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 3 announced - Taking the "100 Days of Real Food" Mini Pledge (14 weeks)

We are getting ready to start week 3 of the challenge.

• Week 3: Meat – All meat consumed this week will be locally raised (within 100-miles of your hometown). Meat consumption will also be limited to 3 – 4 servings this week, and when it is eaten meat will not be presented as the “focal point” of the meal. Instead meat will be treated as a side item or simply used to help flavor a dish.

Random lunch. Vegetable chicken soup with rice bears. Meat taking a lesser role in the meal.

While we do have access to local sourced meats here, I have to admit that it just isn't going to happen 100% this week... or in the next several weeks. Not until taxes come back and we purchase the 1/2 pig and 1/4 of a locally raised cow. It would just blow my food budget out of the water. I can't do that.

What I CAN do is, I can use less meat, purchase 1/2 our eggs from the CSA, and make 1 or maybe 2 meal per week with local meat. The CSA had an add on chicken package. It is not a lot for a family our size and it is only once a month. Still, in the end, the goal is to eat better and to take baby steps. So we do what we can do.

We fumbled a lot last week. Some was due to poor time management and some was due to failure to write down our meal plan. We do better when the menu is on the board. This week we will remember to do that.

Tomorrow I will have a better idea as to what we will eat after I see our CSA basket. I also get to take SEVEN children to the Farmer's Market tomorrow... alone. *gasps* Actually I am not expecting it to be much different than taking my 6. The extra is a 13 year old who has high functioning autism. Very similar to Clark. So I think it will be ok. The winter market is a lot smaller and less people. I think there are maybe 8 vendors total and they are indoor.

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.

Start of week 1: Taking the "100 Days of Real Food" Mini Pledge (14 weeks)

Still eating freezer meals made for after Shirley's birth. This is how I meal plan and do a shopping list.

We are taking the 100 Days of Real Food Mini Pledge - Cut out processed foods in 14 weeks. We have slowly worked our way here. I think this could be a success! The Elder finally agreed to join the CSA in our area and has become open to new things. Most people started on the 1st. We are running a little behind. The Elder was a little afraid to try this because he is not a big fruit or vegetable person. He mainly humors me. He is also afraid of the cost. Our grocery (food and non food) budget is $200 a week. This includes diapers for 3 children because I just don't have the energy for cloth diapers right now. Also included is dog food, cat food, kitty litter, and other non food items we need. As long as I can stay in budget (total for the month), then he will be ok with any changes I wish to make. Although now that $200 a week from December 25th-January 24th ($800) is now $159.75 a week ($639 for the month) because we joined the CSA. This will be very easy this month because I made all the freezer dinners. So almost no meat needs to be purchased weekly. I already made up the extra money spent making freezer meals in November by how little was spent in December. The cost for the CSA covered 7 weeks. So some will be taken out of next month's budget to cover half of the next 7 weeks. That is not my headache to worry about though. I am just told my weekly food budget and work with that.

There are 6 more in the small chest freezer!

Week 1: 

Eat a minimum of two different fruits or vegetables (preferably organic) with every breakfast, lunch, and dinner meal.

We got this! Well, I have this. The minions have this. The Elder... I will take 2 for lunch and 2 for dinner as a win. He refuses to have anything other than yogurt and coffee for breakfast.

I really do call him The Elder

I'm not quite sure how my picky eater will take this. Just because it is on his plate or sent with lunch does not mean he will try it. Having him pick out foods with me has not proven effective. Still, I encourage him to help me pick out fruits and help me cook.

Karl helped me pick which fruits go with which meals.

Having Karl help me with cooking hasn't worked at getting him to try things either. The only thing it has done is help him learn the basics of cooking. While that is a good thing, I would still really like it if Karl would try some more fruits and veggies. He is limited himself to strawberries, green grapes, apples, and sometimes oranges. No vegetables. Oh well, they still go on his plate!

Working on that eating better... Can't see half the fruit. Who wants to organize it for me?

