some small steps

an new meal i made, one whole meal, from our garden or from scratch. i can not remember taking note of it before, though i'm sure this has happened before. it was nice and simple but a perfect encouragement for me.

homemade BBQ meatballs
- 1 lb. beef, onion(we grew), an egg(from our chickens), and some oatmeal (made into meatballs)
- some onion
- some garlic
- bbq sauce
- ketchup
- brown sugar
mix this all together and pour over meatballs. cook in oven at 350
our garden beans (the second round) in saucepan with garlic and butter
watermelon and cantaloupe from our garden
homemade bread
- i tried bread out of my recipe for pizza dough, with garlic salt and butter melted on top.

that was the whole meal, like i said, nice and simple, but a delicious meal we devoured. since focusing on more nutritious meals, it is difficult to go the whole way to healthy living right away, even thinking about it is overwhelming. like the fact that i used ketchup and bbq sauce that was not homemade. That may sound crazy to some, but to real healthy eaters, they make homemade everything! For me, small steps, (like i've said before) are a wonderful way to start.

a few of my first steps this year have been:
-i buy our meat from the local meat market - not as much meat b/c it does cost a little more, but i always feel good about eating it, ever since reading crunchy cons i've bought from them. i would love to raise our own meat, but for now, this is a great option and its supporting something healthier and a local business.

-we are growing everything we can in our garden to cut costs and to eat healthier produce. this is difficult depending on if you own a home. right now we rent, but we are still able to do this, which is amazing for us.

- i have been making breads, muffins, pizza crusts, anything i can from scratch. Along with this i've been exploring baking with whole grains as well. i have wanted to learn how to make breads from scratch for a long time, and this is a more recent step i've taken, i do not always do it, we still buy bread, but i hope to keep getting better at this.

- i have been canning and freezing, which i also mentioned the other day. This is wonderful, i love doing it, and i've been able to do some of it with family and that helps keep the load down.

- i make homemade pizza every saturday night, from scratch and i am fine tuning this. eventually i want to use toppings only from our garden, and canned, dried or fresh tomatoes, and homemade cheese. :)

-yes, i am working on learning to make my own cheese, a delicacy food i would love to master. i am still working on getting the ingredients and supplies i need to do this. so it is a work in progress.


i think this is my list so far. and i am working to master these and keep adding.