Munchkin Meals: Letting Go

Last week at the grocery store I bought a loaf of bread and a pack of tortillas.  A million pounds was lifted from my shoulders during that shopping trip.

If you've been following my blog for a bit you know I've been trying to switch my kids over to a paleo diet.  I tried it for about three weeks and I'll admit it... I gave up.  I was so stressed out about what went into my kid's mouths that it was really getting to me.  I finally let it go.

My kids aren't going to eat a 100% paleo diet right now.  It's just going to have to wait.  I'm still going to refuse to feed them junk and chemicals.  They are just going to eat real food.

So here are some of their clean eats from this past week:

Breakfast

Steel cut oatmeal with grade B maple syrup and grass fed butter.  Plus pastured bacon and organic berries.  They had a cup of raw whole milk with this as well.  They eat this several times a week.

Lunch:

Organic Sunbutter and raw honey sandwich, local organic fuji apple, and a special treat of Trader Joes olive oil potato chips (just potato, olive oil, and salt).  They had water with their lunch.

Dinner:

Friday night pizza night!  A Rudi's spelt tortilla topped with Raos marinara, Kerrygold grass fed cheese, and Applegate pepperoni.  This was served with broccoli and water.

Have you ever just let something go nutrition wise?

Munchkin Meals: Gluten Free Pancakes

I'm on a gluten free pancake hunt. I really like the idea of oat flour instead of all the other random flours (rice, tapioca, potato). Squirrel doesn't eat eggs so I'm having a really hard time figuring out what to give her for breakfast! Any ideas? She isn't into my paleo pancakes either… Too eggy.

My kids have been eating oat flour pancakes from Food Prepper for breakfast lately.  This recipe was good… but a little dry.  I'm still searching for the one.

I made sun butter sandwiches out of them and served them with pear and Applegate sausage.


I've noticed that people here in Monterey like to eat outside.  So we've been doing a lot of picnics!

This lunch included:  A treat of olive oil potato chips (just potatoes, olive oil, and salt), a homemade gluten free granola bar, strawberries, Applegate pepperoni, Kerrygold cheese, and cheesy kale chips.

We tried something new this week for dinner.

Ground pastured pork, kale chips (we can't get enough of them!), and mashed sweet potatoes made with maple syrup and grass fed butter.  The mashed sweet potatoes were the new thing and neither liked them.  If I were eating them it would taste like dessert!

We are working on them… we are slowly taking tiny steps in the paleo direction.

Let me know if you have any good egg free/paleo breakfast ideas!  Paleo muffins?  Gluten free banana bread?  Anything!

Munchkin Meals: Paleo Lunchbox

Today I followed this little munchkin's meals.


Whenever people ask me for help regarding picky eaters the first thing that comes out of their mouth is "they WILL NOT eat ___".  Well let me tell you a little bit about my daughter.  She doesn't like eggs (never has and probably never will).  She doesn't like ground meat (burger, pork, turkey, chicken).  She won't eat mushrooms, onions, sweet potato, or anything that looks yucky.

Here's the thing… She loves kale, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, green peppers, oatmeal, steak, pork chops, fish, chicken, any fruit, and the list goes on.  I accept that she doesn't like things and I think people need to do more of that.  Especially when you realize what they already eat!  I'm not going to push eggs because I know she eats a pretty good variety of meat.  I'm not going to push spinach because she eats a pretty good amount of other vegetables.  "Pretty good" is perfectly fine with me.  Is she still offered the things she doesn't like.  Absolutely… and we always follow the one bite rule (take one bite of everything on your plate).

So here's what she ate for the day.  Starting with breakfast.

Rolled oats made with water topped with grass fed butter and pure maple syrup.  Plus a banana and a cup of organic whole milk.  Remember she won't eat eggs so we are struggling with a paleo breakfast for her.  I'm sticking with gluten free until I find a solution!

I packed her a mid morning snack for school.

A gluten free fig bar and a little bit of homemade trail mix (almonds, pecans, cashews, and raisins).  She has water with her snack.

For lunch she got her first paleo-ish lunchbox!

A paleo chocolate chip cookie, unsweetened banana chips, leftover chicken, leftover white potatoes cooked in grass fed butter, and clementines.


Plus a juice box on the side.  If someone could recommend a water bottle that doesn't leak when it's laid down on it's side and is easy to open that would be GREAT!  I haven't found one yet and am tired of spending the money for them.

This is what she brought home:

SUCCESS!

Tomorrow is grocery shopping day so dinner for everybody was rough.  My "had a bad day" or "need to buy groceries" meal is always this for the kids.

Organic chicken, jasmine rice, broccoli, and carrots.  Everything was cooked in either grass fed butter or coconut oil.

What did your munchkin eat today?

Munchkin Meals: 1st Day of School

Today was my kid's first day of school here in California.


If you have kids you know how I was feeling this morning.  I hate leaving them in a strange place alone.  I walked out of each school sobbing.  We all survived the day...  They both said they loved school.


Speaking of the first day of school...

This guy had this first day of grad school yesterday!  Ha!

Alright, let's talk munchkin meals.

Since we've moved to California and since Christmas is over (FINALLY!) we've cracked down on the kids diet.  They get what we get and we eat paleo... to some extent.  I'm definitely planning some actual days in the lives of my kids posts because I LOVE reading about munchkin meals over at Brittany's blog.

Anyways!

I wanted to show you how we decided to switch our kids over to a paleo diet.  We started cold turkey with all gluten free meals and a paleo dinner including safe starches.

Our paleo meals always include meat, fat, and veggies.  For instance, last night I made zucchini noodles with asian meatballs.

My bowl


Kid bowl

The kids got everything we had plus some steamed white rice.

The other night we made pork chops and brussels.

My plate


Kid plate

Pork chops, brussels, and organic white potatoes cooked in grassfed butter.

Why the safe starch?  Because this is all relatively new food.  I do feel like I'm asking a lot.  I don't think it's fair to do everything cold turkey.  They do have to try everything on their plate (even if they've tried it before).  If they don't like anything on their plate at least they'll like the rice or potatoes and be able to fill their bellies.

What kind of diet do your kids eat?