I have debated whether or not to blog our family’s sugar fast. But, here goes….
For the next six weeks or so, I’m going to be working to eliminate beet, cane, corn, and artificial sweeteners from our diet. (Honey and maple syrup/sugar are allowed as are the “sugars” naturally occurring in food God invented.)
Basically what this means is that for this to work, I’ll need to be on my toes in terms of meal planning, baking, and meal prep. No fast food because I don’t have a better plan. I’m hoping that as a family we’ll develop some favorite recipes that are just as fun without being junky.
I’m not really sure how this thing will go down. We are currently going through a gallon of milk every day! I tried to make up several batches of these Fruit and Nut Energy Bites and these Cocoa Apricot Cashew Bites, but the kids ate both batches within two days. Needless to say, I’ve got some planning and strategizing to do, sugar or not.
Tonight we celebrated with a homemade ice cream cake. I could probably make it again with honey or maple. But, part of the challenge is to see if we can be satisfied with fewer sweets not more “legal” substitutes.
Another wrinkle is hockey season. FishBoy9 pointed that out today. For him it means foregoing those really awful snacks that they have after a game. Some parents bring bananas and clementines and water bottles. Others bring donuts and twinkies and gatorade. He had a great attitude as we talked about all this and discussed our options. I offered to trade him for healthier treats or to buy them back from him. His suggestion was that he stockpile them for six weeks and then gorge himself at Easter.
We settled on my buying a bunch of fun snacks that weren’t sugared and that I’d give him those instead of a team snack that doesn’t fit our sugar fast.
To answer the question if this is related to Lent: yes and no. We are believers in Jesus Christ and we look at Lent as a time to reflect and remember what Christ did for us on the cross. Hopefully, we remember this every day, but Lent is a great opportunity to talk to my kids about this in a more intentional way.
We do not belong to a Christian faith that requires Lenten observations, but we have good friends who fast in some way each year. Their example has been a good one for our whole family. I don’t want to overspiritualize what we are doing, especially since I know we won’t be able to do it perfectly, but I do hope that it will be good for each one of us, both physically as well as spiritually.
I’ll be recording my random, stream-of-consciousness reflections and observations here.
Day 1
Breakfast
About a year and a half ago, I bought a juicer. I had such a glut of fruit from the produce box, I felt bad when it was going to waste. Since then the kids and I have experimented with all kinds of different combinations of juice. I took a hiatus from juicing over the holidays since I wanted the counter space for other things. In the new year, my kids started asking when I was going to make juice again.
We’re back in the swing of things. For the last month or so, we’ve been juicing several times a week, mixing carrots with a variety of different fruits and vegetables. It’s been a great way to use up the butternut squash I knew my family wouldn’t eat.
Today I juiced a bunch of carrots and mixed it with unsweetened pineapple juice that I already had in the fridge. It was a risk, but everyone liked it except that girl in the picture. But, she’s got a bad case of “I’m the baby, so I should be able to have my way” right now. I made her drink it anyway.
For juice recipes that are FishKid-tested, FishMama-approved, buy my new book, Best 100 Juices for Kids.
As you know, breakfast foods can be full of added sugars. I know that even my homebaked quick breads and muffins often have a fair amount of sugar. Over the weekend, I made two batches of Not Too Sweet Granola. I made one with honey and one with maple syrup. We had this for breakfast along with strawberries, plain yogurt, and Trader Joe’s Shreaded Wheat. Its only ingredient is wheat.
Lunch
Earlier in the week, one of my boys peeled about 5 pounds of carrots. He did this for me last week as well. What a time savings it is! We store the carrots in plastic containers with water. I can pull them out for juicing or to make carrot sticks or to use in recipes. It really speeds things up. While baby carrots can fill this role as well, whole carrots are cheaper per pound.
I left out a huge bowl of carrot sticks for munching all day. We had these with lunch along with the Sour Cream Dill Dip. (Packaged mixes are expensive and have a ton of junk including added sugar, so we win on two counts by making the dip ourselves.)
