A Little Red Cabin

Breakfast today consisted of one of the best ways I know of to add extra fruit and veggie to your diet in a delicious and convenient way…Green Smoothies! Many other writers have covered the topic much better than I could but I do plan to cover them in a bit more depth later on. The Green Smoothie Girl was one of the sources I read when first getting into them and Green Smoothies Diet is her book. It is a great resource for learning about and getting started with them. I’m a bit unconventional with my green smoothies; they are commonly recommended by vegans but I often incorporate dairy into mine. I think it makes it creamier and tastier

Green smoothies make for a quick and healthy breakfast.

as well as increasing my protein intake for the day. My green smoothies vary just depending on what I have around; it is all about experimentation. The ingredient list for this particular smoothie is as follows:

Green Smoothie

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

1/2 cup frozen banana chunks

1 cup frozen spinach

juice from 5 carrots

juice from 1 apple

juice from 1 lime

splash of vanilla and stevia drops (I used the Valencia Orange but it comes in many flavors)

2 heaping spoonfuls of Greek yogurt

milk and some water to desired consistency

This made about 3 cups; 2 for me and one for my 3 year old.

Your kids will drink these too!

See his lovely green smoothie mustache? This is one of the few ways of getting a finicky eater to eat leafy greens. The trick is starting out with mostly fruit and just a few spinach leaves and then gradually adding a bit more. For lunch today I ended up at the grocery store. I bought my kids some fried pizza sticks from the deli and even let them each pick out a donut to eat afterwards. (You’ll see I’m not very consistent either when it comes to trying to get my kids to eat healthier) I was tempted to get a fried taquito myself but remembered this challenge and bought a salad instead. I didn’t have my camera with me so, unfortunately no photo of lunch. It was just a pretty generic American salad–iceberg lettuce, tomato wedge, cheese slice, shredded carrots and radicchio, 1/2 of a hard-boiled egg, and some ranch dressing. I did eat one bite of a pizza stick and 3 bites of donut and just had water to drink.

Dinner was pretty yummy, if I do say so myself. Friday night at our house is Pizza Night and Family Movie Night. I’ve gotten pretty good at making pizza though one day I will get a pizza stone and see if the crust turns out even better. I designated one quarter of a pizza (2 slices) for me and made sure I put 1/2 cup of veggies on it so I could count the pizza as a full serving. Tonight it was a combination of olives, mushrooms, diced onions, and green peppers. I was surprised that it was only a little more than I would normally have put on. I also made a great big Greek salad with 2 cups of green leaf lettuce, 1/2 cup diced tomato, 1/2 cup of diced cucumber, 1/4 cup black olives, 1/4 cup red onion, feta cheese and a yummy new orange vinaigrette recipe I just made. I was really hungry when I started dinner but then I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to eat all of the salad. That roughage really does fill the stomach up quickly without too many calories. I also drank a glass of milk to finish it off. Later in the evening I had half of a chocolate bar and some candy corns.

6 servings of vegetables here!

While the main focus of this challenge is to increase my vegetable intake it is also about healthy eating in general. I want to record everything I eat, not just the healthy stuff, both to keep myself accountable as well as present a realistic picture to my readers (if I ever get any, that is, since this is just getting started). I read these other health blogs and the recommendations of nutritionists, etc. and I always wonder if they really eat the way they are telling me to.  I can’t imagine that they NEVER eat any sugar or NEVER have even a small drink of soda or candy etc. but I only get a glimpse into how they eat and not a daily accounting. I hope to record everything I eat here so everyone will know I don’t eat perfectly, I do have treats now and then, and sometimes eat fried and processed foods and such. I really hope this ends up being helpful for someone, somewhere, in some way. Good night!

Tally for the day: 11 servings of fruits and vegetables!