on being judgmental

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I grew up reading the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible. However many thousands of verses I memorized as a child/teen, as well as both of the books I've memorized, were done in the NIV. Then, in 2011, Biblica, Inc. published a brand new version of the NIV (so the NNIV?), which was updated to reflect the changes in language since 1984. Some of those changes included shifting from traditional male-oriented language to more gender-neutral language in passages where the original language did not explicitly intend one gender over the other.

Naturally, as a Southern Baptist from small town, NC, everyone I knew immediately flipped out. Gender-neutral language is dangerous, they said, because it can undermine the original meanings and/or roles and/or authority of the Bible. Essentially, because people sometimes take inclusive language too far and replace God's word with their own words, we should never accept it under any circumstances.

Now that I think about it, the whole thing was rather similar to the old pharisaical proverb, "If it ain't King James it ain't Bible!" that I was taught—by the same people, mind you—was completely misinformed and legalistic.

Nevertheless, I didn't notice the similar thinking then, so I spent the next two years in agony, because the version I loved best had been "defiled" by this inclusive language. I began reading the English Standard Version (ESV) instead—which I like, because it's a little more of a direct translation than the NIV, but it's also less readable. The NIV was my favorite because it felt natural. The ESV feels like a translation—which, to be fair, it IS. Still I was a little sad.

Then suddenly, tonight, I discovered that BibleGateway.com has stopped offering the 1984 version of the NIV, which I had been using in an attempt to pretend the new NIV didn't exist. You can imagine my righteous anger. I thought, how could I ever look up the verses I love in the NIV if they're now tainted by new cultural norms? Will I have to reference my tattered, pink pleather hard copy every time I want to practice reciting Philippians or James?

In a state of near desperation, I decided to research the use of inclusive language in the new version of the NIV just in case maybe I had been misinformed in 2011. And as it turns out, I was. I followed a link straight from BibleGateway.com to Biblica, where I found a detailed note straight from the translators about the recent NIV updates. There's an entire section dedicated to the use of inclusive language, and I learned how meticulous they were in choosing where it was and was not appropriate—based on the original meaning in ancient Hebrew and Greek, as well as modern English use—to change things like "brothers" to "brothers and sisters" or "his" to "their". They did not change any language intended to specify gender, including the gender of God.

So what I discovered tonight is I spent two years on a soap box for no good reason. As for being judgmental towards things I don't actually know anything about?

gf update + single-lady recipe: quinoa casserole

It's been freezing here in Chapel Hill—and probably everywhere else—which leads me to a really exciting announcement: I AM LESS COLD!

You guys, this is a BIG DEAL. The entire reason I decided to give up gluten was to experiment with whether or not my eternal state of frozenness was related to my gluten addiction. It's officially been two weeks since I last (knowingly) consumed any gluten, and I HAVE actually begun to notice a difference! I'm hesitant to say it's really linked yet, since it's only been like 2 days since I noticed the difference, but I'm really excited and hopeful that it stays this way.

In other news, I've been trying to find yummy, easy, un-weird gluten-free recipes and I stumbled across http://www.neverhomemaker.com/. I've been following this blog for awhile, but I hadn't been keeping up with it, so it came as quite a pleasant surprise to discover that Ashley, the runner mama behind this great blog, started a gluten-free experiment THE WEEK BEFORE I DID! How neat is that? She has been experimenting with easy, inexpensive gluten free recipes, so finding this blog was basically like stumbling across a gold mine.

Tonight I've got a quinoa casserole waiting for me in the crock pot, and let me tell you I AM PUMPED. I followed the original recipe pretty closely, just halved for single-lady proportions:

tastes a lot yummier than it looks... I promise :)

SINGLE-LADY QUINOA CASSEROLE

3/4 c. quinoa

1 1/2 c. chicken broth (I used stock)

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt & cinnamon

1/8 c. almonds (didn't have any of these, but I think they would be INCREDIBLE)

1/6 c. cranberries

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

1/4 block crumbled feta

Directions: Rinse quinoa & mix with olive oil. Add broth, salt, cinnamon, almonds & cranberries; cook in a crock pot on low 4-6 hours or high 2-4 hours. Lightly fluff with fork, then gently mix in halved or quartered tomatoes and the crumbled cheese. Drop a handful of spinach, cover and cook on high for about 20 more minutes (until spinach is wilted). 

