We ate Thanksgiving dinner in our pajamas.

No need to loosen the proverbial belts.  They’re elastic.  Sweet.

This was the first year I have ever prepared the entire Thanksgiving meal by myself.  Chris gets credit though for washing dishes as we went.

The menu included turkey (no picture – it was sad looking coming out of the roasting oven but it was SO yummy, very juicy!)…

…sweet potato stuffing…zucchini au gratin…

…these yummy bacon bundles – a recipe from our worship pastor’s wife, Monica…(I didn’t get the recipe exactly right but even still, they were SO good!)…

…and these are supposed to be cloverleaf rolls but I ran out of muffin pans (must invest in more) so improvised on the pizza stone…then they looked ore like shamrock rolls or something…but even so, yummy!  Making them from scratch wasn’t too terribly hard either.

We also had baked macaroni and cheese, pecan pie and pumpkin pie (store-bought).

My mom and dad and Aunt Judy were in town for the festivities as well!

I highly recommend PJ’s for Thanksgiving Day.

This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays.  For more recipes, tips, and info, head there!

My husband is spoiled by his family’s baked mac’n'cheese recipe.  I grew up on Kraft mac’n'cheese.  The raging debate in our home over something as simple as macaroni and cheese has been going on for years.  In my quest to make and eat real food, I finally had to let go of my love for Kraft and find an alternative that was a bit easier than traditional baked mac-n-cheese.

Out comes my Southern Living cookbook.  My favorite cookbook.  Love it.

I found a page that listed basic recipes for white sauce then what to add to make it cheddar cheese sauce (um, hello, cheddar cheese?).  And it was easy.  I love easy.

In fact, I found it had only a few more steps as in-the-box mac’n'cheese.  This may be common knowledge to many out there, but for me it was a eureka moment.  Just let me enjoy the moment, if you please.  :)

Basic Thick White Sauce

3 tbs butter

3 tbs flour  (to make thinner sauces, you can decrease to 2 tbs of butter and flour, or 1 tbs of butter and flour.  See?  Easy!)

1 cup whole milk  (I prefer whole for a variety of health reasons)

1/4 tsp salt

Dash of ground white pepper

Melt butter over low heat; add flour and stir until smooth, cook 1 minute stirring constantly.  Gradually add milk over medium heat and stir constantly until thickened.  Stir in salt and pepper.

To turn this into cheddar cheese sauce:  Stir in 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (4oz) and 1/4 tsp dry mustard.

Pour that over the noodles, or vegetables, or whatever strikes your fancy.  It was easy, all-natural, and delicious!

“You mean you make your own tomato sauce/spaghetti sauce?”

I was always so impressed with it.  That means they took the time, energy, and had the know-how to make something truly delicious.  And generational.  And empowering.  At the time when I would make such comments, it was so much easier to buy a cheap can or jar of sauce and be on about my life.  But now?

I made tomato sauce last week…from tomatoes. It was a beautiful thing!  Excuse my excitement if this is old-hat to you.

I started by going to one of the local farmers’ markets and buying some organic tomatoes.  I even got a better deal because said farmer forgot to change the price of the tomatoes on the box from last week so I got them cheaper than he intended.   I did not have fresh herbs (trying to grow them!) so I did use dry and that’s ok. I used a combination of recipes and guides from the internet to help me out as well.  (Ok, I’ll admit it – I had to look up “blanching.”)

It was so much easier than I thought!  Granted, the labor at the beginning was a little time-consuming, but it was worth it.  The smell while it was cooking – oh my!  Even my hubby with the deficient sniffer (allergies) could smell it and it smelled divine.  The taste was so fresh and flavorful.

Jars and cans are now a thing of my past.  I did not even look back.  That love affair is over.

