Well here we are, half way through the 10 day challenge. In the beginning I was feeling discouraged but we are learning and discovering a lot. I think I mentioned before but it is crazy how many foods have added stuff in it. Saturday I took some time (by myself) and went to Fareway to compare products and prices. I went armed with my HyVee receipt and was pleasantly surprised to find that Fareway had most of the products I purchased at HyVee and were either the same price or even cheaper! I prefer shopping at Fareway so this made me very happy! Of course, there wasn't as much organic produce to choose from but I am excited because we start receiving our CSA shares this week!
Also by no means are we starving ourselves or really, limiting ourselves on the amount of food we eat. Friday we grilled out with some friends who were gracious enough to take into consideration our little challenge. We enjoyed grilled chicken, roasted onions and potatoes, zucchini and cheese, fruit and a salad. I was stuffed! For salad we are making our own dressing which is SUPER easy. For Christmas John gave me this bottle. I just love it because it has the recipes right on the bottle with lines to say how much to fill so there is not measuring to be done. On Saturday we grilled again, this time with our homegrown steak and veggie kabobs.
On Sunday I spent some time in the kitchen trying to find a bread recipe that we enjoy. Our bread machine makes the most dense, dry wheat bread ever. It is delicious right out of the machine when it is warm and slathered in butter but then it goes downhill fast. So I used our new food processor and made the recipe that came in the book. It turned out much better than the bread machine but not the soft doughy bread from the store that we are used to eating. We also made some cheddar crackers. This was my third attempt and I screwed it up again but they still ended up tasting pretty good. They were Elsie approved. I used the food processor this time but had in the dough blade and it just wasn't mixing up quite right so I thought maybe it needed water. Then I figured out that I just needed to use the metal blade so in the end they were a little wet to handle but still turned out okay. If I hadn't added the little bit of water
Two of my favorite recipes so far:
Tzatziki Sauce - I made this last night and it is sooooo good! I used it to dip my carrots/veggies in for lunch and last night I tried it with Triscuits (which are approved-only three ingredients: Whole Wheat, Oil, and Salt). It would be really good on a whole wheat pita with chicken or in a wrap.
Easy Cheesy Crakcers - I rolled them out and used a little circle to cut them out into little bite size circles.
All in all I would say things are going pretty good. I am not missing all the added sugar at all. I do miss some savory/salty items like tortilla chips to go with salsa. I miss some convenience items like tortillas and lunch meat. Actually it is John who is really missing the lunch meat. And I miss being able to just go out to eat and order whatever we want. I feel like I am spending so much time in the kitchen prepping, preparing and then cleaning up from meals and snacks. But I feel good about what I am eating. I do know that I couldn't keep this up 100% no matter how much I wanted to...it just takes so much time-which I don't have a lot of with a two year old running around :).
Way to go Tan! so interesting on all the comparisons and what not. I hate how hard it is to eat good food. It's really sad sometimes. Inspiring though, and at least you will probably eat a little cleaner than you did before you did this.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Tan! So happy for you. I love this idea and keep posting recipes you find. I can't wait to try some of these. It is so frustrating to see all the crap that is out there and how the right way to eat seems so challenging. It's very sad and makes me mad. I think the more you do it the more you will get into a routine and it will just be the norm for you. Props on doing this!
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