Delicious!

my weird, gross bible

I usually try to read a psalm during my morning prayer time, and lately I've been reading one chapter of Romans every day (and a different one each week). It's been a huge blessing, but I'm not going to lie and say I always understand what I read! For example, last night I read these puzzling verses in Romans 7:

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. (Romans 7:4-5)

Is it just me, or is Paul using sexual innuendo as a metaphor for new life in Christ? Maybe I'm just prudish, but that surprised me. I'm pretty sure I'm not reading too much into it though, considering the context (verses 1-3) are about marriage laws:

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. (Romans 7:1-3)

So essentially, Paul seems to be saying in verses 4 and 5 that we were bound (figuratively married) to the law before, and the offspring of that union was death. When, through Christ's death, our flesh died, our marriage/binding/obligation to the law was severed. We are spiritually resurrected through our faith in Christ's resurrection, so we are able to figuratively remarry—as the bride of Christ. The offspring of this new union should be "fruit for God" (v. 4), i.e. the fruits of the Spirit.

WHAT!?

I mean, a disclaimer here is probably a good idea: I am by no means a biblical scholar or in any way authorized as a theologian. But that's what it sounds like Paul's trying to get at. A marriage metaphor that includes both the sexual (the part about our sinful passions being aroused by the law... yuck) and legal aspects of a marriage. The Bible is SO WEIRD! But SO. ALIVE. I mean what's more alive than sex?

I hope I haven't scarred anyone, but let's be honest—

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

...when this is the way Scripture describes itself, I think we can pretty safely expect it to awe us, surprise us, and even gross us out. Or, I mean, I guess maybe this doesn't gross anyone out but me. I'll revisit this after I get married and let y'all know.


Does anyone have any examples of weird stuff they've found studying the Bible? Leave a comment!


- Deanna

P.S. f any real biblical scholars happen to stumble across this, please feel free to correct my potentially horrifying interpretations of scripture. Love me some theology!

barrett's mountain blueberries

Mountain Creek Lane

Today was FABULOUS. It was approximately PERFECT outside all day long, and my whole family spent the day out of the house enjoying the weather!!!

You know how I'm always cold? I wore shorts and a tee shirt all day. Outside. IN MARCH. It was SO wonderful!

Can you tell I love the great outdoors? My house is located on a mountain in western NC, overlooking the valley our horses pasture in and across from most of our neighbors' houses, pastures and a beautiful little apple orchard. It's pretty much the greatest place in the world.

Today I spent my day planting two adorable little baby blueberry bushes, playing with my siblings, jogging, and watching movies. Spring break at its finest, y'all.

I've always wanted to garden but it's never worked out. So I placated this year's garden fever with a pair of different kinds of blueberry bushes. Apparently blueberries have to cross pollinate... IDK biology stuff.

I also started running yesterday since it was so nice out I hated to waste it. Even running is a pleasure here... We really are so blessed, and I take it so for granted! Anyway I'm hoping to reinstate my 5-days-per-week running policy with my increasing run/walk schedule. It's a pretty fail safe way to get in shape, I just have to make myself get out there!

Alrutz blueberry bush #1

gluten fasting?

So, gluten fasting - not sure that's a real thing. But it's what I'm doing this week. There are a lot of pretty unrelated reasons why I decided to try out a gluten-free diet. 

