Week 7: Menu July 19

This week our menu was GARLIC CHICKEN Massaged kale, SHRIMP PESTO PENNE Grilled grapes, PESTO SAUSAGE PIZZA, CHICKEN SALAD PITAS Green beans and bell pepper sticks, and PORTOBELLO CAPRESE Avocado Caesar salad. 

Garlic chicken

The grilled chicken was juicy and favorable. Can I just say I love how much we are using the grill this summer!?! It yields delicious foods and little to zilch clean up in the kitchen. :) this was our first experience with raw kale. It wasn't bad but I'd rather it be cooked into a soup. :)

Shrimp pesto penne

We subbed salmon for shrimp this week because we had leftover salmon and it saves money to use what you got. The pesto was homemade and wonderful. We skipped the cheese in it due to allergies and used walnuts instead of pin nuts since we already know DD can eat walnuts. We were fasniated by the grilled grapes; however, I much prefer frozen. :) Overall, this meal was a crowd pleaser at my house. (Pasta dishes usually are!)

Pesto sausage pizza

Another favorite dish this week. Charlotte and I skipped the mozzarella cheese. This dish was pretty straight forward. It is my family's opinion that you can't go wrong with pizza. Yum!

Chicken salad pitas

This meal was my favorite this week. We subbed soy based yogurt so it would dairy free. I typically like to use coconut based yogurt, but our local store is having trouble with the manufacturer because they are temporarily out of stock. :( This chicken salad used the grilled chicken from meal one.  It was the kind of chicken salad that includes grapes (my favorite). I enjoyed how the grapes added crunch and a burst of sweetness and moister. Sorry the picture doesn't show the chicken salad itself, but I promise it is in the pita. We were super hungry and weren't thinking in terms of pictures. 

Portobello caprese

It has come to our attention that the meatless option each week is not our style. For example last week the meatless option was the squash filled ricotta cheese sandwiches and this week this mushroom dish. I <3 mushrooms! I love them on hamburgers, steak and pizza. I do not love them on their own. I was starving when we finished this meal. Also did not get to enjoy the avocado Caesar salad due to our avocado issue (see previous post). Needless to say, from this point on... We will be contemplating the meatless dish each week and possibly skipping it. We will not buy the ingredients for the dish, but will sub in an old favorite or design a dish with all the knowledge the fresh 20 has taught us. :)

Here is an example of a self creation we had Sunday night....

Steak and mushroom pizza.

We used the remaining pesto as our base and leftover portobellos for a topping. We then added steak that was rubbed with salt, pepper, and chili powder. James had left over mozzarella. I had goat cheese (from next week's menu), and Charlotte went cheese-less. We topped it with the honey lime sauce from the corn a few weeks ago. Delicious! 

Weight loss

James: 13 lbs

Felicia: 9 lbs

Week 6: Menu July 12

This week our menu was TEX-MEX SLOPPY JOES Watermelon feta salad, GRILLED SALMON Honey lime corn & Mango salad,  BEAT THE HEAT TACO SALAD Guacamole, RICOTTA SQUASH SANDWICHES Black bean stuffed avocado, and PASTA PRIMAVERA Watermelon slices.

Everyone loved the tex-mex sloppy joes. It was a favorite for this week. It was different from the sloppy joe I grew up loving (a bottle of ketchup in each batch). This had carrots and tomato paste. We used honey to slightly sweeten the mixture. We had watermelon as our side an omitted the feta cheese.

James and I enjoyed the grilled salmon. Charlotte loved the corn. The honey lime sauce was a great touch. It tied the corn to the salmon. I have corn classified as a cookout or BBQ side, but the sauce gave the corn a level of elegance that matched the salmon. This was Charlotte's first experience with mango. She loved it. The salad was well balanced with sweet, crunchy, and earthy flavors and textures.

Beat the heat taco salad used the meat from the sloppy joes. This meal was average in my book. I was super disappointed about our lack of homemade guacamole with this meal. For some reason. I cannot purchase a ripe avocado. And surprisingly unripe avocados are hard as a rock and resemble the taste of raw broccoli. :/

We made the ricotta squash sandwiches using better than ricotta cheese substitute. I cannot tell you if it was the substitute or the original recipe... But I can say that this meal was awful. So awful, we spit our one bite out and then ordered cheese-less pizza. Also again our avocados were hard as rocks. I tried the black bean and mango mixture, but felt that it did not have balance or a good flavor. The beans totally overpowered the mango.

