I'm counting this week as a SUCCESS!

I was going to tell you how this week has tried to beat me up bad. It has not been nice at all. And how, after all that, I have been able to see it as a success. So I logged into blogger and immediately got distracted by reading other blogs that I follow and I quickly realize that I have nothing to complain about. NOTHING. I follow a blog ("Fishes for Marrow Wishes" in the Family and Friends section on the side) and they have 2 very sick children. Life threatening sick and they had a very scary event this week and I thought "I have nothing to complain about." My kids are healthy, my family is great. Yes, I am exhausted. Yes, it was a tough week but nothing, NOTHING, compared to theirs so I am fine. You don't need to hear how this week was rough because it wasn't really. I am sure they would have gladly changed places with me.

So here is how it has been a success:

I have mentioned before how I am trying to alter our diet. Originally I looked into the vegan diet which is absolutely NO animal products. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Seemed a bit hard core to me so we moved on. Then I found a blog that is also on my side bar called "100 days of real food." They eat zero processed foods. I have learned so much on this blog and have altered our diet here and there. I am not super hard core on no processed foods YET but I am being pretty serious about it. They eat no processed sugar - white sugar, brown sugar - and they sweeten with honey and 100 percent maple syrup. Cancer loves sugar and as you know I have a major reason to have a serious beef with cancer so I am trying to cut all sugar out of our diet. It is not easy. Especially when you are married to this guy:

The guy who buys brownie mix by the case. BUT I am slowly but surely winning him over. He wants to eat healthy but it is just so hard with all that yummy stuff out there. So we are making progress.


Now remember, I said I wasn't hard core yet. We still eat sugar - my birthday was 2 weeks ago and I was a total wild child and had soda AND cake! I know - I am a total rebel! Ha ha!  I am just trying to drastically reduce how much sugar we eat. There is sugar in EVERYTHING! It is crazy when you start reading the labels and digging a little deeper. It is kind of gross actually.

So I have been making changes, trying new recipes, experimenting a little. I have had some failures but I have also had some successes. One of my biggest problem areas is lunch. Lunch for me at home, lunch for the kids at school. It really is a struggle. Well, on the 100 days of real food blog Facebook page she posts a picture daily what her kids are eating for lunch that day. She also has on her blog what she calls "Lunch Round Ups" (or something like that) where she posts a list of lunches (with pictures). I have been mentally processing her lunches (we don't eat the same things as them) and trying to implement them at home (modified to match our life) but I didn't have the fancy little lunch containers to put it in so I struggled. I am a total copy cat - I can't deviate from the plan or I get lost and since I was deviating it wasn't working so good. So after months of fighting the desire to buy the lunch containers, I did it. The containers are not expensive - they are just the ziploc 3 section tupperware-like containers you can buy at Target/Walmart BUT they do need a larger lunch box to fit in. So I finally splurged and bought the Lands End Lunch boxes that these containers fit in. And guess what - they were on sale! Woo Hoo! The regularly $35 lunch boxes were only $13-$14!

They arrived last Saturday so this was the first week that I was able to use the new set up. And we loved it! The kids loved it! It worked great!

So here is where my success comes in - I planned, purchased food for and cooked HEALTHY meals ALL WEEK and the kids had HEALTHY lunches all week too! I am so proud of myself. I felt like a great mom sending them to school with much healthier (not perfect - but healthier) lunches. And they really like it too! So in 100 Days of Real Food fashion, here are our lunches this week:

Monday Lunches - I didn't have a meal from Sunday night to do left overs for so they got sandwiches, which I am trying to avoid because of the sugar in the bread, sugar in the peanut butter and sugar in the jelly but I have been buying "healthier" peanut butter and "healthier" jelly so I figured it wasn't too bad.

Hailey had: pb&j sandwich, mandarin orange, apple, snap peas and a salad. (She did have Ranch dressing - I am trying to convert her over to my healthy Balsamic Vinegar dressing but it is a slow process)

Evan (the picky little stinker) had: pretzels with peanut butter to dip in, apple, mandarin orange and grapes.

Kayla had - pb&j sandwich, 2 mandarin oranges, apple, raspberries, salad and she snuck in a cookie BUT it was a cookie made with whole wheat flour instead of white so it was "healthier".

Monday Dinner - I made a new recipe that was oven baked chicken legs, roasted potatoes and green beans. 

Tuesday Lunches - there were left overs so for lunch they took:

Girls - chicken legs, apples, chips and salsa, strawberries and salad. Evan had pretzels with pb to dip, apples, and strawberries.

Tuesday Dinner - we had left over spaghetti from Sunday night.

Wednesday Lunch -  looked just like Tuesday's.

Wednesday Dinner - We had Turkey-Veggie Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries and a salad. I made the burgers and fries FROM SCRATCH. Can you believe it? I couldn't. Everyone was a little skeptical on this meal BUT we really enjoyed it! And you know it was a success when the kids, ok - the girls, asked for it in their lunch on Thursday!

Thursday Lunch - Left over turkey-veggie burgers and sweet potato fries.

I heated them up and wrapped them in foil and put them in their lunch container. This day they didn't get any cold packs or anything cold in their lunch because I wanted it to stay hot/warm and it did.

Girls - turkey-veggie burger, sweet potato fries, ketchup and a blond brownie. (See we still eat sugar). I don't remember what Evan had . . . hmmm - probably his usual. He doesn't eat much at school.

Thursday Dinner - Chicken Enchiladas, refried beans (from the can - NOOOOOO - but I forgot to soak my beans ahead of time so I didn't have them cooked - oops!)  and a salad.

And today, Friday, is a mini day so they only took a snack.

It is hard to eat healthy in today's world. Everything is made to be fast and easy but that all comes at a cost. I have thoroughly destroyed my kitchen every night making meals from scratch but I have to believe that it is worth it to feed my family healthier foods. It's slow process. Sometimes I give myself a hard time when we eat sugar but I have to remember to give myself a break because since we are eating healthier at other times we can have a little guilt free sugar every once in awhile.

So here is to meal planning for another week and doing it all over again!

And just for the record - because I have to be totally honest and I am human - I did finish off the blond brownies for breakfast this morning!