Update and a TRIP

This week the no processed foods went really well. I wasn't perfect for the entire week...my daughter pushed me into dinner at Paradise Bakery and I am sure they have never even HEARD of unprocessed foods.

I will try to get back to it and make progress when I get back from this trip. I am planning to work at being as good as I can at it while dependent on other for meals.

So, this trip! We are starting out in the morning and heading south on 65 with no plans...we are going to wander and see where we wind up! So excited about this! We plan to blog along the trip and let you all know how it goes!!

Eliminating Processed Foods

My current desire is to be thinner, be healthier, and just be a better me. I am going to have to start making better decisions to do this.


I have decided that I want to work really hard to eliminate processed foods from our diet. I realize that this is a tall order but I was inspired by Lisa @ 100 days of Real Food. I took her 10 day challenge and said that I was going to start when Hannah and I get back from Spring Break (we will be blogging our trip we are heading south with no plans or reservations next Saturday). One of the goals of that trip is to keep it cheap so this will be more challenging during the trip, but I still intend to try.


When I decide something is a good idea, I have a really hard time not just starting...so, I have been channeling my baking into fixing real food for the week so that we can meet this goal. Yesterday I decided to play around with making a cabbage salad with all kinds of veggies and beans added and make up my own dressing using some of the oven dried tomatoes from the summer that we put in oil. This looks and tastes amazing and it is lunch for this week! 

1/2 head purple cabbage, 1/2 head green cabbage, 5 sliced carrots, 1/2 each red, yellow, and orange pepper sliced, 4 stalks celery sliced, 2 cans black beans (save 1/2 cup black bean juice), and 1 can white kidney beans.

1/4 cup olive oil (I used the oil from my oven dried tomatoes) 6-8 sun dried tomatoes, 1/4 balsamic vinegar, 3 Tbs Rosemary garlic mix, 2 Tbs lime juice, 2 Tbs honey, 1/2 cup black bean juice (I reserved from the beans when I drained), 2 Tbs spicy brown mustard. I tossed the salad in the dressing next time I will wait until I am ready to eat it to add the dressing.

I also made a vegetarian chili with a TON of beans in it for fiber...this dinner this week. 

1 can whole tomatoes pureed in food processor, chili powder, cumin,  and red pepper flakes to taste, place in stock pot and add four cans of my favorite beans, 1/2 each red, yellow, and orange pepper chopped, 3 cups pureed zucchini, 2 cans chopped tomatoes. This is SO amazingly yummy and filling!

I started today with baking some whole grain, high fiber, low fat bread that I found @Annie's Eats...

Mixed up and ready to rise!

This stuff is AMAZING...this is our new bread...next time I will add some fresh rosemary when mixing the bread.

some whole wheat rolls (I substituted honey for the brown sugar as sweetener)that I found @So Good and Tasty that I am making look like sandwich thins. 

This picture is not the best they are not yellow but really soft brown. The really remind me of the sandwich thins that are out...but I can pronounce EVERY single ingredient!!

Next up is some whole wheat corn bread that I found @Food.com to go with the chili this week.

These are so yummy!! I will definitely make these from now on! 

We bought berries from Sam's that are WONDERFUL and apples, pears, and pineapple. I would love to be buying these locally and organically...I hate the idea that there are pesticides on my fruit but I need to get more fruits and veggies and less meat into my diet.


I sliced up red, orange, and yellow peppers to go with carrots and mushrooms and hummus (Jeff makes this from scratch and he is VERY good at it!).


So these are my plans for the week. I already have homemade vanilla bean non-fat yogurt to go with my homemade granola for breakfast, fruit for a snack, cabbage and bean salad for lunch, hummus and veggies for a snack, and then veggie chili with whole wheat corn bread for dinner this week. I am a creature of habit and have no problem eating the same things all week. 


My husband can do this with me and my 20 year old daughter won't eat any of it the first time...I just cannot win with her.


I am going to attempt to share my recipe for the cabbage and bean salad with dressing (I suppose it needs a name)I really played around until I got the dressing to taste so yummy!