Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I'm sitting here, drinking a canned Creme Soda, which is my all-time fave soda. I know I shouldn't, but...I am. I'm sleepy. They're there. They normally aren't there, because I had stopped buying them as a baby step in trying to be healthier family. We had actually gotten pretty good about it. I had maybe a caffeinated drink or two on the weekends, and Isaac was really cutting back on his coffee, sometimes even going days without it! But, I sorta fell off the wagon a little. So it got me thinking as a I sit here, getting ready to make my meal plan for June. (I know, this is a big detour, but I've gotten much quicker at meal planning!) How far have we come? Have I really made changes? Or am I still eating just as badly as before?

Now, I have tried to take it one day at a time, and not let myself get so discouraged by little failures that I just throw in the proverbial towel. I think I've done pretty good about that. And, in all honesty, I think that attitude has made all the difference. I'm allowing myself this small failure of soda at the moment (no justification!) yet I am still planning healthy meals simultaneously. I'm forging ahead, continually choosing whole, real foods to our ever-maturing diet. I decided to do an encouraging assessment of progress.

We no longer buy processed snacks - even if they're on sale.
We buy only organic milk and eggs.
We buy only whole grain pastas and breads.
I cook with lots of beans.
I try to make our meal 2/3 veggies - and our taste buds are following quite nicely!
We buy more locally, when possible.
We buy grass-fed local beef.
We buy organic when possible. (Now, organic=expensive, but there are certain foods where it's important, and others where it's not as important, so I cut corners for now.)
I make a monthly menu plan and cook every night we're home.
We drink lots of water.
We started recycling.

Now, these represent a lot of big changes to me. We used to eat convenience foods, and we hardly ever cooked. If we did, it was nothing great. I disliked most veggies, but have come to crave them! Your taste buds really do change (thank goodness!). We love the flavor difference in organic dairy, and have fallen in love with rye bread. There are still so many things I'm striving towards, but I know it will be a process. This is not an overnight change, and it will require many small steps.

I'm about to embark on baking my own breads. We have a large veggie garden that I plan on canning/preserving from the harvest. I want to start a real compost bin. I want to find a local farmer to provide us with chicken. I want to begin making our own cheese, yogurt and kefir. I want to soak more of our foods to aid digestion. In the distant future, I'd love to have our own chickens and maybe even a dairy cow. (Raw milk!)

I am enjoying this part of our self-sustaining journey very much, even with its ups and downs. It's so satisfying to know I'm changing my family's health for the better. Plus, I love that I'm becoming a better cook! It's also been interesting to see what God has shown me in this process. I began to be overwhelmed initially because I felt like I had so far to go, and that we'd never make it there. But then I realized the baby step process I needed to follow, and that, if I allowed it, eating healthy could become an idol. I decided immediately I would not allow myself to be overwhelmed, burdened or stressed by this process. I would enjoy it, learn and probably fail along the way. But as long as I pick myself up, and keep going, I think my effort is worthwhile. Now, it's time to finish my meal plan, but first, I'll go put this soda can in the newly used recycle bin.

Hello Dolly!

(Note: This is actually an older post...I thought I posted it awhile back, only to discover it was only a draft!)

My new All-American pressure canner came and I am really looking forward to using her! (Yes, it's a girl, and her name is Dolly.) I won't degrade my children by saying she's a new member of the family, but she will definitely be loved, respected and cared for. I chose the 21 1/2 quart because it seemed like the most practical for the cost. I can do 7 quarts at once, or 19 pints. It can also be used as a water bath canner, and as a pressure cooker for roasts and such. I didn't know that you could cook multiple foods at once in a pressure cooker without them taking on each other's flavors, did you? Interesting...

Anyway, I am planning a few pre-harvest recipes to familiarize myself with the canner. I don't want to be working out the kinks and have a learning curve when there's 20 pounds of tomatoes on the line. I would much rather mess up a small batch of strawberry preserves. That is the first thing I'm going to can. (Now, I know that my purpose in this is preserving in-season, yada yada yada, but I'm not concerning myself with that right now. I'm just learning. Plus, the only thing technically 'in season' right now are greens.) I also need to select something for regular pressure canning, because the water bath is a different technique, and I want to have tried both at least once.

Garden plans are in the works, news and pictures to come very soon!

Sweet Potato Burritos

So, this one isn't a baked good! Well, I mean, technically you have to put it in the oven. But it doesn't have chocolate or sugar or butter...oh, wait! Now I've lost your interest! Come back, it's a delicious recipe, I promise. Plus, it's super easy, and that doubles its point value in my book. I've made it twice now, although not exactly according to recipe. (I do that a lot, don't I?) Anyway, it calls for kidney beans, and I used great northern the first time. And this time I had bought a bag of kidney beans with lofty plans of beginning the soaking journey. But, then I forgot. So...I used black beans, because I had 20 cans of them I got for 16 cents. (Yes, I love the Grocery Game.) Well, I'm sure kidney beans are all well and good, but I loooove me some black beans. So, I still plan on trying the recipe as is one day, but I have a feeling I'll keep using the black beans.

I got this wonderful recipe from allrecipes.com, which is fun. I'm always looking for new things to try. I've read the average family cooks the same 21 meals over and over again. I don't fall in that catagory... I also like cooks.com, crock-pot.com, epicurious.com, foodnetwork.com, and tasteofhome.com.