First, I'm on Spring Break this week, so I knew I'd have a hard time avoiding processed food at home (my parents call  everything I make "hippie food made out of rocks and tree bark"... I like to remind them that it was not I who grew up in the '60s). Second, my little sister has been having issues with her stomach over the last year and a half, and she's tried different diet changes but never gave gluten-free a serious try. She agreed to try it with me this week. And third, a friend of mine recently gave up gluten (among other things) for health reasons and said she noticed being a lot less cold. If you know me, you know I am cold ALL the time, rain or shine. It's an issue that affects my life pretty significantly, but I've ignored it until now because I always assumed it was just my fate. When I heard there might be a solution, I decided it was definitely worth a try. 

So, as more an experiment than anything, I'm going to try gluten-free this week and see what happens. 

I officially began the experiment Sunday dinner. 

This was probably the most delicious omelette of my life. Onions, mushrooms, peppers & cheddar cheese.... MILES better than the one I made the other day with gruyere. I officially don't like gruyere.

Today, I ate oatmeal with peanut butter and bananas around noon when I woke up. Don't judge me, I was catching up from a crazy Saturday night.

For lunch/snack I had a bowl of rice, some sliced pickles and a hard boiled egg. 

For dinner, I ate some pork chops my dad had made in a slow cooker and refrigerated for us with some rice and a lettuce/spinach salad with a homemade blueberry vinaigrette (not as delicious as it sounds - more on that in a mo). 

I'm not 100% certain that the gravy the pork was cooked in was gluten-free, because I'm pretty sure he made it with canned cream of mushroom soup (which I'm pretty sure has gluten in it). But otherwise I haven't had any slip-ups today, which I'm proud about :)

I spent a lot of the day in the kitchen, just messing around. I made some blueberry jam (right) and got in trouble for it - the blueberries were my mom's, and she wasn't happy I used them. I also splashed some boiling water in my eye, which hurt a bunch for an hour or two. Feels okay now though, PTL. But while I was flailing around on the phone telling my mom I used her blueberries and burned my eye, I burned the jam. This wasn't a great success.

I also found some oat bran in the pantry and looked up a muffin recipe (I halved a recipe from Two Peas and their Pod and added chocolate chips) since I've been absolutely CRAVING bread. It's pretty pathetic how addicted I am, apparently, to wheat - it's been a little over 24 hours and I feel this constant need to eat bread, even though I've kept myself pretty full all day. It's ridiculous. In a feeble attempt to curb my craving, I made some oat bran banana nut muffins. They turned out pretty good, but the oat bran is a bit stale so they don't taste great. They also leave this kind of oily feeling in my mouth, even though I didn't use any oil. So that's sort of odd.

How do I feel? Cold and grumpy. So far no progress, though I hadn't expected any after just a day. I craved bread so much today that I decided to let myself slack off on the non-processed part of my diet a little (mostly just for the chocolate chips that were calling my name). 

Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more satisfying. If I don't see some serious results after this week, I'm not going to give gluten-free much thought again... I just love bread so much, and I can't make myself restrict something I LOVE just for kicks.

That's it for today! I'll update a little later in the week... Now I'm going to go curl up and finish the Two Towers with my blanket and glass of milk. 

I am a child.

cheating

So today I cheated on my diet...

And I thought, since I've been so good, I'd list all my cheats so far and my excuses for them so I can justify myself keep track of it. I think it's important to keep track of cheating so you know when you're being ridiculous.

• I've been eating a loaf of sourdough bread because they don't make that in whole wheat.
• my friend Sarah made me a sweet potato/spinach quesadilla (processed tortilla and salsa)
• I ate chewy sweet tarts & butter popcorn at the movies on Friday because my sweet roomie coerced me into letting her buy them for me. They were the most delicious ever DREADFUL.
• I had three four five cupcakes tonight because my amazing small group girls threw a surprise birthday party for me =D

And I think that's it. If I remember something I'll add it. I'm pretty proud of myself so far, that's not too shabby for a week at college!


