Brown Bag lunches

Sometimes I get questions on what I feed Reece. Ever since he was little he's always had the same foods, or similar foods to what I eat. One of his first "whole" foods was actually sauerkraut. As my diet evolves, so does his.  I don't believe in feeding your children "special" foods. I do think that you allow your kid to become a picky eater. He isn't allowed to tell me that he doesn't like something before he tries it. You may have to introduce your kid to a food seven times before they like it. Yes, seven times. Sometimes that means reheating the same food at least twice. Reece is not a picky eater at all. In fact, he can be easily described as a "hearty" eater.

My personal philosophy on kid-rearing is that you need to treat them with respect like you would any other human being. This can be tough; I would like to elaborate on this more in another post.  This does mean that Reece is allowed his own opinion when it comes to food. I respect his opinions. Reece does not care for spicy foods. I love spicy foods. Usually I only cook anything spicy when I'm home alone. However, on occasion I cook something I want that is spicy but it's usually a compromise (and there are some spicy foods he likes).

I ask him if he thinks a dish needs something (Spice perhaps? More meat? Less broth? Cheese? A sauce? Butter?). My mom gets a kick out of his descriptions of food because he is so opinionated about it. He has told me that at certain restaurants he's "disappointed" in the food. I work to make his food experience better and I actively explain why certain foods are better for him. He is not to be rude when I cook something he doesn't like. After a meal if he doesn't care for it he simply says, "Mommy, that was ok for tonight but I would prefer if you didn't make it again." That's code for "I ate it, but I wasn't happy about it." I do also hear "I would love if you made that again, Mommy. That was awesome!" (i.e. Alfredo is is fav. right now.)

I don't always have time to make his lunch. I'm getting better about it, though. I like to put little notes in his lunch box to let him know I'm thinking about him too. The lunch and the note combined make for a nourishing meal for his body and his mind. I make a few different lunches for him. I like to rotate them because I don't want him eating the same thing every day. (How boring!) I do ask for feedback. (What did you eat first? What didn't you eat? Were you full? Is there something you would have liked to have?) I always want to know "why" for his answers. I hate the idea of him throwing away something or trading food. 

Ideas for his main course for lunch are:

Awesome Chili

Nacho salad (meat + cheese + sour cream + vegetable chips + lettuce and salsa mixed up)

Tuna salad (mayo + tuna + sardines) <- I would put spices but he doesn't want them

Crab salad (mayo + crab + spices)

Chicken salad – usually with a sliced fruit and crumbled nuts + mayo or dressing

Cheese + Meat, no crackers

Leftover soup

__________________________

Here’s Reece’s favorite lunch:

Grassfed polish sausage (cooked and cut into little disks)

Homemade honey mustard -> really raw honey + deli style grey poupon stirred until mixed thoroughly (in a 1:2 ratio)

The raw honey gives him extra enzymes to boost his immune system and help digestion. Because the grassfed polish sausage is higher in fat + protein he does not have the wild blood sugar swings he would if he only ate honey on it’s own… Plus he’s just dipping it so he’s not eating a ton of honey. He really doesn’t care about the sides as much. Once he sees the polish sausage, he knows he’s in business.

__________________________

The sides change too. But here’s some examples:

I give him at least 1 savory item in his lunch also. Examples of this are:

Cheese (usually raw from the farmer)

Vegetables and dip (not celery though… he dislikes celery)

Vegetable chips (usually with homemade dip)

Spiced nuts

Deviled eggs (although sometimes these are the actual meal if I put enough in there)

A small side salad + dressing (He loves this)

Savory mini doughnuts (I'll write a post about these later)

I've sent him bacon strips too. He likes that. (I do too.)

A few times a week I will give him 1 sweet treat (which is usually not really that sweet). Examples of this are:

Plain yogurt (organic always) + berries and nuts

Sweet almonds

Chocolate milk (from the farmer)

Homemade cookie

Grapes or another (low sugar) fruit

Apple + almond butter

A couple squares of dark chocolate

To drink usually I'll send him water, kefir smoothie, or  raw milk (which he loves). Over the next couple weeks I'm going to try fermenting more foods and sending him those too. He's been battling a more illnesses this year than in past years. It'd be good to boost his immunity now while he's overcoming some illnesses.

You get the idea, hopefully. It's pretty much what we have in the house. I usually make him his favorite lunch on Wednesdays... when I can. I try to make his lunches higher in carbs than I would eat (more vegetables, some fruit, and more dairy), because he doesn’t need to lose weight. He’s not using hormones to grow wide, his hormones are making him grow taller.** I feel he does better if it’s pretty balanced as far as leaning toward a lot of fat and more protein. He tells me he does better in class if he can think clearly. It's hard to concentrate in school (or life) if you're starving.

** I've noticed when he eats more home-cooked foods, gets CLO, and no gluten he grows. He's now up to my clavicle. I'm growing a giant. :D

Awesome Chili

So I will give you two recipes for this chili. One is the basic family recipe (unadulterated) and then the next one is the recipe I came up with when looking over a recipe for “Chipotle Chili Cheese Dogs.”

This first recipe is one of the very basic recipes I learned to make at my parent’s house. It’s one of the staples that we made because it’s super fast and easy. The leftovers taste good the next day, and they’re not too bad on a hotdog. (Or with a cut up hot dog and some cheese…) Oh, and this is not low in carbs – so watch out.

My family chili

1 packet of Mccormick chili seasoning
1 can of kidney beans, rinsed off really well
1 onion, finely chopped
1 – 2 lbs of ground beef (I would get the highest amount of lean meat you can find. Toxins in animals and humans store in fat. So you don’t want fat from supermarket animals. If you buy an animal from a grassfed farm – get the fat. It definitely makes it tasty.)
1 jar/can of tomato juice (I started using V8).

Brown the meat and cook the onions in a pot. I dump the oil out after the meat is browned. Then put the packet of chili seasoning so it mixes with the beef. Then put the beans and the tomato juice in the pot. Heat until the beans are warm enough to eat. We served it with saltine crackers and cheese.

And that’s one of the foods I grew up on. (memories...) :D

That’s something we eat at our house. Except I tweaked it a bit to fit the way we eat now. We don’t eat beans anymore. They’re too hard on the digestive system and they have a natural barrier to them that is hard to penetrate to get the nutrients out. I have noticed that we all feel differently now that we don't eat legumes. Basically it's just not worth it to me. I also changed to V8 from tomato juice. Ok, so then it’s a soupy boring thing because there are no beans…

So then yesterday I make the best chili I’ve made.


The Best Chili. Ever.

5 strips bacon, cut into tiny stripes
½ an onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin (this is what makes it smell like the coney sauce in MI)
1 can of mild Rotel (I used mild because Reece doesn’t like spicy food)
1 can of V8 juice
2 lbs of beef (97% lean)
Salt, to taste
2 packets of McCormick chili seasoning

Fry up bacon and onion together. I sprinkled some of the cumin over the onion and bacon at this time. Set the bacon and onion with the greese aside. Brown the beef and pour out the fat. Then add the bacon and onion with the greese back in. Add the salt, chili powder, seasoning, and cumin in. Stir it up, Pour in the can of Rotel. Then pour in the V8. Heat through. Serve with shredded cheese.

*Next time I’ll try a tsp of coaco powder

Derek said this was the best chili he’s had in a while. I thought it was pretty awesome, too. Little man was unimpressed at first. Then he decided he loves it. It doesn't take much to impress that kid, though. This is not super low in carbs, but I've been able to eat large quantities of this and still lose.


Enjoy!