Getting Ready for Week 2!

I'm strangely enjoying this.  Today I went out with my best friend to lunch and shopping and one place we stopped was Sur la Table ... I'm only one week into learning to cook and figured out FAST I could have fun in there!  I stopped myself but I invested in 3 things:

• Cast Iron Tortilla Press (figured I loved those tortillas so much that it would get some serious use and my tortillas may actually be somewhat round now!)
• Stainless Steel Spray Pump (for olive oil - so I can avoid using sprays like Pam)
• Set of round / fluted cutters (I've been looking for these forever for my holiday cookies - it is strangely hard to find a round cookie or biscuit cutter!) 

Happily in hearing about my cooking & real food diet adventure my friend knew of an indoor winter farmers market!  So off we went.  Unfortunately they didn't have anything on my grocery list for this week but it was a good find.  I'm not surprised they were a bit bare in produce ... it is the middle of winter in Nebraska!  But the great thing is that it is there and specifically sells LOCAL - only from Nebraska - cheeses, meats, vegetables and other products ... jams, honey, some baked goods.  I'll surely be finding out if they have a website and going back again!   It almost pained me to leave without making a purchase but part of this is meal planning and no waste.  I have a tiny freezer and it is just me that I'm cooking for (minus what my husband decides to steal) so getting a bunch of meats or cheeses just wasn't realistic right now. 

On the way home I hit Whole Foods with my planned out list for all my recipes this week.  Once again I was surprised that I have NOT spent more than my usual weekly grocery bill at HyVee!  My cart isn't nearly as full but then it literally is almost all produce.  It makes you realize how much packaging I've been buying.  It's so different than what I usually get.   Here's an idea of my 'regular' grocery list from before this adventure ... scary that I can do this from memory but I literally got almost exactly the same things for YEARS!

• Food For Life Genesis 1:29 Bread (frozen in the organic section)
• vegetarian 'chicken' patties, corn dogs, burgers, etc. - Morning Star or Boca usually 
• Skim Milk
• Eggs
• Non fat Greek Yogurt individual packages - always flavored
• 1% fat cottage cheese
• turkey bacon 
• Coffee Mate liquid creamer - Hazelnut or Vanilla - usually 2 large containers
• Diet soda in large quantities
• Diet citrus iced tea / Diet Snapple tea & lemonade mix in large quantities
• Coffee 1/2 caff
• 200 count box of Splenda packets
• 'Light' or baked chips - favorites include Tostitos Baked Scoops; Baked Cheetos; Baked Ruffles Cheddar Sour Cream
• Crackers - Wheat Thins, Triscuits or Cheese Its 
• Saltines - regular salted
• Soup - Progresso Minestrone or Campbells Cream of Tomato
• Ramen Noodles - Chicken  6 pack
• Cereal - Peanut Butter Cheerios, Low Fat Granola, Chocolate Mini Wheats or Grape Nuts - usually more than one box. 
• Creamy Peanut Butter Reduced Fat
• Instant Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat - always flavored!
• Granola Bars, Fiber One Bars or Special K Bars
• Chicken Breasts - boneless / skinless 
• Jennie O Turkey Meatballs 
• Barilla "Plus" pasta - usually 2 or 3 boxes
• Prego Light Pasta Sauce 
• White or Carb Balance Tortillas - usually Mission or HyVee generic brand - 2 packs
• Large bag part skim shredded mozzarella cheese
• Large bag 2% shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 containers Parmesan cheese (powdery type)
• Lunch meat - usually turkey or chicken
• String Cheese - usually Weight Watchers smoked brand
• Bananas 
• Container of fresh sliced pineapple
• Strawberries, Blueberries or Raspberries IF they looked good (hit or miss at our HyVee)
• Sometimes (rare) other fruit - apples or grapes or oranges
• Avocados 2 or 3

That's the standard list.  Some variation here and there of course but this is pretty representative.  This was me being 'healthy' - low fat, lite, etc.  My 'indulgence' was my coffee mate regular creamer instead of the low fat or no sugar type.  When I was not 'being good' you'd see boxed cookies and things like chips & dip, ice cream, etc.  