UPDATE: So when I originally wrote this, I decided just to save it as a draft and include a few more days so it would be more impressive that I only cheated those few times and for very good reasons. Then I immediately took a turn for the worse, and this happened:

• Thursday 3/7: I ate a bunch of processed food (instant potatoes, meatballs in some kind of sweet sauce, cake, candy, and a bite of this gross no-bake cheesecake crap) at the Reach meal.
• Saturday 3/9: I had the world's best breakfast at this adorable little cafe in Raleigh called the Flying Biscuit, and determined that I could not eat there without trying a biscuit. So I ate one with apple butter (and my French Toast had these sweet sauces that probably had sugar). IT WAS AWESOME AND I REGRET NOTHING. But then I ate a kid's shrimp (with no sauce) & sweet tea at Sakura for lunch, and then I had a really processed Walgreen's cupcake (sans icing; it was a birthday gift) and a jumbo pretzel at the Duke game. Oh and I had a sip of my friend's Pepsi. Whoops! In my defense, YOTTTO (you only turn twenty-two once..... and yes of course that's a thing don't look so shocked)
• Sunday 3/10: I had a few sips of coffee with creamer and sugar, but not very much. Then I had my sister's leftover frozen-dinner veggie lasagna for lunch. I didn't see the ingredients, but I'm guessing I wouldn't like what they were haha. I also ate a bunch of really processed beef jerky afterwards... And yeah, I feel a bit ashamed. I guess my excuse is that I was really sleepy for church, and then I drove home from Chapel Hill today so I was tired and hungry and limited on time. Not a great excuse but what are you going to do.

SO as you can see I'm not doing great, again. As a pattern, I seem to start off really strong and gradually compromise until I'm stuffing my face with sour gummy worms again. But I'm going to try something new this week, which should hopefully help me focus and have self-control again... more on that later. I'll keep you posted.

#YOTTO

my unhealthy doctor

Hi, I'm Deanna, and I'm addicted to Doctor Who.

Not in the casual, 'Oh, yeah, I keep up with that show,' kind of way... the 'Oh, I don't really feel like doing homework... why don't I watch 6 or 7 episodes instead' way. Unhealthy.

I'm not really ashamed, because I figure as soon as I run out of episodes this'll all be over and I can go back to living a normal life, only mildly obsessed, when I see a Tardis phone cover and chuckle to myself like, 'Ah, I remember when I watched that show. Lovely time.' 

It's bad, y'all. Don't be fooled by my charming southern nomenclature - When I think about Doctor Who my thoughts have a British accent. This is not a drill. Granted, I also happen to be a big fan of Sherlock, Downton Abbey and Harry Potter so it's not completely the fault of the Doctor and his lovable companions. But have you seen any episodes of Doctor Who? He's the defender of earth through all time and space, but he leaves a pretty devastating wake. Part of that wake includes my RP English thoughts and wasted life spent on Netflix.

But I'm not worried. Every time I stumble on a new show I like I spend a lot of time catching up then relax like a normal human being and watch it just once a week. That happened with The Office, Once Upon a Time, Parks and Rec, Sherlock, Downton Abbey... the list goes on. Excepting Firefly (God rest its beautiful soul), which was cancelled during the first season, and Sherlock (which I mistakenly thought was only going to have 2 seasons), I can finish the catching-up period, drop into once-a-week mode, and move on to fully-functioning adulthood. Doctor Who is just taking me a lot longer than normal because it itself is longer than normal. I'm on season six and there's more to go!

Just as a side note, I love Doctor Who for the intriguing characters and riveting plotlines... if not for them, it would be little more than an uncomfortably strange sci-fi show. I'm really not into aliens, believe it or not... and I'm even less a fan of writers who trivialize or demonize my faith. Also filler episodes are my personal Voldemort. But I am into great stories. And as it turns out they're quite addicting, so I ignore the irritants and press on to the finish line. I think I'll be done quite soon with the episodes available legally on Netflix. We'll see what happens at that point if I survive the inevitable implosion that season finales not immediately followed by premiers will cause.

Any fellow Whovians out there who can sympathize with my plight? For the record, I think that's the stupidest name for a fan-base in existence... followed closely by Mockingjays/Tributes. Tweens are the worst. But I digress. Leave a comment!

shortened lent

(NOTE: this post was copied from my other blog, where it was originally posted on Feb 25, 2013.)

