We are trying to become more healthy. Eat off our food storage. Make more things from scratch. No more processed foods. More smoothies. Fruits. Veggies. More raw foods. No more cream of chx soups or any soups really form the store. All home-made soup bases. No more quick mixes. Etc. It's not a quick process. I have found myself late at night shopping and hungry...easily putting "quick" foods into my basket. Sometimes I catch myself and at the end of the trip, making a round to put it back...then there are times I come home with those foods...eat some, then realize, Ugh, I did it again. This time there is a sack in my car waiting to be returned tomorrow. I just have to get into the mindset at the store that yes, strawberries can be a dessert. Yes, cucumbers can satisfy those salty cravings somehow?? I am glad that Curtis and I are equally in on this together.
A couple weeks ago, Curtis got the urge to start going to cooking classes...he seams to always amaze me...his interests and ideas are not consistent with the same themes which he typically goes along with...this leads to lots of surprises. Interesting that he would think cooking to be fun, he has been having fun researching food storage, green smoothies, raw food and all that good stuff. He gets me motivated, and I love it.
As we leave for our date night, he totally is excited to go to this class...the topic, BEANS!! Cool story though before we go on to the topic. The Lady teaching the class is his Mom's friend back a while ago. His Mom said that she remembers this lady to be one of the most organized ladies she knows. Apparently they would get up at 4:30am on Saturdays, do house work till like 9am. Then pack up and head out for a day of fun. 6 children in the family. Dedicated!!! It was funny, Curtis' brother said that he would watch and as his family was just waking up for the day, this family would already be packed and in the car to go float the river... Anyway, waking up that early does not apply to me right now in my life, nor do I think it will happen by choice...only when I will have to! This goes to show...that this lady is pretty much dedicated in I'm sure a lot of aspects of her life. She airs on BYU TV.
On to the night. It was fun and neat hearing all the different things about beans...I am actually excited to try them out more in my meals. Did you know that a #10 can of beans can feed 100 people? If I need to give away food in times of need, this is a great one to stock up on!!! In two hours we covered lots of different beans, different ways for storage, nutritional values, how to prepare, and very neat tips. You can also grind beans into a flour and use them in your more dense recipes like cakes, cookies, pancakes, some breads, and dense foods like that! I won a book about beans while I was there. Great recipes in that book as well as all the helpful things she covered. Then we tasted some of her recipes, and were pretty good. Also, a good tip of reducing flatulence: soak them over night, then RINSE them again before you cook them. You can also add vinegar to them while cooking. Or you can add baking soda...this will make it bubble so make sure you have a large enough pot to allow for bubbles, then put only a little olive oil to reduce some of the bubbling. Someone seated in the class said that they use beans a lot in cooking and they have been accustomed to them that they don't have a problem with flatulence... guess you get used to it. Better do it now rather than waiting until I have to use food storage items and be miserable! Haha.
Overall, I actually loved it and there are options on having a cooking lesson right in your home with her...I will definitely do this (kinda like one of those home parties)!!! Thanks to Mary Ann for teaching wonderful classes on food storage and making our homes more organized and how to better home living. We will be going to most of her next classes for a while. Can you imagine Pinto Bean Fudge? Pinto Cream Pie? And an all bean pumpkin pie? Yum.
6 comments:
Way to go, Shauna! I think it's a great idea and I should probably follow in your footsteps. I love your guys' date nights!
Good for you Shauna. That is so great. We are also doing a lot more with baking from scratch and we have our seeds started for a garden and chickens that we are fattening for slaughter in eight weeks. Way to be more prepared. :)
I agree making the choice to eat healthy together does make a difference. I have to cook from scratch by necessity that I get sick from processed foods more often than not. It will take some time to get used to but once you do it will become second nature. I have a recipe that you can put bean puree in Oatmeal cookies and you really can't tell the difference. It's amazing! I would love to forward on this HUGE pdf of recipes from food storage if you're interested. They have a basic sauce mix in it that you can use in place of your canned soup and it's a lifesaver!!! If you would like it send me an e-mail and I'll forward it on to you. deborah.murdock@live.com
Way to go Shauna! I like your ideas for beans. I need to experiment with them more.
We eat mostly unprocessed foods as well. It's healthier and cheaper. I have been loving the website www.melskitchencafe.com lately. Her recipes aren't all low-fat/low-calorie by any means, but she does steer clear of processed foods. I've tried lots of her recipes and they've been awesome. I like using the recipe index and also her "best recipe" tab is great too.
I find that snacks are the hardest thing to figure out without using processed foods. We eat a TON of fruit and carrot sticks and smoothies but sometimes you just want crackers you know? I found a great granola bar recipe that we love. I'll email it on to you. Even Logan loves them.
Also, I have a really fabulous electric wheat grinder you are welcome to come and use if you need to grind wheat for bread. Grinding the wheat super-fine makes a huge difference in how your bread turns out.
That is so awesome!!! :) And don't kick yourself too hard about the occasional snack or "easy food" - even the most hard-core among us need a break sometimes. Sugar has a beastly little life of its own, though, just as a word of warning...
And that's so neat about beans! I don't think I ever really processed that they could be made into flour, although I have heard of it, so it's just a total disconnect on my part, LOL. What valuable knowledge and practice you're gaining! :)
FWIW, eating healthy foods makes the calories far less relevant; when your body gets what it needs, it functions a TON better, and it can let go of what it doesn't need. (I have NO idea how many calories' worth of eggs, quinoa, & salmon I was eating when I started dropping weight and getting healthier, for example, but it was a LOT...) Plus, it's bound to be fewer calories (and far fewer ways to wack out your blood sugar and every system in your body) in the long run, anyway. I'm so excited for you!!! :) Have fun!!! :)
Where did you go for that cooking class? Sounds like a awesome date!! I have been slowly cutting out processed foods too and trying to learn more and more ways to eat healthy and more home-made as well!
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