Tonight we’re trying out heirloom tomatoes…

This is the third year that I’ve taken the challenge, and I can’t believe how much my life has changed in that time. I, along with most of my generation, grew up in the era of convenience foods. Microwaves and one-dish meals were staples of a busy household. I lived across the road from some of the most beautiful farms in western PA, but I had no idea that I wasn’t eating crops from those farms when I went to my local grocery store.

Teaching myself to ask questions about food and changing the way I cook and eat has been difficult but really exciting. I love that my husband and I now sit down together to watch cooking shows that help us come up with ideas for quick, creative meals. I love the taste of simple foods, like quesadillas with farm-fresh cheese or tomato-cucumber salad made from local ingredients. I love shopping together for fresh corn, cutting it off the cob, freezing it and enjoying the taste all winter. For most of my life, I thought any corn that wasn’t eaten on the cob had to come out of a can.

My experiences are helping to inform my friends and family. They’re now asking for recipes and farmers’ market info. The very best part is watching my daughter get excited at the farmer’s market. She runs from vendor to vendor with a plastic bag, picking out what she wants to eat the next week. Local, fresh food is normal to her. Healthy eating is just what she does. I couldn’t ask for a better result than that.

Each new year of this challenge helps reaffirm my commitment to this type of eating—a commitment that was borne out of a love for these issues and is sustained out of a love for healthy, good-tasting food. Tonight we’re trying out heirloom tomatoes… ~Brenda