It's the end of our first week on the Real Food Challenge - and we're a quarter of the way there. We've cleaned up our pantries and picked up some nourishing foods.  We started off the challenge taking a good, hard look at grains and learning how to properly prepare them through soaking, souring and sprouting - and we even ventured into milling our own sprouted grain flour. Your sprouts should be ready today, if they're not already, and you should be feeding your sourdough starter every day.

 

So for today, with one week behind us, it's time to sit back, relax a bit and evaluate our progress.  What did you struggle with?  Was it giving up the processed foods?  Was it surrendering the not-so-natural "natural" foods like stevia and agave nectar? Did you struggle finding real-food-friendly meals to prepare for your family?

 

Examine what you've done, what you could have accomplished more effectively and what you hope to accomplish by the end of the challenge.

 

Share Your Progress: If you blog, share your progress with this week's challenges on your site and don't forget to add your post or posts Nourished Kitchen this week.  If you don't blog, you can always share your progress at Nourished Kitchen's facebook page or by commenting on this week's check-in post.

 

 

• Some people are stuck for meal ideas, why don't you share what you're eating?
• View the discussions on facebook.
• Did you miss an assignment? Check the archives.
• Got questions or need clarification? Email me.
• Don't forget to check out this week's post at Nourished Kitchen.
• Coming up tomorrow: starting a sourdough.

 

Good Luck!

 

-Jenny

Evaluate and share: We've got GREAT prizes for participants, but you have to check-in and post your progress once a week in order to be eligible to win.

• If you blog, share your post or posts at this week's re-cap.
• If you're on facebook, share your struggles and successes here.
• If you don't do either, make sure to share your progress by posting a comment here.

Last-minute shopping ideas: This week we'll focus on nuts, seeds and legumes, wholesome fats, baking sourdough bread and celebrating raw milk.  You'll also need to feed your family wholesome, real food so here's a quick shopping list of items you may wish to pick up. You don't need to pick up everything, but, when you shop this week, you'll have the opportunity to pick up a few items that suit your budget and personal tastes.

• Wholesome fats: Unrefined Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Pastured Lard, Grass-fed Beef Tallow, Butter, Ghee, Coconut Oil
• Whole Grains: Organic whole spelt, white wheat, hard red wheat, rye, rice, quinoa, buckwheat and whole grain flours.
• Nuts, Seeds and Legumes: Dry beans and lentils, raw almonds, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, blanched almond flour and coconut flour.
• Meats, Fish & Fowl: Beef, bison, chicken, pork, duck, eggs, salmon, shellfish (all wild-caught, grass-fed or pasture-raised)
• Fresh Vegetables & Fruit: Any fresh or unsulphured dried fruit or vegetable with special emphasis on greens, berries and other plant foods dense in phytonutrients (preferably organic and local)
• Dairy: Whole milk, cream, butter, yogurt, kefir (preferably grass-fed and raw, definitely not ultrapasteurized)
• Sweets: If consuming sweets in this challenge, keep it to raw honey, molasses, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, whole unrefined cane juice, sorghum syrup
• Salts, Seasonings: Unrefined sea salts, organic single herbs ad spices (as opposed to spice mixes which cancontain additives)

Roast Duck

 Black Bean Soup

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*Note: If you've been practicing traditional foods for sometime, you may wish to challenge yourself further by limiting or avoiding natural sweeteners this month.