Living the sweet life, mind the thorns...

My life as I know it, is constantly changing.  I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.  To cherish the sweet moments, and try to forget the bitter ones and learn from them, is something I strive to achieve on a daily basis.  Our lives are so chaotic and filled with, well, fillers and I find myself wishing that I could live in the "simpler" times.  You know what I'm talking about, when you were a kid, and life seemed so big and 30 seemed so old.  Now, here I am in my 30's and life doesn't seem so big anymore, and 50 seems to be creeping around the corner.  I try to make things as simple as possible and get back to the basics, whether it's through cooking, cleaning, or simply living everyday without letting life get in the way.

I enjoy cooking and baking and most of my meals are true concoctions.  I don't follow a recipe to often, only when I don't know how the end result will be, most of my dishes are purely improvised.  Growing up, most of my meals were boxed and tasteless, until I started cooking on my own.  A whole new world was opened up to me!  My husband is into nutrition, and he's broadened my horizons with food to a whole new level.  I found myself experimenting with xylitol and stevia and agave nectar in place of sugar, and figuring out how to utilize almond meal, garbanzo bean flour, and brown rice flour in place of white flour.  I will admit, every time a new idea came into play on how to "improve" our diet, I was against the idea, and had a difficult time rethinking how our meals would pan out.  Do you realize how difficult it is to teach yourself to think about making a meal without some sort of starch involved?  To swim against the current and reshape how our meals are prepared, without foods that are so convenient and starchy, that fill in the gaps on the plate and sop up all the juices and flavors of the meal.  My challenge was given to me, and I did not jump to the plate.  No, I sulked and I fought the change, as I do with anything in my life it seems.  To date, it is still difficult for me to rethink how to prepare a tried and true meal, but I've learned so much in the process.  My nutritional knowledge is broader, and my cooking arsenal is greater then it has ever been.

I will admit that cooking differently has become a huge part of my life, but living a different life from the one I had is even more important in the end.