Happy New Year!

I have two major resolutions this year, and one of them is to eat and feed my family on as much of a whole/real food diet as possible. I will try my best to keep my family away from processed foods and we will also do our best to eat local as much as possible. We already eat a real food diet probably ~70% of the time, so my goal is to increase this to 90%, since I know we will have the occasional slip-up. I will post weekly meal plans and recipes of what my family is eating for the first 28 days, and may possibly continue up to my real goal of 120 days of real food. My inspiration and a few of the recipes are derived from http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/ and I do recommend checking out her awesome blog!

Here are my "rules"
What we will be eating:
1. Lots of fruits and vegetables. Organic if they are one of the dirty dozen ( http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-214 )
2. Dairy: milk (raw is best), homemade yogurt, cheese, kiefer, & eggs (from our backyard chickens)
3. 100% whole wheat and whole grains
4. Meat: Wild caught seafood, hormone free free range chicken, grass fed hormone free beef , or hormone free pork or turkey (from a trusted local farmer is best, my goal is to register for a milk share from http://www.largavistaranch.com/ by the end of March, they deliver milk less than a mile from my house and also sell beef and pork. Until then we are drinking hormone free (pasteurized) milk and hormone free meats.
5. All natural sweeteners: local honey, 100% pure maple syrup, stevia and agave nectar in moderation

What we will NOT be eating:
1. No refined grains: such as white flour
2.No refined sweeteners: such as sugar, corn syrup, or artificial sweeteners
3. Nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle that has any preservatives or any ingredient we don't recognize as natural (the majority should have 5 or less ingredients)
4. no GMO oils such as corn, canola or vegetable
5. No "fast food" (with the exception of Chipolte, Garbanzos and Noodles, hey we have to give ourselves some slack and these are the healthies fast food options we have around)

Here is our first weeks meal plan and recipes, I will post photos of things as I make them (as long as I remember):

WEEK 1 MENU

Make Ahead’s:

chocolate tortes x 2 for desserts

peanut butter and jelly muffins

yogurt

granola

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Sunday Jan 1	Oat n Chia breakfast cereal Green tea	Uncured chicken franks on homemade hot dog buns, oranges water	Whole grain pasta with shrimp and broccoli milk	Hard boiled egg juice
Monday Jan 2	Plain yogurt with honey and sprouted toast with coconut spread milk	BLT, carrot sticks, apple sauce water	Turkey sausage, potato, red pepper and kidney bean skillet with whole grain dinner rolls Milk	Trail mix juice
Tuesday Jan 3	Over medium eggs & toast with coconut spread Hot tea	Tuna melt on sprouted multi grain toast water	Spaghetti with red sauce and meat balls served with salad milk	Banana and peanut butter water
Wednesday Jan 4	Oatmeal with cinnamon and honey Hot tea Chicken in crock pot	Peanut butter and jelly rollups with apple slices and cottage cheese Milk	Best whole chicken in crock pot with green beans and roasted sweet potato Water Put beans in crock pot	Fruit leather, cheese slice milk
Thursday Jan 5	Peanut butter and jelly muffins Milk Make corn tortillas	BBQ chicken sandwiches with carrot sticks and grapes water	Fish tacos with lettuce, cilantro, avocado and radishes Refried beans water	Edamame juice
Friday Jan 6	Spinach, mushroom and cheese omelet Hot tea	Egg salad bento lunch water	Baked risotto with spinach and mushrooms served with maple butternut squash Milk	Kidney beans and diced avocado water
Saturday Jan 7	Yogurt and granola Hot tea	Veggie quesadillas, grapes water	Garlic chicken Wild rice and salad milk	Hard boiled egg Hot tea

WEEK 1 Recipes

Day one

Oat n Chia breakfast cereal:

 1 cup rolled oats

 2 cup dairy or non-dairy milk (I like almond milk)

 1 cup water, pinch of salt

2 Tbs chia seeds, 1 Tbs hemp seeds

 1 large apple grated to a pulp

 handful of blueberries (fresh or frozen)

 maple syrup to serve

Add oats, milk, water, chia seeds, hemp seeds, salt and apple pulp to a small pot.

Bring to a simmer and allow to gently bubble for 1 minute while stirring constantly. Add blueberries toward end and stir through.

Transfer cooked oats to a warm bowl, drizzle with maple syrup to serve if desired.

Note: I was out of blueberries so we used blackberries. This was my first time making this cereal and it will definitely become one of our regualr breakfasts, all the kids loved it!

