Last week was fairly productive. I embroidered Abram’s stocking, mailed all of our Christmas cards, did some good cleaning and made some Christmas presents. We had our church Christmas program (Rebecca did great singing!) and went out last night to see the Nite Lights…a drive through Christmas light display. Rebecca really enjoyed that. In the kitchen I made our usual weekly dairy products plus lots of crispy nuts, breakfast cookies and Christmas cookies. Rebecca and I made a “gingerbread” nativity scene. I also made a third (yes third!) attempt at butter. Another flop 🙁  I let the milk set for an extra day before skimming the cream. But it still didn’t work. I think I give up on using our cream for butter. We are getting some cream from the co-op this week. I think I’ll make a final attempt using that. I tried some new recipes…some that won’t be posted until after Christmas I think. Not too bad considering both kids were sick. They both had colds plus Abram got a shot. He was not a happy baby. Thankfully both kids are feeling a lot better now.

This week we won’t be going many places. But we will be busy. I hope Rebecca is ready to do some baking 🙂  I’m going to try to do as much prep work for our Christmas parties as I can since I won’t have much time for actual work next week. We’ll have 3 parties in a row, plus travel, plus house guests. My to-do lists may be a bit more detailed than usual. I just don’t want to forget anything. On the list: mini pies, orange muffins (this week is the letter O), dairy products, brownies, hot fudge, chocolate pretzels, cookies, scones and fudge. I might also try to make a gingerbread cake with Rebecca. I have a cute shaped pan that I’ve never tried. In terms of meals I’m going for simple. I don’t need extra work and extra messes. Friday we’ll have a nice dinner. That will be our family celebration. Aside from food I need to wrap presents! Hopefully I can get started on that today. I have a lot of wrapping to do. I also need to clean before we have guests. Justin will be on vacation starting Wednesday this week. Maybe I need to make a to-do list for him 😉

So our week isn’t too crazy for once since I don’t have to do milk pick up, and Kindermusik is done. Today is church. Tuesday is Meijer. Wednesday is co-op pick up. Friday we are celebrating Christmas as a family. That’s about it.

My update…overall a much improved week from how things have been lately. No really bad days. I have been taking the magnesium daily. I think that is helping. But I still need a higher dose. There aren’t any significant change with the dose I am taking. I do feel like my eating was getting back on track last week. I was back to more regular consumption of broth/stock/soups. I was pleasantly surprised to have some days where I felt like my digestive system was actually kind of “working.” I could feel the normal movement/waves of my intestines…doing what it should be doing. Which hopefully means I’m starting to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. But my body still has to figure out how to properly absorb fluids. It’s been so dependant on miralax for so long. So even though my intestines are trying to function properly I still have trouble with how they take in fluid. I don’t think there is much I can do about that except wait and let my body adjust as I continue to lower the miralax. Which I have been able to do again. It varies between 1/8 and 1/3 dose. One other big thing in the last couple days is getting back on track with what I drink. I have been drinking one or two (or sometimes three!) big mugs of hot cocoa daily. It’s just hot water, cocoa powder and honey. Nothing horrible. And I use a very small amount of cocoa and honey. Just enough to barely taste it. I drink it because it helps me get down more fluids. Sometimes I just can’t stomach more water. Then I read a post on Cheeseslave about Wheat Belly. It’s basically saying that wheat is not the culprit behind belly bulge and tummy troubles. It may have more to do with cortisol levels. And you should be more concerned about caffeine, alcohol and sugar. Included in that list is cocoa/chocolate. I can really relate to the craving for sweets at night. A good read if you have a few minutes. Anyway, I decided to put an end to my hot cocoa habit (which I knew I should before reading this, but just didn’t). Hopefully that will help. I feel like I go through phases where my belly is flat even if I eat a lot. Then I’ll have phases where it feels like there is a bulge no matter how little I’m eating. I wonder now if it’s related to the cocoa (and snitches of food with refined sugars, etc.). I’m going to do my best to resist temptations, but I know it is very hard around the holidays. Especially in a week like this where I’m baking a ton. I know I won’t be perfect, but I’ll do my best. Finally I know that food is not the only factor. With two sick kids last week that were up a lot in the night I was seriously sleep deprived…even more than usual 😛  I felt like a walking zombie. That is really hard on your body. I’m sure I have adrenal fatigue as well. But that is something I’ll have to address some other time. And the biggie – stress. Me, stressed? Never 😛  Sick kids, long to-do list, Christmas parties…it is stressful. And my tummy does not like stress one bit. It all boils down to the fact that there are a lot of factors. I have to do my best and tackle one thing at a time. And try to be good to my body. Hopefully with the magnesium, a “little” more sleep and cutting out cocoa I’ll at least see some improvement. And hopefully by planning well and doing a lot of stuff ahead of time next week won’t be too stressful.

