Mid November already. And it finally feels like it. We had our first snow last week. I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. Although I don’t think I’m ever ready for snow 😛  Rebecca sure was excited. We had a fun, but interesting week last week. Justin was out of town two days, which always makes for some challenges. And this time was no exception. It seems we always have a storm/bad weather when Justin is gone. So of course he left Tueday morning…and that afternoon our power went out. Thankfully it came on fairly quickly (only about an hour w/o power), but it was still un-nerving. No power, husband out of town…and my cell phone battery was dead. We were totally cut off. Then Wednesday morning as I was flossing one of my fillings fell out! One that I had just gotten in August. So I made some phone calls and was able to get into the dentist that morning. And thankfully my Aunt Marcia was willing to watch the kids (it helps that she lives 60 seconds down the road from our dentist :). We learned something new on Wednesday…Abram’s fear of strangers/separation anxiety is in full swing. He was crying when I dropped him off…and still crying when I came back. Poor guy. We were all thankful when Justin came home Wednesday night 🙂  Aside from that we did our usual errands. Plus we had nursery duty for MOPS. So Rebecca got to play with lots of other kids while I got a little Mommy social time 🙂  And yesterday we had one of Justin’s co-workers over. Rebecca had a blast with his 2 kids.

Since we were having people over I was plenty busy around the house and in the kitchen last week. Lots of deeper cleaning (always good to have some motivation for that). I also made ice cream, two batches of sour cream, two batches of yogurt, pesto, two batches of hot fudge, caramel, roasted beets, cheesecake and homemade rolls. I didn’t intend to do two batches of fudge, but the first one got so thick. So I tried it again…still very thick. It’s the same recipe I always use. I’m wondering if a stainless steel pan vs. a non-stick pan can cause that. It was fun to make cheesecake. I haven’t done that in a while. As usual everyone loved it. Especially with homemade chocolate, caramel, crispy pecans and blueberry topping. I am planning to make cheesecake again in a couple weeks for Thanksgiving. But this time I want to try making it completely from scratch…homemade graham crackers for the crust (I did half homemade and half boughten this time), homemade cream cheese (from our homemade yogurt), etc. I hope it turns out well. We’ve really been enjoying our homemade yogurt. So far I’ve made strawberry, blueberry, banana, vanilla, chocolate chip, apple cinnamon and caramel apple. I haven’t heard any complaints 🙂

So on to this week. Busy as usual. Today is church. Monday is milk pick up and Abram’s 6 month check up. Hard to believe he’s 6 months old already. But he sure is looking like it. I’m guessing he’s over 20 lbs. now. He’s very mobile. And his 2nd tooth finally poked through. Tuesday is Kindermusik. Wednesday is Harvest Health. I like that I only have to go there once in a while now to stock up on some staples. Probably only once a month at most. Friday is MOPS. Not sure about Saturday yet. I might make a trip to the fabric store to get some projects.

In the kitchen I plan to make more sour cream and yogurt. I might try butter this week too. We’ll see. Since I’m eating a lot of sour cream right now I use most of our cream for that. I need to make a new batch of graham crackers. I want to make some homemade cream cheese to see what the texture is like/see if it will be possible to make cheesecake with it. I want to bake/freeze pumpkin. I’d like to make a new batch of lard. And we’re getting low on nut butter (and the more crispy nuts I use for nut butter the fewer there will be to tempt me :P). Finally I want to make bagels. Since I’m making cream cheese and Rebecca loves bagels I thought that would be a fun baking project. I haven’t made them in a while. My other food adventure will be starting solids for Abram either this week or next week. I haven’t planned it out yet. And I forgot to mention last week that I threw away my sourdough. I haven’t been feeding it lately. I just don’t use it very often. And our fridge space is limited these days with so much milk and other dairy products/large glass jars. So I tossed it. Maybe some day I’ll start a new one. But for now we’re without sourdough.

Update on me…I’m doing pretty well. I think I’m finally past the die off from introducing cultured dairy. Praise the Lord! That was not fun. I’ve been eating quite a bit of sour cream. And even a little bit of yogurt the last 2 days. What a treat to make a smoothie yesterday with sour cream and yogurt! As far as I can tell it’s going ok so far. We’ll see how I feel today (especially after snitching a little cheesecake :P). I can tell that dairy is making a difference in my health. I think my milk supply has been up since introducing dairy. Not that I was looking (just look at Abram :P). But I think it’s up now from what it was. I’m learning that I need a LOT of fat in my diet. It really helps my digestion. Whenever I make soup I put 1 or 2 Tbsp. of butter in it. Plus some sour cream. And sometimes other fats as well. That works well. I still use plenty of coconut oil in my smoothies. And I still try to eat as many egg yolks as possible. As you can see from my recent posts I’m coming up with new snack ideas and new ways to eat eggs (russian custard, creme caramel, berries w/ sour cream and honey). I’m trying to get more variety in my diet. I think that helps too. I tend to find one thing that works well and then eat it day after day. But I find my body does better if I get a little more variety. Still trying not to eat too many nuts. I’ve been doing pretty well this week. No major splurges. I usually let myself have a few here and there. Finally I think my hormones are a big factor right now. I think it’s the 6 months post partum trying to get back to normal shift 😛  I think that’s part of the cause of all the headaches I’m having lately. My hair loss finally seems to be slowing down. I’ve been having lots of metal mouth (something I get with a big hormone shift). And lots of little things that point to hormones. So hopefully that adjustment will taper off soon.

