Why can't Seattle be sunny more often? Yesterday we had an extremely rare sunny Saturday (for March anyhow). It was fabulous! I was able to get some pruning done in our jungle of a backyard. It's been almost 100% neglected since we moved in in November. But yesterday I got out there with my loppers and shears and filled the yard waste bin (you know you live in the city when...) with errant branches and dead twigs. It is interesting to think of how the back garden came to be; the previous owners (who were here since the '60s) planted the trees, bushes and flowers to their taste and bringing them back to their intended glory is my goal. I think a few of the Rhododendron's need to come out - they are just too tangled and disorderly. It's too bad because I love Rhododendron's when they bloom. So pretty.
Tom and I went to lunch yesterday and gave in to our cravings and had ourselves a cheat day: real pizza from Zeek's. It was amazing. I don't want to elaborate too much because I'll get hungry, but it was a super-fun treat. I'm so lucky to have someone that rolls with my food choices and various kitchen experiments without complaint. We both weren't feeling well afterwards, but cheat days are needed. I'd go nutty without them!
I love Pinterest. I get so many of my ideas from it. It's especially fun to find a recipe, tailor it to our eating habits and create something delicious. One thing that does get to me, however, is the amount of 'diet recipe' pins that consist of ingredients that are awful for you. Lots of non-fat dairy this, and diet soda that. To keep my food rant to a minimum and as a rule of thumb: 'non-fat' = sugar added to make up for loss in flavor from fat and 'diet' = chemical crap-storm. Drinking diet soda is like smoking 'low tar' cigarettes: not any healthier. And like smoking, the best thing to do is quit. Stay away from this stuff; it's not good for you and, for me, exacerbates tummy troubles.
One thing that took me a long time to realize when we changed how we eat was this: forget about trying to find packaged or pre-made foods that fit our healthy, whole foods eating plan. And contrary to what most people think, meals made of whole foods don't take any longer to make than throwing a frozen lasagna in the oven for 45 minutes. Many of my meals take much less time, in fact. I wanted to therefore share what my refrigerator looks like and what a typical shopping trip brings home.
My refrigerator, as I've joked before on Facebook, looks like a mini-produce stand. I like to keep everything open and accessible. I take baby oranges and carrots out of their bags and cut the top of the strawberry and grape clam shell packages off for easy grab-n-go snacking. And I buy a lot of these easy snacks because, lets face it, who has become unhealthy from eating too many fruits and veggies? Plus, fruits and veggies fill you up better than any bread or cookie-based snack ever could. Win-win in my book.
I've also used clear drawer divider bins from Bed, Bath and Beyond (they are cheaper than the refrigerator ones and achieve the same result) to make everything look 'pretty'. When things look nice and organized they also look more appetizing. It's all about presentation folks. Each week when I get home from shopping I toss anything that has gone off and wipe out the bottom shelves and bins. And, yes, the bottom-most shelf is where the 'beer drawer' used to be, but I got rid of it and use it as added storage. I don't like drawers in general - if I can't see it, I will forget about it, and forgotten fruit/veggies are not a pretty sight once they are remembered a week after they should have been. Ew.
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A typical Monday shopping 'haul'. Very little meat protein and lots of fruits and veg. The cans in the right-hand photo are Alaskan salmon - emergency protein I take for lunches when left-overs are not available.
Costco is my go-to and fantastic for large packages of fruits, salads, and meats. Not everything is available here in an organic option, however. More recently I have limited my shopping at Costco to only organics and those foods that are on the 'clean 15 list' and I get the remaining items on my list in the organic sections of either Whole Foods, Fred Meyer or my local Red Apple.
All in all my message is this: eat clean. Get it out of your mind that you are going to find packaged or processed foods taste good and are truly healthful. There are exceptions to this that are tasty, but they are expensive and hard to find. Stick to the stuff that nature has provided, your tummy will thank you.
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