Real Food Challenge: Biting into Week 2

We are starting Week 2 of the 100 Days of Real Food Challenge with a group of more than 100 friends across the U.S who are trying out more healthy eats. I hope to share our journey and post a bunch of new recipes that include real food.

My personal goal is to try to experiment with less wheat and utilize more natural sweeteners. I want to make more snacks and serve up more whole fruits and veggies for my kids rather than relying on store-bought bars (even organic ones!) and fruit snacks (Sorry, Annie.)

This week I made a few discoveries. When we are trying to eat more real foods, I need to think ahead, plan out my meals (and even snacks) and prep/cook ahead of time. My biggest lesson this week is that I need to go back to my "batch cooking" like making sauces that can be frozen and big batches of granola for breakfasts. I also need to prep cook when I am not tired and not in a rush. Otherwise, it's easy to get crabby and frustrated.

I've also been working on portioning our meat so it can be used for two meals. For example, this past weekend we grilled grass-fed burgers and I reserved some meat for taco salad today.

I love to share ideas with friends. Our friends, the Benedicts, had stuffed sweet potatoes on their meal plan and I stole the idea on Friday night when I realized I didn't have enough time for my planned pizza meal and dough rising and all that.

In the spirit of sharing ideas.

This week inspired some new recipes at our house as well. After a juicing session last Sunday, I used the carrot pulp for these Carrot-Oat-Raisin Muffins. I also encouraged my sometimes-picky 3-year-old to eat red peppers this week by mixing up a batch of homemade ranch dressing to dip the peppers in.

My biggest challenge was to think outside the box on desserts. I am a chocoholic so I tend toward chocolate when I need a sweet fix. I discovered that the first ingredient on my semi-sweet chocolate chips was sugar. I don't think chocolate is bad; in fact, studies show dark chocolate is full of antioxidants but I decided to take a break from chocolate desserts this week to push myself to more creativity with real foods.

Make carrot-oat-raisin muffins

Our friend Forest brought over his juicer on Sunday and showed us how get our juicing groove on. We made a yummilicious cantaloupe-orange juice. We had a bunch, I mean a bunch, of carrot pulp leftover afterward. I couldn't bear to just throw it out. Instead, I created this muffin recipe and served it up for my kids lunches and one of our on-the-go breakfasts this week. They were moist and the kids gobbled them down.

Carrot-oat-raisin Muffins

Ingredients:

1 large egg

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1 cup raw milk or almond milk

1/2 cup plain yogurt or Greek yogurt (for creamier, thicker batter texture)

2 cups oats, uncooked

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (Bob's red mill) or 1 cup gluten-free baking mix (Pamela's)*

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon flaxseed, ground

1/2 cup honey (or coconut palm sugar)

2 cups carrots, shredded or pulp from juicing (could substitute zucchini or apples)

1/2 cup raisins (could substitute in chocolate chips and/or walnuts)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Blend together egg, coconut oil, milk and yogurt.

3. Add dry ingredients: oats, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and flaxseed.

4. Mix in honey/coconut palm sugar, carrots and raisins.

5. Grease muffin tins with olive oil spray. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop batter into tins. Bake 15-20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown on top and springy to the touch.

Makes 2 dozen mini-muffins or 1 dozen large muffins.

• Our family is increasingly trying out gluten-free recipes because we all have a sensitivity to wheat. I did use wheat flour in the first run of these muffins but my friend Brandy tells me you can always just sub Pamela's baking mix (basically a mix-up of non-wheat flours) when doing muffins. She tried these out and she said her 6 kiddos gobbled them down.

A healthier homemade ranch dressing recipe

I'm a sucker for sauces. Salad dressing, dipping sauce, tapenades, you name it. I have been known to lick the masala sauce off the plate at Indian restaurants. That said, all these extra condiments can cost a lot of money. Store-bought sauces and dressings also contain a bunch of junk. Have you ever read the label of your favorite ranch dressing? Have you counted the number of ingredients in your barbeque sauce? I did, and I got discouraged. That's when my hubby urged me to start making my own. We discovered this recipe delectable Cilantro-Lime Dressing, which I make weekly. We use this one on tacos, salads, poured generously over steaks. I also started working on my own "healthier" version of ranch without all the MSG and other yucky additives. If you want to cut down the fat content, use yogurt in place of the mayo. We just loved the extra creaminess it adds. My Giada ate half a zucchini by herself yesterday because she was so excited about dippin'.

Healthified Ranch Dressing

Ingredients:

-1 cup plain or Greek yogurt
-1 cup mayonnaise (Love Trader Joe's brand)
-1/2 teaspoon crushed fresh garlic
-1 teaspoon dried oregano
-1 teaspoon dried basil
-1/2 teaspoon dill
-1/2 teaspoon paprika
-1/2 cup almond milk or raw milk

1. Combine all ingredients in a mason jar.
2. Shake and then stir until smooth.
3. Serve with your fave salad, veggie sticks or with pizza.