Real Food Challenge: Day 10... the end!

Ah the last day.  Breakfast and lunch were simple (yogurt and sandwich variety of things), but here's where you find out that I really am fighting against my terribly picky childhood self.

See, I hate fish.  Before I married Daniel, I had had the occasional fish stick or popcorn shrimp in childhood, but had pretty much sworn off all fishy things since then.  Daniel; however, really enjoys sea food, and when Anni was struggling to gain any weight, a medical professional suggested we add some fish to our diet every once in awhile.  So, I have, on occasion, done alright with the fishy variety.  The one time we made it during pregnancy, I ended up hunched over the toilet (not that that was exclusive to fish), so my last experience left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.  Hooooowever; apparently I was in a mood on Friday, and despite the fact that my dear, sweet, hubby made a lovely dinner while I worked, I couldn't bring myself to eat it.  Yep, I admit it.  That being said, Daniel and Anni both ate a beautiful meal of salmon, quinoa and corn.  The end!

Things we learned during the challenge:

1) Real food can get kind of expensive... especially we you eat lots and lots and lots of fruit.  I think the most expensive part was the local meat.  Here's hoping for a big ole' deep freezer in our future home for a half of a cow or something exciting like that!

2) It wasn't a huge departure from what we usually eat... it just meant pooling the real food recipes I was already using and throwing in a few extras for fun.  The biggest difference was having to make the conscious decision to *not* get take-out just because we were tired or it had been a long day or the baby ate all afternoon and I didn't get a chance to get the dough started.  It was really good for me to make myself figure out a meal even when I didn't want to... definitely a little kick in the pants for me as a homemaker.  It helped quite a bit that we have been slowly introducing a lot of baby steps toward a less processed diet for a long time.  

3) I couldn't tell you if eating real food changed how I felt in terms of energy, etc, as I've been working late into the night to stay caught up with things and, well, I do have a three year old and a newborn.  However, I did actually lose a few pounds... which was kind of a big deal as I haven't been able to lose anything since Lettie was two weeks old.

4) While there was definitely some extra prep time in there, I got a lot of satisfaction out of making more of our food from scratch.  Sure, I was tempted to put it off, knowing that it was hard work (I am a world class procrastinator), but the reminder that I couldn't take the easy way out and still have dinner for my family usually spurred me along.  In the end, I generally enjoyed that time in the kitchen.  It did mean a lot more dishes (Daniel usually tries to do them all for me, but I did a lot more clearing out the sink during the day just so we could stay on top of them... those mixing bowls take up a lot of space, and mine can only be hand washed).

In the end, I'm really glad we did this.  We saw that it's really not impossible, and definitely something we can do more than a majority of the time.  I'm excited to see how it will shape our eating in the weeks to come!

For more info on the 10 Day Pledge, head over to 100 Days of Real Food!  My other favorite "Real Food source" is over at Kitchen Stewardship if you're on the hunt for more yummy recipes and ideas!

PS I admit to eating breakfast burritos (just one, but we all had one) the morning after we finished... at least they were from an authentic restaurant and not McDonald's.  On that note, just don't try to eat McDonald's breakfast burritos, or really any of their food... not worth it. 

Real Food Challenge: Days 8 & 9

As Day 8 dawned, it became painfully obvious that the depths of our fridge and pantry were becoming rather bare.  We scraped by to the best of our ability (I would have gone to the trip if we absolutely had to, but with a certain little girl's nose dripping green... well, not exactly something I want to expose the public to), and that evening I took serious stock of what we had to make Day 9 feel a little less desperate.  I didn't actually get any photos on Day 8 between the random meals and tired, cranky babies.  Such is life.

Day 8

Breakfast

We finished off the yogurt, berries and granola for breakfast.

Lunch

My memory is starting to fail me here, but I think I had some leftover pasta with a whole mess of frozen veggies just sauteed up.  I'm pretty sure Anni had a pb sandwich and a banana, but I'm honestly not positive on that one.

Dinner

Ah, a copout meal.  We totally pulled the organic ww mac n' cheese out, warmed up some veggies and chicken and dealt with it.  It was tasty, even if it was kind of lame.


Day 9

Breakfast 

Day 9 went a lot better, as I actually thought things through the night before and stayed up late doing a little baking.  I chopped up our last, lonely little apple, and made lovely apple mini muffins (and proceeded to eat several as I worked late into the night... don't worry, I left plenty for breakfast!)  Anni loved the mini-ness of these muffins... and I felt like she ate them with more ease than bigger ones that usually ended up mostly on the floor before she had the energy to get through them all.  Thank goodness for my random purchase of a mini-muffin pan a few weeks ago!

