Friday, January 10, 2014

Uncorked

For someone that loves to talk about herself I've never been very good at introductions but I suppose I'll give it the old college try.

Actually, maybe I should try a little harder than I did in college.

My name is Michelle and I've been traipsing about the blogosphere for a few years now. Once upon a time I was writing about baseball, which took a back seat to parenting, which has evolved into a passion for food and a need for all the wine. See how quickly I tied in the name of the blog? BLOGGING.

Originally from the Delaware Valley I now reside in Virginia Beach with my husband and two daughters. I would like to refer to my oldest as Princess Pickle Puss but one day she'll be old enough to Google me and that seems rude. Maddie just turned two last week and Amelia is five months old today. Hence the wine. And the whine.

Well deliver me from L.L. Bean.
I've worked for a major automobile insurance company for the better part of a decade and am also a Pampered Chef independent consultant in the rare fleeting moments I have between the rest of my life. Why direct sales? Beats me; I wasn't very good at indirect sales at my day job so your guess is as good as mine. I just like to cook. Shrug.

My relationship with food has always been complicated. I've struggled with weight my entire life and I'm one of those people that can't finish her breakfast without thinking about what she's going to eat for lunch. When I was pregnant with Maddie I wasn't very careful about my diet. I craved Coca Cola like it was my job and I indulged. Oh boy did I indulge. It wasn't until we started her on solids when she was six months old that it finally dawned on me that I was responsible for another human being's nutrition. I knew that what I ate she ate all throughout my pregnancy and while I exclusively breast fed her, but it wasn't until I physically handed her food from my plate that I felt the high five to the face that I needed. That's when things changed.


I started cooking almost entirely from scratch. Chicken stock was no longer bought by the box, tomato sauce was no longer emptied from a jar, bread was baked weekly, and labels were checked incessantly. I'm not here to preach about nutrition and ERMIGERD!!1! GMO's and Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and all that namaste nonsense. But I do want to show people how it's possible to eat well, stay on a budget, and make sure your kids aren't expecting you to add "short-order cook" to your resume. 

My goal with this blog is to provide my family's meal plan every weekend and corresponding shopping list. I generally try to keep our food budget to $50 a week, but sometimes it's closer to $75 depending on what odds and ends I need to stock up on. If you choose to follow along and cook with me, awesome! If not, that's cool. I'm happy to take up space on your Pinterest boards for future reference. What I feel is special about my (flexible) budget is that I don't shy away from whole ingredients and organic foods. Not everything is farm to table, but rarely do I cook from a box or a can. So often you can make it better than you can buy it and it will be cheaper for you in the long run.

Throughout the week I'll share the recipes, how I prepped them or tweaked them to fit my family's needs, what tools I used if I feel like it's something you absolutely can't live without (hint: go do yourself a favor and buy that $20 cast iron skillet you've been passing by at Target. It's worth it's weight in platinum. And it's super heavy.), and how much wine I needed to consume to get through the grocery store with two littles, cooking with two ankle biters at my feet, feeding the clan, and cleaning up what got flung across my kitchen in the process. 

As a disclaimer, I don't generally write my own recipes. I have not been to culinary school and I am not a nutritionist. But I make changes where I feel they're necessary or when I'm so inspired, and I try to keep the ingredients as clean and simple as possible. I'm a label reader, fruit sniffer, quinoa dabbler, and cheese connoisseur (actually, the cheese is more Maddie's department). I don't shy from dairy or gluten or whatever else seems to be the trend these days but I will absolutely include GFDF recipes from time to time since some of them are pretty darn amazing.

Thanks for joining me on this adventure and happy eating! Cheers!

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