Stop apologizing. Stop feeling guilty. Stop feeling like you’ve failed.

Are you doing the best you can with the food you’re eating and/or putting on the table for your family? Well then – you should feel very good about that. Are you working hard to serve lots of fruits and veggies? Have you switched to healthy fats like real butter instead of margarine?

Well then, put your zucchini down for just a second and give yourself a pat on the back.

We likely all have room for improvement. Sure, maybe sometimes we compromise on days when truly, we’re just feeling lazy and don’t want to do better. But do you know what I think? I think all of us work really hard and are rarely lazy. I think we are all doing a really good job, working to put healthy food on the table most of the time. I think it’s impossible to be perfect. Therefore, we should appreciate the good steps we’re taking on our real food journey, and should feel great about how far we’ve come!

Too many times when I’m in conversation with people, it seems that they feel like they need to apologize to me because they don’t eat a perfect diet. News flash:  Neither do I. All of you who have read my book know about my compromises and occasional orange-fingered habits (shh!). Our family loves real food and loves to encourage others to eat real food too, because really – it isn’t very hard and you will feel so much better if you do. But don’t get it in your head that because I’m a “real food blogger” I somehow have “arrived” at real food perfection. And please don’t feel bad that you haven’t arrived either. 

Did you eat some fruit today? Find a great way to sneak veggies into your kid’s lunch? Put a simple but satisfying real food dinner on the table tonight? Bravo!

In an effort to remind you (again) that my family doesn’t always eat perfectly, I took a picture of my grocery store visit tonight. Our family has been passing around a nasty flu bug for about a week and a half now. I’m tired.  Therefore, I didn’t even have the energy to go “all the way to Wal-mart” where I would have had a few organic produce choices. Nor do I have the energy to make bread or the tiniest desire to stand at the counter to make tortillas. Next week? I’ll probably be all over it. But right now? We’re in survival mode. Taking care of sick kids is more important than grinding flour and kneading bread, don’t you think?

So guess what? Tonight, I bought a loaf of bread. And two packages of tortillas. And some good looking pita pockets. I checked the ingredient lists and found some without high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils. So I bought them. Then I bought a bunch of fruits and veggies because our bodies need them. Man, citrus tastes good right now! Actually, everything fresh tastes good right now. 

I know I’ve said all of this before, but I thought it was worth saying again. Keep it simple.  Focus on eating real food. Do the best you can. Feel great about the right choices you are making!

Share!! What is one (or more) right choice you made in the food department today? (No, don’t think about where you “failed”.)  We want to know what you did right. Bet you did great!

Ever read the acknowledgements in the front of a parenting book that say something like, “A big thanks to my sister, who took care of my kids while I was writing this book.” Get the irony there? The author can’t take care of her kids…while she’s writing a parenting book. Hahaha…makes total sense, and cracks me up.

But, I’ve got to admit:  The last few weeks while I was finishing Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy – I certainly didn’t do everything I was describing in the book. We did continue to eat real food. It was all homemade. I totally drew the line at ordering pizza when I was writing about avoiding take-out. But I was very much squeaking by each day, not doing anything to prepare food ahead of time to make life easier. I should have just stopped for a few hours and spent some much needed time putting healthy convenience food into the freezer! But I was determined to finish the book, even if it meant that I was scrambling eggs or asking the kids to cook more often than normal.

We didn’t starve, we didn’t make compromises, and we all stayed healthy – even if I was fumbling around with last minute Creamy Mac and Cheese and frozen peas more often than is typical. All that to say – with the book finished and at the printer, I have had so much fun this week in the kitchen – practicing what I had written about, using many of the recipes I had shared in the book, enjoying the methods that make life so much easier each day as we work to eat healthy, whole foods!

Here’s another bit of irony: While I was making each of these foods this week, I was SO wishing I had my book right in front of me! (I didn’t get my proof copy until I had all of this food already made.)  Without the book, I kept having to run to the computer to look at the recipes on my site, double checking ingredients and measurements. It wasn’t the end of the world – especially if Matt was sitting at the computer because that is, of course, always a convenient time to flirt. 

Did I just write that out loud?  {blush}

Ummm, but anyway. It sure is nice to have the book in my kitchen now. And I’ll just have to find other opportunities to flirt. (Goodness, now I’m all flustered. I should really just move on and start talking about my pizza crust. {cough}

Yes indeed, I made a double batch of Whole Wheat Pizza Crust, which will be wonderful for the boys to take out of the freezer and make individual pizzas in the toaster oven.

I also made a double batch of Whole Wheat Quick Mix. 

In preparation for our trip, I made Chewy Granola Bars, Breakfast Cookies, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins (recipe coming soon).

I had a blast! I’m talking about the cooking session – not the flirting. I think. Oh, never mind. ;)

If you’re interested, you can read my thoughts on The Great Marriage Flirt here. 

Done any flirting extra cooking lately?