Real Food: Day 10

You know in the movie Shawshank Redemption where Brooks gets paroled and he doesn't know what to do with himself given all the freedom on the outside? In a weird way wished he wished he was back in prison.

I feel like Brooks. Not in the convicted-felon sort of way, but in the I-don't-know-what-I'm-going-to-do sort of way. The 10 Day Real Food Challenge rules were rough at times, but they were rigid and clear, and while preparing food this way may take a bit more work, real food is a simpler way of eating. There is something liberating about eliminating entire aisles of choices at the grocery store.

Ok, enough about feelings. Let's get to the food.

BREAKFAST: Oatmeal, cinnamon, honey, bananas, and raisins. Sophie had seconds. OJ for the kids. Cappuccino for the mama.

I had a cup of oatmeal leftover, so I made another batch of whole wheat oatmeal and blueberry muffins. The batch I made last week was snarfed down in less than 48 hours. Again, the only substitutions I made to this recipe were to substitute coconut oil for canola oil and use ALL whole wheat flour instead of just part.

Also had a pound of grass fed beef from Lubbers Farm I had thawed Sunday night when I thought I was going to make tacos and then decided to slack off and just do leftovers. I needed to use the beef, so I made some meatballs since they are quick and freeze well.

'Cept I couldn't use my usual meatballs-in-a-flash recipe. It calls for a packet of the Lipton dry onion soup mix (don't act like you never use it). With the magic of Google I found an easy homemade dry onion soup mix recipe. I can add those Lipton packets to the list of Things I Will Never Buy Again. I left off the sugar from this recipe and I didn't have celery seed, so I substituted garlic powder.

The resulting meatballs got Kyle's seal of approval. That's akin to earning a Michelin Star.

So for those keeping score at home, the recipe for the meatballs goes like this:

1 lb. grass-fed ground beef
1 "packet" homemade onion soup mix (sans sugar)
1 egg
a handful of whole wheat breadcrumbs
a splash of milk
salt and pepper to taste

*bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

SNACK: I pounded about five mini blueberry muffins (and I wonder why they disappear). Sophie made me proud today. She went for a walk with her cousins to the bakery downtown. Our nanny Jill had packed a blueberry muffin for her, knowing she would be hungry but couldn't have anything at the bakery. Apparently Sophie gazed longingly at the cases of donuts and cookies, but NEVER ASKED FOR ANYTHING. I couldn't have done that. She happily ate her muffin and went on her way. As a three-year-old she already has more self-control than I do in my 30s.

LUNCH: Charlie had a banana pancake and almond butter sandwich (yes, it was as good as it sounds), a couple clementines, some cherry tomatoes, apricots, and raisins.

Lunchbox came home bare.

Soph had much the same lunch as Charlie, but Jill shared some baked Feta with her. Sophie gave it rave reviews: "I just love squishing it between my lip and my tongue!"

My little cheese lover.

Kyle's lunch was a challenge. Out of bread. Out of leftovers. I decided to help him power through the last day of the Challenge by making him some tuna fish salad. I was in a hurry, so nothing spectacular, just tuna, mayo, and mustard. I usually include pickle relish, but that was off limits. No bread, so he packed some Triscuits to put the tuna on. Took a couple bananas and a couple clementines and he was off.

Kyle says he wants to start an "Unreal Food Challenge" after today.

Tuna is usually considered a frugal meal. Not when you are using this mayo.

The rainbow on the label didn't make me feel any better about selling my kidney to pay for a jar of mayo.

See, I always thought the Hellmann's I used was REAL mayo. Strike. Thought about making my own, but from what I've seen on Top Chef it looks to labor intensive for me. So I bit the bullet and bought this at Harvest Health Foods last week. I'm too embarrassed to admit how much I paid for it, but let's just say that it's more than I would have paid for an entire tuna fish lunch...for our whole family...at Panera Bread.

I had some leftover whitefish from last night's dinner. I just ate it cold with some leftover fresh salsa and is was quite tasty.

SNACK: Narrowly avoided another food-related Charlie meltdown after school. It was ANOTHER kid's birthday and Charlie brought home a Blow Pop.

The minute he walked in the door he was begging to eat it. I reminded him about the Challenge.

Charlie: "Can I just save it til day 11?"

Me: "How about you trade me the sucker for a chocolate power ball?"

Charlie: "How about I keep the sucker for day 11 and eat the power ball today?"

Me: "How about you stop trying to work the system?"

Without too much of a fight he caved and took the power ball. I threw away the sucker.

Charlie (with alarm): "But isn't that wasting?"

Me: "No."

DINNER: Can't get enough caprese salad this time of year, so I made some more tonight. Charlie even got into it tonight.

Marinated some boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I'm a dark meat kinda girl) in a completely made up sauce. Seriously, just threw the following ingredients in a bowl: EVOO, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, S&P, oregano, basil, Parmesan cheese, and juice from a couple of clementines. Grilled the thighs and everyone thought they were pretty tasty. Made some more sweet potatoe fries, cut up a cantaloupe, and steamed some broccoli. It was a great summer dinner.

The Last Supper

OBSERVATIONS:

It's 10:57 p.m. and I want to stay up another to see if Kyle follows through with his talk about ordering a pizza at midnight.

I've learned so much from doing this 10 Day Real Food Challenge. But right now I'm so tired from preparing all this real food, that I just want to go to bed.