Well, I think that’s long enough for today. I’ve got a noisy, growly boy here that I should try to get back to sleep. He’s been up playing since 6 am. And if he doesn’t get his rest he is not pleasant to be around 😛  Here’s what’s on the menu.
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S (prep breakfast and lunch, church, make mayo)
  L – meatloaf, baked potato, squash (all in cp)
  D – soaked squash pancakes w/ blueberry topping and homemade whipped cream, scrambled eggs or hashbrown egg bake, smoothies/shakes (cheesecake for dessert)

M (Dr. S., GF, strain/freeze chicken stock, cook pumpkin, make chicken broth)
  D – roasted chicken, roasted brussels sprouts, roasted sweet potatoes

T (KM, skim cream, make sour cream, make yogurt, strain/freeze chicken broth, make bread)
  D – pumpkin soup, root beer bread

W (HH, make butter, make lard, WT)
  D – spaghetti squash with porkk meatballs and pesto, peas

Th (make graham crackers, make nut butter, make ice cream)
  D – gf chicken nuggets w/ honey mustard, roasted squash

F (clean, MOPS, make cream cheese)
  D – pancake and sausage muffins, sweet potato hash browns, russian custard w/ bluberries

S (fabric store?, make bagels)
  D – bagels w/ cream cheese and nut butter, fried eggs, veggies, fruit

Here we are…one of the worst mornings of the year in my opinion…adjusting to the time change. Which means my body is not happy. And I already have a cranky little boy up. And who knows when Rebecca will be up. Not the ideal start to the week. Hopefully everyone will adjust quickly. I’m glad that after church we have the rest of the day to relax.

Last week was a nice week. We had a fair amount of down time. We played and played. I got some more organizing and cleaning done around the house. We did have a few outings as well – we had our first milk pick up, we went to Kindermusik and MOPS. And Justin and I went out for dinner on Friday. We couldn’t go to the restaurant we wanted, but we still had a nice dinner. I guess we’ll have to plan another date so we can try the other restaurant 🙂  In the kitchen I got started on lots of dairy products. I made pumpkin ice cream, raw sour cream, kefir and raw yogurt. I’m experimenting with yogurt methods and I’ll post about them later. I was pleasantly surprised with the raw/uncooked version. It’s the easiest. And both Rebecca and Justin ate it fine. But I still want to experiment with other methods before I settle on how I want to do it regularly. I also made creamy chocolate pudding. Now that we have a lot of milk I have to think of ways to use it 🙂

This week will be a little bit busier than last week. Today is church. Monday is milk pick up. Tuesday is Kindermusik and voting. Wednesday will be Meijer (so thankful I didn’t have to go last week!!! I hope that trend continues). Friday I have nursery duty for the MOPS steering team. Saturday morning Justin has an orchestra concert. In the evening we are having one of his co-workers (and family) over for dinner.

So I’ll be doing a little extra cleaning this week in preparation for guests. Plus some extra baking. I also want to continue to experiment with dairy products. I want to make more yogurt and sour cream. Possibly butter. And I might experiment with some GAPS-legal ice cream. I have a couple methods to try. I need to make a new batch of pesto and mayo. I’d also like to cook more squash and some pumpkin. Our letter this week is J. Not sure what kitchen work will relate to that. I’ll see what I can come up with. For Saturday I haven’t totally decided on a dessert, but I have an idea for a pumpkin pie parfait that I think I want to try. Else I’ll do cheesecake of pumpkin cheese pie. For the dessert I might need to make some homemade cream cheese and whipped cream.

As always still trying to figure out what my body is doing. The end of last week was pretty rough. I think it was from the introduction of raw sour cream. I think I’m going through more die off. From everything I’ve read (and I read a lot…I went through almost every single FAQ on the GAPS site on Friday loking for answers) in the long run the sour cream will really help me. But the adjustment is not pleasant. It didn’t help that in conjunction with it I was decreasing the miralax more (less than a half dose!) and ate steak and an apple. I think I was just asking for trouble. And now I’m paying for it. Still trying to get my body back on track. I was reminded when I was reading through the FAQs that muscle meat is hard to digest (steak). Stick to gelatinous meats. Bring on the bone 😛  Steak just doesn’t sit well with me. I also still wonder about vitamins/minerals. I mentioned them in my monthly goals post. The one that stands out is magnesium. Lots of people use magnesium to help with digestion (just check out the laxative section in the store…all kinds of forms of magnesium). So I wonder if I need more/if that would help. One of the reasons that it stands out is that over the last year I’ve noticed that whenever I drink hot chocolate it seems like my body instantly absorbs the fluids and it helps my tummy. I always thought it was crazy. Why would hot chocolate help? But then I read that cocoa contains magnesium! I drank hot chocolate almost daily during my pregnancy. It was the only way I could drink water sometimes. And lately I’ve been drinking it again (a homemade version with just raw cocoa and honey…and yes, raw cocoa is GAPS legal if you are on full GAPS). Oddly enough it seems to help. So I will continue to look into that. I’m always learning. The other thing I’ve noticed is that my tongue often tells me when I’m sensitive to a food. For the last few years whenever I eat pineapple my tongue burns/stings for half the day. And now it seems to do that with some of the other foods I’m sensitive to…like carrots, grains and apples. I just have to listen to my body.

Rebecca continues to make progress with her eating/tastes. And Abram is growing like a weed. He will be 6 months old this week. He’s moving all over the place. He hasn’t quite gotten into a full crawl, but he is doing an army crawl. And we switched him to a bigger car seat. No more infant carrier. He has one tooth coming in. And probably more on the way.

