non-organic, yet fun-infused dinner

welllllllll.
eating out is going to be interesting.
it's hard to even TRY to be good when you feel semi-deprived all day at home, and then they let you out of the house and it turns out a little crazier than you anticipated.

i had the best of intentions.
and it resulted in:
wine.
bread.
butter.
dips.
pasta.
cheese.
cheeeeeeeeeese.
more wine.

i'd say (with great honesty) that it was my first failure in five days. i can so live with that! i guess you do what you can....and i'm sure there were healthier options on the menu. (fish! salads!) and a little more will power would have gone far, but....eh. it was a night to exhale and relax....so we did just that.

you can always get back on the wagon tomorrow.
even though 'tomorrow' kinda hurts at 6am, after a late night out with the ladies. ;)



stay tuned! next week we have quite a few food experiments we will be attempting.
until then -- have a great weekend!

day #4...

soooo....my two hour traffic jam in georgetown yesterday stressed me out and sorta stole some time from my cooking schedule.

by the time i got home, threw isaac in his crib, and busted out the recipe, it was after 4pm. wheeeeeeee! i made a few rookie mistakes along the way, ....and realized rather quickly that you kinda need to have all your ingredients cut, minced, and portioned before you start sauteeing the first step. add what?! in 2 MINUTES?! it's still in the fridge! in the bag! haven't cut jack crap! ....

it was working in overdrive trying to have dinner SERVED by 7pm.
and lasagna's take a bit of time in the oven.

organic observations:
1) organic wheat noodles don't QUITE have the same consistency as normal, cheap-o ones. a few of them snapped in half, even after sitting in hot water for 20 minutes...?

2) all-natural turkey sausage (de-cased) is a FAR superior choice to regular ground turkey. the seasonings were FABULOUS!

3) organic mozzerella is to die for. no really. i consumed ALOT of it prior to putting the lasagna in the oven.

4) fresh herbs really do smell/taste SO much better than the dried ones that i have formally used from the shakers. duh.

5) organic parm cheese....eh? not necessarily worth the splurge. tastes just like the rest of 'em.

with all of that said -- COOKING REALLY TEARS UP YOUR KITCHEN! holy crap. i went through 4 pots, 4 spatulas, countless bowl, forks, knives. sauce everywhere. and i realized i didn't have the right sized oven dish, right as it was time to pull the whole thing together. boo.

BUT! but! but! but!
...it tasted stellar!!! i would highly recommend this recipe, but you need a few hours. i started dicing/cutting/mincing at 415....and had it in the oven with the kitchen spotless again by 630pm. not horrible, BUT.....not what i'd call an easy 2-minute meal.

i succeeded though. :)
it serves 6, realistically speaking...as opposed to 8, like they say.
and the recipe can be found HERE!







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in other news, i had to meet some girlfriends for lunch...
at a pizza shop....
granted, it's a more 'natural' pizza shop, with whole wheat crusts, etc.
UGH, i was none too pleased to order water with my meal....WATER?! but, i did. with lime. not bad. and i ended up with a mozzerella, spinach, onion, tomato pizza, which was FAAABULOUS. especially since the whole 'yogurt & fruit' breakfast wasn't doing the trick anymore by 11am. (which left me in quite a quandary over what to eat! quandary resulted in 2 heaping spoonfulls of organic peanut butter and a large glass of milk. did the trick!)

tonight i'm headed here with some girlfriends....which should be also, interesting.
assuming leftover lasagna/salad will suffice as hubby's dinner...which...is kinda nice!

all in all....i'm feeling rather decent about my new organic life....
then again...we're only 4 days in :)

challenging time at Whole Foods....

well, i did it!
i actually went on foodnetwork.com (like my friend christin advises) and found some recipes that i hope to convert to 'organic' dinners.

the recipe/ingredient shopping list part took over an hour. HOUR. that's before i pack my baby into the car, with all his bottles/toys/contraptions and actually get to it at the market. cooking just takes alot of intentionality and...well...tlc. (oh dear GOD, i said TLC. and after what went down on monday night, i may have to burn my post, now....)

i think foodnetwork.com needs a makeover. it was hard to navigate (then again, i'm an idiot) and everytime i went to a page, it would show different stuff each time. and if you want "chicken" meals, the same meals show up no matter what catagory you pick. "healthy chicken"...."quick and easy chicken"....etc. so that was lame.

but i managed to find 5 recipes worthy of cooking.
i won't lie, some recipes have over 25 ingredients and that's just ridiculous.
so not only do we have an hour a week of PREPPING recipes.
then there's the shopping.
then there's the COOKING....?
and i'll ultimately be spending MORE than i could just ordering chinese. people, this better all become more streamline or i'm not sure i can manage! (i'm sure it will. people tell me that anyways....)

anyhow, isaac was a monster in the market.
and it was VERY crowded at 5pm. i know. i had to wait until naptime was over! had no choice. lesson learned.

it took me 30 minutes in the produce dept alone because the SIGNS that read ORGANIC or not are about 20 feet ABOVE the actual product, so people walk around with their eyes facing the ceiling, rather than the produce. about 5 mintues into this....isaac starts screaming. not amused. we press on.....

