Progress and Recommendations

I am on Day 5 and going strong!  I am feeling great and have only had a few minor slips.  Two mentioned previously were the organic whole wheat bread and sandwich thins that do contain sugar.  The only other one was yesterday when I made some quesadillas for dinner and used plain ol' flour tortillas.  My plan for next time is to follow this recipe and hopefully make a bunch ahead and freeze them.  My plan for bread in the future is to make it at home or buy from Great Harvest.  Their honey wheat bread only has five ingredients: freshly ground whole wheat flour, water, yeast, salt, and honey.  Yum!  Does anyone have a great whole wheat bread recipe I can try at home?

My biggest temptation this week was a bridal shower I went to mid-week.  There was a table overflowing with cupcakes, cream puffs and canisters of my favorite candies.  There was lemonade (and water - yes!) to drink and chicken salad croissant sandwiches to eat.  I passed everything by and had a plate of watermelon, strawberries, grapes and some water to drink.  I'm finding it's really not that difficult to turn things down when I've made the decision to do it ahead of time.  I find it much more difficult to moderate myself or say "only one" because one inevitably turns into "one of each" and then "just one more."  Once I'm feeling like I've conquered my sugar addiction to some degree, I will definitely be making allowances for super special occasions.  I think that's how I'd like to develop my relationship with sugar for myself and my family: something special that we don't have all the time.  I'm not going to make my children eat some strange concoction of carob and honey and applesauce and whole wheat flour instead of birthday cake, but I'm also not going to have such goodies around the house on a regular basis.  Naturally sweet snacks will rule the day, but "real" sugar will definitely be allowed now and then.

One great thing I've tried since starting this is R.W. Knudsen Organic Apple Juice.  I read about it being super good and - wow - it's really delicious.  Definitely lived up to they hype!  Also, last night I made a black bean and corn salad for dinner and it was delicious.  No guilt in having multiple helpings of healthy veggies and legumes!  We're having it again tonight.  Sadly, one thing that did not live up to my expectations was a bowl of oatmeal I made mid-week.  I got the recipe from a blog (I'd rather not mention it, because they otherwise have great recipes, but this was disgusting) and it had a beautiful photo that made it look so appealing. Well, I should have run the other direction when I saw that they used water instead of milk AND equal portions of water and oatmeal.  It was so thick I could hardly get my spoon in.  It was just gross.  If you have a yummy oatmeal recipe, please share.  Also, I'm looking for great (and healthy - no sugar, no brown sugar) granola recipes.