Going Organic

I’ll be the first to admit that even though I don’t eat a lot, what I was putting in my mouth wasn’t healthy which is probably more damaging than the amount I was eating.  I dislike most veggies and I’m a rather picky eater.  A couple of weeks ago when I started working out (starting back up on Monday hopefully since I’m finally feeling better and can breathe again after being sick for so long) I realized that just working out wasn’t the only answer.  Thankfully, Lillian eats a lot of things that I don’t.  With the new kitchen being installed, I have a new found love with cooking for my family.  I’ve always loved to bake, but since I hated being in the kitchen, I never really felt like baking or cooking from scratch.  Even though the kitchen is only like 50% done, I already love being in there.  I love that I finally have my dining room table back.  I love that I can watch Lilly play while I prepare a meal.

So with this re-discovered love, I decided that I needed to change what I’m putting in my family’s mouth.  Organic as much as possible.  From scratch as much as possible.  And most importantly, eating at the kitchen table every night (the dining room before we tore the wall down was super small and I’m a bit on the claustrophobic side.)  I made my first loaf of bread with all organic ingredients that I picked up from the Cambridge Co-Op from the book Artisan Bread in five minutes a day.  To say that it was simple to make the bread is an understatement and I love the fact that each batch makes four loaves and that I can keep the dough in the fridge and I don’t even have to knead it……total awesomeness!!  Then today I made a trip to the grocery store and wanted to see how much food I could get if I bought all Organic.  I’m not going to lie……it’s expensive!  But do we really need all of that food with preservatives and chemicals…..NOOOOOO!  I’m also going to make an effort to at least try more vegetables…at least then I can say I tried.   My cart wasn’t as full as it usually was and I bought about 95% of the things in my cart in the Nature’s Place at Hannaford.  I usually shop at Price Chopper because their prices are a lot cheaper and I like their bakery a lot better.  But now that I’m baking my own bread, I really don’t have a reason that I have to shop there so I’m going to see how I do price wise with all of my shopping at Hannaford for awhile.  I’m hoping that eventually as I wean my family off of the processed foods, my bill will go down slightly, especially in the summer when I plan on planting an organic garden.  Anyways, I just had to type all of this because I’m so excited about this change I’m making for me and my family.  I mean, how couldn’t you be excited when you see this come out of the oven (from my point and shoot camera)…..