Day 4: Confined Flexibility

When I started out preparing for this journey, I got my spreadsheets together (a very Erin thing to do) and had our meals and snacks planned for the entire week.  Even at Day 4, I'm realizing that this might not be the best option for anyone's sanity.

What I'm learning is that I need to be flexible.  For example, today I planned for us all to have Chicken Apple Salad for lunch. Now, as lunch rolls around, I really don't want that.  Throwing a can of tuna on some spinach leaves sounds way better.  So I'm going to go with it.  And I knew Sawyer wouldn't touch the stuff, so I came up with an AWESOME lunchbox for him today. :)  Having pre-planned meals along with go-to things like canned tuna, sweet potatoes, paleo hummus, muffins, natural deli meats, etc. on hand will make life a lot easier and enjoyable for us all.

So here is today's plan:

Breakfast: Red eggs for Sawyer and everyone else finishes the darn Breakfast Loaf! Juice, too.

Lunch.  Lunchbox goodies for Sawyer (see below), Chicken Apple Salad (see recipe) and fresh pineapple for Ryan and me, Chicken Coconut Curry for Emery (cut up in bitty pieces) with pineapple.

Dinner: Chicken Coconut Curry for Ryan and Erin. Sweet potato drizzled with almond butter and green beans for Emery and Sawyer .

Snacks: Banana Bread Muffins (see recipe).

BREAKFAST UPDATE:

Everybody was happy!  Sawyer downed his juice in a second today.  We left out the ginger. I think that was giving it a little too much of a kick for him.

LUNCH UPDATE:

I sent the Chicken Apple Salad with Ryan to eat as a lettuce wrap, and I'm sure it looks and tastes delicious. It sure did when I was making it yesterday.  I'll post a picture tomorrow if I eat it. :)

I chose a can of tuna on spinach leaves with balsamic vinegar.  Simple and tasty.

Emery took forever to eat but she liked it.  Sometimes I just want to puree her food just so we're not sitting at the table for 45 minutes!

Sawyer's lunchbox was so happy today! I bought some Applegate Farms natural turkey breast (see resources page), and made little skewered roll-ups. I let him help and he loved it.  Then we have melon, raisins and pecans mixed, and a muffin.  I know it's going to be empty!

Then I decided to make up some of these tasty treats. These are paleo banana bread muffins. I can't believe there is only one cup of almond and coconut flour total in these goodies. I think we are always going to need a supply of muffins on hand!

DINNER UPDATE AND GOODNIGHT:

Dinner was the perfect end to my day of flexibility.  I had a 5:30 F.I.T. class at Lifetime (which kicked my butt, by the way) so Ryan ate dinner on his own, Emery had a muffin snack and then pureed curry when we got home, I had some of the chicken apple salad I bypassed at lunch, and for Sawyer I thinly sliced a sweet potato and pan fried it in some coconut oil.  Then spread some almond butter on the slices and made mini-sandwiches.  He loved it! 

Looking forward to a new breakfast tomorrow.  Ryan helped me make these massive turkey sausage patties and they smell delish! They really are huge though. I told him to keep them smaller but of course he didn't listen, so if I post a picture you can blame their bulk on my husband.

On a reflective note, I did notice that I didn't have that late afternoon energy crash as much as I am used to, especially when I'm trying to get myself geared up to go to the gym late. I actually felt really motivated to get my butt moving!  I'm taking this as a good sign.

Off to the shower and off to bed to cuddle with my sweet Sawyer. Goodnight!