We did not make the final meal because I was pretty discouraged by the previous meal and the overall state of avocados that I purchased. So I am a little frustrated this week, but I refuse to quit on our journey with fresh healthy eating. We are saving lots of money and losing weight.

Tune in next week as we make our own pesto and introduce Charlotte to mushrooms.

Weight loss update:

James: 12 lbs

Felicia:  9 lbs

Week 5: Menu June 7

Our menu this week was CITRUS GRILLED CHICKEN &Jicama corn salad, STICKY GINGER ORANGE SHRIMP With broccoli &brown rice, GRILLED CHICKEN TACOS & Pineapple salsa, PINEAPPLE PORK &Ginger soy sauce, broccoli & brown rice, and CHEESY CHILEQUILES & Fried eggs. 

I was having a pampered chef party this week, so we only needed four meals. Due to allergens, we decided to omit the last meal of cheesy chilequiles & fried eggs. It was difficult to find jicama. James ended up visiting Whole Foods on the Northshore to buy it. It was surprisingly tasty. Here is our week summary.

Chicken grilled chicken

This was a delicious dish. The chicken was juicy and flavorful. Charlotte and I enjoyed the jicama. It had a sweet starchy taste. This week we used fresh cilantro. I love cilantro. In this meal, it's spicy flavor was a refreshing countertop the sweet corn and jicama.

Sticky ginger orange shrimp

Another delicious meal this week. The shrimp and broccoli were loaded with flavor. There were chunks of orange peel in this dish. It called for zest, but Ido not have any tool that will zest. So, I will be purchasing a grater and handheld juicer ASAP. :)

Grilled chicken tacos

My favorite meal by far! We repurposed the grilled chicken from day one to create these tacos. Again plenty of cilantro to counterbalance the sweet flavor from the pineapple. Yum!

Pineapple pork

I desired more flavor from this dish. The broccoli, pineapple, and rice had a nice flavor; however the pork fell short of my expectation. This was not abad meal, just nota super one either.

Next week we introduce Charlotte to Salmon and Mangos.

Weight loss thus far...

Felicia: 8 lbs

James: 10 lbs

Summer 2013 Family Travels: VA

The second Saturday of July, James and I loaded up the kids and a picnic and headed to the Carroll Reunion. The weather was great and scenery beautiful. Even though I didn't officially know anyone there, they are my family and they made that evident through their compassion and conversation.

From the moment we arrived, my family members helped us carry our lunch up the hill. They each conveyed to me how much they loved and adored my late great grandparents. I will always cherish the stories they told me. All the recounts had a few common denominators: attending church, genuineness, and compassion. What a wonderful legacy to have left behind!  

Charlotte enjoyed chasing balls and balloons. She danced to music and ran in the field. Charlotte also enjoyed the playground at the park. Samuel was soaking up the love! Everyone held him and cuddled him until he was spoiled. :) He laughed and talked carrying on with the best of them.

We didn't have a camera, but here are some shots from Facebook.

We are already looking forward to next year's reunion and hoping to do some hiking at Natural Tunnel State Park as well.

Summer 2013 Family Travels: WV

So I'm taking a break from my Fresh 20 blogging to record some of our family adventures this summer. Regular food oriented blogs will resume next week. I <3 food!  :-)

Our first summer trip was to West Virginia. James is saving vacation days for our fall break trip and thanksgiving, so he stayed home and worked. My sister and mom decided to travel up with us instead.   We left EARLY. It was around 3:30 am when we got on the road (middle of the night is best with little ones). Despite our intentions of making great time while they slept, our 7 hour trip took 11 hours. The rain slowed us and we faced obstacles that included properly securing the car seats and a flat tire. 

Though the day was trying and LONG, God blessed us with generous and compassion people. 

We loved seeing our WV family. We ate amazing meals, swam in the pool, and enjoyed fireworks. I love taking advantage of every opportunity to allow Charlotte and Samuel to form relationships with their cousins. Some of my fondest memories as a child are of playing with my cousins. Here are some pictures that captured the fun. 

Mamaw, Charlotte, and Samuel

Charlotte enjoying Oreos by the pool.