FishPapa came home for lunch, bringing baguettes with him. It’s possible that the French bakery uses a scant amount of sugar in their baguette. But, I’m choosing not to ask. I laid out a sandwich bar with salami and cheese, with carrots on the side.
(The salami does have dextrose, but it is really hard to find cured meats that don’t have added sugar. Once it’s gone, I won’t buy more for this season, but I’m not going to sweat it too much. And I’m definitely not going to make my own salami. Ha!)
For “lunch dessert”, somewhat of a tradition at our house, I cut up a Larabar for folks to see if they like the flavor. It was the Cherry Cobbler flavor which is only dates, almonds, and unsweetened cherries. I’m hunting down dates so that I can make my own.
Snack
Honey-Sweetened Raisin Bread from the Bread Machine
FishChick is learning how to use the bread machine this week. This is her second loaf that she’s created. It’s only sweetened with honey and raisins. This Honey-Sweetened Raisin Bread from the Bread Machine is what we snacked on in the afternoon.
Dinner
FishPapa and the girls made Homemade Corn Tortillas for dinner. Many commercial tortillas have sugar in them, would you believe it? Our favorite brand lists dextrose as a preservative which makes sense. Good thing we like homemade better.
I made Mexican Rice, broiled chicken, and a cabbage salad.
Movie Snack
The littles made buttered popcorn to munch on during our movie night. (Well, sort of movie night. We have a TV pass to a couple shows, Agents of SHIELD being one of them. Last night we watched the most recent episode.)
So, there you have it. One day, sugar free (mostly — the salami was minor, right?). Just going to take this one day at a time.
Day 2
Breakfast
Scrambled eggs (I made mine Greek), toast, apple slices
Morning Treat
We have a ton of frozen lemon juice, so we made honey-sweetened lemonade, subbing honey for the sugar in our favorite lemonade recipe. It was the girls’ idea to add the lemon slices to their glasses. They are way fancier than I am.
Lunch
We had lots of leftover rice in the fridge, so I made Chicken Fried Rice. Recipe coming soon. I used honey instead of sugar for the scant amount it calls for.
Afternoon Snack
FishChick7 made bread again, a whole-grain honey bread. The kids had this for snack with butter and all-fruit jam.
Dinner
We had leftover Homemade Corn Tortillas from the previous night. I made Poblano Chile Enchiladas and served black beans, rice, and cabbage salad for sides.
Evening Snack
We made popcorn again. We use a Presto air popper. We’ve had it for years. I think I’ve successfully weaned my kids from microwave popcorn. Hallelujah. I order cases of Bob’s Red Mill popcorn from Amazon via Subscribe and Save.
All in all, the day went well. Two days done.
Day 3
This morning I took the littles to the store with me. FishBoy9 was a little glum that I wasn’t buying all the cookies and sugared cereals. But, honestly? That’s no different than any other time. He just doesn’t realize that this really isn’t a huge leap for us. His biggest brother tried to point this out to him: what we’ve been eating is not all that different than other times.
Except that we’ve gone through 2 bottles of honey in a week.
Breakfast
Eggs, Bacon, Toast, and Fruit
Yes, the bacon has sugar of some kind in it. But, sugar-free bacon is almost impossible to find. When you can get it, it’s hugely expensive. So, we just won’t have it that often. I felt FishBoy9 needed some cheering up, though.
Lunch
We had leftovers and fruit for lunch. Nothing too terribly exciting.
Dinner
Burrito night instead of pizza because we had lots of tortillas to use and I had some recipes to test. Did you know that tortillas made without sugar fall apart? At least that was the case tonight. My favorite kind of burrito tortilla is from Costco, made by Porkyland. Yes, really. But, those have sugar added. So, I bought Trader Joe’s. And now I remember why I don’t buy Trader Joe’s.