Here it is while it is still simmering on the stove.  I have a dream to be a great photographer one day, but alas, music and sound are all I can do.  (ie – sorry for the bad photos)

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Blanching, skinning, seeding, dicing…messy job, but it was great.  The other downside?  I got a migraine nearly instantly.  I found this fascinating because in the past it would take a few hours, when I used jarred sauce.  There is something in the “freshness” of it all that is a huge trigger.  Was it worth the taste?  Oh yes.  However, in the future I’ll only be able to eat it when all my other triggers for migraines are non-existent or minimal.

I’ll be eating lots of tomato sauce and noodles in Heaven.  Migraine-free.

The next recipe I wanted to share was from an online friend.  I’ve always been at a loss as to how to make something with zuchinnis (besides bread) and this recipe piqued my interest.  I made it.  It was easy.  And it was fabulous!!  I didn’t get any pictures, but that doesn’t matter.  It was so full of flavor from such basic ingredients.  It did not even need salt and pepper.  Loved it!  Here it is for you, complements to Heather Anne and her friend Sami…

Sami’s Baked Zucchini Gratin

1 medium onion, sliced thin

2 lbs zucchini, sliced thin

1 stick butter, melted and divided (1/4 cup and 1/4 cup)

2 cups shredded mozarella cheese

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1/4 cup Pamesan cheese

In a lightly greased 2 quart baking dish, layer onion and zucchini slices; drizzle with 1/4 cup melted butter. Sprinkle with mozarella cheese. Combine remaining butter, bread crumbs, and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until zucchini is fork tender.

To sum up, I’m feeling so empowered by knowing the basics, especially for tomato sauce.  No more reading the ingredients of jarred sauce (or paying upwards of $7 for an organic jar!) to check for MSG or other preservaties or disagreeable ingredients.  And more ideas for zuchinni!

This is posted as a part of Fight Back Fridays.  Yes, I know its Saturday but better late than never!  I’m a great procrastinator that way.

My how our lives have changed in a year!  It has been a very gradual change and definitely an adventure, but our lives are all the better for it!

I’m going to use this post to back up and explain more fully how we have gotten from point a to point b.

In this post I explained how I was changing my cooking and diet to benefit my migraine habit.   To sum up just in case you do not want to go back and read (and I don’t blame you, time is precious!), a year ago next week (July 2, yes I remember the day) I had my last visit to the emergency room in a neighboring city for a horrid migraine.  I was chaperoning teens, not in my own car, but thankfully a college-age student was with my group and he was able to drive them the remaining two hours home while I finished my trip in an ambulance to a nearby hospital.

Embarrassing.

I had gotten to the point after that trip where I was terrified to even leave the house for too long of a distance, especially without my various migraine and pain meds.  I was a walking pharmacy.   I was having 3-4 debilitating headaches a week.  Functioning?  No, not really.  I decided I had hit rock bottom with my headaches.

I found a book that was highly recommended (Dr. David Buccholz’s Heal Your Headache) and put its 3 steps into practice – wow, the difference was amazing.  What I discovered was that MSG-laden foods, in addition to tomatoes and lemons (I’d known those were triggers for years), were migraine triggers for me.  Once I started cutting those MSG-rich foods out of my diet, my migraines decreased significantly.

If MSG was making my head feel this bad, I wonder what other additives and preservatives were doing to me?

Why not try it out?  We had nothing to lose.  I was already learning how to cook from scratch to reduce MSG, so cooking completely from scratch and with only fresh ingredients was really not a far cry from where I was.  This decision happened in September or October of last year.  Chris and I stumbled upon a documentary called A Beautiful Truth on our Netflix and watched it.  I had decided to watch it because they would be talking about MSG and its horrible effects on the body, but we learned so much more.

The entire premise of this film is centered around the life and work of Dr. Gersen, who apparently discovered the cure to various illnesses, even some cancers, through simply changing your diet.  It was actually the various parts of the film that were fascinating to us – further information about MSG and aspertame, genetically-modified organisms (GMO’s), and dental amalgams that contain mercury and how all of those are toxic to the body.