Lunch

This was truly a conglomerate of leftovers.  I had made sure there was something for Daniel to take (I can't just send him out to the Qdoba near his office when we're on this challenge!), so he took a chicken salad with him to work.  He left enough chicken that Anni and I were able to throw some on top of our spaghetti (the last bit left in the box... catching the theme of this lunch?).  I sauteed up the last of the grape tomatoes with some spices (I usually like to use fresh onion and garlic when I do this... but, alas, all out!), threw in some parmesan and, we had a lovely lunch!  Anni ate most of hers, so it was deemed a success!

Dinner

There's a photo hiding in my dearest's iPhone, but he's sleeping, so you'll just have to imagine this one.  I defrosted some leftover chili, added a little cinnamon (the secret!) and cooked up the tiniest bit of pasta (it was the dregs of what was left in the box... not really full servings, but just enough to add some interest) for some Cincinnati Chili.  We made it!  One more day to go!  


Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, I totally had Daniel pick up some dark, dark chocolate.  It's 70 or 80%, so pretty close to real food, but there is a little sugar in it, so we may have kind of cheated.  I don't know if that disqualifies us from being awesome completers of this challenge... but, I'm okay with the decision.  

I'm also realizing that we eat a lot of pasta.  Tomorrow I'm mixing it up and trying quinoa for the first time... if we're going to eat grains, might as well make it interesting, right?!

Real Food Challenge: Days 6 & 7

Day 6

Breakfast

Things started to get a little hairy when Monday morning rolled around and I realized our fresh food supply (aka fruit and most of the veggies) were pretty much gone.  oops!  So... Anni and I shared the last waffle (it's pretty sad looking) plain, because yep, we're out of maple syrup (and real maple syrup is expensive, baby!).  Luckily, the cinnamon in these waffles makes them delicious plain!  Anni finished up the yogurt (and I immediately called Daniel to see if he could make a stop on the way home for essentials... yogurt and berries).

Lunch

Lunch was leftover pasta and sauce (yay for the extra veggies I cooked into that sauce... helped make up for the lack of fresh ones around here) and a beautiful array of play food cooked up for me by my personal little chef.  Her combinations are creative, but quite tasty.

Dinner

 

Then, dinner rolled around.  I had used the meal planned for Monday evening on Sunday when we ended up having my father-in-law to dinner, and I definitely wasn't attempting to defrost and roast the chicken in the freezer, so it was improvise night.  This was definitely a night where I missed the ole' fallback: ordering food (pizza or sandwiches would be our usual plan of attack) or picking up a frozen pizza from the store.  It was good to have to think past the junk food despite the having a "case of the Mondays".  I had made some homemade granola (suuuuuper addictive and delicious!), so we had some breakfast for dinner: yogurt with granola and fruit, eggs, and ww toast.  I know, we have a ton of yogurt in my house... a lot of that is because it's easy and, well, Anni loves it.  Anni's clothes do not love it, but, such is the sacrifice we make.

Day 7

Breakfast: Yogurt, fruit and granola.  Just wasn't interesting enough to photograph since we had it the night before. 

Lunch

Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, carrot sticks, strawberries and, for my little Anni, the last few of those chips (real food junk food at its best, people).  It's always a guessing game as to whether Anni will eat an entire meal or only a few bites, but, we went picnic style on this one (she desperately wanted to sit next to her baby sister on the floor), and she finished every last bite (minus a carrot stick or two I stole from her... they're addictive and I ate mine fast!) 

Dinner

Miss Lettie had an extremely fussy afternoon, so I was definitely looking for easy this evening (heck, when am I not looking for easy?!).  Boil up some chicken, wash some lettuce and fruits and veggies annnnd oi-la, dinner!  Anni, the  lover of all things salad, informed us she "doesn't like salad", and so ate "squirty" tomatoes, chicken chunks and strawberries for dinner (wrapping up with half a banana on her way to bed)... it works!  This was super tasty, fresh, and easy... all lovely things :).

Real Food Challenge: Days 3, 4 & 5

Well, things got a little bit messy this weekend.  We stuck to the real food, but I didn't rock at updating and missed photos a few times.  Our colds are still plaguing us and Miss Anni's coughing kept us all a little sleepless... here's hoping we're on the upswing!

Day 3

Breakfast

You guessed it... yogurt and fruit (and flaxseed)!  We don't eat meat on Fridays... so I had to keep that in mind as I planned our day (as much as I wanted to eat the leftover pasta from the night before!)

