The start of a new week…I couldn’t be happier 🙂  Last week was brutal with the never-ending flu. It got really bad for a bit. I had to have Justin stay home to take care of the kids. I could barely stand up. I was on the verge of going in for an IV…but finally started to turn around. It’s been over a week since my flu started, and I’m still not 100% back to normal. At least I’m getting there.

Needless to say I did not do a whole lot around the house last week. I’m starting to dig us out of the mess that accumulated and the bathrooms have been scrubbed. Yesterday I did finally get our craft area organized. I’m so excited about that. I think Rebecca is too. We also had three days in a row of evenings out and late bed times. So I didn’t have evenings to get things done either. We’re all hoping to take it easy today and get ready for the week.

Tomorrow morning I am having a gall bladder ultrasound. We’ll see if that shows anything. We’re looking forward to trick-or-treating on Wednesday. Thursday I have an appointment with my psychologist. I’m anxious to report back to her our findings from the various meetings we’ve had lately (all positive stuff :). This is also a Mom Break week. Hopefully we can go this time.

My to-do list is pretty similar this week to last week since I didn’t get much done. I want to make pudding, toothpaste, deodorant, something sourdough and roast beets and squash. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll actually do some sewing this week…maybe.

With the flu my tummy was all over the place last week. I went from one extreme to the other. I was in a lot of pain. My diet was poor because I was just trying to get anything down that I could stomach (like pizza, pop and powerade…eek). I learned that I for sure can’t do egg whites. Let’s just say I was not happy after breakfast on Friday. I was tempted to have Justin come home again because I was in so much pain and couldn’t stand up. Thankfully it eased up a little by the time Abram woke up.

So for the last couple days I’ve been trying to give my body a little break. I’m kind of doing a modified GAPS intro for a few days. I’ve been living on chicken broth, white rice and pureed winter squash. After the flu everything was so inflamed and unstable. I just had to hit the reset button. I can’t say things have been perfect since then. But they have been much calmer. I re-read the GAPS intro diet. I’m kind of following it except I’m also eating rice. I need something more solid in my tummy or else it starts to get spastic.

You may wonder if I’m doing GAPS again now. No. I’m not. This is not a huge change where I’m modifying my diet for the next year. This is a very temporary thing. I just need to give my body a break for a few days and hopefully experience some much needed healing. I’ll move through the stages over the course of a few days. I started with just rice and broth. Then I added squash. Maybe today I’ll add egg yolks and avocado.

I’m still reading about yeast/candida and histamines. I’ve been avoiding foods with those for a few days as well. It’s been a lot easier this time around doing GAPS intro. Knowing it’s so temporary makes it so much easier mentally. The hardest part is figuring out what to have for snacks. I haven’t been perfect. But I still feel like I’m doing my body a favor by giving my gut a rest and some easy-to-digest nourishment.

On to the menu for this week. The first couple days I’ll be making regular meals for the family but sticking to GAPS foods myself. Then I’ll start expanding my diet. I did try to plan more GAPS-legal meals this week to keep helping my tummy. I’m also re-doing last week’s “Take it out Tuesday” and doing grain/nut free. We’ll see how it goes.
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S (prep lunch, church, make pudding, prep smoothies, decorate pumpkins)
  B – pancakes, fruit
  L – cp beef roast w/ potatoes, carrots and onions
  D – grilled pb and honey sandwiches, beans, butterscotch pudding

M (make toothpaste, make deodorant, GB, PS, clean)
  B – smoothie, fruit
  D – loaded baked potato w/ spaghetti sauce, cheese, broccoli, home canned applesauce

Take it out Tuesday – grain/nut free (chop veggies, prep breakfast, strain kefir, skim cream, make mayo, make ice cream , KM, CCS, prep squash)
  B – baked apples w/ vanilla yogurt
  D – gf salmon cakes (w/ coconut and bacon), roasted cauliflower, home canned applesauce

W (bake/freeze squash, roast beets, cook lentils, PS, makehot fudge, T-O-T)
  B – smoothie
  D – (easy clean up) – stuffed squash w/ bacon, lentils, peas and cheese, custard

Th (bake muffins or sweet bread for MB, prep dinner, Dr. V., WT, prep breakfast)
  B – baked apples, muffins
  D – (prep ahead) – cp roast chicken (make broth), beans, scalloped potatoes

F (organize or sew, prep food for MB, MB, PS)
  B – crockpot pumpkin custard
  D – bacon cheeseburgers, sweet potato fries, broccoli

S (organize and/or sew, clean, orchard?)
  B – bacon, toast, custard
  D – chicken nuggets, peas, roasted squash

We made it through another day/night. The flu has gone through our house…and doesn’t seem to want to leave. Abram had a very mild case last weekend. Then Rebecca got it on Wed. morning. I came down with it Thurs. evening. And Rebecca and I are still not over it. Fever, aches, chills…then you feel a little better for a while…then it comes back…over and over and over. It’s pretty miserable. Rebecca had to miss her first field trip, and we couldn’t go to MomBreak. I hope it’s done soon so we can get on with life 😛  We’re too busy this week to be sick.

