How it's going - Week 4 of Taking the "100 Days of Real Food" Mini Pledge (14 weeks)

Tokyo on the "computer bag".

It's only Tuesday and it's already been a unique week. I have to admit that I ate fast food (Jimmy John's) yesterday for lunch. No chips. I had tea to drink. I have no clue what sandwich I ate. I know it had mustard and some sort of meat and veg.

The Elder holding a fussy Shirley.

 We took Shirley in for her pre op testing yesterday. We had her xray done, they took vitals, I let them know she had an on and off stuffy nose. The nurse looked at her and said it was fine. The then sent in one of the surgeons who will be working on her heart. He went through things and then asked about if she was sick, cough, runny nose, fever... I told him she had an on and off runny nose (not bad) and then a green bugger popped out of her nose. That is not what we had been seeing prior, but it was there. That green little booger is what stalled her surgery. Since the surgery can wait a little bit if needed, they felt it was better to wait. If Shirley was put on a ventilator and she had a cold, it could become much worse. Not something you need when recovering from open heart surgery. Especially when you are just shy of 2 months old. Surgery has been rescheduled for next week.

Colonel Sanders moved her chair into her brothers' room.

 Once again we were caught off guard. What are we going to do? It's not easy for us to find care for the minions. Luckily Julie was able to change out her vacation days for the days needed next week (now minus one day).

We put a plea out to our friends and family for some help with week 2 of Shirley's stay. If I don't have to, I don't want to have to come home every night, stay till I can get the boys to school and come back home when they get out of school. We have had some friends come to our aid. Right now we are trying to piece that all together since some people can only do a few hours, some can only take 2, some 1, some can do an over night for one night. The Elder and I are very grateful. We are shooting for a back up plan of staying in the hospitality house the second week of our stay. Only because they can house all 7 of us. The school has agreed to make an exception for missed school and send homework home if it comes down to it. That will be last resort.

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 I did get several meals made for the trip. My Easy Lunchboxes lunch bag kept everything cold and it was still frozen solid when we arrived home. So I put it all (4 meals) in the freezer for next week.

Keeping our fingers crossed that the sniffles go away. I am not sure Julie's boss will be so understanding and nice if they have to reschedule it again.

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 Since my food budget was already used this week, I didn't want to buy more food. At the same time, I didn't want to use what I had because a lot of thought went into kinda healthy (and some not) food for the minions while we were gone. Luckily I have my CSA and the freezer meals still. Yes, I like to cook (some day's its a chore) and even while "resting" I would cook a few meals a week. So that is what is saving us this week.

Tonight we had Chicken Parmesan and CSA Kale.

The other meals will be

 Lentil "Loaf", Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin.  and Spinach

My local chicken for the week is a Whole chicken. So I will bake it and have CSA Squash with Baked Apples.

Chicken, CSA Carrot, Parsnip, and Veggie Noodle Soup. I will use the chicken carcass to make the broth.

Stuffed Pork Rolls (freezer meal) with Mashed Potatoes, and Carrots and Parsnips (CSA)

White Lasagna with Broccoli

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I suppose I should start thinking about next week... Try 2 whole foods I haven't had before. Umm... This shall be interesting. Since joining the CSA I have had food I have not had before. Swiss Chard and Celery Root. I never had Rainbow Lentils before. I picked those up at Sam's Club 2 weeks back. Coconut Oil. And there are a few others.  Looks like I will need to be looking for something that's easy to travel with.

I will have to think about that. I will be shopping Friday this week. I expect I should have meals figured out by then. I will also post what is in the containers below for dinners at the hospital for next week... Hopefully.





Oh Miss Shirley, No more ucky nose!

Week 3 menu planned out -

Learned from my mistake and planned what day we eat each meal.

I have finally figured out next week's menu. The problem was, I had shopped on Friday instead of on Saturday. I had made a rough plan since I knew what was going to be in my CSA basket. I lost my list. I realized it once I got to the store. I had no intention of packing the 3 girl back up once I was there. To keep in budget, there is no going back out unless it is under $5 total. So I won't plan on picking anything else up. I keep finding recipes where I am off just one ingredient that can't be just dropped or easily substituted. This is a little frustrating.

Sometimes a Lunchable becomes a bribe if we are out later than expected.

The goal is to USE my CSA vegetables to add to a current freezer meal or to use to make a meal. I don't want a lot of leftovers from the week before again. I had some from last week, more than I thought. I still have half my kale, half my brussel sprouts (becoming a snack now), my celery root (used for the soup this week), a few carrots (which I am now over run with), and 3 leeks.

Dinner:

Vegetable Noodle Soup with Chicken.
Using up those veggie from last weeks CSA. The goal was to not make meat the focal point. I think this work. Celery root, carrots, kale, parsnips, and some spinach.


Freezer Meal: Chicken Parmesan Casserole with whole wheat noodles. Broccoli. Swiss Chard with Parmesan Cheese. 
I won't be using the white wine in the Swiss Chard recipe.

Freezer Meal: Mu Shu Pork.
Add the cabbage that was given to us by a friend and some extra carrots.  The Elder will take leftovers for lunch.

Roasted Buttercup Squash with Bacon Pasta -
Whole milk will be used. I will use butter instead of olive oil. Also I will be using Parmesan cheese instead of Romano. Also I am unsure of what type of pasta will be used. I will use whatever I have in the pantry. Luckily I picked up some bacon for breakfast. I guess it will go for this instead.