See anything missing?  Yep ... vegetables are not there and fruits are barely there!  So as I've looked at my grocery cart the last 2 weeks it just seems foreign.  Here's what was on my list today: 

• Olives - green 
• Butter
• Fresh Mozzarella (balls in water variety)
• Bacon
• 100% cacao unsweetened chocolate bar
• Applesauce (natural one ingredient)
• Dried pitted dates
• Raw pecans
• Pine nuts
• Rolled Oats
• Soy Sauce
• Unsweetened shredded coconut
• Apple x3
• Avocado x2
• Bananas 
• Fresh Basil
• Bell Pepper 
• Carrots - 1 bunch 
• Collard Greens - 1 bunch
• Cucumber
• Grapes - 1 bunch
• Green Beans 
• Lettuce Green Leaf
• Lettuce Red Leaf
• Lime x2
• Mushrooms - 1 package
• Onion x2
• Potato
• Zucchini x2
• Real vanilla extract
• Navy beans - 1 can 
• Whole Milk - organic / grass fed 

See what I mean?  Now of course that's not all I'll be eating this week - I have the following left overs & pantry items that I'm using:

• Whole wheat bread
• Coconut oil
• Peanut oil
• Raisins
• King Arthur's organic white whole wheat flour
• 100% fruit spread (sweetened only with fruit juice)
• Peanut Butter (real - only one ingredient ... peanuts!)
• Eggs
• Chicken - leftover from Crock Pot Chicken meal
• Raw pecan pieces
• Raw pumpkin seeds
• Raw sunflower seeds
• Raw sliced almonds
• Celery
• Tomato x3
• Orange x2
• Spices, spices and more spices - I'm now stocked for a while!
• 100% pure maple syrup
• Honey
• Shredded Organic Monterey Jack Cheese (next time I will buy the block - didn't realize the powder stuff in shredded!) 
• Block of Organic Colby Jack Cheese 
• Mayo - organic made with olive oil (going to try to make my own when this runs out) 

I know this sounds weird but my groceries are ... well ... pretty!

Bright colors, cool textures.  I keep thinking that the seeds and nuts would look really cool displayed in a glass jar out instead of tucked away in the cabinet.  I mean think about that - food on display?  I've NEVER thought about displaying anything I've bought before like that.  Okay so now that I think about it Cheerios might be cute, but you get my point.  I find myself very aware of what is left from last week that I need to eat before it spoils ... again, a new sensation.  You really don't have to worry about your Cheetos spoiling.  And the sad thing ... those Cheetos were probably the most colorful thing that I used to buy!  Well ... other than diet orange soda.  Yikes!  And the list above didn't take into account the take out and restaurant dinners.  

I will admit I have gone out to eat twice this week.  Last night and today for lunch.  Both times though I followed the rules to a t!  Dinner last night was at a local place known for vegan and 'healthy' food.  Looking at their menu there was a lot of soy options - fake cheese, fake meat, etc. but I choose a simple 'eggplant sandwich' which was a slice of eggplant, a slice of tomato with some real whole white cheddar on top grilled.  It came on a wheat bun but I actually chose to add the lettuce, onion and additional tomato that came on the side and eat it without the bun.  On the side I ordered their butternut squash soup - which literally was pureed butternut squash ... more warm baby-food than a soup so I'm pretty damn sure there wasn't a lot in it other than the squash.  My husband and I shared their whole wheat tempura veggies - fried.  I just had a little b/c I didn't know what they fried it in and sadly the waitress didn't know either since she was new.   I wasn't about to risk getting 'special sauce' on my food by bothering her to go find out!  (I worked in a restaurant once ... BE NICE to everyone that works in the food industry if you don't want your food messed with!   Okay - my restaurant was mostly teenage cooks but still ... better safe than special sauced!) 

Today we went to a Chinese restaurant that I knew would have a meal I love that would be real.  It is called 'bamboo shrimp' and is literally a heaping portion of fresh steamed vegetables with shrimp.  It comes with a white sauce on the side - and I did use just a little of it but only about 2 Tbsp ... I'll have to look up what could have been in it.  Probably something I'd rather not eat but in terms of 'all things in moderation' I thought that was better than saying "no I won't go out" ... I mean how realistic is it to say you are going to be on a diet where you can never go out to eat?   Been there - done that & NOT doing it again!

Of course in the middle of lunch chat telling my bestie about what I've been cooking I learned a lesson ... Cumin is pronounced Coooohh- min not COMEin.   She laughed so hard at me I thought she was going to choke on her garlic chicken!  Eh ... such is life when you are learning! 

So tomorrow is cooking day.  I'm looking forward to it.  Instead of another Sunday sitting on the couch watching TV while every now and again turning over laundry, I'll be up and about making those items on my meal plan for this week that need to be done in advance.  I'm going to get the camera going this time ... warning - I'm still a MESSY one!  But messy is a hell of a lot better problem than the fire department showing up ... so far this experiment has been a great success!