As we launch into a new era of Badger Girl recipes, I thought we should get a few things straight on what you can expect to find here and what you shouldn’t expect. I have been pretty hard core in the past about Whole Foods and the whole clean eating movement. Don’t get me wrong, I am not sitting here munching Fritos as I write this….but I am sipping a sloppily made Moscow mule as my girls color in our driveway.

drink and write

Don’t hate me: this lasted all 5 minutes. But it was a great 5 minutes…

 

I actually hit a rough spot in my blogging because I started to get overwhelmed with feelings that I wasn’t living “clean” enough or “healthy” enough. Sure I read my labels, but I didn’t make my own bread. Then I made my bread and there was a group of people who ground their own wheat. And another group of people who grew their damn wheat.You eat bagged greens and then you read about how there are people who think you suck because you don’t cut your own lettuce. I mean, really people??? This is what we are dedicating our energy to??? And I struggled. And then I found out that I could not solely breastfeed my girls due to a medical issue and I was devastated. “The Whole Foods author giving her babies chemically laden formula”: I I felt like a failure and a fraud. You’d think they printed it in the newspapers or I had a sign on my head. 

And now I am over it. I cried, I threw a class 1 hissy fit (probably several), and then I realized I had to get over myself and my ego. I gave my babies formula and they are just fine. I buy bread, I buy pre-cut and washed greens, I buy pre-made hummus. I buy a lot more stuff that I used to make. Even salad dressings. And sometimes I do make stuff from scratch, but it’s a special treat. Or because I have a huge bag of basil and a lot of guilt associated with throwing it out. 

So while I still consider us of having a Whole Foods diet, I realize that my definition is a little more lax than it has been in the past. On the flip side, my newest focus is easy. And fast. And still healthy, but mostly easy and fast. And I believe in meal prep because from 4-6 in my house, it’s all about survival and one-handed cooking. And wine. 

I consider myself “healthy-ish” now and try not to be as concerned about being perfect. Our mantra here is “Perfect is the enemy of good.” We are all trying to do our best in so many areas of our life. I never want anyone reading my blog to feel bad about something as stupid as using pre-cut vegetables or a bottle of salad dressing. When we make our own food, we are all moving in the direction of living a healthy life. In that sense, homemade is always better but that does not mean making everything from scratch. It means firing up your stove even if it’s just to heat up something frozen. It means trying your best, whatever that may be on this day of your life because you get to try again tomorrow. For me, it still means reading labels and all of us will have different standards by which we judge them. It’s about education and not judgement. 

I am so excited to dive back into blogging and I can’t wait to share with you my healthy-ish recipes and stories from my kitchen. And I would always love to hear from you so if there are questions you have, challenges you are facing, foods you want to try but need some inspiration, let me know. This blog is really about serving its readers and providing value to you. Don’t be shy. 

Next up will be one of my favorite salads:

taco salad

 

Hint: It includes chips and meat. My two favorite salad ingredients. 

 

 

 

 

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