On to the menu for this week.
—————————–
S (prep lunch, make hot fudge, church, grind flour, make pies, wrap presents)
  L – cp pork and beans
  D – broccoli and cheese quiche, bacon, salad, fruit

M (make chocolate pretzels, make brownies, make cranberry bread, nursery cmt)
  D – separate – leftover quiche, cranberry bread, cauliflower, salad

T (skim cream, make yogurt, make sour cream, make kefir, bake muffins, Meijer)
  D – steak, baked potato, broccoli (Justin), steak salad (me)

W (make cookies, make scones, make breakfast bars, co-op)
  D – (separate/ready any time) – hobo dinner (Justin), meatball soup (me)

Th (make sausage, wrap presents)
  D – salad (me), ravioli, corn, garlic toast (Justin)

F (make baked oatmeal, make/decorate gingerbread cake, celebrate Christmas, make stock/broth)
  D – roasted chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, beans, applesauce, rolls

S (clean, laundry, prep for parties/travel, prep salad)
  D – chicken noodle soup

Good morning. Another chilly Sunday in Michigan here. We finally got a little snow by us. I can’t say I’m excited. I’m not a cold weather person at all. But it does make it seem more like Christmas. Rebecca sure is excited 🙂  Christmas preparations are well under way. I’m done with my shopping now. And I’ve started addressing cards. There is still plenty to be done, though. Last week was quite busy. I ended up doing more shopping than I had expected. Yesterday alone we got our tree, stopped by my grandparents, went grocery shopping, went to the orchard and went to the mall. It was busy, but it’ll be nice this week not having to go to quite so many places.

The kitchen was busy with our usual weekly dairy products and some homemade Christmas goodies. I can’t say yet what all we made 😉  I did make my 2nd attempt at butter…another flop 🙁  I even used just the cream from the very top of the milk jars. I’m wondering if the fat content in our milk just isn’t high enough. If that’s the case I’m pretty bummed. Not so much for the butter, but for the health aspect. Oh well. Maybe someday we’ll be able to go back to our other cow share. That was the richest milk I’ve ever had. There was definitely never a shortage of cream from that. This time I cultured the butter flop. So it was kind of a whipped sour cream. And I used it to make a batch of ice cream for myself 🙂  I also made mayo, cherry muffins, lots of roasted beets and a meal for my grandparents.

I have a lot on my agenda for this week inbetween running here and there. Today is church. Tonight is our Christmas program. Rebecca will be singing a couple songs, and my parents will be there. Rebecca is so excited to wear her new dress today 🙂  She picked it out. Not exactly the dress I would have chosen, but she loves it. Monday is milk pick up. Tuesday is Kindermusik. It’s hard to believe that it’s our last class of the semester! We’ll miss it, but I am really looking forward to a break. We’ll have our Tuesdays free for a little while now. Next semester doesn’t start until the end of January. Wednesday we have to go to the pediatrician for a shot for Abram. Then he gets a 2 month break before his next visit. Justin also has worship team. Friday is MOPS. Saturday we might do a family outing. We don’t have things totally planned yet.

In the kitchen I want to get a lot done. I’ve been gradually using up our freezer supply of baked goods. Now the freezer is starting to look bare. That hasn’t happened in a long time. It means it’s time to start baking! Fun. I at least want to make breakfast cookies. I’m not totally sure what else yet. We might do our Christmas cookies this week. I’d also like to make “gingerbread” houses with Rebecca (using graham crackers, not gingerbread). I’ll do my usual dairy products. And possibly some pesto. Since we’re doing the letter N this week I thought I’d try doing some New meals this week. So be on the lookout for new recipes this week. I’m also doing Nuts. I stocked up yesterday since we’re almost out. They are all soaking now.

