Strawberry Fields Forever

Walking far along the unpaved road into the fields of strawberries, the three of us take turns rolling the bouncy red wagon behind us. The red wagon wobbles unsteadily while the wheels bicker and squeak, protesting the dirt beneath them.  We can hardly hear ourselves speak during such a racket so we pause in brief moments of rest to share our observations and memories.

The noisy Red Wagon holding our  juicy treasures!

While Susie and I scour one field, Jeff wanders to another and finds a kid-sized,  painted wooden-plank replica of a scarecrow complete with cardboard shotgun. This field seems untouched and holds rounder and more robust strawberries. We pick here. The strawberries we snap off the plants make crisp popping sounds if done just so.  Sugary scents are inhaled as we hold red berries up to our noses. "Smells sweeter than candy," we chime. 

Fresh out of the field, some U-pick Strawberries from Sauvie's Island

This year we go earlier in the season. Our picking experience is greatly different than last year. There are more strawberries, and bigger ones too!  We are pickier about what we decide to pluck. 

Small waves of sunshine coupled with light breezes and cloud cover make for ideal weather. We have a fun afternoon picking strawberries. 

This summer I am bound to make strawberry ice cream and strawberry-chocolate-chip pancakes. We have been known to plop a strawberry or two in a glass of sparkling (or white) wine for a refreshing weekend treat.  And of course, we will be adding them to our spinach (green) smoothies!

Other ideas of what to make with our U-pick strawberries are welcome! :0)

A Trip Downtown

Awaking before dawn this morning we worked up a sweat at our apartment gym. We rode the Max downtown and ate underground at Pioneer Place. Upon finding ourselves accompanied by a herd of noisy school children, we politely nibbled our food and left. Blocks away, we viewed the movie "Midnight in Paris" in a small upstairs theater. Jeff and I were both taken with the historical characters and the moral. Then we strolled through Central Library. I checked out Annie Dillard's The Writing Life. Before heading to Powells Bookstore, we shared savory chocolate mint and hazelnut Gelato in a double scoop. Sitting at a table for two on the quiet sidewalk we watched the world around us and talked about time- how we had and would spend it- all the while fully enamored in our present moments.  At Powells, we sipped coffee (& tea), shared a soft-chewy-chocolate cookie, and read together in the bustling cafe.  On the train ride back we stood in silent satisfaction of a memorable day, my body balanced precariously against his. Hand in hand, we made dimpled glances at eachother while we noticed that we smelled pleasantly like the city. Upon arriving home, Jeff studied for class while I scribbled-with new meaning- in my journal.

Garden of Awakening Orchids

Yesterday Jeff and I went on a date to the Lan Su Chinese Gardens. The garden is located, as one patron exclaimed with delight, "...in the middle of a city!" Named Lan Su  because sounds from both Portland, and our sister city in China, Suzhou. And because Chinese enjoy double meanings: Lan means Orchid and Su means Awaken/ Arise.


We crunched honey-sweetened Chinese Puffed Rice Cakes
and sipped Chinese Tea served in creamy-porcelain Gaiwan Teacups

here in the Tower of Cosmic Reflection tea house

we sat and drank the sounds of classical Erhu interpretations

played by this gentleman.

A gorgeous day, we experienced typical spring weather for Portland: a mix of rain with a little shine.
Our outing was both romantic and educational. The garden's quiet, peaceful atmosphere complimented the slightly blooming flowers. Watching raindrops patter on the garden pond was magical.

Kites everywhere... Indoors. Impressively displayed in the hall, the study, and the terrace were kites of all shapes, sizes, and kinds for their special Chinese Kite exhibit. Cultural histories, art of kite making, science of kite physics, and international differences between kites were explained. Fascinating.

Thanks to Susie and Phil for the free admissions coupon! 

Double Dekkerdoodles

For Jeff's Dad's birthday last week Sunday, we wanted to bake homemade snickerdoodles for his gift.

We ran out of sugar in early January but luckily I had a ton of left over Splenda from my attempt to make Apple Cinnamon Jam as a Birthday gift for someone with Diabetes... 'This should work,' I told myself, 'after all its just like sugar.' Unfortunately, I kept waiting for the jam to become jiggly but it never did. So I looked over the packaging to make sure I had followed all the steps.... I had. It wasn't until I put the box in the recycle bin that I realized my mistake. The pectin box states very boldly on the front and sides, "DO NOT USE WITH IMITATION SUGAR," Oops...

