2nd Step in Eating Clean -- go shopping

After giving away 3/4 of the kitchen, the cupboards felt oddly creepy so I got busy filling the kitchen with clean foods and cooking supplies. From the reading and research I'd done, I knew how to stock my kitchen.  So I went shopping.  On my list:  fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, spices, healthy oils.

The shopping wasn't as easy as it sounds.  A lot of these items I had never even heard of.  I had to google them just to know what I was looking for and where I might possibly find them.  I made notes that agave nectar was a liquid low-glycemic sweetener, that Sucanat was a non-refined brown sugar, that pepitas were sunflower seeds, that chickpeas were the same thing as garbonzo beans, that quinoa was a grain (actually it's a seed but everyone refers to it as a grain), that cardamom is a ten dollar spice, that coconut oil is the same as coconut butter because it's solid at room temperature, that bulgur is not a person trying to break into your house but a whole grain, etc, etc, etc.  I knew I probably wouldn't be able to find everything I needed in one place so I started with Winco and tried to get as much as I could. 

Here's what I found at Winco:
organic skim milk yes,
almond milk yes, it's by the cans of evaporated milk
organic eggs yes,
organic butter no,
non-fat Greek yogurt, yes, but not organic
kefir no,
agave nectar yes, it's by the the peanut butter and honey
coconut oil no, they need to do something about that
pumpkin seed oil no,
quinoa yes,
steel cut oats, yes in the bulk section
organic rolled oats, yes in the bulk section
organic salad mix, yes
organic spinach, yes
organic carrots, yes
buckwheat flour, yes
spelt flour, yes
aluminum-free baking soda, yes
Dave's Killer bread, yes
Ezekiel bread, no
unprocessed peanut butter, yes
unprocessed almond butter, yes
low-sodium black beans, yes
organic, low-sodium chicken broth, yes
organic, low-sodium vegetable broth, yes
nitrate and nitrite free bacon, no
organic meat, no
ground turkey breast, yes but not organic
ground chicken breast, yes but not organic
low-sodium tamari, yes
small BPA free plastic containers for freezing or storing food, yes
I buy bananas from Winco because they don't need to be organic

At Costco I found:
organic apples
organic spinach
organic carrots
organic milk, it's 1% there so I get the organic skim from Winco
organic eggs (they are a little less expensive than Winco's organic eggs)
organic butter
organic peanut butter
organic almond butter
organic quinoa
organic wild rice
organic short brown rice
organic boneless, skinless chicken breast
bison steaks
grass-fed ground beef
Dave's Killer Bread
multi-grain sandwich thins
nitrate and nitrite free turkey bacon
protein powder
Trio Bars
Larabars
pure maple syrup, they need to get organic pure maple syrup

Who would have known Costco would have so many organics?  Yay for Costco.  Now they just need to change some of their items such as the butter, broths, canned tomatoes, and black beans to low-sodium. 

Next was the Boise Co-op for hard to find items such as:
kefir
organic yogurts
virgin coconut oil
all kinds of healthy oils
organic ground turkey
organic ground chicken
Sucanat
local, organic, fruits, vegetables, and herbs
spices and spice blends
whole grains
their bulk section is awesome
organic mango chunks (a favorite of mine)
organic frozen berries
frozen acai berry
dehydrated fruits (the dried mangoes are killer)
non-fluoride toothpaste
non-aluminum deodorant
safe housecleaning products
seeds for sprouting

The Captial City Market is also a wonderful place to buy food.  However, I will save the market for another day.  It deserves its own post. 

Now I had the knowledge and motivation, I had the cookbooks, and I had the ingredients.  It was time to start cooking!

The first step to eating clean

Get rid of all your processed foods. That's what I did. I gave away boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of food. I wish I had before-and-after pictures so you could see the loads of food I gave away. As a compulsive food hoarder, my fridge, pantry, cupboards, and freezer were completely full.  Yo'know, just in case.   In one day, the kitchen went from totally full to completely empty.   Bye, bye, bad stuff.

P.S.  My kids practically cried on this day.  Oh well, they got over it.

