A week of transitioning

It's been a week of transition. The goldfish crackers are gone. The gogurts are almost gone. We are on our last loaf of commercially made bread. There are two more Eggo waffles in the box. There are no more jars of spaghetti sauce left. There is no more hazelnut creamer. 

I have to admit, the fridge looks sparse. At least the two shelves where I normally keep a bunch of convenience foods looks empty. It scares me a little. 

The counter is a bit more full. The bowl of fruit is full, as is the basket of squash, onions, shallots and potatoes. 

There is a loaf of banana bread baked this morning and the homemade loaf of whole wheat is in the bread maker rising as we speak.

I made "go-gurts" myself. I used organic vanilla yogurt (Stonyfield), tart cherry juice (loaded with antioxidants) and dark sweet cherries (frozen from the grocery store but with no additives) and made smoothies that I froze in silicone freezer pops. 

The end result was delicious. It is sweet enough, it is healthy and I feel good about it. I wish I had more of the ice pop holders to do a second batch with a different flavor. I will order more. 

The kids were questioning why I am making so much stuff and what this means for some of their favorite snacks. I explained about chemicals and some of the things used to make the food we eat. I explained that if we keep eating foods with these chemicals or unhealthy additives it may have an impact on how we get old.  I also explained that maybe we will all get sick less. They seemed to get the concepts and are excited about some of the foods. They are less excited about the addition of more vegetables to our diet. I tried hard to get them ramped up about acorn squash. Needless to say, they aren't buying it yet. 

I anticipate issues around syrup and bbq sauce. I love real maple syrup. I don't understand why everyone doesn't. But I figure we will have to have a funeral and the equivalent of mourning for Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth because they have died in our house. So has sweet baby Ray. And he is my fav.  I just need to perfect a replacement recipe. 

This weeks menu includes slow cooker pork chops with apples, honey glazed carrots, acorn squash and marinated chicken, black bean pasta with a roasted red pepper pesto. Stewed tofu for me. And of course, bread!