Our new eating plan...

Here is a sampling of dinner menus from our new eating plan.

Beef barley soup (homemade)
Bread (homemade)
cheese
oranges

Hamburger Pinwheels
Brown rice
green beans
applesauce
pickles

Chicken tenders
Buttered noodles
Peaches (canned)
Romaine and spinach salad

Macaroni and cheese w/ meat (I confess that my kids like hot dogs in theirs, but ham would be better if you are going for whole foods)
Pennsylvania Red Cabbage
Salad (romaine)
Pickles

Meatball subs
Green beans
Pears
Noodles

Cube steak
Mashed potatoes
broccoli
applesauce

Pizza (We eat this every Friday. I make my own, but now I am rounding out the meal more by adding...
carrots or salad
strawberries or other fruit

I hope this blesses some of you as you strive to eat healthier with more whole foods.

The Eating Plan...

I have learned over time and by experiment that making too many changes at one time leads to disaster. I have decided through much reflection that during the month of January the only changes I am making to my eating and meal preparation will be to follow the meal plan laid out in Feeding the Whole Family: Recipes for Babies, Young Children and Their Parents.

Since we are not vegetarians, I will follow the meal plan with animal protein. This is how the plan breaks down:

Fish, eggs, chicken, pork or beef
Starchy vegetable or whole grain
Green vegetable
Another vegetable or fruit
Something fermented, pickled or raw

I tried this with tonight's dinner. For dinner we had hamberger pinwheels which does include both meat (beef) and whole grain (the dough). I did add in brown rice as another whole grain to add some depth to the meal. We also had green beens that were sauted and quartered strawberries. I forgot to include the pickles, but we did have them at lunch.

Typically I plan my meals for a month. I am not in the habit of giving much thought to the vegetable or fruit that we are having with the meal. Sadly, it is often an after thought. This will take all of my thought and effort this month, so I am waiting until I get this down before I add in other things. The only other focus area will be water consumption. This is not that difficult for me, so I am not counting that as a "new" focus area for me.

Now I am off to get the rest of the plan down. I especially need to know what I am making tomorrow.

Thanksgiving Preparations: Shopping

I had high hopes for baking and cleaning today, but they were not to be. I did shop, and then I realized that this was a very important part of preparing for Thanksgiving day.

I had already planned the menu last week, and while I was planning the menu I made a shopping list. Yesterday I went to a local market that had good prices on produce and a few other items. So, I picked upthese items to be used for Thanksgiving:

onions
carrots
celery
lemons
cream cheese

Today I went to Aldi and Wegmans. I think I have everything I need. Here are my holiday items from those two stores.

pumpkin
green olives
mint patties for after dinner
black olives
sour cream
soda pop
apple cider vinegar
Izze (My kids love these, and they only have them on Thanksgiving.)
chicken broth
kalamata olives
Thanksgiving paper napkins
navel oranges

I think that sums up the purchases. All I have to pay for now is the turkey which I will pick up on Wednesday afternoon.