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Meal Plans Week of 1-20-13

Sniffle, sniffle. Yep, we’re sick. Last week was a rough one. Rebecca and Abram both had the nasty 7-10 day respiratory flu plus ear infections. They are both on meds now and on the upswing but still not back to normal. Hopefully today Abram will start eating again. Poor thing. He’s been living on liquids for about 4 or 5 days now. Even that was a struggle for a couple days. I had to force little bits of liquid down with a dropper. It’s so good to at least see him drinking again. Of course I was exposed to their germs all week…so I’m sick too. So far it just feels like a head cold. And I hope that’s how it stays.

Oddly enough this year Rebecca and Justin got a flu shot. Abram and I did not. Rebecca and Abram got the flu. Makes you wonder.

Two sick kids watching Mickey’s Hot Dog Dance
 

That being said last week was kind of a bust in terms of accomplishing anything. Rebecca didn’t go to school all week. I changed almost all of our meal plans (since I didn’t have time to cook and the kids weren’t eating anyway). I didn’t do all of the baking I had hoped. At least we made it to all of our doctor appointments, plus an extra trip to the pediatrician. And I made homemade cocoa puffs, chocolate chip cookies (Abram was really in the mood to bake for some reason :P), blueberry muffins and kefir and froze some french fries. I also got all of the bathrooms cleaned, went grocery shopping and did a little clothes shopping for myself. I finally have a decent winter coat! I think I got my old coat in college…over 10 years ago. It was time for an update.

So this week hopefully things will get back to normal. Tomorrow is no school and no work for Justin. We only have one doctor appointment this week. What a treat 😛  We have Bible Study on Friday, but we haven’t found a baby-sitter yet. So we’ll see what happens with that. Needless to say Abram and I will not be going to church today. Hopefully Rebecca is feeling good enough to go at least.

We had a visit from our favorite house guest while baking.

On to the food. I am repeating several meals this week since I didn’t make them last week. Hopefully everyone will have their full appetites back. I have a pretty long list of things I’d like to make this week. We’ll see how it goes. I’d like to make yogurt, golden grahams, soaked graham crackers, unsoaked graham crackers and cheese crackers. I also got a baking challenge from a faithful reader 🙂  So hopefully I’ll get on that this week too. I already did some food prep and made a new batch of ice cream this morning.

I did some cleaning/disinfecting yesterday. I need to do more today. Especially things like changing linens. And hopefully cleaning some toys.

Rebecca lost her 2nd tooth.
 

I had a regular check up last week…and found out that I’m slightly anemic. My hemoglobin was 10.3. They want it above 11 and preferably around 12. Honestly I’m not too concerned. But my doctor seemed to be. For now I’m going to try to add a few more iron rich foods to my diet. And I’ll wait until I get my full workup of test results back next week. January 30 can’t get here soon enough!!! I’m so anxious to see what’s going on in my body.

I haven’t been feeling the best with the stress and fatigue from last week. My anxiety was quite high because I was so concerned about the kids. I manged to avoid any panic attacks, but I was not feeling like myself. Abram was hardly sleeping (at night or for naps). And I let him nurse a bunch to prevent dehydration (takes a toll to go from barely nursing to on demand…but I’m so thankful I could…it’s the only thing that kept him from getting severely dehydrated and making his illness go from bad to very bad). So I need to recharge this week. I’m trying to eat nutrient dense foods and get a little extra rest when possible. So if all of my to-dos go out the window, you know why 😛

It didn’t help that I’m out of my two supplements that help the most with anxiety. I can definitely feel it. And hope I can get more soon.

Homemade Cocoa Puffs

There was some personal stuff that caused a great deal of anxiety last week as well. I was reminded of my goal for this year of acceptance. Not just of myself and my circumstances but of others. Accepting and letting God take control really helps.

One last thing I’m wondering about related to my health now. I just got a refill of my thyroid medication. I had to change from the name brand to the generic because of new insurance. No big deal. But I figured I’d read through all the fine print that came with it. I noticed a few things that make me wonder if I’m taking this correctly or should be taking it at all (I have been on it for about 6 years now). First, it says not to take it within 4 hours of any vitamins or mineral supplements or calcium. I usually take a calcium/magnesium supplement at the same time as my thyroid meds. And I take my multi-vitamin just a little later. It also says that certain foods can make it less effective…one of them being “foods that contain dietary fiber.” What?? Who makes a pill that is less effective if you eat fiber? Finally, the main concern is that it says in bold “use of this medicine is not recommended if you have untreated adrenal gland problems.” I know I have adrenal fatigue even without my test results. And my new doctor told me that you have to fix the adrenals before you can even try to fix anything else. So, what does this mean? I have no idea. It makes me even more anxious for my appointment next week. It has already been rescheduled twice. I’m praying it actually happens. I’m trying to be patient, God. Really, I am 🙂  But please don’t make me wait any longer 😛

On to the menu. Here’s hoping I actually get to make these meals this week.