I had already discovered that simply eliminating my MSG-consumption had reduced my migraines significantly.  More than significantly.  So we took the extra step to move to organic foods.   We really had nothing to lose and health to gain, right?

Another discovery happened.  (I have mentioned this previously, but I’ll say it again.)  Where I thought I had developed an allergy to the few fruits I liked, I discovered through my lack of self-control that I had no allergic reaction to the equivalent organicially-grown fruit.   This was definitely intrigueing.  I can’t tell you how nice it is to eat an apple and not having my throat, ears, and mouth itch like crazy.

By the fall of last year and getting into winter, I had not only eliminated any and all convienence foods from my pantry and refrigerator, but had started buying only organic foods.  If there was any doubt as to what was on a label, I did not buy it.  If our bodies were not meant to consume it, then I did not want to buy it for my family.

What Chris and I realized over time was that we had been feeling better than we had felt in a long time.  To eat fast food or order pizza delivery sends our stomachs into tailspins.   It just feels good knowing you are eating healthy and feeding your family healthy foods as well.

This spring we discovered something else: the illnesses in our family have been nearly non-existent.  It has been quite a few months since we have had a cold.  Sure, we may feel like one is coming on, but by the following day we feel back to normal.  Is this because having eliminated various chemicals and poisons from our bodies, we are better able to fight off everyday viruses?  Food for thought…  (I had to say it…puns are great.)

Now, let me clarify that we are not the food police.  We are passionate about how we eat simply because we feel so much better for it, and I do get excited about it, but its not for everybody as much as I wish it were.  :)  We are also not going to be the food police when we are out and about.  We still eat out.  We still grab Chick-fil-A when time or energy is just too limited.  When dining with friends, we do not turn our noses up at non-organic foods.   I have no desire to make anyone feel guilty or to project us as superior.  (You have my permission to remind me if I come across that way.)  Even Chris doesn’t entirely follow it – he still has to have his Dr. Pepper.  (The large amount of high fructose corn syrup in it makes me shudder.)

I wanted to be able to share more and more about how we cook and eat and why we do the what we do as I continually learn how to cook – taking you on this journey with me, if you want to go.  It’s not cheap, and therein lies the challenge on how to do this on a budget. I found a huge amount of resources and ideas on how others do this.

There is a cookbook I recently purchased called Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.  I was reading another blog and this book was mentioned – the ideas seemed interesting.  I read through it and the wealth of information in it is astounding.  It seems to be more book than cookbook, but thats ok.  Admittedly, I probably cannot follow every dot and tittle in the book, but the general ideas are really neat.  There is even an impressive amount of blogs out there whose writers are devoted to following the NT guidelines and giving recipes and other information on living a simpler, more organic lifestyle.  Who knew?!

This post is long enough…but I wanted to give a little background before diving into a whole new series of posts about what I am cooking and why I am cooking and shopping the way that I am.   I felt like I should give you a background on the whys and hows and how it has improved our lives thus far.

A year ago this week, I was eating a totally different diet – reliant upon convenience foods in a big way.  A year later – nary a convenient food in sight, more veggies, more fruits, baking bread and feeling tons better for it. Amazing.   I am no longer on pain meds, migraine meds, and am weaning off of my final maintainence migraine medicine (sllllloooowwwww process).    All glory to God for His wisdom and guidance in helping to improve my health, and ultimately my family’s health.

More to come!

Posting this as part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday’s!  Head on over to see other great posts and blogs about this topic!

I have no idea what the rest of the words to that little ditty are, but I’ve heard it a thousand times if I’ve heard it once – it was a popular refrain during family gatherings as a kid.

It still is, sometimes.

Can’t you just hear the country twang in the words?  Hmmm, maybe I should change my category listing to “Got Cookin’” instead of “Gone Cookin’” to reflect the words of this immortal kitchen tune.

I’ve had so much fun cooking lately!  I’ve started to feel halfway competent in the kitchen!  Woohoo!

