Love-ly food

Caleb's Valentine breakfast

Cupcakes with pink fluffy buttercream frosting

Addictive rolled sugar cookies

A New Family Tradition

DIY Baby Food: Part Two

Continuing from DIY Baby Food: Part One, I read somewhere on the internet an interesting theory behind commercial baby foods. Like any marketable item, companies obviously desire consumers to buy and continue to buy more of their product. Believe it or not, this even applies to baby food, and some might argue that the target demographic is indeed the pickiest of consumers. To help combat this, commercial baby foods intentionally produce bland tasting fruits and vegetables in order to help a baby like it. How so? Think of the various flavor nuances that abound in a piece of broccoli. Admittedly, it was only a few years ago that I would cheerfully enjoy the taste of broccoli. But nonetheless, most babies' palates would not take to broccoli immediately. The blander something is, the less chance of rejection. Baby enjoys it, mom buys more of it. More of it = more money for company. Now, all of this to say, I am not certain that execs at Gerber do actually think this way. (You can't believe everything on the internet, ya know)? But it makes sense to me anyway.

So in conjunction with that theory, I am enjoying the fact that my son is able to taste carrots, peas, green beans, even cauliflower as God intended them. And surprisingly he hasn't turned up his nose at any of them. He still gives me that doubtful face with the first spoonful, but he'll gobble it all down. It's pretty cool that his palate is learning the subtleties and complexities of flavor.

Okay, okay, enough of my babbling, on to the steps of making your own baby food.

DIY Baby Food at home:

1. Buy it! Choose your preferred foods. Fresh or frozen works great. Never do the canned!
2. Prepare it! Rinse, peel, and chop/slice if needed.
3. Cook it! I use my pressure-cooker which gives precise times for cooking specific foods. Alternatively, you may use any other traditional form of cooking; steaming, roasting, stove-top, even microwave maybe?
4. Blend it! Cooked food is dumped into the blender or food processor and pureed. If you are doing steps 3 & 4 back to back as I do, make sure you simply place a paper towel over the blender's lid hole to allow steam to escape. If not, you may end up with a kitchen messier than your infant's face.
5. Freeze it! Pour into any pop-able container or trays to freeze overnight.
6. Store it! Keep in labeled bags in your freezer.
7. Thaw it! I simply place desired amount in the microwave to defrost, but you could also use your fridge and simply allow more time for the process.
8. Eat it!

So, oh wait, 8 steps? 8 steps?! I can already hear you balking in your head. But really, the only hands-on time you're actually investing deals with buying it (which you'd be doing anyway), cooking, and blending. The rest is essentially storage time.

I hope this post will encourage you to simply try it. Don't forget that this food has love cooked in it too ;) Feel free to ask or suggest anything!

DIY Baby Food: Part One

There are a whole lot of reasons why you might be interested in making your own baby food. For some, it's the ability to make any food you want to without being tied to whatever commercial foods offer. Or it might be that with all the various food recalls that happen frequently, you'd feel safer knowing you made it yourself. Someone else might be doing it for the pure savings of it. And I'm doing it for all those reasons, but especially because it's fun! If you enjoy cooking, you'll most likely enjoy making baby food as well.

The cookbook I use is Blender Baby Food by Nicole Young. I love it because it's co-authored by a dietitian and therefore has all the nutritional information for each food. And knowing that it can be confusing or a daunting task attempting to figure out which foods are suggested for which age group, this book has foods in particular sections by age in months. Meal plans and lots of other great tips are included as well. Personally, one of my criteria for a "good" cookbook are recipes that are realistic. I'm sure you've perused or own a cookbook that has more gourmet ingredients than standard staples which incidentally, those recipes would never leave the page in my kitchen. This cookbook is not like that. Simple language, steps, and ingredients.

