Day One-Three

Well, people, how's it going? I meant to post on the 1st about how my first day of the challenge went but my night got away from me. So instead, here's a re-cap of the past few days.

04/01

BREAKFAST
oatmeal (organic oats from our CSA)
brown sugar (Trader Joe's organic)
tiny bit of butter (homemade and organic)

SNACK
2 organic kiwis (from our CSA)

LUNCH
Minestrone soup

SNACK
guacamole (homemade with ingredients from farmers' market)
carrot sticks (organic from our CSA)

SNACK
honey stick

DINNER
Shrimp & Avocado with Marie Rose Sauce (from Jamie's Food Revolution cookbook)
mandarin orange (organic from our CSA)

DESSERT
Paciugo gelato


First, let's talk about dinner. Wow. I didn't know what to expect with this one, but the delicious looking photos in the cookbook really made me want to try it. The dish is super simple -- lightly breaded shrimp seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika along with a watercress and avocado salad drizzled with Marie Rose sauce (which turns out to be mayo, ketchup, worcester, lemon, salt and pepper -- I left out the whiskey that the recipe called for!). So, it sounded kind of strange but turned out to be super good! We all loved it -- even the two-year-old kid. We will make it again for sure.

Second, let's talk about dessert. This was not one of my anticipated cheats. A friend's birthday just happened to be that day and we were invited out to celebrate. However, as far as cheating goes, I think this barely qualifies. We went to a gelato place called Paciugo and it is amazing. At Paciugo, all of their gelato are made by hand every morning. The ingredients are all natural, with no preservatives or artificial ingredients. So, even though I personally did not make this, it was not made in a factory and only has good, real ingredients. Woot! Good to know that there is such a place to go for a treat now and then. :)


04/02

BREAKFAST
oatmeal (organic oats from our CSA)
brown sugar (Trader Joe's organic)
tiny bit of butter (homemade and organic)

LUNCH
guacamole (homemade with ingredients from farmers' market)
carrot sticks (organic from CSA)
yogurt (homemade -- tutorial coming soon!)
*weird snack-y lunch*

DINNER
chicken pesto sandwich (homemade bread and pesto, grilled free-range organic chicken breast)


04/03

BREAKFAST
oatmeal (organic oats from our CSA)
brown sugar (Trader Joe's organic)
tiny bit of butter (homemade and organic)
*do you sense a trend here?*

LUNCH
greek salad
fruit
chicken
tiramisu
baklava
*Remember I had a wedding to go to? So this was a cheat day in that I didn't make the food myself. However, the food was really good quality and fresh and real, so I felt good about it anyway. Plus, best baklava I've ever had!*

DINNER
Classic Tomato Spaghetti (from Jamie's Food Revolution - really yummy! Simple and fresh and fast. I'll add a photo as soon as I can.)


So, not too shabby, right? As I mentioned, this month is kind of a crazy one to do this challenge. On Tuesday I am going to a concert directly from my kid's gymnastics class -- when am I going to eat dinner? I'm going to try really hard to bring something with me to eat cause I reeeeaaaallllyyy do not want to end up junk in desperation. And then on Thursday we're off to a friends' house for a few days to party. I'll be bringing along my own yogurt and a few other things and happily, my friends like to cook real food, too, so I should be good. Phew.

I will try to post every other evening or so with details (and hopefully a photo or two) about what I've eaten each day along with recipes, some favorite things and more information I learn about processed foods and the food industry. Please join me in this challenge! Even if you can't go hard-core and make everything from scratch, just cut out all fast food for this month. Make healthy, fresh food your priority even if it means some other projects get put on hold for a couple weeks. I know that you will feel so fantastic that you won't want to revert back to how you were eating before. Real food makes such a difference in how our bodies feel! Happy bodies!

For those of you who have already started doing this with me, please comment with an update on how you're doing. And good luck!