Real Food: Day 9

Cheater, cheater, Jell-O eater.

Don't let the innocent smile fool you.

Team Reese made it through eight an a half days of the 10 Day Real Food Challenge without any cheating. Then Charlie fell off the wagon.

"How was school today, Charlie?"

"Great! It was someone's birthday and we had...uh oh...I think I broke the rules."

Poor kid. He felt legitimately bad (or at least faked it really well) about eating the Jell-O his classmate brought in for a birthday treat today.

"I'm so sorry, Mom. I just completely forgot about the Real Food thing. Do I still get to go to Captain Sundae since I didn't complete the Challenge?"

Ahhh...that's where all the remorse is coming from—fear of sitting out the family trip to Captain Sundae I promised everyone on Day 11 if we all successfully complete the Challenge. I thought about letting him sweat it for a bit, but he's too cute and earnest. He was already on the verge of tears. Get back on the wagon, and you still get Captain Sundae.

Poor planning made the rest of the day a bit challenging, but we made it. We're on the homestretch now!

BREAKFAST: I can't tell you how much I love the stockpile of frozen whole wheat pumpkin and banana pancakes I have. Doused with maple syrup from the Holland Farmer's Market, they were a tasty treat this morning. I think they are sweet enough that they don't even need maple syrup.

Stacked.

SNACK: Sophie's cousin invited her over for a tea party at snack time this morning. Girl was PUMPED. As I've mentioned, our beloved nanny, Jill, is also doing the 10 Day Challenge. She easily defused a potential toddler meltdown over the tea party menu: hot cocoa (it was unseasonably cold and rainy today) and cookies. For Sophie, Jill brought along some mini whole wheat banana muffins and made her some Real Food approved hot cocoa: milk, unsweetened cocoa powder, and honey. Soph didn't have any issues with the substitutes. Gotta say, this is nothing shy of a miracle.

Tea partying it up, cousin-style.

LUNCH: Charlie called dibs on the leftover salmon patty from dinner last night. Also gave him a couple leftover pancakes from breakfast (sans syrup), a whole wheat Wasa cracker with almond butter, some raisins and dried apricots, and a peach.

Kyle took some caprese salad, a vat of fresh salsa, a dollop of guacamole, a few apricots and some blue corn tortilla chips.

I would feel a little out of place if I were the apricots.

Tastes so much better than it looks. I swear.

Sophie had a brown rice cake with almond butter, bananas, and raisins and some homemade plain yogurt with honey and cinnamon.

Banana-heavy lunch on banana plate.

I didn't have time to make anything grand today, so I had a quick and easy bowl of homemade yogurt and granola.

We meet again, my old friend.

Oliver had sweet potatoes.

"Real food is easy...I don't know what you guys are whining about."

DINNER: I wasn't prepared today. I was fresh out of potatoes, couscous, bread—pretty much every starch. Also needed a quick-cooking fish. Given what I know now, eating nothing but wheat germ for dinner would have been better than what I chose to do—go to Meijer at 4pm with three tired and hungry kids. When will I learn?

We ended up with a simple but decent dinner: corn and beans from Visser Farms CSA, sweet potato fries, wild-caught whitefish baked in orange juice, and a plate of peaches and plums.

Ready in 30 minutes. Eat it, Rachel Ray.

Random summer fruit.

The shorties were still hungry, so they each had a bowl of yogurt for dessert—Charlie with jam, Sophie with "crunchies."

Dueling yogurt bowls.

A sweet clementine was enough for my after-dinner snack. Oh, how times have changed from my after-dinner-Dove-dark-chocolate-binge days.

Oh, my darlin'...

OBSERVATIONS:

-There are piles of laundry in my house taller than Charlie. Real Food takes a lot of time...leaving less for pretty much everything else around the house.

-I am excited that there is light at the end of the 10 Day Challenge tunnel, but I'm a little sad it's almost over (seriously?). What happens next?

-At the fish counter at the grocery today, I chose wild-caught fish or farm-raised fish. I have never done this before. I'm cheap. But I had about 10 minutes to stand there and think about (excruciatingly slow fish counter girl). I eat free-range eggs, grass-fed beef, organic chicken...wild-caught fish only makes sense. Let's not talk about how much it cost.