The Living Well Report

A lean ground turkey burger, with garlic, served on an organic bun courtesy of Barowski’s. With lettuce, provolone, relish, vegan mayo, and mustard. Organic fries on the side.

Our family loves bagels and when we started eating healthier, it was difficult to find any that didn’t have either enriched flour or high fructose corn syrup or both. Rather than give up a food that we all enjoy, I tried a home-made bagel recipe found on allrecipes.com.

Substituting half whole wheat flour and half white wheat flour in place of the bread flour was the only change I made to this recipe. The bagels are very easy and quick to make using a bread machine and taste delicious - almost a cross between toast and a bagel.

At a recent trip to the Orono farmer’s market, we picked up some amazing herb sourdough bread. Here it’s holding ham, goat cheese, lettuce, vegan mayo and mustard.

We recently paid a visit to the first of the year Farmer’s Market here in Orono. The Orono Farmer’s Market runs twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, from May until October. We happened to attend our first one the Saturday before Mother’s Day and received a free pansy in celebration of Moms!

This is a shot of homemade goat-milk soap. They come in a variety of colors and scents and goat milk adds a nice moisturizing element. Since this was an initial trip to scope out the market for future use, we didn’t purchase too much. We bought a loaf of homemade rosemary parmesan bread, which we used to make the California Grilled Veggie Sandwich and also some fresh vegetarian spring rolls (which we couldn’t wait until lunch to eat). We plan to purchase as many fresh vegetables, fruits, cheeses and meats as we can throughout the coming months. Though some of the things here are more expensive than their supermarket counterparts, you cannot put a price on quality.

This is an outstanding, unique summer treat, and a great choice for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike! Garlic-lemon mayo combined with feta cheese and grilled vegetables on focaccia bread - all in less than twenty minutes! The recipe can be found on AllRecipes.com.

It can be fun to take an old favorite and make it new again. That’s what I did with this english muffin and peanut butter combo. With a Barowski’s organic whole wheat english muffin and Skippy Natural peanut butter, this classic breakfast food is entirely new. A review of my new favorite peanut butter, Skippy Natural, is coming soon.

Here’s a relatively quick and easy way to create a unique breakfast dish. Take 3-4 small potatoes, punch holes in the skin with a fork, put them on a microwavable plate and heat on high for 8 minutes (your microwave oven times may vary). Then, take them and cut them into 1-inch squares. Put extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat and drop in the potato squares. Then add in a dash of salt, pepper, a bit of fresh garlic, and add in diced sausage. Heat until browned, drain on a paper towel, and serve!

Homemade garlic & turkey meatballs, on a Barowsky’s organic whole wheat bun with shredded mozarella and Bertoli’s organic marinara. A delicious, quick snack for lunch provided you’ve got a couple of meatballs left over from last night’s pasta.

Welcome to The Living Well Report! You’ve found a new blog about great food, positive nutrition, and healthy choices. This is a place where you can find photos and recipes of some delicious, healthy food combined with product reviews, special features, and more.

Photos & recipes of great food
Heidi is the house chef. She finds and cooks organic and natural foods, with an emphasis on variety and moderation. Jason (mostly) photographs the foods and they both publish the recipes, reviews, and more.

Every couple of days, we’ll post photos of the food we cook, along with recipes where available. If you’re on the lookout for more natural food choices that taste great, we think you’ll find some things to try here.

Product reviews
Occasionally, we’ll review natural and/or healthy products for nutrition, taste, cost, and overall value.

News & info
In addition to the photos and reviews, we’ll bring you news on nutrition trends and tips for healthy living.

Video
Coming soon, we’ll be posting short videos featuring tips and great products.

About us
Learn more about us and where we’re coming from in terms of the sometimes thorny world of what it means to “eat healthy”. The short answer: We’re not fanatics, and we’re not experts.

One more note: we’re not professional chefs, and we’re not professional photographers. There are plenty of those types of blogs out there, but we’re coming from a different point of view (a decidedly amateur, and learning, one). One advantage to our amateur status is that all of our recipes and reviewed products can be bought for reasonable prices at your local grocery store, farmer’s market, or natural foods store.

Of course, we’d love to hear from you. Send your own photos, recipes, or feedback to us at contact@livingwellreport.com. We ‘d also appreciate your thoughts and look forward to hearing your ideas for improving the site.

Thanks, and welcome!