It all began with Hulu . . .

A few weeks ago, my husband was having a rare guys' night in the living room - we normally go out on the weekends.  In an effort to give the boys some privacy and because I was EXHAUSTED from a rough week at work I headed to our bedroom after eating some BWW's - classy and healthy, I know - to do a little web browsing.  I recently re-discovered Hulu after a long stretch in which I watched only television shows that began with "The Real Housewives of ______."  (pretty much every city except for Chicago).  I always love a little "Wife Swap," as well.  Anyway, I am a huge fan of documentaries about food - food production, healthy eating, big food-related developments, etc.  Enter "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead." The official website and a movie trailer can be found HERE, aptly named Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead Dot Com. 

The description was interesting enough and I love good drama ("600 lb. Mom"; "Toddlers and Tiaras"; "Tabitha Takes Over" etc.), so I gave it a try.  I'm not kidding when I say that it really made an impact on me. The premise of the movie is this: (from IMDB.com): 

100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn't end well- with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn't far behind. FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe's personal mission to regain his health. With doctors and conventional medicines unable to help long-term, Joe turns to the only option left, the body's ability to heal itself. He trades in the junk food and hits the road with juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for the next 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe has one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle.

The movie is inspiring and hopeful, without being corny and judgy.  I realize that I am probably a little late to the juicing party, but I am a big fan now that I'm here.  

Of course, after watching the movie and boring my husband (and our houseguests) with the uncut summary - including multiple verbatim quotes about micronutrients, absorption and anti-inflammatory vegetables, I woke up the next morning with but one thought in my head: I have to get a juicer.  I am not an impulsive person - my husband would disagree, but I am really not that impulsive - the qualifier makes it better.  After doing a little internet research, pretending to ask permission to go look at juicers and shopping a few on Craig's List, I decided that Bed Bath and Beyond was my best bet.  I, of course, told myself that I  was just going to look, since it is super close to our favorite grocery stores: Aldi and Trader Joe's.  Big mistake :). 

I practically ran from the parking garage to BB&B and made a beeline for the food processing/juicer section.  There it was:  

I even ran into a woman in the juice section who saw me mulling over my juicer purchase and asked if I was buying the Juice Fountain Plus.  I answered, "Actually yes, I saw this great movie last night --" Woman: "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead?"  Me: "Yes!"  It was like we were soulmates. Soulmates who juice and run - she noticed my running clothes and we started talking about Chicago races.  It was like meeting my long lost workout buddy.  Anyway, so after that practically religious juicer experience, I took the juicer with me - yes, I was too excited to take it to the parking garage before picking up my groceries - to the grocery store, where I bought about $30 worth of juice-able vegetables.  It was lovely.  

After that, I headed home to do some juicing.  I realize how nerdy it is to get excited about juicing, so, I invited my friend, Sarah, to join me. I figured that I could at least be nerdy with someone else.  She's not a huge vegetable/fruit lover so when she showed up with a single apple to contribute I was incredibly amused - and appreciative.  :) We then spent the next few hours coming up with some truly bizzare and delicious juice combinations.  My personal favorite: carrot, tomato, ginger, apple and cabbage.  Yes, cabbage.  That has to be the strangest part about this whole juicing thing.  I really like to add cabbage.  Here's why: I don't regularly eat cabbage, which happens to be an incredibly good source of 

Vitamins

• Vitamin A
• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin B12
• Folic Acid
• Niacin
• Riboflavin
• Thiamin
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin K

and 

Minerals

• Calcium
• Copper
• Iron
• Manganese
• Magnesium
• Phosphorus
• Potassium
• Selenium
• Zinc
• Sodium

I've been juicing regularly - as a supplement to what I consider an already pretty healthy diet - for about 2 weeks, now.  I still get a vegetable "buzz" right after I have my morning juice and I feel like my eyes instantly pop open.  I feel more alert and as if it is easier to process information - especially in the morning.  This morning, I had a pretty gnarly combination of celery, cabbage, carrots, tomato, lemon, ginger and spinach.  Not good.  I felt good, though, and didn't get hungry until about mid-afternoon.  Even in the absence of vegetable fiber - which is still important - I stayed full.  I won't stop eating veggies and fruits in their whole forms, but juicing creates an incentive to quickly and efficiently consume nutrients from fruits and vegetables that I wouldn't typically consume on an average morning.  While I'm not ready to completely abandon my Frosted Mini Wheats, I think that there is something to be said for cramming as many fruits and vegetables as possible into every meal.  I think I'm going to be a big fan of juicing.  So far, so good.  

p.s. my husband does not believe that my hair is growing like crazy as a result of all of these vitamins.  It's true!! 