Dessert
I made a batch of honey-sweetened oatmeal raisin cookies. I also used only whole wheat pastry flour. We’re just gonna give those taste buds a run for their money!
They aren’t terribly sweet, but they aren’t horrible either. I think I could tweak them a bit and make a better cookie. We shall see. This month may make a raisin fan out of me.
Days 4 and 5
We spent Saturday and Sunday up Santa Barbara way, staying one night with friends and one night with the grandparents. Both hostesses were extremely accommodating to my wild ideas.
Before we left home, we had toast, fruit, coffee, and milk. I packed a lot of snacks for the road, so second breakfast included larabars (for the parents), pirates booty for the kids, cuties, bananas, rice cakes, water, and applesauce pouches.
For lunch we had sandwiches, chips, fruit and those oatmeal cookies I made. For dinner, it was a smorgasbord of recipes I’m recipe testing. Yes, I have such good friends that they let me cook up experiments at their house.
On Sunday we had waffles (recipe on lifeasmom.com) and maple syrup and a rousing discussion on the cost of maple syrup. The best price I’ve found is 50 cents an ounce at Trader Joe’s.
Before we headed to the grandparents’ we stopped at TJ’s where I gave each child a spending allowance for unsweetened snacks. They had a blast choosing whatever they wanted and learning where the hidden sugar is.
We snacked on said items: dried fruit, larabars, chips, juice, and hummus.
For lunch we had burgers made at home, no ketchup. Dinner was pasta with wild boar meat bolognese. Yes really. We also had Brie, baguette, and salad.
For dessert, we had maple-sweetened whipped cream, strawberries, and pie crust cookies. Grampa wasn’t impressed, but the rest of us enjoyed it.
For two days away from home, we did okay. We packed snacks and tried to be careful. The downfalls were, of course, cured meats and commercial breads. I didn’t think about those things to bring alternatives, so We just didn’t make a big deal out of it. But now we know for next time.
As with my whole 30 last year, it’s a sign that this may not be sustainable for our family if we can’t easily source those kinds of items.
Day 6
I’m lagging in my updates. A long weekend away will do that to you. Here’s the short and sweet recap:
Breakfast:
We ate with the grandparents. Grampa made eggs and bacon to serve along croissants. Both the bacon and the croissants had added sugar, but we knew we might face that going in.
Lunch:
We stopped at a favorite restaurant along the 405: Stonefire Grill. We had salad, tri-tip, breadsticks, and pizza. I’m sure the breads had sugar, but again, that’s a hard thing to avoid.
Dinner:
Once home, I got my bearings, took a nap, and ran to the grocery store. We had Grilled Chicken Taco Salads for dinner.
Day 7
Breakfast
Not Too Sweet Granola, Trader Joe’s Shredded Wheat, milk, fruit,
Lunch
The big boys were gone at lunch. They packed leftover chicken and tri-tip as well as cheese sticks, fruit, and rice cakes for their lunch.
At home, the littles played a real life game of Chopped. They love this. I give them three common ingredients, in this case: hard cooked egg, a slice of bread, and a hunk of cheddar. I also lay out a limited pantry for them to draw from. This is what they made! They are amazing.
Dinner
For dinner we had Guinness Beef Stew, Irish Soda Bread, and Dubliner Cheese. It was super yummy. I may or may not have sneaked a bite of Larabar as a dessert.
Obviously, over our weekend away there were added sugars that it was harder or more awkward to avoid since we were guests. Now that we’re home, we have a little bit more control.
I’ve written a pretty in-depth meal plan and am looking for shortcuts to make our meals healthier. Reading through Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss is really giving me more motivation to keep this up. It’s opening my eyes to so many things that I’ve been blind to.
Day 8
Breakfast
We started off the day with homemade juice: pears, carrots, and a beet. Then the kids had Yogurt Granola Parfaits with berries from the freezer. The granola is almost gone so I need to find a good deal on oats so I can make more. I made some Greek Eggs for myself.