These are just some of the items we gave away.  Can you imagine your kitchen and your life without these foods?   Yes, life goes on, even without French toast sticks.

ketchup
mayonaaise
margarine
I Can't Believe it's Not Butter spray
syrup
peanut butter
jams and jellies
frozen waffles
frozen mini pancakes
frozen French toast sticks
frozen tater tots and french fries
icecream
icecream bars and icecream sundaes
popscicles
Hershey's chocolate sauce
apple cider packets
hot chocolate packets
tubs of frosting
gogurts
boxes of brownies
Slim Fast shakes
granola bars
oatmeal packets
granola cereal
all cereal, yes, all
Classic Bread's white bread
Classic Bread's cinnamon swirl bread.....still miss this one  :(
mango salsa
au gratin potatoes
gravy mixes
Hamburger Helper
A-1 steak sauce
Fruit by the Foot
fruit snacks
Peppridge Farms fish crackers
wheat thin
triscuits
saltines
potato chips
tortilla chips
bagels
barbecue sauce
Jello pudding
Jello gelatin ( a lot of these)
hot dogs
bacon
sausage
All marinating sauces and mixes


I know there's more, but I can't remember everything, it seems like so long ago.  Basically, I dispensed of any item containing sugar, corn syrup, high frutose corn syrup, artifical coloring, additives, chemicals, too much sodium, nitrites, nitrates, gelatin, and other perservatives.

The benefits of giving away all this crap:
If I just gave ten boxes of macaroni and cheese away I'm not going to feel like buying more the next time I'm at the store.  See how that works?  I've been motivated because I made an investment.  I gave away hundreds of dollars of food and I am not going to ruin that by buying that crap again. 
Secondly, I'm forced to start now.  There's no procrastinating.  This "eat clean" thing begins now or we starve to death.  Better buy some produce, beans, organic lean meats, and learn how to cook asap.    That's step two.  More on that later......

Build a Foundation, Find Your Motivation

The knowledge I gained from reading and research gave me the foundation I needed to begin my jouney.  I wanted to not only look better, but to feel better, and have better health and longevity.  More than that I wanted to give my children a chance at a good life.  I didn't want to be the reason they suffered from depression, disease, fatigue, learning disabilities, ADHD, obesity, low self-esteem, infertility, miscarriage, cancer, low sex drive, etc.  I was motivated to nourish my children to give them the best fighting chance.  I wanted to teach them what it meant to eat and nourish the body with real, whole foods, the foods God intended them to eat.  So that's what got me going.  And here's how I did it.

Starting the journey

How it all began
Okay folks, you're in for a real treat.  I have somewhat of an announcement to make.  Here it is......making dinner doesn't suck....as much.  You may wonder what has brought on this sudden change when making dinner has sucked for me ever since I began cooking 13 years ago.  Well let me just tell you that I have turned over a new leaf.  In fact I feel like a totally different person.  I do things completely different than I used to. 

Let me explain how it all started.  It all began four months ago, the first week of June 2010, when I was at home minding my own business when I suddenly felt compelled to go to Costco and buy a book.  I was reading an article about Tosca Reno in the Costco Connection magazine when it suddenly dawn on me that I needed her new book called Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Cookbook.   Call it divine inspiration (that's what I call it) or call it whatever you like, but I went to Costco and made one purchase.  It wasn't Tosca Reno's cookbook (they didn't have it in stock yet) but I didn't want to walk out empty-handed since I had felt prompted to go.  I picked up Jillian Michael's book called "Master Your Metabolism."  I'd never heard of it, but what the heck,  I'd never heard of Tosca Reno either and never heard the term "eating clean."  I was completely oblivious (probably because I don't watch Oprah or any TV or read magazines).  I just had a feeling I needed that book.

Little did I know the book I was buying would change my life and the life of my family.  Everything I read in her book just made sense to me.  Even though it all made sense to me it was all completely NEW to me.  The concepts and principles about how our body functions on hormones and WHY healthy nutrition is so important and HOW it is bad for us was unlike anything I had ever read or heard before.  I usually don't do anything unless I know WHY I have to do it.    This is why geometry was so difficulty for me in high school.  Now WHY do I need to know this?  How is this supposed to help me in life??  Because my teacher never provided me with an answer, I continued to struggle.

