Monday, April 12, 2010

Fresh Start

One of the best parts about moving to a new place (via a plane,) is that you get to have a fresh start in your eating habits.

No more bags of Swedish fish lurking in the back of the cabinets.

No more boxes of rice mix and heaps of bake goods just waiting to be used.

No, instead, you get to pick and choose the products that come (and stay) into your home.

We've really enjoyed picking up some fresh ingredients to fill our counters/fridge/cupboards.

It's been a major pain in the butt, however, we've really enjoyed it.

Today, we set off to find some reasonably priced meat, because I'm married to a carnivore and there's no changing that.

We had looked in 3 other stores and their meat was absurdly priced, so we had heard about a halal (Muslim form of "kosher,") meat market nearby and set off, on foot, to find it. After about a mile of wandering, we gave up and just went to the local Savemart.

They had some great lean meats in bulk packaging all set for $10! We got 2 whole roaster chickens, 12 pork loins, 16 chicken legs, and 25 italian sausages (not so lean, haha.) I spent some time breaking up the packages and putting them into easy to grab baggies from the freezer.

Produce. Ahhhh, produce. We have some WONDERFUL produce places around here. One local place has a semi good selection at a great price and is on our walk home. Another place, an asian market, has all sorts of unusual ingredients that I've never used before. Right now, we have asparagus, zucchini, spring greens salad, onion, garlic, potatoes, lemons, limes, bananas, oranges, and grapes filling our kitchen. Giving us lots of great snacking options or recipe spring boards.

Other than that, our cabinets are still pretty bare. I would love to cut out all rice/potatoes/pasta, but my husband is a hungry man and would probably eat 3x the amount of meat if there was no "filler," food.

A big issue we're still facing is how to get the heavy food home from the grocers! With no car (and really no bus that comes near our home,) traveling by foot means that each person can only carry 1-2 bags per hand! We're thinking about renting our friend's baby stroller so that we have a way of transporting the food from the grocer to our home! ha!

I got to cook for the first time in "my" own kitchen last night. Nothing fancy, a Baked ziti with cheddar cheese (we're having a hard time finding cheeses, oddly enough,) but it was so much fun.

Today I got to scratch off 3 recipes from my "50 recipes in a year" resolution, when I made a Herb Roasted Chicken, Broiled Asparagus, Parmesan Risotto, and a Pear Crisp for Dessert. (obviously, the asparagus wasn't really a "recipe," so that doesn't really count.) I haven't had much time to cook this year, or a kitchen of my own, so the only other ones that I have tried was Chicken enchiladas, guacamole, salsa, and pico de gallo. I've been all over the internet lately trying to find recipes that sounds interesting enough to try!


7 comments:

chasity said...

hope you get settled in soon and get to take that whale watching trip...
it will be amazing!

Chelsea said...

Clad you got to Canada safe and sound Brittney! It me laugh reading about the grocery store! We obviously have the same problem. We actually use canvas re-usable shopping bags that can go over the shoulder and that makes more room AND easier to carry. But we do go grocery shopping almost every day (also because our fridge is so small). And oddly we don't have a lot of cheese to choose from here either. There is no monteray jack or 4 cheese mexican.... Happy cooking in your OWN kitchen!

Brittany said...

I've been baking a lot late as well. I've cut white rice/pasta/patatoes and I feel incredible. I'm going to post about it on Fitness Friday...

Proud of you for all the cooking!

Justine said...

that's one of my favorite parts of moving too, cleaning out the pantry! :)

Ginger said...

yay!! I am so excited for your cooking in your own kitchen. Can't wait to hear more about the recipes you're trying.

Ginger said...

yay!! I am so excited for your cooking in your own kitchen. Can't wait to hear more about the recipes you're trying.

Unknown said...

S pleased to hear have many more home comoforts :)