Lunch
At midday I made a big salad bar with vegetables, chick peas, and cooked chicken.
Dinner
For dinner we had turkey meatloaf (recipe coming soon), rice pilaf with orzo, asparagus, and salad.
Snack
We ate buttered popcorn again while we watched SHIELD.
I found a recipe for chocolate chips made with honey today. I may consider trying that out, just so we can have a little chocolate here and there. Either that or make brownies. Jury’s still out.
Day 9
Breakfast
I played with a new waffle recipe. It had buttermilk and white cornmeal, sweetened with a bit of maple syrup. I’m probably going to make it again tomorrow to see if we can up the corn flavor a bit without making it too crunchy. There’s none left, so I think it went over well. I might see if we’ve got blueberries hiding somewhere and see how those go over inside the batter.
Lunch
I was off at an appointment at regular lunch time so the kids had a snack at noon. I stopped at Trader Joe’s on my way home to replenish our stores. No milk, eggs, or bread means I need to go to the store.
When I came home I made Lawnmower Taco while munching on carrots and hummus. I filled up on that so I didn’t have much casserole. Good thing, because there wasn’t enough for me!
Dinner
It was supposed to be date night, but hubs threw out his back earlier this week and just wasn’t feeling up to going out. I made some freezer burritos, cooking some, freezing most. The kids decided they wanted quesadillas instead. And that was it for our day. So far, so good.
Day 10
I’m finding more hidden sugar I hadn’t thought of: children’s vitamins. Ugh. I imagine there’s some crunchy health brand out there, but there we are, another thing with a load of sweet. Ugh.
On the plus side, as long as we eat at home, this isn’t too tough. Granted, I’m back to reading more labels than I ever did previously, but that’s a good change.
Breakfast
Since I was at the gym for the regular breakfast time, the kids and hubs had toast and cereal. Trader Joe’s crumpets are sugar-free so they had those, too. When I came home I made a vegetable stirfry with Aidell’s Chicken-Apple Sausage (no added sugar, thank you very much). The sausage is pretty sweet for being fruit-sweetened, so not everyone likes it.
homemade mayonnaise
Lunch
Last year during the Whole 30 I experimented with homemade mayonnaise. I found a combination of techniques and ingredients that I really like. It still makes me fell like a miracle worker each time I make it. I had it break once and that was an utter disaster.
Since commercial mayonnaise has a lot of extra ingredients:
SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, WHOLE EGGS AND EGG YOLKS, VINEGAR, SALT, SUGAR, LEMON JUICE, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (USED TO PROTECT QUALITY), NATURAL FLAVORS. GLUTEN-FREE.
including sugar, making my own is a fun alternative with a huge rockstar factor mixed in. A jar of mayonnaise is convenient, but these days it’s also really expensive. I buy Safe Eggs and then don’t worry about the salmonella risk.
Anyway, all that to say, we had tuna salad sandwiches for lunch with carrots and olives.
Dinner
Since it was Pi Day, I brainstormed a honey-sweetened pie idea. I made cherry since we had the frozen cherries already. I cooked the filling on the stove top and poured it into a baked pie crust. The filling wasn’t as thick as I would have liked, so I’m going to have to make it again. Darn.
FishChick5 helped make the crust.
Before we ate pie and honey-whipped cream, we had a simple pasta dinner with both chard and green bean side dishes.
Like I said, if we eat at home, this is not that hard to do.
Day 11
I came to the realization that if unhealthy food is cheap, we will tend to eat more of it. Of course, you knew that already. But, the flip side of it is that if the unhealthy (non-nutritive) food is expensive, we will eat less of it. This is the case when it comes to sweeteners. At least at our house.
You see, sugar is way cheaper than honey or maple. I get very liberal with my sugar. Remember one-tablespoon-in-the-coffee girl? That was me. But honey and maple are so much more expensive (about 50cents per ounce), that I am much more motivated to be conservative in using it up.
