Day 3

Day 3 of being grain free. At least for Marlin and Josh. The rest of us only got serious yesterday. I'm so amazed at how Josh handles it. Very casually and totally accepting that he can't have any bread, pasta, etc. Of course none of us are eating it at home, but he still has a great attitude. Emily on the other hand, gets in a bad mood just at the thought. For some reason it stresses her out when we do something out of the ordinary. She's been that way since small, routine is everything to her.
I can't help but think that this grain free experience is so good for our children. A great way to teach them self discipline and self denial. And even greater is the mama learning it. I think as mothers we tend to excuse eating issues in ourselves, after all, we kind of think we deserve that extra cookie. Subconsciously, of course. I deny my flesh on a daily basis just based on the fact that i am giving 24/7 to a large brood of children, so GIMME' MY CHOCOLATE!!!!!! And breads, sugar, you name it.
So our diet so far this week? Lots of kefir smoothies, eggs and cheese, egg nog, soup, roasted chicken with daikons and carrots, steamed broccoli, salads, a few very ripe bananas, a few apples, and grain free crackers. Yup, you can actually make grain free crackers. I modified a recipe yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Sometimes you just want something that crunches like wheat and this fulfills that. We also talked about going dairy free, at least straight milk, but at this point we're keeping dairy in. I'm focusing on kefir and yogurt, but i'm not sure i'm ready to take the plunge and go without dairy, especially since i'm not convinced it's necessary for our family.
And for those of you who want to have your cake (or crackers) and eat it too, here's the recipe for the crackers.

GRAIN FREE CRACKERS

1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup butter, melted (this was my addition, felt like it needed fat)
1 cup asiago/parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup water
Grind seeds until fine and add rest of ingredients. Place on a parchment lined pan and press out in a thin layer and score. Bake at 325 degrees for about 35 minutes. I baked mine a bit longer since they weren't as thin as they should've been and took longer to bake.

I'm looking forward to saturday morning breakfast. I will be trying almond flour pancakes, a special treat since almond flour is SO expensive. I know that having a little treat like that once in a while will go far in encouraging ourselves to stick with it.

Oh, and you know the part where i said it's good for mothers to deny themselves with food? Especially chocolate? If your husband brings you home a Rapunzel organic chocolate bar with hazelnuts, you need to eat it. Seriously. It will enhance your marriage.