My food journey

As I sit here eating lunch, I thought about how much I love whole, homemade foods. And then I thought back to myself pre-Killian. I know this is strange, but I see my life in 2 part... 1. pre-killian me and 2. Killian-me. Killian came along and suddenly all the pieces of my life fit together, and I became a vastly better person. I suddenly realized everything I want out of life, and alot of it is very different from before. Before I had Killian, I ate as cheaply as I could, with alot of processed stuff. Sure I tried "homecooking" of hamburger helper and stouffers. But I didn't put alot of thought into what I ate except for a. if it tastes good and b. if it was cheap. After I had killian, I made all his baby food, and I wanted to learn how to cook. So off I went to my grandma's house where I learned the basics... and I felt OVERWHELMED. I thought I'd never get the hang of cooking.. that having all the ingredients for recipes was hard and required so much work. I learned a few recipes and made more homemade foods, but again, they were made from traditional "american food" such as hotdogs, graham crackers, etc.
My sister had been cooking for a while, and had ventured into eating whole foods. That is.. starting with basic foods such as vegetables, flour, water, eggs, etc. and making meals instead of starting with things like hamburger helper. She was talking to me about cooking with whole foods and it seemed to overwhelming to me. I was still in my beginning stage.
Then, after I had about a year of cooking under my belt, I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and it changed the way I look at food. I started eating whole, local foods. I started preserving foods, buying my meat local from GOOD farmers. I started making food from scratch, even making my own cheese (which is actually pretty simple! Don't believe me? I'll post on that later) and I can't believe the difference that I found. I feel GREAT! I don't get stomach aches, I don't have irregular bowls (unless I load up on junk), I feel good about putting food in my mouth because it's nutritious and made with love. Killian helps me in the kitchen as much as possible, and he knows more about food than an average american does now.
I urge every one to give it a try. If you've been cooking for a while, try making the change. If you're just starting out, I know it seems like I'm crazy and you'll never get there. But trust me, you will. I don't even know any other way of cooking now.
And right now, I'm enjoying a delicious homemade mac n' cheese with peas I shelled myself this summer, a bowl of strawberries I hand-picked and froze this summer. And a yogurt I made a few days ago with honey from a local farm and strawberry juice from said berries. Almost everything in my lunch (except the pasta) came from within 25 miles of my home and I feel great about it. AND it's much better for me than if I was eating kraft mac n' cheese, strawberries with no flavor from california where they were sprayed with pesticides, and yogurt made 15 days ago and filled with preservatives so I could enjoy it at my leisure. Yup, that's my food journey and where I'm at today. And I feel good about where I'm at. I feel good about the food I'm feeding Killian... knowing that I'm fueling his body with the BEST food possible.

On a last note.. here's a little tip that my Gma gave me and I'm very excited about. If you're a small family (like mine), but you like to have dessert on hand (Killian gets a chair out when we're cooking to get a cookie  from the cookie jar)... here's a tip. Make a double batch of cookie dough, roll it into a log, wrap with tin foil, and stick it in the freezer. TAH DAH! You now have frozen cookie dough (cheaper and healthier than the kind you buy at the grocery store) and you can cut off cookies as you need them. I LOVE it. Even when we make a dozen, sometimes cookies go to waste. Now they won't , and I can give Killian dessert without too much hassle. :)