WELLNESS: ADVENTURES IN COOKING HEALTHY

It's no secret that I'm not much of a cook. I'll be completely transparent with you right now and tell you that this year was the first time I cooked chicken. My friend Kate witnessed it, so you can confirm that with her. ;) Growing up, "Memaw" lived with us. She is a true southern, senior citizen and the kitchen was her territory. I didn't get much experience cooking...although I would make the occasional batch of cookies here and there. In college, I had a college diet. Quick and horrible...mac n' cheese was acceptable everyday of the week. Matter of fact, macaroni was the extent of my cooking in college. So cheesy...so healthy... ;)

When Jon and I got married, I waded into the waters of cooking. I tried my hand at homemade soups and fish...but quickly our 40+ hour weekly schedules gave way to the quick and easy route of cooking. So dip, pizza, and pasta it was!! We weren't into meal planning, so by the time we got home from work the only thing on our mind was...FOOD. NOW. Going out to eat, ordering in, or whipping up something "instant" was always under 30 minutes and sounded appetizing. Did I mention our soda intake was outrageous?! That too. 

SO. This brings us to April 2012. April is the month I had an eye opening realization about my health and wellness. Jonathon and I, off the bat, started greatly improving our diets. I almost completely cut sodas out of my diet, with an except here and there and Jonathon limited his soda intake to the weekends. We began incorporating more spinach into our meals and tried to find healthier alternatives to the things we liked to eat. Oh and that "dip" I mentioned above (cream cheese, chili, and cheddar with chips)? That weekly staple had to go! 

We started feeling better. We started feeling more energized. And while we still allow ourselves treats and indulgent meals here and there, we are moving towards such a healthier lifestyle. 

One of my goals this year was to start a meal plan and start preparing//planning meals for us each week. We've been doing a lot of reading, talking, and research on health and where we feel like we should go ultimately with our diets and lifestyle. I'll share at this point we are leaning towards going dairy-free and focusing our meals around way more veggies. My numero uno priority is to create a diet for us that gives us all the goodness our bodies need to be healthy and the best version of us. While working to incorporate these ideas I've been collecting recipes and things to try. 

On Friday, I spent most of the day trying to develop a meal plan. It was mostly filled with things to try and experiments so we could figure out what would work best for our family. That evening, Jon and I hit Whole Foods and bought tons of new things to try. AND I've been cooking!! I made healthy muffins, chili, pita sandwiches, and chia seed pudding.  I'm not going to lie though...things are coming out so-so. Some things are a hit and others...eh. I am for sure learning a lot and I'm excited to be thought of as a good cook...one day. ;)

Here is a collection of some of the recipes I've tried and want to try:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8

If you have any fabulously healthy and awesome recipes to share, I would LOVE to know what's cookin'! Cookbooks, websites, your grandma's recipes...I'm all ears! :) Oh! And we love soups!