{our} real food pledge

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the mister and i have been consciously trying eat healthier - we juice daily and drink about 48-64 oz of fresh juice each morning. we've cut back on carbs and refined grain and avoid frying our foods. in general, we are trying to eat as much "real" food as possible. we feel great and the mister is down 15 pounds. our biggest, immediate goal is for him to lose weight to ease recovery from a surgery planned for may/june this year. starting a 100 day pledge to eat only real food now will bring us pretty close to that time and should have him in better health for surgery.

i'm not down a single pound, BUT i do feel better, have more energy and my pants fit better. that's really all that matters to me. where i'm at seems to be my body's happy weight {it won't budge no matter how much i diet and exercise, or how many kids i give birth to!} and my BMI is in the center of the healthy range for my height, so i'm cool with it. from this pledge, my personal goal is to feel more energized, sleep better at night, and have less need for naps in the middle of the day. not that i ever actually get to nap, but geez, i feel like i NEED one by 2pm every day!

we are pretty happy with everything we have been doing but it still feels like it's not enough. we aren't as completely committed as we should be when it comes to our health, and also to our boys' health. our biggest fault right now is that we are not including our boys in our commitment to eat healthy. they are still eating convenience foods daily and we still resort to fast food pretty often, especially on the weekends. the mister and i decided that this needs to stop and the boys need to be part of this lifestyle change.

we are going to do a complete overhaul of our pantry and replace the convenience foods with real food. we are going to change the boys' eating habits for the better and i know they won't appreciate the process. the mister saw his nutritionist this morning and he stressed the importance of instilling healthy eating habits in our kids. he said to let them kick and scream when served healthy foods and, eventually, they will get hungry and eat whatever we feed them. so that, we shall do.

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i am basing our pledge on the 100 Days of Real Food Pledge, with a few exceptions and changes. i don't want to make such drastic changes that everyone gets burnt out from it and hates it. we have to remember that this is not a short-term diet plan, it's a lifestyle change. we are committing to making a permanent lifestyle change and i need to be sure it sticks. and they way i see it, any change we make right now is better than what have already been doing!

so here are our rules.

what we CAN eat:

1. whole foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry

2. lots of fruits and vegetables

3. dairy products like milk, unsweetened yogurt, eggs, and cheese

4. 100% whole-wheat and whole-grains

5. seafood

6. chicken

7. pork and beef in moderation

8. snacks like dried fruit, seeds, nuts and popcorn

9. all natural sweeteners including honey and 100% maple syrup

what we CANNOT eat:

1. no refined grains such as white flour or white rice (items containing wheat must say WHOLE wheat)

2. no corn syrup or cane juice

3. nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package that has more than 5 ingredients listed on the label (or an ingredient i cannot pronounce)

4. no deep fried foods

5. no "fast foods"

i did not adapt beverage limitations for our pledge. the boys already drink mostly milk, water and 100% juices. really, the lack of beverage limitations is for me.  i'm sorry, but i cannot give up my diet coke at this time! but i will start sweetening my coffee with honey instead of splenda. it's all about compromise! ;)

we will surely have to loosen up on the kids about what they can eat when they go to birthday parties and other places where they will be served food. in those situations, we have no control over what is served and i'm not comfortable packing food for them to bring to those events, as i've read some families on the real food pledge do. and if we are out and about and need to grab a bite, we will, but we will try to find the most "real" food we can. if grabbing a sandwich means consuming some processed lunch meat, so be it. this journey won't be perfect or easy (i'd say that's impossible with four young children), but we will keep going.

i'm preparing our pantry and kitchen with all of the necessary items and tools this weekend and we will begin our 100 days on monday! join us on our journey to good health and visit often as i post about our progress and recipes that the kids love, as well as those they didn't. that's just as important!

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still outnumbered

a friend of ours recently posted on facebook about a pup looking for a home. apparently, his previous owners didn't care enough for him to bring him with them when they moved, so they left him in the backyard. so sad. and being that i'm a sucker for sob stories, long story made short, the pup ended up at our house. 

rumor was that his name was "baby". well, that just wasn't going to fly with me, so i let the boys choose a new name. let me introduce you to "sensei wu". now, if you know anything about my boys and their obsession with ninjago, this would make complete sense.

sensei and our dog, cooper, hit it off right away.  

i think cooper is more than happy to have a four-legged friend in the house. 

so as you can see, i am still outnumbered. even the dogs are all boys. sigh. 

i told liam (far right) that it was ok because i would always be the princess.

and he said, "no, mommy. you're the queen!"

i love that boy.

sensei is constantly at my heels. everywhere i go, he follows. 

we found ourselves buying him a new harness, leash, puppy food, and are shopping for a tag. but we still can't say for certain that we will keep him. it just feels like A LOT of work. and oh, the noise. as if four boys running around wasn't noisy enough, add the two dogs into the mix, and it sounds like there's a stampede running back and forth upstairs. 

but when i catch moments like this one, it feels like he belongs with us.

hangin' out

We spent some time at the park yesterday and I was happy to get some pictures of my crazy kids. No more babies here...playtime yesterday proved it. 

