just plain fresh

lee and i have often discussed/joked about becoming vegetarians... not in the sense that we don't "believe" in eating meat... its just that we LOVE vegetables!

...as you know, lee's a big eater and in an effort to spare my grocery bill, i began cooking more side dishes instead of larger portions of meat... lee can eat more meat and i like the veggies/sides... well, now we both eat more veggies and frequently have meat leftover...

the hard part about cooking with fresh veggies is TIMING... usually, by the end of the week, whatever i had planned on our menu is a l.i.t.t.l.e. toooo ripe... ugh... i'm workin on that part--because i simply HATE throwing something away...

over the past several months, we've made small steps towards a healthier diet...

-i started buying honey wheat bread as our 2nd loaf (we use 2 loaves at a time)... honey wheat has always been my favorite (while lee preferred white--so i bought both), but now, we both like wheat bread enough that i buy honey wheat & the multi-grain wheat (the REALLY good stuff! LOTS of fiber!) ...we're also workin' on the wheat pasta idea...

-we drink LOTS of water and juice... with an occasional soft drink (instead of the other way around!)

-i try to use ground turkey/chicken in combination with OR in the place of ground beef ...surprisingly, its EXTREMELY difficult to tell the difference with the turkey... the chicken tastes like chicken--but is still a tasty alternative

-we try to reserve our "date nights" for sushi... yes, sushi is a bit more expensive than your average night out, but we'd rather not eat out as much and eat sushi when we DO go out... this has proved beneficial in more ways than one ($$)

-we LOVE fresh veggies... and what about THAT could be bad for you (other than deep frying them...which we NEVER do!)

fresher... and healthier... what's not to love?

here's a picture of just SOME of the veggies i got today... red & green pepper, eggplant, squash, zucchini, and a few more not pictured--tomatoes, jalepenos, mushrooms, corn (from the farmers market)...

how colorful!?!?

i also got some good fresh fruit too...peaches, blackberries, watermelon, & a yummy medley (i cheated on the medley and the watermelon--bought it already cut up...) ...the medley has grapes, blue berries, cantelope, strawberries, pineapple, ...and i'm sure i forgot some, but i can't think of anymore! ...and what would all that fresh fruit be good for without granola & yogurt!

...looks like we'll be taking our lunches this week :) yay!

its hard to tell if its just how we like to eat... or if its the fact that almost everything is in season?? who knows... i just LOVE my house FULL of FRESH fruits and veggies...

i'm roasting up most of the veggies you see in the picture above to go with my FIRST WHOLE chicken... i've always been a little intimidated by cooking the WHOLE bird, but i was feeling inspired after our friends tyler & rachel ann invited us over for dinner... they fixed a beer can chicken... YUM! as for my first chicken, i've rubbed her all over with olive oil, salt, pepper, a little garlic, and a sun dried tomato spice mixture. then laid her in the crock pot...she's cookin' on low for about 6 hrs. (or longer??)

hurry home, lee! i can't wait to try it! and i'm hoping to try some sort of chicken salad with the leftovers... (assuming it turns out ok!) ha!