Here's what I've learned:

1. Making your own baby food does not take as much time as you'd think. There may be more steps involved obviously, but it's still doable.
2. Pressure-cooking is the best way, not to mention extremely fast way to cook the food. I have done steaming, roasting, and regular stovetop cooking, but pressure-cooking is supreme. I'm not sure how many young women even possess a pressure-cooker nowadays, but believe it, you can have most veggies cooked in less than 4 minutes!
3. I'm buying all organic produce, and yet I'm still saving money over commercial foods including the organic varieties, i.e. Earth's Best, Gerber. Based on the servings from a bag of carrots I prepared, it equated to 17 cents a serving (2 oz.).
4. Less waste and containers to deal with. Yes, you could easily recycle all the glass jars or plastic tubs, or you could not even have to deal with it at all. After cooking and blending the food, it is poured into a specially made food tray to be frozen. Regular ice cube trays work fine too. After an overnight freeze, I pop out the portions into a labeled bag and place them in a freezer bin. There, the food can hang out for up to 2-3 months.
5. It tastes as it should. Personally, I have yet to taste commercial baby food, but have heard stories from other parents remarking on it's not-so-yumminess. But the beauty of making it yourself with no additives or preservatives is that it tastes like real food; because it is. And hopefully there will be less opposition to eating veggies in their non-pureed form as the child grows.

Now that you know more about it, check out DIY Baby Food: Part Two where I'll go into step-wise detail.

Make your own Freezer Jam

It's really actually quite simple. Don't be intimidated, it only took about 30 minutes to go from fresh strawberries to strawberry jam ready to be frozen (no canning required). This jam is best kept refrigerated and used within 30 days or frozen for up to 1 year. I chose smaller jars to accommodate the 30 day usage.


All you need:

• 4 lbs. of fresh strawberries
• 1 1/2 c. sugar or Splenda
• a packet of no-cook fruit pectin
• plastic or glass jars
  

Jars, tons of strawberries, and the pectin packet

I used the Ball-brand No Cook Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin (purchased at KMart). Easy instructions on the back for making your jam.

Mixing the sugar and pectin

Hulling all those sweet-smelling strawberries

Pureeing them just until crushed

Mixing the strawberries, sugar, and pectin together for 3 minutes

The fruit of my labor: 64 oz. worth of fresh strawberry freezer jam!

Soon to Be SAHW/M

A new chapter in my life is about to begin!

My last day of "paid/public" work will officially be May 29th! After working in this position for 3 years, it will be difficult to leave the great coworkers/supervisors I have. They have been my family away from home :)

No more office or staring at my computer screen for hours on end. Consequently, due to our slooooooow internet connection at home, the blog may suffer some.

Now that my pregnancy has gotten more physically uncomfortable, I am looking forward to being at home where I can walk around freely (outdoors too!) and nap as needed. Also, the amount of cleaning needed at home has begun to pile up since I don't have near the energy to do everything after coming home from a day of work.

Some of my fears about coming home: being lonely, bored, glued to the crappy tv, and regretting leaving my job. I do think that some of those can easily be remedied if I apply myself wisely. Based on other bloggers who stay at home, it seems that with or without children, a routine is a must. I realize however that not all days/schedules are created equal, so some days will be much busier, while others will be lighter.

Some of my hopes about coming home: time to get things done!, scheduling in quiet times with the Lord, exercising, better meal planning (less reliance on dining out), more time for reading/researching at library, keeping up with the laundry for a change, preparing everything for our son's arrival in August, ministry opportunities, and helping family during the day.

And, seriously, I guess I could always read Proverbs 31 for some ideas on what to fill my days with! Ha! :)

Any tips/suggestions from SAHWs or SAHMs? Also, any specific baby preparations?

Another cake creation

I believe it was over a year ago when my mom and I decided to take a Wilton's cake decorating class through Michael's. We took Course 1, the introduction to all things cake decorating. Classes were once a week for a month, lasting about 3 hours per class. I highly recommend it, especially because you can learn a lot even if you've never filled a decorating bag in your life. I hadn't practiced or made a cake really until "The Big Reveal" a couple of weeks ago. Go figure the following week I volunteered to make my mom's birthday cake. Here's what I created! Looks very Mary Englebreit-ish, I think :)

Chocolate Week: Day 7

Now it's your turn!

