Best thing about eating whole foods? Actually cooking

I’ve been making a real effort to focus on healthy foods and skip the junk for my daughter and I (again).  The best thing about eating whole foods is actually putting the time into cooking.  I rely too much on quick, easy solutions when I’m not making a conscious effort to eat less sugar and grain.  Too much takeout, fast food, deli dinners, boxed Frankenfoods and such.

Cutting back on sugar and grain means I’ve gotta put time in the kitchen and my daughter is thrilled.  She’s so happy whenever I cook something from scratch.  She’s been getting in the kitchen with me quite a bit, too.  She’s 14 and doing school at home this year.  Researching healthy recipes is one of her assignments!  She found a recipe for some great shrimp tacos we ate in lettuce wraps.  She also learned to fry an egg – with the yolk hard for Momma.

We’ve also made egg “muffins,” meatloaf with almond flour instead of grain, homemade tomato soup with fresh tomatoes, cheese “crackers,” broccoli with bacon, sauteed cabbage, beef stew, fajitas and other yumminess. We totally winged it on the tomato soup.  We basically just threw stuff in a pot with some olive oil and let it go.  We had:

• six whole tomatoes
• about 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 a yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 a green bell pepper
• 1/2 a red bell pepper
• an onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 4 carrots
• salt, pepper and Italian seasoning

Once it was all cooked down, I gave it a whirl with an immersion blender.  Done! It would also make a yummy sauce with pasta.  I’m going to turn the leftovers it into “risotto” with cauliflower “rice” later this week. We made cheese “crackers” by mounding shredded cheese in piles on parchment paper and baking.  Easy peasy. I love showing my girl whole foods are yummy and don’t have to be complicated to make.