Lunch



Some leftover homemade ww bread, shells and cheese (kind of a cop-out, but it still fits within the rules... just not something we should do for every meal!) and peas.

Snack

We eat plenty of snacks that I don't document (usually handfuls of fruits and veggies), but apparently I was inspired by this one!  Ak-mak ww crackers (check them out... they're yummy!) with peanut butter.

Dinner

This is Anni's plate, hence the super tiny piece of pizza... it's always hard to know what her appetite will be doing, so we start small and have more on hand if she wants more!

We made some homemade pizza!  I had made the dough before, but had never made my own pizza sauce, so it was a little more of an adventure than usual, but still pretty simple.  Luckily, the girls took good naps while I made the dough (and Lettie woke up just in time to watch me knead it, but she was content to just hang out), so everything was pretty timely despite the extra work (plus, Daniel grated the cheese for me while I baked the crust... we like it extra crispy, so that gets a little while in the oven before we load our toppings on).


Day 4

Breakfast

Yaaaay, weekend!  We get a little overly giddy around here when we get Daddy all to ourselves... and oftentimes that means Anni and Daddy make waffles!  We love these whole wheat waffles even more than we loved our sugary ones... seriously, even if you think you don't like whole wheat things, check them out.  The cinnamon is what makes them I think... we ate them plain the rest of the weekend as snacks, they're that good :). 

Lunch

Lunch was leftover in general, but since both Anni and I had chicken salads, I figured it was worthy of a picture (and so pretty!)  I am continually amazed at Anni's willingness to scarf down a salad (at first she claimed she didn't like the tomatoes, but finally tried one after Daniel started stealing them out of her bowl, and declared "I like them!")

Dinner

ha... in comes me stealing my husbands phone to grab a mess of a photo.  I cooked the beans from scratch and under-estimated cooking time on them... so Anni actually had other random leftovers for dinner (a peanut butter and strawberry waffle sandwich I think?) as the beans weren't even nearly edible until 8 or later.  I had some leftover corn muffins from right before we started the challenge (luckily, I had known we were going to start and made sure to replace the sugar with honey) and that rounded it out nicely :).

Day 5
 
Alright, I totally failed photos today.  Anni's cough was so rough we ended up going to separate Masses so one of us could stay home with the babies at all times (poor girl hates missing Mass!)  For breakfast I ate part of a leftover waffle plain and a handful of blueberries.  I'm not entirely sure about what everyone else had, but I know part of Anni's meal included yogurt and applesauce.  We all ate leftover chili for lunch, and we had spaghetti carbonara, veggies and leftover ww baguette bread for dinner.  

Welcome to a new week... 5 days to go of the challenge!

Real Food Pledge: Day 2

Breakfast Brunch

Due to our lingering colds (and Anni developing her signature nasty cough), Miss Anni slept waaaay in yesterday morning, so our breakfast turned into more of a brunch.  I cut up pineapple (fresh pineapple = obsession), cooked up some eggs and onion (there was supposed to be leftover bell pepper in it as well, but Anni ate the leftovers as I cooked the stir-fry the night before) and, you know, toasted some toast.  Anni and I can finish off an entire pineapple by ourselves and, well, it may have happened before Daniel got home from work (sorry, honey!)

We didn't really have lunch since that was so late, but we both ate some random fruits and veggies as snacks throughout the afternoon.  Oh, and when I made the ww baguette bread for dinner, I told Anni she needed to wait to eat any until it was time... and at one point I walked out of the bedroom to see her chowing down on a chunk.  "Look, mommy!  I got myself a piece!"  I just laughed... this was not a battle I was going to pick!

Dinner:

I'm pretty proud of this dinner.  I made the sauce from scratch (it was quite yummy!), baked up some whole wheat baguette bread, and then threw together a salad and some whole wheat pasta: oi-la!  We all quite enjoyed the meal (and Daddy pulled out some wine... quite lovely!)

Real Food Pledge: Prep & Day 1

Daniel and I have been considering taking the 10-Day Real Food Pledge for a little while now, but weren't quite ready to commit with trips and stress and the fact that I've only barely got my cooking steam back since Miss Lettie's arrival.  We started our planning stages in-between our recent trips with the plan that we'd start as soon as we got back (well, with one day of recovery/grocery shopping first).  I will say, it took a little prep to think through the little things, like "This usually has sugar in it... will honey taste weird as a replacement sweetener?" and "I eat my feelings.  We know this, what can I eat instead of entire bags of chocolate chips?"  You know, the usual. 