How are you holding up during this cold and flu season? What measures do you take to stay healthy?
______________________________________
S (chop fruit, make ice cream, make unsoaked graham crackers, church, prep smoothies)
  L – baked honey herb chicken, broccoli, herb rice
  D – crackers, cheese and sausage, peas, milkshakes

M (chop veggies, roast cauliflower, make yogurt, milk, no school, make bread w/ Rebecca)
  D – cauliflower cheddar soup, salsa bread (Rebecca’s recipe)

T (bake – golden grahams, soak flour)
  D – sweet and sour stir fry over rice

W (bake soaked graham crackers, roast beets, ps)
  D – quinoa mac n cheese, roasted brussels sprouts

Th (make breakfast baked good, Dr. M.)
  D – salmon cakes, squash, roasted potatoes

F (make cheese crackers, ps, Bible study)
  D – scrambled eggs, roasted vegetables, bread pudding, fruit

S (swimming)
  D – homemade pizza, beans (J), crispy kale and beet salad (M)

Homemade Cocoa Puffs

Cereal. It’s one of the foods we gave up when we switched to a Real food diet. But I think it’s one of the foods my husband misses the most. And once in a while I do too. I used to be a cereal junky (seriously…I HAD to have it for breakfast every single day for about 10 years).

I’ve made soaked cereal (which I think tastes like Wheaties), granola and homemade golden grahams/cinnamon toast crunch. Yesterday I decided to try cocoa puffs.

I never liked cocoa puffs. So it’s not something I was missing. But my husband liked them. Especially for a bedtime snack.

The kids and I made a batch yesterday. They turned out pretty well. Little crunchy chocolaty bites. They aren’t little balls, but you still get the same effect. The butter gives some crunch, while the coconut oil gives the light/crispy texture.

I like to use them to make cookies and cream yogurt. Simply mix a handful into plain or slightly sweetened whole milk yogurt. A real treat.

**You can make this gluten free as well!!!

Do you still eat cereal? Did you give up cereal but miss it? What’s your favorite kind? Are there any real food versions of cereals you’d like to see?

Homemade Cocoa Puffs
makes about 4 cups

1 3/4 cups flour (organic whole wheat, all purpose or a combination)
1/3 cup organic cocoa powder
1/2 cup organic white and/or brown cane sugar or sucanat
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2-3 Tbsp. honey
1 – 2 tsp. organic chocolate extract
1 tsp. organic vanilla
1/4 cup butter, melted (you can replace this with coconut oil or palm shortening to make it dairy free)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

Heat oven to 350. Melt butter and coconut oil in sauce pan. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add the liquids: honey, chocolate extract, vanilla, butter/oil. Stir well. Taste dough and adjust honey and chocolate extract to your liking. Mix until a nice ball of dough is formed.  The dough should not be crumbly.  If it is gradually a couple Tbsp. of water.  If it is still crumbly gradually add more honey.

Split dough into 2 equal parts. Cut 3 pieces of parchment paper the size of a cookie sheet. Lay one piece on table. Put 1/2 of dough on the paper. Lay a 2nd piece of parchment on top of dough. Squish the dough down a little with your hand. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough between the parchment paper. Roll until the dough is about 1/8″ – 1/4″ thick. Remove the top piece of parchment paper. Cut into very small squares (with pizza cutter). Place on a baking sheet (on the parchment paper…just move the whole thing onto the baking sheet). Repeat for other half of dough.

Bake for 11-12 minutes. Turn off oven, but leave cereal in to get crisp. Remove after about 10 minutes (if some of the puffs are burning remove the pan). Let cool completely. Separate squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the freezer.

Soaked Chocolate Covered Donuts

About a year ago I was experimenting with all kinds of soaked recipes. I tried making Adrienne’s soaked whole wheat donuts. They were really good.

But then I forgot about them.

Last week I was playing with my kids with their pretend food/dishes. Rebecca had a donut on her plate, and we were brainstorming baking projects (real ones). So we thought it might it might be fun to make real chocolate covered donuts.

So I did.

And they turned out great!!

These donuts reminded me of my childhood. When we got donuts (which was a rare thing) I always got chocolate covered…and so did my siblings 🙂  One bite brought me back to my youth.

I used the same base recipe and adjusted it a bit so I can tolerate them. Then I made my own chocolate topping.

This is a delicious, warming breakfast treat. You can make them as large or as small as you like. You can make full donuts or donut holes. You can glaze the top or cover them entirely in chocolatey goodness.

You can make other flavors as well. Coat them in chopped crispy nuts. Mix in mini chocolate chips. Or go for the original cinnamon sugar.

Do you like having a donut for breakfast sometimes?  Just because you want to eat Real food does not mean you have to give them up. Just go for a healthier, easier to digest, homemade version.

What is your favorite donut flavor?

Soaked Chocolate Covered Donuts
dairy free options

4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. milk or water
1 cup organic cane sugar or sucanat
5 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil, melted
1 cup sour milk, buttermilk, kefir or sour milk substitute. (combine 1 Tbsp. vineager or lemon juice + milk to equal 1 cup to make sour milk)

Donuts:

Combine the flour, sugar, fat and cultured/soured liquid. Let the dough rest for 12-24 hours. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Roll out dough to approximately 1/2″ thickness. Cut out donuts with cutter, ring or shape into desired shapes.

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet  at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Topping:

1 cup chocolate chips (I used soy free, dairy free, nut free, egg free)
1/4 cup milk or milk substitute
3 Tbsp. organic all purpose flour (or arrowroot or cornstarch)

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler (glass bowl on top of a pot of simmering water). When all of the chocolate is melted slowly stir in the milk and flour. Mix until smooth. Remove from heat.

Dip the cooled donuts in the warm chocolate.

Store donuts in an airtight container at room temperature for short term storage. Store in a freezer for long term storage.

