Hey, Mikey! He likes it!

I've been working really hard to transition my family into this new whole foods lifestyle.  I started eating different in August 2011, but was the only one.  It was hard to make their meal, and then make a different meal for myself afterwards.  My kids constantly expressed their condolences to me, for having to suffer through the way I was eating.  I tried to explain to them that I didn't feel deprived (for the most part), but they couldn't fathom that.

Then in about November, a miracle:  Jimmy (my husband) decided that he needed to make a change, and wanted to start eating the way that I was.  I have to admit that even though that made me so happy, it made me nervous about how we could afford to have our biggest eater eating all of the healthy things I was (At that point I was freaking out about how much our food budget had increased).

Then over time, I decided that I simply didn't have the time to make two meals, and decided that our kids would have to eat what we were (at least 85% of the time anyway).  They've resisted some, but the last few weeks have been very rewarding...  I'm finding recipes they LOVE that are super healthy.  Wa-hoo!

Last night we had Quick & Easy Gluten-free Mac and Cheese, and EVERYONE wanted seconds.  The sauce has raw milk, steamed cauliflower, nutritional yeast, raw cashews, lemon juice, minced garlic, and other seasonings, blended into a smooth sauce in my Vitamix blender.  I served the sauce over brown rice noodles:  Delicious!

Here's a list of some of our favorite recipes from the last few months.  (Recipes can be found by clicking the links).

1.  Crispy Almonds, Pecans, Walnuts, etc.   
2.  Chicken "zoodle" Soup
3.  Overnight Oats
4.  Quick Easy Gluten-Free Mac and Cheese
5.  Moist and Cakey Almond Flour Pancakes

Recipe Review: Powerbars (Reverse engineered Larabars)

Last week I bought an ebook from Kitchen Stewardship.com called Healthy Snacks to Go.  I'd been looking for some good whole food snacks that I could have my personal chef make for my family when she comes next time, and this seemed like it would be a great book.

It was only $6.95, so I bought it.  It has 21 recipes of things that are fairly easy to make, and good to have on hand.  I've quit buying junk food, and I want to have healthy snacks on hand for my family.  If they enjoy them, even better.  I want to show them that eating healthy isn't torture, it can be great, and worth the trade off.

On Saturday I bought the ingredients for Power Bars (Reverse engineered Larabars).  [I have no idea what "reverse engineered Larabars" means in the title.  If any of you know, let me know.]   I made them that afternoon, and they were a HUGE hit with me & the kids!  Jimmy, not so much (he doesn't like that dark chocolate taste).

Here are the instructions & ingredients:

In food processor, grind & add together: (I don't have a food processor, but it's now on my wish list.  I used my Vitamix, and it worked just fine.  They don't recommend doubling the recipe if using a blender, but I did with no problem).
1/8 c. walnuts
1/4 c. almonds
Add
1/2 c. dates
1/8 c. raisins
Stream in
1 Tbs coconut (I used flakes)
4 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 Tbs coconut oil
+ pinch of instant coffee (We don't drink coffee so we left this out... It was fine!)
optional:  1/2 tsp mint extract (I didn't have any, but sounds really good!)
Form the final product.  You can form them into bars, or balls.  I made them into smaller bite-sized balls.

I give this recipe 5 out of 5 stars!  They were SO good.  I didn't tell my picky eaters that they were eating blended dates & raisins.  They tasted the chocolate, and knew that they were eating a yummy treat.  My 12-year old thought they weren't sweet enough, but she did go back for seconds (she knew they were made out of dates & was more hesitant).  Oh, and by the way- I'm not supposed to eat most of the things in these power bars, but just HAD to try them.  I'm starting to do that a little more here & there.

I've ordered some bulk nuts from Azure Standard, and when my order comes the next type of bars I'll try is Coco-shew bars.  They're made with cashews, coconut, raisins, and a little vanilla.  I think Jimmy will like something like that. 

Have you tried Larabars before?  What's your favorite flavor?

Day 2- Not too bad...

So I'm in the 2nd day now of my very modified diet.  So far so good, for the most part.  I actually don't feel too bad, compared to the last time I tried to do a "cleansing" diet that was similar to this.  I felt horrible on that one.  I started to get pretty hungry last night, which I'm trying to avoid.   I thought that when I woke up in the morning today I would be ravenous, but I wasn't.

Yesterday here is what I ate:

Breakfast:  2 egg omelet with spinich & tomatoes
Lunch:  Green salad w/romaine, cucumber, and tomato
Dinner:  2 eggs, and a cucumber.

I know.  Boring.  And not enough calories.  I didn't have much in my fridge, ready to start this, but I wasn't going to put it off!  I was able to grab a few things at the store yesterday, and today is somewhat better. 

Here's a pretty good summary of the foods I can eat right now:

http://www.thecandidadiet.com/foodstoeat.htm

The only thing I'm taking off of the list for right now is yogurt (for 4 weeks).  But hopefully I'll be back on that soon.  I'm going to check & see if Real Foods carries a raw milk yogurt.  Do they even make that?  Kefir, maybe?  That would be a nice addition, so I'm going to check that out soon.