More Adventures

As I cozy up to a bowl of left-over soup and a side of pickled carrots gifted to me by a friend (that I may or may not have danced a jig over), I can't help but be excited about our family's new eating habits.  There has definitely been the lows of things like accidentally overcooking vegetables and blending it into a soup so I could stomach the idea of  feeding it to my family.  But they have been super encouraging and brave to try everything and make the victories of food that tastes amazing (on top of being healthy) even more wonderful!

The BEST part of all this is that, after only two weeks, I actually feel GOOD.  I'm not sluggish, my joints don't hurt, I'm not unreasonably tired, and I've come to a place where the chemicals in processed food don't "call" to me like the Aztec gold from Pirates of the Caribbean.  I can easily choose foods without fighting myself or reason through that I'm "munchy", not hungry, and can have a glass of water first and reevaluate how I feel, and it's WONDERFUL!!

I wanted to share last night's dinner with you, not because I think it was fantastic and everyone should try it, but to encourage bravery.  Try something new and crazy that you have NO idea how it's going to turn out!  I picked up this five pound bag of organic mixed root vegetables from our local farmer's market and to be honest, I still don't think I know 100% what was in it.  I peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces, coated them in olive oil and spices (also some grilled chicken that I abstained from, but the rest of the family really appreciated), and steamed them in foil packs in the oven (425 degrees for one hour).  I know for sure that there was some red potato, carrots, and beets. There might have been some radish and jicama but there was some orange skinned-yellow fleshed radish-like things and some purple potato-like things that I'm still not sure about!  The moral of the story is that I was pleasantly surprised at how good they turned out!  They won't be a new favorite, but the were very edible (and pretty!)!

I started out with the oil and just went nuts with things that sounded good.  Fortunately I wrote everything down, so here's what I ended up with (as a side note, I use a onion soup knock off spice in this recipe that I keep on hand in a jar and I'll give you that recipe next!):

Roasted Vegetable Seasoning
Ingredients:
-1/2 cup EVOO
-5 Tablespoons onion soup mix
-1 Tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon sea salt
-1 teaspoon dried parsley
-1 teaspoon dried rosemary
-1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
-1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions:
1. Mix ingredients together in a bowl
2. Pour over mixed vegetables or chicken and stir until coated
3. Pan fry or bake in foil packet until done

Homemade Onion Soup Mix
Ingredients:
-3/4 cup dried minced onion chips
-1/3 cup beef bouillon powder
-4 teaspoons onion powder
-1/4 teaspoon crushed celery seed
-1/4 teaspoon crushed celery seed
Instructions:
1. Stir all ingredients together and store in an old spice container or jar (makes about 1 1/4 cup.  5 Tablespoons = 1 store bought envelope)


And I have to apologize, it was a while ago that I found this and I'm no longer finding the link from where I originally got the onion soup mix recipe!

In other adventures, I'm also trying my first batch of water kefir!!  Yay for increased probiotics!