Reality Food

Real food.

Ah...what a wonderful thing.

I mean, how could a person live in Austin and not love real food?

The concept of eating real food is something that my generation in general did not grow up with. If it seemed semi-healthy and was easy to prepare, our parents fixed it. If it fixed itself in a microwave and flavored itself with a plastic pouch of unknown powders and flakes (or a can of cream of chicken), it was a winner. 

Why not?

Nobody lived on farms anymore. Nobody had time to grow a garden. Can you imagine the isolation someone would have endured in the early 90's for owning chickens that laid eggs!

Now it's all the rage, and I think it's really great. I'm the first one to say that I'd like for our family to eat healthy, all-natural foods. I love the concept of "real" food and eliminating unnecessary chemicals, flavors and "artificial anything" from my home.

But let's just be real for a minute...I just can't do it right now! 

So I've made up the term "reality food".

Reality food is food that I can actually manage to prepare and feed my family without having a nervous breakdown. It's food that is responsible and healthy, but not obsessive and all-consuming. It's real food with some shortcuts. And frankly, I'd rather snuggle up with my kids on the couch reading a book or (gasp) watching tv, then spend every evening chopping fresh vegetables in the kitchen alone. 

I'm giving myself that freedom. I'm praying that it doesn't mess them up in the end, but really, I don't think it will. 

I was much better at preparing and serving my family real food before there were TWO tiny humans in this house to keep alive. I pinned all kinds of recipes on Pinterest...and I even cooked a lot of them! I developed some good habits and purged some bad ones. I stopped buying all of the things that are on those lists and replaced them with healthier options and that became part of our current lifestyle. I even made my first attempt at an edible garden. I recognized how my body stopped craving things that had the dreaded high fructose corn syrup and I felt incredibly satisfied by the lifestyle changes reflected in my grocery cart and kitchen. I think I'll probably include a lot of those changes in future blogs. 

But then I had a baby and when my meal calendar ran out, I was hungry. :)
And I didn't have the brain cells or the stocked groceries for my previous cooking habits. I knew I needed to modify. 

Enter "reality food"

Reality food is quick to prepare...and it's good. It's NOT a step backwards. It's not a lazy approach, in my opinion, it's a smart approach. I know everyone won't agree. 

Someday, I'll get back to my quest for real food. But for now, when I write food posts, they will be recipes for reality food. So they won't be cutting-edge or trendy. They will be recipes that require less ingredients, less time and less stress. I have found a real lack of these types of recipes or food suggestions in my cookbooks or on Pinterest...maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.

Hopefully you will thank me and not feel sorry for my children, who do occasionally end up with some high fructose corn syrup on their plates.

*Photos are Trader Joes Pumpkin Bread and Muffin mix...in a box. And they are divine. Plus I added chocolate chips, which makes them totally unique and inventive...