Stepping up . . .

on my soapbox about couponing.  Ask any of my friends, I love a good sale.  What is more, I do not believe in paying full retail price for anything.  I think that most of the time, retailers make their profits on those who refuse to wait until something goes on sale and/or those who plan their lives/purchases poorly, so that they are forced to buy in a rush.  Harsh?  Well, it's your money, so spend as you wish.

I guess I'm going to have to lay it all out from the beginning so as to avoid offending those who assume that I am judging those who coupon.  I don't.  My parents used coupons from the time that I was a very young child.  I remember the 'coupon box.'  It was a big, grey, plastic tackle-looking box containing coupons sorted by aisle and food type for Kroger.

This was THE coupon box. :)


My parents even went so far as to carefully unpack their groceries, all the while comparing their purchases to the receipt and to their lists.  They knew how to save money and still do.  They also bought healthy items with coupons and saw no need to pick up sugary juices and fruit snacks just because a retailer gave them coupons.  The point: I do not judge you if you coupon.  I judge you if you use your coupons to buy foods that have zero nutritional value, which I find is often the case for items purchased with coupons.  I also judge you if you compulsively use coupons to purchase things that you don't need.

If that isn't enough (and if you're still reading) here are my other problems with obsessive couponing:

• It encourages overspending. 
• It encourages hoarding-type behavior. 
• It encourages people to stockpile preservative-laden, chemically modified "food" that is not really food at all.  
• On a related note: it encourages obesity. 
• It encourages health problems related to the consumption of food of little to no nutritional value - thus causing hidden costs to individuals who think that they are saving money by buying cheaper "food" - or, worse, causing increased costs to tax payers who not only purchase the food (if individuals receive government assistance) but who also pay for some portion of those individuals' health care costs. 

I think that smarter shopping is the absolute answer to lowering families' food costs.  I guess that the reason I am so passionate about this is that many coupon advocates say that healthy food is more expensive and rely on coupons to get whatever they can cheaply.  However, the system cannot continue to work that way.  I understand that politicians and advocates have addressed this problem from various sides, framing the issue in terms of "food deserts" in large urban areas without grocery stores, the high cost of vegetables and fruits because of the expense of moving food from point A to point B and even, a few, encouraging individuals to take personal responsibility for their food choices.

Here is the solution: you have to be creative.  In our case, it kills me to walk into our local chain grocery store and walk out with over a hundred dollars worth of food in a single grocery bag because of the high markup on food in the city.  However, we've gotten creative.  We are lucky to have an Aldi very close to us.  If you are not familiar with Aldi, it is a discount supermarket chain based in Albrecht, Germany. Aldi stands for Albrecht Discount.  Its business model is simple: no frills.  The stores are clean, spacious and well-stocked.  However, a lot of the expensive displays and fixtures that you see at other large grocery stores are not present.  I never went to Aldi as a child because my parents preferred other grocery stores - and the Aldi in our hometown was less convenient than Wal-Mart/Kroger, etc.  However, my husband introduced me to Aldi shortly after we moved to Chicago and one was built relatively close to our apartment.

I say ALL of this to say that Aldi doesn't take coupons, but I would be willing to bet that I save more in a year than someone who stockpiles two liters, cat food and hand soap.  Photos like this:
  (which I have to say is not the worst I've seen) and blogs like: THIS kind of gross me out.  The reason? If you look closely, many of these individuals purchase items that have zero nutritional value.  Items like salad dressing, Gatorade, M&Ms, fruit juices, fruit snacks and processed meats (from what I can gather from the photo above) do nothing for you nutritionally.  If nothing else, couponers are sabotaging themselves and their families by buying junk.  Salad dressing has loads of fat, sugar, hydrogenated oils and chemical preservatives.  Meats like sausage contain nitrates, sodium - which contributes to high blood pressure and heart disease - and animal byproducts.  The list goes on.  I'm not saying that it is easy to completely avoid processed foods - nor am I saying that we do that - but it always helps to cut out processed foods that you can live without - like sugary fruit snacks and fruit juices.  Why not eat fruit?  This leads me to my next point:

Many individuals complain that fruits and vegetables are expensive.  In many cases, they're right.  Part of this is because most junk food is made of corn in some way shape or form, which is supported by government subsidies that make corn and its products (corn is in everything) cheap.  However, this is where farmers' markets, gardens and discount grocery stores come into play.  Thus, Aldi is part of the reason that I don't buy any excuse for eating junk.  Aldi sells junk in addition to good food. Cheap junk.  It also sells incredibly cheap, high-quality produce.  Even when we start getting our weekly bushels of veggies from the farmers' market, we use Aldi for fruits and other vegetables that are less common to this area of the country.