Send in your favorite chocolate recipe or link to your blog with one.

Oh, S'mores how I love thee! Let me count the ways...

And before I forget to mention it, November is Godiva's Truffle month! There are a couple of dates listed for free samples.

So yesterday's chocolate cake recipe is a great one to serve for entertaining, but what about the times when you just want a simple piece of chocolate cake? This is definitely the weeknight cake :) I came across it in my Betty Crocker cookbook, simply because I didn't have any eggs, but I wanted a dessert. My husband requests this almost on a weekly basis.

Chocolate Chip Snack Cake

Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 35 minutes
Cool: 15 minutes
Yield: 9 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. white or cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup cold water
1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbsp. sugar

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350F. Grease bottom and sides of 9-inch round cake pan or 8-inch square pan with shortening, lightly flour.

2. In medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In small bowl, stir oil, vinegar, and vanilla until well mixed. Vigorously stir oil mixture and water into flour mixture about 1 minute or until well blended. Immediately pour into pan. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips and 3 Tbsp. sugar.

3. Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes. Serve warm or cool with ice cream.

Chocolate Week: Day 6

The Power of Chocolate:

Feeling dark? Dark chocolate has proven health benefits (Thank You, Lord!) Among them, lower blood pressure and antioxidants that fight free radicals in your body. Before you run to your nearest Godiva counter, remember people, moderation!

Is chocolate an aphrodisiac? According to this article, no. But I did have to laugh when I read "The most recent study, published in May in the journal Sexual Medicine, looked specifically at women, who are thought to be more sensitive to the effects of chocolate." Ha! Really? They honestly needed a research study to conclude that?

I mentioned I craved the sinful stuff on a daily basis. But little did I know, it's because of the bacteria in my gut?! And yet another great quote from researchers, "In fact, the study was delayed because it took a year for the researchers to find 11 men who don't eat chocolate." Combining that with the aforementioned research, I'd say it'd take about 10 years to find 11 women who don't eat chocolate.

And with all my heart, I truly, truly pity those who have a genuine chocolate allergy. (P.S.- If you are one, I guess this week of cocoa-goodness on my blog has been disheartening to say the least). But hey, you've still got carob chips. Just in case you didn't know this, dogs should not be fed chocolate, but carob chips are okay.

And this could easily be a myth, but carob pods are believed to have been eaten by John the Baptist while in the wilderness; hence their nickname "St. John's Bread." One more Biblical reference for you, the prodigal son from Luke 15 ate carob pods with the pigs after he had squandered his inheritance.

Enjoy the recipe below, it's carob-free :) Nuthin' but the good stuff!

Milk Chocolate Bar Cake (the crowd pleaser!)

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 oz) pkg. Swiss chocolate cake mix (Duncan Hines)
1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
10 (1.5 oz) Hershey's milk chocolate candy bars with almonds, divided
1 (12 oz) whipped topping, thawed

Directions:
1. Prepare cake batter according to pkg directions. Pour into 3 greased/floured 8-inch round cake pans. Bake at 325F for 20-25 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

2. Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar at medium speed with a mixer until creamy.

3. Chop 8 candy bars finely. Fold cream cheese mixture and chopped candy bars into whipped topping.

4. Spread icing between layers and on top/sides of cake. Chop remaining 2 candy bars. Sprinkle half of chopped candy bars over cake. Press remaining chopped candy along bottom edge of cake.

Chocolate Week: Day 5

How is chocolate made? Here are two different methods; handmade versus factorymade.

This video shows how chocolate from scratch is made. He makes it look so easy too!



This one shows how molded chocolate is made in a traditional factory. I especially enjoyed watching the "whacking" tool :)



Chocolate Crinkles

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Start to Finish: 3 hr. 45 min.

