Food, INC.

If you haven't seen the documentary Food, INC., see it! It's very disturbing what is happening with our food. A scientist in the documentary was explaining how they spend their days engineering food. He said that 90% of the food in our grocery stores contains some version of corn or soy and most likely both! No wonder I am having such a hard time.

I am even more motivated to get my garden going now! I want to know where my food comes from! Next task: investigate local chicken and beef farmers to see if I can find a CSA for grass-fed meat.

Faux Peanut Sauce YUMMMMM!

My husband and I have started creating weekly menus. It really helps with the grocery shopping and keeping us on track with healthy eating. Tonight we were supposed to have grilled chicken and roasted vegetables.

That's not a difficult meal but I felt like I needed something to make it a little more exciting. I wanted to put a sauce on it. But here was the problem...

Store bought sauces almost always contain corn or soy. (allergic to both)
We are currently cooking South Beach style. Good news, we hadn't had any treats today.

I thought a peanut sauce would be super yummy over the chicken but alas, peanuts are another allergy. Aha! I googled "How to make a peanut sauce using almond butter?" I found an awesome recipe and just tweeked it for what ingredients I had available.

In the Cuisanart: 1/4 cup water, 2 tbsp. almond butter, juice of a lime off our tree, 2 tsp. organic agave, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of cayenne.

Oh MY! It was fantastic. It made a nice thin sauce that I drizzled over each piece of chicken and saved the rest. A definite keeper and hubby thought so too!

Digging, digging, and more digging!

Spring is here and I've been digging for 3 weeks now. It started with my need to revamp the tiered garden that was just begging for some love. I'm sure it was gorgeous and abundant for years with the original owner, but 5 years of renters before we bought the house in September have left it neglected and sad.

I don't have the first idea how to make this into the garden of my dreams. So I've been devouring organic gardening blogs, checking out books at the library, and getting the garden shed all straightened out.

Mostly, I've been digging. So far I have dug out enough room to make a 15 x 3 ft box and an 8 by 3 ft box. My ever-so-talented and patient husband has built beautiful boxes out of landscape timbers and I have filled them with a blend of the original soil and compost. The original soil looks really nice (as if I had any clue) so hopefully the compost will just liven it up a bit and the veggies will be happy.

In the long box, I planted 11 tomato plants and carrot seeds. In the other box I have crookneck squash, cucumber, lemon thyme, and Italian oregano.

Today is my last day of Spring Break. I will be digging all day to see if we can get one more garden box built.