Sticks and Stones Ice Cream (Chocolate Chip Pretzel)

Lately we are going through our weekly milk so quickly. We get 3 gallons every Monday. By Sunday we are just getting by. And that is without using it for anything extra, like ice cream and yogurt. So I haven’t been making much of either lately.

Last week we were gone half of the week. So I could finally use some of our yummy raw cream for ice cream. Rebecca and I brainstormed flavors. We decided to do a play on chocolate covered pretzels. We used pretzel pieces and mini chocolate chips. Plus a little swirl of homemade fudge.

We also brainstormed fun names and came up with sticks (pretzels) and stones (mini chips). It’s a fun ice cream name. And a delicious ice cream!! I love my salty/sweet combos. Some runner up names were mud puddle (because of the fudge swirl) and sky tree (Rebecca’s name :).

I debated about posting the recipe since it’s not really much new. But it was too fun not to. We love creating new flavors of ice cream and coming up with fun names.

Sticks and Stones Ice Cream

3 cups cream (preferably raw)
4 egg yolks (you can make it with as many as you like or leave them out)
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tsp. organic vanilla

1/3 cup pretzel pieces (as big or as small as you like)
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (I use soy free, dairy free, egg free chips)
1/3 cup fudge sauce (optional)

Combine cream, egg yolks, honey, syrup and vanilla in a blender until well mixed. Check sweetness. Add more honey or syrup if necessary. It should be a little overly sweet since the sweetness goes down after the ice cream is processed.

Process in ice cream maker according to directions (mine took 10 – 15 min.). Transfer ice cream to a freezer safe container. Mix in the pretzels and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Gently swirl in dollops of fudge sauce (don’t mix it in thoroughly or it will turn into chocolate ice cream). Store in the freezer.

Meal Plans Week of 1-6-13

The first full week of the new year. Time to get back to our normal routine. That makes me happy 🙂

Last week was fun, but long. We were visiting family out of state for half of the week. And then trying to get back on track the rest of the week. The kids were a bit out of sorts after travelling. Last night Abram finally slept decently.

We had fun doing our last Christmas celebration. I had a chance to talk to both my mom and my sister for a bit. And Justin and I went out last night and spent time with couples from church. Lots of relationship building 🙂

I’m already getting a good start on my January goals. Making a top ten list for the year and then breaking them down into small pieces each month really is helping make them doable. I already called my sister. I’ve made good progress on my articles. I’ll be making crackers this week. And I hope to plan our January mommy/daughter date.

My kitchen agenda for this week is to make crackers, golden grahams, mayo, yeast free buns and some kind of breakfast baked good. I always have stuff on hand in the freezer, but my stock is getting very low. I want to try some new recipes. Do you have any good breakfast recipes to share?

Last week I squeezed in a batch of yogurt, kefir and ice cream. Plus appetizers for our party.

Sometime this month we need to make a decision about whether or not we will continue to get raw milk. We will have to start getting it every week on our own, find someone else to share the drive with again or put our share on hold for a few months.

Last week was a bit all over the place for me. Travel is always tough. But I did a lot better than I thought I would. I was actually very excited. It shows I’ve come a long way even since the summer. However I know I ate some things I should not have over the course of the week. And I’ve got some major inflammation going on right now. Some emotional stuff plus sleepless nights with Abram just added to it.

I have been eating a lot of yogurt over the last couple weeks. And I just started a new probiotic a few days ago. So there could be some die off mixed in with the inflammation.

My body temperature has been all over the place too. One day I’ll eat and get really warm. The next I’m an ice cube all day long. I haven’t been rotating foods as much as I should (hard to do when you travel and when you come home to an empty fridge). But I have been trying very hard to listen to my body. I’ve been really craving lots of fresh foods. Raw fruits and veggies. No added sugars, etc. Normally when I have yogurt I mix a little maple syrup into plain yogurt. But this week I’m craving plain, tangy yogurt. I’ve been able to finally eat more raw fruits and vegetables. I’ve been enjoying blueberries and raspberries from the freezer. I could hardly eat one bite of fruit all summer when things were fresh. So at least I’m finally able to enjoy them now. And I think it’s partly why I crave them. I had to go without for so long. I love a big pile of vegetables cooked in butter, but right now I’m loving eating some things raw.

Somehow amidst all of this up and down I’ve noticed improvement in my mental health. Normally my OCD dictates my day. One morning Abram was up around 3 am…and stayed up. So he was with me all morning. I couldn’t get all the things done I had hoped. I couldn’t stick to my normal “routine.” But…I didn’t even notice. I lost track of time. My usual obsessions didn’t even cross my mind. We finally got him back to sleep around 6. And I was working on some writing. All of a sudden I looked down and realized what time it was…an hour later! My tummy, my worries…totally didn’t cross my mind. To most people this may not sound like much. For me it was HUGE. If I can lose track of time and have my mind occupied with things other than my obsessions/compulsions I know I am making progress. It gives me a small glimpse of what life can be like without some of my psychological issues. It doesn’t mean every day will be like this now. It may not happen again for a long time. But I have to focus on these small victories and realize I am making progress. I am on the right track.

Time for the menu. I have a good variety of meals this week. I even managed to plan a different vegetable with our meal every night! Maybe next week I’ll finally have our Christmas ham dinner that we didn’t have time for.

