE. Now I make my own by mixing sugar and molasses. In fact I think I need some right now. By the way, molasses is good for you. 26 POWDERED SUGAR Powdered sugar is good for one thing and one thing only... making icing from scratch. Or sprinkling on cakes and French toast if that s your thing. Again, any brand is fine as long as it s organic. 27 MOLASSES I ve seen only one organic brand and it s called Wholesome Sweeteners. But it s super dark and strong tasting. Which I personally like. maple syrup is more expensive than fake old breakfast syrups, you don t need a lot to have a lot of flavor. It s the best! I like Shady Maple Farms. 29 OLIVE OIL There are too many brands to name here. The important thing is to not buy cheap olive oil and expect it to be any good. Also recognize that there are the best oils, which taste best uncooked and are great for finishing and salad dressings. And then there are the mid-levels, which I use for everything, including frying fried chicken. 30 COCONUT OIL There are lots of good brands. Refined is good for things that you don t want to smell like coconut oil. Unrefined is when you want the taste and smell of coconut. I also use the organic supermarket brands for moisturizer! 31 LARD I wouldn t have put this on the list because I usually get it at the butcher when I am planning to bake pies. However, I just saw that Epic brand has come out with a jar of lard that you can buy at the supermarket. And while it s not certified organic... it s a good brand. My local butcher isn t certified organic either. 32 BUTTER Organic Valley, grass fed and pasture raised. Salted or unsalted. That s it. That s all you need. Unless you make your own. 28 MAPLE SYRUP There are lots of local brands, and I know a lot of people who make maple syrup from scratch. While real 33 AMERICAN CHEESE Horizon makes a great organic single-wrapped American cheese for those times when you just need a plain old grilled cheese. 34 TEA There are lots of good organic brands. But if you want the best black tea, you have

6 to have Prince Charles s organic black tea from Highgrove. Oh, it s good. It tastes like England. It tastes like history. Come to think about it, it tastes good enough to start a revolution. You can order it online from England. Or go to Fortnum & Mason next time you are in London. 35 COFFEE People in New York and Portland (Oregon or Maine) think they are coffee snobs. But no one compares to me. I am not snobby about it, just very, very particular, and I get my coffee from a small roaster in Vermont called Brown & Jenkins. Organic Peruvian. Just talk to Sandy. She ll take care of you. I have a box delivered every month. It s how I do what I do. 37 APPLE CIDER VINEGAR You have to go with Bragg Organic raw-unfiltered vinegar with the mother. It s gnarly looking but it does the job like it s supposed to. 38 TOMATOES IN GLASS JARS While there are lots of brands of tomatoes, the most important thing is that they come in glass jars. Cans are filled with things like BPA and BPA substitutes that may even be worse, and tomatoes are acidic so they really absorb the bad stuff. I just found a brand called Jovial, which is just plain organic diced tomatoes. The other thing you have to watch out for is that many sauces have tons of sugar in them. We actually can t stand sweet sauces so I won t buy any sauce that has sugar added into it. 39 PICKLES Oh pickles, how I love you. Once again, Woodstock wins the pickle war. But mostly because they are one of the few pickle companies that are actually organic. DON T be fooled by trendy brands that might be placed in your pickle section. Made in Brooklyn does not equal organic. Only organic is organic. Only organic has no toxic chemicals involved in the growing of the food you are eating. 36 RED WINE VINEGAR While you can get a lot of different types of red wine vinegar, I prefer Fleischman s Vinegar. It s the vinegar Alice Waters used to make salad dressing at my house. When she tasted it, she said that s good! 40 OLIVES Any time I get olives from one of those big olive buffets at the supermarket, I get stomach trouble. So I buy them in jars and then doctor them up at home with olive oil, herbs, and maybe some lemon. A good brand is Divina Organic.

7 four things i cheat on MIRACLE WHIP Sorry, some tastes just can t be replicated organically... yet. Come on, Miracle Whip! HIDDEN VALLEY RANCH DRESSING I use this mostly to get the kids to dip their veggies into. Sometimes it s just disgusting. Other times it s the best thing ever. They once came out with an organic version, but I couldn t find it on a regular basis and then it was gone. COME BACK! FRANK S RED HOT SAUCE This is one I WILL learn to make from scratch one day. It s essential for my buffalo chicken wing recipe, which is not in the book because it relies on Frank s, which I do not make from scratch and is not organic. COCA-COLA Real sugar only, and mostly medicinal (stomachache, headache, fatigue). I will know that we have won the food movement when there is an all-organic Coca-Cola. Seriously, take the green bottle with stevia in it and just make it all organic. Thank you. three things you need to remember to end the confusion in the supermarket NON-GMO There is a non-gmo label with a monarch butterfly on it. That is good. GMO foods should be labeled and until they are, you can look for that little butterfly. But there is also another way to completely avoid GMOs and that s to buy certified organic. Look for the USDA Organic Label and it is already GMO free. Why avoid GMOs? Because they are a technology that enables farmers to use even more chemicals than before, and the modification is inside the food you can t wash it off. There have been no long-term safety studies and you are eating it. Other than us in real time.

8 FAIR TRADE Fair trade is important and good. It means that the workers, farmers, and producers were treated fairly all along the way to bring you your food. WHY PAY MORE FOR ORGANIC? Organic buys happiness! Ask any farmer who has transitioned from chemical farming to organic... he or she is happier. Their family feels safer and healthier. Ask any organic farmer who raises animals the animals are happier! Visit any organic farm and then visit a conventional farm. The conventional farm has weird smells and limited wildlife including birds, bats, bees, and butterflies (because they are seen as competing and dangerous to crops). Organic farms are simply buzzing with vibrant life and diversity. It s almost always a happy place (however we are all human, of course). And when you eat organic food, you ll start to notice the difference... you ll feel cleaner, lighter, brighter, more alive, and yes, happier knowing too that your choice made a lot of other people and animals happy along the way before it got to you. Organic makes nature happy, too.