The finish line for this first round is nearly in sight.... I suppose it IS in sight, since my menu for the week has been planned, and I am planning on dinner out on Friday (February 1st)! The last week and a half has not been too bad. I won't say it has been easy, but I feel powerful -- I know I have the will power to get through January with just my seven foods. I feel like God has been in control all month, but I spent the first few days thinking I was, and wearing myself out.
This weekend, we changed the experiment a bit. We = my family! Allen had the great idea that he and the kids should eat my seven foods for the weekend. The intent was for all of them to get a "taste" of what I've been doing. They not only tasted the foods, but they tasted the temptations to go to the pantry for something different, and they tasted a bit more of how blessed we are to have so many great choices on a daily basis.
Saturday morning, we all had oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and apples for breakfast. The kids thought the oatmeal tasted a bit weird without honey, but since breakfast was not too different that what they normally have, it didn't seem to matter much. Lunch was deli turkey, raw spinach, apples, and avocado. Ben and I had some oatmeal with our lunch, but again, it wasn't that different than normal, but they DID all miss their normal Saturday PB&J. Dinner was sliced smoked turkey, sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach, avocado and apples for dessert. Though we have had baked sweet potatoes with dinner several times this month, they are still quite a hit with all three boys. Maddie doesn't eat them, though. The kids fussed that they didn't get Halloween candy for dessert, but they were happy with four flavors of apples. Sunday was much the same, but with a little bit more fussing. I was really interested to see how the kids would all handle Sunday school snacks, but I didn't say anything to them, deciding it wasn't a big enough deal to mention. Poor Allen -- I could feel his will being challenged as our Sunday school class celebrated a birthday with a Snickers ice cream cake -- Snickers icecream bars being his all time favorite frozen treat. But, he sat next to me and passed up the treat. When we got Will from his class, he was pouting when he said his class had brownies... but he willingly passed up the treat. Ben, Maddie, and Jon's teacher saw me in the hall as we were on our way to get them. She quickly explained that when they had snack, all three kids insisted they couldn't eat what the kids were having because those foods weren't allowed. She offered applesauce, and they said they wouldn't eat the sugar. The teacher further explained that it was UNsweetened and asked if they could eat that. Maddie had quite the reply, "Yes! Apples are allowed, but you'll need to keep the sauce." The teacher explained that apple sauce was just apples but it was cooked apples that get soft. (Yes, my kids HAVE had applesauce, just not many times.) I was so proud of all five of them for sticking to the experiment! The kids also told us the Sunday school lesson was about the Israelites complaining about their food in the wilderness, so it was interesting to see how they made the connection to this project.
Tonight, we talked at dinner about what everyone thought or learned about this weekend with limited food options. All the kids discovered they really like cooked spinach -- we usually have it as a salad. All of them really like oatmeal with salt and pepper; Allen said it tastes like grits, but I didn't try it yet. The boys all asked that I make sweet potatoes more often, and all four kids like the sweet potato skins (plain, not attached to the potato.) Allen discovered a perfect avocado is quite tasty, and I discovered how supportive my family can be of my crazy experiment (I felt loved!)
No comments:
Post a Comment