As of late, I have noticed photos of stockpiled soap, Mountain Dew 2-liters and Froot Loops invading my Facebook newsfeed.  Just as I almost convinced myself that getting something ANYTHING for nothing, has to be great, right??  Wrong.  I don't think so.  To see whether I am really 'missing out', the last time I went to the grocery store, I kept track of our receipt and when we returned home, I laid out everything on the counter - for a moment,  I almost felt like a couponer.

The total cost? $38.97 for about two weeks worth of groceries.  This is a pretty typical shopping trip for us.  While we do have some processed items - cereal, lunch meat, cheese - the bulk of our haul is fruit and vegetables.  The point? We save a lot of money by avoiding more costly items - even if we could get them for next to nothing.  Do I need Capri Sun (or even want it)? No.  Do I need name brand cereal? No.  Do I need 50 bottles of dishwashing soap? No.  I live with one other person, not the Brady Bunch.  

I suppose that the moral of the story, among other things, is that sometimes getting something for nothing is not worth it.  Cheap/free sugary and nutritionally-deficient foods are not something to strive for - they should be avoided at all costs.  It just isn't worth it.  

Happy Monday!

I know that it's Monday . . . but since everything is in bloom and the air is getting warm, the weeks go by faster and faster, making it easier to tolerate these quick weeks filled with work and days spent inside.

This weekend, I did two things I've never done before: ran 13.1 miles (a half marathon) and I made French bread from scratch - admittedly, an odd pair of hobbies, but I've been trying to make the most of my weekends and my work/life balance.  The 13.1 wasn't pretty, but I did it.  I feel far more confident about the actual marathon I'm registered to run next Sunday in Chicago.  I'm actually starting to get very excited.  It also didn't hurt that the weather today was perfect for running - moments of sun interspersed with lots of fog and mist close to Lake Michigan.  My new iPhone app is great, too.  I don't have to use an adapter to track my distance/calories/pace.  Instead, GPS keeps up with my location.  My only wish is that I could run Spotify in conjunction with the app, rather than running them separately.  In short, looking forward to getting after it next weekend.

As far as the bread goes, I get tired of buying bread from the store all of the time and love the fresh bread that we get from Bennison's bakery at the farmers' market each week during the summer.  However, as I was flipping through my go-to cookbook: I decided that the bread chapter - often under-utilized - was worth a second look.  I will save you the boring parts and the ridiculous stickiness and messiness associated with baking French bread - although, it is supposed to be one of the easier ones - and suffice it to say, that my favorite part will be eating the bread.  Though, I did love when the bread went from the size of a softball to something more like this:

 Which I then got to "punch" down.  Way fun.  Of course, the 90 seconds of fun that I had punching it down did not compare to the half an hour of cleaning flour off of every surface in my kitchen when my Kitchen Aid mixer decided to reject the enormous ball of dough.  "Ruby," as I like to call her, needs to toughen up.  No hard feelings, Ruby.  I just didn't appreciate being covered in flour. I digress. 

So after the punching and dividing and rising, etc., the loaves looked like this: 

That's cornmeal (well, actually it is bread crumbs because I am out of corn meal) on the pan.  After more rising, the loaves looked like this: 

 

Okay, enough with the pre-bread documentation. 

Anyway, so the bread ended up looking like this.

I hope it tastes good . . .  I must admit that halfway through this process, I was ready to call my dad and ask if we could borrow his bread maker, as this process is tedious.  However, I will not stop until I learn how to make pretzel bread - my personal favorite. All in all, a very successful weekend. 

Healthy Eating: Salsa

I know I've blogged about the ridiculous amount of vegetables my husband and I eat on a daily/weekly basis.  While I absolutely love veggies, eating them the same way all of the time can get incredibly boring.  Enter: Trader Joe's.  I fell in love with Trader Joe's fresh salsa while at a birthday party for one of our friends.  It was so fresh and tart that I could not drag myself away from the food table.  Earlier this week, as I was doing our weekly grocery shopping, I ran across the salsa in the hummus/semi-fresh pasta/pizza dough refrigerated case at TJ's.  As I reached for it, I stopped to look at the ingredients: apple cider vinegar, cilantro, tomatoes, peppers, etc.  All of it was real food - which is very important to me & my husband.  I decided that I could make it more cheaply and probably even a little more healthily than TJ's.