It’s a build in control on my sweet treat making. Sure, we can make brownies, cakes, and cookies with honey or maple syrup, but they’ll be pricier than their sugar cane counterparts. That means it really better be worth it to spend the cash. So, see? There’s a good reason to spending more on food.
I’m guessing the same philosophy applies to quality meats, cheese, and other ingredients. You’ll be sparing with things if they are expensive. You will waste less. It’s just hard to make that leap to a higher quality because then you have to work a little to make sure you use things up before they spoil. Hmmm…. Just some food for thought.
Breakfast
This morning I made another batch of waffles, using the same recipe as the other day. I tweaked it by using corn flour instead of corn meal. Found it on clearance at Sprouts. I’m not sure that the corn taste was strong enough, so we’ll have to make them again soon.
I sweetened the cream with honey and FishChick7 sliced strawberries for us.
Lunch
Before our hockey game, I baked a batch of whole wheat hamburger buns. We’re out of unbleached flour. The rolls weren’t as light and fluffy as they are when I make it with unbleached flour, but it was still tasty.
We had burgers and carrots for lunch.
Snacks
Snacks were varied: potato chips, crackers, fruit, cheese sticks, part of a Larabar.
Dinner
For dinner we had chicken quesadillas and fruit salad.
Can’t believe we’ve already finished 11 days! That’s pretty wild.
Day 12
This weekend has just flown by! I’m not quite ready for Monday but I got a meal plan going and did the shopping. Walmart on a Sunday at 5pm? Not my favorite. But, we’re set to eat well this week.
Walmart is kind of my necessary evil: household items and cheap staples like canned beans and baking stuff which we sorely needed.
Breakfast
I made Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes today, subbing honey for the brown sugar I normally add. The bananas add a bit of extra sweetness as does the big jug of maple syrup. Yes, I see the irony. But I also ration these people, especially at fifty cents an ounce.
I also made some scrambled egg sandwiches in leftover buns from yesterday.
Lunch
I had planned to make oven fried chicken strips for lunch until I saw that the second ingredient in the panko was sugar. Ugh. I switched to potato chip-crusted chicken which was good, but not great. It’s s salad bar with that.
Snack
Hubs and I each grabbed burritos from the freezer in the afternoon since we weren’t super hungry at lunch.
Dinner
There was rice to be used up so I made vegetable fried rice, based on this recipe as well as a chicken and vegetable stir fry and plain rice.
Day 13
This day sped by, so here’s an equally speedy update.
Breakfast
The kids had Shredded Wheat cereal, milk, and fruit while I had leftover Chinese from last night.
Lunch
We had leftover chicken and burgers with salads and fruit.
Snack
I baked a double batch of Irish Soda bread, mixing in currants. It was delicious with butter.
Dinner
Hubs and I went out for date night. The kids had Alfredo Pasta and carrots.
Day 14
Breakfast
I took the lazy way out of breakfast: toast, butter, and jam with milk and fruit on the side. I found all-fruit jams on sale at a froofy grocery store by my inlaws. I stocked up.
Lunch
I did some recipe testing/experimenting for my cookbook project, making a couple different chicken dishes.
Dinner
Dinner was another experiment. I’m calling it Confetti Chili. Isn’t that pretty?
After dinner I attempted to make a double batch of granola. I made one with the last of the maple syrup and was about to make a second with honey, only to find that the jar of honey appeared to have been tampered with. Ugh. The only thing worse than shopping at Walmart is having to return something to Walmart. I tried to make the second batch by using pineapple juice as a sweetener. That was a massive fail.
The maple batch? I burned that one. So double fail on the granola front.
Day 15
We’re more than a third of the way done. So far, so good. We only have issues when we run out of maple and honey and burn all the granola. Ahem.
Breakfast
Some of the granola was salvageable. We had yogurt parfaits with berries from the freezer, unsweetened plain yogurt, and granola.
