Food Rules

I had quite a productive weekend baking. I usually find that the weekdays just fly by and I take whatever chance I get on Saturday or Sunday to get the oven earning its keep. The bananas that I found in the bottom of the basket were calling out to be baked into a C.W.A. banana cake, and I really wanted to make another zucchini cake. Too good. 

I often think about Rule 39 from Michael Pollan's book, Food Rules. which states that you can "Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself". Now I'm not someone that reads a book and then changes my entire way of thinking. I just really like the common sense approach this book takes to food. I also love that my children picked it up one morning and started reading and discussing the rules. (Their favourite is Rule 57 "Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does"). It is a really easy book to read and covers 64 rules about food and eating. I know that 64 seems excessive but it really doesn't feel like you are being preached to. I found that it just articulated the sort of things I had been thinking. Most of the pages have an explanation or justification of the rule but some have just the rule, because it is such a no-brainer.

So basically I don't mind creaming butter and sugar to make a great base for a cake when I know it contains no additives or preservatives. I even sprinkled a little raw sugar over the top of the banana cake before I popped it in the oven to give it an extra crunchy topping. Everyone must have been happy as half of the zucchini cake is gone and there is only about one quarter of the banana cake left.

Take care.