Background before starting

So I wanted to give you a little more background of all that is involved for me to cook. haha. The main thing to overcome is the kitchen. Our tiny, bright yellow and pale green kitchen. Our kitchen that makes it crowded for two people to be in it. Our kitchen that if you open the fridge door you're either stuck in or out of the kitchen. Here take a look. P.S. this is the cleanest it will ever be!

the fridge door

Oven, you and I will get along, i promise!

the lovely table that all these recipes will be consumed at!

The other "thing" to overcome here is my belly. Yes, my good old stomach and digestive system that seems to want to attack me at any moment. So other than having successful cooking experiences my other goal is to make meals that have no wheat, no dairy (or as little as possible), no fried stuff, little to no sugar and . . . I'm sure there's one more thing but I can't remember. :) Or maybe I don't want to remember. Oh with lots of veggies. The fluffy green things my mom made me eat as a kid that I'm now supposed to eat and enjoy because I'm an adult. (I always liked my dad's version of mixed veggies . . . regular M&M's.)

I'm trying to do what's called "clean eating." I got this cooking book for Christmas one year called the Clean Eating Diet Cookbook, or something like that. I really like it and now have the magazine subscriptions. The goal is to focus on good protein, healthy carbs, and good fats. Most of the recipes I am going to try will be from this idea of clean eating. This link does a much better job at explaining it. Clean Eating. It's nice because it fits really well with a lot of the limitations I have with food and it's really healthy! Two things that are very nice.

One last thing. Starting Monday, my friend Kate and I will become workout war partners. We're going to start a pretty tough regiment made by ourselves. I'm sure it will make it's way to this blog. So, just as an fyi :) Oh and we're doing it via workout videos. Yes I did say the humiliating workout videos. It's called Slim in 6. Link. The goal is to get slim in six weeks. Will it happen, we shall see.

So there you are, the background.

Julie & Julia

My recently new favorite movie is a cooking one called, Julie and Julia. It's funny, and inspiring and you feel good at the end. No big tragedy occurs and there's no big drama except for those in the kitchen. I can relate to the breakdowns in the kitchen, I had one tonight. Oh and it makes me want to cook. I recommend that you see it, it's just so fun! Here's the trailer: Julie & Julia

Here's the dialogue from one of my favorite scenes. It's in the trailer as well. Julia Child and her husband just moved to Paris and this is their conversation at dinner. Julia is trying to figure out what she wants to do:

Husband: What is something you really like to do?

Julia: Eat!

H: And you're so good at it!

J: I am good at it.

H: Look at you, now how good you are!

J: I'm growing in front of you!!

haha! Meryl Streep is so good in it, so quirky and so funny. And Amy Adams is great too. I can relate to that...what is something I really like to do? Eat! I probably like it too much.

So I like to eat but I'm not good at cooking. Growing up my mom would always ask if I wanted to help her in the kitchen. If it involved baking cookies, I was in because I loved eating the cookie dough. If it was cooking, not so much. Now that I'm married I wish I knew how to cook. It would be nice. Ryan's sweet and eats all the food I make, but I know major improvements are needed!

So I'm going to start cooking and blog about my adventures. I'm starting off with one new recipe per week. That's all I can handle right now. So this blog is going to record my adventures, all successes and failures. I hope it's enjoyable. Hopefully these cooking experiences will be character developing... We will see.