Anyway, I have a hungry little boy here. Here’s what’s on the menu for now.
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S (church, make parfait)
  L – chicken and veggies in cp (make stock/broth), scalloped potatoes
  D – strawberry milkshakes, buttered popcorn, crackers w/ raw cheese and balogna, apple slices, homemade sweet potato chips (Junk food dinner:)

M (make ice cream, GF, make yogurt)
  D – sloppy joes on homemade buns, roasted squash, sweet potato chips

T (KM, vote, make sour cream)
  D – sloppy joe pizza

W (make pesto, dentist, make sour cream Meijer)
  D – misc. leftovers, salmon cakes, peas

Th (make hot fudge,make smoothies, make yogurt, Meijer, make caramel)
  D – homemade sauasage patties, baked sweet potatoes chunks, peas

F (clean, MOPS nursery, roast beets, bake cheesecake and squash)
  D – pea soup, bread

S (bake bread, clean, laundry, concert, guests)
  D – pork roast w/ fruit, squash, beans, applesauce, rolls, cheesecake 

Last couple days of October. Happy Halloween! And Happy Reformation Day! 🙂  We’ve been keeping busy with plenty of fall/Halloween activities. Last week we went to Boo at the Zoo at Potter Park Zoo, we visited my grandparents and we went to Justin’s work Halloween event (kids come and trick or treat in the office). We also made pumpkin cookies, Halloween shaped sugar cookies and decorated pumpkins. Aside from that I made honey whole wheat bread (it’s been a while since I did real bread baking…I sure missed it!), dairy free/nut free pesto, fermented ketchup, mayo and kefir. I also froze more squash. We enjoyed trying various pork products from the pig we just got. We tried pork chops, bacon and ground pork (I made it into sausage). Yum, yum, yum!!

This week should be a fun week. Today is church. Monday we start our cow share!!!! So exciting. We will now be getting 3 gallons of raw milk every week. I can’t wait! So we’ll be heading out to the farm Monday morning. In the evening is trick-or-treating. We’ll be passing out candy. Not sure yet if we’ll take the kids to a few houses or not. Tuesday is Kindermusik, and I think Justin has orchestra rehearsal. Friday is MOPS. And…Date Night!!! Justin and I are finally going out for the first time since Abram was born. Of course he’ll be coming with us 😛  But it will still be fun to go out. Rebecca will stay home with a baby-sitter. I think she’ll really enjoy that. We haven’t decided for sure which restaurant we’ll go to. There are a couple in the area that use real, local ingredients. That’s all we have planned at the moment. I’m trying to start planning wisely so that I only have to go to Meijer every other week. So no trip to the grocery store this week! We’ll have to come up with some fun projects around the house. Or maybe take a trip to the library. And possibly do some cleaning. I did do some decent organizing this week. The living room looks so much better. But there is still a long way to go. I also finally got flannel sheets on all the beds. That sure felt good last night. Plenty more to do in the bedrooms though.

For extras I want to get started on some dairy products. Not sure which yet (sour cream, butter, yogurt?). And since our letter this week is I it only seems fitting that we make ice cream with our raw cream. Now that it’s pretty chilly I’m in the mood to bake. Although I can’t eat it I feel like making bread. I’ve got a big batch of hamburger and hot dogs buns just about to go in the oven right now 🙂  Thankfully Justin was able to fix my mixer, so I didn’t have to knead them by hand at least. And now I can grind fresh flour again. I’m sure Rebecca and I will come up with some projects too.

We seem to be making good progress with Rebecca’s eating. For lunch yesterday I gave her leftover soup and a ww tortilla with peanut butter. Tortilla with pb is one of her favorite things to eat…and she didn’t finish it! But she ate every last bite of her soup. The same soup we had for dinner on Friday (sausage and bean) that she declared was her favorite kind of soup 🙂  I can’t stress enough how nourishing and healing broth is.

We also used curlers/rollers in Rebecca’s hair for the first time last night. I can’t wait to see how it turned out when she gets up! She has natural curl to her hair so I bet it will be really curly (unlike mine when I was little :P).

Last couple days of the month. Then on to November and thinking about holidays. Check back on Tuesday to see what’s in store for next month.

That’s all for this week. Here are the meals for now.
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S (prep lunch, bake buns, church, nursery, make stock/broth)
  B – leftover sausage and bean soup (me), sd breakfast cookie, yogurt (Justin)
  L – chicken, carrots, onions, beans and peas in cp (make stock and broth)
  D – hot dogs on homemade buns, jello, strawberry milkshake (Justin), salad w/ bacon, avocado, cheese, honey mustard (me)

M (GF (milk), Halloween/tick-or-treat, Reformation Day)
  B – stock/broth w/ veggies (me), sd breakfast cookie, pumpkin smoothie (Justin)
  D – ham, sweet potato casserole, peas

T (make kefir, make ice cream, KM, CCO)
  B – stock/broth w/ veggies (me), ww bread w/ pb, pina colada smoothie (Justin)
  D – hot taco rice

W (bake/freeze squash, make sour cream)
  B – stock/broth w/ veggies and egg (me), pumpkin scone, yogurt (Justin)
  D – pepper steak, red skin mashed potatoes, squash

Th (make yogurt, clean)
  B – pina colada kefir smoothie, sd peach muffins (Justin), stock/broth w/ squash (me)
  D – quiche w/ bacon and spinach, peas

F (clean, MOPS, date night)
  B – leftover quiche, broth (me), yogurt, granola, fruit (Justin)
  D – out to eat! Outback Steakhouse

S (laundry, make pudding, orchard?)
  B – chicken stock, quiche (me), homemade strawberry yogurt, zucchini banana bread (Justin)
  D – french toast, bacon (Justin), sqaush w/ broth and butter, bacon (me)

Wow, the last full week of October already! Hard to believe it’s almost Halloween. We’ll be heading into Thanksgiving and Christmas before we know it.

