This week, I am feeling like a bit of a cheat.
The October challenges overall tend to be faring…less well than my September challenges.
Here’s how our minimal meals have been going.
What I’ve Made
- Banana baked oatmeal with chocolate chips
- Overnight oats with sauteed apples
- Fresh oatmeal with frozen mixed berries
- Egg sandwiches (with and without ham)
- Oat-banana pancakes with chocolate chips
- Chopped apple mixed with thawed frozen fruit (topped with seeds/nut butter)
- Toast with fruit spread*
- Sliced apples with peanut butter
- Black bean brownies*
- Clif bars*
- Popcorn*
- Fresh bananas, mangos, and berries
- Sliced celery, carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers
- Tomato lentil* soup
- Kale salad with pecans*
- Smoothie bowls with granola* and other toppings
- Smoothies
- Baked tofu nuggets* with Banza rice*
- Salad with stuffed grape leaves*, olives*, and other veggies
- Spaghetti with sauce, meatballs, and steamed broccoli
- Chili with tempeh* (with and without kale)
- Thai peanut noodle soup with green beans*, rice noodles*, and other veggies (plus coconut milk*)
- Vegan reubens*
All of the items marked with an asterisk* in one way or another deviated from the list of items permitted on our minimal meals month.
So you can probably see why I’m feeling a bit like a cheat.
We’ve used fancy breads (rye, naan, pizza crusts) and alternatives to regular spaghetti (rice noodles) and rice (Banza rice). I’ve stretched the permissible “condiment” type items (adding olives and grape leaves and various sauces) and blatantly used items that were definitely not on the list (like tempeh, vital wheat gluten to make the vegan pastrami, etc).
I haven’t purchased items that deviated from our list, at least.
But in straying from the minimal meals challenge, I feel like I also lost sight of the no-sugar month goal too. I made black bean brownies (that were sweetened with dates) and added regular chocolate chips to some that I consumed. I had a few Clif bars. Oh, and a cookie and a brownie at work on different days. And had a few bites of the kids’ pancakes when they had syrup on them.
It’s amazing how the little compromises just build and add up.
Plus there was one night when A and I went out on a little date night to get ice cream at the local microcreamery.
*sigh*
At least I am an honest fraud.
Every meal, every day, every moment is a new opportunity. So here’s hoping next week is better!