So.  (I had a writing teacher in college who hated when we started sentences with "so".  I still do it, but have serious twinges of guilt every time I do so.)

So.

We got home, realized we were all super allergic or coming down with terrible colds (still not sure which wins, we're feeling awful either way), and decided to forge ahead anyway, because something will always be inconvenient... just the way it is.

Now, please keep in mind

1) I am not a good food photographer.  It's just not something I've practiced enough, so, don't expect much there ;-).

2) Just because the meals are real food does not make them perfectly balanced or, by any stretch of the imagination, fancy.  I am still learning to balance work and spending time with two sweet babies, so, I fully expect to struggle with some of the extra work entailed in these meals.

3) I'm not going to get photos of snacks unless it's something super exciting... we'll pretty much be sticking to fruits and veggies.  Also, Daniel's breakfasts and lunches may be what we eat at home, but they'll probably vary some (though they will still be real food).



After I had my over-detailed menu and list ready, Daniel headed to the meat market (locally-sourced meat is one of the rules... probably one of the more expensive ones!) and the bakery (Great Harvest Bread Co. has a honey whole wheat sandwich bread that has very few ingredients and tastes great)  It was a bit expensive, due in part to the meat not being the cheap supermarket stuff and partly because I had him pick up a little more than we need so I can double a couple meals to freeze for later.

Then, I headed to the grocery store and spent extra time reading labels on anything that came in packages, and spent most of my time and money in the produce section, trying to make sure to cover all my bases.  There you have it.

And, without further ado,

Day 1:

Breakfast

I had actually planned a bigger breakfast here, but, as our colds set in with serious fervor, we went with simple (and something I knew Anni would love and eat!)  Plain yogurt (in lieu of my former buy of vanilla yogurt... which unfortunately has sugar in it) with a drizzle of local, raw honey (my first time trying it... so far so good!), nectarine, banana and strawberries and some flax seed (Anni's had way more flax... she is far less picky than I am... I'm working on it). 

Lunch

Oh, man, can it get any simpler?  We'll start off with the chips, because I'm sure you are thinking I already messed up.  We actually discovered these through the 100 Days of Real Food website as they only have three ingredients.  They are definitely still junk food, but real food junk food.  Then we just have some pb (one ingredient: peanuts!  Who knew that would be so hard to find?!) & honey on ww bread and carrots (which Anni requested "big").  I'm pretty sure we shared a nectarine or some other kind of fruit later for a snack, but I don't remember for sure.
  
Dinner

 
Stirfry!  We have brown rice (I had to ditch my usual "Seasoning Salt" and all of it's extra-chemically ingredients and throw in some other fun things), chicken, onions, red pepper and a few cashews.  Yum.  I think I may have made some ww toast with this... but it's possible I just considered it and didn't follow through.  This tired brain doesn't remember.

Daniel and I also made a bit of a treat later that night.  There you have it.  Super simple day of food, but we made it through.  

Welcome to my week...

I reread the Hobbit for the first time since 4th grade... it went much faster this time.

Anni actually went in the potty four times... three of which she told me beforehand that she *needed* to go, and none preceded by an accident.  We may be taking a step forward in the potty training world!

I had to scrub the entire bathroom down with bleach yesterday.  A) I hate using bleach.  B) It was necessary.  C) You can throw your shoulder out plunging a toilet... just a forewarning.

I got sick with a nice, basic cold.  That basic cold made feel like death warmed over the first night, migraine included, but has actually been pretty mild otherwise, which is awesome because normally it takes me several weeks to get past a cold.

I'm putting together a couple "boxes of sunshine"; however, it seems all the people I'm putting them together for have necessary dietary restrictions (gf/low sugar etc)... so any thoughts on adorable (yellow & happy) things to include would be lovely, as most examples include a lot of candy.  

My sister will be having her little guy any day now!  I'm still amazed by the amount of things she gets done being 40+ weeks pregnant (there is no procrastination bone in her body... I think I got hers in addition to mine).  We were pregnant at the same time during my first pregnancy as well, so I always know I can start my countdown once her baby is born (her third baby and my first - Nugget- were supposed to be born 12 weeks apart and ended up being only six, but these two are supposed to be six weeks apart... so I'm hoping for at least a few more weeks and some time to soak in her sweet little boy's pictures before Lil' Bit makes her debut). 

We've started house hunting!  That's about it... as we have really *just* started, but we're hopeful and excited.

