Sweaty Bands

Learned a few things in San Diego

I spent a week with my dear friend Shannon in Coronado and learned a few things :)
 #1) Honeycrisp Apples are AMAZING!! With Shannon we walked to a farmer's market and bought local organic Honey Crisp Apples. She chopped them up and baked them with a little butter and cinnamon...delicious! When I got home I drove to Publix and purchased non-organic Honeycrisp Apples. I chopped them up and baked at 350 for about 40 minutes with about 3 TBS of butter and a few shakes of cinnamon. This is my new favorite sweet treat.

#2) You can use Cauliflower as a substitute for Rice. When I got home I made this stir-fry http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/05/05/recipe-farmers’-market-stir-fry/ with chicken and cauliflower instead of rice. I chopped up one head of cauliflower in pieces that could fit in my food processor. With the "grating" blade I grated all the cauliflower and nuked it covered in the microwave for 4 minutes. It was a great substitute and it passed one of the hardest tests (Erik)!

Cilantro

This is one herb I cannot grow successfully. I have talked to a local garden center and had my feelings of failure eased when they told me it is extremely hard to grow cilantro here in our climate. 

I did find a local Indian grocery store (Baymeadows and Southside near India's Restaurant) that sells a large bunch of Cilantro for only $0.50. At such a low cost I can afford to let some go to waste, but I still wanted to see if I could make it last longer. 

I put half of the bunch in the fridge in an open tupperware container it wilted within a few days. The other half I treated like celery. I cut off the bottoms of the stems and placed them in a glass of water (like flowers) and put that glass in the door of the fridge. Three weeks lated I still have crisp Cilantro!!

My Saturday Morning Routine

I now have a very enjoyable Saturday Morning Routine! For the last 4 weeks my wonderful neighbor and I have gone to the Jacksonville Farmer's Market on Beaver Street together and I couldn't think of a more enjoyable way to start the weekend. We have made a habit out of stopping for coffee and sometimes a bagel first. I really enjoy our conversations and feel so lucky to have developed such a great friendship with my next door neighbor!!

If you live in Jax and you haven't been to the Farmer's Market you are missing out!! There is one vendor with all organic produce, and you can actually buy Florida grown produce! It still amazes me that our grocery stores here rarely sell Florida Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Mangos, or Avocados.

Here is what I picked up today:

 1/2 lb. organic grapes, 3 organic apples, and an organic lemon= $8.00

 1 yellow onion, 1, red onion, 4 sweet potatoes, Cabbage= $3.00

 A HUGE bunch of romaine lettuce= $1.50

 3 containers of strawberries (which I will freeze for smoothies)= $3.00

 A large amount of Grape Tomatoes= $3.00

On the menu for dinner this week:

Cabbage Rolls- stuffed with organic brown rice, grass fed organic ground beef, and I will probably hide some of the carrots and zucchini I have in the fridge in there too. The red sauce I make for these is Sweet and Tangy with lemon juice and worcestershire sauce.

Grilled Chicken marinated with fresh basil, olive oil, garlic, onion, salt, and peppercorns. Served with sweet potato fries.

Pork Tenderloin and big salad.

With Erik's Tennis and my Small Group I only make dinner three nights a week, the other nights are left overs for me and mostly take out or an organic frozen pizza for Erik.

I am trying to get better about lunches, but that is still an area in which we struggle. So many of my friends want to connect at lunch and I end up eating out more than I should.

I am pretty good about making smoothies for us for breakfast. I usually put in frozen berries, yogurt, protein powder, local honey, kale, flaxseed oil (please don't tell Erik about the kale or flaxseed!), and a splash of milk.

Starting Point

  When I first stumbled on the 100 days of Real Food blog, I knew I believed in the majority of her ideas and decided to slowly make the change. After spending a sum of money that I am embarrassed to divulge on our home renovation and interior design, we are not at a financial point where I feel comfortable throwing out food.

I am going to put it all out there and let you see the good, the bad, and the ugly in my kitchen. Warning I did not clean before taking these pictures ;)

 Our Fridge! Top shelf: Bottle of Pepsi (the Hubby's addiction). A jar of Olive Oil Mayo and Best Life Buttery Spread. A jar of no sugar added Jelly, A bottle of Tonic Water (that I am mixing with juice to help break Hubby's soda addiction)
Second shelf: A bottle of White Wine, a Tupperware with washed and ready to consume Organic Kale, Organic low fat Milk, A small container of whole Milk (for the whole wheat pancakes I made),  Hiding behind the milk a bottle of Whipped Cream flavored Vodka, and a bottle of Cranberry Gingerale to mix with the vodka.
Deli Drawer: has a block of cheddar cheese, and a block of parmesan cheese
Third Shelf: Bowl of washed and ready to eat organic grapes, container of washed Figs, and Tupperware with leftover Jambalaya.
Fourth Shelf: Pomegranate Juice, my lettuce spinner 1/2 full of curly green lettuce. A 2nd container of washed organic Kale and some Cilantro.
Produce Drawer: A container of washed organic spinach, broccoli, 2 zucchini, and 3 carrots.
Meat Drawer: has 1lb. of fresh local shrimp, and filets from what I was told was a "Hog Fish" that was caught in the Keys with a spear. Soon after this picture I was planning to clean the shrimp and fish before moving them to the freezer, but I got lazy after washing all the produce from the farmers market and I ended up throwing all the seafood in the freezer.







Our Pantry! 
The Top Shelf: bags of Rice Chips and a bag of Doritos


Second Shelf: Almonds, Tuna, Salmon, Fresh Ground Peanut Butter, Newmans version of Oreos (not good!), Whole Wheat Pancake Mix, Dried Cranberries


Third Shelf: Salt, Sliced Almonds, Vinegar, Pistachios, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Almond Butter, Canned Soups. In Plastic Storage Container (all the glass bottles/jars so they don't fall and break) mason jar of local Honey from a friends backyard, Red Wine Vinegar, Tamari Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Sherry Cooking Wine












Our Counter Top.
Organic Apples, Campari Tomatoes, Limes, Local large Tomatoes, Organic Pears, Florida Orange, and Green Peppers.

Introduction

I am a 30 something House Wife who gets the privilege of attending a few births a month as a doula. I am trying to provide Real Food for my 40 something hard working, handsome husband. We have struggled with fertility issues for several years and I also blog about that journey: http://wishing--hoping--praying.blogspot.com/ 

I am going to use this blog to document my efforts to slowly move towards being a "Real Food" household. The idea for this change came from this blogger: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/real-food-defined-a-k-a-the-rules/. I highly recommend her blog and so far every recipe I have tried that she has suggested has been very tasty!