What’s on your menu? Have you started tackling any goals yet? Have you taken time to notice any small victories this week?
________________________________________________________________
S (prep lunch, church, chop veggies, prep smoothies)
  L – cp pork chops, potatoes and carrots
  D – leftover hummus, veggies and pita, bacon wrapped dates, milkshakes or custard

M (make crackers, milk, PS)
  D – spaghetti, corn, garlic toast

T (make mayo, skim cream)
  D – chicken fries w/ honey mustard, kale chips, squash

W (make scones, make hot fudge, make ice cream, Dr. M., PS, WT)
  D – brats, sweet potato fries, peas

Th (chop veggies, clean)
  D – cheeseburgers, roasted cauliflower and brussels sprouts, chips w/ dip

F (bake potatoes/freeze hashbrowns, clean, PS)
  D – sausage, hashbrowns, beans, bananas w/ milk

S (make donuts, clean, swimming, Little Mermaid show)
  D – avocado turkey salad on buns or toast, broccoli, fries

Monthly Goals – January 2013

It’s almost time to get back to life as usual. We’re finishing up our holiday celebrations/travel today. Justin goes back to work tomorrow. School starts up again next week. That makes me smile 🙂  I’m anxious to get home and get back to normal life. Holidays are fun, but they are also stressful. I’m ready for simple, everyday life again.

I’ve set my goals for 2013. Now it’s time to start breaking them down into manageable steps. Here’s the plan for January

 

1. Writing – Write articles for RFH and GRNL. Look into the details of creating a monthly newsletter.

2. Photography – Start reading my new book on food photography. Experiment and update photos of one recipe.

3. Healing – Get test results and decide how to proceed.

4. Homemade food – Try to recreate one of the boxed foods in our cupboard – crackers.

5. Relationships – One “date” with my husband. Call my sister once. Mommy/daughter date (TBD).

6. Rebecca – Lots of speech therapy and psychologist appointments – see what they bring and go from there.

7. Crafts – I will be taking a break from this in January. I might browse pinterest for ideas.

8. Cakes – I will be planning my nephew’s 5th birthday cake. I have had the honor of making his birthday cake every year. I can’t wait to get started! Possibly a cake for my parents’ birthdays.

9. Declutter – Organize Abram’s drawers/closet/clothes.

10. Acceptance – Read Bittersweet. I got it for Christmas. I think it’s one of those books that has come to me at exactly the right  moment and will be life changing. I got it a couple days ago and would gladly read through it in one sitting if I could. I’ve already read some. I feel like Shauna is telling my story through her story. Her sentiments are exactly what I’m feeling. I’ve had the privilege of hearing her speak in person. I’ve read her other book (Cold Tangerines). Her writing is so easy to read and so easy to relate to.

The book is about change, grace and learning the hard way. Life isn’t all sweet. There is also bitter. But the best is the bittersweet…experiencing them together. Accepting the bad and making the sweet that much sweeter.

I’ll end my post with a couple of quotes from the book. I hope you enjoy them and even these few quotes make you think a little differently about change and difficult times.

“If you dig in and fight the changes, they will smash you to bits. They’ll hold you under, drag you across the rough sand, scare and confuse you. But if you can find it within yourself, in the wildest of seasons, just for a moment, to trust in the goodness of God, who made it all and holds it all together, you’ll find yourself drawn along to a whole new place, and there’s truly nothing sweeter. Unclench your fists, unlock your knees and also the door to your heart, take a deep breath, and begin to swim. Begin to let the waves do their work in you.”

“When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.”

“I’ve learned the hard way that change is one of God’s greatest gifts and one of his most useful tools. I’ve learned the hard way that change can push us, pull us, rebuke and remake us. It can show us who we’ve become, in the worst ways, and also in the best ways. I’ve learned that it’s not something to run away from, as though we could, and I’ve learned that in many cases, change is not a function of life’s cruelty but instead a function of God’s graciousness.”

Yearly Goals – 2013

Happy New Year! Are you ready for the start of a new year? I am 🙂  I’m looking ahead to 2013 and trusting God will do great things and bring positive changes in my life. God is able to do more than we ask or imagine. So I’m excited to see what He has planned 🙂

In the past I’ve started the year with a LONG list of goals. I had so many things I wanted to change about my health and my life. This year is a little different. I’m starting at a much better spot.

Do I want change? Of course. But I’m not at a low spot just trying to catch my breath and completely turn my life around.

Do I want to lose weight? No. Do I want to try some new diet? No. Do I want to make tons of money? No. Do I want to start a new hobby? No.

So what do I want this year? I want to focus on a few things and let God lead the way. I want to live life. I want to let go. I want to be the person God created me to be.

Here is my Top 10 list for 2013.

1. Writing – I will pursue making my writing and my blog into my career/a business. I’m not sure exactly how it will evolve. Here are some thoughts: giveaways, newsletter, update the look, new platform, monthly link roundup. I will likely be sharing a little less about my kids. And I’m still debating about keeping up with the monthly goals.

2. Photography – Along with my writing I want to get better at food photography. I just got a book on food photography for Christmas. I’m very excited. My hope is to update pictures of some of my recipes. At the least the more popular posts. And continue to experiment and learn.

3. Healing – I will continue to pursue improvement in my health. I’m very anxious for my test results in a couple weeks and figuring out where to go from there. I hope to start getting more sleep this year (I need to make it a priority). I want to continue to improve my mental health/decrease my OCD. Ultimately I’d like to not have any special “diet”…no restrictions. I will focus on being healthy.

