Food Inc.

As many of you know, the grocery stores here in the Hampton Roads area blow chunks! What I wouldn't give for the Kowalski's or Bylery's of home! Or the Whole Foods, Winco's and New Seasons Markets that were every where you turned in the Pacific Northwest! There is NOTHINGGGGG here that even comes CLOSE to the gourmet selection at Byer-sees... or the endless aisles of dirt cheap bulk dry goods for pennies on the dollar at Winco- a short bike ride from Pacific's campus (and conveniently located on the way to Blair and Justin's apartment- white chocolate pretzels and a $5 bottle of local, Pinot in one stop? YES PLEASE!) but nope... not around here. There are no bears... no cheap pinots... and nary an organic item on the shelf- and if you do stumble upone one, gauruntee it will NOT be under $10.
Anywho, out of the negative, into the positive. Taking matters into my own hands, I've been trying to prepare more meals from scratch and delve into my cookbook/recipe clipped library to make healthy, whole foods myself. It's cheaper, it's healthier- what not to love?!?!
What I'm really excited for is SPRING when I plan on going NUTS with organic gardening. I'm also lobbying Ryan to let me have a chicken... that's not going so well for me.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite recipes lately all from The Book of Meg. Enjoy!

Homemade Foccacia
3 Cups Flour
1 Tbs sea salt
1 packet active dry yeat
1 cup hot water
3 Tbs olive oil
Red Onion- sliced
Fresh Rosemary
More Olive Oil for brushing

Mix flour, salt and yeast in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle, and water and olive oil. Mix until dough forms a nice ball. (add flour or water 1 Tbs at a time if too wet/dry).
Place dough ball back in said mixing bowl sprayed with Pam, cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour in a sunny spot or near the stove/ heat vent.
Punch, kneed and Roll out the dough into a 12-16 inch round pizza shape. Use your fingers to press little indents all over. Brush finished round with Olive Oil. Sprinkle liberally with Sea Salt. Top with sliced red onion and fresh rosemary. Cover with plastic wrap and again let it rise 30 min. Pre-heat oven to 425. Bake for 25-30min. YUM!

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Breakfast Muf-kies!

These are a mixture of a muffin and a cookie- and you can make some substitutions to make them very low-cal (Ryan doesn't notice the difference when I make either version, and usually he eats all 15 of these in day, while I get ONE)...

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour (can use white if you want)
2 cups Oatmeal
2 Tsp Flaxseed Meal
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbs Baking Powder
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Extract
1 Stick softened butter
2 eggs (or substitute 1 cup Egg Whites)
1 cup sugar (or sub Truvia)
1 cup Craisins
1 Cup White Chocolate chips
1/2 Cup slivered almonds

Beat eggs (eat whites), melted butter, vanilla extract and lemon extract and sugar (Truvia). Add in flour, oatmeal, flax seed, salt, and baking powder. When just mixed, add in white chips and craisins. I like to bake these in a 16-cup silpat cupcake pan. But you can scoop little ice-cream-scoop iced blobs and just place on a cookie sheet. Muffin pan or sheet method, once you have your little balls formed, press some slivered almonds on top. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool to room temp and enjoy for a snack or for breakie! :)

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Hummus
1 can White Cannellini Beans
4 cloves Garlic
2 Tbs Olive Oil
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Using Food Processor or Blender, pulse garlic gloves. Add in beans, and salt pepper and blend again, with machine on drizzle in olive oil, puree til smooth, and serve immediately, or put in a tuberware and use for the next 1-3 days. (other fun add-ins to this: 1/2 an avocado or 1/2 of pitted olives.)

Bon Appetite!