...And so it begins...

I've spent the last 5 hours looking through recipe blogs (mostly this one, which is my ultimate current uber-favorite) and I realized that there a lot of recipes that I shy away from mostly because of the soy content. So many recipes call for soy sauce in marinades, and so many ingredients contain soy-especially ingredients for easy meals. So inspired by Steph, I've decided to become a guinea pig and start trying out alterations of recipes that I find so that I can eat dinner without putting quite so much work into it. I hope to use this blog to chronicle my (mis)adventures trying to eat soy-free, to compile recipes, to aid other soy-intolerant readers and to befriend other foodie-bloggers. It will likely also contain some gardening exploits (I'm hoping to grow my own veggies and herbs in the near future) and tips for saving money and shopping more rationally.

(If you don't want to read my intro, just scroll til you see the row of asterisks...)

Perhaps this calls for an introduction. About 5 years ago, I decided to try being vegetarian for a month (this was minutes finishing my all-you-can-eat chicken dinner at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, MI). Things went well for the first few days, I had no problem with cereal in the morning, and pb&j for lunch and dinner. Then I tried my first boca burger. Let's just say that didn't go well. It all seemed to go downhill from there. Now in small amounts soy gives me a fever and makes me drowsy. In large amounts it gives me flu-like symptoms. 'Nuff said.

By the time I narrowed down the cause of my seemingly random illnesses, I was engaged and living with my soon-to-be DH in our condo. And discovering that I LOVED to cook. (2.5 years later I am still learning how to cook within a reasonable timeframe, but that's for another day). Much has happened since those first days of cooking-making amazing steaks and ruining Kraft Mac-n-cheese...I don't get it either. We added two dogs to our family, got married, bought a house, and we are probably close to halfway unpacked!!! -_- Life for us is chaotic, and cooking is my tranquil time of somewhat organized chaos.

This has probably rambled on far too long now (boo kidney stones, yay vicodin!!), so I'll just dive into dinner plans for tomorrow.

************************************************

This is the plan for tonight. I will be using some way hella-frozen pork ribs that have been in the freezer since....never mind, I'm too scared to check the date. 5 jalapenos (I'm not a huge fan, but DH loves them so I wont omit completely). And-somehow-a soy sauce substitute. I've made some in the past by mixing random ingredients together (sweet and sour sauce, duck sauce, plum sauce, honey, A1, worcestershire, jam, ketchcup, barbecue sauce) but I've never gotten around to writing down a specific recipe. Hopefully today will be the day.

I am also planning baked potatoes, leftover broccoli (with the Magic Bullet nacho cheese recipe to drizzle over both...I know, I'm terrible...) and maybe some sort of banana dessert as I went a little....wait for it......"bananas" at the store the other day. (Please forgive me...it's the vicodin, I swear!!) But for .39/lb how could i resist??? I will likely go with this recipe for banana bread. It is the greatest banana bread ever, and I'm not a big fan of banana in most forms. (Although if you have any good banana recipes please feel free to change my mind!)

Shopping List:
-8 russet potatoes
-6 jalapenos (one for mixing in the nacho cheese sauce)
-Frozen coke (If I'm getting up in 2.5 hours, you bet I'm going to be running on pure caffeine today!!!!)

6 am-DH will drive me to pick up my car
6:30 am-running to the store for ingredients
7:30 am-hopefully leaving the store? maybe?
8:00 am-Cleaning 7 inches of science experiment out of slow cooker (don't ask)
9:30 am-Whipping up faux-soy sauce (KEEPING TRACK OF INGREDIENTS AND PROPORTIONS)
10 am-putting ribs in on high for 1 hour
11 am-putting ribs on low, nap???
2:30 pm-Dr. for more vicodin, or a reason why this kidney pain hasnt stopped (and more vicodin?)
5 pm-Start baked potatoes in oven
6:30 pm-Get banana bread ready to go in oven as soon as potatoes come out
7 pm-Wow and amaze DH when he gets home from work. Pray that the food tastes good.
8 pm-Enjoy banana bread. Fall asleep shortly after (if not during) dessert

Day one of soy-free starts in approximately 2.5 hours. Ready, set, go!!!

~Janelle (Queen of parenthetical statements!!)

P.S. Please let me know what you think if you stumble across this blog! Any input will do, even a "You suck!" comment will let me know that I am not posting to an empty internet...