Lunch
Again with the chicken dish experiments.
Dinner
I made ABC Vegetable Soup, just like when I was a kid, only this was homemade instead of canned.
Day 15 is over. We’re almost halfway done.
Day 16
Breakfast
We had waffles again. FishBoy9 was thrilled. We were out of maple syrup so we used honey on these Buttermilk Corn Waffles.
Lunch
I pulled burritos from the freezer. Easy peasy.
Dinner
Individual Meatloaves, Rice and Orzo Pilaf, Tossed Salad
Day 17
Breakfast
Banana Whole Wheat Pancakes, Strawberries, and freshly squeezed OJ
Lunch
FishPapa called and asked us to meet him for lunch. So we met him at Chipotle. I figured that there might be some sugar in the tortillas, but I checked just now and no, there isn’t. That’s pretty amazing.
Dinner
I made a meat ragu, pasta, polenta, and a salad.
FishPapa went to Costco for us and got dates and maple syrup. I got more oats at Sprouts, so tomorrow it’s time to do some baking.
Day 18
Breakfast
Homemade juice, eggs, toast
Lunch
Lawnmower Taco, Burritos, Cumin-Scented Cabbage Salad
Dinner
Day 19
Breakfast
Cinnamon Rolls (used this recipe except omitted the glaze and used Date Sugar that Bob sent me), Fresh fruit, cereal, milk
Lunch
Grilled Cheese, carrot sticks, sugar snap peas
Dinner
Tri-tip Steaks, Stuffed Potatoes, Caesar Salad
Day 20
I forgot to post Day 20?! We’re halfway done and we’re doing just fine. It helps that I made a big batch of Mamabars (that’s what the kids are calling my version of Larabars) and Fruit and Nut Energy Bites. We each have a small square/ball after lunch or dinner and that seems to be keeping the sweet cravings in check.
Breakfast
Not Too Sweet Granola, Trader Joe’s Shredded Wheat Cereal, plain yogurt, milk, frozen fruit
Lunch
Burritos made with homemade pintos (recipes coming soon)
Dinner
Pasta with Leftover Meat Sauce and Salad
Day 21
Breakfast
Fend for yourself = Not Too Sweet Granola or Trader Joe’s Shredded Wheat Cereal, toast
Lunch
Another day of Chopped for Kids since the big boys had science class all day. The littles love this! The pantry didn’t have very interesting things, but they started out with a string cheese, a small portion of potato chips, and a handful of baby carrots. I love how creative they get!
Dinner
Chicken Sandwiches and Salad
Day 22
I just posted a halfway-through update on the main page. You can check out my observations so far, here.
Breakfast
FishBoy11 made eggs for him and the littles. I had a yogurt parfait.
Lunch
I made a shrimp chowder for lunch and served it with baguette and Brie. Rocking awesome.
Until FishBoy9 threw up. It was an hour or two after lunch. He complained of a headache and then threw up. That wasn’t so much fun.
Dinner
Since I wasn’t sure if the earlier illness was a migraine or a bug, I chose to make a pretty simple dinner: chicken noodle soup.
Day 23
Breakfast
Skillet Eggs for me; Cereal for the kids.
Lunch
Go to Salad for me; Grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids
Dinner
Alfredo Pasta; Tomato-Brie Pasta; Steamed Broccoli
Day 24 through Day 26
Major fail – forgot to write down Friday through Sunday – OOPS! And now, I can’t remember what we had! I know that Sunday we met out of town friends for lunch so we cheated that day having pizza at Pizza Port. Other than that, we’ve played by the rules. We had Cheese Enchiladas Sunday night, I know that.