amateur note to self: buy produce LAST...it sits in the bottom of the cart to be destroyed by frozen chicken and bottles/jars of juice. gosh, i am almost 30....and to think.....

ok.
so while i did strive to buy only organic produce, i was contending with isaac and the lofty signs and the foot traffic and i did my best. strawberries were on sale! blueberries packs were buy 1 get 1 free! bananas were easy. oregano, cilantro, parsley WERE NOT easy. that's another story. i don't know my herbs at ALL.

let's fast forward.
the fish is farm-raised. is that organic? i was too embarrassed to ask.
i did ask about the turkey sausage, "all natural ingredients, made on site....but not organic."
boo.
why not?

all in all, i like whole foods.
i do NOT like the price tags.
but i digress....

this feels like a fulltime job. whew. i'll have to start making dinner at like...2pm! oh dear. is this what all of you guys do?

i would love to check out the farmers market on saturday, but i'll be out of town for the weekend. THAT outta make this alot of fun...haha.

considering i never eat breakfast....EVER.....i pulled out some all-natural yogurt and organic fruit and it was DEEEELICIOUS.





i also stocked up on organic juices, coffee creamer, and milk.
so far so good!








it will be nice to have juice/milk in addition to boring water.
though, i will admit, water did taste a wee bit better this morning than it did yesterday.
it doesn't QUITE replace my morning diet cola....but....here we are.

wish me luck on my fancy organic turkey lasagna tonight....outta be interesting and i'll let you know if it's worth sharing!!!

.....(can wine be organic?)

a slow death....

well, yesterday i said goodbye to Taco Bell.
and today i threw out my last one liter bottle of diet pepsi.

both tasted SO good yesterday, when i was hungry at the mall.

SEE!?
what on earth am i going to do when i'm hungry and not at home to cook/whip up something? i love that i say that as though i've EVER "whipped up" anything. heh.

i actually craved more soda last night and found myself going thirsty for a long time. i was super reluctant to go for water. water is for...you know...when you're really thirsty on the beach, or after a workout, or....i dunno....never? with that said, i ended up needing to just bite the bullet and pour a big glass of boring water. wasn't bad. wasn't great. but it did quench my thirst in a very...boring fashion.

i've decided i'm not going to THROW anything in my fridge away, all in the name of this experiment. i may be trying to eat better, but at the expense of tossing out perfectly good food. but i have commited that anything i purchase to restock my fridge/pantry, will be done with the intention of going organic/local from this point forward.

so in a sense...it's cold turkey, but not EXACTLY cold turkey. a slow death. but for the good!

on a final note, i'm meeting some other mothers for lunch tomorrow -- old coworkers of mine! it's been decided that we'll converge at a pizzaria. uh oh. PIZZA! probably not organic and probably not local. so now what? ...i guess the best i can do is try to eat as naturally as possible, without forcing 5 other people to end up at some holistic joint, munching on seeds, wheat and overpriced barley/dairy/produce.

...i'm just not sure i'm the right girl to take on this challenge...sigh. omg, it's only day #2!!!

diagnosis vs inspiration...is there really much difference?

hi.
it's me.
the perpetual junk food eater.

i could spend a long time trying to explain my medical history...but let's just say that i've been to 6 different specialists in the last 2 months, have surgery coming up next week, and face another year or so of random treatments, experimental medications, and ongoing trial runs.

...and i'm only 29 years old.

needless to say, a few different diagnoses they've given me are scary.

all the while, i attended the most wonderful EVENT this past weekend. one of my best friends took me to a Farm Dinner! according to their website:

Acclaimed Chef Cathal Armstrong will prepare a Summer Solstice Farm Dinner at historic Mount Vernon Farm outside Sperryville, Virginia.

Chef Armstrong is a celebrated visionary in the buy fresh/buy local movement and creator of Alexandria’s Restaurant Eve.

Guests will spend the evening under the stars with Chef Armstrong and the providers of Rappahannock’s fresh bounty and artisanal wines.

needless to say, i was moved. inspired. (as if a medical diagnosis isn't enough!) and want to learn how to cook. and how to cook organically. i think fear has always discouraged me from trying. organic food is expensive. and requires thought. and a little planning. and cooking.

it's always been interesting that easy food has the most crap in it. right? canned ravioli. hot pockets. powdered coffee creamer. but clean food, the best food, typically requires some work. it's probably not canned. it's probably not microwaveable. it's probably not frozen. hmmm. that pretty much takes me outside of my comfort zone....but seeing that i'm not getting any younger, or any healthier (given my current diet), why not just try to explore the world of organic food. organic cooking. organic living.

(i'm not certain i'm ready to cross over into the world of organic toilet paper, organic baby toys, or organic clothing...just let me ease into the organic foods dept first!)

i still have no clue what i'm talking about.
and it will require alot of research and will-power. but i think i'm willing to commit a year's worth of energy, to fully learn if i can appreciate organic food as much as my regular fare.

if any of you have books, recipes, suggestions....or just a few pep-rally cheers...i'd greatly appreciate it!

...and....here we go!

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here are a few photos of the amazing event we greatly enjoyed on saturday!