There is also a lot of Christmas prep to get done. I need to start planning my Christmas menus (going to two parties and hosting one), wrap presents, finish Christmas cards and embroider Abram’s stocking. I also need to work on more homemade gifts and possibly some baking for our parties.

Now time for my update. Thankfully it’s more positive than last week’s. Most of the week was still rough. But yesterday and so far today have been a bit better. My appetite is returning. I have more energy. I’m so thankful for that. So, what changed? I actually changed quite a few things in the past few days. Which means it’s impossible to know how each particular thing helped. I was able to get more beets. So I’ve been eating those daily. I got more good lemon juice. So back to my wonderful lemon water. My magnesium supplement came a couple days ago. I started taking that yesterday. I can’t say how it’s impacting me so far. It’s also hard to know how much to take. The dosage is 400 mg. But from what I’ve read when you are magnesium deficient you should take more like 1000 – 1200 mg a day to get back on track. I’ll start with the 400 and see how it goes. I may have to look into a 2nd supplement to increase my intake. The supplement I’m taking now is hard to take. It’s a liquid. It’s basically like drinking strong salty, minerally water. I mix it in juice to help, but there is no masking that taste 😛  I have also been eating lots of salads, raw foods and veggies this week. My meat and animal fat intake has been down. I don’t like that, but it does give my tummy a little break since I have a hard time digesting it. I’ll try to bump it back up gradually. I’ve been keeping my fat intake up with EVOO, coconut oil, egg yolks and sour cream. The other thing I did the last couple days was add more coconut oil back into my diet. For a while I was drinking smoothies daily that contained lots of coconut oil. Then the last few weeks I haven’t been making them. I got kind of burned out on smoothies. So I took a break. Which is fine. But then I didn’t get much coconut oil in my diet. So the last 2 days I had smoothies again and have been making a point of trying to eat a couple Tbsp. of coconut oil a day. I personally can’t eat it plain. But I like it in/on a lot of things. I mixed some into my custard this morning. Lots of little changes that add up to me feeling a bit better. And hopefully I’m past whatever I was going through. Maybe it was more die off. Maybe it was the lack of coconut oil. Maybe it was too much animal fat/meat. Maybe it was lack of magnesium. Maybe it was too much stress. My guess is it’s a little bit of everything combined. I also was having lots of sugar/starch cravings. And taking too many little tastes of sweet things. I was just having a hard time staying focused and doing what I knew I should. I feel like my gut flora somehow got way out of whack. I can just tell by my digestion and how I’m feeling. Not sure if I need to bump up my probiotic or just be very cautious with anything sweet (even fruit and honey). Hopefully this week I can get back on track. I’m too busy to not feel well 😛

On to a new week. Hopefully it’s a better one. Here’s what’s on the menu.
———————
S (freeze butter, soak nuts, church, prep dinner, Christmas program, soak flour)
  L – leftover pasta bake, garlic bread, broccoli (Justin), salad (me)
  D – (cp) – gumbo

M (dry nuts, make breakfast cookies, milk)
  D – ham, scalloped potatoes, beans

T (skim cream, make yogurt, make sour cream, make kefir, bake squash, KM)
  D – croque madame, squash

W (Christmas cards, embroider stocking, prep breakfast, Dr. S.)
  D – cp pork and beans, peas squash soup

Th (make cookie dough, make and decorate Christmas cookies)
  D – BLT spaghetti (Justin going out for dinner w/ work? then different menu) – salad or leftover soup (me), Justin (out to eat)

F (clean, MOPS, make butter)
  D – bacon wrapped dates, scrambled eggs w/ bacon, bacon popcorn, peas

S (laundry, family outing, make gifts, wrap presents, Christmas lights?)
  D – pan fried pork chops, roasted squash chunks, cauliflower w/ cheese

December is in full swing. Thankfully I’ve been able to get a good portion of my Christmas shopping done over the past week. Hopefully I can finish most of it this week. Around the house we were busy last week cleaning. I finally did some toy organizing. I also cleaned off my desk. We moved the pack and play to the office and got that area organized too. In the kitchen I made sour cream, yogurt, sour cream ice cream (recipe to follow), fermented veggies, caramel dip and kefir. I decided to wait on butter so I could skim our milk better.

