Last night I had a dinner party. My cousins were in town from AZ and Monday is my Mom's birthday so I decided to have everyone to my house for some delicious food.
It was delicious and it was a great visit. So good to be with family and friends! I felt blessed.
Onto the food though! We started with some cheese- Brie, cheddar, dill havarti, and smoked Gouda, candied walnuts, fig jam, kalamata olives, crudités with dip, pumpernickel bread with dill yogurt dip, crostinis with ricotta mixed with fried sage leaves and honey. So so good.
Dinner was fresh pasta with vodka sauce, chicken scarpariello with fried potato chips, salad, fresh rolls with butter.
And then dessert! My mom made cupcakes with homemade vanilla and mocha buttercream. I made a vanilla bourbon bread pudding.
It was amazing. They all said so. And then they texted after they left. And then my family woke up this morning and told me again. It's safe to say that it all tasted good. I wish I had taken pictures!
But this meal was a struggle for me. From the grocery shopping to making it. Here I am trying to change the way we eat and buy organic and be healthy and when company was coming I found myself falling into old habits because I know what tastes good and in this new way of eating, I am trying new things and letting myself and my family be the guinea pigs.
My struggle began in my grocery cart. I order groceries so here I am online filling my virtual grocery cart for the week and for last nights dinner. I grab my organic dairy, I grab my organic produce, I get to the meat "aisle". I shop for the week. Grass fed beef for tacos- check. Organic chicken breasts- check. Nitrate free uncured bacon- check. Meat for last nights dinner: issues. Organic chicken thighs- $8.99 for 4. Family pack of non-organic chicken - $8.00 for 10 thighs. Non-organic goes into the cart. And I feel super guilty. Same thing with walnuts. A four dollar difference for non-organic. And this begins to happen as I shop.
We normally spend $200.00 a week on groceries. With company, this weeks groceries cost $270.00. If I had bought organic chicken and walnuts etc... It would have been well over $300.00 and I cannot spend that.
I also bought things I have taken off the list lately. Good Seasons salad dressing mix. It has sugar in it. Dill dip. Also made with things that are off the list. White pasta. The struggle continued.
I used white sugar. In my vodka sauce. In the bread pudding. Gasp!
I felt guilt and I have thought about that a lot today. How can I take this and make it a learning experience and a positive thing. Out of those thoughts have come a new goal. I need to figure out how to make the things we love and love to make when we entertain in the healthiest way possible. I want it to be just as good but as healthy as possible. I think I can do it. And in turn, bread pudding is phenomenal with sugar and that's a recipe that shouldn't be compromised. Last night was a treat. And treats are allowed. They aren't the norm and we were back to eating whole/real food today. We prepped for the week and here is what we made:
Kalamata olive hummus, granola bars, black bean soup, parmesan herb bread, almond joy bites, sweet potato chips, waffles, herb marinade for chicken, we prepped veggies for snacks and for taco night and apple cinnamon over night oats. We are set for the week!
And it's going to be delicious and healthy.
Cheers to compromise and doing the best you can!
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