Saturday, June 12, 2010

Fresher Better

You all know by now that I have been trying to live greener and healthier. I have made as many adjustments to our diet as our bank account will allow. All I gotta say is HEALTHY/ORGANIC FOOD AIN'T CHEAP! But I decided that we could eat "normal" portions and that can help offset some of the costs, we are huge over eaters so limiting portions can do a lot for us (including our waist lines)! But on top of eating organic I have tried to eat as much fresh food as possible. And on top of THAT I try eat as much raw (or minimally cooked) fruits and veggies as possible too. Ive learned that local fruits and veggies are even better! Our farmers market as been pretty good at helping me out lately, I wish we had a better farmers market, but I will take what i can get. My most favorite weekly purchase at the market is farm fresh eggs. They are cage free, no antibiotics, organic (but not certified), some of them are even green, and they are AWESOME! I have always been scared of the idea of going outside picking a freshly laid egg going inside and cracking it. It just freaks me out! But I decided since i haven't seen the chickens, and i didn't collect the eggs myself, I could give it a try. And i am super super excited I did. They are so yummy!

Ive also started growing my own herbs. I started thinking I just wanted rosemary, but I went ahead and got basil and cilantro too. I thought I would use them in this order: rosemary, basil, cilantro. In fact the order is basil, cilantro, then far far behind is rosemary. I think I have only used rosemary 3-4 times. I use either basil and/or cilantro every single day! Breakfast lunch dinner it doesn't matter! I cant call them organic because I didn't buy organic herbs, and stupid me planted them in miracle grow potting soil! But I have not and will not spray them with any sort of pesticide. In fact I am testing out a little garlic/pepper spray on them to help with the small bug problem I have. Hopefully it will work!

I have also started making my own marinades, so far the difference yet again is so ridiculously huge! I cant even compare them to bottled marinades, and that is not because I am such a great cook and all! My favorite right now is a combination of balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, salt, and pepper. I don't follow any sort of recipe i just mix it all up until it smells and tastes good. Do any of you have a fresh marinade/sauce that you like?

It makes me happy to know that my girls eat healthy foods, and the foundation that we are laying for them is a good one. What makes me even happier is that they LOVE the food! It also makes me happy when we sit down to eat dinner and the amount of organic ingredients outnumber the non-organic.

2 comments:

Brenda said...

There's a great herb farm at the Agricenter called Patsy's Herb Farm. She's usually outside in front and very helpful.

Rachel said...

We are working on this too!! Robert is on board but trying to get him to "see the light"....both of us really! We are soda junkies.

Good luck and good idea on the marinade didn't even think of that. Going to have to try it. And read here more often for ideas...keep em up! I always could use them!