Day Five!

    It is Wednesday and we have approached day five of our experiment. Thus far I believe that we have done quite well with creating new recipes for the fresh produce we bought on Saturday. However are food supply is running low and our meals have already become monotonous. In all seriousness how many different ways can you make potatoes, eggs, onions and lettuce? We have had our fun this week experimenting with potatoes... roasting, boiling, mashing... even hashing them ( since this is about being healthy we did not fry them... even though we wanted to).
    Since our food source is running low we opted for the next best thing, our local Whole Foods Market right up the street. Did you know their produce section lists where each item is grown, most of which are grown right here in CA. We even found a local vendor who lives only 50 miles from here. How great is that? So tonight we will have leftover pasta with a light garlic,shallots and butter sauce with minced fresh basil. For our veggies, a few sliced tomatoes with a bit of balsamic drizzled for flavor.
    I have to say, I am not much of a dessert person, but I do miss having the option of having something sweet every now and then. Oh well, it will all be worth the sacrifice it in the end!
    In terms of how our bodies are adjusting to all of this, I would have to say that we are both more energetic and tend to sleep better. Since we both work nights, we usually get into bed around 2 and wake up about 11 (if we set an alarm). He He! Now we make it a point to be in bed earlier and we naturally have been waking up at 9:30 or 10. I can't wait to see how this continues to improve as we move further along in this experiment.
                   Talk to you soon... who ever you are!!!

Day Four!

Breakfast smoothies from fresh fruits

Roasted potatoes for lunch and dinner

         They tasted amazing

                                                   with a little added garlic and red onions!

Our first fresh meal!

So after traveling to and from the farmer's market, we came home to figure out how to make all these fresh ingredents delicious. Here is what I decided to make. 4 fresh eggs beaten, boiled then pan seared potatoes with a few organic herbs, sprinkled with green onions, cheese (left overs from our fridge) and a few diced tomatoes. sounds delicous right? Was it successful? On a scale from 1-10, I being awful and 10 qualified for top chef, I would have to rate my meal a 6. It was eatable and full of flavor, but I didn't cook the potatoes long enough, and lets be honest. Who likes hard tots? Oh well. Lesson learned. For dinner (which I will be eating at work) I am making a salad with apples, toasted almonds, vinaigrette dressing and a hard boiled egg. Yummy!!!

Day 1

 So what we have learned today.  First off, the most local we are going to be getting is anywhere between LA and Fresno.  Second, wash everything twice.  Lots of little tiny granules of sand and, dirt and what not, are all kinds of stuck to the lettuce and assorted vegetables.  Third, free range chickens and grass fed cows as close as Santa Barbara!!  Meat is in sight but I (Gabe) promised to go without meat for this month, at this moment I don't remember why, but I guess I did.  Fourth, thank you baby Jesus for Taylor's Dad, A. for the help navigating the market and B. fresh squeezed O.J. for smoothies. 

 Shopping list this morning included: Bell peppers, two kinds of onions, lots of potatoes, fresh eggs (package says within the last 24 hours, those bad boys were under a chicken!) fresh basil and mint, tomatoes, squash, fresh bread from a bakery about 20 miles away and avocados.

 So now for the hard part: Cooking!  Part of our project is to make every meal at home using only the products we have bought from the farmers market and some (I am stressing "some") leftovers from the fridge.  We have a helpful vegetarian cook book and our natural cooking abilities, however we are going to be lacking some ingredients due to the lack of local dairy for yogurts and cheeses and other things that are just not in season.  This will be interesting...luckily we're creative...

Last night of FREEDOM!

Went to a great resturant near the apartment as our last date night out till the end of this project...and of course I miss my last opportunity to have red meat, by having linguini and clams...and Taylor had a Bolognese pasta yummy!