Hot Dog Buns/ hamburger buns:

1 cups milk

1/3 c warm water

1 tsp active dry yeast

1 large egg, at room temp. slightly beaten

2 tsp honey

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs olive oil

3 ½ cups white whole wheat flour

Cornmeal for sprinkling

1.       Heat milk in small saucepan over med-high heat until surface shimmers. Transfer to a mixer bowl and let cool for 10 minutes

2.       Meanwhile, pour water into a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast over water, stir, let stand for 5-10 minutes to dissolve.

3.       Add egg to the milk; wisk well. Wisk in honey, salt, oil and yeast water. Sir in flour and with dough blade or paddle beat till well mixed, and knead for ~5 min. Coat bowl with a little oil and turn dough to coat. Cover and let rise until double in size, 1-1 ½ hours

4.       When dough has doubled, turn onto a floured surface and knead for 1 min.  Cut dough into 8 equal pieces, cover and let rest for 5 minutes

5.       Coat a large baking sheet with oil and dust it with cornmeal. Shape dough into tight balls (or little logs for hot dog buns) and place about 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap

6.       Set in warm draft free spot until they have risen by about half, about 25-30 min. Gently press down on buns to flatten them a little. Let rise another 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375⁰F

7.       Bake buns on center rack until golden and crusty, about 25 minutes. The bottoms should sound hollow when tapped. Cool on wire rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Whole grain pasta with shrimp and broccoli: Cook pasta according to package directions, in a skillet on medium heat, heat 1 Tbs olive oil, add  2 garlic cloves minced, ½ cup diced onion, 1 lb shrimp and 1-2 broccoli crowns chopped up. Saute for a couple minutes and add 1 cup white wine. In separate small bowl add a couple Tbs water with 2 tsp corn starch, mix well and add to skillet. Season with salt and pepper, add drained pasta, mix well. Serve sprinkled with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Day two

Homemade yogurt:

1 cup plain yogurt with live active cultures

½ gallon of your favorite milk

Candy thermometer

1.       Heat milk on medium heat to 180 degrees. Turn off heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

2.       While milk is resting at 180⁰, preheat your oven to its lowest setting (on my oven it’s 170⁰) when oven reaches temp. turn oven OFF.

3.       After 10 minutes put pan with milk into a sink of cold water to quickly cool the milk down to 120⁰

4.       When milk has reached 120⁰ Remove from water. Pour 1 cup of plain yogurt into a bowl, add one cup of the warm milk and whisk till smooth, then add into the pan of warm milk and stir. Pour warm milk/ yogurt mixture into 4 pint jars and place in oven. Turn on oven light and leave oven turned off, it should feel like a hot summers day in there. Leave in oven for 8-10 hours.

5.       Yogurt should be nice and firm now, refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving. (unless you like warm yogurt)

6.       Lasts at least a week in the fridge (a week is the longest ours has lasted, I’m sure it would last a couple of weeks though). I like to make the yogurt right before I go to bed, that way it is ready in the morning and I stick it in the fridge when I wake up.
This is some yogurt with strawberry sauce mixed in. (We put 1 cup frozen organic srawberries with 1 Tbs honey in a small pot till strawberries are soft, then blend in blender, leftovers store in a jar in the fridge).

Turkey sausage skillet: Dice a few potatoes and put in small pan and cover with water and boil. Brown 1 lb organic turkey sausage in a large skillet. After sausage is browned, drain and add potatoes, ½ cup diced onion, 2 garlic cloves minced, 1 red pepper diced, 1 can kidney beans drained, and ½ head cabbage shredded. Season with salt, pepper, curry to taste.

Day 3

Tuna melt: mix one can tuna, 1 Tbs mayonnaise, 1 tsp stone ground mustard, 1 celery stalk diced, 1 pickle diced (ours are canned form our garden each fall) in a small bowl. Put a large scoop on a slice of sprouted whole grain bread. Cover with a slice of cheddar cheese. Place on cookie sheet under hot broiler in oven for ~5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly hot.

Red sauce:  We use a quart jar of canned tomatoes that we can either from our garden or the farmers market each fall (we can ~24 quarts each year to get us through till we can eat fresh local tomatoes again, there is nothing good about canned tomatoes from the store full of BPA)

Place a quart of caned whole tomatoes in blender or food processor, add dried or fresh basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic to taste. Blend quickly for a few seconds and place in skillet and simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal stirring occasionally.

Meatballs:

1lb grass fed ground beef (preferably local)

1 egg (preferably local free-range, ours are from our backyard chickens)

¼ cup milk

½ cup breadcrumbs

½ tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp parsley

1 clove minced garlic

¼ cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients with hand in a large bowl, shape into balls

Bake in preheated 350⁰ oven for 45 minutes

Day 4

Oatmeal with cinnamon and honey: Bring 3 ½ cups water to a boil. Stir in 2 ½ cups of oats. (We use organic regular rolled oats). Add 1/8 tsp salt, cook for about 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 tsp ground cinnamon, honey to taste and milk of your choice to taste.

