Cooking Fool

Ever since Andrew lost his job about a month ago, we've obviously been trying to cut back our spending. This means that our awful habit of eating out somewhat frequently had to go. I really missed my Chick-fil-A and Chipotle during those first two weeks, but since then we've made some really great changes and I'm quite happy!

It all started a few weeks ago when a few of my friends told me about Bountiful Baskets, a fruit and vegetable co-op. For $15 (or $25 for organic), you get TONS of fruits and veggies. On the site they estimate that you get $50 worth of grocery store produce. I had actually first heard of this site a few years ago, but since Andrew is a veggiephobe, I didn't think it was worth it. Enter Caleb who would choose a vegetable or fruit over meat any day of the week and twice on Sunday, and we were starting to think that it might be worth a try. So three weeks ago, on a Tuesday, I made my first contribution to the co-op. I was so excited for Saturday morning (pick-up day) that I didn't sleep well Friday night. I arrived at our pick-up site about 15 minutes early to see rows and rows of baskets lined up in the park. It was a beautiful site. After checking in with the woman in charge, I was led to my gorgeous organic fruits and veggies, which included HUGE red potatoes, broccoli, apples, celery, mango, oranges, cucumbers, onions, turnip, romaine lettuce, pears, tomatoes, and more. I was inspired and decided to check out a local Farmer's market on Sunday morning to pick up some proteins. That was a little disappointing, but I did come home with some buffalo ribeye steaks, eggs, carrots, and some herbs. Then came the fun part, meal planning for the week. Let me just say that I hate grocery shopping and meal planning, but somehow meal planning in reverse (i.e. once I have all the ingredients in my kitchen) has been really exciting.

I picked up our second round of Bountiful Baskets last Saturday in which we received zucchini, asparagus, tomatoes, onions, garlic, pineapple, apples, asian pears, AMAZING bananas, a head of some kind of lettuce, two kinds of mushrooms, basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley, cauliflower, 6 ears of corn, mandarin oranges (I had never seen these unless in a can), and again much, much more. I also checked out another local Farmer's Market that was much more to my liking. I will definitely be going back. Not only are we getting TONS of fresh produce, but it is all SUPER tasty. Andrew has started eating more veggies, we've all started eating more fruits, we're able to purchase local, hormone and antibiotic free meats, and the best part is that we're actually SAVING money and having a ton of fun in the process.

Here are some of the recipes I've tried so far.

Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes
Asparagus with Parmesan
Herbed Roast Chicken
Marinated Buffalo Steaks (just used salad dressing as a marinade)
Buffalo burgers (from Trader Joe's seasoned with Mrs. Dash)
Pepper and Onion Brats (from the Farmer's Market)

And later this week I'm planning to try out Roasted Cauliflower when I cook my Farmer's Market find grass fed beef tip steaks marinaded in olive oil, lemon juice, and some of my fresh garlic and herbs!

I never thought I'd get this excited about food that isn't chocolate!