Rod, Cindy, Charlotte, Thomas, NaNa, and Mamaw enjoying the sun and pool.

Charlotte loves taking pictures on the iPad. 

Thomas came to see what the fuss was all about.

Then he tried it out for himself.

The rest of the photos were taken by Mom, Cindy, Aunt Jo, or Aunt Rita.

Me and my sweet daughter, Charlotte enjoying time together in the pool.

The girls at the block party.

NaNa, Samuel, Thomas, and Charlotte at Mamaw's kitchen bar.

Love these collages that Aunt Rita made of the girls talking.

Sophia is showing Charlotte something interesting!

First shot of all four cousins! It makes me think of our old family photos of Michael, Mark, Cindy and myself!  I hope these kiddos will keep in touch and make many memories just like we did when we were kids.

Delightful Delicious Dairy-free Discoveries

So on this allergen free journey that my family is walking, we are finding surprisingly tasteful food. So hopefully this is the first of many  blogs that I will name "delightfully delicious dairy-free discoveries."

I am a sweets-a-holic! I miss ice cream. I have tried several ice cream alternative including frozen desserts made from almond milk and coconut milk. Nothing excatly hit the spot for me. I was looking for that creamy texture that ice cream produces as it melts in your mouth. Then, I stumbled upon this....

OH.MY.WORD! A little pint of dairy-free heaven! Rich, creamy, cold, and delightfully delicious! Charlotte agreed!

Before our journey, I was also a cheese-a-holic. I have been craving pizza for 3+ month. We tried a vegan cheese pizza but the cheese was too gummy for my liking. So tonight we ordered a cheese-less pizza. I was excited to discover that Papa John's crust and GARLIC sauce are dairy-free ( like no joke I was jumping up and down and going nuts on the thoughts of dipping my pizza crust in that greasy garlic sauce! Pure fattening guilty pleasure!!! ).

Charlotte even enjoyed it! I ordered our pizza with mushrooms, green peppers, green olives, bacon, and ground beef.

What's your favorite dairy-free product?

Week 4: Menu June 14

This week we opted to only prepare four out of the five meals because we had plans for dinner one night. We skipped the meal that was fruit and yogurt. Though I can find coconut milk based yogurt that it delicious, it is also incredibly expensive ($2.59 a serving). We also were prepping the house before the kids and I went on vacation, and once the kitchen is clean we stay out and eat out so we don't mess it up. ;) 

So this week our menu included Cuban steak with black beans and rice, grilled scallops with asparagus and cannelloni bean salad, steak nachos, and B.L.A.T. Wraps with fruit.

Highlights: making our own tortilla chips, learning how to properly cut an avocado, and enjoyed all the fresh flavors this week.

I enjoyed all the meals this week. I pushed my family a little to far with avocado as they were not fans, but the more exposure to fresh food the more likely we are to acquire taste buds for new exciting flavors. 

Cuban steak with black beans and rice

The steak had the most delicious flavor! James appreciated the simplicity and lack of new random ingredients ;) . I enjoyed it, but the beans and rice made the meal a little too heavy for me.

Check out Charlotte devouring hers!

Grilled Scallops with asparagus and cannelloni bean salad

I did a poor job of excuting this meal. I chalk it up to my fear of undercooking seafood and lack of experience. Even though I cooked the scallops to death, they were still delicious. The asparagus was a little undercooked, but the flavor was great. Finally, the bean salad was clean and crisp. 

Steak nachos with dairy free cheesy Mexican dip

This meal was a lot more labor intensive than I anticipated. We made our nacho chips from corn tortillas and olive oil. The rest of the meal was relatively quick and easy because the steak was cooked Monday, so it just needed to be warmed with the beans. The "cheese" dip was made from nutritional yeast flakes ( not part of the original fresh 20 meal plan). Delicious!

B.L.A.T. Wraps with a side of cucumber and cantaloupe 

We baked the bacon in the oven until was crispy. While it cooked, I chopped the tomato and avocado. I mixed the crumbled bacon  and freshly cubed vegetables together with a marinade and then filled the lettuce leafs with the mixture. This was my favorite meal this week because it was so unique. The flavors were fresh and each stood alone while melding together to create a new delightful taste. 

