confession or obsession?

I have a confession.  I am officially obsessed with cooking.  I LOVE to cook.  Maybe it's in my blood? haha look at who my parents are! Both amazing cooks! I hope to cook like them some day.  I love to look at cooking blogs, websites, cookbooks, and I am always on the hunt for new recipes.  I have always liked to cook but just lately since I did my cleanse, I have gained even more of a love and appreciation for food.  I have also learned so much about food and health benefits from making good food choices.  I am not perfect, but for the most part processed foods, treats, and unhealthy food is no longer welcome at our house.  I have been buying most of my produce organic and all of our meat is all natural with no hormones.  There are a few items of produce that you are ok not to buy organic because you don't eat the outer skin.  You can read this article for more information on the top ten foods to buy organic.  Eating healthy will prevent diseases now and later in life.  I know every one says well it's just sooo expensive.  Well it is BUT our bodies are the most important thing we have in this life and we need to take care of them!  If you eat healthy now, you will prevent having to pay for medical bills later in life-so it all evens out! Right? In all reality, we are only spending I would say about 10% more on groceries.  I have just been careful to try and eat the food in my fridge before I go buy more.  It can be hard at times because with only two people living here, food tends to go bad quickly and I have thrown out more food than I want to admit on occasion.  I am trying to be better at this.  As many of you know, my husband has a slight oreo obsession.  He has a couple oreo's every single night.  On Friday night, I told him I wasn't buying him any more oreo's.  Am I the meanest wife ever?  Maybe on occasion, but my problem with oreo's is 1, they're not even that good, and 2, they're not even food!  Just all processed chemicals! GROSS!  I have made a commitment to myself and our family that we will begin good eating habits now so that when we have kids, we will continue to take care of our bodies and not throw chemicals into our bodies.  I have so much fun making up recipes and being creative.  Yesterday I spent the ENTIRE day after church in the kitchen baking.  I'll admit, baking is not my cup of tea, but you have to live and learn right?  I attempted to make homemade granola.  I was so excited to make this and I wasn't watching it close enough and it started to get really dark, outsides were completely charred.  I tasted it this morning and it was surprisingly good!  I also made 'healthy' cookies and 'not-so-healthy' s'more's cookies that were de-lish!  I don't even know who will be reading this post, but if you are, I challenge you to start making wise food choices and not pollute your body with things that aren't really food.  Challenge yourself to not eat treats for ten days.  I did it for over 45 days and felt so good!  Here is a great story of a family who went 100 days of eating healthy.  Take the challenge and let me know! You can even start with 5 days! I dare you!!!

Here are a few pictures of what's been cookin' in my kitchen.  I forgot to take pictures until I was almost done cooking.

Don't mind my hippie shirt, I'm just baking up a storm. (And yes I am well aware of the Lucky Charm's box in the background.  It is for a graphing activity in my class haha)  

  

S'mores Cookies.  Recipe found here 

                           This was dinner tonight.  We were going to have simple BLT's but it wasn't good enough for me so I grilled a little chicken seasoned with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder, bacon (all natural of course) avocado, fresh tomatoes from a neighbor's garden, lettuce, and for the sauce, I just put a little roasted red pepper hummus and a bit of ranch ( I told you I wasn't perfect haha).  Then we folded it up on wheat pita and it was so yummy!  We also had sweet-potato fries.  These are a staple at our house.  We buy the big bag from Costco.

I also made some granola using this recipe that I modified a bit.  

• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats (if you want bars use steel cut oats so it will stick together better)
• 1 cup raw sliced almonds
• 1 cup raw cashew pieces
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (I found mine at Sunflower Farmer's Market in Murray across from Fashion Place) 
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup honey  agave nectar
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Also need – parchment paper

I made a big mistake...you are supposed to cook it for an hour and 15 min at 250 degrees.  Well as you can see, I had other baking needs to take care of so I turned the oven up to 400 and thought oh it will take about ten more minutes haha. Well, it charred it and my mom said 'Yeah you have to watch granola like a hawk when you're cooking it' well that would have been nice to know yesterday!  But it still tasted pretty good so I don't care.  


What are some staple foods at your house??