• On the day of Chris’s surgery, I made Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup.  Started with the whole chicken and all!  Oh, it was SO good.  Even better than  Chick-fil-A’s version.  The recipe was fabulous!  I can’t wait to do it again, but hot summer days don’t tend to lend themselves to hot soup.
• Tonight, I made beans and cornbread.  I still have way too many memories of lots and lots o’ meals of beans and cornbread as a kid, so yes, it’s taken 10 years+ to make it myself.  It was pretty yummy!  I prefer sweet cornbread so I’ll have to change that recipe a bit, but otherwise – easy and cheap and filling!
• Ok, confession – when I made the cornbread, I put it in the skillet on the stove first then put it in the oven to finish cooking.  That was the first time ever I had put a pan of mine in the oven.  I felt so semi-professional.
• I’ve been perusing Meatless Monday’s site for recipe ideas.  I tried the Great Northern White Bean Chili a couple of weeks.  That was pretty good!  (I used MSG-free vegetable broth, all organic ingredients, made my own chili powder, and left out the chiles.)
• One of the sides I’ve tried from that same site was this one with the cauliflower and broccoli.  Oh my, it was so delicious!  I definitely added that one to the repertoire.  (Both needed more salt for our taste…we use Sea Salt.  Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan Sea Salt are supposed to be the most healthful.)
• A cooking funny – I made chicken stock the other day and put it in a juice pitcher until I could get freezer containers for it.  S thought it was juice and demanded some, despite my explanation that it wasn’t what she thought it was.  G wanted some, too.  I poured them each some “juice”, aka chicken stock.  G took one sip and made a face.  S guzzled hers and asked for more!!  I’m quite serious!  Chris and I laughed so hard.
• I’ve been reading Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions.  Heavy nutritional info and explanations but very interesting reading.  We already use some of the techniques and some I’m not so sure I can ever implement, but really great information.  I am glad to have this cookbook in my collection now.
• I finally hit upon my perfect tweaking for Chicken Divan.  I quit using the family recipe because of the MSG it was loaded with and switched to the one in my Southern Living cookbook.  I’m happy now with the changes to the recipe (most by accident!  Ha!).
• Another yummy treat that tons of families probably eat already, but that I stumbled upon this past weekend.  I cut up some apples on a plate, added some grapes, topped it with Seven Stars Farms Organic Vanilla Yogurt, sprinkled some homemade granola, raisins, and a little bit of unsweetened coconot on top of that.  Voila’!  A healthy side dish and dessert in one!  I think I’m craving it right now, in fact.
• I don’t remember if I told ya’ll this before or not in another cooking post, but I’ve been making our own salad dressings, too.  It is a lot faster and easier than I expected it would be!  Very yummy!
• With all this summer heat, I think I want some cold soup recipes.  Any suggestions?
• Any of the above recipes that I have not linked that you would like me to post?

This beautiful piece of work is a butter crock.   I spied one in a magazine I picked up at a local natural/organic food store and wondered what on earth it was, so I did what every like-minded, computer-connected mom would do – I googled it.  

Wikipedia defines it for you here.  

Even better, here is a website that sells beautiful butter crocks:  The Official Butter Bell.  I have to control myself, really.  A butter lovin’ girl could go crazy!  Just google it yourself, I was amazed!

We switched to using pure butter – the good and tasty stuff.  The problem:  it is horrid to spread when it is cold, but it’s great if you desire a hole in the middle of your bread.  I’d have to think ahead to let the butter sit out if we were going to use it.  And we all know how well I think ahead.  Ahem.

So, in case you don’t feel like clicking on the links, I’ll spare you some energy and describe to you what it does.  You smoosh the butter (soften it to room temp, first) into the cup on one side.  Then, fill the pottery side part-ways with ice-cold water.  When you are done using the butter, you turn the cup upside-down into the ice-water, and the vacuum seal keeps the butter nice and fresh at room temperature.  

