Happy New Year ... Good To Be Back

I hope you all have been having a happy and healthy New Year so far.  It's only the beginning and it's only gong to get better.

I am down about 60lbs right now and have about 10-20 more to go. But more importantly, Bruce and I have found this wonderful way of eating healthy and we have learned so much about out food. The food we ate 50 years ago is NOT the food we eat today. There is less nutrients and more chemicals. I try to cook with clean healthy food as much as I can. We all know you can't do it all the time, but there are new options out there and more popping up all the time.  Did you know that Milwaukee County has a  Winter Farmers Market??? It's wonderful and the venders are some of the nicest people. You can spend the whole morning there, do breakfast, have your coffee and do your weekly shopping. I found so many colorful organic or just plain clean gown items. So much fun. I hope you get a chance to check it out. 

Black radishes, purple carrots, beets and apples (not the pineapple)

One other place I have to mention is Mia Famiglia . They were handing out samples of their focaccia  dipped in their homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette! I thought  I was having a party in my mouth. Unbelievable flavor. I had to ask what kind of sweetener they use (because in my mind, anything that tasted this good has to be bad for you). His  response was "honey".......yup honey. SOLD!  Then I looked up at their hanging sign which showed a picture of their restaurant and said they use the freshest ingredients from local markets, they make fresh Gluten Free meals from scratch, they don't use any processed or frozen foods and so on and so on. They were like a dream restaurant, right in our own backyard. Ok, that was my most exciting find at the farmers market, I am done now.

Bruce and I do a lot of different salads and dipping of veggies so we want to be careful of the amount of oils and fats that we use on them. Salsa/Pico has become a staple in our house that we use for both.
I usually cut up all my veggies for the salsa by hand, it's a sort of therapy for me. It's really simple and has ingredients you have on hand most of the time anyhow.

6 tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro
1 red onion
1 lime
1 jalapeno
6 cloves of garlic

Seed & chop tomato

chop and add the garlic cloves and  juice of one lime

rough chop the cilantro and stir in

seed and chop jalapeno

mix all and refrigerate at least one hour to blend flavors

Try to use as much organic veggies as you can and if you don't have time for therapy here is a recipe that I found from Ree Drummond. You do it all in the blender.

Restaurant Style Salsa

Ingredients

Two 10-ounce cans diced tomatoes and green chiles, such as Rotel
One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves (or more to taste!)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole jalapeno, quartered and sliced thin, with seeds and membrane
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 whole lime, juiced

Directions

Combine the diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes, cilantro, onions, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, salt, sugar and lime juice in a blender or food processor. (This is a very large batch. I recommend using a 12-cup food processor, or you can process the ingredients in batches and then mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.)

Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you'd like. I do about 10 to 15 pulses. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.

Refrigerate the salsa for at least an hour before serving.