***
'Baking cookies would be doable with Splenda,' I told myself, 'after all its just like sugar.' When mixing Splenda with the the ingredients it created wet clumps that were the consistancy and color of runny scrambled eggs rather than cookie batter. We stirred in the flour and baked them anyway but they stayed in the shape of the round balls that we had rolled them into instead of expanding, puffing, and flattening out as the recipe promised. Jeff and I reluctantly ate the batch of dry, sickeningly sweet, and crumbly cookies. In fact, I saved the last one for him!! I hid it in the cooled oven forgetting about it until one week later (after preheating the oven for this second batch of Dekkerdoodles.) This made for one hard, chard cookie. You can imagine our disappointment. ;0p

I bought just enough sugar to make these Dekkerdoodles:








Even the ones that I had to roll in splenda/ cinnamon are equally as tasty. I was hesitant to do this as my track record using Splenda so far had been quite poor. But thankfully they turned out fine. Phew.

Rustic Fudge Brawnies

Ok, I'm definitely not the biggest fan of brownies. Usually brownies are the equivalent of a dry chocolate cake that skips the best part (the frosting.)

But when researching optional recipes to make for my visiting parents (in 4 days :0) from today!!), I happened upon a few brownie recipes that sounded interesting...

Not your typical brownie recipes of packaged-chocolate-flour mix + eggs + water = brownies. Instead, these recipes omitted all flours, eggs, and sugar. The no-bake concept intrigued me and seemed simple enough as one recipe had just 5 ingredients.


So, for my version of no-bake brownies, aka Double Dekker's Rustic Fudge bRAWnies: I used walnuts, dates, pecans, cacao (cocoa) powder, salt, honey, and as one recipe recommends I pressed raw cacao nibs on top. These are extremely healthy!
During the brownie making process, my "test" tasting along the way created a deficit of brownie batter so there wasn't enough to cover the bottom of my 9X3 pan. (The original recipes called for a 8x8 pan but I decided to go for extra thick brownies... which didn't happen even after I made another half batch of brownie mix to compensate for the batter in my tummy.)

I must say I don't really remember what a regular brownie is supposed to taste like in flavor or texture as I haven't had one in ages. But these are pretty tasty. Here are some photos of my bRAWnies.






After scarfing down two large brownies, Jeff said, "If this is what it is like to eat raw, I could go raw everyday!" :0)

Roses are... frosting?

While working at Marble Slab Creamery, as their cake creator/ brownie baker/ and cookie dough maker, I discovered my passion for decorating cakes. It was working there that I also discovered the deliciousness that is buttercream frosting... (For our per shift free treat I sometimes used a tiny helping of buttercream as my ice cream mix in) soooo delicious.

However, I had never attempted homemade buttercream frosting... nor had I tried making a rose from frosting before. Lets just say making a frosting rose is one of the most very challenging kitchen crafting projects I've ever attempted. Part of what made it difficult was that I could not find the proper tool: a rose pin. So, I used a meat thermometer instead because it was similar in shape (but not size) as the tools used in the frosting rose making demonstrations I had seen on youtube. I was proud of my craftiness until it didn't work so well. The raised rim around the circular thermometer platform made it impossible to lift off to place on the cake with ease. After many failed attempts and many globs of frosting in my tummy later, I finally got one good one (after about 10 tries) which ended up not so centered on Jeff's birthday cake... Oops.


Happy Birthday Jeff! :0)

Homemade Pomegranate Cheesecake

Yesterday I made my first cheesecake.... Here is the catch... There is no cream cheese, no confectioners, brown or white sugars, no honey, no butter, no eggs, no cream, and no baking involved! And there are only 7 ingredients! It's a raw vegan cheesecake! Jeff and I have been attempting to eat more "raw" foods lately. Raw meaning: not cooked, and not highly processed. So more green smoothies, more vegetables and fruits in their natural state, less meat, less sugar, less bread & pasta, and apparently more cheesecake. I downloaded this particular cheesecake recipe from therawchef.com. This cheesecake tastes like and looks as close to the real thing as we can tell, although we've never actually eaten real 'pomegranate flavored' cheesecake before, but it definitely tastes like a cheesecake.