It’s a beautiful thing.

We love  it!  It’s so cute sitting on the counter, it’s always soft, fresh and ready to spread.  The only thing I have to do is change out the water for more ice-cold water about every three days.   Real butter, spreadable.  

It doesn’t get much better than that.  :)  Unless you get it on sale at Amazon.  

Here are some pics of the new love of my life in my kitchen:

Yesterday, you got to see the results of my first attempt at “real” bread, as my friends on facebook wanted to know.  Was it real or quick bread? Hmmm, well, first I needed to what quick bread was, but another friend reassured me it was real bread.  No worries, I know the difference now.  I can’t wait to try cinnamon raisin bread.

We have been making the switch to organic foods, and admittedly, they are quite tasty!  Another side benefit is that I may not be allergic to the fruits I thought I was allergic to, but instead the pesticides and chemicals used.  I took some bites of the organic fruits and had no reaction.  Interesting, huh?  Was it having a great antihistamine on board or the fact that it was organic?  I’ll keep testing the theory, benadryl on-hand, and let you know.  Because I know you’re on the edge of your seat just waiting to find out.

Grocery shopping has been so much easier with our new eating plan (from scratch, no preservatives/additives, no MSG).  No more wandering up and down all the aisles filled with convenience foods.  I hit the fruits and veggies, the dairy section, the meat section, and baking goods aisle – pretty much around the edges of the store.

The biggest shocker – the kids have not asked for Cheerios once!  I know, I had to pick my jaw up, too.  I was prepared for a battle the first week I did not buy the beloved box of round O’s with the cute little striped insect on it.  It appears, however, they do not even miss them.  They happily eat the random assortment of fruits (and maybe carrots, we’re working on the veggies) I offer them for snacks.  My vacuum cleaner is a lot happier, too.

I also had misgivings about the days when I would be unsure of what to cook – days when the meat did not thaw in time or I forgot entirely, or I needed something a little quicker than usual, or the cabinets were bare due to an upcoming needed grocery trip.  The learning curve is lessening as I learn how to scrounge up ingredients to make a good meal.  It is so amazing what can be done when you have all the staples you need!

I think our grocery bill is even gradually going down.  This is pretty nice considering that we are switching to organics and those are typically more expensive.

I tried a new method for cooking the whole chicken last night from something I read online – just putting it into a covered casserole dish in the oven.  Super delicious!  Very moist and tender.  S couldn’t get enough!  In addition to the wonderful chicken, I also cooked up some fried squash.  You can’t go wrong with fried squash.  Heaven in a bite.  G even ate some.

Speaking of frying (I told you this was a random post), I’ve started trying to use coconut oil for its health benefits.  It’s not cheap so I use it sparingly.  I did use it for the fried squash and it worked great.  It was nice to know it was healthy, too.  A wonderful surprise was when I used the coconut oil in place of vegetable oil when we mixed up some buttermilk pancakes the other day.  It added a wonderful sweetness that we all really enjoyed.  Well, let me clarify, the kids always enjoy sweetness, but Chris and I thought it was great.  I look forward to using it more.  Sparingly, of course.

How about a recipe?  A little bit back, I told you would I would share a recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo that my friend Becky shared with me.  Here you go.  Becky said I could share it as long as I promised to share the low-fat version, too.  *sigh* If I must.  *grin*

Note:  Because I eat MSG free for migraine and health reasons, I’ll make my notes in italics on how to make this recipe mostly MSG free, for those of you MSG-free eaters.  Probably only me, but that’s ok.  Also note, this is not a professionally done recipe, I’ve typed it like it noted it in my cute little recipe book.  Apologies to Becky.

