Welcome to my Blog

Hello. Welcome to my page. Come in, sit down, and let me get you a cool drink of water. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Susie Bittiker, aka Your Fresh Chef. I manage my husband’s chiropractic practice in Hudson. I produce his radio show, “Natural Health and You” heard every Saturday from noon to two on 1250 WHNZ. And I’ve buiIt up the courage to even take over for him on several occasions. I play bunco every third Wednesday night. I bowl in a very fun league every Friday night during the fall and winter. I bake cookies, cakes or brownies for our office three times per week. I conduct food workshops several times per year. And, most of all, I like to cruise the high seas.

As you can see, my life is as busy as yours, or close to it. But there is one thing that I have organized in my life that has helped me tremendously. I like to call it “The Bittiker Way”. Let me give you a little background. We (Dr. B and myself) would usually go out for lunch during the week. I usually chose salads. Dr. B varied. Dinner might be something I cooked at home, or leftovers. But occasionally it would be what I call “drive by eating”. In other words – take out. My weight slowly but surely crept up, past a point that I didn’t care for, until I hit my breaking point.

My problem though, is that I hate the word DIET. I decided that we needed to eat more home cooked meals so that I could control the ingredients. I started planning out our menus for the week, shopping once per week, and then prepping the food ahead of time. Once we started eating this way, the weight came off, and, it has stayed off. We are mostly on maintenance now. But in the beginning we were stricter about the menu. We eat extremely well, and a bonus has been that we are saving money. We use everything we purchase, and we are not tempted to waste money and time eating out.

This blog will be a work in progress. My goal is to help you plan your menus, prep lists, and make your trip to the supermarket a happy once per week trip. But this probably sounds daunting. So my idea is to have you start slowly, maybe just two or three days or meals at a time. I will outline to you what I do, but I would like you to e mail or call me with your feedback. I want to include everyone in this, from the novice cook to the seasoned pro.
I will be sharing my favorite recipes with you. I don’t develop my own recipes so much as I take one and change it to my family’s taste. I don’t always hit the right recipe. Sometimes it looks better on paper than it tastes. It’s never been bad enough not to eat at least once, but no tears were shed when the leftovers went bad.

I have ideas on stocking your pantry, useful kitchen equipment, having some meals prepared and ready in the freezer, and being prepared for emergencies.
There are some basic recipes you need to always have available. These include brining recipes, salad dressings, seasoning mix recipes.

Now there are basic accessories that will help you organize your menus and recipes. These include 3 ring binders and sheet protectors. This is an excellent time of year (back to school) to be purchasing these, so stock up. Notebooks are helpful too, or you may use index cards for your shopping list.

What I would like for you to do is to print any recipes you want to use. Make your shopping list, and try not to buy impulse items. The closer you stay to your list, the better. I always buy fresh fruit that’s in season also. The fruit is our dessert or our between meal snack. I also buy extra tomatoes to throw on the plate when we eat breakfast. We usually have a protein shake at the office for breakfast. On the mornings that we don’t go to work, we have eggs, quiche, or something along that line. I have been known to eat leftovers for breakfast too. I am an equal opportunity eater.