So, what is in it? The filling is made out of Cashews, coconut oil, lemon juice, agave nectar, vanilla, salt, and pomegranate juice. What about the crust? Well, take the first 6 ingredients I listed and vary their measurements and you have the crust. Next time I might try almonds or pecans for the crust and I'm sure it would be equally tasty. It was almost too easy to make which means I'll be whipping it up again in the future with (or without) visitor's requests... Any excuse I have to make this... I will take advantage of! Jeff and I both had some for breakfast!

Here are some more photos of this fun kitchen crafting adventure:

The Crust...


The Filling is set...


Ta Da...

Wintery Cinnamon

It seems as if we skipped over autumn entirely. I've heard this could be due to Global Warming but it could just be me and my lack of observation as I slept while other people may have witnessed the vibrant leaves turn and blow away. I must say I missed fall this year. I want Winter to grow on me... so I try and convince myself- "Winter is growing on me," but I'm never sure if it is.

We've decided not to decorate for the holidays this year so I'm going to have to get in the Christmas spirit some other way. Although this year our apartment is sans decoration, our apartment is beginning to feel and smell wintery.

The air is frigid- we try not to turn on our heater too often (to save both money and electricity) so instead we bundle up in long sleeve shirts with hoodies and cozy pajama pants and snuggle together under our fluffy covers when Jeff gets home from work. Often times I fall asleep until late in the evening. This afternoon nap ritual is a favorite of mine.

The scent of the gingerbread coffee I brewed yesterday lingers with hints of freshly baked apple crisp radiating from our oven.
Baking so lifts my spirits. I felt overwhelmed with sadness earlier about not being able to see my family this holiday season and so I decided bake. And now, I have a smile in my soul and on my face... It also helps that the apple crisp will be done right as Jeff gets home from work... I'm surprising him with this treat. If it turns out horribly, at least the apartment smells cinnamony and delicious.



Apple Crisp Recipe

Makes six servings

6 apples cored and sliced
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour
5 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup water

3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Place the sliced apples in a glass pan.
Mix the white sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.
Combine the oats, 3/4 cups flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together.
Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
Bake at 325 degrees F for about 45 minutes.

Recipe of the week: Potato Leek Soup

I realize that I've already mentioned this recipe
but I can't get over how easy it is with just 5 ingredients!
Yields 2 servings.

Ingredients:
1 and 1/3 cup Organic Chicken Broth
3 Potatoes
1/3 cup Heavy Cream
5 ounces Bacon
1 Leek

Preparation:
Set aside 1 & 1/3rd cup chicken broth
Cube potatoes
Chop leeks into thin slices
Set aside 1/3 cup of heavy cream (in fridge)

Directions:
In a large saucepan, bring chicken Broth and cubed potatoes to a boil.
Reduce heat and cook over medium heat for approximately 35-40 minutes.
Meanwhile, brown Bacon in a large skillet over medium high heat.
Blot bacon and set aside to cool
Reserve the bacon grease in the pan.
Saute the leeks in bacon grease for 8 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, slice or crumble bacon into small pieces.
Stir in the leeks, heavy cream and bacon in with the tender potatoes.
Remove from heat.
Serve hot and enjoy!
(Is also excellent served cold the next morning!)

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com one of my favorite sites for cooking tips and ideas. It is such a great website because you can change the serving sizes to suit your family or number of guests.

Unfortunately we gobbled it all up before I could take out my camera... Next time we make it though, I will be sure to capture the deliciousness in a snapshot and post it here for you all to see.

Book List

I start Wednesday's theme, Book Review, with my book list:


Bring it to the Table: On Farming and Food --Wendell Berry
Fast Food Nation --Eric Schlosser
Edible Schoolyard: A Universal Idea --Alice Waters
Food Matters-- Mark Bittman
The Locavore Way --Amy Cotler
The Ethical Gourmet --Jay Weinstein
Botany of Desire--Michael Pollan
Omnivores Dilemma--Michael Pollan
Small Wonder--Barbara Kingsolver
Commonwealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet--Jeff Sachs
The Working Poor: Invisible in America--David K Shipler
United States of Americana--Kurt B. Reighley
Financial Peace--Dave Ramsey
Homeland and Other Stories--Barbara Kingsolver
Denialism--Micahel Spector
The Total Money Makeover--Dave Ramsey
Generation Earn--Kimberly Palmer
Exposed--Mark Schapiro
Hot, Flat, Crowded--Thomas L. Friedman
The Progress Paradox--Gregg Easterbrook
The Life You Can Save--Peter Singer
How to Live a Low Carbon Life--Chris Goodall
Life Inc.--Douglas Rushkoff
Give Me Refuge: The Education of a Caretaker--Matt Love
Pedaling Revolution--Jeff Mapes
No Logo--Naomi Klein
The Story of Stuff--Annie Leonard
Becoming Animal: An earthly Cosmology
Broken Open--Elizabeth Lesser
The creative Family-- Amanda Blake Soule
U-Turn--Bruce Grierson
A Poetry Handbook--Mary Oliver
Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui--Karen Kingston
The Art of Simple Food--Alice Waters
Home Economics-- Wendell Berry
What to Eat--Marion Nestle
The Urban homestead --KElly Coyne and Erik Knutzen
Country of Marriage--Wendell Berry
The World without Us--Alan Weisman
Green Barbarians--Ellen Sandbeck
The Rough Guide to Shopping with a Conscience
American Wasteland--Johnathan Bloom
The feeding Web--Joan Gussow
Eat More Dirt--Ellen Sandbeck
Better Off: Flipping the switch on Technology--Eric Brende
Second Nature--Michael Pollan
This Organic Life--Joan Gussow
Radical Homemaking-- Shannon Hayes
Natural Capitalism--Paul Hawkin, Amory & L. Hunter Lovins
Last Child in the Woods-- Richard Louv
Drive--Daniel H. Pink
Nurture Shock--Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
Green Housekeeping --Ellen Sandbeck
Not so Big Life-- Sarah Susanka
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek--Annie Dillard

I can't wait to go to the library tomorrow!

Themes!

As I always seem to have trouble coming up with ideas of things to share here on Double Dekker, I figured I could start themes for each day of the week. Here are my themes:

Week in Review Sunday
Healthful Homemaking Monday
Poetically Tuesday
Book Review Wednesday
Thankfully Thursday
Recipe of the Week Friday
Simply Saturday

Week in Review Sunday: Because every week is special.

Healthful Homemaking Monday: I'm not quite sure what will become of Monday's postings but there are a lot of topics that I have become quite passionate about recently that have to do with the choices that we make on a daily basis that effect our family's well-being.

Poetically Tuesday: As an adult its all too easy to get caught up in the seriousness of life. My ritual of writing poems will be an attempt rekindle my long abandoned creative side. I'd like to attempt to repossess the skill of creativity and this seems just the way to do it!

Wednesday Reader: Reading and life experiences are great ways to accomplish cultural and world exploration. Because my life feels limited in its breadth of experiences lately, reading is a way I can choose to gain knowledge and examine the world without leaving the comforts of my living room! I don't think I'll attempt to read one book a week but when I do finish a book or a chapter I like, I'll write a blurb about it here.

Thankfully Thursday: When I was growing up Thursdays were my least favorite day of the week. It always seemed to rain on Thursdays. It was not yet Friday but it was far enough along in the week that I began to grow weary. Now that it rains everyday here in Portland, I've decided to change my tune about Thursdays and dwell on gratitude instead. Not just because Thanksgiving is around the corner but because its always good to be mindful and abundant in the expression of thankfulness!

Recipe of the Week Friday: Recipe of the week is more for me to share a meal idea from the week so I can keep myself in check. This will help me remember that I need to be creative in the kitchen instead of just serving mac 'n cheese and ramen which have been staples in our home for the past few weeks. It will help me be motivated to make something fun and try something new if I have to share a new recipe on my blog. Also In the Kitchen is already a prominent 'label' on this blog so it should be pretty easy.

Simply Saturday: Simple living is a big idea that weighs on both Jeff's and my hearts. Saturdays will be an ode to minimalism.

Obviously it is important to keep in mind that I am in no way an expert on any of these topics but I am just passionate about them and would like to share snippets from Jeff's and my life together.

