What we Eat

I've had a lot of people ask what my family eats lately.  I've mentioned that our family has reaped several unintentional benefits from Hazel's allergies.  I've lost about 20 lbs. and become much more active.  Jarom has also lost weight and I feel so much better about the food I serve my family.  I invested in a blendtec blender about a year ago.  At the time I didn't know I would use it so much.  I use it at least twice a day if not more.  I'm so happy about the investment.  No buyers remorse here.  I saved for several months from my preschool funds to purchase it as it's a bit on the pricey side.  It's amazing for smoothies, soups, batters, ice cream, I even grind wheat to make bread!  Because Hazel doesn't eat dairy or meat, I was worried about her intake of certain vitamins and minerals (calcium, iron, protein?).  She gets calcium and iron for the day in a green smoothie each morning.  My daily recipe changes, but it's usually something like this:

2 cups water/ice/almond milk/coconut milk
2 cups greens (spinach, kale, chard, collards)
2 cups fruit
1 scoop of Sun Warrior protein poweder (awesome vegan protein made from sprouted, fermented brown rice - amazingly healthy and super tasty!)

I distribute this evenly between the kids and I each morning.  It took Cannon a while to get on board.  I don't blame him since he was used to sugary cereal and waffles, french toast and pancakes.  He is now a huge fan of "gween smoodies".  I'm hooked and can't start my day without sending my blender a whirling with the green stuff.  For more info, I love this blog.  I also make a batch of these waffles each week and freeze the leftover waffles to pop into the toaster for an easy, filling breakfast when the smoothie just isn't enough. 

For lunch, Hazel usually eats peanut butter or almonds in some form.  Have I mentioned that she can eat peanuts and almonds, and how amazing that is considering her severe allergies to just about everything else?  Well, her allergist recommended keeping these two nuts as a staple in her diet for the protein.  Also, if you keep eating a potential allergen on a consistent basis, your chances of developing an allergy to it remain low.  But, if you don't eat it for a while, it can manifest as a true allergy.  Weird, but true.  So, she either has a peanut butter and honey sandwich or cucumber pizzas (sliced cucumbers with peanut butter and raisins) or ants on a log, or apples and peanut butter.  It's a good thing she likes peanut butter a whole lot.  I usually just have a salad or pita sandwich with as many veggies as possible. 

Dinner gets a little interesting.  I try to make something that Hazel can eat in some form.  I tend not to make casseroles anymore.  It's usually something like tacos, pasta, salad, potato bar, stir fry, sandwiches, wraps, etc.  Something where every member of our family can eat it just a little differently.  I prefer a vegetarian diet.  Jarom is my carnivorous counterpart.  Hazel is pretty much vegan and Cannon is somewhere in between.  Sometimes I'll make something that Hazel just can't have because it's either got cheese all over it (lasagna) or another ingredient she just can't eat.  These dishes are becoming less and less frequent as she realizes we're eating something different from her.  If we grill, she has a veggie pattie.  If we have pizza, I usually make it from scratch and she has a piece with just sauce and veggies.  If we have pasta, she eats the noodles with marinara sauce.  If we have mexican she usually has a whole wheat tortilla with rice and beans.  Stir fry I usually make with chicken on the side for the boys and Hazel and I eat the veggies and rice or noodles.  We don't go out to eat very often.  It's just too hard to find something she can eat and usually not worth the effort.  Here are a few of my favorite recipe resources:


Totally Healthy Recipes
Simple Healthy Tasty
Delightful Delicacies
Zupas Blog

Another really helpful thing I do is to get a basket from the bountiful basket food coop each week.  It's about $16.50 for a heaping basket (think laundry basket size) of fresh, local produce.  It's half fruit, half veggies.  We use some of these things in our smoothies.  Anything else, I throw into a veggie soup or stir fry, salad, or salsa for some of our weekly meals.  I rarely have produce that I don't use and it's been an amazing way to get lots of fresh fruits and veggies into our diet.  It's allowed me to try things I wouldn't usually purchase (eggplant, persimmons, Brussels sprouts, cheyote, vanilla beans, etc.).  I've learned that I like just about any vegetable (except eggplant, yuck!) and I love the variety we get to implement into our diet.  This website is awesome at helping if I run out of ideas to use our produce each week.  I can usually tweak the recipe to something that we can all enjoy. 

So there you have it.  I hope this helps with some ideas for your family.  I know eating more fruits and veggies isn't just something my family needed.  I think every family can benefit from bumping up the nutrition factor just a little bit.  Enjoy these ideas and feel free to add your own in the comments.  How does your family eat?  How do you plan meals?  That's hopefully another post for another time.

Have a great Easter Weekend!