This week will be fairly busy with errands. Plus there are a few Christmas events we might attend. Today is church. This afternoon there is a thing called Journey to Bethlehem at the church where I attend MOPS. We might stop by. Monday is milk pick up. There is also the Grandville tree lighting in the evening. We haven’t decided yet if we’re going. Tuesday is Kindermusik. Wednesday is Meijer. Thursday and Friday are open at the moment. There is a chance I could go shopping one of those days. We’re planning to get our tree on Saturday.

In the kitchen I’ll make my usual weekly dairy products, adding in another butter attempt. I should make more pesto and mayo. And I’d like to do a baking project with Rebecca if time allows. I have an idea for an “M” project. Or we could do some Christmas baking too.

Update on me…sigh. The week started out so well. I had a few really good days. I even had my miralax dose down so low I almost totally skipped it one afternoon. And then things started to take a turn. And today I’m really not doing well. Back to headaches. I drink a ton of fluid, but my mouth is always dry. My body is just not absorbing fluids the way it should. So, what happened? It’s always hard to tell. But I do know a few key things. First, I know that eating beets daily really helps me. And I ran out of beets mid week. Second, I was eating salads regularly, which was helping…and I ran out of lettuce. Third, I ate peanut butter bread…3 days in a row. Why? I really don’t know. All I can say is peanut butter and I do not mix well. I still haven’t figured out if it’s any peanut/peanut butter or if I’d be ok with homemade (crispy). Either way it really messed me up this week. I think it’s all still sitting in my gut :\  I’m sure eating the pb bread while decreasing the miralax so much didn’t help either. My other big help is warm lemon water. I had been drinking it throughout the day. But I’m almost out of lemon juice. So I can only do it first thing in the morning. And I’m not sure what I have will last me until I go to the store. So, where does that leave me now? Miserable. Trying to be patient. And this was the final push I needed to go for the magnesium. I ordered a magnesium supplement yesterday. I can’t wait for it to come! I hope that really helps. I won’t have time to get to Meijer until Wed. So I have to go without beets for a few days yet. It’s getting pretty hard to eat right now. And I never know what to eat. All I can do is wait and hope for some improvement soon. And remind myself…NO MORE PEANUT BUTTER!

I did read a very interesting post on Modern Alternative Mama about magnesium and grains. This was also mentioned on Cheeseslave recently. Grains are one of the best sources of magnesium. This is not to say I’m going to start adding grains back into my diet today. I think my gut needs more healing before I can do that. But I do know that I want to at some point. They must be properly prepared grains of course. It is an exciting thought, though. We’ll see what the mag supplement does and go from there. I’m not against grains for sure. But with a damaged gut I don’t think I’m quite ready to handle them yet.

So, on to this week. My meal plans seem to keep changing as our plans are made and depending on how I’m feeling/what I am able to eat. Today may have to be a mostly liquid diet for me. So here’s what’s on the menu at the moment.
—————————————–
S (cook beans, prep lunch, church, Journey to Bethlehem?)
  L -cp sausage and bean soup, bread
  D – avocado bean dip and salsa w/ tortilla chips, apple w/ caramel, cheese (Justin), broth (me)

M (prep smoothies, prep dinner, milk, tree lighting, roast beets)
  D – favorite casserole, peaches (Justin), salad (me)

T (skim cream, make sc, make yogurt, make butter, KM)
  D – sweet and sour meatballs, squash, corn, fruit

W (make sc, make kefir, make Christmas treats, Meijer)
  D – favorite casserole (Justin), salad (me)

Th (make Christmas treats/gifts, prep smoothies, make mayo)
  D – pan fried white fish, beans, baked potatoes

F (clean, shopping?)
  D – waffles, fruit (Justin), TBD (me)

S (laundry, prep meal for grandparents, Christmas tree, visit grandparents, shopping?)
  D – pasta bake, bread, veggies

Thanksgiving is over. I have mostly reclaimed my refrigerator. Almost all of the leftovers are gone. The house is cleaned up. Some Christmas decorations are up. And it’s finally Sunday. It feels like we had 3 Saturdays in a row 😛  Back to life as usual.

Last week was focused on Thanksgiving. I didn’t do a letter with Rebecca. We just did Thanksgiving crafts and got the house ready to host. We had a wonderful celebration with my family. It’s a lot of work, but I enjoy it. We also had lots of family time over the weekend. That sure was nice. Just time to relax and take it easy. We went swimming on Friday morning. And stayed home to decorate and play yesterday. I was even able to finally organize Rebecca’s closet a bit. You can actually see the floor now 😛  We all loved having Justin home for a few days.

