10 day challenge - Day 2 Complete!

Things I've learned:
1.  Kids will eat what they cook without whining!!
2.  Biscuit scraps look like turtles

Day 0 we spent doing some preliminary work.  C helped put the ingredients of the steak stew together.  I put that in the slow cooker yesterday (Day 2).  After school, C helped me make biscuits to go with the stew.  He picked a bell shape.  This was his meal.  Everything that we ate was made by him.  He definitely was proud.

The stew contained kidney beans, onions, chuck steak, and tomatoes.  I gave each of the boys a very small spoonful for dinner (so I wouldn't be throwing out a whole bowlful) and prepared myself for the usual comments:  "EWWWW!!! Is this tomatoes!??!?!"  (like it's a poison I'm feeding them), "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM, what are these red things???  NO way I'm eating this!!"  But what I heard was "Hud, just eat it, you'll like it.", "Mom, this isn't bad.", "I like it!".  Umm..what happened to my children?  They take such ownership when things are made by them!   (or by their brothers)  My kids are totally cooking with me in the future!

I've also learned that my kids are saying they like things, when I can tell they really don't.  They each took one bit of the tomato, one bite of the beans, and one bite of the meat and they said they were done, but they "liked it" (even marked YES on their food charts).  I know they did thoroughly enjoy the whole grain biscuits though!

Funny story about the biscuits.  While C and I made the biscuits, we had some scrap pieces left over that I just formed into a circle.  After these were cooked, Hud came over to look at them and asked where we got the turtle cookie cutter from.  Umm..what?  I went over to look at what he was pointing at and had to try SO hard not to laugh!  I told him I handmade the turtles.  My kids crack me up.

Turtle biscuit circled above.

I don't tell everyone, but my closest friends at how much my kids frustrate me.  I am constantly yelling and asking them 100 times to do the same thing.  I can't tell the world this, because then everybody will know I'm a bad mom (well, take that world!  I just told you!).  This is only Day 2, and my stress level is down.  I can't explain why.  I still tell my kids 100 times to do something, but, it's like, we have this food cooking bond now.  The next time I have to give advice to an expectant mom, I'm going to tell them to cook with their children.  It's amazing (and messy.... :).

Our updated Like List:

10 day challenge - Day 1! Done!

Today's lunches for the boys:

They weren't entirely thrilled with the mini pizzas, but they followed the one bite rule.  Mike and I will be eating mini pizzas for lunch tomorrow.

 We've decided to keep track of the new foods we are trying.  The kids get a kick out of filling this out after dinner (or when they get home from school)!  It definitely keeps them more engaged.

Today's difficulties: Hud and C both had a friend at lunch offer them some of their food.  They both accepted the gift (oatmeal cream pie for C and fruit snacks for Hud).  We talked about it and they say tomorrow they won't accept any additional food.  I know it's tough to turn down food, I almost didn't make it through today!  We had a department meeting today and pop and delicious looking cookies were brought in.  I stayed away during the meeting but then my boss brought them back in the office!  In a moment of weakness while I was leaving I stopped by the cookie pile.  LUCKY FOR ME, there were only walnut ones and cranberry ones left.  Whew!  

Things I've learned:
1.  Talk ahead of time of what to do with different food situations
2.  Create charts!

10 day challenge - prep

Today I talked with my kids and husband about our 10 day journey.  They were not thrilled.  They ate  a bag of Oreos as an act of defiance!!  I might have partook in that....
After explaining that artificial ingredients can make us sick, Hud asked why we shouldn't do this for a year.  Great idea Hud!  Except, I don't have the time to do all of this planning each and every day.  Isn't that sad?  Processed food is too quick and easy.  How can we make wholesome, nutritious food readily available?

Each kid helped me make one of the things we were going to use during these 10 days.

Bryson helped me make some granola.  It smelled so good baking!  I never knew how much B liked almonds.  We had to add some more in at the end because he had eaten so many!

Next up was Hud and the homemade fudge pops.  He liked all of the ingredients and we talked about how this was healthier than the ingredients in regular fudgesicle.  We are excited to try these later this week.

As C and I made the steak chili I realized how little I cook and bake with my kids.  He had no idea that raw meat was bad and could get everyone sick if he didn't wash his hands after touching it.

