Introduction to Healthy Families, Warm Hearts

This blog is dedicated to helping those who want to learn more about provident living and creating nutritious, healthy meals for their families. Although I have no formal training in these fields, I have done a lot of experimenting and I will share with you what I have learned. I studied science for my undergraduate and graduate degrees (physics). I love to experiment and to create my own healthy recipes. Some of them work and, as my family can attest to, some of them flop miserably. When either my husband or I have a flop, we like to say lightheartedly that, "our biscuits didn't turn out." This statement is based on an experience early in our marriage when one of us made some biscuits that turned out as hard as rocks and completely disgusting. We try not to let those flops discourage us from experimenting again, but we try not to repeat them too often.

Before I take too much credit here, I must say that my husband Brandon is the mastermind and genius behind many of these recipes. He has introduced me to many of the principles and concepts I will talk about here. I would never have been brave enough to modify my first recipe if he hadn't first and showed me how. I would never even have tried most of the recipes if he hadn't served me delicious food made from strange-sounding recipes. I like to think of him as the artist and me as a scientist. He loves to create artistically and I like to create methodically. With this combination, however, it makes for a pretty good pair. We've both learned to use elements of both methods to create our masterpieces.

Along with the cooking, we also enjoy growing our own vegetables and try to use them as much as we can in the meals we create. We've found that not only does using home-grown vegetables pack vitamins and minerals into our diets, but they add flavor and texture that is delicious. To have the vegetables on hand in our own garden has made it much more convenient and practical to add large quantities of vegetables to every meal.

We cook mainly with basic, unprocessed ingredients such as whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables and plenty of spices. Foods like this store better and contain many more essential nutrients than their processed counterparts. We enjoy a good steak or roast every now and again, but as a general rule we use legumes and whole grains for meat substitutes or extenders in our recipes. These substitutes are much less expensive, can taste just as good if prepared correctly and are much more nutritious than meat.

So come, join us in creating nutritious, healthy meals and living providently. Do you have any recipes that you enjoy? Will you share them with us? Do you have any recipes you'd like us to help you modify to make them more healthy? Send them on and we'll give you some tips. For more information about us please see our other blog: www.brandonheatherfam.blogspot.com.