Come January, we are back on our real food challenge. Same as last year. Following the real food challenge 100% for about 80 days; then we go on vacation :)
Believe me, I know eating healthy can be very difficult and when it comes to the holidays it can be almost impossible. There is food everywhere, and most of it is not-so-healthy choices. It still comes down to choices. You can choose to eat whatever you want over the holidays and any day but you need to be prepared to live with the consequences of those choices.I have over-indulged a lot this Christmas and I have the extra pounds and crappy feeling to show for it.
Come January, we are back on our real food challenge. Same as last year. Following the real food challenge 100% for about 80 days; then we go on vacation :)
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In the past I would often make cookies, candy, truffles, jerky, jams, etc... to give out to family and friends at Christmas time. I haven't done it lately as I lived away from home for a few years. I decided to give it a try again this year but using real food options :)
I decided to make 3 different kinds of truffles. I made a coconut one (Chocolate Truffles) that is fantastic. I will make this again. It is excellent and simple. The recipe doesn't mention heating anything but I don't think coconut oil and honey will mix together well unless heated. I put everything in a saucepan over med heat, except the coconut. Melted and mixed together, added the coconut, let it cool and made into balls. Excellent and pretty simple. I also made the base recipe for these Truffles. When I mixed the 3 ingredients together I realized there was nothing sweet in these truffles. I added maple syrup and vanilla to the base. I made a double batch; one I left plain and the other I added cranberries and rolled in Vanilla Maple Cinnamon Topper from Steeped Tea. I tasted the plain ones and they are not a favorite, think they needed more maple syrup. May have to try something else with this batch. The cranberry ones with the sugar topper are better. These truffles need something for sweet for sure. Real, healthy foods does not have to be bland or boring. Tonight for dinner we had an excellent meal of Pulled Pork, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. It was delicious and followed the real food guidelines 100%. The pork was cooked in spices, honey, olive oil and red wine vinegar. I added spices, butter and milk to the potatoes. All natural ingredients. For dessert we even had Chocolate Muffins with whipped cream topping; again 100% real food. These muffins use coconut flour instead of white flour, and maple syrup instead of white sugar. I simply added vanilla and maple syrup to the whipped cream. I would consider this entire meal to be comfort food :)
I understand that when trying to eat healthier it can be pretty daunting. Trips to the grocery store can become frustrating and intimidating. Believe me, I know; especially living on an island where we are often limited in food options.
When eating real food you end up purchasing more ingredient type foods because you want to eliminate processed and packaged foods with tons of added sugars and chemicals. When we shop at the grocery store we mainly do what they call a perimeter shop. Most of our groceries come from the outer edge of the grocery store. I start in fruits and veggies for fresh produce; the deli for cheeses and some meats; organic section; the meat area; and the frozen foods (usually frozen fruits and veggies) and dairy section. I then get a few odds and ends throughout the store, usually things like food wrap, baking supplies, dentastix for the dog, etc... Here are some of the brands I tend to buy now because they have simple ingredient lists. These are not the only options and they are not even the only ones I buy. Just want you to see there are real food options for food that comes in a bag, package or can. Simply look at the ingredient list. If it has added sugar, avoid it. If it has added chemicals, avoid it. If it has ingredients that you do not know, avoid it. We just had some wonderful dessert. Ice cream with Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar. Yup, ice cream and vinegar, and it was delicious :)
Thanks to O'Leva for recommending this combination. We have been buying various oils and vinegar from there in the last few months. I mainly use them in salad dressings and I also cook with the oils often. After tasting the Raspberry Balsamic recently, it has become one of my favorites :) I had planned to make vanilla ice cream to try this idea out, but I have been having trouble finding organic cream lately. I checked all the ice cream brands at the grocery store today and found only 1 that had natural, familiar ingredients: Haagen Dazs. Everything else had a combination of guar gum, carrageenan, colour, artificial flavor, glucose, etc... The Haagan Dazs does have sugar but I'll take the sugar over all the additives. We have been eating a lot of Brussels sprouts lately. They are readily available from a local farm and I find local ones so much nicer than the grocery store ones. We tend to do them steamed and toss them in butter, salt & pepper. For dinner tonight I was roasting a couple of chickens (will make stock as well). I decided to do mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. I used a new recipe for the sprouts: Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon. These are a nice change from steamed, although the steamed are very nice as well :) I didn't use the butter suggested in the recipe because I figured the bacon fat was enough.
Some people may be wondering if bacon falls under the real food category. When we first started this journey we made our own bacon from pork belly. We still do this at times but now there are a couple of brands I will buy from the grocery store. They do have sugar in them but the amount is minuscule for the amount we are eating. Also, the brand I used today has cane sugar which, to me, is better than refined white sugar but not as good as honey or maple syrup in regards to processing. A great food day today. I made another batch of Banana Muffins today. Made a batch this weekend and they were so delicious they are all gone. I used the 100 days of real food recipe but I added chocolate chips as well. They are excellent and even though they are healthier they don't taste healthier; if you know what I mean :) Very yummy. Dinner tonight was Chicken Stew. Love this as well. If you like a hearty and tasty chicken stew than give this a try. I always made chicken stew in the past but used canned cream of chicken soup to make it creamy :( No more. |
AuthorMy name is Michelle and I am tired of struggling with my weight. I am stopping the struggle. Archives
September 2020
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