We had a busy but fun week last week. We ended up going somewhere every day. We took a trip to Grassfield’s to check out their milking set up. And I’m happy to say we’ll be starting our cow share next week! We also picked up our half pig. The freezer is now stocked with beef, chicken and pork. We went to the Children’s Museum. Rebecca asks if we can go every day, so we finally went. Of course the next day she asked if we could go again 😛  We also had MOPS. Always fun. And yesterday we went to Koetsier’s Greenhouse. In the fall they turn it into a family fun area with a maze, pumpkin painting, games, inflatable toys and goodies. We also got a booster seat for Rebecca yesterday. Hard to believe she’s big enough for that. She still fits in her other seat fine…but Abram will not last much longer in his seat 😛  At 5 months old he can barely fit in the infant carrier. So we’ll have to give him the larger seat soon.

I was definitely busy in the kitchen. But I’m happy to say my canning for 2011 is done! I went through a lot of apples last week. I canned lots of applesauce and apple butter. I made dried apples, apple cinnamon coffee cake and apple dumplings (recipe to come). Now we just have a few apples left for eating.

Another busy week begins. Today is church. Right after church we’ll pack up and head to Lansing for Boo at the Zoo at Potter Park Zoo. We’re meeting my siblings and their families there. I’m sure the kids will all have a blast! Monday is Meijer or just stay home for once 😛  Tuesday is KM and possibly Meijer. Wednesday we’re visiting my grandparents. Friday we’re going to the trick-or-treat event at Justin’s work.

Not sure about extras this week. Now that the food preservation is done (aside from squash…but that’s not urgent) I want to take a little break from craziness in the kitchen. And get my house in order. Just yesterday I finally put away some gift bags that had been sitting out from gifts we got when Abram was born! Yeah, I’m a bit behind on house work. I keep up with the basics, but there is a lot more to do. I am bringing a meal to my grandparents on Wed., so I need to figure out what that is going to be and make it. Rebecca and I will likely do some kind of baking project this week. Again, I’m not sure what. Probably something we can share with my grandparents. We do need to decorate our pumpkins and make Rebecca’s KM instrument.

We’ll be starting our milk share next week, so I’ll be starting on making dairy products then. I guess I better read up on how to do it this week.

I’m sure other stuff will come up as the week goes on, but that’s it for now. I’m anxious to be able to focus on Rebecca’s school work a bit more this week. And just get my house and life back in order a bit. Here’s what’s on the menu. I haven’t filled in breakfasts yet. I’ll do that as the week goes on. And I think I’m going to be brave and attempt salad this week. It’s been sounding so good to me lately. And with lowering my miralax more and more I think I need a little bit of raw veggie in my diet.
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S (make kefir, prep lunch, church, PPZ)
  B – broth/stock w/ avocado, peas, eggs, ghee and fermented veggie juice (me), apple cinnamon coffee cake, fruit (Justin)
  L – picnic in the car or at the zoo – sandwiches, chips, grapes, apples, dried apples, cheese, nuts, carrots, popcorn, yogurt
  D – pesto chicken salad, squash

M (prep breakfast and lunch, bake treat for grandparents, make KM instrument)
  B – broth/stock w/ veggies (me), hard boiled egg, toast (Justin)
  D – roasted chicken breasts, roasted red potatoes, onions and carrots sweet and sour beef and chicken over rice w/ cashews

T (KM, prep dinner for grandparents (tomato soup w/ ground beef, honey ww bread w/ apple butter)
  B – sweet and sour soup w/ ghee (me), homemade chewy granola bar, fruit, yogurt (Justin)
  D – hamburgers, homemade fries, beans

W (make ketchup, prep smoothies, cook/freeze squash, visit grandparents)
  B – broth/stock w/ ground beef and veggies (me), toast w/ pb, yogurt w/ granola (Justin)
  D – pork chops w/ apples over rice, squash

Th (soak beans, make pesto, make mayo, Meijer)
  B – broth/stock w/ veggies (me), hard boiled egg, toast (Justin)
  D – BLA salad (me), BLA sandwich (Justin), veggies

F (cook beans, prep dinner, make smoothies, make cookies, clean, work Halloween party, soak lentils)
  B – broth/stock w/ veggies (me), kefir smoothie, granola bar (Justin)
  D – (prep ahead/crockpot) – white bean and sausage soup

S (laundry, cook lentils, shopping, decorate pumpkins and cookies)
  B – broth/stock w/ veggies (me), (Justin)
  D – stuffed squash w/ lentils, sausage, bacon and veggies

Last week was busy and crazy, but I made it. I spent a few days making and canning applesauce and pearsauce (even dealt with a whole 1/2 bushel of pears in one morning…before breakfast at 6am :P). I also went through 6 squash. Then I baked and cleaned and had guests over. It sure was nice to relax yesterday and not have anything on my to-do list. But this week is back at it. We just got a bunch more apples and squash. More canning and freezing.

I ended up doing about 10 quarts of applesauce and 8 quarts of pearsauce last week. Plus I froze 6 bags of squash (I used a lot of what I made fresh). I also made broth, pesto, mayo, crispy squash seeds, roasted beets, pumpkin cake, pumpkin nut butter bread, apple dumpling muffins, pumpkin scones, froze lots of green peppers and froze 6 lbs. of butter. I think that was enough 😛

This week there is plenty going on. Today is church. Monday is Meijer and I have nursery cmt. Tuesday is farmer’s market and Kindermusik. I did end up going to the FM last week to stock up on peppers. Not sure I’ll be going this week, though…if it’s even open yet. Wednesday is co-op pick up. Friday is MOPS. Saturday we are probably going to Koitsier’s for their fall family fun (our PERKS outing for the month). That is what I have planned. But there could be more. Our pork is ready, so I will likely have to get that one day this week. I would also like to make a trip to Grassfield’s to check out their milking parlor, etc. before we sign our contract. I have to talk to the owner yet about when/if that will happen. If it happens this week there is a good chance our cow share will start next Monday!! I am also considering visiting my grandparents. Since we’re doing the letter G this week I thought that would be something fun. But it will depend on how busy the week gets with all the other errands and if my grandparents will be around.

