For the past week & a half we’ve been making a very conscious effort to eat and live healthily. Call it a nod to the fast-approaching swimsuit season, a knee-jerk reaction to hubby’s upcoming birthday milestone, or whatever else you can think of, but really it’s just a desire to be healthy.

We both would like to shed a pound or two, but also feel more energetic, comfortable, and happy in our own skin. Hubby has more iron-studded willpower than me when it comes to the occasional unhealthy treat, but I’m coming to realize that I’ll never be younger than I am now, and probably never have a better shot at being fully in control of my body. We’ve returned to McDougall, and have nearly completed the recommended 12 days of dedicated vegan eating. Can’t say I am missing much, either…I love veggies! I think we sometimes forget that “health foods” don’t have to feel like punishment just because they are built up that way with the endless talk of dieting and ways to skip around healthy eating & working out by advertisements for this or that product that promises to change our life & our figures in just one week or one capsule. There really is no other way than eating right and working out. Granted these things are time consuming and not always easy, they work. And it’s worth it. Bikini or not, I am choosing to make myself better…the best I can be, inside & out. That’s an insipring feeling.

Which, in a roundabout way, brings me to…rutabagas! In our quest to eat well & cook more meals at home, I am spending more & more time in the produce section. I had a little craving for turnips not long ago, so last week I thought that was what I was buying…turns out I came home with a bag of rutabagas. I’ve had these before, and they are indeed tasty, but I had no earthly idea how to prepare them. So, after putting it off for a couple of days and feeling subsequently guilty when tiny green things started to sprout out of the end of one of the rutabagas, I decided it was time to do a little Google search & some poking around on Food Network today after returning home from the gym. And, wa-la! In less than 2 minutes, I had 50+ yummy looking rutabaga recipes at my fingertips, and a step-by-step plan for cooking them.

Guess what we’re having tonight?