So I failed pretty epically at eating only unprocessed foods for Lent. I blame casual decision-making and lack of real conviction. Lent isn’t really something I celebrate, so I wasn’t particularly motivated to stick to it. However I do really want to stop eating processed food, and I also have decided to start a new habit. So scrap what I said before: here is what I’m going to do.

I have about 30 days until Easter (35 to be exact).

1. I have been far too inconsistent with praying far too long, and it needs to stop. Prayer is a priority in my life from now on. And until Easter (hopefully after too, but that’s another goal for another day) I am going to daily rise early to pray. “Early” is a generalization of course so I’ll be a little more specific: I will get up an hour before I “have to” and spend time reading scripture, praying scripture, and worshipping. That’s that.

2. I just discovered a new food blog similar to 100 Days of Real Food (I’m going to refer to it as 100 Days for short) called “Eating Rules” which was created by one of the guys who works for 100 Days. He decided to do an “October Challenge” of eating unprocessed a few years ago and has repeated it every year since. Though it isn’t October, I have about 30 days left until Easter so I think this is the perfect time to try it for myself. Obviously it was supposed to be 40 days but we’re not going to worry about that right now.

This guy’s whole premise is that you should set a few absolute rules that you CAN NOT BREAK. That eliminates the struggle of willpower, which is basically my whole issue. Then, after you set and adhere to those rules, you are allowed one “cheat” or “treat” meal per week during which you can eat whatever without guilt. It works both to motivate you, as the promised reward of your hard work, as well as a way to curb cravings. I think this method is genius, so I’m going to try it for myself.

That said, here are my rules, adapted from his and 100 Days’:

• All grains must be 100% whole.
• “Kitchen test” – i.e. if I wouldn’t cook with it in my kitchen, I can’t eat it.
• No hydrogenated oils or deep-fried foods (Alas, this includes tortilla chips).
• No refined sugar or artificial sweeteners/dyes.
• No fast food, and be extremely careful with restaurants.
• I’m going to try hard to eat mostly organic food (I have issues with GMOs & hormones), and to budget myself. We’ll see how that goes… it’s not part of the challenge but it’s a goal. 

This begins tomorrow! I’m planning on making muffins for breakfast and maybe a slow-cooker soup for lunch  I need to go grocery shopping so I’ll probably be figuring out what I want to eat soon.

(Quick update: it is now March 1 and the only things I've cheated on so far - knowingly - have been my unashamed purchase and use of sourdough bread for grilled sandwiches and the white tortilla I ate when Sarah made me a quesadilla. I have also eaten at campus dining halls a few times; in those cases I do my best to stick to the rules, but I don't hold myself accountable for ingredients that aren't immediately apparent. So far so good!)

my story

In my personal branding class, we’ve spent the last two days sharing our life stories and how that’s affected the person we’ve become as well as how we want it to affect our future. I haven’t gone yet, so I thought I would do a little practice run here to get my thoughts out. I’m better at writing than speaking any day, so this should be a helpful exercise.

my life story

As the second oldest of seven children, in a fairly stable household, my early childhood was awesome. I played all the time and used to write stories about horses and Pokemon. I ride horses, that’s an important fact about me. It’s one of my favorite things.

Another one of my favorite things is community… I guess it’s because I came from a huge, wild family, but I love to be around people I know and love. I’m unbearably uncomfortable when I’m stuck somewhere and I don’t know anyone, unless I have the opportunity to meet them and connect. Interaction energizes me, but more than that, community does.

school

When I started going to school, I realized I wasn’t as good at social interaction as I thought. My family is weird and loud, but other people’s families aren’t and it freaked them out when I acted certain ways. I can remember as far back as preschool being excluded from social groups.