One thing I have learned, if I use the bottom drawers in the fridge, we will end up with a veggie/fruit graveyard. So I took them out. It doesn't look as nice, I know. Now it is easier to see everything (kinda) and we use almost everything.

The next few weeks will be a little interesting meal wise with adding in the extra fruits or vegetables. I made over 50 freezer meals before Shirley was born. We still have about 24 or so left. So we need to keep using those.

Random picture

Clearly we still eat some pretty processed foods. Most of the time it is in moderation. I can buy 4 bags of tater tots and it may take 3-5 months to eat them all. We will work further on phasing out the bad and replacing it with non/little processed items or better choices. I have no intention of going through my pantry and tossing it. For starters, my budget couldn't handle it. Also the minions and The Elder would go into shock. I can't risk seeing a food regression with Clark (ASD).

Our meal plan for this week:

 I have poor handwriting. I know.

Dinners:

Sliders, chips, with green beans and a chocolate banana for desert. I blend a little onion and spinach in with the hamburger for the sliders. Not enough to count as a serving, but a little is better than none!

Spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce. Blackberries and yogurt for desert (AKA evening snack). The sauce I make and add puree of carrots, a little spinach, and some squash. Add salt. The family has yet to figure it out. They like it.

White lasagna with broccoli. The lasagna already has spinach in it. Enough to count it as a serving.

Herb chicken, corn on the cob, and green beans.

Onion tater tots covered in chili and cheese. Desert is yogurt with fruit (evening snack). My chili has squash, fresh tomatoes, and carrots all pureed in it. Then some fresh tomato diced. So yes, you can count that as 2 servings of vegetables. The minions will eat seconds of this.

Chicken stir fry and I will add some kale from the CSA box (picked up that morning)

Chicken pot pie. Growing up, my parents bought the frozen pot pies. When they were done, we took off the tops and added a large cooking spoonful of vegetables. Then we mixed it all together in the over stuffed shell. That being said, my chicken pot pie should really be called vegetable pot pie with a little chicken.

Did I stay in budget for this week?

No. I was over by almost $5. That is ok though.

Not on the list items purchased: 

Fresh strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. They were on sale but not in the flyer. I also picked up 2 rotisserie chickens at Sam's Club. Never go when you are going home to eat dinner. I also bought 2 packs of Mother's Tea ($10) and a 48 count pack of AA batteries to go into the toys Pa gave the minions for Christmas. I think I will need to purchase more next week. Also I purchased Babybel cheese from Sam's Club because Karl showed interest in it. This is in addition to the cheese sticks on the shopping list.

I also opted to not get the chia seeds this week and purchased real maple syrup instead.

How did breakfast go on day 2 (today)? I would say it went rather well.

I did not give the minions any butter or syrup with their banana and blueberry pancakes today. They were pleased with them. Plus they all ate another banana while I made the pancakes.

FYI, taking pictures of children while they chew their food will result in funny faces.

We do occasionally sit for breakfast. This morning was not one of those mornings.

This is my banana eating machine. Clara has had a banana every morning for 5 months. We know she is sick if she refuses to eat one. Even then, she still demands one so she can walk around with it. Here she is asking for a second banana.

The good, The bad, and The Ugly (and random pictures)

The Good.

Viking Mummy baby with her mismatched socks and faithful steed.

Remember last years goals? They kinda fell off to the side with the addition and then the pregnancy of our last child.

Not this year! The Elder did his crunching of numbers and he OK'ed me to finally join the CSA! Actually, I think he was afraid I would join it anyway. I normally stay away from household finances since he is the one with a BA in accounting. What I do know is, I have kept in budget with groceries and my last idea of freezer meals worked out like I told him. Actually, it worked out a lot better than planned.

Why yes, The Elder is wearing Minnie ears.

The instant he said yes, I was signing up for the CSA. Yes, there is a CSA that runs year round in Michigan. It just happens to be 40 minutes south of me and delivers to our Farmer's Market year round. I actually buy from Crisp Country Acres already. I bought a lot from them at the Farmer's Market this year. So we signed up for the rest of the winter session for produce. Eventually we will get to eating the better meat. We decided once we empty out our freezers more, we will purchase half a pig and some beef. Maybe we will ease into it and sign up for the chicken short session next time...

