Ann Claire's Healthy Adventures: Hello Blogging World!

Dreams of attending the CIA in Hyde Park or Napa Valley, opening a restaurant, or having a cooking show on the Food Network have filled my mind since age eight. I have always had a passion for food and gourmet cooking. Food is just such an amazing thing. Everyone eats it, yet there is oh so much variety and variation in the foods people consume around the world. I find it fascinating.

Recently, my passion for food has taken a slightly different turn. One that I'd certainly say is for the better. I've gotten really interested in healthy cooking and eating. I mean anyone can cook decent food using ingredients such as butter, sugar and other equally unhealthy things.

Okay, so that isn't completely true. We all know someone (or maybe even are that person) that somehow manages to mess up boxed macaroni and cheese. But really, when cooking with these types of ingredients is not all that difficult to have the end product be pretty tasty. The real challenge is making tasty food that is nutritious and good for you.

When I say healthy please do NOT do not let your mind go to images of 100 calorie packs, low-fat, or diet food and drinks. This is not what I am aiming towards. I plan to cook foods that are natural, fresh, and chemical free. While I have no specific diet or plan that I am following I do plan to eat a bit of an eastern diet and base my food choices on Michael Pollan's quote in his book In Defense of Food. "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

This is something I have wanted to do for a long time but I have never gotten around to it. Alas, summer is here and my free time is greater so I have time to focus on nutritious and healthy cooking and eating. This is not something I am doing to lose weight or anything like that. I am doing this because I truly believe this is the way God intended humans to eat. I am tired of feeling gross and sluggish after eating the typical "American" diet. There are so many diseases today that are diet induced and are much more abundant in the Western world. Coincidence? I think not.

I invite you to join me as I branch away from the typical Western diet। I invite you to join me on my journey to a healthier self in this wonderful summer of 2010.

But enough with the chit-chat. Let's get cooking!

Unfortunately this morning I didn't have time to eat before heading out the door. Upon returning home around eleven I was quite hungry. I haven't had a chance for a Whole Foods or Sun Harvest trip yet so ingredients were slightly limited.

I began by warming on the stove some veggies that were left over from the weekend (eggplant, onions, red, orange and yellow bell peppers already sauteed with some red wine vinegar for flavor)।

After the vegetables were warmed I cracked in two eggs and some Herbes de Provence (a natural blend of garlic, herbs, spices, sea salt, and lemon peel)