In addition to our usual activities, we’ll be meeting with Rebecca’s teacher to see how things are going. We’re having dinner with our host family from church (a chance to get to know some people better). We have Bible study. And we might stop by the PeaceLab open house (the place I take yoga). We’ll see if we need to make another trip to the dentist. Rebecca knocked a tooth loose last week, so we’re watching it for now. I would like to make a trip to the orchard and Heffron Farms soon, but I don’t think it’ll happen this week.

Since we were sick half of the week I didn’t get a whole lot done. I’ll try to make up for it this week. I want to keep working on organizing the house. If time allows I can work on sewing. In the kitchen I’d like to roast beets, bake squash and make yogurt, toothpaste and deodorant.

I’ve decided to make Tuesdays my “free” days. This week we’ll be doing grain and nut free.

Last week I had a check up with my colon surgeon. Turns out I don’t have the problem I thought I did/that I had a few months ago. So we’re trying a new treatment. So far I haven’t noticed any profound improvement. I’ll give it a week or so and call back if it’s not working. He said it’s kind of trial and error. I did set up a gall bladder ultrasound. That’s next week. I’m curious to see if that shows anything.

Aside from that I’ve been doing more research and trying to listen to my body. Last week I had some pretty severe headaches again. It could have been from the flu, but it felt more like my typical die off headache…and it came after one week of using a little sour cream every day. It was also when I ate sourdough bread for a couple days. So I’m not sure which was the bigger culprit. But I’ve determined I can’t eat sourdough 🙁

I’m starting to learn that my body is so sensitive to fermented and cultured food. I thought they were supposed to be so good for you…but they always seem to make me feel rotten. So as always I did some more digging. I ran across something called histamine intolerance. I’m wondering if avoiding foods with a high histamine content would be helpful.

I’ve also been researching candida a little more. My friend was nice enough to send me her prescribed candida diet. Interesting information. I found it very fascinating that her instructions say to avoid ferments. And I learned that dealing with candida is largely about avoiding yeast and fructose. Not an easy task. I’ll have to look at my base diet (what I seem to tolerate at the moment) combined with low histamine foods and foods without yeast or fructose. I’m not sure there would be much left 😛  Sometimes it seems that all of the things I’ve been doing for so long that are in general so  healthy (ferments, cultures, only using honey for a sweetener (pure fructose), etc.) just might be the problem for some people, like me.

I have heard that glandulars can be helpful in dealing with candida. So I’m looking into that as well. I already take medication for my thyroid…but it is synthetic. I wonder if glandulars would be more helpful.

Lots to think about. I’ll keep researching and experimenting. I’ll see what comes of the gall bladder ultrasound. And go from there. I might see a new doctor…the same one my friend goes to.

On to the menu and plans for the week. Hopefully we’re all feeling good enough to keep up.
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S (cook beans, prep lunch, church, prep smoothies) (sick)
  B – leftover waffles
  L – cp meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes, beans, biscuits w/ jam
  D – (separate) – pita bread w/ hummus, 

M (milk, ps, teacher mtg, prep squash) (sick)
  B – smoothie, tbd yogurt, zucchini cake
  D – pork chops, scalloped sweet potatoes and apples, corn

Take it out Tuesday – grain/nut free (bake squash, roast beets, make yogurt, skim cream?, km, prep squash, prep smoothies) (SICK)
  B – yogurt, granola
  D – bacon cheeseburgers, sweet potato fries, beans order pizza

W (bake squash, make toothpaste and deodorant, meijer, ps, co-op)
  B – smoothie, tbd english muffin
  D – (separate) – stuffed squash (with bacon, peas and navy beans), pears spaghetti

Th (make yogurt, make toothpaste, make deodorant, EJ, host dinner)
  B – yogurt, muffins
  D – w/ friends

F (sewing, ps, open house, Bible study)
  B- yogurt, fruit, granola
  D – scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, peas, bananas nachos w/ avocado bean dip, sour cream, salsa, olives, cheese

S (clean, dinner w/ family?)
  B – pancakes
  D – spaghetti, carrots out to eat or TBD

Apples, apples and more apples. That was my week last week. I made and canned applesauce four days in a row. Then made dried apples the next. Instead of doing a bunch of different projects I decided to just keep going until I worked through our big stash of apples. I now have 52 jars of applesauce in the pantry (a combo of quarts and pints…some are still leftover from last year) and a big bag of dried apples. Turns out that Abram loves dried apples. Before I could even put them away he kept coming into the kitchen and grabbing them off the dehydrator tray, two at a time. I may have to make another batch soon. Now I have just a handful of apples left for some baking.

