Belated 1 year anniversary of Stuff I Feed Brian

1 year of feeding brian (well 5 years really, but 1 on the record)

I was about to share a new recipe (which I promise I will share soon), when I realized it's been a year since I started Stuff I Feed Brian. I am a very neglectful blog mamma because Stuff I Feed Brian's 1st birthday was actually February 9th. I have been so busy and off-kilter lately that I just haven't set time aside to share any new experiments. I promise I will try to be a better blog mamma soon, or at least by the time I finish this culinary program.

Realizing it's been a whole year since starting this project made me reflect on why I started it in the first place. Looking back at the first post, I recalled that this adventure started out because for years I would email or call my mom to share with someone the good, the bad, and the ugly of my kitchen experiments. When we moved to Boulder last winter, I felt further away from home than ever. I was not only away from my family in Virginia, but I was away from the family of friends I had gained in San Diego. Sharing recipes, stories, and photos on this blog was like having a dinner party with my family and friends from all ends of the country.

Our backyard farmers market

Now that we are back in San Diego I have less time on my hands to spend preparing healthy meals and snacks, let alone posting them. In addition to during the day, Brian also works Monday and Wednesday nights and I take classes Tuesday and Thursday nights, leaving us just Friday-Sunday nights for me to feed him a real meal. This gets tricky with our dietary restrictions and standards -- me having celiac disease and being vegetarian, Brian eating vegan and refined sugar free, and us both choosing to eat organic, soy-free, no heavily processed or canned foods, and local as much as possible (a ballpark guess would be 30% as local as our back yard, 25% within Southern California, 25% within California/Mexico, and 20% non-local impulse buys and convenience items mostly consisting of my personal chocolate addiction).

the journey continues

Sticking to this lifestyle is time consuming and exhausting at times, but I know it will get easier and easier as we stick with it. But, I gotta tell you, there are some hard days. Like today, when I just had a case of the Mondays and escorted Brian to eat at People's Market on his way to tutoring and I came home and ate Mary's Gone Crackers, carrots, and backyard lettuce dipped in a ghetto-rigged yogurt dip made with front yard herbs and plain yogurt, which I followed with Pamela's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies and a couple spoons of peanut butter. Probably the epitome of lazy, unhealthy, non-gourmet. However, getting back on this blog reminds me that it's all a journey, with ups and downs. Knowing that I have people like you that enjoy some of these crazy ideas motivates me to get back in the kitchen and try again...just after one more cookie ;)

So in honor of our 1 year and 1 month anniversary, here are 13 of my favorite things I have had the privilege to feed Brian.

1. Vegetarian Sushi Rolls