Day 3: Food

We ate more today. All of us. Myself included.

For breakfast, Nora and James had generous bowls of Cascadian Farm Honey Nut Os.  Clare had oatmeal.  Today, because it seems like we're going to have leftover oats, I had her use the 1/2 cup to measure out the oats instead of the 1/3 cup.  I was hoping that if she got some extra calories in this morning that maybe she wouldn't request her normal amount of snacks.  I also had oatmeal, but I skipped the banana (we're down to 8).  I did have a small bowl full of frozen grapes instead.

I also had my usual cups of coffee.  I have been called a coffee snob before, but I have also met some true coffee snobs that make me look not all that serious.  Nonetheless, I undoubtedly am very displeased with my Meijer brand whole beans.  I generally like my coffee strong and black, but this stuff is too nasty to drink strong.  I usually put in one more scoop of whole beans to grind than cups of water in the pot, but with this coffee, I have to use one less to get it down.  The coffee situation is one I would have to remedy were I to have to do this long term.

I have forgotten to mention the past 2 days what snack I have packed with Clare for her mid-morning snack at school.  Her class does not eat lunch until 11:40.  She eats breakfast at about 7:00.  That means there is close to 5 hours between when she eats breakfast and when she eats lunch.  You may be thinking that we didn't get snack when we were in elementary school and survived, but I for one am grateful her teacher lets them have a "working snack" because I don't think 7 year olds should go that long without some sort of nourishment.  Her teacher has a strict "healthy snacks only" policy too.  Clare told me that once a child pulled out a package of M&Ms, and their teacher made the child put them up to eat at another time.  I appreciated that.

Anyway, today Clare got some carrots and celery.  We have lots of both of those. 

James requested some yogurt before heading off to his own school and because I worked at James's school this morning, I know that he had about a dozen apple slices and some flatbread for a snack.  Cheese and marinara sauce were also offered, so the kids could make their own mini pizzas, but James did not eat that part.

For lunch the girls had spaghetti with meat sauce, breadsticks, and chocolate milk.  Nora had applesauce as her fruit, and Clare had canned peaches.  I am not pleased with their eating ground meat from school because I would bet it is of the poorest quality, but we're just breathing through this week.

James had...you guessed it...peanut butter balls and carrots.  He also asked for an apple.  I had a peanut butter sandwich and a carrot.  No apple for me.  First time in years probably that I have not had an apple to finish off my lunch.  But we're down to 12 now with 4 days to go.

After school snack was clementines and yogurt.  Nora topped her yogurt with some peanuts and more Honey Nut Os.  I had microwave popcorn in a lunch bag.  Again.

Dinner was supposed to be a chicken enchilada casserole but as I mentioned in the shopping post, I forgot to buy chicken.  So it was just an enchilada casserole. 

The ingredients were:

• Cilantro
• Frozen corn
• Brown rice
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Monterey Jack cheese
• Tortillas (I used flour instead of corn in case they came in handy for quesadillas later)
• Tomato sauce
• Cinnamon

It was OK.  I found it a little dry but flavorful.  A nice dollop of sour cream would have hit the spot, but we didn't have any.  The kids all liked it.  Clare requested two servings.  James wanted some red bell pepper with his, so he got the last half of the red bell.

I also made more homemade bread today.  Or rather I added the ingredients to my bread machine, and the bread machine made bread today.  James had a huge slice right before dinner with some honey.  Nora had a slice on the drive to choir practice.  I realized that were we to run out of food (which I don't think we will do), I could always make more loaves of bread because we will certainly not run out of flour in 7 days.  It may not be the most nutritious thing in the world, but it's not the least and it's calories.

It was a honey whole wheat bread.  Normally I do one that has molasses, oats, wheat bran, and seeds on top of the regular ingredients.  I could have added the oats to the batch I made today, but I didn't have the other ingredients.  The one I made was just water, salt, oil, honey, unbleached flour, whole wheat flour, and yeast.  I make our own bread normally (and the bread machine has done it since I started back at school) because I have never found a store bought bread that doesn't have an odd number of ingredients.  Even if you get a little fancy, sandwich bread should have at the most a dozen ingredients.  Store bought stuff has a list that goes on and on.  Or there's soy this that and the other thing.  Anyway, bread is just too easy to make (especially with a bread machine!).

Clare took a banana and about 1/2 cup of peanuts to have in the middle of her 3 hour gymnastics practice.  Nora finished off the day with a granny smith apple, and James had his cup of milk at bedtime.  James and I also polished off the rest of the frozen grapes before we went back to choir practice to pick up Nora (Clare was still at her gymnastics practice).  Like I said, I think we're all hungry.  I would have told you that the kids have been eating their normal amounts the past two days, but they seemed to keep eating today.  It may be that I am more acutely aware of what is being consumed in this house.

On a final note, we have a cat.  Meet Theodore.  Lucky for Theodore he has not been subjected to the SNAP Challenge.  He is still eating his expensive dry and wet food, which I buy because he vomits up the cheap stuff.