4. Homemade Food – I want to make it a priority to feed my family less processed food. I make a lot of things from scratch. But I still reach for a box of organic crackers or fruit snacks sometimes for my kids. I’d like to get away from that. It’s so much fun to make homemade versions of our favorite snacks. Maybe I’ll go one by one through the boxes in the cupboard and recreate them.

5. Relationships – I need to focus on building relationships this year. I want deeper friendships. But I also want to make my whole family a priority (husband, kids, siblings, parents). I need to be intentional about making time for this and putting in effort.

6. Rebecca – I want to focus on Rebecca’s needs and make any necessary changes for her. We’ll be seeing a speech pathologist and a psychologist this month. Hopefully then we will have better direction. It’s still TBD if/when I’ll try any dietary changes.

7. Crafts – I love making crafts, but I don’t often have time. I’d like to find a few fun crafts to make at some point this year. It would be nice to start working on Christmas presents now so that I’m not scrambling at the end of the year. I always love giving homemade gifts, but I don’t think of it early enough. This could be sewing projects, but other types of crafts as well.

8. Cakes – I will continue to experiment with cake baking and decorating. I just got some drawing books for Christmas. So my hope is to work on my artistic abilities and then translate that into cake decorating. At this point I’m still not trying to make this into a true business. It’s a hobby that I enjoy. But I don’t have time to do it often with small children.

9. Declutter – After another generous Christmas I feel like our house is overflowing. We are so blessed. But all of our blessings sometimes give me stress when I see messes and “stuff” everywhere. So I’d really like to simplify and declutter. We need to purge some toys and plenty of other stuff. I’m hoping to get started right away in January working on organizing toys and getting rid of old ones.

10. Acceptance – I had a friend once that decided on a word for the year for her family. They focused on that one attribute the whole year. I thought it was a neat idea. Over the last few months one word has continually come to mind – ACCEPTANCE. God has been speaking to me about this. And I’m trying to listen 🙂  This is something I have a hard time with. But something I’m slowly learning. I need to accept myself the way I am and not compare myself to others or even myself (in the past). I need to accept my family members. I am such a perfectionist I tend to be very judgemental and critical of others. It’s not something I’m proud of. But it’s hard to control when it’s part of my personality. This year I want to truly accept others. Every quirk. Every habit. Whether they make choices or do things I agree with or not. I need to love and accept all the members of my family. And I need to accept all people. We are all so different. But we are all God’s creation. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. We all make mistakes. But we are all beautiful images of God. This will be my year of acceptance in all areas of my life. Instead of always wishing something was different, I will accept.

May God bless you in 2013. I’m excited for a year of moving forward and acceptance.

What are your goals for this year? Do you have a lot of changes you’d like to make? Or are you just looking forward to a year of loving the life you have?

End of Year Recap – 2012

Another year has come to an end. Time to look back and reflect on the highs and the lows. Time to see what goals I set for myself and what I accomplished. Time to see just how much things can change over the course of a year.

I was quite ambitious with my goal setting last year. Which means there were plenty of goals I didn’t even really work on. They were all good ideas, just a bit too much. I will give a general recap of the year but not comment on each individual goal (I copied the goals below).

Me – November 2011 (under 100 lbs.)
 

In general I was at a rough spot last January. I needed to make a lot of changes…which is why I had so many goals. I’m glad that now I’m at the point where I can just focus on a few things. In a way I can move on. I’ve gone through a lot of changes and a lot of healing in the past year. I’m figuring out a diet that works for me. My weight is back to the normal range (at least 10lbs. difference). I’ve brought a lot of my vitamin and mineral levels back up. I have a lot more energy. I’m not nursing round the clock/feeling drained from that. In general my day-to-day anxiety levels are way down. My OCD has lessened.

Me – November 2012
 

I try to spend daily time in prayer and in the Word. I try to start each day letting go of any anxiety and reminding myself that God is in control. He loves me. He takes care of me. Worrying only makes things worse.

I am able to shift some of my focus from my own health to that of my children. Which is something I’ve desired to do for so long but was not able to. Yes, I take care of my children well. But I had to put me first. Now I can put others first. I want to give Rebecca as much of my love, support and energy as I can to help her succeed. We do have our daily struggles. But I can better keep things in perspective and try to see things from her point of view. And do what I can to help instead of hinder. She has come a long way and matured so much in the past year. It’s funny to see something like potty training on last year’s list. That seems like so long ago. Now we’re thinking about that for Abram instead of Rebecca 😛  One thing we started last year that I really enjoyed and want to continue is monthly Mommy/daughter dates. We both love them. Meal times are still one of our biggest struggles. But now we are working with a speech pathologist to help Rebecca chew/swallow better. It’s too bad we didn’t realize earlier that there was a true physical problem she was dealing with. We’ll start with working on that. Then maybe we can figure out how to get her to stay in her seat and take bites 😛

I pretty much ditched GAPS over the last year. I do think it’s a great, healing diet for some. But it didn’t work for me. There is value in a lot of the diet guidelines. And it helped me not rely so much on grains. I was able to find new ways to cook traditional foods. And I figured out how to make our food more nutrient dense. It got me out of a rut and made me more creative in the kitchen.

I learned to relax more about my diet thanks to Matt Stone (180 Degree Health). I stopped trying to find the perfect diet that someone else came up with. I focused on what works for me. I highly recommend Diet Recovery and Eat for Heat to everyone! No matter what the status of your health or diet is.