Karl (Tyke), Clara (Glow Stick) and Shirley

Remember I wanted to join the goat share? Guess who has an intolerance to cows milk? I will give you a hint, it is the pants-less child in the picture above. It's kinda funny how things work out. So every week I head out to Country Winds Farm. Goats milk is cheaper through a share (even with driving) than it is purchasing it from the store. We tried non dairy milks and either it did not agree with her belly or she flat out refused it. Yes, a 1 year old can and will refuse a drink for long periods of time if they don't like it. I will not force something like that on her if I can find something she does like. Now, veggies are another matter. That share is a little bit of a drive, but I am ok with that.

Is anyone else joining the 100 Days of Mini Pledges? I opted to. I think this may be what I was looking for but just didn't work out on my own. The goal is to take baby steps in eating better over 14 weeks. Each week has a goal. If something just isn't obtainable to you (local meat), then that is ok. You just do what you can. I know some weeks will be pretty easy and others will be a challenge.
 

I know you needed another cuteness fix

I know the first week challenge will be easy. Week 1 is Eat 2 Fruits and or Vegetables Per Meal.  I just need to add in one more fruit or veggie to breakfast and lunch. 

The Bad

This year has been warmer than normal. Remember how we had 9 free range chickens? Yes, we really did let them run wild all over our fenced in back yard.  We lost them all over a 2 night span. We smelled skunk outside. It stunk up the whole house. I knew it wasn't going to go well. My coop door wasn't shutting properly. I had someone who was going to come out, but they could not make it for several days. I did my best to block it off. Sadly, it wasn't good enough.

We did have a rooster named Stew. Sadly he became aggressive. So we were forced to eat him. The Elder was squeamish about eating a "pet". So I didn't tell him when we had Stew. Sandy (Colonel Sanders) was a little to excited about eating Stew. She very happily announced that we were eating Stew every time we had dinner. It was quite funny.

The Ugly
 

Postpartem Depression is never a pretty thing. I know what triggers mine. I know how I react. So we try to avoid those situations. 

Triggers: Lack of sleep, stress, and how messy my house is.

Reaction: Anxiety attacks, not wanting to see anyone, shutting down on all others and only focusing on the kids, and lack of motivation to do household chores (unless it is cooking).

2 weeks before having Shirley. Yes, I do really exist.

I am grateful that I have no desire to hurt myself or anyone else. I opt to see a counselor. Mine can be managed without the use of medication. For that I am grateful. Still, it's hard to go see someone when you are in a downward spiral.

Lack of sleep: I have 6 kids. One is autistic and doesn't know what sleep is. Another child is up at 4:30-5am every morning because she is 1 and likes to be up early. She can go to bed at 10pm and still be up at 5am. It's sad when the newborn is not the reason you need more sleep.

Stress: The Elder has Cerebral Palsy. This means household things are more on my shoulders. Did I mention they opened up over time? They did. So The Elder is working that too. Our eldest was mentioned above. Need I say more? Now Shirley has a heart condition. Ok, not to much I can do about that. Getting a sitter for any evening appts is pretty much all we can do. I should be released to go to the gym in about 4 more weeks. I know that will help with stress relief. Things could be worse. I know that.

No worries, it's just bath crayons.

House: 6 kids all on winter break. Can we say chaos? Although this time we wised up. Arrangements were made to have a family member and a friend come out once a week to help. I am grateful for their help. I really am. The only spiral I had had to do because of being overwhelmed the last 2 weeks before Christmas and Christmas week. I did make it to all appts though and to Christmas with everyone.

Good Times

All 6

And this is how we grocery shop! :-) Except I forgot to bring my Moby. :-/ Baby wearing makes my life easier. I happened to bribe them with a Lunchable since we ended up out all day between appts and some shopping. Normally there is no bribe. No baby was hurt at all or during this shopping trip. This was Christmas Eve. I had forgotten a few things (ok, like 30 things) because my shopping day was moved.