Aside from apples I did squeeze in a batch of pesto, soaked graham crackers, yogurt, ice cream and bagels (our best batch yet…I think that Rebecca is a better bagel maker than I am…I may have to have her always help me :P). And Rebecca and I got a second Mommy/daughter date at a local ballet company seeing Cinderella. What fun. I also finally got to go to a Mom’s Night Out! A much needed night to chat with other adults. And I tried some of my new Norwex products. Wow!!! I may have to do a separate review on them sometime. Maybe once I’ve tried all of the ones I got. Best cleaning products ever and so safe. All you  need is water 🙂

This week has our usual activities. We were supposed to see my family today to celebrate my (baby;) brother’s 30th birthday, but Abram’s been sick so we’ll have to skip it. Happy Birthday, Dan!!!! I go back to my colon surgeon this week. Fingers crossed that I actually get some help. I haven’t seen much improvement since I talked to him last. So we’ll see what happens…if he suggests other tests, other treatments or maybe even surgery. Who  knows. If time allows I’d like to do some shopping. I’m in serious need of fall/winter clothes.

Since I focused on apples last week I had to skip some of my other work. We’ll see if I can get to it this week. I want to bake and freeze squash, roast beets, bake with apples (maybe a tart), sew, make pesto, make something sourdough and possibly wheat thins and/or vanilla wafers. I might try a soaked version. I also still need to make toothpaste and deodorant. I did do a little cleaning/organizing this morning. I want to continue that project, but I need to get some storage bins. Maybe next week when I go to the store.

I had an up and down week. Abram is winding down with nursing. He’s mostly down to just at night. So my body is trying to adjust. Hormones go a little crazy. And my weight even went up a little for a few days. I realized that for over two years now my body has had to provide nourishment to another person. That’s a lot of work! All of a sudden I don’t need quite as many calories to mostly just nourish myself. The whole process is exciting (a bit more freedom 🙂 and sad.

I’m still trying to figure out diet stuff. That never ends. With some of the recent developments/information from my psychologist I wonder about both my diet and Rebecca’s diet. I keep wondering about GAPS again. But not the same way as before. The first time around I didn’t really know what I was doing. Now I know what my body needs and some of the big mistakes you can make. For now I’m trying to focus on high carb/non grain foods. I still eat small amounts of wheat and white rice, but not a lot. I was bad about broth last week. I need to get some out/make more and keep up with that. And for food focus on squash, pumpkin, beans, honey and some dried fruit. Lots of vegetables. I ate white beans four days in a row last week! And both Abram and I did fine. So exciting!!! I love beans, but I’ve had to avoid them for so long. I want to try to have them on hand more often now. Bring on the hummus! I also want to try coconut flour again and see if we tolerate it better now. That would be helpful to have a few coconut flour baked goods once in a while. It helps with my carb intake and keeps me from wanting tons of wheat products. I would also view GAPS as a very temporary diet. Not a two year thing. At least to start and see how things go. I’m definitely not ready to start GAPS at the moment. But I’m going to try to eat closer to full GAPS, focusing on what I know works for me.

I’m getting started with Village Green Network. I’m very excited. You’ll notice a few blog updates. It’s still a work in progress. Let me know what you think/if you have any suggestions.
On to the menu. I had to throw it together yesterday and haven’t updated it since we figured out we weren’t going away today. So I’ll try to adjust it and may update things as the week goes on.
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S (clean/organize, church, birthday celebration, prep smoothies)
  B – english muffin, grapes
  L – (light) – crackers w/ ham and cheese, peas, chips, fruit or leftover cheeseburger cups
  D – stuffed french toast, apples, bacon

M (prep dinner, make pesto, roast beets, PS, DENTIST, prep squash)
  B – french toast, smoothie
  D – cheesy pesto chicken, garlic noodles, peas / make broth

T (skim cream, make sc, bake/freeze squash, freeze broth, prep dinner, prep breakfast, make pudding, KM, Dr. L., CCS)
  B – granola, yogurt, fruit
  D – (prep ahead, soft foods) – cp meatloaf or pork chops, baked sweet potatoes fresh pea squash broccoli soup, cinnamon raisin swirl bread

W (bake w/ apples, make sd muffins, Field Trip, soak flour) (sick kid)
  B – smoothie, sd muffins
  D – sweet and sour meatballs over squash, beans misc.

