It’s Day Two of our clean eating journey for Lent. Day One was not difficult for me as it was a regular fasting and salad day.
Day One fasting salad: turkey, carrot, bean.
It was also time to go grocery shopping for day two. We ended up at Wal-Mart and I decided that we would buy whatever we could find on our list and improvise with what they didn’t have. As we entered the store, all of the tempting Easter candy was on display.
“Can we get a treat?” my children asked.
I reminded them that we were going to try to eat healthy until Easter so there would be no candy today. Amazingly, there were no complaints! We had talked about this project before so they decided to focus on finding healthy foods that they liked.
We discovered some fruit and vegetable snack packs in the produce aisle where they had combinations like peanut butter and celery, apples and caramel, carrots and hummus. My children were interested so we purchased several of them.My other daughter requested watermelon. She also suggested yogurt.My son enjoyed inspecting everything.In the end, he insisted on fruit snacks (not quite the “fruit” I was going for.)
I prepared myself that we might waste a lot of money on foods that the children would not eat but we are dedicated to try.
Even the grocery store is in a Lenten mood.Another kid-friendly choice: olives!My pickiest eater picked out corn as a yummy vegetable so we bought it.That night for dinner, the children agreed to some healthier choices like whole wheat quesadilla with olives.. . . and salmon and milk!
Today I did not wake up ravenous as I am used to my Wednesday fasts now. However, I did wake up a bit overwhelmed as I am going to be doing a lot of cooking and cooking in ways that are new to me. However, even with a busy schedule and lots of errands to run, I managed to stick to the cooking plan in It’s All Good. I am following the “Body Builder” weekly plan.
Breakfast: egg white omelet huevos rancheros style. I simplified the recipe by using bottled egg whites rather than cracking eggs, skipping the canned beans seasonings and just rinsing the beans and nuking them in the microwave a few minutes and using store-bought pickled jalapenos. Results? Quite yummy!Lunch: Vietnamese-style salad with salmon. I skipped the watercress, mint and basil as the store didn’t have these. I also forgot fish sauce for the dressing. However, it was still a delicious salad even with all these ingredients missing.To reduce cooking time, packing up the extra for lunch tomorrow.Snack: Pumpkin Pie Shake My children thought this looked yummy and asked to taste it. My daughter took one sip said, “It’s kind of OK.” and then asked for a glass of water to wash it down. My son was excited because he thought it was a real milkshake! He took one sip and made raspberry-like spitting noises indicating his disgust. As for me, I thought it was rather good–creamy and spicy!Saving time by packing away the other half of the sweet potato for tomorrow’s shake.Dinner: Mediterranean-style turkey burger salad. The burger has lots and lots of onions and garlic in it. It was pretty good. The salad was dressed only in lemon juice and was also good.Saving time in future by wrapping up the other 3 burgers for future dinners. Just grill and add lettuce to finish.My daughter’s opinion of the turkey burgers aromatic fragrance and her choice for dinner.Soaked almonds for a snack. Apparently the soaking makes them easier to digest.More kid tasting of healthy foods today. Watermelon gets a thumbs up!Packing the watermelon into easy-to-grab cups for the fridge.My son has decided he likes V8 juice!
I am not really feeling hungry at this point. The portions of these clean eating meals are quite generous and filling. My children are doing OK as well. They still eat a lot of carbs but are being great sports about tasting new foods and switching out choices like Nutella for peanut butter. It is only day 2 but so far so good!
If you are joining along (thanks Bertie and Mary!) please share how you are doing.