Don't worry, I went off the deep end years ago!

Our newest minion. Meet Shirley.

Behaving just long enough to take the picture. Chaos ensued. 

This picture from the last OB appt before Shirley was born. Yes, all 5 had to go with me. Finding a sitter is not as easy during the day. There is no way I will pay $50+ to send 5 to a daycare for 2 hours. Nope. Not happening.



As you can see, Shirley was born pink. A few hours after the Csection (interesting one) we went to our room. The Pedi came to do the newborn screening as we were calling Aunt Julie to bring the minions to the hospital. The kids literally made it to the parking lot when the nurse came in and told us that she needed us to wait. The Dr. needed to talk to us. Shirley would need to stay in the nursery.

The Dr. detected a heart murmur. She felt because nothing was detected on any ultrasound that it was most likely a PDA. I can handle a PDA. Clark had one when he was born. They gave him some medicine and it helped it close. Not a huge deal. Still, our hospital did not have the equipment needed to do further testing. The decision was made that she would be taken to the closest NICU. It was an hour away and happened to be the one Clark was in. The only hitch was, I had just had a Csection with a tubal ligation. They do NOT bring the mother with the baby.  So I remained and started begging my OB to release me so I could be with my daughter.

Shirley getting ready to leave with the transport unit.

I sent The Elder to be with her. Pa took him for support. The nurse with the transport unit felt it was more than a PDA. So they left with Shirley and my OB came back in to talk to me. She was really nice and made a deal with me. This was far from my first Csection. I already knew what not to do and danger signs. So, as long as I could pee enough on my own, as long as I could keep down food, and as long as I could make a full lap around the halls, she would release me the next day.

Testing was finished at about 10pm. The Elder had the Pediatric Cardiologist call me. Sadly, I had the beginnings of a spinal headache. I could barely follow what was going on. The Elder opted to come back to me that night (I told him to stay there with our daughter).

Dr. Chris drew this for me

This is what came back with The Elder. Dr. Chris (Shirley's Pediatric Cardiologist) had been nice enough to draw this picture for me. By this time, it was about 11:30pm. My nurse had made arrangements for the anesthesiologist to see me first thing in the morning to see about a blood patch. I was warned that they may not release me even though I was doing what they asked of me. Mainly because while I could do it all, it was clearly a struggle due to the pain in my head.

Shirley has Tetralogy of Fallot. There is a hole between her ventricles. In addition to that, the valve where the blood goes from the heart to the lungs is tight. It moves enough to let some blood through, but not enough for her to have 100% oxygen saturation. She was hanging out between 75-85%. This is why her nose was a purple color.

Shirley in NICU

My OB did end up releasing me about 30 hours after my Csection. She pretty much asked me was I sure. She knew I was struggling to do things, but she was my OB with Clara (Glow Stick). She knew how stubborn I can be. I was sure and I was released to go be with the youngest Minion.

I know she was the easiest baby in all of NICU. Walking into the nursery she was in (#11. Not a small NICU) brought back memories of Clark's 73 day stay. By then Shirley was keeping her oxygen saturation at around 89%. Her stay was extremely short. She only needed to stay for 3 days. She is on medicine to help the valve move. We have weekly visits to check her saturation levels (steady at 85-89%).

Thinking about stuff and things. 3 weeks old.

What does this all mean for us? We are lucky and we know it. We cannot let her cry a lot or she could turn blue. We have a baby that turns a dusky purple at times. LOTS of hand washing and sanitizer in the house. If she gets ill, we have to take her to be seen right away. Meds every 6 hours and she will have surgery between 3-6 months of age. They will replace the valve and repair the hole in her heart. She may never be able to do most sports, but that is ok. We will just have to wait and see how that goes. At some point she will need another surgery before she is an adult.

The goal now is for her to grow as big as she can before surgery. Either way, it needs to be done before she becomes  active. Shirley is now a month old and doing well. :-)

The Minions