Reinventing Eating

Today at dinner my dad looked at me and said:
"I've realized that you and your community of food bloggers are reinventing eating."
"How so?"
"When my brain tells me I'm hungry, I wander into the kitchen and start to think of things I have eaten before. A sandwich, nachos, bread and butter, peanut butter crackers, ect. and I think of the ingredients we have. What can I make? But you all think in an entirely different way. You think of the colors, the balance, the newness of a recipe."
"Yes, I do at least."
"When I go to cook something for dinner, I have a book of options in my head. Stews, roasts, meatloaf. These things my mother made so religiously that we ate them weekly and she didn't need a recipe. You never had that. I realized you were raised on frozen dinners, restaurants, and easy mac."
"Yeah, I sort of taught myself to eat."
"You were a blank slate, perfect for this sort of experimental eating."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."

He did most of the talking but it really made me think of the things I do for the blog. I mean, I eat for me but there is so much more I do for presentation. Why? I think I have like...three readers tops? I don't know why but I love it.
I photographed my food long before I knew anything about blogs. I have a picture of a blueberry cheesecake that I made in the seventh grade. I love food, I love cooking, I love health, and I love pictures. Food is such a serious thing in my life. It must be organized, balanced, taste good, and be within certain ranges. I eat at certain times every day.

• Breakfast-6:00 AM
• Post workout: 9:00 AM
• Lunch: 12:00 PM
• Snack: 3:30 PM
• Dinner: 6:00-7:00 PM

I am OCD about when I eat and I hate it. This really has nothing to do with the blog other than the lighting but....it's frustrating how much a 1:00 lunch date can throw me off.

My point? Good Lord, it's lost but I think something along the lines of: I love this blog, I love food, I love you guys (if you're out there), and this community makes me feel like less of an OCD weirdo.

By the way, my breakfast was pretty:
I mixed Crofter's with some water and microwaved it before pouring it over simple oats and topping it with sunflower seed butter.
It was like a PB&J without that horrible PB....hehe.
All gone! (Baby Bear says "hi")
Post workout Kefir bowl surely went down.

And lunch? Lunch was really special today because I have been working on taking longer amounts of time to eat lunch. I usually scarf it down and then feel like I haven't even eaten. I timed myself: 1 hr, 15 minutes to finish this plate:
How? Munching and reading a magazine. I know we aren't supposed to do other things while eating because we need to focus on our food but if I'm not doing anything, that sandwich is gone before you can blink. Rest assured, every bite was taken while completely forgetting the magazine.
I had a snack of the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie Larabar....I took a bite...made a face and decided it tasted very similar to peanut butter cookie. I popped it in the microwave and it made the chocolate stand out more than the peanut.

The best part of my dinner:
Garlic Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

• Preheat oven to 450
• Spray a cast iron skillet with cooking spray and preheat it over a high flame.
• Cut the ends off one pound of sprouts and slice them top to bottom.
• Place them face down on the hot skillet.
• Cook until lightly browned.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Thinly slice two garlic cloves and spread on top.
• Bake in oven for 20 minutes.

Ta-Da!