Well Hello There Stranger
After a little blog break (2 years!) it's safe to say that some things have changed. These days our house of 2 has ballooned into a house of 5! My step kiddos have officially moved in full-time, and we couldn't be happier. But adding 3 teenagers (well, almost since the 12 year old eats like he is a teen) has certainly changed our life and our lifestyle. We now have 3 new eaters with a diverse variety of preferences and tastes, from the exotic to the basic. Since I've been in these kids lives for 10+ years it's safe to say that my cooking and our home have had some influence on them all, although the results have varied over the years. Over that time we have been die-hard vegetarians with a then pre-teen visiting son that subsisted on freezer junk food, oreos and was a self proclaimed meat lover. We had another 'tip-toe' vegetarian daughter who wanted to be vegetarian for years but did not live in a veg-friendly home at the time. And then there is the youngest who has somehow always preferred to order salad and fish at restaurants than dessert (even when he was 5).
But these days they have all grown up, and so have we. Our 'rules' of eating are much more fluid and we do our best to eat well instead of place labels on our diet or lifestyle. The kids are all, surprisingly, opting for plant based meals, especially at home and we are beginning to settle into a new routine. If we had to label our diet it would have to be flexitarian.
Green Spork 2.0
Through this journey it got me thinking about my blog. I found myself looking to the blogosphere for inspiration as I tried to navigate pleasing a plethora of palettes (in unrelated news, I am kind of an alliteration geek. Anybody else? Anybody? Anybody?). Although there are some great blogs out there I still find that too many of them just aren't what I am looking for. But why not? All I want is a mostly vegan blog, with occasional fish, very limited dairy, a well used egg (but rarely), seasonally significant, budget conscious, zero waste aware, fit and healthy living minded, volume adjustable for our large brood, and with beautiful photography that makes everything feel approachable but kind of like a fancy restaurant. Is that too much to ask?
Yeah, so I get why this is hard to find, but hey, this is us right now. And I thought maybe there would be some of you out there who also want to live a good, real life. I understand better than ever the realities of striving to do better, eat better- but falling short. I rolled through this cycle of failing to achieve what I thought was perfection. Now I look at it like I know what I am aiming for, but let's see how close I can get.
All this to say that I would love to bring the Green Spork back with a new breathe of fresh air that is all about our new, real life. Stay tuned for our latest adventures.
In the last year, I took some away from my blog. Sometimes, blogs can be a wondrous soul-infuser. They are always a labor of love (at least the good ones). Other times, they can just be labor. For me, I took some time off as I dove into a full-time career and focused my labor of love elsewhere.