For my fresh salsa, I chopped 3/4 of an onion, a green pepper, two small vine tomatoes and added a can of rinsed black beans.  I topped it all with apple cider vinegar - I didn't measure, but instead just poured as I added the veggies to the container.  The total cost of TJ's 12 oz container is about $2.99.  The cost of my 64 oz of salsa: $2.00.  The breakdown is about $.24 an ounce versus $.04 an ounce - for over five times the amount of healthy, low sodium, natural salsa.  The best part: it tastes great added to an arugula salad as dressing.  The black beans make it extra filling, as well.

I am a firm believer that cooking and buying smarter is much more affordable than couponing . . . which leads me to my next blog post.

Gross - you should read this.

No really.  If you don't think about where your food comes from, you very well should: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/top-10-reasonsbr-to-avoid_b_1201560.html

Sunday = Pie Day

 

My husband made a chicken pot pie because we decided it was too cold to leave the house today. 

It was my idea to use the remaining dough to make mini blueberry, banana & pecan pies. 

Favorite iPhone App: Fooducate

If you've never used this app, you're missing out.  About three months ago, my dear friend, Dr. Al, told me about this app.  I did not expect that it would change so much about the way that I eat.  I kind of can't believe that it is free.

Here's how it works: When you scan the bar codes of your favorite foods, it pops up to let you know what is in them and whether there are better alternatives.  Fooducate particularly hates foods with lots of sodium, artificial colors/ingredients and sugar -- as it should.  PLUS, my personal favorite, it makes this really cool beeping noise when you scan things.  I'm easily amused. I'm embarrassed to say that one evening, my husband and I spent the better part of an hour scanning the items in our refrigerator and in our cabinets.  So. Much. Fun.  I love knowing what I'm eating.  I've always cared about what I put in my body -- though that does not stop me from eating candy corn.  This puts my food choices in perspective and makes it easier to substitute certain foods that have no nutritional value for better selections.

Learn more HERE.

Loves: The Spice House

I love The Spice House.  It is without a doubt one of my favorite places in Chicago.  One of my first Christmas gifts from my husband pre-Chicago, was a gift box with canisters of Chicago neighborhood-themed spices: 
Old World Central Street Seasoning, Old Taylor Street Cheese Sprinkle, Lake Shore Drive Seasoning, Bronzeville Rib Rub. Thus, my love for Spice House was born.  


We actually stopped by there over the weekend and picked up some White Truffle Salt.  AMAZING. 
The website describes the salt this way: The rich, earthy flavor of truffles makes even simple scrambled eggs gourmet, but truffles can be hard to find and prohibitively expensive. This rare salt is made in Perugia, Italy, from fine Guerande sea salt and flakes of pure truffle. It is intensely aromatic - a tiny pinch is enough to flavor your dish. Use sparingly with egg and vegetable dishes, potatoes, risotto, soup, poultry, or fish. Great on french fries! A very upscale classic hotel in Chicago serves popcorn popped in truffle oil and salted with truffle salt that is really delicious.


It's wonderful.  We added it to some Brussels sprouts - which we are obsessed with right now -- and sauteed them with lemon peel and a couple of pinches of the salt.  


Another of my favorites is Gateway to the North Maple Seasoning.  It is versatile enough to go with salmon, chicken, broccoli and even on top of popcorn.  Delicious.  


We've definitely been inspired more than once by all of the spices and baking accouterments at the Spice House.  In fact, I picked up Vanilla Strawberry Sugar for my oatmeal and sugar cookies this weekend, as well.  Yum!  

Oh, hi? I win.

Being married is fun.  You know what is just as fun as being married? Being right.  Generally, attorneys prefer to be right. I consider myself in the happy-medium group -- who like to be right only 95% of the time.  It's just my personality.

I have a bad habit of eating chocolate chips after dinner.  Every night.  I don't eat many but I feel as if it is my reward for working all day.  I don't snack at work and most of the time I work until 6 or later.  I deserve chocolate chips!!! So this evening, my husband looks at me as I reach for the Oxo container with my beloved chocolate chips.  Rewind to yesterday for a moment when during a visit to the Dr. she asked if I had ever had my cholesterol checked.  My reply: I hate needles, of course not.  After a brief PSA re: anyone over 25 who hasn't had it checked . . . etc. . . . I agreed to come back in a few months (probably around the same time that I agree to have a tetanus shot -- the 32nd of never).

