So here’s the thing…in my quest to be a better, more conscientious eater, I am doing things I have never done before and didn’t think I would ever do. Things my mother did on a daily basis but I thought “why bother” when all I had to do was go buy what I needed at the store. Take for instance the supper I had last night pictured above. Simple right? A bowl of soup, salad and bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dipping. Until recently, I might have opened up a can of soup, bought the bread from the bakery and opened up a bag of ready-made salad. Well not anymore I am very proud to say that I made the bread, grew the lettuce for the salad and made the chicken stock myself. I know, I know…why is she wearing peacock feathers for that you ask? I don’t know, I just feel really good about these changes I am making. I am experiencing such a high from my new relationship with my food, my respect for how it gets to my table and my increasing knowledge of what is actually in my food. I figure the less ingredients the better.

Sad to think that I am only coming to this realization at 47! I mean it’s not rocket science I am doing here. In fact it couldn’t get any easier. I think we are so conditioned to ‘go to the store’ like little robots to get what we need quickly and we have forgotten that we can do most of this on our own. Every where we turn we are bombarded with advertisements for pre-cooked this and frozen that…take out here and “just like mom’s” there. Don’t get me wrong, I still fall back on convenience occasionally but I am doing it less and less as each week passes. I am making conscious decisions that are improving my health, hopefully for the long term, and increasing my quality of life. Yes, believe it or not, doing these things makes me feel productive and happy. Maybe that’s why the folks on Little House on the Prairie were so happy!

To make the chicken stock I used the carcass of an organic chicken, and boiled it along with some veggies for 4 hours. I added a few garlic cloves, salt and pepper.
*Here’s a tip I got from one of my FB ‘fans’. She puts all her veggie scraps into a freezer bag over the course of say, a month then uses them as a base for her broth! (thanks Anna C!) What a way to maximize your food dollars! I would normally throw these out but not anymore.

Once this was done and cooled, I strained the broth into containers and froze them for, well soup! You can also freeze the broth in ice-cube trays or small containers and use it for adding flavour to your rice, quinoa and stirfries.

I made the bread from a recipe I found and blogged about here:http://fitpsychology.com/?p=803 except this time I used organic flour and unexpired yeast! lol

The greens we grow on our deck and we have started a garden this year so my salads will hopefully contain only the fruits (or veggies as it were) of our labour later in the season.

The rest of the food comes from local farms with the exception of the rice, vinegar, EVOO and avocado. I love to visit the farms and markets and talk to the farmers/growers. It’s an education on food and it enriches my life.

Support local farms

have you turned back the clock to prepare food like our parents and grandparents did?

what convinced you to make the switch?

in food and health

Denise ♥