Family Dinner

Wow! It's been a while since I wrote my last post.  I have cooked many things in the last month, but not as much as I would have liked to.  My family is looking for a house, and since my dad is at work all day, we can only look at houses at night. :-(  That means we have eaten WAY TOO MUCH In-n-Out! (After watching Super Size Me, that's the only fast food I can stomach.)

The highlights of my last month of cooking include, baked beans from scratch with dried pinto beans, real maple syrup, spicy brown  mustard, onions, bacon, and raw organic sugar (it took 2 tries, but the 2nd batch was delicious.), and an amazing chicken dish with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fresh tomatoes, and fresh basil.  I came up with both recipes without a cookbook (and with a little of my mom's help).

But lets get to the real reason while I'm posting tonight.  Today is my 12th birthday and instead of going out to eat I wanted to cook for my family, my grandparents, great grandparents, and my Aunt Carol.

Here we are eating our dinner. (My Grammy and Poppy are in Colorado, so they couldn't come.) I was so excited that is was raining. We decorated for fall, put a fire in the fireplace, and lit candles all over the house. 

My Aunt Carol actually made that delicious salad, but I made the rest.

Here is my yummy cobbler. Cobblers are my favorite thing to bake.

I made raspberry chipotle pork roast (wish I could take all the credit, but it was already seasoned from Costco), garlic mashed potatoes, garlic sauteed green beans, and a peach cranberry cobbler. We served it with a sourdough baguette and sparkling grape juice.  It was all a big hit.  I am so blessed to have such an amazing family.  It made me so happy to serve them all on my birthday.  Altogether, I had a great birthday.

Oh yeah, and one more thing,  Aunt Carol gave me the coolest recipe organizer for my birthday!  I can't wait to use it.  One day, when I am all moved in to it, I'll blog about it.  Thank you Aunt Carol for the book and the adorable apron! You and Cottie are my cooking inspiration!

The First Day of School

This summer, my mom bought me a meal planning book at the CHEA convention, so today I gathered that book, my favorite cookbook called Deceptively Delicious, and a book I found in our Charter School library called Healthy Foods, by Leanne Ely. I spread them out and read and planned for about 4 hours. It was so much fun!!!!

Here are some things I've learned in my reading and documentary watching...

1. Margarine is way worse for you than butter. It has 0 nutrients and all it is, is fake, artificially colored, flavored plastic. Any cook loves a good excuse to use real butter, so here is mine.

2. When we started getting the so-called "experts" is when we started getting people who are seriously overweight and seriously underweight.  Experts try to tell you that you should only eat protein,  fat free, or sugar free foods.  The truth is that everyone is different and every body needs different amounts of different kinds of nutrition.  

3. Some meat companies would rather fill their ground beef with an ammonia paste, than have healthy cows. The cows live up to their knees in their own excrement in crowded pens rather than grazing in wide open fields the way God designed it. 

4. There are 21 ingredients in fast food chicken nuggets and the last one is chicken!

5. We should try to eat seasonal fruits and vegetables. God made our bodies to need certain foods at certain times of the year.

6. If you ask your grocery store to sell  more organic food, chances are, they will.

Why am I doing this blog?

I have loved cooking as long as I can remember. When I was just an infant, my mom would stick me in my bouncer seat in the kitchen and tell me what she was doing as she was cooking, just to keep me happy.  Even though it was more trouble for her, when I got a little older, my mom would often let me help her in the kitchen. Little did she know, that would start my deep love and appreciation of cooking, and it all paid off because now I do most of the dinner making.  Today my mom is sick, and she didn't have to worry about feeding her family.  For dinner I made my great-grandma Cottie's recipe of homemade rolls (only with whole wheat instead of white flour) with BBQ pulled pork and white corn.

This summer I watched Food Inc and I became obsessed with eating organic and healthy foods. Since I was starting Jr. High, my mom said I could do Nutrition/Cooking for my elective. Then we had the idea for us to chronicle my adventures on my very own blog! So here it goes.....