After making the fudge pops, I asked Hud a few questions about what he is expecting.

Things I've learned (and the 10 days haven't even started!):
1.  B likes almonds
2.  Cook more with kids

10 day challenge - from 100 days of real food

It's been a few months since I tried something, and I'm always trying some sort of challenge (my success rate to finish is pretty low though!).  I came across 100 days of real food blog recently.  And while 100 days sounds crazy, I found a 10 day pledge on their site.
10 days.  I CAN DO 10 DAYS!!
None of the things that I have tried have been for just 10 days.  The hardest part is Halloween, but I have an idea for that!!  Buy Unreal candy (used to be available at Target but I didn't see it the last time I was there), let the kids eat that, and then, after the challenge, give them their candy back.

I think the hardest part for me is the upfront planning: kids lunches, after school snacks, figure out an alternative to Lucky Charms.
OR maybe the hardest part will be getting my kids on board.  Not sure I can stand 10 days of whining.
OR maybe my husband who doesn't want to give up Oreos for 10 days.

What I want to achieve:
1) have more energy at 7pm
2) see if my oldest son's allergies lesson
3) see if my middle son's digestive issues get better
4) lose a few pounds for the Jillian Michael's DietBet I am in

How I can achieve this:
1) Come up with a plan for meals and snacks
2) Shop ahead of time, not day of
3) Stick to the plan!

The plan is to head to come up with some recipes and shop at Whole Foods and Traders Joe tomorrow (already in the neighborhood for a soccer game) and spend Sunday creating my menu.  Totally doable, right??

Starting 10/27/2014!  Will keep you updated on our progress!  Maybe I can even have my kids do a guest blog post :)

I CAN DO 10 DAYS!

How to define Real Food.  From 100daysofrealfood.com:

Detox/Cleanse conclusion

Week 3 was like 25% clean eating, during that week and the days that followed, I put back on the 12 pounds that I had lost.  The boxed foods, the artificial and preservative filled foods cause your body to retain water like CRAZY!  And my skin now?  Yuck.  I have the crappy under skin zits.  3 HUGE ones!!
My mouth is dry all the time like I mentioned earlier and I feel tired all of the time.

This cleanse/detox was too time consuming for me.  If my kids were older, maybe?  I found some recipes that I'll continue to make, but still uncertain how I can incorporate it all into a daily life that I don't spend hours in the kitchen.

I will continue to drink my smoothies in the morning (join now to be part of a 30 day smoothie challenge!) and bring healthy lunches.  I can't give up chocolate, but I can maybe try to limit them!  That's like crazy talk.

I'm glad that I did it, even though I can't say any where near 100% like I should have.  I learned a lot.

W3D17

Soooo....let's just forget my past post.  There is too much temptation in my life, and not enough willpower, so instead of kicking myself, I'm doing the next best thing.  I'm doing both!  I'm eating the meals that are part of the cleanse, but I'm also having ice cream with the kids and friends after dinner and eating that mini twix that I find in the candy bowl.  That's real life.  That's something I can sustain.

What I've decided to not do, is to continue the rest of the cleanse (4 more days!) with no caffeine and no alcohol.  Those I've been clean from for the whole cleanse, and those I can stay away from (maybe it's true that 21 days can make a habit, and since they weren't much of a habit before, they can continue to not be a habit in the future).

Walnut tacos last night were not terrible!!  My Comfort soup (aka cauliflower) was delicious!!  Veggie stir fry I can do without.

Today's lunch is a team lunch.  Instead of eating 3 pieces of pizza, I'll have one with a salad and have my apple and peanut butter for a snack this afternoon.  Best of both worlds!  And I don't feel guilty.

W2D14

Today ends the detox week, with it's crummy recipes, and ...crummy recipes.

Tomorrow starts the 3rd and final week.  I have not been good at all this week, but I did continue to try one recipe a day (other days were filled with A LOT of stuff that would be the opposite of detoxing).

My goal for this week, is to be 100% true to it.  I had a great first week, I know i can do it again, especially since each day is one more day closer to being done!  Going forward I have a good 10 recipes to add into daily life and go towards my 80% clean, 20% anything else.  Maybe this week, I'll get a couple of more good recipes to add.

Cheer me on!  7 days!!