Foraging in my fridge, freezer, and pantry

Foraging is probably a mild exaggeration, but it caught your attention, didn't it?

For years, I've cooked dinner every night of the week. As my mother in law would call it, my cooking has always been "from scratchy", which means I make all my sauces and side dishes--no opening of a box or can for me. It's what I prefer ever since I taught myself to cook. I know that I feel better when I eat well, so of course the same principle must apply to my children and their developing bodies and brains.

Due to Ava's food allergies, we rarely go out to eat and almost never do take out. Vacation is the exception to that rule, and even though she has multiple food allergies, the fact that many restaurants are now offering gluten free options makes ordering for her while out a little easier. Once the gluten is removed, it's easy to determine what is dairy and egg free. While I always prefer small local restaurants to chains, often the chains are the ones that can guarantee her food safety.

But I digress. A few weeks ago, I came across a pin on Pinterest that led me back to this blog: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/. While the concept of real or whole food is not new to me, I always appreciate a kick in the pants and some new recipes.

My biggest challenge when it comes to real/whole food is snacks for my kids. It is infinitely easier to buy a bag of (organic) chips or pretzels than it is to cut up fruit, make popcorn or trail mix, or bake whole grain muffins. I'm a mom of three with a 20+ hour a week job, the desire to work out 5 hours a week, friends I love spending time with, volunteer commitments, and various other responsibilities both in and outside of my home. I've noticed that when I'm extra busy, I run to the grocery store more because I'm not planning and preparing ahead, and am instead flying by the seat of my pants. I hate that.

Especially in the summer, I knew I could do better, and so when I read the 100 days of real food blog, it was a good reminder. I skimmed the initial 100 day pledge, and then read most of the posts related to the 100 days of real food on a budget pledge. That was fascinating to me, because our grocery bill is our biggest bill each month. I want to change that, but haven't been successful in doing so. Sometimes my freezers are overflowing with food and yet I go to the grocery store and spend a couple of hundred dollars on more food.

Last week we had a teen aged friend of Noah's stay with us for 6 nights, so there was no way that was the week to implement my idea to get by with what we had on hand. This week was perfect because not only am I back to feeding our family of 5, but we are leaving for vacation on Sunday. I decided that I would try my best to make it through the week living off what was in our freezer, pantry, and refrigerator, and the fruits and vegetables we bought at the Farmer's Market.

The first night was the easiest because I had three Pyrex dishes frozen that contained different proteins: pulled pork, my famous chili, and a hamburger. Everyone got to choose what they wanted, and I served a tray of raw vegetables, sauteed kale, and oven roasted potatoes.

Our breakfast is usually pretty similar from day to day: eggs, bacon or sausage, oatmeal with syrup and nuts, grilled cheese for the boys, or Van's waffles or French toast sticks. I've come to rely on these frozen goodies a bit too much, and I do want to cut back so that they're more of a 1-2x a week thing. Baking for Ava is hard for me, so I don't do it often, but that's my goal for after vacation--to freeze some "safe" waffles, pancakes, and muffins for her. That way I can control what goes in them. I like to add nut flour, which I grind myself, use applesauce instead of sugar, and any other little tricks I can think of to boost the nutritional value of my baked goods.

So far this week I have made whole wheat bread in my bread machine, oat banana pancakes, and lemon blueberry pancakes. Both of them had healthy add ins like coconut oil, Greek yogurt, and nut flour. I'm well aware of the importance of protein, so when I can sneak it into carby foods, I'm very pleased with myself. The best part is that I had every ingredient on hand; in fact the blueberries were from one of our bushes!

We did run out of eggs and almond milk, and didn't have any meat or fish, so I made a quick stop into Whole Foods yesterday. I picked up the eggs and milk, a whole chicken that will make two meals, an onion, and some snacks for our trip. Now I will definitely be able to make it through until Sunday morning.

I will likely never figure out how to properly insert a picture!

Dinner tonight was lemon basil chicken cooked in the crock pot, mashed potatoes, and sauteed vegetables (Brussels sprouts, zucchini, squash, onions, and cauliflower). Tomorrow the breasts from that whole chicken will be turned into a stir fry with a bag of frozen vegetables and served with brown rice. The next night I'll be making quiche for the boys, Greg, and me, and defrosting some meat balls for Ava. I'm even going to make my own pie crust, something I've never attempted to do since I find working with dough difficult. But I don't have a crust in my freezer and we have tons of eggs, cheese, and herbs, so quiche seemed like the best idea.

Our last night before vacation will consist of anything we haven't eaten by then. I love watching the refrigerator get more and more empty as the week goes on. I'm sure I won't feel this way the day after we return from vacation, but I am at least going to make sure we have a few items on hand so that we don't have to make a mad dash to the grocery store at 8am in order for the kids to eat breakfast.

Tonight the bread machine will be whipping up a multi-grain bread for the boys and in the morning Ava and I will be making some zucchini muffins just for her. Recipe to come.