Yield: about 3 dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. In large bowl, mix sugar, butter, vanilla, and chocolate with spoon. Stir in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

2. Heat oven to 350F. Grease cookie sheet with shortening or spray with cooking spray. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar; roll around to coat. Shape into balls. On cookie sheet, place balls about 2 inches apart.

3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool.

Chocolate Week: Day 4

What's in a name?

Oreo: The people at Nabisco aren't quite sure. Some believe that the cookie's name was taken from the French word for gold, "or" (the main color on early Oreo packages). Others claim the name stemmed from the shape of a hill-shaped test version; thus naming the cookie in Greek for mountain, "oreo." Still others believe the name is a combination of taking the "re" from "cream" and placing it between the two "o"s in "chocolate" - making "o-re-o." And still others believe that the cookie was named Oreo because it was short and easy to pronounce.

No matter how it got named, over 362 billion Oreo cookies have been sold since it was first introduced in 1912, making it the best selling cookie of the 20th century.

M&Ms: One of the Ms comes from Forrest Mars Sr., while the other M comes from Bruce Murrie, son of long-term Hershey president William F. R. Murrie. Conflict of interest?? Not so much. When M&Ms were first produced, Hershey's chocolate was used as the M&M core. And these yummy candies were introduced to WWII GIs first.

Kit Kat: No one really knows for sure, but the name apparently came from the Kit Cat Club. This club was an 18th century English club with strong political and literary associations, committed to the furtherance of Whig objectives. And creepy/cool thing to note, they aren't just "bars" of a Kit Kat, they're called "fingers!"

Oreo and Fudge Ice Cream Cake (Very easy to make, and everyone loved it!)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed
1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 pkg. (4-serving size) Chocolate Instant Pudding
8 OREO Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)
12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches, unwrapped

Directions:

1. Pour fudge topping into medium bowl. Add 1 cup of the whipped topping; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. or until well blended. Gently stir in chopped cookies; set aside.

2. Arrange 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long piece of foil; top with half of the whipped topping mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. Frost top and sides of dessert with remaining whipped topping. Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

3. Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. Store leftover dessert in freezer.

Chocolate Week: Day 3

That chocolate looks good on you....

Models Wear Chocolate - video powered by Metacafe

More chocolate fashion.....my favorite, chocolate SHOES!!!!

Chocolate Cake-in-a-Mug

1 - coffee mug (microwave-safe)
4 T. - cake flour (plain, not self-rising)
4 T. - sugar
2 T. - cocoa
1 - egg
3 T. - milk
3 T. - oil
1 - splash of vanilla
3 T. - chocolate chips (Optional)

1. Add dry ingredients to the mug; mix well with a fork. Add egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in milk, oil, and vanilla, and mix well. Add chips, if using.

2. Put mug in the microwave, and cook for three minutes at 1,000 watts. Cake will rise over the top of the mug -- do not be alarmed. When finished, carefully remove mug from microwave and allow to cool a little. Tip onto a small plate prior to serving, if desired. Yields one generous serving or two "more virtuous" servings.

Chocolate Week: Day 2

"Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can."

"This guy found a bottle on the ocean, and he opened it and out popped a genie, and he gave him three wishes. The guy wished for a million dollars, and poof! there was a million dollars. Then he wished for a convertible, and poof! there was a convertible. And then, he wished he could be irresistible to all women... poof! he turned into a box of chocolates."

"Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces." Judith Viorst

The following recipe is one of the easiest and tastiest fudge versions that I've found on allrecipes.com. I was intimidated to try making fudge, but it's actually quite simple! If you've never tried it before, go ahead, be brave!

Aunt Teen's Creamy Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Line an 8x8 inch pan with aluminum foil. Set aside.
2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine marshmallow cream, sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt. Bring to a full boil, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove from heat and pour in semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours, or until firm.