Fettuccine Alfredo

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite-size pieces)  (Personal note:  Pre-cutting food for everyone, especially my children is much more efficient especially when I’m so hungry by mealtime that I could chew my arm off.  Gruesome, I know.)
• 1 tbs. olive oil (Personal note: I never measure this, it’s so much more fun to just pour it right out of the bottle and watch the chicken sizzle.  You know, those bottles like on the cooking shows?  I feel so “cool”, er “hip”, er “phat” – dang, what’s the word now?? -  when I do that.)
• Cajun seasoning  (Generally, prepared versions sold in grocery stores have MSG in it.  You can find a recipe to make your own Cajun seasoning here.   Or Google “homemade Cajun seasoning”)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1  8 oz. block Cream Cheese
• 2/3  cup  Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream  (Ultra-pasteurized heavy cream will have MSG in it.  You can make your own substitute for this recipe by following directions here.  I haven’t tried it yet, but looks super easy.)
• Broccoli
• Fettuccine  (8 oz)
• 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (I make my own condensed soup to avoid MSG and preservatives, it’s really quite easy.  I use the recipe here, without beef bouillon, and instead, the chicken stock I have on hand.)

1. Start the water boiling for the noodles.
2. Steam fresh broccoli until preferred tenderness, then set aside.
3. In skillet, heat olive oil and brown chicken, add cajun seasoning to taste, then set aside.
4. (If making your own condensed soup, do that here…) In, well, whatever pot you want (I use my 3 qt saucepan), while stirring constantly, add together  the cream of mushroom soup, then the cream cheese, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese.
5. Season with cajun seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.  And taste, and taste, and taste.  Yummy!
6. Serve over fettuccini with chicken and broccoli.
7. Come back to lick the pot after the meal because you’ll love it that much.  Oh, wait, that note was for me.  Hehe.
8. Low-fat version:  Use fat-free half-and-half instead of heavy cream and fat-free parmesan cheese, as well as fat-free cream cheese.  You may want to use a little more Parmesan cheese to thicken up the sauce.  Becky says, not a lot, only a little.

I served this with garlic bread.  Great meal!  And just in case you want to cut and paste the recipe without my friendly, bossy notes (*cheesy grin*), here are the ingredients again, in no particular order:

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite-size pieces) 
  
• 1 tbs. olive oil
  
• Cajun seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1  8 oz. block Cream Cheese
• 2/3  cup  Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• Broccoli
• Fettuccine  (8 oz)
• 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup 

From my Going for 101 in 1001 goal list:

10.  Make a loaf of bread.

I was a bit intimidated by the process and I must have read the instructions a thousand times.  Ok, so maybe not that many, but I did read them repeatedly.  It was actually quite fun.  But what does “punch down” mean?  Don’t laugh, but I really did punch the dough.  Hehehe.  It was fun.  Having a martial arts background, punching a punching bag is what came to mind…so…I…punched.   Maybe a little hard, but that’s ok.

After each step, I think I was ready to cheer when this magical concoction actually did what it was supposed to do.  Woohoo!  Then came time to bake and it was smelling oh so good.

Here are the results:

Disclaimer:  I am not a world-class photographer and am only armed with a simple point-and-click, or point-and-shoot, or whatever the term is. I wish I was a good photographer, but alas, I will relegate myself to appreciate the art from afar and leave the true experts to their talents.

PS – I am eating this bread right now and it is mucho good!

And a couple more thrown in for good measure, but he’s just dog-gone cute – oh, there go those puns again!  It must be the downpours outside killing my sense of humor today…

This recipe came from www.hillbillyhousewife.com and it has G’s stamp of approval.  That’s a big deal in this household.

• 6 ounce can tomato paste
• 1/3 cup water 
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch cloves
• 1 pinch allspice
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix with wire whisk and store in airtight container.  I used a can of organic tomato paste from Publix and everything else was in my pantry already (well, except for the cayenne pepper, but I needed it for other things anyhow).  The website recommended letting it sit overnight for the spices to blend.  

I cannot wait to try it on my eggs.

(How many of you did I gross out with that and how many of you had your mouths water in agreement?)