Th (sewing, freeze peppers, prep breakfast/lunch, soak flour, make wheat thins and/or vanilla wafers, prep squash) (sick/sick kid)
  B – sd bread, fruit
  D – TBD soup, soaked biscuits sweet and sour meatballs over squash, beans, rice

F (make biscuits, make toothpaste and deodorant, bake/freeze squash, MB) (sick/sick kid)
  B – biscuits w/ honey, fruit
  D – quiche, biscuits, peas

S (sewing, hooping?, shopping?, Critter Barn? make ice cream) (sick)
  B – sd bread, fruit
  D – salmon, roasted potatoes, broccoli

A chilly fall morning here. Perfect morning to have leftover soup for breakfast 🙂

We survived a busy weekend with out of town family. Everyone had a great time. We got to meet our future sister-in-law and celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday (with special dairy free cupcakes with homemade frosting). This week should be a bit more “normal” now. We have our usual activities. I might go to a Mom’s Night Out. I go back and forth because it’s hard to find just about anything I can eat at a restaurant. But I do enjoy a rare opportunity to socialize with other adults once in a while. We might be joining a small group at church. We’re still waiting to hear about some details. And there is a fall festival at church on Saturday. No farmer’s market anymore. Last week was the end of ours.

I have quite a bit I’d like to get done in the kitchen this week. I need to make more yogurt, pesto and soaked graham crackers. I also need to get going on more applesauce. I need to use up the apples we have, plus my father-in-law brought a bunch more. He also brought lots of squash, so I’ll be baking/freezing that too at some point. I would like to do a baking project with Rebecca this week – either soft pretzels or bagels. I want to work on some of my organizing projects and possibly sew. I also want to make toothpaste and deodorant. This may be way too ambitious. We’ll see how the week goes.

I had a good appointment with my psychologist last week. We talked quite a bit about what I was doing to take care of myself…hmmm. My doctor says I need to take some time for me. Like take an evening to just go do something by myself or with some other ladies once in a while. I know I could use a break…and it really is good for my sanity/mental health. It’s just hard to do. But I will try…and hopefully Justin will help make it possible. We did talk about some other stuff that is a bit overwhelming. Maybe I’ll touch more on that in the future when we have more concrete answers. For now I’m just researching and praying.

On a more exciting note, our Mom Break speaker on Friday was from a neat place called Family Tree Therapies.  I really think they will be a great resource for us. I hope to take Rebecca there someday in the near future.

One other exciting thing is that I was asked to join Village Green Network! It’s a network of Real Food bloggers. I’m very excited for this new opportunity. And I think there will be some blog changes in the future. I’ve got a lot of work to do!

So on to this week. Here’s what’s on the menu for now. Today we have lots of leftovers to use up from our weekend of hosting. And we’re going to Rebecca’s Restaurant for pizza tonight 🙂  Our “free” day this week will be gluten free.

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S (organize office, church, make pizza dough/sauce, prep smoothies, soak flour)
  B – sd pumpkin muffins, zucchini bread, muesli w/ milk and yogurt, fruit, smoothies
  L – leftover roast beef, carrots and potatoes, baked beans, beer bread
  D – RR – made to order pizzas (chx sausage, peppers, onions, olives), milkshakes

M (make yogurt, make pesto, make soaked graham crackers, milk, ps)
  B – smoothie, soaked baked oatmeal
  D – ham and pesto pasta w/ homemade noodles, peas, garlic toast

T (skim cream, make/can applesauce, km, make ice cream, CCS)
  B – muffin, zucchini bread, grapes
  D – stuffed peppers, corn, pears

W (make/can applesauce, Meijer, ps, WT, soak flour) (Gluten Free Day)
  B – muesli, yogurt, fruit
  D – hot taco rice

Th (make/can applesauce, make bagels, MNO)
  B – muesli w/ milk
  D – (me – out to eat) – cheeseburger cups, beans, applesauce

F (make/can applesauce, Bible study)
  B – bagel w/ pb
  D – leftover cheeseburger cups

S(organize closet/shelf, Fall festival)
  B – TBD
  D – croque madame