eating makeover

I've been a tad bit bored lately, with vacation over, swim lessons complete, and not a ton else going on.  So I found a new interest...improving our eating!  I read the book In Defense of Food and loved it, and then watched Food Inc. and loved it too.  And thus begins my new eating adventure!  You know I love a great cause, and I love a good challenge!  :)  After reading the book, I was inspired to try to make my own bread more often.  That isn't really too big of a stretch for me, because I already do bake a pretty decent amount of bread, but I am going to try to replace our usual store-bought loaf with some homemade stuff.  So that will be fun.  

The bigger challenge will be meat.  We are meat lovers in this house, and also bargain lovers.  That is not a good combination for our health and the environment, because the cheap stuff is, well, pretty bad in many ways.  I spent quite a while checking out farms in MI where we can buy beef and chickens that are grass fed and hormone and anti-biotic free and all that good stuff.  Which leads us to needing to get another freezer.  We were already thinking about getting one anyway, because as we speak, we have two big bags of food in Nate's parents' freezer!  And that is just our typical stockpile.

And of course the cost of good food is going to be high.  Which brings us to trying to eat meat a little less.  Is Nate a fan of this idea?  Not so much.  I bought some pearl barley at the store tonight and let's just say he wasn't all that thrilled by the look of it.  So I definitely have my work cut out for me.  Wonderful Kelly has already given me some good recipes, but if any of you have any suggestions for me on where to find good, quality food at the best prices and how to make some adjustments to our diet, they are welcome!

Here is a picture of our dinner tonight...this is usually our Friday night dinner, but it got delayed this week.

A goal I have had for awhile is to try to learn to make everything better (or just as good) at home than I can find it in a restaurant.  I have succeeded with a lot of foods, and Nate and I decided tonight that we have done it with pizza.  The crust is a flat bread I make, that when grilled, makes the most delicious crispy crust.  The sauce is a really simple homemade one I found online.  And my fave combination right now is tomatoes and basil, both from our garden.  It did not take long for these to disappear!

Comments

[Hazel]

you have a garden?? how did I not know this?? I'm so jealous! A really good vegetarian cookbook is called "moosewood" by ? Katzen (I can't think of her first name). There are several moosewood cookbooks, my favorite one is tan in color and just called "moosewood"...no specific title.

The book I was telling you about that is good at talking about health and eating is The Schwarzbein Principle (the science behind it all) and The Schwarzbein Program (the how-to). Not that you need these as you already seem quite convinced and "at it"...but should you be interested. :)

I also have some recipes I'll send you next week...

Okay...enough here...I'll email soon...soooo great to see you!!

[Heidi]

Thanks Hazel! Yep, we have had a garden for years, but it seems that every year it gives us less and less. This year I think all we can hope for are tomatoes, basil, and green onion. The zucchini, peas, peppers, and brussels sprouts have all failed us.

I'll look those books up at the library! Hope GR is fun! :)

[Sheri]

Would you mind posting the recipe you used for the pizza dough? IT looks amazing!

[Kelly]

Forgot to mention that Kroger has a free range, organic chicken line by Private Selection that often goes on sale! Also, I remember a quote from The Omnivores Dilemma I try to remember: Eat real food, not too much, mostly fruits and vegetables. :D