Mmm, Mmm, Good!

Lately I've been going through some peri-mentalpausal issues, and this has led not only to my finding a nice little herbal concoction to try, but also to giving some more thought to the food I'm eating. I've been considering buying more organic food for quite some time, but I thought it would be a lot more expensive, so I've not really looked at too many of the products. However, in light of some of the issues I've been having, I decided this weekend to check out some things.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the produce really is a minimal increase in price, so I picked up some spinach, carrots, celery, and potatoes. I also decided to try the milk and cheese, although I must admit that the dairy products are quite a bit pricier than their non-organic counterparts. I really do like the milk, though - I do find it has a better flavour, and as I told a friend of mine, the best way I can describe it is that it tastes cleaner. For me, it's worth the price increase, and as I will not be buying other items that I normally buy, it won't really increase my grocery bill.

I also find that the vegetables taste a lot better, and I feel better about cooking with healthier food. Hell, I feel better just to be cooking again, period! It's been awhile since I had my kitchen in decent enough shape to really do much cooking, but in the last week I've gotten it cleaned up quite well, so I'm making myself cook dinner each night, and I started making lunches for work this morning. Much better - and tastier - than the cheap little frozen things I've been getting for lunches and dinners.

I belong to a board where the members sometimes post pictures of the food they cook, so I've been taking pictures of my last few dinners. I figured I'd share them with you - aren't you lucky? This first one was my dinner on Saturday night - a very yummy steak with teriyaki sauce to dip in, rice with teriyaki sauce mixed in, and sauteed mushrooms and carrots. It was wonderful, and had the added bonus of providing some extra iron which is something I need now.



Steak Dinner


On Sunday night, I had to do something with the leftover rice, so I picked up some steak strips that I found at the grocery store. They looked decent, and while they weren't my favourite (a bit too tough, like most grocery store meat), they weren't too bad. They worked quite nicely in this teriyaki stir-fry that I whipped up:



What's Cookin'?


Ready To Eat!


Tonight's dinner, which I am very much enjoying as I type, is spinach salad, roasted potatoes and corn, and a breaded stuffed chicken thing - stuffed with a bit of cheese and broccoli. I'm enjoying the veggies the most, but the chicken is quite good, and adds the extra protein that I'm also missing. I don't eat enough meat, so I'm trying to remedy that. At any rate, here is tonight's fare:



Chicken, Spinach, and Taters - Yum!


So far I'm doing pretty good with reasonably healthy meals, and I've been having fruit for an evening snack, so hopefully I can keep up the good work here! Not only will it be healthy for me anyhow, but I'm hoping that it will help somewhat with all this peri-mentalpause shit. I'm not prepared to consider HRT, so I'm trying more natural remedies, including dietary changes, first.

So fingers crossed I keep all this good stuff up, and that between the meals and the herbal supplement there will be a bit less "mental" in the "pausal"!