Real Food

I've been really going out of my way to ensure that my babies are getting the proper nutrition.
Not that I didn't care before. I did. But I was lazy about it. I was indifferent. I knew
a change needed to be made but was too overwhelmed to do it.

Now, I can be found devouring nutrition labels & ingredients lists at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.
Replacing the processed crap they've been eating with healthier, more wholesome alternatives.

With REAL food. As nature intended it to be.

I go on weird little tangents like this every so often but they usually
never stick. But this time, it's stuck and has turned into a habit.

I've become a BIG, BIG fan of Trader Joe's.
I'm dieting and whenever I'm on a diet the number one thing I crave most is any kind of  fancy cheese.
The cheese department at TJ's is enough to make me a customer for life.

I look forward to taking the kids to Trader Joe's and shopping with them.
I love to see their faces light up at the idea of what they will be eating for the next weeks dinners
and fighting over who gets to pick what vegetables we are going to be taking home that week.

I love hearing Charlie say that I'm the best cook ever and that this is the best dinner he ever had.

I sneak veggies into their food as often as I can. Like adding frozen spinach into
my already-filled-with-veggies spaghetti sauce, or adding spinach leaves into their sandwiches.

I can happily say that I really don't remember the last time my kids ate McDonald's.

(Ok, I'll admit they get the occasional Chick-Fil-A but at least that's REAL chicken)

Charlie's lunches have had a complete overhaul. That one I had no choice but to change

up because frankly, I found it unacceptable that he came home from school 3 out of 5 days

having only eaten 2 bites out of his sandwich and not much else out of his lunchbox.

Here are some of the changes I've made:
I changed Ella's milk to rice milk. She gets almond milk too but mostly rice.
Lunches are now mostly leftovers from the night before's dinner. 

Charlie gets to have California Rolls from Trader Joe's once every couple of weeks as a treat.
What can I say? The boy has a diverse palate.

Snacks are pieces of cheese, oranges (Ella's favorite), avocado and tomatoes mashed together with

a little garlic powder & lemon juice, corn puffs, granola bars that have no ingredients in them that I can't 

pronounce, carrots (Charlie likes to eat these raw & peeled, like bugs bunny) organic corn chips & salsa,

lots and lots of apples and bananas and the organic version of go-gurts.

I've been making breakfast, lunch and dinner at home as much as possible.

It's fun to me to find fun, new recipes to try and see them all enjoy it. Eric's really happy, I can tell you that.

One of their favorites so far has been this one...

(and if you guys want me to, I can share a few more recipes too...)

My version of Taco Soup

2 cans red kidney beans rinsed

1 can black beans, rinsed

2 cans corn

5 whole tomatoes, chopped.

1 red pepper

1 orange pepper

1 yellow pepper

1 onion, chopped

3 zucchini, diced

4 corn tortillas, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 jar of mild salsa

3 cups of chicken broth

1 packet of hidden valley ranch

1 packet of taco seasoning

2 cups quinoa, cooked

Optional: Meatballs

You can add sour cream, a little cheese and some avocado to make the perfect meal.

It's thick enough to eat with tortilla chips or thin enough to eat as a soup.

I just threw all this stuff into my precious crock pot before I went to bed and turned it

to low (6-8 hours). The next morning, the house smelled heavenly and I had that night's dinner all prepared

and ready to go. The kids don't even realize that they're eating tons of veggies and protein. It's perfect.

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I've recently learned in some nutrition classes about foods that are best for you to eat.

Quinoa was one of them.

I did a little research for you and found this:

"It turns out that this tiny seed is actually a nutritional powerhouse! This super food is loaded with vitamins

and minerals. Specifically, it is a great source of folate, iron, magnesium and zinc. The fact that it has magnesium, copper and phosphorous means that quinoa is especially good for those that have migraine

headaches, atherosclerosis and diabetes.

When it comes to fueling up for exercise or dropping a few pounds, cooking quinoa really makes sense.

This is thanks to the fact that one cup of cooked quinoa has just 220 calories. Quinoa is a great source

of healthy carbohydrates, and also provides 5 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein per serving.

The protein in quinoa is of particular interest.

Quinoa may just be the perfect food for vegetarians because it is one of the few non-meat foods that

provide all eight of the essential amino acids that our bodies need to repair themselves. Unlike grains,

quinoa is a great source of lysine which plays a critical role in cellular repair."

The rest of this article, it can be found here Cooking Quinoa

They eat it like it's rice and don't even know the difference.

I'm liking this idea of food as fuel instead of eating just to eat and eating crap.

Don't get me wrong, they don't eat perfectly all of the time. I'm happy enough to aim for as often as possible

and when my mom wants to take them to McDonald's when she babysits them? I'm okay with that.

Because I know that, at least most of the time, they are eating well and fueling their bodies with plenty

of nutritious, real food and I'm thrilled about that.

Happy Sunday, friends.

Spring is almost here, and guess what?

I'm really excited for it.