And, just a few of the things on my menu for the week (you can skip this, but I love when people post their menus... it gives me ideas to mull over for the next week): Meatless WW Lasagna & Bread (making an extra with meat to freeze!), Homemade Sloppy Joes (We leave out the brown sugar and replace half of the ketchup with bbq sauce...mmm...), Stew (the best for basic stew because it's so easy to customize and add extra veggies we like... and remove the mushrooms that we both really, really don't like), Cottage pie, Zuppa Toscana (I replace the cream with half and half sometimes... it's delicious both ways!), Chicken Pot-pie Soup (trying for the first time!), Brinner and some kind of chicken and rice casserole.  Yum.  I always love days when we get back from the store, because Anni and I sit down and eat fruit almost immediately (fruit goes fast in our house and seems to run out about a day or so before we can make it to the store again).

I had a newborn shoot pop up this week at the last minute, which meant randomly having a backdrop set up in our living room for a few hours.  Anni got to be my light tester, and while she mostly pulled the backdrop down and tried to lie face first on the ground (it is a pretty soft backdrop in her defense), we pulled off a couple of sweet photos in the space of five minutes. 

There you have it.  A pretty average week in our household.  My goal for today is to love my family and make their day special with a clean house and yummy dinner... barring that, I'll at least try to keep my pregnancy hormones reigned in and be a cheerful wife and mommy :). 

Fall joy: Apple pickin'

I love fall, and just about everything about it.  I love that it's nice and cool, that things are crisp, that the rush of the summer is over and the delectable smell of baking apple and pumpkin-ey goods, soup, and bread.  This year I'm determined to live this sweet little season to it's fullest.  I'm not always good at getting my homebody self out of the house, especially when pregnant, so it takes a concerted effort to make sure we take advantage of the fall loveliness before it's too late.

Luckily, when wonderful friends and crisp apples beckon... it's pretty easy to say, "Yes, please!"

We managed to squeeze in on the very last day of apple picking (it didn't even cross my radar until last weekend that it was a possibility!) at a little organic farm hemmed in by mountains and tended by Farmer Ralph.  Farmer Ralph made the experience worth it, no matter what.

Oh, and then there were these sweethearts.  Anni took the apples pretty seriously and Miss Lucy thought that the whole process was pretty hilarious.  I would bet their favorite parts were wagon riding and chowing down.

Because there were so few good apples left, the daddies had to work pretty hard to fill up our little wagon.  Luckily, they were up for the job and managed to net us a pretty good amount (the girls certainly thought they were tasty)! 

We mamas sorted apples and played with our sweet apple-lovin' girls.  (See, even Lil' Bit is there!  After being told by random people all weekend that I don't 'look' pregnant', I suppose I'll just have to make do with looking chubby and trying to point out that there really is a baby in there!  In fact... we're nearly half way there!)

I loved that farm was organic: when the girls just wanted to bite right into their goodies, we didn't have to worry all that much about it.  We made sure to count cores when we payed for our treats at the end.

It was good, really good, to do something just for fun, family and friends.  After an insanely busy weekend and a long day of wedding shooting that left me pretty worn out, apple picking was just perfect.

We're already planning our corn maze outing and I'm planning chili, soup and pumpkin bread into our upcoming menu.

Oh, fall, we love you.

 

 

Strawberry Pickin'

 

The day before Anni's party, we spent the day at my sister's - hanging out, getting ready for the party and most importantly... strawberry picking!  My sister has a strawberry patch in their side yard, and Anni and I were pretty sure we had stumbled into heaven on earth. 

We all donned our shoes (and a leprechaun hat, that was important) and began our strawberry feasting... er picking.  Anni didn't try to pick (probably best for the well-being of the unripened strawberries), but followed the pickers around saying, "Mo' stwabewwies, pwease!"  She was rewarded well.

Watching my oldest niece work so hard and know exactly what to pick and what to leave made me realize how much she's growing up!  She was born my freshman year of college and now she's this young lady.  Sometimes I still think of her as the adorably chubby, happy baby she used to be.  Lucky us, she's just as fun now... super talkative, helpful and happy.   

Let's be honest, I just love my nieces and nephews.  My siblings and mom get calls from me all the time asking for advice on parenting (or where to find things in the store... true story), and they're ever so patient with me.  I'm so grateful!

 

 

 

After picking, the cousins settled down to the true business... eating those strawberries!  

13 ounces of strawberries were gone in no time flat, with cousins very sweetly picking off the stems for Nugget (seriously, this girl is spoiled with awesome cousins).

 

Oh and while we snacked?  My hubby pulled out the push mower and worked on the front lawn... something about a man with a push lawn mower... am I right?  (It's okay if it's just me.)

  

The whole weekend was amazing, but strawberry pickin'?  I don't think much can beat that!