Day 2 = one very proud wife...xoxoxo!!!

So before I get to the details of the day I have to tell you why I'm so proud!!! My hubby got free tickets to the Phillies ~ Braves game tonight from work...surprise! I was very happy for him till I got on the road coming home from work. I was going to get home just in time for him to leave. Oh no! What was he going to eat tonight as a ball field that would fit with our plan. We didn't have any leftovers from last night...how on earth was this going to work? So I was big about it and told him it was his choice, if he wanted to eat a ball park hot dog I would not hold it against him. And you know what he said in return...he said he really wanted to stick with the challenge :) This made me so proud! He said he had a sandwich left over from work, he grabbed some fruit and trail mix and headed out the door with the promise that I would save him some dinner ~ of course, I said YES.

On another note, hubby came home from work today and searched the whole house for Advil...can anyone say caffeine withdraws! lol

Now about our day. It was great, but it was eye opening and I am glad I did some prep last night in preparation for the day. I made most of my hubby's lunch last night, except the sandwiches...who like a soggy sandwich? NOT ME. I boiled a dozen eggs, I made rice for two of our meals this week and I pre-chopped some veggies. It took some time yesterday, but it was so worth it today. I have to get up at 5:30 to get us all out the door by 7:30 and I'm not trying to get up any earlier.

Breakfast, again, was simple. Eggs, toast and a 1/2 of a banana. The hubby had his usual. his morning G was dipping his banana into his peanut butter toast an he kept telling me how delicious his breakfast is. For a momma it is the simple things that bring us joy.

Lunch was simple! Marcus had his menu and I packed the last 1/2 of a turkey burger to put over some salad greens with the left over tomato salad from last night. You will see a trend in my lunches. I like leftovers :) I also packed a couple of snacks. a delicious peach, a cheese stick, some roasted almonds, and some yogurt. I also packed a Trader Joe's fruit leather for my 2:00 sweet tooth. This is the time of day when I tend to reach for $0.75 and a Snickers or Twix bar. Amazing enough that little piece of dehydrated-no sugar added fruit really hit the spot. I know it seems like a lot of food, but my breakfast goes around 6:30 so waiting till noon with no food is just not going to happen and dinner isn't till around 6:30 and that wait doesn't happen either. If I wait I drive through the Wendy's drive through for a 5 piece nugget and a junior vanilla frosty and we don't want that to happen do we?

Dinner was, again, from Fresh 20 and it was amazing again. We had Peanut Butter-Pepper Chicken Stew over brown rice. It was tasty, full of veggies, a little sweet, a little savory, and very filling! So far Fresh 20 gets a 3 out of 3 and I love not having to plan what's for dinner.

*Fresh 20 is not paying for me to advertise for them, I just think it is amazing and for so little you get so much.

Below is our dinner. G gobbled (my husband loves it when I use that word) it up even though it had a little kick. It tasted like a Thai dish, but with very non-Thai ingredients: Chicken, onion, garlic, shredded carrot, diced potatoes, diced tomatoes, cumin, red-pepper flakes, chickpeas, and all-natural peanut butter. All that pipping hot served over brown rice. Can I just say YUM and I can't wait for my lunch tomorrow...

A leap of faith...

Today is day # 1 and so far all is well! We started our day off with some oatmeal sweetened with a little Organic Blue Agave Nectar, milk, and blueberries. My son also had a half of a banana. He also gets a little 100% apple juice mixed with water. My hubby has a healthy appetite and one of his concerns was that he would be hungry all the time. So we came up with a menu for him to take to work with him. This way he is all prepared and I think he has plenty of food. His cooler menu consists of:

Breakfast:
1 C quick oats with a little sweetener
2 hard boiled eggs
Fruit

Snack:
some type of nut, he prefers almonds and that is what we have for now, so that is what he will get
yogurt with fruit mixed in

Lunch:
2 sandwiches on Ezekiel Bread, made with real deli-sliced turkey breast or roast beef, cheese, and lettuce
fruit and veggi with dipping sauce (the veggi we have on hand this week are carrots with 100% natural peanut butter to dip)

Snack:
Cheese
tuna fish with crackers (today I cheated, I used Kashi crackers because I forgot to buy Trisquits. The Kashi crackers have more than 5 ingredients, but they had to do for today)

I know....sheesh, he eats a lot of food, but like I said in an earlier post he runs, bikes, and does resistance training nearly every day so he needs a lot of food. Plus I want him to succeed which means he cannot be hungry :)

For lunch G and I had left over turkey patties from last night. I had mine over lettuce with the left over balsamic dressing and the little man had his with yogurt and carrots and hummus. We have been drinking a lot of H2O and I have not been hungry and I feel very satisfied. Tonight my Fresh 20 meal is: (pics to come later)

Grilled Salmon (we are having Mahi since I had some on hand)
Roasted Rosemary potatoes
Tomato Salad

BTW: hubby just called and said he was so full from lunch he didn't need his snack :)

The Prep is done :)

I have spent most of my Labor Day Holiday laboring! I got my meals planned for the next week, I got my hubby's lunches planned out and between that, Whole Foods, Trader Joes's, and Genuardi's I think we are covered. After doing some research on easy meals for this challenge I opted to go with Fresh 20. For only $5/month someone plans all your dinner meals, gives you a grocery list and budgets for you...the best part is, all the meals will fit in with the challenge rules.

We tested out our first recipe tonight and it was delish! Turkey burgers stuffed with provolone cheese on whole wheat buns with this delicious balsamic dressing and sweet-white corn on the cob. Hubby and three year old son liked it as well. The prep was easy, the ingredients were simple and I am very excited. I am going to try to photograph all of our dinner meals at the least so you can see "what's for dinner" at our house".

I just want to let you all know that I am going to do my best to be smart with my budget, but right now I am just trying to get the hang of things so my budget might be out the window for a little while till I can shake things out a bit.

Bring on tomorrow...I am ready!