I am a Kentucky girl who has lived in Seattle for the past 7 years with my husband, Justin. We have three kiddos that I have the wonderful privilege to stay home with, Jonah (5), Dorothy (3), and Eloise (1). We started our real food journey in April 2012 after I spent a weekend reading blog after blog about processed foods and their repercussions. Justin and I watched crazy amounts of food documentaries and came to the conclusion that something needed to change. I was pretty horrified when I realized the things we were filling our family’s tummies with. We are a family who, prior to April, would pick up fast food after church on Sundays, get carry-out whenever my day was too busy to cook, and we loved our processed, convenient, kid-friendly snacks and dinners. The hardest thing for me, was my sugar addiction. And yes, it was an addiction – I totally went through withdrawal! I LOVE baking and baked goods. I have had to learn to bake without all the processed sugars and flours and instead learn to cook with natural sweeteners (honey and pure maple syrup) and use 100% whole wheat flour.

The transition to cleaner eating has been easier than I think we anticipated and so rewarding when we think about the quality of the food we are feeding our family. Fresh. Local. Organic. Real. Whole foods. We get the majority of our produce from our farmer’s market every Sunday morning, which has become such a fun family ritual. Our dairy and meat are locally produced as well as organic. We have weaned our kiddos off the processed, packaged foods that they (and ourselves) were so accustomed to eating. We don’t struggle with meal ideas or snack ideas, like I thought we would. I think our biggest struggle though, is teaching our kiddos about good, healthy food choices and hoping they make the best choices for themselves when out in their little worlds (ex. soccer game snacks, school snacks, birthday parties, etc.). We are having to start from scratch by teaching them that treats are treats, which means we don’t get them everyday, but in moderation.

I am so very excited for this blog! And I am so thankful to share this new adventure with Erin, Ehren and their sweet family. Erin has taught me so much, and I have already made most of her recipes that she has posted, which are all amazing. I have been “pinning” recipe after recipe after recipe and trying to take notes and pictures of how I alter things, but I forget, and we end up not having that meal again because I totally forgot about it! This blog will be a great place to share those recipes so that I can keep coming back to them. I also hope to share ways, as I learn them, on how to keep my kindergartner eating well at school, being creative with packing his lunchbox full of nourishing goodies everyday, and teaching him to make the best food choices for his little body. I’m not quite there yet… but I hope to be! My husband loves food and loves to create deliciousness in our kitchen, so I’ll be sure to have him share some of his yummy creations as well!

Thank you for visiting. Really. I hope that you find what you find what you are looking for and that you will let us know what you tried, how you liked it, how you changed it, etc. Let us know about your food journey, too! We are so not experts in this area, I love the community aspect of blogs, getting to read everyone’s comments and getting encouraged by one another. I hope you find that here!

Phillipa Dugaw. You are amazing. My family is so thankful for your beautiful photos. You are a blessing. If you live in Seattle and need a photographer, hire her. She’s a gem.