Back to my chocolate chips, he looks at me and says, "You should really watch it.  Those have cholesterol in them."  I, already knowing that I was right, said, "You are WRONG."  I pulled the package out of the cabinet and what do you know?  There are 0 milligrams of cholesterol in chocolate chips.  I proceeded to eat an extra handful just to spite him :).  Then, he said that my butt was better than Kim Kardashian's . . .

Put in context, I don't think that's a compliment.  

Our domestic life . . .

My husband and I are very domestic.  It is not intentional.  I know many people who try terribly hard to be domestic.  It comes naturally -- especially to my husband.  Among many things my parents taught me, I learned to feed people and clean pretty quickly.  I enjoy cleaning, organizing and decorating.  I've always been a list-maker and constant reorganizer.  When it comes to cooking, I am a pretty good baker.  However, when left to my own devices, the menu will typically consist of a fried egg (with a solid yolk), a piece of whole wheat toast and some steamed broccoli.  Lame, I know.  This is an improvement from law school when I could live on Cap'n Crunch and coffee.

When it comes to truly creative cooking, my husband is a pro.  I think that it serves as a means of stress relief or catharsis for him.  (which is why I don't get in his way/watch Real Housewives of ___________ or the Nightly News while he works his magic).  Regardless of how much time he spends working, he comes home each evening and makes dinner and our lunches for the next day. We try to be financially conservative & health-conscious.  I avoid eating out during the day because it cuts into my productivity.  READ: I want to take a nap by 2:00 p.m. when I eat tater tots.  Often, I find that I end up consuming far more calories when I eat out, as well.  The financial aspect is certainly a deterrent when you consider that you can't get out of most group lunches for less than $20.  $20 spent 2-3 times per week can add up quickly.  All that aside, I like knowing that there are only two people who could have prepared my lunch -- and both of them washed their hands first :)  I also love when I get e-mails containing photos of tomorrow's lunch from my husband, who has the day off of work.  On the menu tomorrow: curry chicken salad. Yay!

Vrai Amour - Value Wines and Specialty Craft Beers - Chicago

Vrai Amour Wines

As we finished our gourmet hotdogs on Saturday afternoon, we decided to stop in this wine store a few blocks south of our apartment.  It's a very unique little store with a great selection of Michigan wines.  The owners try very hard to keep their prices low so they avoid higher-priced Napa Valley and French wines.  They had a great selection of craft beers and Michigan wines, as well.  The owners are incredibly friendly and knowledgeable.  The store was very simple and peaceful.  It made me feel as if I were back in Napa/Sonoma.  I tried Brassfield Estate Sauvignon Blanc.  It was very light and crisp, without being too sweet.  (I refuse to launch into full-on wine-snobbery as I am out-matched by many of my well-informed friends.)   It was delicious.  A side-note: it is also a screw top. I don't feel quite as bad drinking wine out of a screw top bottle when it costs more than $10 ($15.00 to be exact :) )  That, my friends, is the extent of my wine snobbery.  

My husband decided to put together his own mix-n-match six pack of beer.  He got to try several unique beers, including an apricot ale.  We will definitely be back.  Yum! 

Old and new

We had an amazing time with our families on vacation last week.  I love going back to all of the places I've loved over the years.  Somehow, we managed to hit them all during our week-long roadtrip to KY, IN, and MO.
We started in Indianapolis with our friends from our med/law school days.  They just purchased a beautiful home and were so excited to entertain houseguests.  My girlfriend and I had a blast at TJ Maxx/Homegoods, as well.  However, she has a serious lamp addiction that should be addressed.  I, on the other hand, picked up

Lilly Pulitzer "Charlotte" sunglasses


and a sleeveless pink and green Lilly tunic top, along with a bright pink open sweater, also courtesy of Lilly.



We met up with some old friends for cocktails and dinner before heading south to Evansville for a few days.

We had a great time eating and spending time with my husband's family.  We got lots of sleep, as well.  I'm also pretty sure that we ate bacon five days in a row . . .

More on our vacation later.  Next stop, KY!

Franks 'n Dawgs

http://www.franksndawgs.com/

In a word, YUM.  This place was absolutely delicious.  We've seen shows about it on the food network and it is across from the grocery store we visit each week.  We've never made the effort to try it until this past weekend, as the lines stretch out the door and down the street most weekends.