While we’re not out and about I need to keep working on food preservation. I have a bunch of apples to deal with yet. Ideally I’d like to finish canning applesauce this week. And I’d like to do a batch of apple butter as well. Then I’ll be done with canning for the season!!! That is very exciting. Already this morning I made ghee (my first experiment with that). I can’t believe how easy it was and that I never did it before. It’s the first dairy introduced on GAPS and the easiest to digest. I hope to write a separate post on dairy introduction soon where I’ll give more info. I also need to make another batch of pesto. And see if we have time for an easy G baking project…likely something to bring to my grandparents.

Still plugging along with my GAPS foods. This morning I made a soft scrambled egg in my soup for breakfast. Soooo good! And I added a little ghee. Adds great flavor. Gotta keep finding ways to make things interesting and not get sick of eating mostly the same things every day 😛  On a positive note I’ve found lately that for bedtime snack I actually crave salty/savory foods. I used to think I couldn’t eat anything not sweet at night. But when I go to get a snack sweet stuff, even just fruit doesn’t sound that good. I want salty veggies and pesto. My body must be adjusting and figuring out what’s good and what’s not.

So, here’s the plan so far. Things are likely to change as we figure out extra outings/errands. But for now here’s what we’re doing and what s on the menu.

This post is linked to Plan It Don’t Panic at Keepr or the Home.
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S (prep lunch, make ghee, church, make pesto)
  B – chicken broth/stock w/ squash, avocado and soft scrambled egg (me), pumpkin chocolate scones, banana (Justin)
  L – seven layer dinner, applesauce
  D – leftover pizza (Justin), soup w/ egg and squash, pumpkin nut butter bread w/ ghee (me)

M (make/can applesauce, Meijer, nursery cmt)
  B – chicken broth/stock w/ veggies (me), pumpkin parfait (Justin)
  D – pea soup in the cp, banana zucchini bread, nut butter bread

T (prep smoothies, make/can applesauce, FM, KM)
  B – pea soup (me), kefir smoothie, apple muffin (Justin)
  D – spaghetti (spaghetti squash in place of noodles), corn, garlic bread sticks

W (make/can apple butter, GF, pork pick up, co-op, soak flour)
  B – pea soup (me), banana zucchini bread, fruit (Justin)
  D – (separate) – beef and bean burritos (from freezer) (Justin), leftover pea soup (me)

Th (bake coffee cake, make/can applesauce, Children’s Museum)
  B – chicken broth w/ avocado, beets and ghee (me), apple cinnamon coffee cake (Justin)
  D – sweet and sour chicken over spaghetti squash leftovers (me), TBD casserole w/ leftover spaghetti sauce (Justin)

F (clean, make dried apples, MOPS, soak lentils)
  B – chicken broth w/ veggies (me), apple cinnamon coffee cake (Justin)
  D – scrambled green eggs, sausage links, roasted veggies

S (laundry, cook lentils, Koetsier’s, make apple dumplings?, make KM assignment)
  B – chicken broth/stock w/ veggies (me), TBD (Justin)
  D – stuffed squash sweet and sour chicken over spaghetti squash

I just spent lots of time on my GAPS post, so I’ll have to make this one quicker to get it done on time.

Last week was very busy with errands and outings. I finally got winter gear for the kids and new shoes for Rebecca. We went to the zoo and the orchard. We had Kindermusik and MOPS. And we tried to spend plenty of time outside in this awesome weather. So we didn’t do as much inside. But I did make crispy almonds, pecans, walnuts, cashews, brazil nuts and macadamia  nuts, almond pecan butter, graham crackers, dried apples, apple raisin bars and mudballs. Plus yesterday we got 8 fresh chickens. I froze 2 whole, cooked one and cut up/froze the last 5. I also made a lot of chicken stock (about 6 quarts). And we got about 50 chicken feet. So I froze some. And used some to make a batch of chicken broth (strained it this morning). Now I have a 2nd round of broth going with the feet and the bones from yesterday’s chicken. I should be better prepaired for GAPS eating this week 🙂

This week I’m sure will be crazy busy in the kitchen. We went apple picking yesterday and got a 1/2 bushel of apples. So it’s time for applesauce! I also got a 1/2 bushel of pears to make pearsauce (I think this was the last week to get pears). We got a bunch of squash at the orchard, so I need to bake and freeze that (though it’s not as critical to get it done this week…but I would at least like some to eat fresh this week). We will also be getting apples from my in-laws on Friday, so more applesauce next week too. I have several baking projects for the end of the week since we will have guests here. I’ll have to turn one of them into our F baking project this week. And since we’re doing the letter F I thought we should so some Favorite meals (Rebecca requested pizza) and some Fall meals (lots of pumpkin and squash). I also need mayo (made it this morning) and possibly more pesto.

Our pork should be ready soon. I’m excited for that. We are also probably doing a cow share soon. I need to talk to a friend about doing a pick up group.

Aside from working around the house, here’s what’s on our agenda. Today is church. Maybe we’ll have to do one more trip to Cone World with this warm weather. Monday is a shot for Abram and Meijer. Tuesday is Kindermusik and Farmer’s market (though I’ll likely skip the market). Wednesday is Heffron Farms to get milk and stock up on butter (don’t want to run out of that!). No plans for Thursday…stay home and try to get the house in order 😛  Friday we are having our furnace inspected and my in-laws will be here. They’ll stay overnight. No plans for Saturday yet. But I’m sure it won’t take much work to fill up the day 😛  And of course trying to keep up with Rebecca’s school work this week. Last week was so chaotic that we didn’t do as much as I would have liked.