Highlights of October

In October we hung out with Jeff's family alot!
Got to see my good friend Laura for the first time since the wedding.
We went to McMenamins to see Toy Story 3
We watched a few sports games with Jeff's family
Celebrated my 26th Birthday!
Played Rock Band Beatles edition
Jeff got his haircut.
Drove to OHSU for some medical tests
Got sick with cold and a cough
Slow danced to the Beatles CD I got for my birthday
Went to Bread and Ink twice in the same week!
Made pizza three times
Tried baking a carnival squash.
Started our simplifying project
Cleaned out three drawers
Gave away some books
Cleaned out our closet

Recent Culinary "Experiences"

The theme of food is a prominent one for this blog. The reason is because the kitchen, when not messy, is my favorite place to be. Well, I should modify that, when its not raining, being outdoors is my favorite place to be, but because its been raining so much lately the kitchen definitely tops my list!

Tonight we made potato leek soup for dinner! We both loved it and Jeff requested that I make it several more times this fall/winter! We used organic chicken broth, leeks, bacon, cream, and 3 different kinds of potatoes: 1 Yukon Gold potato, 1 Red Skinned potato, and 1 Russet potato. We left the skins on the potatoes even though the recipe called for stripping them because we like the varied textures and the roughage is good for us!

Yesterday evening, while watching the Trail Blazer game, I made a pear, gorgonzola, and walnut pizza. Jeff, not being the biggest fan of gorgonzola cheese, didn't appreciate the fusion of flavors. But I was pleased with how it turned out. Here are some photos:

A morsel of Gorgonzola and a slice of pear:


Before Baking:


Freshly baked pizza!:


The final product:

Birthday Pizza

Jeff came home with beautiful flowers and a the Beatles 1 CD for my birthday.

After listening to the CD and slow dancing together in our living room we couldn't figure out what else to do to celebrate. The day before, we had already gone out for breakfast at Bread and Ink to celebrate my 26 years. We agreed we didn't want to spend too much more money and figured we were both hungry for pizza of the homemade variety. After going by Winco to pick up the necessary pizza ingredients I realized I was hungry for birthday cake. We quickly scoped out Fred Meyer's dessert selection and picked out two frosting filled cupcakes with gigantic frosting flowers each proportional to the cups of cake.


It was around 7:15... too late, we thought, to start making the pizza if we were to stop by his family's house later. So, we decided to head on over to the Dekker family's house for Josh's beef and vegetable curry. Although I didn't get around to making the birthday pizza until tonight, I did take a few photos of the garlic, basil, shallot, yellow & red tomato, gruyere & mozzarella cheese pizza. It's in the oven now wafting heavenly scents of tomato, spices, and cheese through the kitchen...I can't wait to taste it!




The tomatoes used on the pizza were from Jeff's mom who gave me this beautiful box of fruits and veggies complete with a small bouquet of autumn colored mums. I can't wait to use the rest of this fresh produce in my cooking!

Making Time for Books...

One of my goals for September was to read every day at least one page if not fifty. While I might not have read everyday, I did finish reading 4 books! Which is huge for me. As much as I might say I love to read, honestly I simply don't make time to enjoy a good book. Thankfully working the night shift desk job at a hotel has provided me with plenty of time to indulge in my new hobby.

At the encouragement of our friends who visited us in September, I took up Ellen Raskin's novel,The Westing Game, for pleasure reading which was a delightful and thrilling read! Highly recommended.

For insight into the industrialization of food, farming and gardening, and personal finance, I read: Animal Vegetable Miracle; In Defense of Food; and More than Enough. I am inspired by the authors' words of wisdom and excited by the opportunity to learn more about the fusion of culture, gardening, food, economics, ecology, and health. As a student at heart, I can't help but wonder why Sociology of Food is not a larger discipline in academia. The job of my dreams at the moment would be to become a professor of Sociology: anthropologically researching the history of food, teaching courses on food practices, and ultimately helping students acquire the tools to make thoughtful choices when it comes to what they eat. Within this "discipline" there are so many areas of interest to me: the agricultural transition from hunter gatherer practices, industrialization of processed "foods", varying cultural mindsets and habits that accompany people through their lives, dieting practices and the health of America vs. other cultures, body image and food, the influence of the Great Depression on food practices, the demand for budget food instead of quality. Quantity vs. Quality, contrasting GM and Organic and what it means for our future food choices, the ever-evolving concept of the meal and so much more!

I am convinced that reading takes us to a new levels of cultural understanding, gives us insight into the minds of great thinkers, and allows for personal growth through new challenges. My goal of reading at least 4 books every month will continue until at least the end of the year! I can't wait to read more!

A Slightly Social September!

