Crock pot time

My groceries looked so pretty that I actually took a picture of them at the store

Over the weekend, I made crock pot stew. I love my crock pot! I got it from a white elephant exchange a couple Christmas's ago, but I use it way to little considering how easy it is to use. It's is literally the laziest form of cooking. You put ingredients in the pot and then turn it on. Oh yeah, don't forget to plug it in. Anyway, two things sparked this quest for feeding my body better things: 1) I felt horrible about myself after eating what I had been eating over spring break and 2) I had a Fred Meyer's gift card and found beef chunks for stew on manager's special there.

To me, eating better means focusing on whole foods. I try to stick to the outer edges of the grocery store (where the produce, dairy, meats and breads usually are) when I do my grocery shopping, but as a student, I definitely understand the convenience of pop tarts or individualized bags of chips. It's a struggle, but if I can step away from it at the grocery store, then it's not there for me to eat at home! I don't consider low fat or fat free necessarily healthy, and I don't think healthy eating is about cutting carbs (How I would miss loaves of bread from the bakery! And fruit!!! and desserts!!!!!!). Animal welfare is also a consideration in my food choices, so I try not to eat chicken (I know most animals raised for food are treated horribly, but chickens have it the worst I swear). I buy cage free eggs, though I know that doesn't necessarily mean they live much better lives than caged chickens, but I can't afford certified humane eggs at this point in my life. Anyway, that's my schpeel on what I eat.

Anyway, I threw sliced tomatoes, diced onions, potatoes, celery, and beef that I had browned on the stove in the crock pot, filled it half way with water and seasoned it with a some salt and lemon pepper and left it on low for 4.5 hours. I've been eating it with baguette, over brown rice, or even on it's own. Leaves me full, happy, and proud of myself. 

Seriously- those tomatoes. They smelled SOO good. I even put them in my roommate's face at the store so she could smell them. One of my old roomies who traveled abroad in Rome to study food recommended buying tomatoes on the vine because they're fresher- I think she's right!

Isn't my owl crock pot just the cutest??! I told you it was.

And Voila! The result of my impulsive free style cooking.