So, it's been a week since I posted.  And since we are in the calm before the "Frankenstorm", I thought I should take this opportunity to post an update. 

My menu last week didn't go totally as planned.  I made the chicken stock. Then I used that stock to make these clean chicken and dumplings.

I liked them, sort of.  I think I left something out.  I'd have to say this was a recipe fail.  It happens.  To be honest, it's always been a fight to get the kids to eat dumplings, and I didn't expect them to be jumping for joy at the idea of whole wheat ones.  But hey, the broth was kickin! 

Thursday night I made a big meal and took half of it to a family at our church who just adopted a baby girl from China.  (she is soooo adorable!)  I made a pork roast in the crock pot, some soba noodles with tat soi, and some sweet potato fries.  For dessert, I took them some apples and this pumpkin fruit dip.    The soba noodle dish was a recipe from my CSA newsletter - so I'll just copy and paste it here:

Tatsoi & Noodles
Serves 4
Ingredients

6 c Tatsoi, chopped
1 c carrots, julienned
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 c onions, chopped
1 pk soba noodles

Sauce

5 tbls nut butter
1 tbls. white wine vinegar
3 tbls soy sauce
1 tbls olive oil

Preparation

Prepare noodles per package directions.

Saute onions and garlic.  Add carrots and tatsoi, cook until tender, and combine with noodles.

Combine nut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, oil, and pour over noodles and vegetables.

Serve at room temperature.

It was DE.LI.CIOUS!! 

Friday night we had our tacos.  I love the homemade tortillas!!!!!

And we had enough left over to pack our lunches for the swim meet my dear daughter was in on Saturday! 

We never did have the spaghetti I had planned - and for some reason I cannot remember what we even had for dinner the other two nights.  Last week was a blur with swim practices and an intrasquad meet.  I do remember some brown rice and chicken in there somewhere. 

Last night we had to eat some food from the freezer - with the threat of a hurricane headed our way and the potential for power outages - I didn't want the food to go to waste.  So we had popcorn shrimp, haddock, tater tots and broccoli. 

Tonight we had a pizza (on whole wheat crust) and more broccoli.  I just can't let all that yummy broccoli go to waste! 

We are all stocked up on water, whole wheat bread, natural peanut butter and fruit spread.  Praying that our power stays on!  The journey continues....

Sunday night!!  October 21st!!!!  My little girl turns 11 tomorrow!!!!!!!

We had a great weekend visiting with family (my parents and my brother and new sister-in-law drove over from WV), going to AppleFest, and celebrating her sweetness! 

<----  Here she is at AppleFest with my daddy.


I'm pleased to say we stuck with our unprocessed, "clean eating" pretty well.  We did eat lunch at AppleFest on Saturday and we made the healthiest choices possible (except for Little Man who was drawn to the Pizza Hut booth of all places).  I made a great dinner of free-range chicken that I had placed in the crockpot that morning.  Added some sides of sweet potatoes, broccoli and parmesan risotto.  And a salad.  It was yummy and my family really enjoyed it. 

Then we had birthday cake - which was completely organic and gluten-free.  (Tip: Do not lead with that bit of information if the people you are serving it to are not used to that.  They may look at you like you're crazy.  Then they may take that first bite with a look of fear on their faces.....until they taste it's AWESOMENESS!!)  My dear daughter wanted her cake to be half chocolate and half confetti.  No way was I using a box mix.  I made this amazing flourless dark chocolate cake. 

For the confetti cake, I googled "gluten free white cake recipe" and when I found this quote << "I have to brag on this cake. Got it from a link on this site. This is sooooooo good. It's really a white cake, but it is great.">> I knew I had to check it out.  So I made this recipe and added some sprinkles (I know, totally artificial, but if that's all that was artificial in it - I'm OK with that) I found in my cabinet.  Since I altered the flour combinations a little (making sure it still added up to 2 1/4 cups) the cake doesn't look white - but it tastes totally amazing!  I used the flour combination found in the comments section of brown rice flour, white rice flour, and sorghum flour (I didn't have any tapioca flour, so I thought.  Found some today.... oh well.)

I love that my parents really liked it since all they're used to are cakes made with refined/ processed ingredients.  I love that my kids and husband love it!  I love that the chocolate cake tasted all fudge-like.  I love being able to create something delicious with ingredients I can identify.  Lots of love here.

Keeping the love going -
I loved having the meal plan to follow last week.  I will definitely use one again. 