Sweet Potato Burritos

Oh, and it supposedly freezes well too. We've got a half dozen in the freezer right now, so I guess I'll find out soon! Hope ya'll enjoy this one as much as we have :)

My favorite things (giveaway)

As you know, I love to bake. I have recently begun cooking more creatively and this has been a fun venture! There are a few things I just can't do without in the kitchen, and I thought you might like to know what they were. After all, I consider them indispensable.

First and foremost is my beloved KitchenAid Mixer 600 Professional. This is one of the best gifts I have ever received, hands-down! It mixes sooo much batter without blinking. (Well, if it had eyes.) I have made quadruple cookie batches in it, which is one of the reasons I wanted one so badly. I rarely make a single batch of anything, so this comes in quite handy. Believe it or not, I own no attachments, and I don't have any I'm dying for. I wanted this mixer for its brute mixing strength. :)

Second is my collection of stoneware from the Pampered Chef. I don't even own any metal bakeware. (I don't think...I need to go through my cabinets and get rid of what I don't use...it's on The List.) I currently own 16 pieces and my 4 cookie sheets of various sizes are my faves. Well, I do like the muffin and loaf pans for banana bread, which the boys love and I bake often. They are heavy and slightly cumbersome (I really loathe the way they scrape when I have to dig out a less-used one from the bottom of a stack.) but the baking quality and consistency is well worth any trouble in my humble opinion. These are available from other manufacturers, but I've never used one and don't know much about them.

Now, I don't know how much any of you roll out dough, but if you do, you need this. The flour/sugar shaker, once again from the Pampered Chef (no, I'm not a rep, nor do I know one) is wonderful. I have 3, actually. One for flour, one for powdered sugar when I'm dusting, and also one for cinnamon and sugar. It sprinkles nice and evenly, light or heavy, so when you're rolling out dough you don't have big globs of flour that will dry it out or just look ugly. *gasp*

I've mentioned the cookie scoop before (yup, from PC again) and they come in 3 sizes. I use the smallest one for cookies usually, but the medium and large are nice for special occasion, giant cookies. I also use them for just about anything that needs consistent measuring. Muffins, cupcakes, pancakes...you name it. They take so much work out of baking cookies. I seriously wouldn't bother if I had lost my scoop. They just wouldn't get made until I bought another one! Once you try it, you'll wonder how you lived without it. I've seen these other places and by other brands, but I've never tried them. I imagine a good quality one would still be satisfactory, but that's just an assumption.

Pampered Chef also has 2 micro cookers. I have both sizes and these are great for quick cooking. I use them constantly for the boys' lunches. And for dinner. And veggies. And melting butter. There isn't much you can't do with these and they're wonderful because you don't have to babysit something in the microwave.

And last, but certainly not least is my Rada peeler. This little baby will make peeling fruits and veggies fun - seriously. Ok, well maybe not if you 20 pounds of potatoes, but it would definitely bring less insanity that using a knife! I've never - never- used a peeler this good. Maybe it's because it's a patented design, who knows, but this tiny thing is fantastic. I use it for everything, soft or hard, it doesn't matter. The only think I don't love is that it's not dishwasher safe. :( But I consider it a small price to pay...

Ok, everyone, now here's your reward for reading this entire post! I'm having my first giveaway! I was going to do the Rada peeler, but then I couldn't decide if I should do the cookie scoop instead. Sigh. So I'm not deciding - you are! Enter to win by leaving me a comment, and the winner gets to choose the peeler or scoop. I will select a winner this Sunday, February 14th at midnight, so enter by then!

Italian-Style Pot Roast

I made this yummy recipe the other night and it was delicious! Isaac really enjoyed it, and I like that it took me about 5 minutes to make. : ) Since my friend was looking for some good recipes, I thought if I was going to type it up, I might as well share with all of you! It's from a little boxed set of recipes available from avon (enter Belinda Perpall as your rep!). I made some adjustments per my taste, which I will put in parentheses next to the original amounts. I like lots of spices...

Italian-Style Pot Roast

2 tsp minced garlic (2 Tbl)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil (2 tsp)
1 tsp dried oregano (2 tsp)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (1 tsp)
1 boneless beef bottom round rump or chuck shoulder roast (about 2½ -3 pounds)
1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced (I just used diced frozen ones that I always have on hand)
1½ Cups tomato-basil or marinara pasta sauce (I used plain tomato sauce that I added basil to.)
2 cans (15 oz each) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 C shredded fresh basil

1. Combine garlic, salt, basil, oregano and pepper flakes in small bowl; rub over roast.
2. Place half of onion slices into 3-7 quart Crock Pot slow cooker, cutting roast in half if necessary. Top with remaining onion and pour pasta sauce over roast. Cover; cook on LOW 8-9 hours or until roast is fork-tender.
3. Remove roast to cutting board; tent with foil. Let liquid in slow cooker stand 5 minutes to allow fat to rise. Skim off fat. (not sure how successful I was at this part.)
4. Stir beans into liquid. Cover; cook on HIGH 15 to 30 minutes or until beans are hot. Carve roast across the grain into thin slices. Serve with bean mixture and fresh basil.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Hope you enjoy!