Crockpot Creamy Fun-Guy Soup with homemade Whole Wheat Biscuits 
This will be Saturday when I go back to the Farmer's Market. I have everything but the mushrooms. I noticed a table with locally grown mushrooms. I had thought about picking some up, but decided not to since I had no plan for them and it would have used the last of my grocery money. I wish I had now. Oh well. I will not be using cream, just whole milk.

Vegan Lentil and Rice Loaf with Rosemary-Roasted Beets and Carrots
I am a little nervous about this one. Only the rice and carrots are part of our normal diet. I will serve this with PB&J served as back up (out of sight and served after dinner). I know I should not throw this curve ball at my family, especially with picky eaters and a child with ASD who has texture issues. I am not sure if he will eat it or not. We will try though. Sometimes I am surprised.  I will be using brown rice in this one. Also I think I will make patties as suggested in the comments. I think that would make it more appealing to my family.

Quinoa and Sweet Potato Enchilada Casserole.  Serve with some sort of Chicken or Beef. Avocado slices.
I know The Elder will be going nuts without his beloved meat by this point. So I will some how add some meat to this on the side.

Helping mama cook.

Lunches for the girls (and maybe daddy too):

Potato and leek soup.

Homemade Hash brown with Spinach and Carrot

Sweet Potato Corn Cakes
Made with no green onions and no cayenne pepper.

School Lunches:

Sandwiches with Apple Slices, Cheese Stick, and Carrots (hummus)

French Toast Dippers, Yogurt, and Apple Slices

Tortilla Chips, Salsa, Cheese Stick

Loving our green eggs!

Breakfast:

Homemade Hash brown with Spinach and Carrot

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Green Eggs, Banana Bread Toast (Aunt Agnes made the bread) with Peanut Butter and Banana Slices.

This is what happens when you tell baby "No".

Our CSA for week 1/17

This is what came in our CSA box this week! Now, I have to admit that I still have some carrots and a celery root from last week.  It looks like I have some sort of a squash, carrots, apples, beets, sweet potatoes, swiss chard, and some sort of herb.

In hope of the minions taking more of an interest in food (or maybe to make my shopping expierence more chaotic), I allowed each child to pick out something at the indoor Farmer's Market. This is (mostly) what they chose. Baskets are 3 for $10. So each walker picked out one and then I picked out the potatoes and tomatoes. I had 2 minions pick apples and 2 pick carrots. Next week we will go for something new.

Random: Karl cutting out flashcards. Why? Because he wanted to and he asked me to include this.

My pack of 2 drumsticks walked off apparently.

The CSA once a month meat pick up also came today! Just in time for Week 3 of the 100 Days of Mini-Pledges. This chicken is raised local (a little over an hour away) and processed there. I decided we will use ONE of the chicken packages a week. Not a lot of meat when I use the thighs and the 2 drumsticks, but that is ok. The goal was for the meat to NOT be the center of attention. I am thinking soups for those 2 packages. We will still buy other meat as needed.

Tonight I will work out a menu... and a way to figure out how to store all this...

Week 2: Taking the "100 Days of Real Food" Mini Pledge (14 weeks)

Oops! It's Wednesday and I forgot the pledge for this week. We start on Mondays.

• Week 2: “Real” beverages – Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine (preferably red) will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day).

I know this will not work for The Elder. That is ok. I will pick and choose my battles with him. I have done pretty well. I am NOT a fan of straight water. I craved it at various points during pregnancy. Now it doesn't sit well. I am sure I am just psyching myself out. So instead of straight water I drink iced tea (unsweetened) or water with a little lemon.

Pan fried Brussels sprouts, garlic, and bacon.

The minions mainly drink water and milk. Juice is not very often and is sometimes given in packed lunches.

2 freezer meal thawing in the fridge.

This weeks meal plan for us was:

Mini steaks (4oz), Pan Fried Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, Potatoes, and Northern Blend vegetables.

Chicken, Leek, and Kale Pastie (with Parsnips)

Freezer Meal: Lasagna (I make mine with spinach) with Broccoli.

Freezer Meal: Green Chili Chicken Tacos served with Avocado Rice(not freezer) and Baja Corn

Freezer Meal: Chicken Sausage with Peppers and Perogies with an unknown vegetable

Freezer Meal: Italian Chicken and Potatoes with added Carrots and Kale.

Chicken and Dumplings using chicken soup "starter" from the freezer. Homemade stock with shredded chicken. Add in carrots, parsnips, spinach, and a bag of mixed veggies.

She loved the Brussels Sprouts. 4 out of 5 minion tried them.

We were under our grocery budget this week. I am quite happy with that. I used the extra to buy a few extra items for the pantry like extra maple syrup, whole wheat flour, and I honestly forgot what else. Maybe I should start posting about the next week on our shopping day (Now Saturday due to the CSA pick up)

This week CSA

We already had 2 hiccups this week. Monday was Mc Donald's due to a very hectic day and poor planning on my part. I had been organizing a room and sorting out to small clothes for 3 children. Then I needed to go pick up my milk. Last night (Tuesday) was also not the best. I thought I had out my lasagna, but didn't.  We recovered from that by having breakfast for dinner. I had some very ripe bananas I was going to make banana muffin with.  

Karl helping measure and mix the pancakes

Instead we made Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes. We added some leftover blueberries in addition to 2 extra bananas.The minions loved helping me make them. I made a double batch and had enough leftover for 2 breakfasts.