Anyway, here’s what’s on the menu this week. Again, I’ll try to add links later if I have time.

This post is linked to Plan It Don’t Panic at Keeper of the Home.
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S (prep lunch, strain/freeze broth, make mayo, church, cook/freeze squash, soak squash seeds)
  B – chicken stock, avocado, olives, chicken (me), banana chocolate chip pancakes (Justin)
  L – walnut grape chicken salad, broccoli, beets
  D – grilled brats, squash, leftover roasted veggies

M (make/can applesauce, dry squash seeds, make pesto, Dr. S., Meijer)
  B – chicken stock, squash, chicken salad (me), banana chocolate chip pancake, banana (Justin)
  D – chicken nuggets, red potato wedges, beans

T (make/can applesauce, FM, KM, make kefir, prep smoothie, freeze peppers)
  B – chicken stock w/ squash and beets, chx nuggets (me), yogurt, granola, grapes (Justin)
  D – chicken noodle soup (w/o noodles for me), honey ww bread

W (make/can pearsauce, roast beets, bake cake, HF, soak beans)
  B – leftover chicken soup w/ squash, beets and olives (me), kefir smoothie, ww bread w/ pb (Justin)
  D – pan fried fish w/ tartar sauce, beans

Th (prep scones, bake/freeze squash, freeze butter, bake bread, cook beans, clean, put away laundry)
  B –  chicken stock w/ veggies (me), sd english muffin, grapes (Justin)
  D – chicken apple chili, gf pumpkin nut butter bread, corn muffins

F (clean, make frosting, decorate cake, bake muffins, guests)
  B – leftover chili (me), apple slices w/ almond butter, yogurt (Justin)
  D – squash and sausage soup, apple dumpling muffins, pumpkin nut butter bread
  Des – pumpkin spice cake

S (bake scones, laundry, guests, family outing?)
  B – pumpkin white chocolate scones, fruit, yogurt (guests), squash soup (me)
  D – sausage pizza (Justin), TBD soup (me)

Happy Anniversary to my parents! 38 years is something to celebrate 🙂  May God bless you with many more happy years together.

So as I mentioned in an earlier post Justin was in Germany all last week (wow, it is so much tougher to take care of 2 on your own than 1!!). So my week was all about keeping up with things rather than getting anything done. And Abram had a bit of a cold too (a fussy baby didn’t help us out much either :P). So we stayed home most of the week. We did do a lot of fun stuff at home…but we didn’t accomplish much. So this week I feel like I have a million things to catch up on. We are running out of just about everything, so plenty of errands to run this week. I just need to figure out which one to do first/what we’ll run out of soonest. And Rebecca has no fall/winter coat and her fall/winter shoes barely fit. So I need to shop for her very soon. Abram is also growing like a weed, and I’m already putting away some 9m clothes that are too small. So I have to assess his clothing situation again, even though I just got his drawers organized. For sure he needs some new sleep sacks. We only have pink ones from Rebecca that fit him 😛  Justin would like that remedied very quickly.

I tried to keep kitchen work to a minimum last week since I didn’t have any help with dishes. But I still managed to make pesto, kefir, mayo, broth/stock, Dutch letter cookies, Dutch apple pie and sourdough muffins. As I said we are running out of everything…including homemade goodies. So I have a long list of things to make this week. We are just about out of crispy nuts. So I need to stock up on nuts and soak/dry them. And make more nut butter (Rebecca goes through that very quickly). I want to dry apples since they are in season and use some to make apple raisin bars (another great breakfast or snack option for Rebecca). Our graham crackers are just about gone (another of Rebecca’s favorites), so I’d like to make a new batch. I’m sure we’ll try to do some kind of letter of the week baking project. And we’ll be getting a bunch of fresh chickens on Saturday. So I’ll have to cut them up and freeze them. Plus cook some and make broth and stock. I do need to make more lard, but I might hold off on that until next week. And to top it all of I’m doing GAPS intro now, so I need to keep up with having plenty of broth and other safe foods on hand for myself.

I’m very excited that we have ordered our pork (1/2 pig). It should be ready in a week or two. Better make sure the freezer has room.

This week we’re learning the letter E. I’m brainstorming our projects for the week.

So this week will be plenty busy. I don’t have everything planned out yet in terms of when to do what. But hopefully I’ll be able to get it all done. Today is church. Monday is either Meijer or Harvest Health. Tuesday is farmer’s market and kindermusik. Wednesday is Meijer or Harvest Health. Thursday I have an eye exam. And we could possibly make a run to Target to shop for the kids and stock up on a few things. Friday is MOPS. Saturday morning will be dealing with chickens. And we might go to the orchard in the afternoon. I hope we’re all feeling good and up for a busy week.

Meals are a bit tougher to plan so that I keep my family fed while I do intro. But I’m doing my best. Here’s what’s on the menu. I’ll try to add links later.

