Hanging out at home

it's been a while...

this is pretty important. I've decided to keep note of the flavors of cupcakes that I've tried from Dozen. Every season..I think..they change up their flavors. There are others I have tried that aren't on the menu right now. Here we go:

vanilla vanilla

milk chocolate

red velvet

mostess

vegan chocolate peanut butter

vegan chocolate

the cosmo

the turtle

asteroids!

salted caramel

Pumpkin

Green Tea

a predicament

I totally respect people who choose a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle, but it would be tough for me. Since I have chosen to eat meat, and J is a definite meat eater, I am trying to find ways to do it ethically and cost effectively. I don't always buy that organic is best, but I do support local.

The Farmshare CSA we participate in also has a Meatshare CSA, but it is a little overwhelming. The chicken CSA features chickens that are hormone and antibiotic free, as well as grass-fed. Sounds great, right? Well you get 5 whole chickens a month for $94.45, and one chicken is delivered each month.

There is my issue. A whole chicken. I am a big baby, and I just hate cutting up whole chickens. I am also not sure that J and I would use all the parts of a chicken. Currently, we use a ton of chicken, but mostly just breasts. I am not sure our diets would adapt well!

The grass-fed beef share is 40lbs for $260. You get ground beef, steaks, and roasts - 20lbs at a time, usually about 3 months apart. That is a lot of beef, so I am hoping my parents will split it with us.

New blog focus

So I've been thinking about revamping this blog for a while, but I wasn't sure what to do with it. I'm not really artistic, and there are a lot of fashion blogs out there - I could never compete! I've been reading Julie & Julia, so I suppose some inspiration has come from there.

Ever since my husband (J) and I moved in together, cooking meals has been somewhat of a struggle. There are many things that he doesn't eat - tomatoes, fish, many sauces, and most vegetables. We both want to eat healthier, but some of these limitations make it difficult. To be fair, I get sick of salads and I'm sort of lazy when it comes to making different varieties of salads!

I really like to cook, so I've been trying some things more recently to make it easier and not stressful. I created a database (nerd alert!) with all the different meals that we both like in one column, the sides in another, and veggies in another.

We also joined a CSA this year that gave us local vegetables, cheeses, and eggs every week. This week is the last one, but I think we'll do it again next year. The CSA exposed us to a lot of new things that we would have never tried otherwise, and we found some new things that we really liked - brussel sprouts and kale!

I guess in this blog I will write about recipes I'm trying and other food struggles I'm having. It will hopefully keep me accountable in trying to cook more and go out less (saving cash monies!). I also want to try to buy local and cook healthy as much as possible.