I am going to do something a little different for this WIAW post. Instead of sharing with you meals from a day, I am going to share with you various things that I eat very often, and talk about how to feed a family while staying healthy!
I very often get questioned about the way I eat. Usually people are curious about it, but occasionally I get the “why would you want to eat that way” with an attitude. Followed by “I like food and will eat the way I want to no matter what!”.
Breakfast has been either oats cooked with egg whites topped with nut butter or cookie dough cereal. For the boys I make the oatmeal with a little sweetener and really creamy for their tastes.
To those I usually say that’s fine, I will eat the way I want to eat as well no matter, what and I want to eat clean, healthy foods! This doesn’t mean that I never have anything with sugar, oils, fats, etc. I still live life to the fullest!
Snacks have been a lot of yogurt bowls or luna bar if I am on the go. My kiddos love yogurt as much as I do.
After that questions I am always asked about how I feed my family. If I make them eat the same foods that I eat, if I let my children have snacks, and how the hubster feels about my way of eating?
Dinner over the weekend was taco salad with brown rice & cauliflower – for the boys I wrapped their mix in a tortilla shell.
Yes, I feed my family the same foods that I eat for the most part. Do I often make something different for them? Yes and no. No I do not cook separate meals for us, we all eat the same base foods for our meals, but I do add things like quinoa, millet, hemp seeds, etc. to my meals that are not added to theirs. If I cook a meal with rice we all eat brown rice. If I cook pasta we all eat brown rice or wheat pasta. I usually always have a bread for the hubster/boys because they love bread, I just chose not to eat it.
Classic plate in my house – can get fruit in their little bellies by pairing it with favorites such as pancakes/sausages.
My entire family loves veggies for the most part. Now the boys a little pickier with this. They have certain veggies they like and ones they do not. This is usually the case with all kiddos. I just make sure to cook something that I know they will eat so they have dinner, and on occasion when we have something that I know they will not eat due to spice or strong dislike, then I always have some kid friendly quick foods available for them.
Dinner was grilled tilapia, turnip greens, and pasta salad – thanks Farrah for quinoa pasta! The boys love fish as well. I give them some pasta mixed with a little butter/coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt & pepper.
Of course the main trick to getting the family to eat healthy is to still cook family favorites with healthier and cleaner ingredients. I very often take a favorite food and “clean it up” so to speak. That way the family still gets to eat their foods, and I can stay on the healthy/clean path! It is a win, win situation 
A classis example of this would be sloppy joes. My kiddos and the hubster love sloppy joes. There is just something about that can that brings them running, but I do not want to serve them sloppy joe mix from a can. While I have often made my own sloppy joe sauce, one way I get them to eat their favorite meal is by putting a spin on it!
Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
- 1 lb. lean ground meat (we use venison)
- diced onion
- diced green bell pepper
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1/4 cup steak sauce
- provolone cheese
- toasted bread w/ coconut oil
- place ground meat, diced onions, and diced peppers in a pan brown half way (yep sounds crazy but trust me)
- add beef broth and steak sauce to pan, simmer until liquid is gone
- spread coconut oil on bread slices and toast in pan
- top bread with meat mixture and slice of provolone
Such and easy and tasty dinner that they love! The meat is flavorful, healthy, and makes for the perfect quick dinner on a busy night. Throw some Alexia potato puffs in the oven while cooking the meat mixture, and you have a perfect kid friendly meal
It is small changes like this that make feeding my family healthy meals easy. I always follow a basic recipe and just substitute the unhealthy ingredients with healthier ones.
