We haven’t perished, I promise ;)
We are still surviving the food changes, still cooking, and still eating. It’s been a busy, busy week in our house as we had a few rooms painted and furniture piled everywhere under drop-cloths. The kitchen had one wall painted and was busier (and messier) than ever! Things came back together a bit tonight though and we accomplished a lot in the past three days.
I only have a few photos to show for our cooking and eating, as we juggled our meals around painters, made a lot of use of the crock-pot, and temporarily lost the charger to my laptop. But, as I said, we are mostly put back together now, the painting is done, and here I am once again, able to share our eating adventures with everyone who cares to know 
While the house was in such chaos, it was very tempting to go on hiatus for a couple of days and order out, but we fought through the urge (which really wasn’t that strong, since our cooking tastes better than any take-out) and utilized the crock-pot instead. If you don’t have a crock-pot (which is the brand name that I grew up calling it, some call it a slow-cooker which is the same thing), then you really should get one. It is a lifesaver in situations where you aren’t going to be home immediately prior to needing dinner, or when you can’t use your kitchen very well. I have even baked cakes in mine before.
One night we had our old standby, chili, which hardly ever fails no matter what I dump into it, and then tonight was beef roast with veggies. We attempted Italian Wedding Soup, but no one really liked it and the texture of the ground turkey meatballs was VERY off-putting to me.
Italian Wedding Soup- pretty but not flavorful
East meets West Salmon w/roasted veggies and ginger rice
The salmon was delicious. Twig put Asian seasonings on the salmon and doctored up some rice with ginger, and then I was in the mood for Italian, so we did a kind of “East meets West” meal and had both. I wanted noodles and had an idea to use the rotato with zucchini and carrots, so I did. The zucchini worked fabulously but the carrot was a bit small to stay in, since what holds it in place is a round blade-type corer thing and it was almost as big as the carrot, so I ended up just holding it in and turning it by hand to get a bit of carrot. I drizzled olive oil and some Italian spices like oregano, marjoram, garlic powder, etc. on top and then topped with just a TINY bit of safe, organic jarred spaghetti sauce. It was eaten very quickly and everyone thought it was a hit.
Jarred tomato sauce!?! I am shocked!! Shocked!!
Next fall, as many bushels of tomatoes from the farmers market that you can carry plus whatever veggies you want cooked for at least 1/2hr but longer does not hurt becomes tomato sauce for the winter. Gone through a couple meals of it and have several more in the freezer.
You know, I just read a post on ecokaren about BPA today. I have also written a little about it. I am sure you are aware of it being in a lot of things, but maybe you are not aware of HOW MANY places it is in our food supply, and that it is an endocrine disruptor (among other things).
We try to avoid it whenever and wherever possible, but you might want to read the post.
http://www.ecokaren.com/2010/02/bpa-in-toilet-paper-and-pizza-boxes/
And, you may not think GMO foods are dangerous, but I do think so, and you might want to read these:
http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/AboutGeneticallyModifiedFoods/index.cfm
Mine:
http://naturewithme.blogspot.com/search/label/food%20dangers
And, I have found that if it doesn’t say organic soy, it is probably GMO. Check the labels and see if you can find packaged things WITHOUT soy lecithin! It seems benign, it is just an emulsifier, after all. But, it is soy (a possible hormone disruptor…http://www.hpakids.org/holistic-health/articles/125/1/Soy-Unsafe-for-Children), AND it is GMO. So, double whammy.
It may not help you, but it might. I don’t mean to preach to you in the comments all the time, but since you are newly on this path, I just want to share what I have been learning over the last 7 years on my food journey.
No, I love it!! Not preachy at all. I love the links and appreciate all the input
Thank you!
Hopefully we can plan better for food preservation for ourselves as time goes on. However, last fall Goose was unable to attend school, biting, kicking and punching me, and we were getting her diagnosed with a controversial diagnosis and setting up treatment with human blood products, IVs and talking about $10,000 + in medical expenses plus hiring a full-time nanny. There was little time to think of making tomato sauce from scratch at that point….
I hope that things have settled down now with her and that you find the things that will help.
Kind of a flimsy excuse, but I guess acceptable. Hopefully next fall will be a little less chaotic.
I know, right? I should be able to think about making tomato sauce while simultaneously nursing Lil Pea and fending off Goose’s kicks.
Thank you both, I do hope next fall will be better on lots of levels for our family.