And then there is the ongoing battle with miralax 😛  Unfortunately I still haven’t won it. I got my dose quite low…then was off it for about 3 weeks. Then my surgeon put me back on after some problems arose. Someday I will be done with this junk. Hopefully after more healing. But for now I don’t stress about it.

I can’t forget that I’ve had a full year of fun in the kitchen!! I’ve tried tons of new recipes and have come up with many of my own. I’ve gone from having one helper to two.

I have also become a freelance writer…something I never dreamed of. But I LOVE it!

It’s been a year of learning and maturing. A year of change. A year of letting go and acceptance. God has opened doors that I didn’t even know existed. I praise God for guiding me through another year and showing me his love, mercy, grace and peace each day. I have a long journey still ahead, but I am on the road to healing and accepting myself.

Thanks for coming along with me on this crazy ride of 2012. May you be filled with God’s love and peace in the coming year.
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2012
GENERAL GOALS*Take more time to listen to God – spend more time in the Word and in prayer.
*Teach Rebecca to be confident in who she is – let her make mistakes, let her be more independent.
*Be more encouraging – take time every day to encourage at least one person.
*Be more patient, especially with my husband and children – think before I speak and know when to step away from a situation to refocus and calm down.
*Give up control – GOD IS IN CONTROL
*Be more creative/use my God-given gifts – work on cakes and sewing. Long term – make a go of my business – but not until my kids are older/in school. I spend most of my time getting things done, keeping up with things. I want to take a little more time for things I enjoy.
*Be a better wife and mother.
*Live life to the fullest – make more friends/let people into my life – not let ocd control me. Have more playdates and social events.
*Organize the house/declutter/simplify
*hair cut
*work on relationships – make more effort to talk to my sister more often
*work on my marriage – Justin and I would like to spend more time in prayer and devotions together.
*have a fun summer vacation…without stress/anxiety/ocd. Possibly go camping.
*run a race – I’m not sure about this yet. Every year I think it would be “fun” to do the 5/3 River Bank Run (a 25K race). The last couple years it was not even an option with fertility treatments and pregnancy. But I’m considering training for it this year. It is on May 12. So I need to decide soon. I have to start training if I want to do it since I can only run about a mile these days 😛 I used to run daily, but have not for about 2 years now. I bike and walk, but don’t run. We’ll see.
*continue doing our monthly PERKS activities.

REBECCA

*potty training – night time
*continue with Kindermusik. Do swimming lessons, soccer?, figure out preschool
*Try a daily task chart again.
*Continue with homeschool preschool until the summer.
*Let Rebecca make choices daily. Give her options about the things she eats, wears, etc. so she learns to make decisions. These have to be decisions that she really needs to think about/process, not yes/no choices. If it is a yes/no choice she either won’t answer or will automatically say no.
*first hair cut
*once a month have a Mommy/daughter date where Rebecca and I do something just the two of us.
*Change strategies for eating/meal times. I need to offer her the food and let her be in control beyond that. Rebecca really needs to learn to eat well. If she has to go hungry a few times to make that happen then so be it I guess.

ABRAM

*Work on developmental milestones – standing, walking, talking.
*Continue baby wearing and on-demand feeding.
*Solids.
*Start him on cod liver oil.

BLOG

*more reflective posts
*be more open about my OCD
*view it as a resource for others, not just an outlet for myself
*make money – really make a go of this.
*update the look

FINANCES

*budget – keep tracking spending
*be on the same page with Justin/take more interest in our finances – we have agreed to sit down once a month to review the finances. This will really help me stay on budget, especially with food spending. Plus it will give me a much better understanding of our finances and give me more peace about it.

DIET/HEALTH

I have been eating grain free and doing GAPS since April 2011. I think it has been very helpful for me. I would recommend it to anyone struggling with health issues – both physical and mental. But after 9 months of GAPS and more research I’m considering going down a new path in terms of food/health now. It will not be a radical change. I will still follow a lot of the GAPS principles, like still eating broth/stock regularly. And focusing on nutrient dense, healing foods, including probiotics and ferments. I do still have some gut healing to do. However, over the last 9 months I’ve learned to really listen to my body and what works for me. Some of it coincides with GAPS, some of it doesn’t. I also think that I need to focus on dealing with my OCD more directly now that I’ve started addressing the gut issues. I have learned that some of my gut issues are truly physical…issues I’ve had for as long as I can remember (some of my childhood anxieties make more sense now). And I have to accept them. So now I continue doing what works for my gut and shift my focus to dealing with the OCD. I will go into more detail in a separate post discussing food/diet, mental health, myself and Rebecca. But I still want to list my goals here. Some of them are general food/nutrition/cooking goals. Some are much more specific.