I had the Tur-Doggin - 
Turkey & date sausage topped with duck confit, herb garlic aioli, house pickled onion relish & pickled carrots.  It was amazing.  The restaurant makes all of its own sausage in-house.  I spoke with the manager -- who was running the register (I love the personal touch!)-- he was thrilled that his chefs made way too much of the turkey and date sausage last week because it's his personal favorite.  


My husband had the N'awlins Dog.   
Andouille sausage, polenta battered okra, fried shrimp, spicy ketchup & chives


We also shared an order of Triple Truffle Fries.  Perfection. 
They were pretty tasty.  


The best part is that I didn't have that icky feeling I normally have when eating processed food.  The quality of the ingredients and the restaurant's commitment to using fresh, local products result in an excellent end product.  We will definitely be visiting this place again soon!! 

The Vegetable Trick

We eat lots of veggies in this house.  I'm typically a huge fan of veggies; however, it can get tiresome.  In order to incorporate as many different types of vegetables as possible into our diet, my husband makes what he calls "stir-fry"  -- it's not really like typical Asian stir fry.  He takes all of the veggies in the house, chops them up, and sautes them in olive oil.  We store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator and use them in different recipes throughout the week.  Last week, we had a combination of red peppers, broccoli, carrots, peas, Lima beans and black olives.  We mixed them with past one night, rice another night, pork chops the next night, etc.  I ate the final serving with egg whites as an omelette.  Yum! It's an incredibly inexpensive way to eat quickly and healthily during the week.  

Boredom Baking

Angel Food Cake 

It was my first attempt at making one of these.  Apparently, if you're going to eat cake, this is the way to go.  It only has 160 calories in a slice and 0 fat.  However, I thought that it was a little too sweet.  I prefer the challenge of not screwing it up to actually eating the finished product.  Luckily, my husband is a trash compactor.  

The most fun part was using my KitchenAid Mixer to turn 12 egg whites into the perfect "peaks." 

I LOOOOVVEEE that mixer. 

My BFF Betty Crocker says that if you whip the egg whites too much, the cake will be dry.  Luckily, I found the happy medium.  The cake was very moist without being runny. HOWEVER, it was way too sweet.  

Again, my husband, the trash compactor saved the day.

I think my next challenge will be attempting to make red velvet cake -- my past attempts have been a little dry. :( 

Movie review: Food Inc. (and my very left-leaning views on the importance of fresh, local food and sustainable nutrition for all)

What I eat and where it comes from has always mattered to me.  I became interested in the subject during college.  As part of one of my courses, I was required to watch Supersize Me.  I also read Fast Food Nation. It's a very eye-opening look at the formation of the fast food industry, it's growth, and the diminished quality of food that the fast-food epidemic has produced.  I loved this issue so much that I wrote my senior honors thesis on instant gratification and the philosophy of fast food.  For much of college, I had a slight reputation among my closest friends for being horrified by fast food.  (Huddle House western omelettes don't count, do they?)  I tried my best to avoid supporting entities that I felt perpetuated not only an obesity epidemic but also left families with few choices for cheap healthy food.  When a hamburger and French fries are cheaper than a crown of broccoli or a bag of oranges, we have problems.  There are many solutions, too many to take up in one post.  The most important thing about this film is that it makes you think long and hard about where your food comes from and how your food's production and quality is affected by market-demand.  The long and short of it is that you should care about where your food comes from and the effect that its production has on the environment.

Brie, Macintosh apple, and broccoli pizza

My husband made an amazing low-calorie dinner to celebrate the blizzard. He used a pre-made whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's. He added a quarter cup of tomato sauce, chopped broccoli, small chunks of chopped Brie and apple. He garnished with fresh parsley.  Bake and voila!

Productive Saturday

After a long week, it was a relief to have no plans today.  I was able to rest (I think I'm getting sick), get some reading done, lots of cleaning, and lots of cooking.  This weather is perfect for staying indoors.  Plus my husband is working a long shift this weekend -- lots of me time.

I made pesto for the very first time.  It was fantastic -- thank you for the cookbook, Holly!


I made a double batch so that I could freeze some in ice cube trays for small portions with pasta during the week.


I also made vegetable lasagna -- by the time it was finished I was too tired to eat.  I'm assuming it's good.  It's not charred, at least.

Finally, I made cranberry/orange biscuits.  They ought to be good in the morning.



(pictures are for dramatic effect -- I did not go to the trouble of staging my culinary creations. :)