This post is linked to Plan it Don’t Panic at Keeper of the Home.
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S (church, nursery, make stock)
  B – pea soup, lentil burger (me), sd muffins, yogurt (Justin)
  L – beef roast/veggies in cp (mostly broth and veggies for me)
  D – grilled ham and cheese, chicken lentil soup

M (boil eggs, HH, soak nuts)
  B – pea soup (me), egg and toast (Justin)
  D – tacos w/ salsa, sour cream, avocado, corn, cheese (broth w/ the beef and avocado for me…introduce some sour cream)

T (dry nuts, make graham crackers, FM, KM, Meijer)
  B – pea soup/beef stock w/ avocado (me), sd muffins, yogurt (Justin)
  D – beef veggie stir fry

W (make nut butter, dry apples, zoo, make apple raisin bars)
  B – hard boiled egg, toast (Justin), broth/soup (me)
  D – fried chicken, sweet potato fries, beans

Th (Target, eye doctor, E baking project)
  B – smoothie (me), apple raisin bars, yogurt (Justin)
  D – (prep ahead) – crockpot stuffed peppers

F (clean, MOPS)
  B – broth/soup (me), smoothie (Justin)
  D – scrambled eggs w/ bacon, roasted veggies, applesauce souffle

S (laundry, freeze chickens, make stock/broth, orchard)
  B – broth/soup (me), pancakes (Justin)
  D – roast chicken!, roasted red potatoes, veggies

Is it really the end of September and the start of fall? It sure has been a busy month. Although last week I intentionally cut back a bit and didn’t do too much in the kitchen. So glad late summer produce preservation has slowed down. I still have to do applesauce at some point, but I think that’s it. By taking it a bit easier I was able to focus on the kids and Rebecca’s schooling more. And we had a couple fabulous days at home with projects, crafts, good naps, great attitudes, no stress, etc. It was wonderful. It was especially nice to have my happy baby back. I can tell that he does so much better when he gets a good morning nap. On days where we have to run errands, go to KM, etc. he just gets cat naps and is so grumpy. We’ve really been enjoying having our happy, playful boy back. So I want to do my best to make sure he gets his regular naps. Thankfully he was able to get good naps when we went to MOPS and when we visited the farm (as you can see in the picture below…snuggled up in the Moby).

Anyway, we did do a few things around here. Rebecca and I baked cherry chocolate chip cookies for our C baking project. I made sauerkraut, pesto, mayo and broth. And I did my one day intro experiment. We also had our first day of MOPS (so fun!! can’t wait to get to know the ladies at my table better) and visit Grassfields – the farm where we get our beef. It was so nice to see where we get our meat and see how the farm is run. They are such nice people. And the farm is very well run. We got to see all the pigs…one of which we’ll be getting later this year. We saw them making cheese and got to taste a bunch. They even made quiche for us using eggs, milk, pork sausage and cheese right from their farm. Now that we’ve made the drive I see that it’s not quite as far as I had thought. So it is still possible we could get a cow share from them in the future. And I just found out that one of the ladies at my MOPS table gets milk there and would like to share pick up. So we’ll see. At the moment I think we’re still hoping to do Lubbers for the winter (should start soon as long as they have open winter shares again). Then maybe Grassfields in the spring. The other exciting thing here is that Abram rolled over! Justin and I were both sitting there, so we both got to see it. He’s been so close for so long but finally put all the steps together yesterday. Aside from the rolling he is already on the move. When he’s on his tummy he does not stay in one spot. He is creeping around, going in circles. He looks like he’s swimming on the ground. He’ll be mobile before we know it.

My status has been up and down. I started out the week well. But by the end I was not doing so well. Two factors I think. Probably some die off from one day of intro. And too many apples 😛  I have not eaten apples in so long. And I LOVE them. But I know they don’t work well with my tummy. But after trying a couple and doing ok the week before I think I went a bit overboard this week. And am paying for it 🙁  Hoping to get back on track and bump up the chicken broth this week.

So, this week. I’m still not planning any major kitchen work. At some point we need to make a trip to the orchard to stock up on apples for applesauce. But not this week. Justin would like to go apple picking, but we have to find an orchard around us that does it. The one we normally get our apples from does not. I am planning to make chicken broth this week (got a nice little roasting chicken at the farm yesterday…and even saw them butchering fresh chickens!). And some soups with it. I would like to make a new batch of pesto. Rebecca and I will probably do some kind of D baking project. I need to look into making sour cream. It’s the first dairy recommended on GAPS…even during intro. So I’ll have to see if it’s something I can do or not. The intro challenge starts next week, so I need to get things ready! We’ll see if I do another intro day this week or not. I would also like to try liverwurst. I’ve had some (locally made) in the freezer for a long time. But was scared of it after trying liver. But I’m going to be brave this week. I just have to figure out how to eat it.

A couple things for Rebecca this week. Our letter is D, so I’m working on our activities for the week. Not as many ideas as I had for C (post on that to come), but I’m still brainstorming. The other thing is I’m trying to make food she likes this week. It’s no secret that we have eating/chewing battles with her. Sometimes she does fine. Other times it takes her an hour to eat 3 bites and we are constantly reminding her/telling her to chew. I know this can be normal…she’s 3. But it could also be GAPS related. There is a whole chapter about this in the GAPS book. It is very common for GAPS children to have eating/chewing/texture issues. So I want to keep working on giving Rebecca mostly GAPS food, feeding her healthy food that I know she likes, and taking steps towards overcoming her eating issues (there are suggestions in the book). And hopefully we can get past this. I am learning tricks at least. We had scrambled eggs on Friday…which she won’t touch (she gags on them). But I’ve learned that she will eat a thin egg tortilla (same food, just cooked a little differently…flat instead of scrambled). And I’m getting her to try bites of things here and there of food she thinks she doesn’t like. Last night she ate a tiny bite of squash and said she liked it. She would only eat that bite, but it’s still a step in the right direction. So we’ll keep working on it.

Today is church. Monday is Meijer. Tuesday is farmer’s market and Kindermusik. Although I’m not sure if we’ll go to the fm or not…not sure I need anything this week. Nothing really planned the rest of the week. But it’s likely my parents will visit one day (that could change our meal plans depending on whether or not they come for dinner). And we might do something fun…maybe go to the zoo. And we could have a playdate on Wed. Still TBD. We’ll just see how the week goes. Other than that we’ll be focusing on regular routines, relaxing and school work. Here’s what’s on the menu. It’s subject to change depending on my parents’ visit and our leftover situation. I’m only listing dinners this week since breakfast is pretty much the same as last week, and I’ll hopefully be having broth/soup every morning.

