"whole" food september...

jeremy & i decided to do whole-food september, saving the "no-shop" idea for a different month. this is in part because we each want to lose a few pounds (i'm sooo close to fitting perfectly into my pre-pregnancy jeans). also because repeated visits by armies of ants have reminded us how full our pantry is... we've had to empty it out on more than several occasions. over the course of the month we'd like to chow through most of it (along with the stuff in the freezer, too) and be left with a simpler, more manageable stash of food.

here's what it means for us:

buying only local produce (we're already doing this)
buying only 1-ingredient foods, or foods that cannot reasonably be made by us at home (like chocolate, cheese, etc).
preparing all meals at home, unless we are invited to eat with family. i'm also allowing myself 2 "restaurant" meal for the month.

went shopping today to start us off. here's the list:

from the farmer's market:
green beans
blueberries
mixed salad greens
mushrooms
apples
bell peppers

from trader joe's:
salmon
organic chicken breasts
tri tip
heavy cream
mozzarella cheese
feta cheese
organic milk

i must have looked like i was on a no-carb diet, don't you think? anyway, that doesn't look like very many groceries to get us through the week. but jeremy and i are pretty simple eaters. tonight for dinner we had ravioli (from the fridge) with pesto (from the fridge) and a mixed green salad with olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

tomorrow i'll be baking bread, and will try to find a good flour tortilla recipe. i'm also hoping to stop by my parents house for enough tomatoes to make salsa... though i forgot cilantro at the market.

i look forward to trying out new recipes, learning to make things i didn't know i could make, cutting down on packaging, cutting out preservatives from our diet, and hopefully even losing a couple of pounds. we'll see.