Speaking of Good Food

Thanks for weighing in yesterday. Like I said, I am not going to do anything really drastic for now, just trying to process some of what I am reading and make some healthy changes for our family. For now, I think that will mean purchasing more organic fruits and veggies and washing even our frozen foods. After Emma is born and life settles down a bit, I might try to be a bit more aggressive, but baby steps.

I wanted to post on a fun dinner idea that I first tried a couple of years ago at a friends' dinner party. Have you ever done a raclette grill?

If you haven't, the best way to describe it is a mix of fondue and grilling meats, veggies, and breads. It is yummy. And the best part is, it is relatively healthy. I mean, yes, there is hot, melty cheese involved, but you can increase the veggies and really change it up.

I had gotten a raclette grill (free!) about a year ago and was kind of intimidated by it once I actually had it in my possession. I finally decided to bust that puppy open and buy the ingredients for our own raclette meal. Having never done one before, I probably bought way too much, and I tried different cheese and meats, but I want to pass my experience on to you.

We did a traditional raclette menu. As I said, I bought a lot of cheeses, and wanted to try a variety of them. Raclette cheese is actually pretty expensive, so I also tried two different swiss cheeses and a gruyere. To be honest, the domestic swiss was my favorite, and it happened to be the least expensive option. I also did thin cut, pre-cooked meats so we were only just heating it up. I also sliced up tomatoes, red onions, and green and yellow peppers. I did a baguette of bread and baby yukon golds. When I was slicing up the cheese and veggies, I didn't think there would be enough, but as it is rich, it was plenty.

This dinner would be amazing with wine (I settled for sparkling water and M enjoyed a German beer) and entertaining would be easy with it since you could slice everything in advance and just heat the grill up.