Day 16 and Still Kickin'

 Well another day successfully down!


I spent four or five hours in the kitchen today. I did a lot of chopping, bagging, and labeling...  but now my fridge is wonderful rainbow of colors!  I thought about taking a photo... so I did... but now I'm too tired to go into the kitchen and find the camera to upload it here.  It's pretty though! I keep opening the door just to look at it. 


Okay, moving on.... 


Let's see, what did we do today (other than chop vegetables)?  Not much, really.  


Let's start with Lunch Boxes:


Breakfast: 4oz Greek yogurt with 1/2 tsp raw honey, and 1 tbsp coconut oil, and a handful of blueberries. 
Lunch:  Salad (greens, peppers, carrots, celery, cucumbers) with strips of steak (cooked the night before). Salad dressing was the lemon juice and olive oil. 
Snack: Trail mix 


Okay, they *hated* the breakast. They will eat Greek yogurt perfectly well if they think it's sour cream, but they refuse to eat it otherwise.  :::sigh:::  Breakfasts are so annoying when you have to rush out the door. 


They were hungry when they came home from school. I thought that was odd, but figured out because they "just didn't have enough time to finish our salad."  Gah


 I had a fruit tray waiting for them as an after-school snack (apples, blue/ras/black berries, and leftover cantalope). I wanted some fat to go with it, but I knew yogurt was out as a base. So I thought and thought and came up with this: Coconut Cinnamon Butter Dip.  They absolutely loved it. 


CCBD


2 sticks butter (organic of course)
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
a smidge of honey, but not too much


Put all ingredients into a glass bowl. You can either microwave or steam the bowl until it's all melted. Stir together well. Then stick in the fridge until it starts to set (but not too much)...stir and serve. 


It was very buttery, but the cinnamon and cloves gave it a nice warmth and hints of sweetness. Try it! Lots of good fats, good brain food, and it really helps curb hunger. 


Dinner was mashed cauliflower (steamed with garlic, mash with butter, a bit of salt and pepper) and pork medallions (which was leftovers from lunch the other day). And a side of orange bell peppers. 


They didn't care for the cauliflower this time around, but too bad, they had to eat it. 


Then they wanted pistachios. Is there anything wrong with pistachios? Probably, since it's one of the few foods everybody likes and nobody is allergic to.  I gave them a few each and told them no more food until they drank a lot of water. 


My (ex)doctor a few years back told me that children (and often-time adults) confuse the feeling of thirst for hunger. I have really found this to be true. I always have them drink at least six ounces of water, and then wait about twenty minutes before they eat. After the water, they either forget they were hungry, or they eat less than they otherwise would have. 


I basically had the same lunch as the girls did, but mine was much bigger, which was a good thing because Elizabeth came along and ate half of it. 


Oh yes, Elizabeth... well, she's been extremely difficult to deal with the last ten days or so. She's always been high-maintenance, but man is she cranky and clingy lately. She's refused to eat anything except yogurt and some fruit for a good two weeks now. I always give her a plate of whatever it is the rest of us are having, but it usually ends up on the floor. Anyway... she was a moody monster this morning. I put her in for an early nap and she slept for three hours! She usually wakes up crying from her naps, but today she was all smiles "Hiiiiii!"  She was really happy, bouncy, and then ate half my salad!  I am thinking the worsening of her moods and food issues were caused by yeast die-off. I really hope we have turned a corner with all the kids at this point. 


Tom and I went to the movies, and then had dinner at a new (to us) steak house around here. I ordered extra steak so I could bring it home for tomorrow's breakfast. Score. While the steak and steamed squash was decent, both Tom and I agreed that we miss potatoes with steak. At the same time I wasn't really tempted to eat them, but I did miss them. Not sure that makes sense.


 My resolve for this week is to get more sleep. Going to bed at midnight, then getting up at seven is just not cutting it.


The 25th is Elizabeth's second birthday! Tomorrow's goal is to find a Primal friendly cake (of sorts) I can make (without too much labor/time) for her. I still haven't figured out if we can have desserty things during the three week challenge or not.  Anybody know?