We are not even two weeks into this adventure yet and today was difficult. It started out as a great day but had a lot of mental highs and lows. Our breakfast was oatmeal bars and chocolate (spinach, banana, cocoa, etc) shakes.  I thought the kids would love them but the girls were not thrilled and took a while to plow through them.  Little J, Jason and I enjoyed these and the shakes turned out much better than the first

Here is the menu and recipes for this coming week. I think I did a little bit better planning the full week this time.  Links are provided for the recipes I will use except for Friday (I haven’t decided which burger recipe to use yet) and Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream (it is from Furman‘s Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained (Google Affiliate Ad) book) Today we tried a LOT of new recipes including “bacon” for breakfast

Saturday is typically our pancakes morning so adapting our traditional recipe would have been a little challenging (though not impossible).  So I returned to a whole wheat recipe I have used over the past year. PANCAKES Here is the original.  My adaptations are below: Combine: 1 c. whole wheat flour1/2 c. oats1/4 c. corn meal1/4 c. flax seed meal1 t. baking powder1/2 t baking soda Add:2 c. milk alternative (I used Almond)1 mashed banana Stir and let sit while you

Netflix so kindly recommended other documentaries that would enjoy since I just watched, “Forks Over Knives”.  From the list I chose, “Vegucated.”  I made the mistake of watching it over dinner.  Although I knew most of the information regarding factory farming and I am learning about the health benefits of a plant based diet, to see the reality of those types of farms was sickening.   I am thankful that it’s been years since we stepped off of that terrible

We are 3 days in to our ‘plant based, whole foods’ lifestyle change.  I have been surprised by several things.  First, the children are actually receptive to the change.  We have told them nothing at all about it.  But, they have been eating and enjoying the meals I have prepared and snacks.  They were especially excited today when I made tortilla chips and the desserts have been a huge hit.  None of these items contained any added sugars, fats or

Here is the manu plan that I have come up with.  Click the links to see the recipes: I am not quite finished with this but you can see where I have started to get an idea.  We had the Lentil Coconut soup last night with RAVE reviews from the kids, same with the Rip’s Bowl for breakfast.  Looking forward to these meals! Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Breakfast Pumpkin Quinoa Oatmeal Breakfast Bars Musli Rip’s Bowl Friday

Today, my family and I watched Forks Over Knives.  The movie had been recommended to us by several friends and I finally had the chance to sit down and watch it.  I have watched many food movies at this point and read many food books.  Mostly, my perspective on food issues has been to answer the following questions: What is the impact of food production on the environment? Is the food safe for our bodies?  To date, I have been

This article is thought provoking http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/nyregion/health-board-approves-bloombergs-soda-ban.html.  New York city health department has banned the sale of soda and sugary drinks larger than 16 oz.  I ignored the comment about us being able to make our own choices and this being a restriction on our own abilities to make good choices.  Why?  Because as a society we are largely not making good food choices. I think there is a growing population of people who are interested in food, it’s affect on our

Today was the first real opportunity for the decision my family has made to change our food choices to be put to the test.  For several weeks now my husband and I have been discussing the decision to put into action throughout our lives the choices we have made about the food we eat at home. At home we eat only meats that were grass fed, pastured and raised locally and ethically.  We do our best to choose meats that were not

I spent the evening in my kitchen preparing food.  The children are truly starting to understand now that we we do now: the picking, the cooking, the preserving; will last us into the winter months when so much fresh delicious food is no longer available.  Tonight’s venture was tackling the peaches we picked yesterday at Spring Valley Farm in Conowingo, MD.  We also picked enough blueberries for one last blueberry cobbler and 1.5 qts of blackberries which we have enjoyed