Jillian taught me, thoroughly taught me, why it is so important to be free of additives, free of preservatives, free of artificial flavors and colors, free of chemicals, free of pesticides, etc.  It's not a good idea just because it's a good idea.  It's vitally important to our physical health and mental health.  It's vital to our well-being.  That stuff will absolutely kill us.  And before we die from it first it makes us sick.  Jillian explains how that happens in her book.   How and why it leads to various cancers, autoimmune diseases, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, mental illness, chronic fatigue, etc, etc, etc.  Who wants all that crap and who doesn't want to be well?  Who doesn't want their children to be well?

After I finished reading her book I got a little frustrated that I didn't know any of this information before reading her book.  Why didn't I know all of this before?   I think because the way I was raised and the world that I've always lived in has pushed me away to something unnatural without me even knowing it was unnatural for me.  Society led me to believe that the stuff you can buy from the grocery store is what you eat.  You buy it and take it home and eat it.  It was that simple.  What I didn't realize what that it was UNNATURAL, UNHEALTHY, and WRONG on so many levels.

I have many, many ideas why this has happened.  (Remember I always wonder why about everything.  That's part of why I am so annoying to be around).  I won't get into that now.  Maybe another post.   Once I had a foundation about why I should eat healthy foods I was motivated to make a change.    More about my journey later. . .

Maybe I'm not cut out for steel cut oats

If you're thinking I'm a great cook now that I'm cooking more often you are dead wrong.  Actually it was me who was almost dead.  I nearly burned down the house with what happened last week.  I burned my steel cut oats on Saturday morning, Sunday morning, and yes, Monday morning.  Three days in a row.  Imagine.....thick smoke in the house, a blackend, ruined pan, a horrible smell that doesn't go away even with the windows open, and no breakfast. 

Why did you keep burning them day after day you wonder?  Because after I did it the first time I thought there was no way I could do that again.  And then after I did it a second time I thought now there's really no way I could possibly burn it two days in a row.  Then after I burned it the second time I thought surely there is no way I could possibly burn it three days in a row.  The third day was actually the worst. 

Why do you burn your oatmeal day after day you wonder?  Because oatmeal takes ten minutes to cook on the stove and I can't stand to be in the kitchen that long.  Besides, my kids have me running all over the house getting them clothes, socks, shoes, coats, backpacks, wiping their bottoms, and putting toothpaste on their toothbrushes.  So you see there's not time to watch oatmeal cook.  I always walk away.  And because I have absolutely no memory these days (seriously it's as bad as my sisters was when she was in the hospital, now that's saying something).  Anyway, being smart, well kinda smart, I set the timer on the third try so when I walked away from the oatmeal I would be reminded by the timer to take the oatmeal off the stove.  The problem is I set the time on the timer but forget to push start.

You can put me away now.  I'm ready to sign the papers.   Do you think they have oatmeal in the hospital?

Just passing along for a friend of mine.  It's a  chance to earn free food credits from a new company called E Foods Global.  Check out the link if you're interested.

Just say no to couponing

Have you ever noticed what you can buy with a coupon?  Crap.  That's what.

So just say no to couponing and don't do it.  Don't buy the crap that doesn't nourish your mind and body.  There's nothing in there but chemicals.  That's why they sell it to you for next to nothing.  It's not food.  Nobody planted it, grew it, or harvested it.  If it doesn't have a mother or come from the ground don't eat it.  Period.

Do you really need 20 boxes of brownies?

Caution : Major road changes ahead

This blog is about to undergo a major transformation.  Don't get me wrong, making dinner still sucks, that much is true.  It just sucks in a different way now that I've discovered healthy cooking.  When I cook dinner for my family now I feel a real satisfaction and joy that I have fed them something other than crap.  By "crap" I mean processed foods.  I call them all crap.  Some people all them "anti-foods" but I prefer the term "crap."  That's what I used to feed my family and I am ashamed.  So ashamed.  I cringe when I think of all the goldfish crackers I let my kids eat.  Ahhh!  Now that I know what that crap does to you I am freaked.

But like Dr. Phil always says, "When you know better you do better."  And I know better now.  But believe me the process of making dinner still sucks.  It takes forever and you have to be totally organized.  You have to make everything fresh and you have to meal plan and grocery shop like every other day.

Stay tuned and I'll try and keep you up to date on this crazy journey I'm on.

Evidence that my kids won't starve

Who needs cookie cutters when you've got these?