Day 27
Breakfast
Banana Pancakes, Fruit
Lunch
Chicken Sandwiches, Egg Sandwiches, Veggie Dippers
Dinner
Quick Meat Sauce, Penne Pasta, Broccoli, Asparagus
Day 28
Breakfast
Cereal, toast, apples
Lunch
Sunbutter sandwiches, carrots for kids; Velvety Vegetable Soup for mom
Dinner
Jambalaya Rice with Chicken, Green Beans
Day 29
Breakfast
Fend for yourself (We’re out of granola again, and I’m tired.)
Lunch
Aidell’s Chicken Sausage, Salad
Dinner
Baked Chicken, Oven Fries, Salad
Movie snack for SHIELD
Popcorn and apple chips
Day 30
Breakfast
Breakfast Bar with Toast, Yogurt, Berries, Oranges, Bananas, Shredded Wheat, and Milk
Lunch
Fend for yourself
Dinner
Quesadillas, Fruit
Day 31
Breakfast
Cinnamon Coffeecake (made with date sugar) and Fruit
Lunch
Chicken and Salad
Dinner
Meatloaf, Baked Rice, Green Beans, and Salad
Day 32
Breakfast
Spicy Turkey Egg Bake, Fruit
Lunch
Chili Bean Soup (recipe coming), Cornbread (recipe coming), Salad
Dinner
Pizza Night!
Day 33
Breakfast
Fend for yourself: toast, cereal, yogurt
Lunch
Home Fries and Eggs
Dinner
Cheese Enchiladas, Taco Bar, Homemade Salsa, Healthier Refried Beans, Salad
Day 34
Breakfast
Cereal, granola, yogurt, fruit
Lunch
Leftovers: Tacos, Beans, Chili, Veggies
Dinner
We went to see Captain America (no movie food, just trail mix) and then had dinner at In-N-Out Burger. No ketchup or sauce, though the buns and fries probably had a bit of sugar. But, it was a fun family outing that called for some treat.
Day 35
Breakfast
Banana Pancakes, Fruit
Lunch
Picnic at Legoland: Egg Plus Salad Sandwiches, Maple-Sweetened Brownies, Fruit
(We did cheat and get Apple Fries as a treat since we only go to Legoland once every few years.)
Dinner
Grilled Chicken, Pasta Salad, Green Salad, Potato Salad
Day 36
Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs, Toast, Sauteed Veg, Fruit
Lunch
Leftovers
Dinner
Grilled Tri-tip, Pasta Salad, Green Salad
Day 37
Breakfast
Oatmeal and Strawberries and Cream
Lunch
Treat at Rubios after running errands
Dinner
Grilled Fish, Rice, Salad
Day 38
Breakfast
Oatmeal and toppings
Lunch
Quesadillas, fruit
Dinner
Chicken Noodle Soup, Toast
Day 39
Breakfast
Cereal, Granola, Yogurt
Lunch
Mexibar with Enchiladas and Burritos
Dinner
Pizza Night
Day 40
Breakfast
Fried Eggs and Toast
Lunch
Tuna Salad and Grilled Sandwiches, Veggies
Dinner
Quick Meat Sauce for Pasta, Polenta and Pasta, Caesar Salad
Day 41
Breakfast
Oatmeal
Lunch
Leftovers
Snack
Maple and Honey Sweetened Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe coming)
Dinner
Date night for parents, “Breakfast” for kids
Day 42
Can you tell that I’m running out of steam? I’m so busy, I just don’t have time to be super creative or take lots of great pictures. This is real life.
Breakfast
Breakfast Bar
Lunch
Pasta Salad, Fruit and Veg
Dinner
Chicken and Rice
Day 43
Breakfast
Eggs, Toast, Fruit
Lunch
Hands-free Cashew Chicken, Rice
Dinner
Grilled Fish, Salad, Rice
Day 44
Breakfast
Pancakes, Fruit
Lunch
Potato-Leek Quiche, Leftovers
Dinner
Turkey Lettuce Wraps
Day 45
Breakfast
Popovers, Jam, Fruit
Lunch
Tostadas
Dinner
Chicken Strips, Salad, Rolls, and Sweet Potatoes