A personal food journal

A couple of people have asked me “what do you eat exactly?” so I decided to keep a little journal last week. For 3 consecutive days I wrote down everything that both my daughters (ages 2 and 5) and I ate. My husband mostly ate the same thing as I did, but I didn’t include him in this journal because he was working and I don’t keep tabs on him like I do my children!

When I first went through the transition of cutting out processed foods myself, I remember feeling like it would be so difficult (almost impossible) to come up with enough variety and options for us to eat. It has gotten so much easier over time, and I hope this rather personal depiction of our eating habits might help others make the transition too!

(Note: All items including fruit, veggies, nuts, ingredients, milk, etc. were organic when possible)

Tuesday –

Breakfast
Kids: fried eggs (from the farmers’ market), 2 slices of apples, half of a defrosted banana pancake, milk
Me: defrosted banana pancakes with 100% pure maple syrup, blueberries, milk
AM Snack
Kids:  raisins and dried apple rings (that I found at Harris Teeter and they both love) with water
Lunch
Kids: Half of a banana topped with peanut butter, 2  carrot sticks, 1  apple slice, homemade granola bar, some pieces of mozzarella cheese, milk and then a sample of white bread from the bread store (cinnamon chip)!
Me: Leftover chicken enchiladas from night before, caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, homegrown basil with balsamic vinegar), apple slice, piece of carrot, water
Dinner
Kids: Homemade whole wheat cheese/spinach ravioli (that I made and keep in freezer – I was going out to dinner so I was not cooking) with apples, raisins and milk
Me: Out to dinner I had tortilla chips with guacamole and pimento cheese, a scallop appetizer over a polenta cake, water and 2 cosmopolitan type martini drinks and a bite of chocolate cake with ice cream
Treat
Kids: Since my husband was in charge that evening I think it ended up being too late for them to have a treat! I do usually let them have one treat of their choice after dinner, but that is it for the whole day.

Wednesday –

Breakfast
Kids and me: Homemade granola cereal with milk, blueberries and bananas (my 2-yr-old won’t eat blueberries so she just had bananas)
AM Snack
Kids: Athletic mix (that I found at Harris Teeter and includes raisins, soynuts, peanuts, almonds, cashews, sunflower and pumpkin seeds) with ice water
Lunch
Kids and me: Triscuits with homemade hummus, fruit kabobs (although I didn’t feel the need to have my fruit on a stick!) including orange, pear, strawberry, apple – my 2 yr old would not eat her strawberries, the kids had milk to drink and I had water
Dinner
Kids and me: Homemade quiche including eggs from farmers’ market mixed with ham and cheddar cheese, with a side of steamed broccoli, milk for the kids and water for me
Treat
Kids and me: We each had one defrosted Easter bunny sugar cookie with icing that we made and froze after Easter

Thursday –

Breakfast
Kids and me: Homemade granola cereal with milk, blueberries, strawberries and bananas (again my 2-yr-old won’t eat the berries)
AM Snack
Kids: Whole bananas with water
Lunch
Kids: Homemade smoothies (recipe will be posted), half of peanut butter and jelly sandwich on good bread, grapes, milk
Me: Some smoothie too, leftover quiche, grapes, water
PM Snack
Kids: Cashews, piece of plain whole wheat bread (this is what my 5-yr-old asked for), water
Dinner
Me: Grits with bits of corn, sautéed mushrooms, collard greens from farmers’ market (made with onions and pieces of bacon – I will post recipe), water, red wine
Kids: The same grits plus one bite of collard greens and one bite of mushrooms plus frozen peas, and pieces of apples, pear, and milk
Treat
My 5-yr-old had a bag of sun chips they handed out at her soccer practice earlier in the day, my 2-yr-old chose a dum-dum sucker out of the treat basket, and I had a handful of chocolate chips and peanuts