Our Journey into Real Food

Earlier this week I began and completed purging all processed foods from our home. When you really start looking at what's in your pantry, it can be pretty scary.
My previous outlook was that it can't be all that bad, everyone else is eating it...but it really is THAT bad.
The Lord began speaking to me through a series of events that all happened in rapid succession. I knew that He was calling me to make an extreme change...and that NOW was the time. I didn't have the money to dump all processed foods and purchased real, whole replacements....but I did it, and the Lord provided. It never ceases to amaze me that when I ask, He answers...why do we ask in expectation and then stand in awe when he supplies? Our human-ness, I guess.
Anyways, for many reasons..highest of which is the health of my husband, we decided to make the change. Everyone in the family was (shockingly) on board...one more way that I knew the Lord was in it.
SO...my journey into a real food lifestyle begins.....
I ended up getting rid of almost EVERYTHING in my pantries and fridge / freezer. Sounds intimidating, doesn't it? Well..it was at first, but once I started, it was invigorating. With each item I removed, I knew I was moving my family towards health.

Here is my fridge today:

Smoothies are nothing new to our home, but it was not a staple before....and we used flavored yogurt. Now though, there is no sugary stuff..only plain, not vanilla yogurt, sweetened by real fruit and raw honey. (The ingredient lists are key in recognizing what you do and do not want in your home).

My first REAL FOOD MEAL was a chicken, rice, broccoli casserole. THIS is the recipe.

Previously, we have often eaten the Stouffer's Grandma's Chicken & Vegetable Rice Bake. It was a white rice, chicken, veggie bake with a list a mile long of "ingredients" that included tons of garbage that our bodies were never made to take in.

THIS MEAL WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YUMMY!!
I was a little intimidated by the recipe initially because it calls for you to make cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup from scratch (I didn't even know you could do that!!) But I decided to give it a whirl and used this recipe to make them. I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it was to make!

Anything that calls for oil, I am now using coconut oil...it leaves NO flavor, trust me! Olive oil is ok to use at room temp or cold, but not heated.
So....here I was sauteing the onions, garlic and chopped mushrooms for the Cream of Mushroom soup.

all done!

cream of mushroom on the left and cream of chicken on the right.

Here I'm steaming fresh broccoli and making whole grain brown rice for the casserole:

Chicken that I cooked and chopped for the casserole:

Finished product! (After three servings were dished out)

 It was delicious! Although it def needed some salt.
One of the great things about this recipe is that it actually makes 2 casseroles! One for now and one to freeze for later...or if you have a large family, it will make plenty! This one casserole fed all three of us two times with one small serving leftover. The second casserole I made was larger than this one and it fed a family of 6 and they also had leftovers!

The second real food recipe I tried was whole grain waffles. Sound gross? It's actually delicious! I was surprised because I expected it to be VERY "bleh".
We used 100% pure, organic maple syrup and if you dip instead of pouring it onto the waffles you only need a quarter of a cup for 2 waffles!! It's great!

I used an electric hand mixer for this batter because the coconut oil at room temp (or when it gets cold) is the texture of lard...so when it hit the cold milk, it clumped up!

 

Ronnie is, by far, the pickiest eater in our family. He normally uses TONS of syrup and likes NOTHING healthy...he LOVED these waffles and only used 1/4 cup syrup. He was totally full after only eating 2! (To give you an idea of how great this is...he normally has to eat 4 waffles with probably 1 1/2-2 cups of processed, high fructose corn syrup in it syrup to be full!) He even said to mark this recipe as a keeper! (HUGE!)

here's my plate....after the syrup soaked into Ronnie and Kyle's waffles, we discovered the dipping trick :)

 So...there you have it. Both recipes were easier than I thought, yummier than I thought and TONS more nutritious for my family. 

I encourage you strongly to give it a whirl. 

If I can do it, ANYBODY can!