In early elementary school I befriended a girl who was really tough and bossy, so I was happy at school. She protected me and I put up with her bossiness. It worked out pretty good. But then in the third grade my parents decided to enroll my siblings and me in a private Christian school. I was really excited about it, but I didn’t realize what a difference it would make switching to a tiny school. There were only about 15 kids in my grade, and they had for the most part all been there since preschool, so they didn’t take kindly to new additions. Plus I was weird. I didn’t like being girly and I wasn’t athletic, so I didn’t have a place to fit in. I also didn’t care about fitting the mold… I was a hipster in elementary school. But it did bother me that no one wanted to be my friend, because I craved community. I made a best friend in my neighborhood, and I still occasionally saw my old best friend. So that helped. But the real way I survived bullying and exclusion in elementary school was through my relationship with God.

By the time I got to middle school there were other newer kids in our class and people had gotten used to me, so much of the bullying stopped. My classmates were still mean, but it was mostly in the you’re-my-friend-so-I-can-make-fun-of-you way. Which I still hate, but it was definitely an improvement. I also became really close with a newer girl, and she remained my best friend through middle and high school.

faith

My parents are both Christians, and I grew up going to church, but they were both fairly new believers when I was young–without much discipling–so we didn’t really talk about God at home. But still I had exposure to the gospel pretty regularly from a young age. One summer, when I was 8 or 9 years old, I went to Vacation Bible School at my church. I’ve always loved music, so the songs I learned that week stuck with me after it was over. One of the songs was called the “ABCs of Salvation” and it was sort of a kid-friendly, musical version of 1 John 1:9 and Romans 10:9.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

“…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Well at some point during the summer after VBS, I was singing that song to myself and it dawned on me for the first time that I really did believe in the gospel: that I was broken by sin, and I needed Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from the dead to restore me to fellowship with God. So I told my parents I wanted to be baptized, and I have been slowly, clumsily and joyfully following Christ ever since.

Adults coming to faith usually struggle with the belief that Jesus was really the son of God, really lived a perfect life and really rose from the grave after his crucifixion. For a child, that’s not so farfetched. What was hard for me was learning to be obedient to his will in things like kindness, selflessness, respect for authority, gentleness. I still struggle with that stuff. But as I studied the Bible and prayed more and more, I saw the Lord working in my life, changing my heart a little each day. It was frustrating at times (and still is!) that sanctification isn’t a quick process, but it was so rewarding to see the fruits of faithfulness in my life.

Anyway, like I said, that’s the real reason I survived elementary school with a smile. I went through a lot in those years and I was pretty lonely at school. But I had a Helper who never let me down, who helped me keep my life in perspective even as a kid and showered me with more grace than I ever deserved. He still does that now.

college

I always said I was going to go to a small college because I loved my little Christian school, and with my history of difficulty fitting in, I had no interest in going somewhere I knew I would be surrounded by thousands of people who were vastly different from me. But private schools are expensive and UNC is a great school, so I ended up choosing it. I was extremely blessed by having a good roommate my freshman year; we became really good friends and stayed roommates for three years until she graduated.

When I first came to school I thought I wanted to be an anthropology major, but I didn’t really know what anthropology was. It didn’t take long for me to become a Classics major instead. I am crazy about ancient history and languages of all kinds so it was pretty much perfect for me. But about halfway through my sophomore year I realized I wanted a job when I graduated, and I didn’t want to go to grad school or be a teacher. So I changed my major to a minor and joined the J-school. I’ve always loved creative writing, and I figured advertising was an industry that would allow me to do that for a living. We’ll see how that works out.

future

When I graduate I plan to serve as an overseas missionary for at least two years. I’ve always been passionate about languages and travelling, and I’m just as passionate about sharing my faith because–backwards as it sounds–telling people they’re so bad they need a savior is the best way I know how to love them. The gospel is offensive, but it is necessary. As my pastor says,

“Our sin is so bad Christ had to die for us, but he is so loving he was happy to do it. We are way more evil than we ever dared think, but way more loved than we could ever imagine.”

So I’m going to go and make disciples.

