And I Did it Without a Single Stick of Butter, Yaaawwwl!
For the last oh, five-ish(?) months Rhonda and I have been really adamant about cooking at home. A stark contrast to our old lifestyle of, "What are we ordering in for dinner tonight, Honey?" Beyond that we've been extremely aware of what we're putting in our bodies (for health reasons), which is forcing us to be less lazy about where we get our food. We've fallen in love with farmer's market produce and grains. It's amazing how different spinach straight from the farm tastes compared to spinach in a bag from the grocery store. Not to mention, I feel so much better about handing my money to my hard working rural neighbors instead of a grocery chain. I do try to buy local as much as I can and this is one very easy (and much healthier) way to do that.
Not only does this new lifestyle require that we get up off our butts on the weekends to hit the farmer's markets, but it also requires that we do something with all of those amazing farmer's market goods. I've put in a lot of hours looking up recipes and nutrition info. As an unexpected side effect I'm discovering that I genuinely enjoy preparing our meals most nights. I'm having a lot of fun doing the research, coming up with ideas and experiments, executing them and finding out that these concoctions are really quite tasty. And when all is said and done, I FEEL BETTER. My body feels better for excluding everything processed from my diet, and my spirit feels better for the knowledge I'm gaining as well as the validation for rockin' out some seriously amazing dishes. There's nothing better than putting in some effort, to receive floods of positive feedback. And last night's concoction was no exception. I sifted through about 20 different turkey loaf recipes to get an idea of what ingredients were staples and what ingredients were interchangeable. Then I sat down and wrote out a recipe full of tastes that Rhonda and I love, being sure to include specific nutrients our bodies needed (I was in desperate need of a protein + iron kick last night). And thus, the Turkey Spinach Roll/Loaf Thing was created.
*Click the recipe for a larger, reader & printer friendly view.
OMG, you guys... it's SO GOOD. I went nuts over every bite last night, and I just devoured it for my lunch today.
"Oooooooooooohhhh!"
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!"
"Aaaaaawwww Yeeeeaaaahhh!"
Not only does this new lifestyle require that we get up off our butts on the weekends to hit the farmer's markets, but it also requires that we do something with all of those amazing farmer's market goods. I've put in a lot of hours looking up recipes and nutrition info. As an unexpected side effect I'm discovering that I genuinely enjoy preparing our meals most nights. I'm having a lot of fun doing the research, coming up with ideas and experiments, executing them and finding out that these concoctions are really quite tasty. And when all is said and done, I FEEL BETTER. My body feels better for excluding everything processed from my diet, and my spirit feels better for the knowledge I'm gaining as well as the validation for rockin' out some seriously amazing dishes. There's nothing better than putting in some effort, to receive floods of positive feedback. And last night's concoction was no exception. I sifted through about 20 different turkey loaf recipes to get an idea of what ingredients were staples and what ingredients were interchangeable. Then I sat down and wrote out a recipe full of tastes that Rhonda and I love, being sure to include specific nutrients our bodies needed (I was in desperate need of a protein + iron kick last night). And thus, the Turkey Spinach Roll/Loaf Thing was created.
*Click the recipe for a larger, reader & printer friendly view.
OMG, you guys... it's SO GOOD. I went nuts over every bite last night, and I just devoured it for my lunch today.
"Oooooooooooohhhh!"
"Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!"
"Aaaaaawwww Yeeeeaaaahhh!"