So we are finally breaking free from our normal routine. Don't get me wrong, this routine is just fine... but when work wares on us, (which it has a little bit more than usual for both of us this month), it is fun and necessary to do something new together and not be the homebodies we are accustomed to being. That being said here is how we've spent our time lately...

On Sunday we hung out with the 20s/30s group from church and had a blast. We watched football, ate yummy tacos, and yes I even played Dance Dance Revolution against my husband in front of a bunch of people I don't know very well. We were evenly matched which made it even more fun to "compete." Unfortunately we were the first ones to leave due to my starting working at 11:00 pm but we were both very glad we decided to go and are looking forward to finally getting to know some people our age from church. They meet weekly after evening service which is great because we don't have to wait so long in between meetings if we aren't able to attend.

Last night Jeff and I had dinner at a quaint Thai Restaurant with my boss, his girlfriend, and Jeff's brother. It was bitter sweet as Om is leaving Oregon for better prospects else where, but an enjoyable evening none the less and great food... I tried the Pumpkin Curry, to help get me in an Autumn mood. And as expected it was delicious!

Speaking of Autumn, I'm putting this gloomy Portland Weather behind me one week from today when I travel to Hawaii! I am really looking forward to spending some quality time with my Griffin- Halverson family! I've missed my sister and Billy and parents a lot since moving here and feel like this will be just what we need to reconnect. :0)

Before Hawaii though- Hope, a dear college friend of both of ours is road-tripping it out to Oregon to drop off a friend at University of Oregon! They are staying at our apartment for Thursday night before heading down to Eugene. Looking forward to hosting them here but worried we won't get our place cleaned before they arrive.

So I would say this is slight progress from the homebodies we have been since I've moved up here. Compared to some people's schedules it doesn't look like much but to us every 'little bit' is helpful to kick our habit of sticking to our same old routine.

Confessions of a vegetable lover

Recently, Jeff and I have been thinking about how we can start living healthier and finally decided we would put our mouths where our minds are (haha!)... As I mentioned in #17 of my list of 25, a few posts below, I love cooking with vegetables. So, Jeff and I went on a veggie spree at WinCo. We bought more vegetables in the past week than I have my entire life (that's a lot of vegetables). An hour and approximately 20 dollars later, we were at our apartment experimenting with vegetables we'd never dreamed of combining. We made 3 different kinds of soups/ stews, guacamole, ratatouille, home made pesto, and goat cheese & pesto infused meat balls.

"Meatballs?!", you ask in alarm. "But those aren't vegetables"... Granted the meatballs were a bit off of our veggie track, but we oven baked them as opposed to pan frying them like we'd always done in the past, so there was no extra fat. We were worried that they'd be too dry but apparently we released them from their sizzling prison just in time.

In the future we will oven bake our meatballs because it makes for a less messy a method-- keeping dancing grease spatters to a minimum and therefore cutting my clean up time in half! And the fact that I don't have to babysit the pan, turning them over every so often, also makes it a less time consuming project. Anyways, this meatball feast was truly an all around positive experience. However, we've talked about going off red meat for a while... (the exception of course is my visit to California... and who knows what Jeff will cook up while I'm away.) All kidding aside, we just want to be more mindful of where our food comes from. On a similar note, processed foods are a little heavy on the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions something-er-other, which I've heard is bad for our atmosphere/ planet and our bodies... although I'll be the first to admit I'm not exactly sure how it all works. One of my goals is to learn more about the ill effects of processed foods. Hopefully more on this later...


Here's a sampling of some of the Vegetables/ Plant like foods we used:

Eggplant
Red bell peppers
Mexican Squash
Avocados
Zucchini
Shallots
Roma Tomatoes
Garlic
Yellow squash
Cucumbers
Corn
Yellow Onion
Potatoes
Leeks
Carrots
Celery
Mini red, Orange, and yellow pepper
Celeno Peppers
Fresh Basil
Vine Tomatoes
Rosemary
Green onions
Spinach

Dinner 1: Spicy Vegetable, 3 Bean, Sausage Soup.

Dinner 2:
Goat Cheese and fresh-Pesto Meatballs,
served on Whole Grain Linguine,
with (slightly home made) Pesto Sauce,
Ratatouille on the side.

Dinner 3:
Potato Leek soup,
Corn and Red Pepper Chowder,
Whole Grain Bread.

We were able to freeze the left overs... and have been enjoying them ever since.