Food, Pictures, and Issues. And Cornbread.

Our January so far has been about food. Last night I used made up the phrase OMG to the OMG. Now, what would make me use language of a twelve year old girl sending a text message and the exponential function together? The answer is cornbread.

My in-laws gave me a cookbook for Baby/Toddler meals because they know I've been mainly making (and by making I mean, buying fruits and veggies and pureeing them) the foods we've introduced to Squirms. It is a great book full of meals that I also want to eat. The ones I've tried so far are giving her much more texture and taste variety than I have come up with on my own, and they have been easy to prepare.

Brown rice, Avocado, Tofu, and Cilantro

Feeding myself!

And feeding the dogs!

I've been hesitantly reading, thanks to LGC, about coconut oil and other things that are supposed to be healthy. I will admit, I grimace when people talk about eating organic. I get the impression that people think eating things from a garden is a Brand New Idea. And then I automatically judge said person to be ignorant of history and world around them. We are all a bit ignorant, though, of the world around us if we haven't been in it. It was just this past year that I realized R mainly learned about agriculture in school and not from working in the back yard as a kid. We were discussing a billboard on I-75 and it dawned on me that not everyone grew up knowing how delicious sour apples can be if you sneak and pick them early from the trees in grandpa's back yard, or knowing that squash plants are itchy and you had better wear gloves when picking a row. Then it dawned on me that my daughter isn't going to know these things unless R and I go outside and plant things. This led me on a downward spiral of worry for Squirms and disappointment in myself that I will spare this post. (To R's credit, he is the family member who maintains a small back yard garden and made a lemon tart from the lemon tree this year)

I digress, back to my judgement issues. I always thought my parents and grandparents had gardens because we were poor and needed food. People who didn't freeze or can vegetables and berries could afford to eat at restaurants. I realize this may sound odd as I sit in my suburban home that is ten feet from either neighbor, typing on my MacBook Air. But, really, that's what I thought as a child. Growing your own food meant saving money; not being picky about what you ate....but maybe it's okay to be picky about what we eat....maybe it's better to be picky about what we consume. 

R will tell you that I consider ordering pizza for delivery to be equal to a dinner at a restaurant with white table cloths. I mean, they deliver it!!

Somewhere along the way, I've transformed to think of treats as normal. I tend to eat like I'm always on vacation or each day is a special occasion.

While I'm working on my issues -  not automatically judging people who use the word organic, and trying to reduce my dependence on chocolate and bread - I went to the grocery store and bought mainly organic items. In my completely logical train of thought, this brings us to what we had for dinner last night. I was convinced to buy more raw vegetables and fruits at the grocery store in an attempt to make us a bit healthier. And last night I realized I needed to do something with the collard greens I'd bought before they went bad. Side note: I know how fields of collards look and smell, but no clue how to cook or eat them. I'd always run the other way when Granny was cooking collards. Yuck.

Thankfully, the cookbook I own called Southern Boy Cooks: Good Grits! had an interesting greens recipe and the next page had a cornbread recipe. While I didn't actually have enough bacon in house to use in both recipes as required, they both turned out really well. R was very impressed with the Mess O' Greens and the kick that came with them. And I have never eaten cornbread this good. I said a prayer of thanks this morning for the recipe. And had a small slice with breakfast and lunch today.

We paired leftover Beef Bourguignon with these sides and had a wonderful meal. The beef bourguignon was a new recipe for me too last week - thank you Julia Child.

Mess O' Greens

Cornbread that Jesus allowed to be invented.

My attempt at a food photo.

While I'm not a nutritionist, doctor, farmer, food critic, chief, nurse, chemist, or FDA employee, I do know we enjoyed an excellent meal last night.

Oh, the cornbread.