Today I was ambitious when I got up, but then I did Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred and changed my mind about some things....It's not that I changed my mind about the whole pantry challenge, but I think I need to re-work my cooking plans just a little. So, here's what I came up with today:
For breakfast I had homemade oatmeal with strawberries, almonds and a little agave nectar. The kiddies finished up some cereal that we opened not that long ago, which is good because sometimes the milk sours if no one gets to it. Not the case this time, thankfully! For a mid-morning snack to help learn to eat more healthfully and use up some of the produce I purchased, I had two clementines. The kiddies had pan cookies I made the other day that survived the hubby, and bananas and oranges somewhere in there too.
When it was time for lunch we'd gotten quite a bit of homeschooling done, which pleased me immensely. It was a good start to the new year, and I'm hopeful we don't lose any of the momentum we had. It's so easy to get a good start on something but then get caught up or busy or distracted or...well, a number of things. I am really praying each day that the Lord will help us to plow forward, even if it's in little baby steps. That's sooo much better than remaining stagnent in my opinion. So for lunch I made a pizza with dough I'd had in the freezer, pepperoni and cheese we had left from the holiday and sauce I'd used in something a few days ago and had just enough left over. When the other two kiddies got home from public school, everyone was allowed to have a piece of chocolate and a cookie just to get rid of it and not let it go to waste! I ended up making a lot of cookies, toffee and fudge (the real kind from scratch, with no marshmallow at all), so we have snacks through the end of the week at least!
I was not really sure what I wanted to do about dinner. I had asked one of the kiddies to bring some ground beef up from the freezer yesterday, but he forgot...and I forgot to double-check this morning. So. It was dinner time and I didn't know what to do. What I ended up with was a concoction of pasta sauce that I made by sauteeing a Vidalia onion (I never use any other kind!), red pepper and one yellow squash in olive oil with salt, pepper, a pinch of oregano and a dash of sugar. When that got nice and soft, I added a few grape tomatoes that I quartered, along with some finely chopped spinach, and a can of crushed tomatoes (my secret shortcut in most cases). I served this delicious and nutritious sauce over pasta I had in the cupboard. It was a nice way to sneak in veggies, although I can't complain that my children are picky very often. But still, they didn't even realize how many veggies were in the sauce. As a treat, instead of water (which we drink with almost every meal and all day every day), I let the kiddies finish up the soda we'd gotten to make punch on New Year's, and it was just enough for a little cup each. We finished off the homemade bread from yesterday too (which is my cue to make more tomorrow!), and for bed snacks the kiddies each had a pan cookie.
Hopefully tomorrow we're having homemade bread, meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans or a side salad, but I'll let you know how that turns out! In the alternative a friend just sent me a recipe for a soup that is similar to a cheeseburger-type soup, and I can't wait to try that. I think, though, that I am out of one of the ingredients and so it might have to wait til next month. We'll see!
I hope God is richly blessing you in this new year and that you are following His lead in your life! God bless!!!!
~mary
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