Years ago I swore off making sugar cookies. Too much mess and too much work. I even sold all my cookie cutters at our moving sale two years ago.

Last weekend Roman comes to me and tells me he wants to make "Christmas cookies." Apparently he had done this at preschool and wanted to do it at home. I told him no, that we couldn't make Christmas cookies. "Miss Malia makes Christmas cookies."

Really? Not to be outdone by his teacher crush I said, "Okay, we can make Christmas cookies but we're going to need your Play-doh box." He ran and got the Play-doh box and his toy rolling pin that he got from a birthday party and we made Christmas cookies.

But we didn't frost them. Because that would be going too far.

Thanksgiving is coming up. Is anybody else dreading it like I am?

I can never pay attention long enough to stand and stir.

And this is what I get. It happens all the time.

This is what happens when a two year old eats a bowl of cereal and then takes a swig of bottled water.

Have you ever made chocolate chip cookies

and realized you didn't have any chocolate chips after

you had finished making the cookie dough?

I have.

So there you have it. I made cookies.

Capri loves to wear one of two things. Either her swim suit or her jammies. Lately she's been insisting on wearing the water wings as well. So here's what she typically looks like at dinner time. Wings n all.

Another reason why making dinner sucks

Mother's Day Dinner

Have you ever gotten the feeling from me that I am married to a meat and potatoes kind of guy?  Well that is correct.  Meat and potatoes.  Meat and potatoes.  Meat and potatoes.  Do you get what I am saying?  Only meat and potatoes.  Meat and potatoes.  That's it.  No water.  No fruit.  No salad.  No vegetable.  Happy with meat and potatoes.  Happy with just meat in fact.  The potatoes is just an extra.  So what did John make for my Mother's Day dinner?  You guessed it.  Meat and potatoes.

The Frosted Cherry

The night before Mother's Day I was up late per usual.  I finally went to bed around midnight.  As I laid in bed and my brain was going a million miles an hour, I wondered if I had left my jacket outside.  We had had a garage sale earlier that day and I wore a jacket in the early morning and put the money that I made inside the jacket.  Wouldn't that suck if I left my jacket outside and the money got stolen?  So just in case I had, I went downstairs and checked the front porch for my jacket.  No jacket.   It was inside.  Phew.  

What's this?  I noticed a box next to the door.  A box of cupcakes????  For me?????  Sweet!  I was so excited to see that someone had dropped off a box of cupcakes from The Frosted Cherry on my front porch.  If you've read my earlier posts you know that I have absolutely no self control.  There was no saving these for tomorrow.  I ate one right away.  It was chocolate with strawberry butter cream frosting and a cherry on top.  Yummy.    It dawned on me after I'd eaten one that I should've take a picture of the pretty cupcakes before I ate one.  Oh well.  So I brought the cupcakes inside and took a picture of them in almost full glory.  

I didn't want to be a pig so I wanted maybe five minutes until I ate a second one.  It was a lemon merange pie cupcake and so delicious.  I could have had another one but I decided that I'd wait until it was actually Mother's Day to finish off the rest.  I go to bed thinking of the cupcakes.

Which brings us to the next day.  It's Mother's Day so I absolutely don't move when the kids start waking up.  I'm going to sleep in because it's my day.  Around 9:30 or so (give or take another hour) I get up and go downstairs to see my cupcakes.  Ahhh!  Who ate one of my cupcakes?  Without even asking? And where's my breakfast?  It's Mother's Day.

John was the culprit of the missing cupcake.  Why must I tell him everything?  He should just know me well enough by now to know that I was planning on eating all six of those myself.    Anyway, because I'm nice I decide to share the rest with the kids even though I still want to eat them all myself.   The kids pick out a cupcake and enjoy the sugary goodness.  Well, I guess that means I don't have to make breakfast.

Thanks Holly and Charise for making my Mother's Day extra sweet.  You can count on an order from me for Roman's birthday coming in June.  www.thefrostedcherry.blogspot.com

My Week

Monday--burned the chicken.

Tuesday--burned the popcorn.  Two times.  In a row. 

Wednesday--burned the pizza.

Tried again.

Undercooked it.   Yuck!

MAKING DINNER SUCKS

Remember the red jello and orange salad I made at Christmas?

Well, I thought it was about time I got them out of the outside fridge and threw them away?  What do you think?