Yesterday, while doing my grocery shopping for the week, I started to think about how much the contents of my cart have changed over the past couple of years.
While I always got fresh fruits and vegetables from the farm market, my grocery cart was surprisingly different. When I first started to cook, I bought a lot of processed foods to help me since I was just learning. As I started to become more aware of organics, I would buy organic processed foods. Still, my cart looked like it was full of boxes, plastic bags, and cartons. As I started to move more toward a whole food mentality, my cart came to life. I was buying living ingredients instead of processed junk.
Yesterday, walking down the aisles, I was thinking about what I’d make for supper this week. I saved a lot of time because we’ve got beef, pork, and fish in the freezer, so I just grab some chicken, antibiotic and hormone free. I picked up some carrots, a bag of potatoes, a few onions, a clove of garlic, and some pears. All of our other vegetables and fruits for the week are frozen or canned, from our garden. I pick up milk, eggs, and flour. I stop to think: Pizza dough? I can make that, but I need a new jar of yeast. Pasta? I can make that, too. Tortillas? Again, I can make them. Cheese? Well, I’ve been wanting to try Crunchy Chicken’s yogurt/cream cheese, so I picked up a container of plain yogurt.
This winter, I’ve headed more and more toward living from scratch, a lifestyle that I first described, and unconsciously named, last week. It’s amazingly fulfilling to look at my shopping cart and realize that it is full of living, whole foods instead of bottles and boxes. It’s even more fulfilling to spend time in the kitchen, using my hands to create supper.
I made these tortillas this afternoon (here’s my recipe), filled them with some ground beef from our freezer cooked with cumin, paprika, and red pepper flakes, re-fried beans, yogurt cheese, and salsa, then topped them with salsa, shredded jack cheese and onions, and baked them at 375°F for 20 minutes. I call them enchiladas, but I’m not certain that’s what they are. I never thought I’d make tortillas, especially on a weeknight, but now I enjoy doing it.
Is there anything you were intimidated to try? Were you empowered once you tried it?
Farmer's Daughter 