**This post is part of the Get Real series. Please remember that this is meant as a learning community. We know that many of you are passionate about what you do and we want you to express that, just please do so in a way that will be an encouragement and aid to others making a transition. We want this to be a “safe space” for participants to learn. For that reason, we reserve the right to delete any comments that are not handled in this manner.
What better way to celebrate this extra day we’re given this year by having another Get Real recap! We’re happy to have Annett Davis from Fit Moms Fit Kids Club here again to talk about her challenge this past month.
Lions, Tigers, and Bears Bread – oh MY!!! That’s what came to mind going into this challenge. Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE bread, but making it myself scares me sometimes. Not only was this month about bread, but whole grains which is another thing that’s a little foreign to me. Sure I eat a little rice now and then, and I’ve even switched to brown rice. Occasionally (like once every 2 months) I make quinoa, but to be honest with you everything else on this month’s whole grain list was new to me. Here’s a little recap of my February doing the Get Real series.
Week One: I’m not a “virgin bread baker,” but I do consider myself a newbie. I have a bread machine that I use weekly. I’ve even made up my own Banana Blueberry Quick Bread recipe. BUT when it comes to making bread without a machine, using yeast, letting it rise…I’m still scared to death intimidated.
My brother has tasted my favorite 5 ingredient sandwich bread recipe that I make in the bread machine and loves it, but he challenged me to try it without the machine. He said that he wanted to test if making it with my hands adding “love” would make it taste even better. Sorry to disappoint. I still haven’t gone there yet. Week one did inspire me to try and make one of my all time favorite breads: homemade whole wheat tortillas! I am
VERY proud of that.
It also gave me the confidence to make homemade pizza dough. Next month I’m going to try…wait for it… whole wheat sandwich bread without using my bread machine. I’m a competitor, if you remember from my recap last month. I’m an Olympian, and if Trisha can do it, so can I. 🙂
Week 2: This week was challenging for me. When Jo-Lynne started talking about getting rid of her store-bought cereals, I was thinking “Get out of my kitchen lady. You’ve gone too far!” (Joking of course.) Cereal has been a savior for me on busy mornings. We usually alternate between cold (cereal) and hot breakfasts (eggs, pancakes, turkey bacon etc).
One thing we have been eating more of is baked oatmeal. A healthier breakfast option that I gave the kiddos this week was yogurt with fresh fruit (a little cottage cheese for extra protein for me) and homemade granola! They loved it!! On a side note, I thoroughly enjoyed the article from Sue Becker of Bread Beckers. Wow! What a story. Reading that post on the benefits of grains made me want to run out and buy a home grain mill or win one! 🙂
Week 3: It was great to learn about so many whole grains that I’ve never tasted or even heard of! I LOVE food, and now I have a lot of new things to try. As I write, I haven’t tried any new grains yet, but on my menu for tonight is a Pineapple Fried Quinoa (which really isn’t fried, it just sounds better than sauteed).
This week I made Spanish Rice with brown rice instead of white, which was delicious! I promise you, my dinner guests did not notice the difference. I’m also going to our natural store that has a bulk aisle to get some of the other whole grains like millet, buckwheat. and wild rice. Tomorrow’s dinner will be a turkey wild rice soup. I’m so excited.
Happy to “Get Real” with you again! Until next time, Blessings!
Annett Davis is an Olympian, happy wife, and homeschooling mom of 2. She blogs over at Fit Moms Fit Kids Club which is all about informing, inspiring, and empowering moms to make fitness and good health a way of life for themselves and their families.
February Week Four Action Item:
- Write a summary of how you are doing with the challenge thus far (post in comments, link to a blog post, or post on the FB Fan Page). You can cover any of all of our focus areas for the month:
Please share a recap of your progress in Get Real for February. No matter what it looks like, be honest! We are an encouraging community, not a judgmental one.
February Get Real:
Please take a moment to thank our guest authors and sponsors by clicking over to their sites and/or liking them on Facebook and/or Twitter.