Epitome of delicious

I'll freely admit that as a child I had very poor eating habits. It's really no fault of my parents--I made the wrong choices when given options of what to eat. And to paraphrase Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I chose...poorly.

Thankfully by the time I got to college I worked on changing things around, and have only gotten better about it since then. Nowadays, I live a short walk away from a farmers' market that usually has some pretty tasty produce, and I've been getting in the habit of going there once a week to pick up some fresh fruit and veggies. I always get bell peppers. Usually, I pick up one red, one green, and one orange pepper. I'll cut parts of each to use in salads or fry up in a pan as part of dinner. A couple weeks ago I was at a different farmers' market in the city and procured myself a few peppers, unsure of exactly what I'd do with them. At least, I didn't think I'd do anything out of the ordinary.

Then my friend Matt suggested that I try roasting them. He gave me instructions on how he normally does it, and it didn't seem to be that hard of a thing to accomplish if you have the time to do it. Roasting peppers isn't a difficult task, but it does take a long time. I spent a rainy afternoon giving it my first go with a red pepper and parts of a green pepper, and while it wasn't perfect (I wasn't expecting perfection on the first go-round anyway), it was amazingly delicious. I've always been a fan of roasted peppers, but I think with most cooking, the taste of the fruits of your own labor winds up being that much better than anything you could just buy at a store. I ate everything I roasted in one sitting (along with a couple pierogies) without a complaint from my stomach. Yum!

I tried again last night with another green and a yellow pepper (yes, I gave in and bought a yellow!), this time with a better idea of what I was doing, and I have to say I was definitely satisfied with the final results. I only ate parts of each last night--cut in strips and thrown into a salad topped with chicken coated in an awesome mixture I made and pan fried up. My mouth loved every bit of it!

I'm really enjoying the foods I've been making for myself lately. Nothing has been too drastic a taste change for me, nor has it added significant difficulty to food I had already had a formula for, but I think the slight experimentation has been paying off. I'll be trying to keep up with the healthier eating, more fresh fruit and veggies, and posting any good finds here.