A few months ago, I was warming a meal I purchased from Alyssa at Healthy 2 Wholesome and Scott the Hubs walked into the kitchen. Here’s the first insight into my marriage… Scott the Hubs likes to come into the kitchen when I’m whipping up dinner in there, but get this…he always stands right in front of the sink. Do you know how many times during the course of fixing a meal that a cook uses the sink? Correct. About 5200 times.
<eyeroll>
The thing is, I love when he comes into the kitchen to talk to me, so I try to keep the deep sighs and the eyerolls to a minimum.
Anyway, this is the conversation that ensued…
Deb- “If something happens to me, what is the first call you make? Before 911, before the coroner, before insurance or the attorney. Who do you call?”
Scott the Hubs- “Alyssa who makes the meals.”
Deb- “Excellent.”
Insight #2- I can promise you, Scott the Hubs does not remember that conversation. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve said, “you know we’ve already had this conversation.” So, while he may not remember that particular conversation, he does, however, know the drill. Alyssa is the first phone call and that’s because that dude is going to need to eat.
Why is that, you ask? Can’t an intelligent middle-aged man who can leap tall computers in a single bound and build a IT network like he’s playing with children’s building blocks, cook a meal for himself? Scott, a quiet man and a hottie, I might add, is truly a genius. He’s got common sense. He welcomes the challenge of a deadline or a new project. He’s focused and has a rare work ethic. He reads a book or more a week. He handles all of our finances. (Side note, if I was in charge of finances, we would be residing in a cardboard box under the I-74 bridge.) He does a beautiful job of taking care of our lawn and doing things I need done around the house. So can’t that man open a can of green beans and make a burger?
Here comes insight #3.
No. The answer is undoubtedly and unequivocally, without argument, no. Scott’s mom stayed home with six kids and she fed them all very well. In college, he worked at The Huddle on the Notre Dame campus. The Huddle was a place where students went for non-cafeteria style food, so when he was working, he ate there. When he wasn’t working, he ate in the dining hall. After graduating ND and working in the juvenile detention home where we met, he ate with the kids and was guaranteed at least one meal per shift. At his apartment, he ate frozen pizza and frozen burritos. Scott does not cook. He has never had to. He can, however, warm up a meal. And you might think he would be offended that I am offering up this information so freely to my readers, but he knows who he is and readily admits that he doesn’t know his way around the kitchen.
When my family first became acquainted with Scott the Hubs, my mom and grandma instantly found that he loved to eat whatever they made him, so they set out to break world records in pie, banana bread and cookie baking. At Grandma’s house, after a big meal, she would serve all of her children and grandchildren dessert. I remember once, before we were married, Scott walked up to the table where Grandma was serving our choice of two desserts- pumpkin pie and apple crisp. She asked Scott what he would like and he said in his annoying, soft, hard-to-resist voice, “hmmmm. I can’t decide. Can I have a little of each?” “Of course you can, Love,” Grandma replied, lovingly. My cousin was in line after Scott and asked if he could have two pieces also and she quickly snapped, “no.” I’m not kidding when I tell you my Grandma loved Scott more than me, her own grandchild. Scott ate that up just as quickly as he did the desserts.
We’ve been married 24 years this month. I’ve been cooking for a long time. I have done my best to serve meals to Scott the Hubs and our boys that helped heal them in times of sickness, provided protein for their weightlifting needs and kept them full for years. I have used old family recipes that I’ve altered to make healthier, recipes from magazines and church cookbooks and Pinterest finds. When going away for a weekend, I have always made sure there was plenty for Scott the Hubs and the boys to eat.
I’ve cooked three course meals almost every night since I got married in June of 1999. I did it all through having babies, working full-time, staying home, and then working more than full-time. And you know what?
I’m tired.
I made a commitment a long time ago to provide for Scott the Hubs and that means giving him a good meal when he’s hungry. But here’s the thing. I’ve also determined that that meal doesn’t have to come from me.
Enter Alyssa, the owner of Healthy 2 Wholesome.
Alyssa operates her business out of a simple little building, nestled on the main road through Preemption, Illinois, and let me tell you, there is magic happening in that little storefront. Back in 2020, Alyssa began a quest to feed the people around her healthy meals created with not just local, simple and sometimes organic ingredients, but also love. I am so not kidding about that last part. This humble, kind and very brave woman puts her very heart and soul into the meals she makes and serves her customers. Brave, Deb? Really? Yes. I mean, starting a food business in 2020, which was, quite possibly, one of the worst years in the history of time. Well, that’s the very definition of the word “brave,” in my humble opinion.
Alyssa offers home-cooked, prepared meals and freezer meals to clients who can pick up the items at various places in and around the Quad Cities to enjoy at their own convenience. Her meal prep business is growing and becoming more recognized, but I think not enough people know about this healthy dining option, which has allowed us to be in our favorite dining spot of all- home.
Each week, Alyssa creates a new menu that can be picked up the following week. I buy several meals and while I am not much of a leftover-eater, I will heat up some of my favorites to serve for dinner. I enjoy her Sweet Potato Fajita Bowl, the Cajun Chicken Pasta, the Pulled Pork Street Tacos and the Buffalo Chicken Casserole she serves with broccoli. The biscuits and gravy, even the gluten-free ones, are fire. The rest of the meals I order, I divide up and send with Scott the Hubs for lunch, which saves me a ton of time the night before when I’m getting ready for the next day.
Scott the Hubs enjoys everything Alyssa and her team creates, but the Mediterranean Quinoa Power Bowl, the Pulled Pork over Sweet Potatoes and Zucchini and Sweet Corn Crustless Quiche are among his favorites.
Which leads me to Marital Insight #4… Scott the Hubs is forever grateful for anything I do for him. He loves when I cook; in fact, for probably the last ten years of marriage, whenever I bring his meal and put it in front of him, he always says, “wow, Deborah, this is a meal fit for a king.” I might roll my eyes sometimes and laugh when he says it, but it always gives me the warm fuzzies. He’s so appreciative of what I make and the time I spent on it. And even if I don’t like what I made, he always disagrees and tells me it’s excellent and he loves it. On the flip side, though, he also appreciates that sometimes my real estate career isn’t always conducive to my being home an hour before dinner to create a meal, so when I pull one of Alyssa’s meals out of the fridge, he knows he’s getting something tasty and healthy.
Alyssa is saving me so much time and sanity, especially on those really busy real estate days and eventually, when I…you know… bite the big one…she’ll save Scott the Hubs too.
You can check out Alyssa’s business on Facebook under Healthy 2 Wholesome or her website at H2Wmeals.com.