Friday, December 4, 2009

Food Journey Friday... finally begun!

It has been quite a day. Ryan's family has our little man, so I have been all-by-myself-ALL-DAY-LONG.

It was crazy at first. I had no idea what to do with myself. But I managed to take a nap and do quite a bit of work around the house. I also cooked a scrumptious dinner... which brings us back to the topic at hand: FOOD JOURNEY FRIDAY!! (echo echo, cheers from the crowd, etc.)

Today I took on mission 1 from my happy hippie: NO high fructose corn syrup, olive oil preferable to butter, limit off the shelf products, and use what you have.

I am happy to report about my delicious cauliflower soup. It contains:

1. NO high fructose corn syrup- yay! I don't miss it.
2. Butter... olive oil just wasn't cutting it (taste wise) for this meal. However, there are no other icky hydrogenated oils. Ultimately I would like to have raw butter, but I will explore that later.
3. Some shelf v. fresh ingredients. Fresh: cauliflower, carrots, turnip, onion. Packaged: butter, milk, half and half, sour cream, broth, and spices. Next time I would change: I would try to make my own broth with chicken or turkey bones.
4. ALL ingredients I already had!!! Big check-plus on this one. I literally used only items I already had. I was very proud of this fact. It was extremely frugal!


I am very pleased with the outcome! It is so cold here today, so a soup (with a sandwich for my hubby) will be just perfect for a date-night in. I am slowly but surely trying to make small changed for a healthier lifestyle. I think this is a step in the right direction!

As for mission number 2, I am in the process. I haven't done much shopping this week, due to traveling and such with Ryan, but the opportunities I have had to check the ingredients, I have taken. It has been very good for me to have to actually pay attention to what is in my food! I realize that so many of the packaged items we pick up are just full of JUNK that in no way benefits our bodies. Even if I am only able to change slowly and over time, checking the ingredient list will be helpful since it will deter me from certain products (HFCS, hydrogenated oils, and the like). I am grateful for this mission and plan on using it every week as I shop. It will help me to make wise choices. Thanks, hippie!!

So, that's Food Journey Friday for now. It's a marathon for me... not a sprint. But I am grateful for food, for a healthy body, for a God who created all of it, and for a sweet friend who is going to help me make lifestyle changes for the better. We have much ground to cover. I hope you'll stay tuned!

1 comment:

  1. Hooray! Good job! Sounds like you nailed the cost-effectiveness of healthy cooking for that first one. Way to go!

    And the second one becomes a habit. I've been doing it for so long, that it's like breathing or blinking. I do it without thinking any time I take something off the shelves. It's a fun and enlightening journey, I assure you. It feels good to take conscious responsibility for how we treat our bodies, too.

    I'm looking forward to doing this with you again next week!

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