What We *really* Ate

There are some great menus out there.  This is not one of them.  This is the translation of great plans and ideals into real life under less than ideal circumstances.  We're still living out of suitcases and boxes in a rental (I'm so grateful for the rental we have!!).  We have about 1-1/2 weeks in this rental before we move to another rental.

Sometimes we look at all of the awesome ideas, routines, lifestyles, and how-tos online and unwillingly fall into discouragement.  I thought I would post reality to encourage someone out there - ha, maybe even myself! - that it's okay.  Do what you can when you can however you can.

Breakfast
Bob's Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal:  I soaked it the night before with the recommended amount of water and some whey.  In the morning I poured off the water and put back in the same amount of fresh water (like soaking rice).  I tossed in a bone from the freezer that I had saved to make bone broth for some added minerals and calcium.  After it was cooked I put a pat of butter and a small handful of blueberries in each serving.  Wow.  Wow.  Delicious and no sugar crash-and-burn; just a good feeling of energy.

Lunch
[Youngest dd dictated this section to me word for word!]
Corn Dogs - "Good Edible Stuff":  My mom made homemade corn dogs and boy, were they good!  I hope she makes them again.  They were fantastic.  They were nice and mushy with the hot dogs in them.  My mom didn't have a stick so she made them like a pizza.

I used Bob's Red Mill gluten-free cornbread mix and poured it over small sections of Applegate's hot dogs that I had gotten for the 4th of July as a special treat (I froze the extras already cut).  I then cooked them in my mom's Express 101 electric cooking thing (there's a story there!)(I am not recommending that contraption 'cuz it's teflon covered but it's really helping us out right now).

Dinner
No-name nourishment:  Leftover frozen mashed sweet potatoes (3 cups); 2 peeled, diced, boiled, and mashed beets; 1/4 pound leftover frozen diced stew meat.  I put all of this in a baking dish; covered; and heated it through.  We ate it with Jacob's crackers/butter and watermelon.  Odd combo but satisfying, nourishing, and satiating.  The touch of humor was needing to use a frying pan to serve the watermelon. :)

Breakfast
I had 2 scrambled eggs early before running a before-breakfast errand; the dc had, yes, boxed cereal (sigh) - Cascadia Farms organic O cereal (extrudiated, so major compromise food).

Lunch
Bob's Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal:  I wanted it for lunch because it was so good the day before.  When I asked if anyone wanted any all 3 dc shouted out, lol.  Unconventional lunch but it was good.  One dd and I used blueberries and the other 2 added raisins.  Yes, I threw a bone in there again while it was cooking for the goodies.

Dinner
Spaghetti:  I used 1/2 pound grass-fed beef and some diced bell pepper/onion.  To that I just added a can (ugh) of organic tomato sauce with lots of Real Salt.  It was...okay.  I overcooked the noodles, bleh.  For sides we finished that watermelon and had yogurt with blueberries and a salad.  I was thrilled to find organic carrots at the local Wal-Mart for less than $1 for a pound bag.

Breakfast
Me and oldest dd: eggs.  Other dc boxed organic cereal (ugh).

Lunch
We ate at a local small-business sandwich shop.  I shamelessly ate a pulled pork sandwich without grilling them about their pork source.  Usually I only order pork at Chipotle (read this, here is a small quote: "Today, in addition to all of our pork and all of our chicken in the US, more than 50 percent of our beef is raised in this way. And someday soon, all of the meats we serve will be naturally raised."). A kid's taco kit at Chipotle is just right for me.  I'll miss knowing it's nearby for those emergency meals on the run (not that we went often but the 4 times a year it sure was nice!).

Snack
Crackers and cheese:  I had a bit of sliced cheddar from the freezer (Minerva Cheese) that I defrosted and served with some Pita Crackers.

Dinner
Leftover cooked grass-fed rump roast from the freezer; mashed potatoes (organics from Wal-Mart for $3.50 with plenty left over); and peas.  One dd hasn't been feeling great so I made a meat broth by shredding some of the roast and simmering it in a little water.  Then I poured off the liquid and gave her that.  She ended up with seconds and also ate seconds of the potatoes :).  She felt much better.

Breakfast
Soaked Bob's Red Mill cooked with a bone from the freezer (pastured pork chop bone) for added nutrients.
[Olders had a piece of Ezequiel Sprouted 7 Grain bread with butter before running an early errand with dh and had the hot cereal when they got home]

Lunch
Me: A quasi-chicken salad with 2 hard boiled eggs, 1/2 mango, Hain's safflower mayo, Real Salt, a dash of Italian Herb vinaigrette, and some leftover chicken.  It boosted me out of my fatigue almost immediately.  Then I had a small bowl of organic Kettle potato chips (sigh).
Dc: Sandwiches with leftover chicken or roast on Ezekiel bread with mayo; nice and thick potato soup; lots of mango; plain yogurt (youngest dd put mango in hers).

Dinner
Tacos (sort of):  the leftover 1/2 lb of grass-fed ground beef that I had cooked with pepper and onion; fresh cilantro; sour cream (Daisy brand); cheddar cheese (regular store brand cheddar); lettuce, and organic salsa (maybe the Target brand?) served on pita bread :).  We ate some applesauce on the side also.

Breakfast
I guess I can't conveniently skip writing a meal if I'm being truly honest with this food log, so... Dh offered donuts for breakfast this morning.  2 dc took him up on it and 1 dc ate a hard boiled egg (by choice!).  I had a hard boiled egg (with a tiny bit of mayo) for protein and a bowl of Back to Nature sweetened wheat-fuls.

Lunch
Applegate ham on Ezekiel bread w/ Hain's mayo; sauerkraut; pears; raw carrot; some Jason's crackers.

Snack
A handful of kettle potato chips (no canola/corn oil) each (okay, I had 2 handfuls - my weakness) as dinner was cooking.

Dinner
Leftover-filled egg rolls/lumpias:  My dc love anything cooked up in an egg roll and they are all called lumpias (my apologies to any Filipinos who know what a lumpia *really* is... I try to make those too!).  I threw the following leftovers in a big bowl:  mashed potatoes, a teeny tiny bit of roast and chicken, and some frozen peas.  I put little scoops on the egg roll wraps and added a tiny piece of cheddar cheese.  Then I rolled them and fried them in virgin sunflower oil (trying to stay away from canola - major GE crop - and don't have my coconut oil).  For dipping I tried the vinaigrette I have and also mixed (in another bowl) mayo and ketchup for the dc.  We ate 20 and 2 are left for the freezer.

I missed a few days that I was going to include.  Basically we had scrambled eggs one morning and (again) Back to Nature's version of shredded wheat another.  For lunch, despite great plans of bean and cheese melts using homemade soaked/cooked beans from the freezer, we just had the regular sandwiches and sides.  We're having those bean/cheese melts for breakfast today.  For dinner we had pancakes from the Bob's Red Mill package served with butter and local honey.  Oldest dd made those for us and the dc really liked them.  We tripled the batch and it was just barely enough for 5 people.

If you've actually read this "menu" I'm quite impressed, lol!  Hopefully it will give some encouragement seeing how I try, yet stumble, yet keep trying to give my family nourishing food during our transition.  Who am I kidding?  The transition is the excuse - I haven't ever had it all together :).

This is part of Real Food Wednesday:
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/07/real-food-wednesday-7202011.html