Here's my "baby" ready to hit the monkey bars. 

He grabbed onto the first bar all by himself and he is actually hanging by his own strength here. It kind of looks like his feet are on the platform from the angle...but they're not. When did this happen? And I was slightly worried but, obviously, not worried enough since I decided to snap a picture instead of helping him. Mother of the Year. Yep. But you knew that already.

Liam could barely fit into the swing. I practically had to butter him to get him out of it when he was done.

And Daredevil Mikey over here...jumping off of a four-foot-high ledge. Fabulous. I'm happy to report there were no broken ankles or other injuries sustained. That's all that matters, right?

Now, this. This moment was my favorite of all.

A little history...from when Liam was about 10-months-old to 3 years, I have very few pictures of him because he refused to sit still for a camera. He didn't just not sit still, he would burst into a fit of stubborn frustration no matter where we were. 

Let me tell you, it's strange, yet relieving and exciting to see how things have changed in just a short year. I tried to go all ninja on him and snap a picture as he came down the slide, mostly because I didn't think he'd let me take one of him if I asked. But when he heard me snap the picture, he said, "NO, MOM! Let's do that again. I wasn't ready!" and proceeded to go back up the slide and slide down again. Then he stopped himself at that very spot, threw his arm over the side of the slide, positioned himself in a pose that he deemed acceptable and said, "Take it like this, Mom. This is a good one." Followed by, "Now, post it on Facebook, ok?" Oh, how that last request killed me. I about passed out from joy right then and there, but I didn't want to get tan bark in my hair.

This last picture, my friends, is just for the Mister. He hates this cheesy heart-y overlay so, of course, I had to take a pic of us...and use the overlay. Duh. And then post it on Instagram and blog about. Double Duh. What kind of wife would I be if I didn't? Love ya, Babe!

getting reacquainted and some soup

Hi again, friends. I took a four-month sabbatical from blogging and I'm finally back. I figured I've put in my time and deserved that break. Kidding. There have been many, many things going on and I just couldn't find the time to "write" it all down anymore. One of the biggest changes was Wyatt's autism diagnosis in September. I think one of my last posts was about our struggle in deciding whether to seek an evaluation or not. But I'm glad we did. He immediately began behavioral therapy and an earlier start could mean earlier progress. And we are already seeing lots of it. We love that P-word around here. Progress. Progress. Progress. It's like a synonym for the word "joy" in our household.

Anyway, I'm sure I will get into more that later. For now, I couldn't think of a better segue back into the blogosphere than with a food post. Duh. Me and food are like BFFs. We go way back. And, plus, I got a cool new kitchen gadget that I was excited to use. It's been really chilly lately and I thought I'd share one of my favorite cold weather meals. Homemade, creamy, chunky tomato soup and grilled cheese. Mmm hmmmm.

I'm going to put the recipe at the end because I hate my view of delicious food photos being interrupted by words. Who cares if those words are telling me how to make said delicious food. I just want to see photos. I'm a visual learner. And also a visual eater. 

Chop chop chop.

The smell is incredible. Onion, garlic, carrots, celery and basil all stirring in harmony to become a glorious pot of soup. Add a can of tomatoes, chicken stock, and half and half and they may now all live together in peace. In my belly.

This is the new kitchen gadget that I acquired this Christmas - an immersion blender. I've never owned one, nor have I ever used one. *gasp* I know. But, I am now hooked. It definitely beats pouring the soup into a food processor and processing three cups at a time. The cleanup is much less, too, so that's an even bigger plus.

I did learn two things from this novel-to-me cooking method:

1) Do not lift the blender from the soup while it is running or sh*t will hit the fan. Literally.

2) I need an apron. I can't believe I don't have one of those, either. It's a season of firsts, my friends.

Just in case you aren't down with the get down on how to make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich, please allow me to educate you on this very important life skill.

Simple ingredients: bread, two slices of cheese, a slice of ham, and butter. Please, don't forget the butter. No one wants to eat a profaned grilled cheese sandwich. Not even kidding.

 Spread the butter on the outsides of the sandwich and stick it in your Foreman grill. 

And no, I do not put harmonicas in my grilled cheese. It gives a metallic aftertaste that I'm not fond of. Though, with four little ones on winter break running around the house all day, you never know what you'll find in your meals around here.

The finished product. Pure bliss. 

I like to put hot sauce in my tomato soup, preferably the Hot & Spicy variety from Lauren & Jorge's wedding over two years ago. Hot sauce doesn't go bad, right? Oh well....

Creamy, Chunky Tomato Soup

Saute the following for about 10 minutes:

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 celery stalks, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

2 onions, chopped

2 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp dried basil

Add the following and simmer until veggies are very tender, about 15 minutes:

28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, Italian-style has good flavor

3 cups chicken stock

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup half and half

salt and pepper to taste

When veggies are very soft, blend with immersion blender until smooth, but still a little chunky.0

Enjoy!