James and Charlotte however were less than impressed. Here they are uniting together with a high five to  take a stand against B.L.A.T.'s being served in the future.

Weight loss to date:

James: 5 lbs

Felicia: 6 lbs

Week 3: Menu May 17

Our dinners this week were delicious! My favorite week so far! Charlotte ate a burger! We all enjoyed couscous! It was a great culinary week full of fresh food and exciting flavors.

The menu:

 MONDAY 

MEDITERRANEAN MEATBALLS 

Apricot couscous

TUESDAY 

POACHED SALMON

Sautéed garlic spinach 

WEDNESDAY 

BRAISED APRICOT CHICKEN 

Couscous 

THURSDAY 

SPINACH & FETA TURKEY BURGERSt

Carrot sticks & cucumber circles 

FRIDAY 

PASTA PUTTANESCA 

Artichokes, olives, spinach, tomato, 

and capers

Changes:

We did not eat the meals in order this week because some took longer to prepare. We subbed chicken for salmon and omitted the feta cheese.

James's favorite was the turkey burger. "It was flavorful and fresh," he commented. I was personally shocked it tasted so yummy. Most turkey burgers I have eaten have been dry and crumbly, but the turkey burger was juicy and delish!

My favorite was the braised apricot chicken. The flavors were unique and plentiful. I liked how the dried apricots rehydrated and added to the diverse texture. The chicken was juicy and slightly sweet. Everyone gobbled this dish down.

My second favorite was Mediterranean Meatballs with apricot couscous. The meatballs were flavorful and the couscous was so delicious. It was my first experience with couscous and definitely will jot be my last.

The pasta puttanesca was also tasty with the olives and artichokes adding splashes of flavor throughout the dish.

This week James lost 2 pounds and I lost 2 ounces. A loss is a loss. :)

On another unexpected perk of The Fresh 20, we are on target to spend 40% less on food this month compared to what we normally spend. :) that means the subscription to The Fresh 20 has already paid for its self and allowed us to bank $80 in the first month!

Tune in next week when enjoy summer melons and avocado too! I am so looking forward to avocado!

Do you have any suggestions for future TheFresh20 blogs? Leave your comments and suggestions below.

Week 2: Menu May 31

So we just completed our second week and we made some major mistakes! We failed to prep for this week which resulted in the meals taking a long time to make each day. Also, knowing what was facing us when we got home, we ate out several times. :( so lesson learned! This coming week's prep is already completed. 

Our meals this week: HERBED PORK TENDERLOIN with Braised leeks& wheat berries, SPICY SAUSAGE FISHERMAN STEW, PORK TENDERLOIN with CREAMY THYME SAUCE with Mashed taters & peas, CHICKEN SAUSAGES &SPRING STRAWBERRY SALAD, And SWEET POTATO HASH 

BREAKFAST SKILLET.

So we made some slight changes due to allergies and the what not. First, all the chicken sausages had cheese, so we bought turkey. Next, due to my nervousness regarding cooking fish and the costly ness of it, we had Spicy Sausage CHICKEN stew. And finally, we ate left over for dinner because we were out of the house a lot around lunch...so we did not have the sausages and salad. (We were waiting to buy the strawberries and lettuce fresh, so we didn't waste any foods his week. Charlotte and I have been enjoying turkey sausage with our oatmeal for breakfast. )

So, no favorites this week. But here are some highlights.

We had the breakfast but I was not a fan of this dish. It also bothered Samuel's tummy, so we are going to avoid egg recipes in the future. It doesn't bother him if I eat something with eggs in, but I think  egg hash was too much for him.

The herbed pork tenderloin was tasty. I liked leeks, but James did not care for their texture. We used brown rice instead of wheat berries (bc our store did not have them).

The creamy thyme sauce was wonderful. With the lack of cow's dairy in our house, I have been missing gravy and mashed potatoes. We used almond milk (original) to make this and we all enjoyed it.

The stew had the Swiss chard in it. It was delicious, but we froze the majority of because it is too hot for stew right now.  

Next week we will be making our own meatballs and turkey burgers! I am looking forward to it.

I lost 3 pounds and my husband lost 1 pound. We are so excited that our eating is helping us get healthier.

Do you have any suggestions about what you would like to see in future fresh 20 posts? Leave a comment below with your questions and ideas.