But this week, I'm going to create my own.  I'm actually excited about it.  I have the chicken bones left over to make a nice stock.  I'm going to make some soup and probably some chicken and dumplings.  We will also have spaghetti one night.  And of course - taco night on Friday.  I love having that constant in our family.  (more love - I'm full of happiness today) Just like creating traditions together, it helps us grow closer as a family. 

Do you have any weekly family meals your kids look forward to?  What are some of your unique family traditions?  

Today, according to my Meal Plan, was fajitas for dinner.  They were supposed to be vegetarian.  But, we had some seasoned ground turkey left over from our taco pizza - so we totally had to have soft tacos!  I did cook some onion, mushrooms and peppers with some homemade fajita seasoning to make them more fajita like.  

So this is my second time making homemade flour tortillas.  It is getting easier (the first time I had a little trouble getting the dough to come together - this time, no trouble at all!)  But you'd think I could roll out a circle.  What is this??   Seriously.

Pathetic, I know.

 By the 12th one I was getting a little better - check this one out -almost looks professional! 

These are so much fun to make with the kids.  We had a great system tonight where they each took turns flipping the tortillas while I rolled them out.  Did you read that?  They took turns!!  No fighting!  I think I'm liking this cooking together as a family thing! 
If you haven't tried these tortillas yet, you've got to give them a shot.  They're awesome!  So much better than the store bought ones.  And the best part is, I know what's in them.  No freaky ingredients.  Just flour, salt, oil and water.  Simply beautiful.


I asked them at dinner what they thought of our "unprocessed journey" so far.  The young lady replied that "eating healthy isn't so bad" while the little man said "these tacos are awesome".  I say, I'm glad we're on this journey together.  No sweetie, eating healthy isn't so bad!

So this week I decided to use a meal plan.  I am using Meal Plan 1 from 100 Days of Real Food.  Using a meal plan is an easy way to budget and make meal time less stressful.  There are tons of great sites to use that offer whole foods menus.  Sites like Plan to Eat, The Fresh 20, or The Scramble are just a few.  Check them out and see if one might work for you.

Tonight was wild caught fish sauteed with butter and lemon.  I chose some wild-caught cod fillets.  They were so delicious in the butter and lemon sauce.  It reminded me of eating lobster.  We also had green beans, acorn squash and a box of Annie's mac and cheese (as a thank you to the kids for being so agreeable during this challenge).  They both tried some acorn squash - neither were very impressed with their first taste.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

I'm going to rearrange some of the days in this week's menu since I will have company on Friday.  That's the beauty of the meal plan.  I used the grocery list, have all the ingredients I need for breakfast, lunch and dinner this week, and can use them in whatever order I want.  Love it.  Why didn't I do this in the first place??

Amazing day today! 

Made warm and nutty cinnamon quinoa for breakfast.  Church.  Lunch of brown rice, chicken, broccoli and carrots.  Afternoon supporting a great ministry.  Grocery store.  Yard work.  Watching kids play happily outside.  Kid approved dinner choice of homemade taco pizza.  Then a Redbox movie with my honey. 

That was my day in a nutshell.  Now to elaborate....

The quinoa was so simple - warm, nutritious breakfast in 20 minutes (and I have some left for tomorrow)!  I brought to a boil 1 cup organic quinoa with 1 cup water and 1 cup coconut milk.  Then I reduced the heat, covered and simmered for 15 minutes.  Then I turned off the heat and let it sit for another 5 minutes.  Then I removed the lid and added 1-2 cups blueberries (I eyeballed it), as much cinnamon as I wanted and a little stevia.  I added some chopped walnuts too - you could also use pecans.  Yummy!!

For lunch, I used our leftover brown rice from earlier in the week.  I always, always make a double serving of brown rice.  If I'm going to be cooking some for close to an hour, I might as well make enough to last all week.  The broccoli and carrots were from our crop share.  (Did I mention having a crop share is amazing!!)

After lunch we went to Norlo Park for the Sweet Walk to Remember and Balloon Release benefiting Sweet Grace Ministries.  This ministry was started by my dear friend Katy as a way to help other mothers/families, like her own, who have endured the pain of infant loss.  Her story can be found here.  I encourage you to check it out and offer your support.  It was heart-wrenching yet beautiful to watch hundreds of balloons float into the sky toward heaven in honor of those sweet lives.  So thankful and honored to be a part of it.

We left the park and headed to the grocery store - mainly to pick up a movie we had reserved on Redbox.  While there, I realized I didn't have all the ingredients I needed for dinner.  Well, the kids decided they wanted pizza.  So I checked my handy Whole Foods app and found a recipe for chicken taco pizza.  They very enthusiastically said that was a great idea, except they wanted taco meat instead of chicken.  So I grabbed some ground turkey while they found the pizza crust and salsa. 

