Real Food: Day 4

I feel like I’m starting to hit my stride with this RealFood thing. The panic and shakes have subsided.

BREAKFAST: Had some chicken and apple sausage leftover from Monday, so we had that along with some whole wheat banana pancakes I had frozen.

I opted for whole wheat mini banana muffins instead of pancakes. Milk for the kids, coffee for the adults.

SNACK: Our nanny Jill (who is also doing the 10 Day Real Food Challenge), shared some amazing roasted sweet potato hummus with Sophie and I. 

You need to try this.

Dipped some 5-ingredient whole wheat pita chips (another Aldi's find).

Can't find 5-ingredient pitas, but can find 5-ingredient pita chips. Go figure.

LUNCH: I let Charlie pick his main course and, shocker, he picked PB&J. Loaded him up with some fruit, a few mini banana muffins, and a little chocolate torte balls because, let’s face it, he deserves it.

Charlie's review of the chocolate tort ball: "I'm not such a fan...it has a lot of nuts."

Kyle took leftover huevos rancheros. I threw in some left over roasted chicken from Sunday’s dinner. He took a load of guacamole and a few banana muffins too.

I killed the rest of the huevos with chicken.

SNACK: Basically a repeat of yesterday. Smoothies with plain yogurt, frozen blueberries, strawberries, spinach, a couple bananas, and cinnamon. Sophie’s Wasa/provolone/PB sandwich was such a hit that Charlie gave it a try today. Still sounds disgusting to me.

DINNER: Pretty simple tonight. Whole wheat spaghetti with a homemade tomato sauce. I chopped up a bunch of veg I had on hand. (I call it “veg” because that’s what Jamie Oliver says and it sounds so cute with his British accent.) Threw in onion, green pepper, ‘shrooms, zucchini, and some fresh garlic, sautéed them in EVOO, added a can of organic crushed tomatoes and simmered while I had a very unsuccessful happy hour with a couple friends and all of our kids. (When am I going to learn that “happy hour” and “kids” cannot coexist?)

 We also had some leftover steamed broccoli from last night, a truckload of watermelon, and some homemade garlic bread.

I wanted to bury my face in this watermelon it was so tasty.

On the subject of bread, my first attempt at making 5-ingredient whole wheat bread in my breadmaker I scored on craigslist. The bread was a complete failure. Inedible. Jill gave it another shot in our breadmaker. Better results this time, but still not as good as hers.

Craigslist breadmaker from the 90s...you get what you pay for.

Tonight I had my monthly wine club meeting. This was the first time I have eaten with others during the Challenge. I could drink all the wine, of course, but passing on the crackers and chocolates and yogurt covered pretzels wasn’t easy. Luckily I could nosh on almonds, grapes, and cheese, so the wine didn’t go completely to my head. It was interesting how different it feels to be so aware of what I am eating. Normally I would have just mindlessly kept shoveling into my mouth everything that was passed in front of me. Having to think about everything I put in my mouth was a much-needed exercise in self-control.

Wine club. If only it met nightly instead of monthly.

Speaking of self-control. A good friend visited from out of town last night (which is why this post is late...blame Lynn). She arrived bearing gifts—including a pile of chocolate bark and a volleyball-size chocolate and caramel covered apple. (She’s known me for a long time and clearly knows me and my chocolate obsession well…). I didn’t cheat, but you can bet I’ll be tearing into that chocolate for breakfast on Day 11.

I will see you in seven days, my friend.

OBSERVATIONS:

-Self-control and sugar cravings were less today. My body must be starting to adjust…or maybe it’s just giving up.

-I would have died on the Oregon Trail. I simply cannot make bread…even with the help of a BREADMAKER! A trained monkey can make bread in a breadmaker. I just don’t get it.

-Eating outside the confines of my house is daunting. I am nervous there won’t be anything I can eat, I’m nervous I will offend the host if I don’t eat what’s served, and I don’t want to draw attention or be “that person.”

-I am really thankful my husband is so whole-heartedly into this Challenge and not just coming along kicking and screaming, but going all and doing it enthusiastically. This also helps Charlie and Sophie to see BOTH of us doing this with them. This isn’t meant as a public ego stroke for him (though that never hurts), but it has truly made a big difference in how successful the first few days of this Challenge have been.