Day 0 - Introduction

Welcome to my NEW blog! Let me start by telling you a bit about myself, and then the reason behind my blog, which is really my personal challenge.

My name is Jenn and I am the proud mother of 2 beautiful little boys, Dylan (age 4) and Darwin (age 2). Since the day I found out I was going to be a mother, I changed my eating habits. Before then, I had always been somewhat conscious and careful of what I ate, but knowing there was a life inside me depending on what I put in my mouth, I started to change how I felt about food. I was more apt to read labels, to question where things came from and what was in them, and to eat more organic foods.

As my first born started approaching 6 months of age (well technically 7 months - since he was born premature!), I knew I needed to make a decision on what I was going to feed him when he started solids. Up until that point, he had only ever had the most natural food source a human could get - breastmilk! I decided I was going to make his baby food, using only organic ingredients. Dylan took to food quickly, and was ever expanding his pallet. Soon he started to eat foods other than purees, and I again tried to serve as much organic as possible. Before I knew it, he was a happy, healthy toddler, willing to eat anything put in front of him. I have always tried my best to serve him fresh, healthy, homemade meals, whenever possible. The same rules applied for my 2nd son - Darwin. He was strictly breastfed for the first 6 months of his life, then started on organic, homemade purees, and so on.

Now, don't get me wrong, my children (as well as my husband and myself) don't eat a strict, organic-only diet, we just try to incorporate organic when we can. We also try to eat foods from local sources, as well as anything homegrown (which up until this spring (hopefully) has been limited to a few tomatoes, herbs, and a couple peppers!). I also try to limit the amount of pre-packaged foods my children eat. They do eat cereal (Hay is their favourite, more commonly know as Mini Wheats), and they eat boxed crackers (although we've started making those ourselves now, too). They don't eat frozen entrees (at least not at home), no boxed meals such as kraft dinner (they refuse it!), and I always make my own pasta sauce, soups, and more recently BREAD! (I've been baking bread for years, just not as our only source....as of now, I am trying to avoid buying bread from the grocery store!).

So as you can see, we are doing pretty good at trying to eat healthy. We do make room for other snacks and treats, but we definitely eat more homemade than not. I am always looking for new recipes or inspiration for our meals and snacks. I cook on a daily basis, and bake almost daily, too (if not every other day!).

Because I enjoy cooking and baking, espeically with help from my kiddos, and I love knowing my kids are eating nutrious meals, I decided to start a blog, which as I mentioned earlier is more of a personal quest, which will record 365 healthy recipes in 365 days. I see this as a means of not only sharing my recipes with anyone who wants to read them and try them, but also as a way to document and record all the different things we try. Some of the recipes I will post will be ones I have tried in the past, others will be new to me, too. I hope to include pictures with the daily recipes, so you can literally watch along as I make each one. I look forward to hearing from others who try these recipes.

The last thing I will mention is that I put the word healthy in quotes, as I am not the type to avoid all sugars and fats. I love to cook and eat healthy, but I also like to indulge. I figure on this blog I can still call my recipe for homemade chocolate chip cookies healthy, as making them myself is much better than buying a bag of pre-made ones, chock full of additives and preservatives (as an example).

So please enjoy this blog. Please feel free to comment, critique, offer recipes, or just say hello as often as you want. Day 1 of this challenge will start tomorrow - March 1, 2011. See you then!