I was busy in the kitchen with all of the Thanksgiving prep. And then busy afterwards being creative with leftovers 🙂  I’ll update my Thanksgiving post with some ideas of how I used leftovers. I don’t think anyone got sick of turkey…that means success. I also made a batch of turkey broth. And a couple batches of baby food. It’s nice to have a little stock of that in the freezer. And of course our weekly dairy products.

This week is a pretty normal week. Today is church. Monday I don’t think we’re going anywhere. There is a chance I’ll be doing milk pick up, but I don’t think so. Tuesday is Kindermusik. Friday is MOPS. That’s about it. Sounds nice! I might try to make a trip to Target. Both kids need winter boots and some other odds and ends. And it wouldn’t hurt to get going on Christmas shopping. We started a little online shopping yesterday. We have a ways to go. I also need to work on Christmas cards. The fun part…addressing them all 😛

Kitchen work will include our weekly dairy products – kefir, yogurt and sour cream. I might try butter again this week. We’ll see. I had issues with it last time. And I had a hard time making whipped cream last week. Not sure if our cream isn’t that heavy or if I’m just not skimming it very well. Since we’re doing the letter L I want to do some L foods/meals. Not sure about any baking projects. I might try finally making another GAPS ice cream recipe. I need to make a new batch of fermented vegetables. And possibly some mayo (we’re out, but not sure I’ll need it this week). I’m working my way through some of the baked goods in our freezer. Lots of stuff that either needs to be eaten or tossed. Then I can start some fresh baking! When I’m not working in the kitchen I’d like to do more organizing around the house. Rebecca’s closet is done, but I still need to work on her room. And Abram’s closet is still a disaster. The basement could use some work too. I’m in the mood to clean, organize and get rid of stuff! Good thing to do before the Christmas presents come.

