2012... the year of learning to cook (and eat!) healthfully

Ok, so regular posts are yet to become a habit. Oi.

I've made a pile of well-intentioned goals for the new year, and so far some of them are coming along, and some of them are yet to be kick-started. The one that I am nailing so far is menu planning and cooking. I have much to learn and improve on, but already we have probably eaten more healthful home-cooked meals in the last week than we did in the year 2011 in total. Yeah, we were eating that poorly - eating out multiple times a week, at a range of restaurants with all kinds of price points (wasting so much $!), and none of them with a particular focus on balanced nutrition, that's for sure. I was just pure lazy - plus, I craved the bad stuff, plus I didn't relish spending time in the kitchen, plus it has often been shamefully easy to mooch off of my mom since I'm there so much. And what do you know? I am over 30 lbs overweight, heavier than I've ever been... it's not cool at all.

Also, I'm already discovering that much more than just contributing to physical health, there are all kinds of benefits to making and eating regular home-cooked meals. Home cooking really does a home make. I struggle so much with routine and productivity and focus, and what do you know? Three square meals a day sure helps provide a framework to hang everything else on!

So, I'm gonna throw down some of the successful recipes I'm using (and probably review some fails too) here, so I can keep track of what I'm doing, find recipes later (with notes and adjustments), and maybe even provide some recommendations for family and friends who might be reading.

{Sidebar: Maelle is 1.5 yo. She is sitting beside me on the couch and has picked up my iPhone and successfully navigated her way to the Netflix app and started watching Dora. I swear I have never even used the Netflix app with her before, she's figured this out entirely on her own. It is frightening how intuitive these things are...}