Kid Surprises

I have wondered how much my kids are on board with our new non processed food eating. Well, today I got a glimpse...

With the move going on, I woke up this morning with a million and one things to do and completely exhausted. So, I made the decision that my kids could buy school lunches today. After all one day isn't going to kill them and they used to eat them everyday. Brendan was up first, I told him and since he is a zombie in the morning on top of his allergies kicking his butt, he just said " yeah, whatever, OK" ( or at least I think that's what the grunting was) and headed out the door. The younger three...not so much. "Mom, I don't like school lunches anymore. Can't we just make our own?" Yes, of course they could.

 So, my kids had combinations of: yogurt, Trisuits, hard boiled eggs, pretzels ( not exactly in the plan but we had them from their aunt), applesauce, carrots, hummus, goat cheese, ham and cheese muffins, apples, and tangerines. They each kind of hodgepodged something together. And there you have it, non processed lunches chosen by the kids themselves :-)

Healthy meals aren't hard

Sorry for being MIA right away. With Brendan's wrestling schedule and this move coming up quickly, blogging was the last thing on my mind.

I'm spending so much time sorting and purging and getting ready for the movers. They come one week from today!! Oh and because I have an athlete, packing has to be done by Thursday. We have the State Wrestling Tournament on Friday and Saturday and then, of course, Easter on Sunday. So the next few days are going to be crazy! I'm living in the midst of piles and DO NOT PACK signs...blah. I'll be happy when next weekend gets here...our household goods, Shane's unaccompanied baggage shipment, and hopefully the car will all be gone...that means time to relax a bit until we have to send our storage shipment sometime in May.

So what do meals look like in the midst of all the chaos...well, I'm doing the best I can. For breakfast today a couple of kids had oatmeal and a couple had cold cereal with fruit...and yes there is cold cereal that is non-processed...grape nuts and shredded wheat. :-)

Here is a picture of our lunch...I had the same thing I packed in the kids lunch boxes.

It's Triscuit minis with goat cheese, carrots with hummus, hard boiled egg, strawberries, and a pear.

Dinner tonight...the crockpot is my friend. I have fresh spaghetti sauce in the crockpot. We will put it over whole wheat spaghetti and pair it with a salad. I might make some steamed snowpeas as well...Yum!

A bit of a hiccup

I decided yesterday to start this blog and we had a hiccup of sorts right away. We had Shane's brother and his family down to visit for a couple of days and they treated us to dinner last night and breakfast this morning.

Yeah that is Oklahoma Joes BBQ Sauce...we had a huge dinner of ribs, burnt ends, beans, cole slaw...the works. And yep, those are prepackaged yummy cinnamon rolls that we had for breakfast! We said when we started this whole eating thing that we are not going to be "those people". You know the ones that can't eat anywhere except at home because they refuse to eat what is served. (And no I am not talking about those of you with allergies...that is a completely different issue and one that is understood) We are cutting back on meat and dairy. We are going to eat non processed food. HOWEVER, we are also going to enjoy life and enjoy our food. So, most of the time, in our day to day life we will live according to our rules. BUT, there are also times for ribs and cinnamon rolls. And that time for us was the past couple of days while we got to enjoy the wonderful company and generosity of our family. Thanks Jake and Mindy!

I'm back!!!

This blog started years ago as a way to document our lives when we lived overseas in Italy. We are once again embarking upon an overseas tour. This time it is South Korea. We are also taking on a new health challenge in our lives--all non processed food! A friend of mine said I should start a blog of the journey to non processed food so....since I already have this one and we have 2 new adventures, I may as well start back up. Right now I have complete chaos on the moving front. I would love to get everything organized and ready to go, but we are, of course, waiting on our orders. The Army never does anything on the timeline I would like :) So, I have a basement that is divided into storage, sell, and ship piles. I also have stuff all over my house that I'm just not sure what to do with. When going to Korea, the Army only allows for half the normal weight allowance. That means 7500 lbs for us...that goes fast! We will be taking our couch, one recliner, the tv/wii/xbox, our beds, a couple of dressers and bookshelves, the piano, and the kids toys, and clothes. Seriously that is about it...we are trying so hard to downsize! We will get loaner furniture once we get there to make up everything else...oh and I did forget one major thing...my crazy husband is insisting on taking the pool table! HA! So that will make up our weight:) Next week is Spring Break...the kids are all going skiing with their grandparents and Shane will be TDY so...cleaning, sorting, and packing are what I will be doing for a full week. We hope to get the movers here on 2 April...we shall see. The eating game is going pretty well. The rules are...Everything we buy has to have 5 ingredients or less and we have to know what they all are, less meat, and less dairy. So far we have found some fantastic recipes for dinners, breakfasts, and snacks. It is a challenge to pack lunches for everyone everyday, but I am getting there...trying to go beyond just sandwiches and fruit. The big thing I have going on right now is bread. I have been making homemade and it is going ok...I have found a recipe that we really like the flavor of, but it is quite heavy and dense. I am going to work on it next time I bake bread (a couple of days from now) and see if adding some gluten will lighten it up...I'll keep you posted. I'm going to close out for now. I'll try to be more creative with my posts from now on..pictures and more exciting topics, but today my goal was just to get on here and do some updating. Have a great day!