What's cooking?

What are we eating this week? Definitely not cupcakes! Mamma's on a diet so there will be no junk in this house. It is out with the girl scout cookies and in with whole grains, fresh produce and lean meats. Yum!!!

After two entire days I have decided to put the "diet" behind me and move forward with a more healthy way of living and eating. I think there is a lot to say for the way our past generations prepared and ate their meals. Lisa has introduced me to a few blogs, good books and the notion of getting back to the "old ways" and it really seems to make sense. Our wheat should be coming by the end of the week, along with our sucanat (evaporated cane juice) and 50 lbs of oats. Once one of us finally pushes the buy button on the Pleasant Hill Grain site and actually purchases a grain mill we will be in business. Only homemade nutritious breads and bake goods made with soaked whole grains (I still have to figure out the soaking thing) for our families. My goal is for my family to eat only whole, organic and as locally grown and raised food as possible. We will eat as little processed food as I can get away with. For what it worth, I just ordered an ice cream maker for sweet summer treats and I made homemade granola last week. The kids loved it!

We kind of started out slow on this journey. Last year we both planted huge gardens and canned vegetables and made sauce from our tomatoes. We also picked berries and made jam. We were given 5 gallon buckets of homegrown grapes and apples to make apple sauce and grape juice and jelly. Lisa even made some really delicious homemade ketchup, which I plan to try this year. Both of our families have been enjoying our labor of love all year. I will tell you it is so nice to pull zucchini out of the freezer in the dead of winter to make a zucchini bread or open a jar of summer peaches for a cobbler when there is snow on the ground.

So, here is my new plan. For breakfast I will have a protein and a vegetable or fruit. Snack will be a dairy such as low fat yogurt (I want to make my own yogurt, after I master the soaked wheat). Lunch will always be a salad with plenty of vegetables and protein. Dinner will be a smaller potion of whatever I cook for my family. I am also planning to dust of the elliptical machine and get moving. I will also be posting my menu on Sundays to help keep me accountable. I will update later in the week, to make sure I am sticking to it and to see if I am actually losing any weight. If this doesn't work, I guess it is back to the drawing board. I will it more than a day or two:) I know this will not be the most interesting post. However, it is really for my benefit. I need some accountability and seeing it every time I log onto my blog will hopefully help. So please bare with me:)

Our Menu:
*I am only doing lunch and dinner because breakfast will always be the same. We will have either oatmeal, eggs with vegetables or kashi cereal. I will always have salad for lunch. The following is for Chad and the kids.

Sunday: Lunch- turkey brats with mac & cheese and green beans
Dinner- I have a roast and fresh green beans in the crock pot with baked sweet potatoes

Monday: Lunch- turkey sandwiches, veggie slices with dip and fruit (it is open gym
at our home school group we are packing)Dinner-enchiladas, re-fried beans and rice

Tuesday: Lunch- nachos with left over enchilada stuff
Dinner- vegetable beef soup (with left over roast) with salad and corn bread.

Wednesday: Lunch- Soup and grilled cheese
Dinner- Scalloped red potatoes with ham and salad

Thursday: Lunch- Turkey dog's with mac & cheese and fruit
Dinner- sausage and lintel soup with salad and homemade bread

Friday: Lunch- Left over soup and bread
Friday- homemade pizza (with homemade crust) and salad

Saturday: Lunch- any left overs they want or tuna salad sandwiches
Dinner- Chili with corn bread and salad

For snacks this week I already hard boiled eggs, made granola and we have a ton of fruits, vegetables, yogurt and cheese sticks. Thank goodness my kids love all of that stuff. They should not go hungry even though mom is dieting.