Peanut butter and jelly rollups:

Homemade whole wheat tortillas

100% peanut butter (with no added sugar or salts)

Jelly of choice (we use whatever we have prepared and canned form the fall, this year is either grape, peach or strawberry jelly)

Spread peanut butter on tortilla, spread jelly over peanut butter. Roll up and slice.

Best whole Chicken in a crock pot (from 100daysofrealfood.com):

2tsp paprika

1tsp salt

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp thyme

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp cayenne (red) pepper

¼ tsp black pepper

1 onion

1 large chicken

1.       Combine dried spices in a small bowl

2.       Loosely chop the onion and place it in the bottom of the slow cooker

3.       Remove any giblets from the chicken then rub the spice mix all over the outside and inside of the chicken

4.       Place chicken on top of the onions in the slow cooker, cover it, turn it on

5.       Cook for 4-5 hours on high, or 6-8 hours on low or until chicken is falling off the bone.

6.       Save all chicken bones and scraps in the slow cooker, cover with water and leave slow cooker on low overnight and you will have delicious chicken stock in the morning. Store in freezer jars or ziplock containers (BPA free) in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Roasted Sweet potatoes:

5 sweet potatoes

1 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs each fresh Rosemary, thyme and parsley (use ½ tsp each if using dried)

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and chop potatoes, place in baking pan and drizzle with oil, sprinkle with spices and stir all to mix. Bake in preheated 375⁰ oven for 1 hour, or until tender, stirring every 20 minutes

Fruit leathers:

Organic fruit of choice (especially if it is one of the dirty dozen) fresh or frozen, or a blend of fruits

Honey (optional)

If fruit is frozen let it thaw first. Place ~2 cups fruit in blender and blend till smooth, add honey to taste. I usually don’t add honey and they come out sweet enough for the kids just from the fruit. Pour onto dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 135⁰ for 5-7 hours or until fruit feels just sticky to touch, but no longer wet. Cut into desired strips and place between small cut sheets of parchment paper and store in sealed container. Not sure how long they last, the longest we have had ours before running out is about a month, and they still tasted great as the day they were made!

Day 5

Peanut Butter and jelly Muffins (from The Sneaky Chef):

1 cup white whole wheat flour

2 tsp aluminum free baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

2 large eggs

¼ cup honey

¼ cup coconut oil

¾ cup orange puree (steamed butternut squash and sweet potato pureed smooth)

¾ cup smooth peanut butter

8 heaping teaspoons favorite jam

Preheat oven to 350⁰ and line muffin tin with liners

In mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In another large bowl whisk together eggs and honey until well combined, then whisk in oil, orange puree, and peanut butter. Fold dry ingredients into the wet and mix until flour is just moistened (don’t over-mix or muffins will be dense)

Fill muffin cups with 2 Tbs batter, place a heaping teaspoon of jam in center of each muffin. Cover jam with another 2 Tbs batter, just filling the muffin cups

Bake 25-30 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

BBQ Chicken Sandwich: Toss leftover chicken (shredded) with organic BBQ sauce with romaine lettuce on a whole grain hamburger bun.

Fish tacos:

1 can beer

1 cup white whole wheat flour

Salt and pepper to taste

2 lb white fish such as Tilapia

½ cup coconut oil

Heat oil over medium heat. Mix beer, flour and salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Slice fish into strips and dredge in beer batter, cook in hot oil till cooked through.

Serve with toppings of choice on corn tortillas

Corn tortillas (recipe from 100daysofrealfood.com)

Ingredients

• 2 cups masa harina (whole corn flour that is found in the baking aisle – not to be confused with corn meal)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Between 1 1/4 cup and 1 1/3 cup warm water
• Oil spray, tortilla press, and preferably a cast iron skillet for cooking