On to my weekly update (beware…this is a long one). It’s been a long week of ups and downs. Lots of trial and error. I made a batch of sour cream using mostly yogurt (like usual) but a little kefir as well for more probiotics. Wow! That sure gives it a kick. Not sure I’ll be doing that regularly. I know it’s healthy. But I just don’t like it that much. I tried to increase my fat and vegetable intake (as I mentioned in my GAPS gravy post), but it didn’t seem to help me much. So I decided to add more raw/fibrous food to my diet. I’ve been eating lots of salads the last few days. Friday I had salad for breakfast, lunch and a bedtime snack! Before I would have noticed a reaction with just eating one salad. But even after eating lots of salads my gut did not seem any different than it did while eating pureed foods and mushy veggies. Kind of frustrating. It seems that I do need more raw food in my diet now, including juice (hoping for a juicer some day). My body seems to be tolerating it just fine. No major gas or bloating or anything. Which is a big change…and gives me hope that my gut is healing. One thing I did do this week was add carrot juice to my diet. Although I don’t have a juicer I did find some pure carrot juice at the store! It’s not quite as good as freshly pressed, but it’s better than nothing. I can’t say that it tastes good. But I hope it will help. I’ve been trying to drink some a couple times a day mixed with a little fruit juice to get it down. I can also tell I feel better when I eat beets regularly. So I’ve been eating roasted beets every day. Carrots and beets are the two vegetables the GAPS book mentions most often. So I’m trying to get those daily. I continue to debate about taking a magnesium supplement. And about trying the Betaine again for stomach acid production. I have not come to a conclusion yet. I’ve been eating lots of Russian custard…for breakfasts, lunches, snacks. A great way to get more egg yolks down. I mix it with berries, nuts and sour cream. My body seems to tolerate it well. And I’m drinking plenty of warm lemon water. I also made my first cup of ginger tea yesterday. It tasted fine. Not sure if it did anything for me, but it didn’t hurt. I’ll keep trying it. I did some more reading a couple places about needing to do what works for your body…and listening to your body. If you are really craving something (that is safe/legal)…you should just have it, even if you are not at that stage of the diet yet. Your body knows what it needs. I really think this is true. I noticed it this week. One day I would crave sweets/starches and want custard for every meal. The next day I would really want fresh, crunchy, raw foods and eat salad after salad. It seemed like my body wanted something different every few days. And normally I love turkey (or any meat) and picking stuff off the bones after cooking a bird. This week I really didn’t care much about it (of course Thanksgiving week :P). Not that I didn’t like it. I just didn’t crave it like usual. I actually had a hard time doing the deboning and clean up. It was kind of gross to me. Strange. In general my body was craving more fruits, veggies and dairy this week, not meat. Which is a big change for me. And I had days where I could not tolerate broth/stock. I just wanted fresh foods. I did really crave dairy. So I had raw cheese on my salads. And drank a little raw milk. I think I did pretty well listening to my body. It seems to rotate needs/cravings every few days. It knows how to keep everything balanced. In the end, though my gut functioned about the same all week…regardless of what I ate (which gets frustrating when you keep trying different things with no change). I think it all boils down to a couple things. First, my gut is healing! And I need to wait and see what my new normal is. Which is very difficult for me. It makes my OCD and anxiety really flare when there is change. It takes away my control. And then I start comparing and over analyzing everything. But I have been pleased with how I’ve handled it. No major anxiety attacks. I get frustrated and annoyed. But I don’t panic. I’m trying to be patient. And figure out what truly needs to be changed/healed yet and what is just mental. It seems my gut has really calmed down from how it has been for many many years now. So I’m not used to that. Now I need to figure out how to stimulate it again. It is exciting to be able to eat more raw food again at least! The other major factor is the miralax. This is probably the biggest one. After taking it for 5 years my body is definitely dependant on it. And doesn’t know how to function without it. So as I decrease it, my body doesn’t really know what to do. Regardless of what I eat, my gut doesn’t function. When I first started decreasing miralax I could tell, but I was still taking enough that my body worked. Now that I’m down to a 1/4 dose some days…closer to elminating it totally, my body is not sure what to do. Some days I want to give in and just go back to my full dose and say I guess I’ll take this forever. Not really what I want. Some days I want to just cut it out cold turkey and do one big adjustment and get it over with. I’m guessing that’s not too smart either. That could be painful and dangerous for me. I don’t want to undo my surgery. So I go back to what I’m doing…a little at a time. And do my best to be patient. My body will figure it out eventually. I know in the long run I will be happy I did this. But for now it’s tough. Especially as I get down to the really low doses. All I can do is wait. I do my best to eat right and drink a LOT of fluids to help out. Give my gut plenty to work with. And adjust to my changing needs. So that’s where I’m at. I will try to keep up with lemon water, carrot juice, beets and raw foods for simtulation. And fats, vegetbales and broth for healing. Plus my daily sour cream, sauerkraut and fermented vegetables for probiotics. And focus on eggs for protein. I still have a hard time with most meat (especially muscle meats). So I’ll try not to overdo with those. And try to be patient as my body figures this out. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep decreasing the miralax and continue this healing process. I’ll take it one day at a time and trust that God will guide my decisions and actions. He has a reason for this season of my life. I’m learning to be patient and trust in Him.

I’d better get on with the menu for the week. Trying to incorporate my needs with foods that we can all enjoy. And a few separate meals becuase of activities and trying to use up leftovers. Oddly enough Rebecca requested split pea soup the other day! Yes, my daughter that used to gag on it and literally almost puke when asked to eat one bite. She is now requesting it. I will very happily oblige 🙂  I’ll even let Abram try some.
————————-
S (church, nursery, separate dinner)
  L – cp maple dijon chicken (Justin), leftover squash and turkey soup (me)
  D – salad w/ cucumbers, beets, avocado, turkey, raw cheese, nuts, raisins and homemade dressing with egg yolks added (me), scrambled eggs, toast, fruit (Justin)

M (prep dinner, make fermented veggies)
  D – pea soup, whole wheat bread

T (skim cream, make sc, make yogurt, KM, soak lentils, make caramel dip)
  D – salad (me), tacos (Justin)

W (cook lentils, Target, make kefir)
  D – lentil burgers/hamburgers, roasted potoes, peas

Th (make sc)
  D – loaded baked potatoes

F (clean, MOPS)
  D – baked bacon and eggs, beans, bread

S (laundry, shopping, make ic)
  D – stuffed squash w/ lentils, bacon, chicken liver and vegetables