The Good Food Message

I cannot think of a better way to begin my blog than to write about the good food God put on this good earth for us! 

I read an article about a chef and gardner that loves teaching folks how to grow and prepare good food well. I shared it with Richard my hubby right away. Before, I had a chance to say this sounds like me, he had already chimed in, that’s you, that’s definitely you. 

For many generations, across the globe, our garden bounty has been at the center of gatherings and celebrations gracing tables with joy and nourishment.  

So one of my passions is to impart the good food message, enjoying real food, mostly plants, weaved throughout day to day real life. 

It’s tricky though, 

It’s not so much that we don’t know deep down how essential good food is or  

That we don’t know that great food provides us with the needed nutrients to restore and heals our body mentally and physically.

It’s not even that we don’t think we can learn to love the taste of veggies :)

In my experience, the question has more often been,

"In my life, with my schedule and my resources, how can I get unadulterated real food fresh off the vine? How can I put together healthy meals, simply?"

It begins with a choice to do so, and the rest will be history… yours!

So the good food message then is for all... young, older, and yes, even the very busy. 

Growing veggies or herbs in the ground or in pots. Clipping swiss chard and chives for your salad, sage for Thanksgiving turkey, mint for Sunday tea, kale for a smoothie or bok-choy for your soup. 

Shopping at local markets that provide foods free of unwanted pesticides, chemicals, hormones and antibiotics and that have not been genetically modified.  

Instead of meeting friends at a restaurant, meet up in your home. Invite friends and family to join you in the kitchen for last minute chopping, stirring and tasting. 

If you were to interview people that have come through difficult health conditions, many would tell you about the healing aspects of getting their hands in the dirt and eating something they have grown. In more ways than one, food is medicine. 

Prioritizing meal time, this one is huge, history shows that those that choose good food prepared well, relax, and chew well, tend to have stronger digestive "fire" so to speak, making it easier for every thing else in our body to function well. Easier said than done right, I know. Did you know most people chew their food only four times versus the recommended 20 times? And many finish eating well before the 20 minutes it takes for your brain to send a fullness signal. 

On hectic activity filled days, it totally helps to have what I call pantry meals stowd and ready in the pantry and freezer. My kids of ocurse would have preferred a local fast food drive thru; To their dismay, I had it down, showing them how long it took to go through the local drive thru versus all of us getting in the kitchen and putting together one of our quick go to meals, black bean taco salad. All of us washing and cutting this and that, me seasoning the beans… and wala! Seriously, in less than 15 minutes we had black beans, leafy greens, olives, diced avocado, cherry tomatoes, and slices radishes on our plate with a sprinkle of shredded cheese. I put olive oil, salsa, and fresh lime on the table to top our masterpiece. 

So this is the beginning of the good food message, prioritize, ditch unnecessary obligations and habits and from harvest to table commit to buying or growing good quality food. It is committing to the idea that real food takes a bit of time to prepare and slowing down to savor the experience is where families grow. Cheers, God bless! dhj