Knowing What You’re Eating

I am not a health nut, but I do think it is important to know what is in the food you eat. So much ready-made foods have a lot of unnecessary ingredients and making the foods yourself enables you to have control over exactly what goes into the things you eat.

Here are a couple of my recent favorite ways to eliminate processed foods.

Fruits and Veggies

I have discovered the best way to intake fruits and veggies is in smoothies. They are fast, easy and portable. Robert introduced me to the Nutribullet, and while I think any blender would probably do the trick, I love the recipes included with the blender.

For meals, if I don’t have fresh on hand, and I need to choose between frozen or canned, frozen wins. I can portion better and frozen veggies have nothing else added.

Baking Mix

Making your own bisquick is really simple. Having this mix in your pantry will prevent the purchase of store biscuits and frozen breakfast foods.

I used this recipe and even though they recommend refrigeration, I’ve had mine in the pantry with no problems. They do call for vegetable shortening, which I am contemplating eliminating and replacing with a healthier oil, like coconut.

Pasta

I was given an Amazon gift card for Christmas, which I used to purchase a pasta maker. I have wanted one for so long and after making my first batch of homemade pasta, I can tell you it was worth it. I have been dedicated to replacing as much of my white flour with wheat as I can, but I find the store bought wheat pasta to be, well gross.

From start to finish, I think it took me about 20 minutes to make the pasta and not a second wasted. It was delicious.

Cream of Something Soup

I came across this awesome post on how to make cream of something soup. So many recipes call for cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup and I don’t ever have any. If you are interested, the author does a great job and even provides charts for making customized versions based on diet. That post will be printed out and saved by me for sure!

Cereal

I love granola and Belle likes oatmeal, but I have been searching for a replacement for some of the store bought cereals that the kids like. Last weekend I made some caramel puffed corn for us to snack on. When AJ tried it, he said it tasted like cereal, which gave me the idea to use the puffed corn or wheat or rice as a base to make my own cereal replacement.

I am a baker, not a cook. I love recipes and directions. I don’t like to deviate, so I was so happy that I came up with this recipe all on my own and it actually tasted really good:

Homemade Cocoa Krispies

Ingredients:
5-6 cups puffed rice
1/4 cup coconut oil slightly melted
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup honey
dash vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325. Mix coconut oil, cocoa, honey and vanilla in a bowl. Gradually add puffed rice as long as it continues to coat. I used about 6 cups of puffed rice. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

After cooling it will be crispy and chocolately.

Eat with milk or by the handful!

Aspirations for the Future

I am hoping with my giant garden this year, my store bought pasta sauce and salsas will be replaced with my own homemade versions.

I will also be making applesauce again this year, but will leave it unsweetened in hopes of using it to replace oil in some of my baking.

I  am still working on utilizing herbs and spices for flavor, instead of relying on salt.

I am on the fence about making homemade mayo because of the short shelf life, but would love to try homemade ketchup.

I need to learn to deviate from recipes. As I said I am a baker, so I am always jealous of Robert when he is cooking. If something doesn’t taste right he always seems to know just how to fix it. If he isn’t there to fix it, I don’t have that ability, so I just serve it to the kids and say, “Sorry this tastes like shit.”