Healthful Habits is a way for our family to intentionally implement a more wholesome style of living one small step at a time. The process of executing these small changes over the course of a year enables them to become lifelong habits.
{ Aristotle }
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."
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Along with all the small changes we have been making to our lifestyle came the desire for us to consume more vegetables. It has been easy over the few years of married life to purchase the same varieties each week, so our challenge as baby girl has begun to eat "solids" is to expand the palate- at least in the fresh produce department. Thus our joy when I discovered our local health food store's "produce box" option this winter.
{Delicious Food}*
These "boxes" consist of nine different categories, with the allowance for you to pick from two or three options for each one. While the produce is not all local, it is organic. It's their version of a CSA; in the depths of a frozen midwestern winter the variety is delightful. At $24 a box, the savings of buying in bulk are not significant, but we have enjoyed the way these "boxes" have forced us to eat a wider assortment of vegetables and fruits. And for this family of three, the fact that there is no weekly obligation to purchase is a blessing. Our most recent pick-up included blueberries, carrots, spinach, acorn squash, avocados, orange bell peppers, oranges, celery, bananas, pears, kale, and sweet potatoes. Yum!
Now to learn how to cook** all these foods...
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* RANDOM COMMENT:
Isn't this a pretty basket? I was so excited to discover this on one of my browsing shopping trips through a local thrift*** store (one of my favorite hobbies; one of hubby's least favorite). I'll bet the $0.49 I paid was a lot less than the amount the original Crate & Barrel shopper spent!
** REMOTELY RELATED COMMENT:
One of my favorite sources of "real cooking" inspiration is The Cooks Next Door, a sister team who endeavor to provide seasonal and healthful menu options.
*** ANOTHER RANDOM COMMENT:
Isn't it funny how {thrifted} and {repurposed} and are much more in vogue than {used} or {secondhand}? I guess words have meanings AND connotations!