*cookbooks – I very rarely actually use any of my cookbooks. I’d like to get back into the habit of using them and trying new recipes. I especially want to try more recipes from Nourishing Traditions…and maybe re-read it. Such a great resource.
*water – find a water filter that removes fluoride?
*nourishment – make sure I am properly nourishing my body for healing and breastfeeding. We just got a new scale. And I now see that my weight has gotten quite low. My BMI is below 18…which means I’m underweight. I need to be sure I’m eating well for myself and for Abram.
*continue with full GAPS at the moment – changes will probably start in February.
*introduce properly prepared grains – I want to experiment with grains. See Cheeseslave’s post about this. I will start very slowly and see how my body responds. I think I could use some more carbohydrates in my diet, and this will help. This is related to both digestion and mental health.
*introduce more dairy – I seem to be doing quite well with dairy lately. I will gradually add new items throughout the year. My hope is that at some point I can drink raw milk regularly.
*cut out sugar – This is a big one for me. I really struggle with sweets. I think this will be more of my new focus instead of always worrying about grains so much. I need to focus on cutting out sweets. That is what really messes with my gut and my whole body. This will include experimenting with being totally sweet free – even honey and possibly fruit (not permanently, just to see how my body responds when all sugars are removed). I need to starve the bad bacteria and get rid of them!
*magnesium – I have already started taking magnesium supplements. I want to experiment with different forms and doses and see what works best for me.
*vitamin B – possibly start taking extra Vitamin B.
*focus on battling the OCD.
*remove miralax – I have gotten down to 1/3 dose or less daily. I’m hoping by the end of this year to be done with it completely.
*experiment with my Vitamix.
*start juicing.
*eat more raw food.

Experiments with foods/supplements and quantities to see how various things are impacting my gut (starting in January after I get my system back on track):
week 1 – reduce sugar/sweets
week 2 – lemon water
week 3 – magnesium
week 4 – stomach acid (I have been taking Betaine HCI w/ Pepsin once a day again lately…I want to see how that is really impacting me)
week 5 – lower miralax
week 6 – introduce sprouted or soaked grains
week 7 – introduce sourdough
week 8 – no honey
week 9 – no fruit

End of Month Recap – December 2012…plus links!

The end of December. We made it 🙂  Did you have a good Christmas? So far we have…but we’re still celebrating 🙂

This month was quite busy with the extra demands of the holidays. Plus we had some extra doctor visits. Despite all of the to-dos I did pretty well with my goals. And I mostly accomplished my main goal of focusing on my family and trying to enjoy this month. I did have some major anxiety when it came to the extended family celebrations and travel. But I made it.

Here’s how the month went.

FOOD

1. Rebecca’s Recipes – Rebecca still loves to help plan meals and come up with ideas. We didn’t have time to try many of them, though. Hopefully next month.

2. Baking – I did plenty of baking this month. I didn’t quite get to all of my projects. Oh well. We were more than well fed 🙂

3. Rotate Food – So far so good with this!! I truly believe that rotating food and just getting more variety in general is a very important part of a healthy diet. I wish someone had told me that many years ago before I built up an intolerance to so many foods. I am a creature of habit. But I have to break that habit when it comes to my food. It’s still a work in progress trying to always remember this.

PERSONAL

1. Writing – Continue to write for Grand Rapids Natural Living and Real Food and Health magazine. I forgot that I haven’t posted the links to my GRNL articles recently. In case you are interested:

GRNL October
GRNL November
GRNL December

2. Purpose – Check out my recent update post on finding purpose.

3. Sewing/hobbies – I did it. I finally finished the aprons I was working on! Just in time to give them to Rebecca and her doll (and me 🙂 for Christmas. They didn’t turn out quite as well as I would have liked. But they are pretty good. A very old sewing machine (from my grandma) and lots of double fold bias tape do not cooperate very well 😛  Time for a little sewing break again. But I do hope to continue to make time for crafts more often. Cake/birthday season for our family is about to begin. So that’s on the agenda next. Time to start brainstorming themes/ideas for the kids.

4. Clean/organize – I cleaned a few more things out of my closet and finally did a little shopping and got some clothes for Christmas. I still have a few items to buy, but I finally have some up to date clothes that actually fit.

I did actually work on Abram’s drawers…but then about a week later he grew and we got more clothes from my SIL (thanks, Sara!!!). So now I need to do it all over 😛  All of his clothes are sitting in a laundry basket right now.

5. Christmas – I did all of the necessary Christmas shopping, baking, sending cards, etc. Now we have to deal with the aftermath…the toy overload. Definitely some purging going to happen next month.

LINKS

Here are some links I want to share/that I think are worth reading.

I absolutely love Matt Stone’s new book Eat for Heat. Definitely worth the money. I think it might even be on sale yet today. Hurry!!

A very important read for everyone about how to be healthy in the coming year from Weed ’em and Reap – no dieting, no restricting…just eat REAL food.

How to make almond paste from Nourishing Joy. I have to try this sometime! Even if I don’t like it, a good Dutch girl has to make banket once in a while. And it would be great to have a homemade almond paste to use.

Perfect for the holidays and the whole winter – homemade egg nog from The Polivka Family.

Not so sure I’d be up for this challenge, but it looks good – making elderberry wine from And Here We Are.

A Good read from Small Footprint Family about how much land you need to be self sufficient.

Important information about why margarine is bad for you from Cultured Palate. I can’t stress enough how bad it is to use fake butter.

Finally a host of other great links from LittleOwlCrunchyMomma.

And a few repeats of my own post on finding purpose., homemade go-gurt and homemade caramels.

Meal Plans Week of 12-30-12

Happy New Year (almost)! Christmas is over. Time to focus on the new year…oh wait, not yet! We still have round four of Christmas celebrations this week 😛  Even if our tree and all of our decorations are already down.

Last week was a mix of Christmas activities, doctor visits and family time. This week will be about the same.

This week we have one more extended family Christmas. I have an appt. with my psychologist. And Justin and I are venturing out on another “date”…a wine and appetizer party with people from church. Should be interesting since I can’t drink alcohol or probably eat most of the appetizers. But I look forward to the socializing. And hopefully the kids do well at home. I suppose at some point I should figure out what I’m bringing!

