I cooked!

And it was probably too good to give to a dog for once!

I have raved about Jessica Seinfield's 'Deceptively Delicious' before, and I will continue to do so here. I didn't buy this book to trick SB into eating things he doesn't want to, entirely as we do baby led weaning (more of that on my Sausage Mama blog). I just didn't know how to cook vegetables - brocolli always failed for me and cauliflower, so, well I just didn't go near it.

This book is so explicit in it's instruction, and just doesn't assume I already know the basics. Did you know, I cooked roasted butternut pumpkin the other night? There was no oil required and it was AWESOME. I also roasted a beetroot! Delicious and far better than any tinned beet I've ever had. Both of these vegies were so RAD that they never made it to the freezer (nor the food processor, seeing as we don't even have one then).

SB wasn't interested, his top tooth was coming through and he's going through a real sweet and salty stage (this means he will only eat yoghurt, organic peanut butter and organic strawberry jam on toast, chocolate in any form, buscuitsand chips - arghhh). He turns his nose up to any vegetable and alot of fruit and so the guilt of these nutrients he hasn't been getting recently is being dissolved with this book.

We also cooked Green Eggs (a total hit! SB also likes anything with organic tomato sauce from Coles). I'm not only hoping for incidental nutrition for SB, but for SD who also is in the habit of having treats everyday, and these will not be limited to: 2 snickers bars, a large packet of doritos, a bottle of coke and a frozen coke. This treating means I am also bought Cadbury Bubbly bars. I honestly only eat them to be polite (most of the time. The rest of the time I inhaaaaale them). I need to eat healthier too. I like to prepare my body years in advance for pregnancy (last time I was healthy as for 2 years before conception). I even go to the extent of buying wheatgrass shots instead of chocolate on a shopping trip.

I'm not wanting to support Cadbury anymore. There are many delicious chocolate companies who practice Fair Trade - Greens Organics are awesome, and I'm pretty sure Whittakers are made in New Zealand (I must look into this further). If you are unaware of the child/slave labour involved with the chocolate companies I suggest you google it.........Okay I just did and one site said that Cadbury were the most supportive of Fair Trade so perhaps they have changed their ways...oh dear, I need a better reason to give it up....how about buying locally? Supporting smaller businesses. Yes, that's what I'll do. Time for me to get researching again, my information is out of date perhaps!

I don't know about you, but I love the feeling of buying fresh produce at the market and shoving it into my green bags (or Star Wars bags, or Tonka Truck bags as it were) or walking out of the organic, gluten free butcher with a brown paper bag (cheaper sausages than Woolies!)...I refuse to buy fresh produce from Coles or Woolies if it is not made in Australia. Also if their price tag is emblazened with 'has been exposed to sulphur dioxide'. All of those pesticides, chemicals and preservatives I need to get more savvy about. Cancer is practically an epidemic at the moment - is food the cause? It certainly can't be ruled out.

I only buy free range eggs - and I'm about to take a stance and not eat eggs from restaurants if they are not free range (you can bet good money that the Coffee Club aren't serving free range!). I was a vegetarian up until I could no longer hack tofu and chickpeas when I was 8 weeks pregnant. I will eventually go back to no meat (but I think I'll keep fish, preferably fish that isn't being over-fished). I won't buy leather (I'm open to second hand leather however). I think it's really important to be informed consumers - to know the process our food has taken to be on our plate, the process in which the cows were obtained from poor families (tricking or lying) and the ways in which they were killed (usually painfully, infront of other distressed cows who know their turn is next).

I still have alot of stuff to learn about fair trade and ethical consumption of anything. If you are interested in learning more, a great and effortless way to start is to watch a film narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, with music by Moby. This is certainly not recommended for children. If you decide to still eat cage eggs, buy leather and wear fur after seeing it, I don't mind, just as long as you have made the informed decision from watching it to support your use of these products.

Anyway, this blog has certainly gone on a tangent! In the Night Garden is over so I must go play with my son now.

Let me know what you think....

-SM/SH.