"Real" Food

If you know me or have spent more than two minutes on my blog, you know that I like to cook, and food is an important part of my life. I blog about our favorite restaurants, recipes we are trying in the kitchen, and I just post pictures of food in general. I also read a lot of other people's blogs who write about food and food experiences. Many of these bloggers have food "journey" stories. With the impending arrival of a little baby in the household, I have been thinking a lot about food and making some serious changes. But, I'll start at the beginning...
I would be surprised if the me know would recognize the me from high school and most of college. My food habits are drastically different. In fact, if you have only known me for a few years, you would be very surprised at how often I frequented Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, and various other fast food establishments during high school (and even more surprised by the food I ordered there). You would be surprised because I scoff at fast food restaurants now, and most of those I used to frequent have not seen these size 10 feet in well over 8 years because I am now a food snob.
My quest to eat "healthy" began my junior year in college when my doctor told me I had high cholesterol. I balked at this diagnosis because I didn't really eat red meat or eggs, two of the foods I attributed to high cholesterol. This is really the first time that I started research and learn about good fats, bad fats and just food nutrition in general. This was also shortly after I spent 4 months with a broken foot and never wanted to exercise so bad in my life. So I started making changes in my life. I tried to make sure I was eating regularly (because what college kid eats regularly?), making healthy snacks, and always making sure I took food with me to class. Oh, and I started exercising regularly. I didn't have my cholesterol retested for well over a year, but it was just fine when I did, in case you were wondering.
You may have noticed that I put the word healthy in quotation marks. Why? Because my definition of healthy changes pretty much on a daily basis. Here are some general things to know about my kitchen:

• The refrigerator is always packed with fresh fruits and vegetables.
• The pantry is full, but with overflow appliances, not food.
• The only red meat I cook is ground bison. This is partly for health reasons, and partly because I just don't like it.
• I don't use canned vegetables, only fresh or frozen.
• I avoid high fructose corn syrup like the plague.
• I don't cook with a lot of salt.
• I also don't really fry foods.
• My husband is thankfully not a picky eater. He likes most everything and doesn't mind if I make soup 4 nights a week in the Fall.

The list above has been pretty consistent for several years. I "plan" meals for the week and base my grocery list on that plan, and I usually go to 3 grocery stores. Over the past year or so, I have started to make more changes to get rid of the processed food of our life. I have become very interested in knowing exactly what is going into the food I am making. You may remember that I started making our sandwich bread from scratch and no longer buy that at the store. I do buy other types of bread at the store, but typically bakery bread, not prepackaged high fructose corn syrup bread.

I have also recently stopped buying canned beans. I buy dried beans, cook them in the crockpot, and freeze them for easy use. I am appalled at the amount of additives and sodium in canned beans, and have willingly given up the convenience of just opening a can. Today I made my own pumpkin puree and should have plenty for holiday baking with enough left over to freeze for future use.

Last week I made chicken stock for the first time. I won't bore you too much, but I absolutely hate meat on the bone. I don't like touching or eating it, so it was a big step for me to willingly delve into a project that revolved around chicken bones. I have been doing a lot of reading on the important health benefits of stock, mainly because of the minerals in the bones. This is one more homemade item for my list. I am going to need another refrigerator soon!

If you are interested, here are a few other changes I have made to the kitchen:

• I don't buy or use margarine anymore, just butter. I understand what all the ingredients in butter are.
• We have cut out most canned tomato products because BPA (that dreaded chemical) is used to line the aluminum cans and the acidic tomatoes soak it up. That is one major convenience I have yet to find a simple solution to.
• I have begun cooking with coconut oil, but need to learn a lot more about it!
• I don't buy baby carrots, just regular carrots, after reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

I am sure that our kitchen adventures will continue to evolve, especially as I continue to read and learn more about food in general. I am also sure that you will continue to find food adventures right here. I hope you enjoy, especially now that you have a little of the background.