The End...

We have finished up our month of real foods.  For one month we only bought prepackaged food with 5 ingredients, only ate whole wheat and other whole grains, stopped using refined sugars, and ate only organic or locally grown meats.  Here's what we ate this past week:

Monday:  Leftover spaghetti sauce from last week with whole wheat fusilli noodles

Tuesday: Pancakes and bacon from Rocklands Farms.  (I didn't make it to the grocery store until Wed.  So breakfast was an easy dinner to make with stuff we had on hand.)

Wednesday:Whole Chicken in the Crockpot that Kristin introduced us to last week.  I also have a ton of chicken stock that I made in the crockpot over night.  I have to admit that I have had roasterphobia for a while now.  I've never known what to do with a whole chicken.  But, this was so easy.  And this chicken is very flavorful.  And it works out really well since Andrew likes white meat and I like the dark meat.  So, together we lick the platter clean.  

Thursday:  Fish Tacos  I think I am a bit obsessed with the lime and cilantro combo right now.  But, these tacos were soooo good.  Lucy had 3 helpings.  Madeline finished hers as well.   And I am excited to finish the leftovers for lunch today.   

Friday: Pizza of course!

A couple of other special treats we had this week were fudgcicles (pictured at the top) and donuts.  The fudgcicles have a whole can of pumpkin in them to get the fudgy consistency.  Oliver loved them.  Madeline liked it but didn't finish it.  And Andrew said that it needed more sugar.  I did alter the recipe a bit.  So, I may need to try to tweak it a bit more.  

We pass Dunkin Donuts every week on the way to gymnastics. And Madeline asks me every time when we are going to get some.  I tell her she can have some for her birthday.  But, she thinks that's too far away.  (It is pretty far to wait all the way to December).  So, I bought a donut pan at Target and we had donuts this week.  Madeline and I loved them.  Andrew said they tasted like waffles.  So, we might have to try another recipe.  But, they made Madeline happy.  And they were way easier than making a dough that had to be rolled out and cut into a donut shape.

Here's the recipe if you want to give them a try.  This made 9 donuts.  (These are from the 100 Days of Real Food website.  But, the recipe is kind of hard to find.  So, I am just posting it.)

1 cup whole-wheat flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla

4 T oil (coconut oil)

 Bake at 375 for 10 minutes

For the chocolate icing/glaze I mixed 1T cocoa powder with 2T maple syrup

Here's one of the kids' lunches this week.  Madeline was asking for pizza.  So, we made pita pizzas in the toaster oven with fruit and ants on a log.  I am trying to incorporate more veggies into our diet and thought they would think ants on a log were fun.  But, neither one would even go near it.  Oh well, I will keep trying.  

So what now?  Amazingly enough, Andrew has declared that he is going to continue the diet.  (I really thought Andrew was going to be a little difficult to persuade.)  So, we are going to keep up with it, with a few minor alterations.  We are now going to use store-bought condiments.  I never made any ketchup and I have definitely missed it on hamburgers and stuff.  So, we will just use it in moderation along with mayo and mustard.  And although we weren't too strict with the kids when we went to other people's houses (for parties), Andrew and I either ate ahead of time or just limited what we could eat to what fit with our diet.  I'm not sure what we will do now.  But, I think I will just eat whatever is available and try to make the best choices possible.  I do think it has been helpful to have a strict set of rules.  It forced me to find/cook healthy alternatives to many foods instead of just taking the easy way out.  I think we may have just made too many exceptions if we hadn't had the rules.  Andrew and I really encouraged each other since neither one of us wanted to be the one to fall off the wagon.

I think Andrew has seen the biggest change this month.  He has lost over 10 pounds (I think that is why he wants to keep going) and his pants are getting very baggy.  I was losing weight until I made the granola.  It's just so good.  But, I do think I have more energy.  Especially in the afternoons.  I can't say there were any life altering changes in the kids' behavior.  But, they weren't really having issues before.  I do feel good knowing that I am providing them with good food during these early years while their brains and bodies are growing so fast.  So, that is where we are now.  Not the end.  But the beginning.