No More Puzzle

March 28, 2011 By 4 Comments

I think the fact that we are excited about our freezer purchase officially makes us an old married couple. Jesse is especially enthusiastic about larger, long-term purchases. We’ve been talking about getting a second freezer for a long time now and we finally decided that now was the perfect time.

Jesse opening freezer

Our freezer/fridge in the kitchen was packed so full that it was like a giant puzzle to get out what you were looking for. It’s so frustrating to come home from the store and struggle to make everything fit. I’ve been known to shove everything in and close the door fast before anything falls out.

New freezer

Having the extra freezer space will definitely save us money by allowing me to buy extra when stuff is on sale. I’m now very price conscious on everything I buy and I hope that this storage space will allow me to never spend over my set price on an item. Every so often Sweetbay will have whole chickens for $0.79/pound, so I’d like to only buy them at that price. I just need to learn how long things will keep so that I don’t overbuy. The other things I’d like to stock up on are the steam-in-the-bag veggies when they are $1.00, and the frozen lasagnas for Jesse’s lunches when they go on sale.

Inside freezer

Right now there is lots of room to spare as we slowly stock up as sales come, but I love that I can easily see everything without digging and freezing my fingers off. I love my new freezer!

Filled freezer

Filed Under: General, Marriage

Strawberry Heaven

March 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I was invited to go strawberry picking with a couple of friends yesterday.  I’ve never been strawberry picking before so I was definitely up for the experience.  I tried to get Jesse to come along with me, but he was not-so-much interested.  He grew up near farmland so he had lots of practice picking all types of produce.  However I did not and find the fact that I can eat food that I picked myself fascinating and exciting.

Strawberry baskets

We had fun and came home with lots and lots and LOTS of strawberries.  The first thing I did when I got home was to eat a nice big bowl of fresh cut strawberries.  When I buy them from the store they cost a lot more and there is a small amount so I usually try to make them last for a couple of breakfasts.  Both yesterday and today there was no limit.  I ate strawberries until I was full.  I think I might turn in to a strawberry.

I also froze a bunch of them to make strawberry sherbet, which I’ve never made before so I can’t wait to see how that turns out.

Strawberries frozen

Then I mashed some and added some sugar and water to make strawberry popsicles.  We haven’t tried one yet, but I did try a spoonful of my popsicle mix before I froze it and it tasted really yummy.

Strawberry popsicles

I gave some of them away, and we still have lots left to eat.  They are huge and super juicy and there are no bad ones hiding like the packages that come from the store.  I will definitely be doing this again. Next month will be time for blueberry picking.  I’ve never been blueberry picking either so I will be looking forward to that for sure!

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Real Food Rocks

March 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When I was a kid, almost everything we ate was made from scratch. Of course we had store bought crackers and other snacks, but for the most part all of our actual meals were made from fresh foods. Since it was always that way at our house I really didn’t think about how awesome that was. Thinking back, I remember having friends over for dinner and them thinking that we always had fancy meals. I thought it was weird that they would think chicken, mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies was something special. I’ve now come to realize that people don’t always eat that way, it takes a little extra work to eat real food.

Fresh foodsIt wasn’t until I got married that I discovered the endless variety of packaged foods. I honestly didn’t know that you could buy pre-made hamburger patties (Dad always made his own recipe), and that the produce section sold apples already cut up in a bag for you. I thought my discoveries were absolutely fantastic. I thought my parents were silly for wasting so much time preparing their own food. I’ve just recently found out that cutting up my own apple really isn’t all that difficult.

When we were first married, both of us were working a lot of hours and there simply was no time for meal prep. We are very fortunate in that I now stay home and have the time and energy for cooking, and I’m really beginning to enjoy it. I’ve had a total shift in what I consider to be an easy meal to prepare. At this time last year, we were having hamburger helper (or something similar) at least once a week. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there is necessarily anything wrong with that. We still buy it for Jesse to have for lunch sometimes, but those types of food don’t happen too often in our house anymore. In looking through my old cooking magazines, I’ve founds dozens of recipes that I completely skipped over before because they were too much effort. Now I can’t wait to try new ingredients and just see what happens.

I have a theory that eating all of these overly processed foods the last couple of years may be what provoked all of my allergy issue to develop. I think it was just a huge shock to my system after never eating foods like that before. My body didn’t know what to do, so it starting attacking everything. It’s amazing how much of a difference it has made in how I feel. The other day, I just had to tell Mom how great it was that she fed us real food as kids. She agreed that it is worth the little bit of extra effort and that real food rocks!

Filed Under: General