Directions

1. Blend the masa harina and salt with a whisk or fork.
2. Pour in the warm water. I heat my water in a glass measuring cup in the microwave for 1 minute.
3. Stir together the mixture with a wooden spoon until dough starts to form…not too sticky and not too dry. Add more water or flour if necessary. Finish mixing the dough with your hands. You can also mix the dough in a Kitchen Aid Mixer with the dough blade.
4. Make a log out of the dough. Cut it into twelve equal pieces by first cutting down the middle, then cutting each piece in half again, then cutting the remaining pieces into thirds until you have twelve pieces.
5. Roll each piece into a round ball. Flatten each ball onto a cutting board then cover the entire board (and dough) with plastic wrap.
6. Heat a cast iron skillet over med-high/high heat. It is important to let the pan heat up thoroughly before you start cooking the tortillas. So let the empty pan heat up while the dough rests under the plastic wrap for 10 – 15+ minutes. By the time I am ready to cook my tortillas my pan is smoking a little.
7. Flatten the dough balls into tortillas with a tortilla press by doing the following (pictured below)…
• Cover the inside of the top and bottom of the press with plastic wrap
• Place one dough ball at a time on the bottom of the press
• Close the top and push down on the handle as hard as you can
• To ensure the dough is pressed evenly you can flip the tortilla around 180 degrees and press again
• It’s that simple!
8. Spray some oil onto the hot smoking cast iron skillet and then toss in the first tortilla. It only takes a minute to cook on each side (be sure you flip it once). You don’t want the tortilla to cook too much longer than a minute or two because it will start to become stiff.
9. Keep the tortillas warm and covered until all of them are done.

Yield: 12 tortillas

Easy Slow cooker Refried Beans (recipe from 100daysofrealfood.com)

1 onion peeled and halved

2 cups dry pinto beans

1 fresh jalapeno seeded and chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

¾ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp cumin

6 cups water

1.       Combine all ingredients in slow cooker

2.       Cook on high for 8 hours or overnight while you are sleeping

3.       Drain excess liquid, saving to add to beans if needed for desired consistency

4.       Mash beans with a potato masher.

Day 6

Egg Salad Bento Lunch:

6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

2 Tbs mayonnaise

2 Tsp stone-ground mustard

1 scallion minced

Fresh ground pepper to taste

6 leaves bibb or romaine lettuce

2 cups  blueberries

2 bananas sliced

¼ cup yogurt

Broccoli florets

Cherry tomatoes

triscuits

Spoon the egg salad into a lettuce “bowl” to keep it looking pretty and enjoy with triscuits. Chopped broccoli and cherry tomatoes. Toss banana and blueberries with yogurt to keep the bananas from turning brown.

Baked risotto with spinach and mushrooms (recipe from The 6 o clock Scramble to the Rescue)

2 Tbs olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

1 ½ cups arborio rice

6 oz spinach

3 cups chicken broth

8 oz sliced cremini or baby bella mushrooms

¼ tsp lemon juice

1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon sherry

Preheat oven to 400⁰

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large ovenproof stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for ~5 min. or until tender. Add rice and stir to coat it with the oil. Stir in spinach, broth, mushrooms, lemon, and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 7 minutes

Stir in ¾ cup cheese then sprinkle remaining ¼ cup cheese on top. Cover pot and bake for 25 minutes. (Meanwhile prepare the squash)

Remove pot from oven, stir in the sherry, and return to oven for 5 more minutes uncovered. Serve immediately topped with additional  parmesan cheese if desired.

Maple Butternut squash:

Steam a peeled diced butternut squash plus 1/2 cup water until very tender ~15-20 minutes. Mash cooked squash with 2 Tbs. butter, ¼ tsp salt, and 1 Tbs pure maple syrup (or more to taste).

Day 7

Granola:

3cups regular rolled oats

1/3 cup toasted wheat germ

1/3 cup unsalted, shelled sunflower seeds

1/3 cup sliced almonds

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup orange juice

¼ cup honey

1 tsp coconut or peanut oil

1 cup mixed dried fruit bits (such as raisins, cranberries, apricots, dates, pineapple, goji berries etc.)

Lightly coat a shallow baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl stir together oats, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, almonds and cinnamon.

In a small bowl stir together orange juice, honey and oil, and pour over oat mixture stirring to coat.  Stir in fruit bits.

Spread in prepared baking pan.

Bake in 325⁰ oven about 25 minutes, or until oats are light brown, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely and store at room temp. up to 2 weeks. We store ours in a half gallon mason jar. Can also be frozen up to 3 months

Veggie Quesadillas:

Homemade tortillas

Monterey jack cheese, shredded

Chopped veggies, whatever you have on hand, such as bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, spinach etc.

Place a tortilla on a hot cast iron skillet, top with a handful of shredded cheese, sprinkle with a handful of veggies, then top with a little more cheese. Place another tortilla on top and flip, cook on other side till all cheese is melted. Repeat as necessary to prepare enough for your family. Cut with pizza cutter and serve with plain yogurt and salsa on the side. (and guacamole if you have the extra avocado!)

     Garlic chicken (from AllRecipes.com)

• 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1.     Preheat oven to 425 degrees F 

2.     Warm the garlic and olive oil to blend the flavors. In a separate dish, combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Dip the chicken breasts in the olive oil and garlic mixture, then into the bread crumb mixture. Place in a shallow baking dish.

3.     Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear.