September 11…hard to believe it’s been 10 years. Thanking God for the blessing of each new day.

A new week…hoping it’s better than last week. By which I mean I hope Abram gets rid of some of his grumpiness. It’s becoming very obvious that Rebecca and Abram have different personalities. Rebecca was so easy going. Abram is much more demanding. He is so anxious to be a big boy and be on the move. He is not content whatsoever to just lie down and wiggle. He is trying so hard to creep (he kind of spins in circles trying to move). He has almost rolled over (he has done all of the individual steps, just not in one continuous sequence). He hates being strapped into his car seat and tries his hardest to get out of his bouncy seat. He needs a lot of attention and screams when he’s not happy. And he’s not sleeping as well lately. Which means Mommy is very tired…and more grumpy. At this moment he’s been up since 5 am is fussing, ok make that screaming now…and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. I’m just at a loss right now. And so worn out/sick of the screaming/crying. But nothing seems to make him happy – eating, rocking, playing, etc. So I’m left clueless. I think he’s just not happy being a helpless baby 😛  And the teething doesn’t help either. Anyway, that’s how we’re doing 😛

Last week was busy as usual. We had a family Labor Day/birthday party, started Kindermusik, went to the park and went to a new wildlife park near our house. The kids sure enjoyed all of it! I kept plenty busy in the kitchen too. As usual I added on to my already long list of things I wanted to make. I ended up making broth, kefir, pesto, apple pear crisp, coconut milk ice cream, hot fudge, pumpkin muffins. I canned one batch of salsa, two batches of spaghetti sauce and one batch of pearsauce. I love to see my pantry filling so quickly. I may even have to buy more jars this year! I made some awesome pumpkin soup yesterday with both chicken and beef broth. Mmmm. Glad there are plenty of leftovers.

This week has plenty going on. Today is church. Monday is Abram’s 4 month check up. I might try to go to Meijer. And we have an arborist coming to look at our trees. Tuesday is Kindermusik, farmer’s market and we’re getting our plumbing fixed/new sink faucet installed. //Ok, finally got Abram back to sleep…praying he stays asleep for a little while.//  Wednesday is Meijer or Harvest Health. Nothing planned for Thursday at this point. Friday we might meet my SIL and nephew in Lansing, but we haven’t decided yet. Trying to decide if it will be doable with Abram or not. I don’t really want him screaming in his car seat for an hour each way. No plans for Saturday yet either. But we could possibly go to the zoo or the orchard.

The big food item this week…my GAPS family challenge! All meals that I make this week will be GAPS legal. I’m not going to stress about snacks, etc. that Justin eats. But all the meals I serve will be GAPS legal. See how it goes. Other than that it’s food preservation as usual. I think I want to do one more batch of spaghetti sauce at least (I’ve done 8 qts. so far). I would like to can pears. I haven’t decided if I want to do them this week or wait. But likely this week. I still have some walnuts from my SIL to deal with. Hoping to get to that today, before they go bad. I also still have to make toothpaste. And I want to make a new batch of fermented ketchup. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. If I find decent cabbage I want to make more sauerkraut since mine is getting low.

Trying to get into a little bit of a routine with Rebecca’s school work. I did make a good schedule/rotation of activities. So that will help this week. Our letter of the week is B. So we’ll see what B things we can do 🙂  Last week for A we baked apple pear crisp. I modified the topping a bit. And I have to say it was amazing! Not GAPS-legal, so I only stole a few tastes. But wow. It was good (flour, oats, butter, sugar, walnuts and cinnamon chips…mmm).

Things are still up and down for me. But I did notice this week one thing that isn’t related to what I am eating…but instead to what I’m not eating…nuts. As I feared…I feel better when I don’t eat many nuts. So sad. But at least I know. This past week I mostly only ate nuts if they were blended in something (smoothie, pesto, etc.). So they were easier to digest. I guess this month’s goal of reducing nuts was a good idea. Although I wonder now if that’s why my weight has dropped a couple pounds. Cutting back on nuts cuts out a lot of fat and calories in my diet. Better try to replace it somehow. I have been adding an extra egg yolk to my smoothie most days at least (making it 3 egg yolks per smoothie). Hopefully I’m at least getting a decent amount of protein my body can handle.

Yesterday I did a lot of experimenting in the kitchen. Recipe posts to come. We’ll see if I can get to them all this morning or not. All of my kitchen to-dos are already done for today. And lunch is in the crockpot and dinner is mostly warming leftovers. Hmmm. I think I may have to add some items to today’s agenda 😛  Or maybe just get caught up on some non-food related stuff. Like finally organizing the kids’ rooms/clothes and see what they have for fall/winter. Anyway, on to the menu…the GAPS menu. Justin has already expressed concern over his breakfast. So we’ll see how this week goes 😛
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S (cook beans, prep lunch, make meusli, church)
  B – pumpkin soup w/ lentils and beans (me), gf museli w/ banana and milk (Justin)
  L – honey bbq chicken, glazed carrots, grilled zucchini
  D – beef and bean chili (using leftover spaghetti sauce), gf pumpkin muffins (Justin), leftover zucchini cakes w/ pesto, sauteed mushrooms and eggplant (me)

 M (make ketchup, make toothpaste, Dr. S., Meijer, arborist, clean kitchen, put away laundry)
  B – apple slices w/ almond butter, yogurt (Justin), pumpkin soup w/ avocado, beans and zucchini (me)
  D – fresh pea soup, coconut bread, cheese crisps

 T (prep breakfast, prep green smoothies, KM, FM, sink, prep kefir smoothies, chop veggies)
  B – egg and cheese muffins, grapes (Justin), pea soup w/ avocado (me)
  D – turkey pesto bake, coconut bread, broccoli

W (make/can spaghetti sauce, HH)
  B – kefir smoothie (Justin), pea soup or pumpkin soup w/ avocado (me)
  D – roasted chicken w/ veggies, beans, fruit salad

Th (make muffins, make green smoothies, make scones, make sauerkraut, “B” baking project?, chop veggies)
  B – gf cinnamon muffins, eggs, fruit (Justin), leftover zucchini bake w/ avocado and mushrooms (me)
  D – bacon and spinach quiche, gf muesli scones, fruit, peas

F (can pears, clean, Lansing?, soak lentils)
  B – quiche (me), yogurt, fruit, gf muesli (Justin)
  D – pan fried steak, roasted cauliflower, peas

S (make/can pearsauce, laundry, clean, cook lentils, zoo?, organize clothes)
  B – quiche, fruit
  D – stuffed squash (w/ sausage, bacon, lentils and veggies), fruit, roasted caulifower

First full week of September. Time for fall activities again! I’m so excited that Kindermusik starts this week. And we’ll be starting “school” with Rebecca. It’ll be another busy week for sure.

Last week was kind of crazy. We started the week with our ride home from WI that ended in a rocky, puke-filled boat ride (poor Rebecca) and a late, late night. The rest of the week we didn’t go many places and tried to get back on track. And we sadly had to cancel our trip to Michigan’s Adventure b/c the forecast was so bad. Of course it ended up being a very nice day and it probably would have been a great day to go. Maybe next year. Instead we did some shopping. It’s rare that we shop as a family, so it was a nice treat. Rebecca got to pick out her “back to school” outfit and play on the treehouse play area at the mall. And Abram got to spend a little time with Daddy yesterday too 🙂

 I spent most of the week catching up on food preservation and other misc. things. I canned 7 1/2 pints of salsa and 21 quarts of peaches. I froze beans and summer squash. And I made bread pudding, kefir, roasted beets, made mayo, pesto, peach coffee cake, hot fudge, almond butter and cinnamon cookies. Check out my updated recipe for the cinnamon cookies. They turned out great! And they really are the easiest cookie you’ll ever make. Rebecca practically makes them herself.

Plenty going on this week. Today is just church. Maybe we’ll see if we can make one last walk to Cone World for the season. Monday we’ll be celebrating Labor Day and my grandpa’s birthday at their farm. We’ll be seeing all of my family and a lot of my extended relatives. We are having a picnic lunch. I’m bringing chips and homemade salsa and whole wheat cinnamon cookies. Tuesday it’s back to it…Kindermusik starts! Not sure yet how we’re going to work things. Now that Rebecca is in the older class it’s on Tuesdays. The same morning as the farmer’s market. So I’ll have to figure out how to do both. I’m also hoping to start our pre-k homeschool with Rebecca. But not sure much will happen until Wed. I consider Kindermusik as part of her preschool. She learns all kinds of stuff there. Wednesday will be grocery shopping, and Justin has worship team. Nothing planned for the rest of the week yet. But we are considering going to Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park on Saturday. We’ll see what the weather is like.