This week kind of kicks off a month of being busy!! I’m calling it the month of doctor visits. As of right now we collectively have 9 doctor appointments. And who knows if it will go up. We are also starting swimming lessons again with Rebecca. And possibly some yoga classes. At the end of the month Kindermusik will start back up…but for the first time it will be for both kids.

I kept plenty busy in the kitchen last week making two batches of dairy free brownies for parties (members of both sides of the family are DF), banana bread, granola, sugar free cookies, cinnamon cranberry bread, hot fudge and soaked graham crackers. I don’t have too much on my agenda this week. Time for a little post-holiday break 🙂  We’ll see how long I can handle that before I’m anxious to get back to my usual busyness in the kitchen.

We found out yesterday that the people we share milk pick up with have decided to stop their share. So now we are trying to figure out if we can find someone else to do it with or if we’ll have to take a break from it ourselves. It’s disappointing, but I just can’t commit to making the drive to the farm every week. We’ll see. I’m torn about it. I trust that God will give us direction. We’ll either come up with someone else to share with or we’ll go back to pasteurized (non-homo) milk. Maybe it’s good timing (God’s timing is always perfect :). We’ve barely been getting by on our 3 gallons of milk a week. I’ve had to stop making as much yogurt, sour cream and ice cream as I’d like because we need all of our milk to drink (now that Abram drinks quite a bit). If I have to buy milk at the store I can buy as much as I need for that week. It also could be an opportunity to try dietary changes. I’ve heard many people recommend casein free diets. It’s something I’d consider trying for Rebecca at some point. I LOVE our raw milk. Especially for myself with such a sensitive tummy. And becuase Abram has only ever had breastmilk or raw milk. But we’ll see if we have to go without for a while. It would definitely take some stress out of my life (and Rebecca’s…she hates the drive). So maybe it’s a good thing. Just thinking about having a break from it actually puts me at ease a bit. I don’t know yet. But I do know God is in control.

I had a doctor appointment last week with a more holistic doctor. She talked with me for an hour about all of my symptoms/problems. Then we decided what tests to run. There were a lot. I don’t even know what they all were. I know we checked thyroid, did a CBC, adrenals, minerals/metals/toxins, allergies and candida/yeast. But there were plenty more. They took 7 or 8 vials of blood (at least I think…I had my eyes closed the whole time). That’s pretty rough for me…and ended how I expected…me almost passing out (nausea, sweating, things going black, etc.). I’m glad that’s over. They also had to take a hair sample, and I had to do a saliva test. I go back in two weeks for the results. I’m so anxious to find out!! Who knows, maybe it will show I’m allergic to dairy 😛  The doctor suspects food allergies and yeast.

The doctor did recommend probiotics (of course). I’ve been taking probiotics for a long time…on and off. I recently ran out of them. So I got a new kind (remember that whole rotation/variety thing I’ve mentioned? Yeah, it’s probably good to do the same with probiotics). I’ll probably start them next week. She also suggested eating yogurt daily (of course). I usually eat yogurt a few times a week. But I try not to eat it every day because of rotating foods. But I have actually eaten it for the last five or six days now. Partly based on her suggestion. But partly just because I didn’t have many other options in the house 😛  And now it seems that my body is starting another round of die off 🙁  I haven’t had die off in a while. And this is definitely BAD timing. But there isn’t much I can do about it. Yesterday the mystery headache started. And then the acne flair, mouth sores and messed up digestion. For now I just try to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of fluids to try to flush things out as quickly as possible.

I also had a couple days with quite a bit of anxiety last week. It has come down since then, but this week will test it again. I’m looking forward to next week when everything is back to “normal.” Justin is back to work, Rebecca is back to school, etc. My OCD does not like vacation.

I guess this post is getting long enough. If you just came to check out our meal plans, sorry about that 🙂

I’m going to do the opposite of what I’ve been doing and not plan breakfasts and lunches this week. It’s an experiment in listening to my body. I need to eat what my body is craving. If I just want salty stuff one day. Fine. If I want mostly sweet. Fine. My body’s needs change every day. So I have to listen. I’ll see how this goes and decide how I want to plan things next week. I’ll probably keep planning Justin’s B/L at the start of each week. But not sure about my own. It is easier to rotate foods when I plan them out. But then I’m not listening to my body’s cues. So we’ll see.

Here’s the menu. A very simple one. What’s on your menu this week?  Do you think it helps or hurts to plan out your meals?  How do you listen to what your body needs?
________________________________________________________________
S (prep lunch)
  D – chicken nuggets, broccoli

M ()
  D – pork chops, carrots

T (celebrate Christmas with family)
  D – turkey, potatoes, veggies (MIL preparing)

W ()
  D – (easy/quick prep) – fried eggs on toast, broccoli, bananas w/ milk

Th (skim cream, make kefir, clean, prep dinner, Dr. V., yearly budget review)
  D – (prep ahead) – sweet and sour meatballs w/ vegetables over rice

F (strain kefir, make yogurt, Meijer, make ice cream)
  D – egg muffins, beans, toast, fruit

S (prep appetizers, wine and appetizer party)
  D – eat at the party (J/M) / grilled cheese, broccoli, applesauce (kids)
   (bringing brie en croute and bacon wrapped dates)