Oh, to be a cave woman!

This week's challenge is tough.  We are trying to eat only foods that you can hunt, gather or grow.  As if I were a cave woman living in the Rock Ages.  And that is tough when you are surrounded by pre-made, full of delicious dairy and sugar fillers meals or foods found at the grocery store.  That means no bread, no yogurt, no cheese - a few staples of my everyday diet.  I slipped up a few times (a handful of goldfish here, oatmeal cranberry cookie there) but for the most part I am proud of having eliminated "filler" foods from my usual diet.  To be totally successful at this, we are focusing on things that are hunted (meats, fish - cooked in their natural form with no breading or frying), gathered (oats, quinoa, rice, eggs) or grown (fresh fruits and veggies).  It helps to shop the perimeter of the grocery store OR the local farmers market!

On top of that, the foods of the week (we get extra points of we each a serving of these each day) are clementines (yum!) and kale (uh ...).  I'll admit, I still cannot bring myself to sautee a pan of kale and eat it in a bigger quantity than one bite.  But, I did make it last night and even eaten straight from the pan it's not all that bad!  Cooked greens are just not something I enjoy as a side dish.  So I tossed it into our lasagna soup last night to try to hide it a bit and it was a huge hit!  The whole family enjoyed 2 bowlfuls of soup.  I've copied the recipe here for anyone who wants to try it, with the substitutions that I made to make it hunt, gather, grow approved.

Lasagna Soup, adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (original recipe can be found at http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2011/11/lasagna-soup.html)

INGREDIENTS
Soup:
1 pound italian sausage (I used ground chicken instead)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (optional - I left out so it wouldn't be too spicy for Connor)
3 tablespoons tomato paste (I just used 1 whole 6 oz can)
1 (28-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
2 bay leaves
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I only used 1 carton = 4 cups and it turned out a good consistency)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or 2 tablespoons dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 pound fusilli noodles, cooked and drained

Cheese topping: I COMPLETELY OMITTED THIS to make it hunt.gather.grow approved (and save a few calories!!)
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:
In a large 4-quart pot, add the Italian sausage and cook over medium heat, breaking the pieces up with a wooden spoon or spatula while it cooks. I prefer the sausage in fairly small pieces. After about 3-4 minutes, add the onion. Cook the sausage and onion together, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is cooked through and the onions are soft,a bout 5-7 minutes. Drain any excess grease, if desired. Stir in the garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes and tomato paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the diced tomatoes with their juices, bay leaves and chicken broth. Add the basil, if using dried (if using fresh basil, add it in the next step).

Bring the soup to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste and the fresh basil, if using.

If you are using the cheese mixture, mix all (except shredded mozzarella) ingredients together and set aside.

*Right before serving I also added about 1 c of small diced raw zucchini and 1 c sauteed kale to the soup.  They were a nice addition - made it a very hearty dish.

To serve, put 1 - 2 scoops of noodles in a bowl.  Ladle with 2 - 3 scoops of soup on top of the noodles.  Add a dollop of cheese mixture to top, if using.  Then sprinkle with shredded mozzerella and serve immediately.

*My portion was just soup - no noodles or cheese.  For hubs and baby I served noodles with soup and some shredded mozzerella on top.  It was a very filling meal!

Another favorite moment of this week was my completion of the Wednesday stretch challenge.  Each day of the week we have a little mini challenge to complete for extra points.  Some days it's food related, some days it's exercise related.  After some really awesome, intense "bad to the bone" workouts this week (thanks Gina!), I had a long stretch session after a hot shower last night.  I'm talking holding a series of 12 - 15 stretches for 1 - 2 minutes each.  It's so worth it the next day.  I slept AMAZINGLY well last night and only woke up a little bit sore, but it feels great!!