Chocolate Week: Day 1

I promised you recipes and tidbits during this week, so it's quite fitting to see where chocolate began...

The History of Chocolate

"The tasty secret of the cacao (kah KOW) tree was discovered 2,000 years ago in the tropical rainforests of the Americas. The pods of this tree contain seeds that can be processed into chocolate. The story of how chocolate grew from a local Mesoamerican beverage into a global sweet encompasses many cultures and continents.The first people known to have made chocolate were the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America. These people, including the Maya and Aztec, mixed ground cacao seeds with various seasonings to make a spicy, frothy drink.Later, the Spanish conquistadors brought the seeds back home to Spain, where new recipes were created. Eventually, and the drink’s popularity spread throughout Europe. Since then, new technologies and innovations have changed the texture and taste of chocolate, but it still remains one of the world’s favorite flavors."

Chex Muddy Buddies aka White Trash aka Puppy Chow:

Prep Time:15 min
Start to Finish:15 min
Makes:18 servings (1/2 cup each)

9 cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Substitution
Peanut butter and chocolate are a favorite flavor combo, but peanut butter lovers can substitute peanut butter chips for the chocolate chips to intensify that flavor.

1.Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2.In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3.Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): No change.

Coming soon to a tummy near you....

Chocoholics rejoice! (And please, wipe your drool off of the monitor....) It will be CHOCOLATE week here before you know it on my blog! A week of yummy choco-decadence to get us primed and plumped for the upcoming Thanksgiving/Christmas season :) And I can say this with authority, but chocolate is one of the few flavors that I crave every day. With a different chocolate recipe every day and a couple of cocoa tidbits scattered along the way, this is some blog reading that your tummy won't want to miss!

Chocolate week begins Saturday, November 1st....

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

No need to drown it in ketchup (cuz it's built in)! Hooray! Seriously, what is not to love about combining sweet & savory flavors? This meatloaf recipe is the only one I make, and people and animals love it. The brown sugar truly makes this, and it has a touch of ginger to boot.


Serves 8, Ready to devour in approximately 1 hour 20 minutes. Save time for the future and make up an extra loaf to freeze.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs or packaged bread crumbs

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
-Press the brown sugar in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan and spread the ketchup over the sugar.
-In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf. Place on top of the ketchup.
-Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear.

Baked Potato Soup

Okay, so somewhere between time and space last week, I realized that I hadn't even thought to post recipes on this dang blog. A real lightbulb moment, eh? Cooking is something I love to do, and yet somehow that part of my life has not really been displayed here. A little insider information: most of my recipes are discovered from allrecipes.com or through other blogs I read. Rarely do I follow a recipe exactly.

Below is a wonderful potato soup recipe I found, that truly had a fantastic mouth-feel...perfectly creamy, not too thick and certainly not too watery. The latter have been found in other potato soup recipes I've tried, but have not liked. My tips will be in blue. And might I add that I cannot wait to make this again come Autumn! :)

Baked Potato Soup (4 servings)

Ingredients:
3 bacon strips, diced (Did an extra strip for the dog's treat ;)
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth (I used 4 c. and it came out fine)
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed (Plan ahead and save time...I purposefully had a dinner of chili and baked potatoes the night before. All I had to do was throw 2 additional ones in the oven, done!)
1 cup half-and-half cream
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (I omitted the hot sauce, but relished the non-chili spiciness of the black pepper instead)
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Minced fresh parsley

Directions:
In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. (I cheat time by using the microwave instead). Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. (Since getting drippings from a microwaved plate of bacon is messy, I put two pieces of uncooked bacon fat in the pot where the onion and garlic were sauted in. Also, no need to use multiple pans/pots. Keep it simple and utilize one big soup pot to saute the onion and garlic mixture. Then add the rest of the ingredients for your soup. One less thing to clean!) Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.