Back at home we finished cleaning out our garden.  The kids were supposed to be helping us weed, but somehow ended up on the swingset instead.  I was just happy to see them playing together.  We (the hubs and I) had debated whether or not to sell our playset over the summer.  Today, I was glad we decided to hold onto it for another year. 

Off to bed now.  Another busy week ahead!  My dear daughter's 11th birthday party is next weekend!  And I have to come up with a clean cake recipe and unprocessed party food!!!!!

Fear.

We all feel it.  So, what do we do about it?

And why in the world am I posting about fear on a food blog? 

Because, fear can keep us from trying new things, from stepping out of our comfort zones, from walking away from our old standards.  It can keep us stuck where we are when we would be so much better off moving forward.

I was over at the daily love reading an article about fear and relating it to other parts of my life. I feel it's important to share here as well.  Here's what the post's author, Mastin Kipp, has to say:

"Not acting because we are afraid is what keeps us afraid and typically not acting; because we are afraid is what MANIFESTS the outcomes we are afraid of.

It's totally ironic how that works, isn't it?

So, what we must do is SLOWLY start to prove our fear wrong. And RIGHT before any major breakthrough is when fear is at its greatest. This is a pattern I see ALL the time in my life, especially recently because I've had to step out into a lot of unknowns lately. And what's cool is that on the other end, I always come through the other side OK. So my NEW practice is to apply the feeling of being OK BEFORE I step into what I'm afraid of, and hold that mindset as I'm going through the fear.

It's a powerful practice!

So, what areas of your life are you afraid to embrace? What action are you not taking out of fear? Can you see that you are holding your own expansion back by NOT taking action?" 

Are you afraid to embrace your desire to feed your family a consistently healthy diet?  Afraid it would be too difficult, take too long, be too expensive?  Afraid you might not like how it tastes?  (that one held me up for a time) I encourage you to take action today, take one small baby step in the right direction.   Try a new vegetable or fruit.  Get rid of that white flour and change it to whole wheat or brown rice flour.  Stop cooking with canola oil and use coconut or grapeseed. 

And maybe you wouldn't even categorize it as fear.  Maybe you think it's just too exhausting to think about eating healthy.  Or it's just an inconvenience.  It's all about priorities.  There are like a gazillion little things we can do today to improve our health.  It's a process, sometimes a long one, but it's worth it.  Your health and that of your loved ones is worth it!  Here's a pic of my lunch today:

Two years ago, there's no way my salad would have contained broccoli and tomatoes.  No. way. ever.  But I've slowly been adding them into my diet and now I love them.  This salad was totally delicious.  (btw, everything on this plate is from me weekly share at Fulton Farm's CSA)

So I say - Go For It!!  Make today the beginning of your healthy food journey!

After a full week on this challenge, here are

5 Things I Have Learned

1.  My kids will actually eat what I put in front of them.  Especially if they know it is expected of them to eat what I make - and if they see their father and I enjoying the food.  This may seem like a total "duh" moment to some of you, but I have spent years catering to the likes and dislikes of my children.  (c'mon, I know I'm not alone in this)  Before kids, I LOVED to try new recipes.  Once the kiddos started voicing their opinions, whining, throwing tantrums, etc. I gave in and made what they liked.  Even went so far as to make special, separate meals for them.  <<slapping my forehead>>  Why?!!  This has been a revelation for me.  My joy in cooking and trying new things is back.  And I'm so pleased that my kiddos are trying new things (even if I'm still hearing a few complaints).

2.  Messing with recipes is fun.  Looking at old cookbooks and finding ways of making them healthy and clean is fun!!  I LOVE the whole process!  

3.  I really like having this challenge to keep me accountable!  Knowing that we have this goal of eating clean for a month keeps me going even when it's not so easy.  It's been an adventure for my whole family.  I like the feeling we have that we're all in this together.  (someone sing me some High School Musical!)

4.  Planning ahead is soooooooooo important!  Knowing what I'm going to make each day keeps me from wanting to turn to convenience foods.  Planning a weekly menu helps me budget our grocery expenses.  Again, another "duh" moment.  I already knew this but never really took the time to put it into practice.

5.  I want to keep doing this.  I want to help other families plan out their meals and make healthy eating a priority.  I have a passion for this.  I believe the health of this country starts at home, in the family kitchen.  Not only does home cooking nourish your body, but eating together as a family nourishes your soul.  That's what I'm all about - helping other realize that true "health" isn't just how much you exercise and what you eat - it's about relationships, with others, with yourself, with God.   I'm so happy to be on this journey!