Whole Ingredients: Steak and Spinach

Friday night dinners with Eliot made a comeback last night! After work, we stopped at Whole Foods for ingredients for a quick dinner. To combat my low-level of protein this week, we splurged on a nice piece of steak. Eliot did most of the decision making and cooking for our easy dinner. The steak was seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked on a pan on the stove. Organic spinach and mushrooms were sauteed with olive oil and minced garlic. Eliot plated the steak on top of the spinach with a lime wedge and I poured us tall glasses of fruit juice.

When cooking with whole, fresh ingredients, there is no need to go overboard with extras. The food shines all on its own. Grocery stores are even picking up on this: my local Dominick's always offers free samples of different things, including fruit. Customers are invited to try pineapple or Cuties. Is this what we've come to? People don't know what real food not masked by unpronounceable names taste like so we need to bribed to eat right with free samples?

My diet is going more towards whole ingredients and less towards colorful packaged foods. There is less risk of cross-contamination (and much less label reading!) when purchasing ingredients. This means I'm spending a lot more time cooking. I still eat things out of a box or bag. My first year out of college, I only bought fresh meat twice that year. This past year, I only bought frozen meat twice. I feel much better eating this way! (And avoiding gluten and lactose helps, too!!)