My Failures at Clean Eating

It is an understatement, I’m sure, to assume the Proverbs 31 woman didn’t feed her kids processed foods.  They probably didn’t eat many hotdogs, chef boyardee, or frozen chicken nuggets.  I made a great attempt at clean eating in our family.  I failed miserably!

I am in charge of ALL menu planning, grocery shopping, and meal preparation.  The only exception is Sunday lunch.  We usually go out to a restaurant after church.

This means I choose what my family eats.  I get very little input from my husband, except that he prefers healthy meals.  He means lots of fruits and vegetables, but it isn’t a real meal unless there is meat, too.

I decided back in the spring that our family would make a conscious effort to stop eating processed foods.  Many of our vegetables are garden grown or from the farmers’ market during the spring and summer anyway.  Much of our meat we processed ourselves as well.  I haven’t quite figured out milk yet, but we have been working hard on our changes.  Until Superhero Son and I got Strep Throat!

Once we were diagnosed, we made a beeline for Kroger.  After dropping off the prescriptions, we made our way to the mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and the ice cream.  Through my feverish state, I didn’t know how to fix clean food that we could swallow without howling in pain!  I even tried Ramen noodles, but it was too salty and got dumped anyway!

Lessons learned:  If I am going to commit to clean eating, I have to learn all of the tricks for emergency situations.  I really didn’t like the mashed potatoes or the mac and cheese.  It tasted so much worse than the foods we had gotten used to eating.  The ice cream, however, was amazing!

If any of you have advice on clean eating, please help me out!

Blessings!

Around the Colvin Cottage: Are the Berries Ripe Yet?

It is no secret that our family likes to eat!  My husband and I first bonded over all-you-can-eat spaghetti, our favorite family gatherings involve meals, I love to cook, and we are teaching our children the same.

One of Superhero’s favorite things to do in the summer is pick ripe berries.  I usually make something out of them: pancakes, cobblers, or just put them in smoothies.  This week has been especially warm, and Superhero Son desperately wants the berries to be ripe.

We took several walks this week and found blooms on the raspberries and blackberries.  He got all excited!  Then!  Yes, then! We stumbled upon the mulberry tree.  It is loaded!

The Mulberry Tree

Superhero Son is now anxiously awaiting the time when we walk to the tree and find ripe berries instead of green.

Since he was so bummed, we made black forest brownies.  They were yummy! Darling Daughter especially loved them.

Yummy!

Darling Daughter LOVES brownies!

We also had to relieve the heat somehow, so we pulled the crab pool and sprinkler out when my in-laws came over.  Now that June is here, school is almost out, and the temps are rising, BRING ON SUMMER!

I caught the kids off-guard with the photo. They love their pool and sprinkler and didn’t want to be disturbed.

What is your family up to this week?

Blessings!

What’s For Dinner?

She is like merchant ships;
She brings her food from afar. Proverbs 31:15

One of my most important jobs as a mom and wife is to feed my family.  My children are still so young, they cannot feed themselves.  And let me tell you!  My kids can EAT!  In fact, Darling Daughter, at only 11 months, can plow through a plate of a grilled cheese sandwich with green beans on the side, eating more than her four year old brother.

Along with this job comes the responsibility to ensure the health of our family.  Somewhere, lost in the labels of nonfat, whole wheat, organic, and no sugar added, are foods that are good for my family and kid-friendly enough  to eat.

I don’t have any big secrets about how I do this.  I am blessed to come from a family of cooks.  Men and women alike know how to throw a spread in my family. I also started training my kids to eat healthy foods at a really young age.

I do, however, take inspiration from several places.  I used to sit once a week and pour over cookbooks and recipes to plan my meals.  I don’t have time for that during the school year anymore.  Now I let someone plan for me.  I use emeals.com.  I started using it when I got a Groupon for a HUGE discount.  We now spend less on groceries, have great recipes that are low in fat, and throw out less wasted food. I print the meal plan and grocery list, cross of the items I already have, and hit the store.  Each meal is laid out for me in an easy to use fashion.

I also just finished a book that inspired me to work on my choices and the choices of my kids.  Candace Cameron Bure, lovingly known as DJ from Full House, spoke at a Women’s Conference I attended in the fall.  She wrote the book, Reshaping It All.  She discloses her journey to feed her family physically and spiritually.  

Planning meals doesn’t have to be stressful.  It doesn’t need to be one more thing we agonize over.  However, it is a necessary part of our lives.  I bet the Proverbs 31 woman fed her family well.  She probably shared her secrets with others, taking pride in her ability to keep them healthy.

What’s for dinner at your house?

Blessings!