In the kitchen I’m still trying to keep up with fresh produce. Although most of our garden is winding down. This week I’m hoping to use up some of our tomatoes and can spaghetti sauce (a few batches hopefully). I’d like to make one plain batch…no peppers or onions so I can eat it. I might do another batch of salsa. Depending on what the market has I might freeze some veggies. Like zucchini and peppers. And my SIL might bring us pears from their orchard tomorrow. So we’ll see what comes of that/if I need to do any canning with them. I might try another batch of coconut milk ice cream. And I’d like to make a new batch of toothpaste.

Health status…I felt really good last week! It was a nice treat. I was enjoying lots of fresh produce. I was eating salads every day (with tons of EVOO and egg yolks of course). I was active and able to keep up with everything that needed to get done. And I was able to keep up with a fussy little boy that seems to only want to sleep in my arms and wants to eat practically every hour lately! He must be going through a growth spurt. He’s an eating machine. Then last night we had beef…a sirloin steak in the crockpot. And today…brick in my gut. I feel miserable. It was our last corn fed steak. Not sure if that made any difference or not. But either way it stinks. Wonder how long it will take to recover from this.

Seeing slow and steady improvements with Rebecca’s behavior. And she’s very excited about school 🙂

Abram is growing like a weed and eating like crazy. He’s still teething pretty badly…but no signs of teeth yet. I think he’s getting pretty close to rolling over too. And possibly this week we’ll make our first attempt at a hair cut. It’s just getting a bit out of control. It covers his ears, and he has a little tail in back 😛  If he was a girl I’d already be putting in pig tails. My baby is growing up too fast!

On to the menu. Last week I was looking through some old recipes on my blog. And found some that sounded good and that we haven’t had in a while. Oddly enough my menu ended up being largely meatless. Totally unintentionally. But maybe it will help me out this week to get back on track. Those were just the recipes that sounded good. And I’ll be making another big batch of chicken stock today (using bones from a whole chicken and chicken feet). That should help me out this week too. Lots of broth for me! Here’s what’s on the menu.
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S (prep lunch, church, make broth, chop veggies)
  B – green smoothie w/ grain free granola (me), peach coffee cake, fruit (Justin)
  L – roast chicken in cp, baked potatoes, peas (oops…turned the crockpot on low instead of high…was not done in time) leftover roast beef, veggies, baked potatoes
  D – BLAT salad, bacon sandwiches, chocolate milkshakes roasted chicken, peas, cheesy garlic toast

M (strain/freeze broth, can salsa, Labor Day, family party)
  B – broth, green smoothie w/ grain free granola (me), yogurt, peach, granola parfait (Justin)
  L – on the farm – hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, chips w/ salsa, cookies, misc.
  D – grilled pizza w/ chicken, bacon, peppers, BLAT salad

T (KM, FM, put away laundry)
  B – chicken veggie soup (me), hard boiled egg, toast (Justin)
  D – eggplant melts w/ chicken and tomato sauce/pesto, corn pudding, roasted beet salad beans OR beef and veggie stir fry (might have some leftovers to use up)


W (chop veggies, Meijer, make/can spaghetti sauce, WT, prep smoothies, soak lentils, make kefir)
  B – chx broth with chx and avocado (me), bacon egg bowl, toast (Justin)
  D – spaghetti, corn pudding, roasted brussels sprouts (Justin), fried eggplant w/ pesto, egg salad (me)

Th (prep green smoothies, make/can pearsauce, cook lentils, park, prep kefir smoothies, chop veggies)
  B – kefir smoothie, sd english muffin, banana (Justin), chx broth w/ pesto, avocado and lentils (me)
  D – lentil burgers, modified carrot souffle, beans, french fries

F (clean, make/can spaghetti sauce, bake apple crisp)
  B – chx broth w/ avocado and lentils (me), kefir smoothie, toast w/ pb (Justin)
  D – zucchini waffles (Justin), zucchini cakes (me), blueberry sausage links (locally made), strawberry topping, crispy nuts, pearsauce

S (laundry, prep green smoothies, prep picnic lunch, make pesto, bake muffins, make toothpaste, prep walnuts, BRWAP, make ice cream, soak beans)
  B – zucchini waffles (Justin), blueberry sausage, avocado (me)
  D – pumpkin soup, gf pumpkin muffins

Last few days of August. Seems crazy. At least I can say we made the most of this month, including our last vacation. Today we’re heading home from a trip to WI to visit my in-laws. Then it’s time to get back to normal routines.