I’m considering, in the more distant future, going to portfolio school for copywriting or art direction. But I’m also happy taking life one step at a time!

single-lady recipe: sweet potato mac & cheese

I decided I wanted to start posting some recipes specifically for one or two people, since I have had very little luck finding recipes suitable for when I'm just feeding myself. As a college student, that happens a lot, and I wish someone had posted recipes like this for me! So here you go, world: I hereby introduce the Single-Lady Recipe series. You're welcome.

First up: sweet potato whole wheat mac & cheese.

I made macaroni tonight! In a pie tin!

Macaroni is the bomb. If I could survive off of cheesy, pasta-y goodness forever I gladly would. Though actually I'd miss steamed vegetables. And chocolate. I think I could definitely survive off of those three though. Oh and bread. Nevermind, I wouldn't survive.

Anyway, my lovely roommate ate Kraft macaroni & cheese for dinner and it smelled so delicious I decided I was going to eat some too. But I'm currently not eating processed food, so I had to make it myself. One look at the ingredients list made me really glad I did.

Certain kinds of cancer sold separately.

There is a RIDICULOUS amount of artificial preservatives and additives and dyes and chemicals in this, as well as (I'm sure) most boxed or "quick" macaroni meals. Nooo thank you. The only ingredients in this that don't break my unprocessed-food-rules are whey, salt, enzymes & cheese culture - i.e. FOUR out of the ten thousand cheese sauce ingredients. Also I find it pretty amusing (in a kind of depressing way) that they don't even call the noodle concoction in this pasta - it's "enriched macaroni product." What does that even mean? Well, it means it's not real food.

</soap box>

Now, the happy ending. I knew without even looking at the ingredients I couldn't eat this, so I set to work making one of my favorite single-lady recipes, sweet potato mac & cheese. My recipe is adapted from one I found on Pinterest by Erin at Naturally Ella. Her recipe includes spinach, which I keep meaning to try but never seem to have on hand when I decide to make macaroni. One day! Anyway here's my twist:

Sweet Potato Mac & Cheese

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato (if it's already cooked, skip step 1)
• 1 cup whole-wheat pasta (I've used macaroni noodles and those crazy spirally ones, whatever they're called)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp whole-wheat flour
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup milk (you'll need 1/4 and 3/4 cups separate)
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I use white cheddar, gruyere, parmesan... basically whatever's in my fridge), mixed together

Instructions

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add cubed sweet potato, and cook until tender (8-12 min.) Remove and let cool slightly.
2. Place cooked sweet potato in a food processor/blender (I use a small, crappy blender and I leave on the skin. Works fine.) with 1/4 cup milk and pulse until smooth. Set aside.
3. Bring pot of water to a boil again (I used the sweet potato water) and cook pasta al-dente (5-6 minutes). Drain and set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
5. In a sauce pan, melt butter & add garlic, cooking for 1 minute on low heat. Whisk in flour and let cook for another 1-2 minutes. Then whisk in the 3/4 cup milk and cook on medium or med-low until the sauce begins to thicken. Add sweet potato puree; keep cooking until hot. Then remove from heat & stir in about 3/4 of the cheese. 
6. Mix sauce and pasta. This is the step you can add a couple handfuls of spinach if you have it handy. Pour into a casserole dish (or whatever you have available - I used an old aluminum pie pan), sprinkle with remaining cheese, and bake for 25-35 minutes until the cheese on top begins browning.

VOILA! You have the most delicious, healthy macaroni and cheese anywhere. Usually I can't eat much whole wheat pasta but you should have seen me tear this up while I watched the season five finale of Doctor Who. I might just go eat some more after I finish this.

This recipe made about four servings - perfect for a yummy dinner & leftovers for 1-2 people.

That's it for now! If anyone tries this recipe out, let me know the result. I'm curious whether it's actually good or I'm just really proud of myself for cooking it. There may or may not be a difference.

(URGENT UPDATE: I JUST REHEATED THIS WITH SOME DICED MUSHROOM AND IT WAS HEAVEN. THAT IS ALL)