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| http://www.flickr.com/, photo by Charles Haynes |
Awhile back, I got a request: What does this healthy eating thing actually look like for your family?
Today, I'm posting a sample weekly menu so you can see how our family does it. Each week looks different, of course, and I'm sure a professional nutritionist would be able to find lots of holes in it, but here it is. You might be surprised at how normal it is!
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| http://www.flickr.com/, photo by BPheonix |
Monday:
Breakfast
Muffins, scrambled eggs
Always serve protein for breakfast!
Lunch
Sandwiches, applesauce
unsweetened applesauce
sandwiches made with Great Harvest bakery bread--no sugar added!
For peanut butter, I mix together raw almond butter and all natural peanut butter with no sugar added.
We buy Kroger brand all-fruit jelly.
Supper
Chicken roasted in crock pot
roasted vegetables
To roast vegetables, cut up whatever fresh veges you prefer (or use frozen) and make a shallow layer in a roasting pan. I use the Kroger brand Key Largo frozen vegetables mix (contains red peppers, orange and yellow carrots, and green beans.) Preheat the oven to 450, then sprinkle on garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and drizzle olive oil over the entire mixture. Stir, then bake for 30 minutes, stirring once after about 15 minutes.
You might also choose to add a baked potato to this meal. We occasionally do that.
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| http://www.flickr.com/, photo by vauvau |
Tuesday:
Breakfast
Smoothies, toast
We use Ezekiel bread for toast. My girls prefer the cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread.
Lunch
Burritos
mandarin oranges
To make homemade burritos (which are super delish!), I make whole wheat tortillas and crock pot refried beans. Then, I just stuff the tortillas with raw cheese and the beans and fry in olive oil for a few seconds on each side.
If you don't want to make your own tortillas, Ezekiel tortillas are pretty good. Many stores carry whole wheat tortillas, but look carefully at the list of ingredients. Most of them are made using damaged oils.
If you don't want to make your own refried beans, make sure to read the label on the can before buying. Many brands add sugar to their beans. Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have canned refried beans without sugar.
Supper
Cheesy Chicken
Steamed peas and carrots
I haven't blogged this recipe yet. Watch for it!
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| http://www.flickr.com/, photo by ConstructionDealMkting |
Breakfast
Scrambled eggs, cereal
Most cereals use some refined flour and sugar. The only cereals I have found (that don't taste like cardboard) which use strictly whole wheat are the Kashi shredded wheat cereals. Even one or two of these has a very light sweetener added, but the cinnamon shredded wheat is 100% organic whole wheat and cinnamon.
Lunch
Hot dogs
macaroni and cheese
peas
No, this isn't a typo, but what was once a cheap lunch has become a once-a-month special treat! We buy Applegate hot dogs--they are not cheap, but they also don't add any nitrites, nitrates, or sugar. For the mac and cheese, we use Trader Joe's gluten free mac and cheese, and I consider it a splurge. No matter how you slice it, powdered yellow cheese is not the best way to do cheese. I have made a homemade mac and cheese that was fabulous, but it was a little too much work for a hot dog lunch!
Supper
Burgers
Sweet potato fries
We buy grass-fed cows from Collins Farm Fresh Beef, a local farm, and we save a ton of money! When we run out of beef, we buy Laura's Lean Beef at Kroger. This does go on sale! If you've seen the recent news about pink slime, rest assured that Laura's has never added pink slime to their meat.
Oftentimes, we go without buns, wrapping our burgers in large romaine lettuce leaves, but sometimes we use toasted slices of Ezekiel bread or Ezekiel buns.
Sweet potato fries are the best side dish I never knew I liked! I make them by thinly slicing up sweet potatoes, then adding salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, and rosemary. I drizzle olive oil over them, stir them up, then line them up on a shallow baking pan and bake for 20-30 minutes at 425-450, turning once.
Thursday:
Breakfast
Smoothies, toast
Lunch
Pizza pockets
apples
Supper
Honey ginger chicken stir fry
Friday:
Breakfast
Protein packed pancakes
fried eggs
Lunch
Grilled cheese
grapes
Again, we use Ezekiel bread and raw cheese to make these sandwiches. Personally, I don't like eating sandwiches on plain Ezekiel bread, but it is very good grilled or toasted.
Supper
pizza
(sometimes we add a side salad)
Saturday:
Breakfast
Smoothies
toast
Lunch
spaghetti and meatballs
steamed green beans
I make up my own spaghetti sauce recipe, which basically consists of throwing a bunch of spices into a tomato sauce/paste mix and heating. We serve this over whole wheat spaghetti noodles, but Dale and I often just line our meatballs up in romaine lettuce leaves.
Supper
Chicken nuggets
steamed mixed vegetables
Sunday:
Breakfast
Dutch Baby
Watch for this recipe, coming soon! It's like a baked apple pancake...
Lunch
Lasagne
steamed broccoli
To make lasagne, I mix together a couple of old church recipes, eliminating any sugar, and use whole wheat noodles.
Supper
Chicken packets
Fresh fruit
Recipe for chicken packets coming soon!
We also eat plenty of snacks and desserts, but that will have to be covered in another post!
Hint: To drink 8 glasses of water each day, drink 2 full glasses with each meal, then 1 extra glass mid morning and midafternoon.
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