Last week wasn’t quite as productive as I would have liked since we were packing, traveling, etc. But I still managed to grind flour, make mayo, french dressing, butterscotch bars, peach bread and froze almost 3 dozen ears of corn and some beans. I also made a big batch of chicken stock using chicken feet. They look pretty gross, but they sure make good stock!

This week may get a little crazy since summer produce is in full swing and I couldn’t do much with it last week. So I’m not planning on going many places this week. But I have a lot to get done. Today is church and head home. Monday is Meijer. Tuesday is farmer’s market and we have a roofer coming. The only other set plan for this week is going to Michigan’s Adventure on Saturday with my brother, SIL and nephew. I might have to make a trip to Harvest Health for milk. We’ll see.

On to the food. I think we are going to be bombarded with tomatoes when we get home. So this week it’s time to start canning! I’m hoping to do salsa with the fresh tomatoes. I’ll hold off until next week or the week after to do spaghetti sauce since I can freeze tomatoes to use for that and do it when I have time. I also want to can peaches this week. I haven’t decided how many to do yet. I would like to do more freezing as well – corn and beans for sure. Possibly zucchini and peppers. If time allows I might do some baking. But we’ll see. Preservation is the priority this week.

Still plugging along with diet/GAPS, trying to figure things out (some updates coming in my end of month recap later this week). I can’t say that traveling has helped 😛  In typical fashion I feel like I lost 5 lbs. while traveling. I just don’t feel that great and don’t eat nearly as much as usual. My wedding ring is starting to slip off my finger again. I haven’t had that in quite a while. Overall my OCD has been under control on this trip, but my tummy hasn’t been that great…which I fully expected with long days of travel, time change, compromise foods, kids up early, different routines, etc. I’m looking forward to getting home, knowing that our summer travel is over and fall routines are starting. Routine = relax for me 🙂

**Update now that we’re home. I lost about 3 lbs. in 3 days 🙁  And after yesterday’s boat ride puke fest I don’t think we’ll be running errands today. Just taking it easy, unpacking and doing laundry. And I was reminded again why I love cloth diapers. We had to use a few disposables since we don’t have enough cloth for 3 days…new white shirt instantly covered in poop 🙁

So, here’s our week and what we’re eating.
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S (church, travel)
  B – pureed veggie soup w/ pesto and avocado (me), coffee cake, eggs (Justin)
  L – grilled chicken, veggies
  D – sandwiches, chips, fruit veggies, smoothies (picnic on the way home)

M (prep smoothies, laundry, Meijer, make kefir, make bread pudding…take it easy/recover from our trip)
  B – sd english muffin, fruit (Justin), salad w/ avocado and crispy nuts and egg yolk/olive oil dressing (me)
  D – egg and ham muffins, zucchini cakes, apple raisin bread pudding

T (prep soup, freeze beans, FM, roofer, cut up watermelon, roast beets, chop veggies for salsa, fold laundry, strain kefir)
  B – egg muffin, zucchini cake, olives (me), bread pudding, grapes (Justin)
  D – split pea soup in cp w/ ham, gluten free bread w/ jam

W (make/can salsa, chop veggies, make fruit salad, HH, prep smoothies, can peaches)
  B – pea soup (me), peach, yogurt, granola parfait (Justin)
  D – sloppy joes (using ground beef w/ heart), corn, beans, fruit salad

Th (can peaches,  make mayo, make pesto, bake peach coffee cake, put away laundry)
  B – smoothie, sd strawberry rhubarb muffins (Justin), pea soup (me)
  D – honey glazed pork chops, baked potato, broccoli (Justin), raw zucchini salmon boat (me)

F (clean, make hot fudge, make almond butter)
  B – pea soup (me), peach coffee cake (Justin)
  D – zucchini avocado shrimp salad, corn, watermelon

S (prep dinner, prep lunch, freeze beans, freeze squash, laundry, MI Adv., shopping, co-op order)
  B – zucchini avocado shrimp salad (me), peach coffee cake (Justin)
  L – picnic at MA
  D – (prep ahead) – sirloin steak, beans, zucchini and carrots in cp