"Locavore"

The past few weeks of late spring have been filled with reading. I've been reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life" by Barbara Kingsolver and it's inspiring. I highly recommend this book. It's inspiring me to "think globally, act locally" especially as it relates to food in my life. How is this coming about? In very small steps, until before you know it, your entire surroundings have been changed.

Our surroundings have changed recently by growing herbs (basil, cilantro, garlic chives, and oregano) and just a few days ago a tomato plant. Not having any dedicated green space of our own to grow things bothers me, but it's forcing us to get creative in the process. Our balcony is where we're growing everything and its space is limited. We've decided to grow our tomatoes upside-down. I really hope it works! There are kits available or you can create your own (what we did). Anyways, with rising gas prices that affect every little thing, vegetable gardens are making a big comeback. It's one way to help lower your overall cost of food by growing it yourself. I think my husband's heard me say one too many times, "When we have land, I can't wait to grow _______."

Since it's painfully obvious that we won't be yielding much to feast upon, we're now setting our sights on local farmers and producers. In Kingsolver's book, she makes some great observations about the importance of where our food comes from and how it affects the global economy as a whole. I have to confess my ignorance about my foods' origins. Some of my produce needs a passport to get to my kitchen. The ramifications of that reflect in various ways: petrol use to cart the produce, human labor, freshness, flavor, and overall quality. That's why buying local matters. It allows farmers to continue their livelihood, keeps money in your county or state, saves overall petrol use, and better yet the food tastes more flavorful! You may have not realized this, but any type of produce is more nutritionally sound the fresher it is. According to the FDA, fresh produce will lose half or more of some of its vitamins within one to two weeks. In this case, time is health. Let's not waste it.

Like most people, money and budgeting for food is a priority in our household. Thankfully, I have not noticed a major difference in comparing what we would have paid for produce from our grocer versus from our local farmers market. And to be honest, a few extra quarters from my changepurse in exchange for supporting a local neighbor doesn't bother me in the least.

I could really go on and on about this topic, but I'll spare you the details and give you some links to peruse instead (as if I hadn't already given enough). I strongly encourage you to dig in and see what becoming a locavore is all about!

http://www.localharvest.org/
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/
http://www.sustainabletable.org/
http://www.foodroutes.org/

Confessions of a Food Junkie, Part 1

As of late, I have really been convicted of my eating habits and lack of physical activity. Well, it seems that everything has come to a head. I'd like to credit all of it to God for fitting in all of the pieces in a synergistic fashion.

Paved with good intentions
Growing up, I never had to worry about my weight or what I ate. In fact, obesity isn't an issue on either side of my family. But ever since becoming married, I succumbed to the "newlywed nine." Maybe it's unknowingly serving up myself a plate of the same portion that I dole out to my husband. Or since we've moved from a neighborhood to a condominium complex, I haven't been taking our dog on daily walks like I used to. Either way and for many more reasons than those, my clothes are ill-fitting. It dawned on me that the clothing industry will always provide a size of clothing to fit any shape I grow into or out of; i.e. there is no magical "ceiling" to stop me. I realized that I am an avid snacker too. Eating out of the box is such a bad habit for me! Nevermind the constant barrage of office parties or goodies that coworkers lure you with. And let's forget the fact that I majored in Health Promotion with a minor in Foods & Nutrition, geez...

So what caused a dramatic pause in my eating habits? Would you believe a section from my Bible study??

Flabbilicious and (not) loving it
I'm working through Shaunti Feldhahn's "For Women Only: what you need to know about the inner lives of men." Our theme for last week was entitled, "Keeper of the Visual Rolodex" which focused on men and the temptations they face since being so visually wired. I was quite shocked when on Day Five the focus shifted to the wife and her appearance. Huh? One of Shaunti's key points is that "a man wants to see that his wife cares enough about him to make an effort." Ouchie....all I seemed to be doing was complaining about my flabbiness with no effort to back it up. Not only do I want to be attractive to my husband, but I also need to respect my body according to God's standards.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body."

Romans 6:12-13, "Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God."

