100 Days of Real Food

Here's the first New Year's Resolution I am sharing with you. I wanted to do it for a couple of days without blogging first, because I was honestly afraid of calling it quits. However, this is one challenge that's hard to stop doing once you've started. It's addicting. It is forcing me to look at what I eat.

There is this amazing blog/site called 100 Days of Real Food (go figure). If you like the Facebook page, you can get four meal plans already laid out for you, including the links to the recipes. Basically, the goal is, for 100 days you cut out processed foods. Get rid of all the nasty preservatives and things that you don't need yet manufacturers are throwing into the food that you eat. It is better explained here.

I started this a couple days into the New Year, once the hubby left for this work period. I was so excited and so motivated, and I'm still feeling that way. Which is pretty awesome. I was afraid by day five or so I was going to give in and just buy a frozen pizza or something and indulge.

The thing is, this challenge goes hand-in-hand with making better eating choices and creating a healthier lifestyle this year. This is one of the reasons I started it. I wanted this year to really be the year that Clark and I start eating better. After all, Michael is on solids. I don't want him growing up on boxed dinners and potato chips. We didn't eat to that extreme before, but we would indulge and have "special nights" that involved a lot of foods that are truly atrocious for us.

100 Days of Real Food makes it easy. She even provides a list of foods that are OK for this challenge.

I have to be real with you, though. I'm cheating in a few areas.

That is, the things we already had that may not be on the approved list are still being used. Like instead of buying 100% fruit spread we're still using the Smuckers Strawberry Jelly we have in our fridge. Or instead of buying organic pasta we're still using the Penne we have from Sam's Club. That sort of thing. But once they're gone, we're going all organic/approved-list-items-only.

I decided to start this while Clark was gone because I knew if we started it while he was home he'd con me out of it. He'd want to make acceptions or talk about how difficult it is for all of us. I'm not saying he doesn't want to make healthier choices, I'm saying he's a southern boy who loves a lot of things that aren't healthy what-so-ever. And I don't want Michael growing up like that.

The truth is, this really isn't that difficult. I have to find creative ways to use fresh veggies and fruits, something I love to do as it is. I have to make some meals in advance, something I've really longed to do. And I have to introduce new foods to Michael, something that needed to be done anyway.

It is difficult, however, because there are certain things that I go to use and then realize I have to come up with an alternative. The other night I made enchiladas and made a plain sauce (thanks to this recipe) using tomato sauce, chili pepper, and cinnamon. A combination I never would have thought of, and it was so delicious. I'd have to add a little more spice for when Clark is home, but overall the changes we're making are fabulous.

Here are some things we've been eating:

Egg salad over spinach. I didn't use mayo. This was strictly mustard, nonfat plain yogurt, and spices.

Veggie stir fry. All I did was use basically all the veggies in our fridge, made a yummy teriyaki sauce, and served it over bron rice.

Veggie Muffins (recipe to be posted tomorrow)! This was to get more veggies into Michael, since he doesn't particularly care for them on their own. I used fresh ingredients only.

Whole Wheat Waffles. This doesn't exactly help with my low-carb desires, but I couldn't resist making these. We lived off the mix for nearly five days! When it's just me and Michael it's easy to make food last longer.


These are only a few of the things we've been trying! This week I have a homemade mac & cheese recipe I'm going to try as well as a plain-pulled-pork recipe for the crock pot! I'm mixing low carb and carb-focused meals to begin with, simply because there are a lot of things we're working on cutting out and I don't want to make all complicated meals. But as it goes on, I'm definitely going to work on cutting back our carb intake as well.