A day in meals

We think about food a lot in this household. Or at least I do. Probably because I'm generally the one who makes each meal (though Husband is alarmingly good at coming up with awful-sounding, but invariably delicious-tasting combinations... some days I wonder why he's not the one doing the cooking).

Probably also because in the last two years we have spent a large amount of time learning about our food, attempting various "diet" changes (Juicing, Vegan, Vegetarian, currently Caveman/Paleo), and just generally relishing the foods we eat and how they make our bodies feel. 

Personally, I don't tend to like labels. They make me feel trapped. And as soon as I tell myself I "can't" eat something, I invariably begin to crave that one thing. SO... while we have tested out the various diets to see what works and feels good for us, we don't tend to get too hung up on the dogma of the particular dietary trend... we just eat the food, and see how it goes. And when we're out of the house, we eat whatever we want. Avoiding whatever seems excessive, but not restricting ourselves to the point of having to struggling to figure out where we can eat.

When home, we try to stick with buying only REAL food -- i.e., can you identify each ingredient, or better yet is there only ONE ingredient? Since I am home and can devote time to our food, we are able to avoid just about all processed and packaged items. Since the shift to paleo, we've significantly cut down on our "snacking" items (no more bread, chips, cookies, etc.). Which has been an interesting change, as I've noticed that I tend to be a grazer...eating if it's convenient and already prepared, but rarely stopping and focusing on preparing food for myself outside of the evening family meal. It's been work for me to pull it together and cook/prepare actual meals for myself and Isabel three times a day. Good work, and healthy work (I certainly feel better/have more energy/fewer blood sugar drops with the resulting crappy moods/depression), but still a change for me.

It's certainly easiest if I keep a bowl of hard boiled eggs and some chopped veggies in the fridge. Or these brownies! So glad I decided to try them out.

Without further ado, here's a recent day of meals.

Breakfast:

Yes... some days I have brownies for breakfast. These are a modified version of this recipe, as I didn't have all the ingredients and used what I did have. I'll post my recipe modifications later -- definitely a keeper! Theses are hands down the best brownies I've ever made from scratch. Bonus that they're paleo! And delicious with coffee.

Isabel had some for breakfast too. I figure if she eats celery and peanut butter, or a handful of green beans other mornings, the odd brownie breakfast can't hurt.

If there's one thing I want to pass on to my kids about food, it's that there is no BAD food. There are healthy habits, and there are unhealthy habits... but there is a place for every real food in a balanced diet. And sometimes that means dessert breakfasts and veggie desserts. 

Lunch:

 Of course, it was then necessary to balance our sweet indulgence with some more savory tastes. Turkey bacon (works in a pinch, but not my favorite bacon), boiled egg, sauerkraut, and the tail end of our celery. Celery's become a staple in our house... pretty sure half of Isabel's diet is celery. The other half, bananas.  

Dinner:

I have been craving comfort food, lately. I think because of the soaring and then plummeting temperatures... when it gets cold I want to hole up with a mug of something hot, a tasty filling dinner, and a good book.

Apparently I was really hungry this evening, because I don't have a plated picture... only the cooking. So, there's a dish of sauteed onions, mushrooms, green beans and hot dogs, topped with 'over-medium' eggs so the yolk spills down and soaks into the veggies once cut open.
And the last bottle of old beer that's been in the back of our fridge an embarrassingly long time.