All-you-can-eat potlucks
Let's face facts, gluttony or overeating is something that the Church doesn't do a lot of talking about. (Can you imagine the squirming in the pews that would occur?) We hear about the problems of alcohol or drugs, but not necessarily those of food addiction. It comes down to a matter of self-control, which is one way others and yourself can see the Holy Spirit working in your life. Ironically, I think the first step is not only admitting to yourself that you struggle in the area of self-control, but also admitting it to others.

"Hi, my name is Megan and I'm an overeater."
I came clean with my addiction/lack of self-control the other night when my husband and I shared our prayer requests with each other. I also asked the girls in my Bible study for prayer. And while I don't have an accountability partner, I figure letting others know about it will only help me deal with the challenge.

Because I don't fit into the "all or nothing" mentality, I choose to make small, gradual changes instead. I've begun to incorporate more fruit in my diet. I actually adhere to the recommended serving size of a particular snack (so that's 3 tablespoons worth?). I even started keeping a list of "Things I've said 'No' to," like the Krispy Kreme glazed donuts gleaming at me in the staff meeting last week. "No" is a difficult word to say to my "old friends;" but I'm learning that if you never say "no," you'll never be able to say "yes" to a healthier body.

Cooking Withdrawal and Lessons from God

Good morning guys! It's been about three weeks now since I've had the opportunity to cook. Sure it's been a nice break, but I'm feeling rusty and need stretching. Plus, my dishes, pots & pans, and bakeware are dusty. Literally; from all of the sheetrock dustcloud that is our home. I don't know if I can still be labeled a newlywed, but as far as cooking skills are concerned, I still haven't gotten them down yet, i.e. it's still a struggle for me to monthly meal plan and cook a hearty meal every night.

For ladies who have traveling husbands like mine, it only makes my cooking frequency worse. He desires me to 'save' the meals he really likes during the month instead of cooking them while gone. I totally understand this, the only problem is, is that I end up having a meal plan deficit. Can anyone else relate to this?

But back to the post's title, I cannot wait to return to cooking and baking once the kitchen is completed. As I was organizing the new cabinets last night, I lustfully held each bag of flour, thinking of what tasty breads and cookies could be made. How bizarre is that?! Yes, I'd say you're certified insane if you're lusting after flour :) Thinking of a related quote by the great C.S. Lewis, "He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it, hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart."

Update: Brent just called and said our oven was hooked up and that I could cook tonight if I wanted. Ironically, the next thought I had was "Tonight? Too soon...." LOL!

I especially grew impatient when I read all the yummy things that Jess over at Making Home has been preparing prior to her son's birth. Those chicken pocket sandwiches sound really good. I definitely think we won't be lacking for homecooked food once the kitchen is done. Mainly because 1) we're tired of restaurant food and 2) we "owe" several meals to lots of our friends and both families. If anything, I continue to be amazed at how God provides through those we know in our time of need. We are truly blessed to have such generous and hospitable friends. Heck, we even owe showers to Adam and Amanda, lol.

God taught us some other lessons too; such as learning how fortunate we are compared with most of the world's people. Not having hot water for almost a week now has been a humbling experience. And over the weekend while we stayed with Brent's family, we dealt with getting very little sleep because of the cold. (Mind you, Brent's family does have heat, but we were staying in the (frigid) basement on an air mattress with only some light covering). We huddled as closely as we possibly could for any trace of heat, and I realize that that's a sad reality for lots of people. I am not in any way attempting to compare the depth of my experiences to those less fortunate or trivialize that. I am only saying that God showed me through the lack of daily conveniences I casually partake of, that I am blessed. Those teachable moments have gotten me beyond myself, and thinking of others in dire circumstances.

I know that one way God seems to get my attention is by taking away something or someone to show my great need and dependence for Him. To recognize the gifts, but more importantly the Giver.

Deuteronomy 8: 10-18, "When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath." (Emphasis mine).