This post is linked to Plan It – Don’t Panic at Keeper of the Home.
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S (church, make broth)
  L – roast chicken and veggies in cp
  D – chicken veggie soup

M (make pesto, Meijer)
  Chicken nuggets w/ homemade honey mustard and fermented ketchup, buttercup squash, peas

T (FM, KM)
  Fresh pea soup

W (make mayo, soak lentils, D baking project)
  Salmon cakes, peas

Th (cook lentils, parents?)
  Lentil burgers w/ fermented ketchup, veg

F (clean, feed sd?, library?, parents?)
  Leftovers

S (laundry, D baking project, make sd bread?/coconut flour bread?)
  Split pea soup, pumpkin bread

Over half way through September already? Wait, slow down 😛  I guess it means we’re keeping busy.

Last week we did our family GAPS challenge. I was glad I was able to come up with a full GAPS menu so easily. And nobody starved and nobody complained about the food 🙂  I have yet to ask Justin if he noticed any difference in how he felt. I’m guessing not since his diet is normally a whole foods diet, largely GAPS anyway. But you never know. I won’t always serve all GAPS meals, but this was a fun experiment. It also helped me get in the GAPS mindset. And give me more direction. I have been talking about starting intro this fall. And wouldn’t you know it Health, Home and Happiness is having a 30 day GAPS intro challenge in October! So I signed up for it. But I will probably modify it a bit since I am breastfeeding. I don’t want to mess with my milk supply. I’ve always been so scared of intro. Can I really do it? It is so limited. But I have put a lot of effort into making slow changes to lead up to it. And yesterday I re-read the intro diet and the different steps. I’m actually not that far off from intro already! The intro foods are already a bulk of what I eat daily. And since I’ve already been doing this a while and have experienced a fair amount of healing it’s likely that I’ll be able to move through the first few stages pretty quickly. So I could get back to the diet I’m at now pretty quickly it seems. It doesn’t sound so difficult anymore. And I’m hoping to do one day of GAPS intro this week as another way to prep for real intro…see what it’s really like. I’m actually getting pretty excited.

Since I’m on the topic I’ll update on my health last week. I actually felt really good most of the week. I started each day with awesome soup made with rich chicken stock and pureed veggies. I think that really helps. I ate 3 raw egg yolks almost every day. Plus lots of other healthy food. I felt so good that I decided to experiment a bit. I have been avoiding coconut flour for a while, but I made coconut bread last week. And both Abram and I seemed to do ok with it. Very exciting! I didn’t eat a lot since I was expperimenting. But even tolerating a small amount was a big success. I also ate 2 whole apples!!! And seemed to do ok with those too. You have no idea how exciting this is (especially since it’s apple season). I LOVE apples. But have not been eating them for quite a while now because they seem to bug me. But I did ok with them. This doesn’t mean I’ll be eating apples every day now. But it is so nice I can treat myself to a crispy, fresh apple once in a while. And not have to worry about avoiding pieces of them in things like fruit salads. On the down side, I confirmed that I can’t eat too many nuts. Thursday we did a lot of baking…which includes lots of nuts when you’re on GAPS. I made cinnamon bun muffins in the morning (almond flour and coconut flour). I didn’t actually eat a whole muffin, but I ate a few bites of Rebecca’s. Then we made peanut butter brownies…definitely took a few too many tastes of those. And then we had muesli scones for dinner (almond flour). Plus that was the first day all week I didn’t start with soup/broth. And I had a little dairy in my dinner (quiche with kefir and a small amount of parmesan cheese). So the last few days have not been quite as good. Although not as bad as I would have expected. It’s very encouraging to see progress. Hopefully I’ll get back on track with lots of broth this week to help seal my gut.

I spent plenty of time in the kitchen last week. I made gf muesli, fermented ketchup, toothpaste, coconut flour bread, egg muffins, kefir, lots of smoothies, cinnamon bun muffins, gf muesli scones, peanut butter brownies and sauerkraut. I also canned one more batch of spaghetti sauce (last one for the season I think), pear slices and pearsaue. I bought a 1/2 bushel of pears last week. And Friday I canned 3 batches of pear slices (9 qts. and 12 pts.). I am experimenting this year…I did them all with the skin on! We’ll see how they turn out. I used the last of our pears to make pearsauce (5 pts.). So glad to have that done. I might do more pearsauce yet this year. But no more pear slices. My pantry is really filling! I’ve already run out of quart jars. Thankfully a friend from church is giving me 15 jars today. I’ll need those for applesauce. One other thing in our kitchen was our new sink faucet. I love it!

And outside of the kitchen I was FINALLY able to get the kids drawers organized yesterday (thanks to my wonderful husband for playing with the kids so I could have 2 free hands for a little while). We are so blessed to be able to borrow so much clothes from my sister…but it is a lot of clothes…and a lot of work to go through it all and get it put away. I’ve had baskets of clothes sitting all over the place upstairs for weeks now. And piles of stuff just sitting on the floor. So I’m happy to have clothes put away and finally know what the kids have/don’t have. I don’t think we’ll need to buy  much for either of them for the fall/winter. I feel much more relaxed now that my house doesn’t look so chaotic and I don’t have that hanging over my head/I’m not digging through piles to get the kids dressed every day.

Ok. Was that enough about last week? ;P  On to this week. Today is church…for Justin. Rebecca already has her first cold of the season. So we’ll be staying home. I’m praying it’s short lived and that Abram doesn’t catch it. Monday is Meijer and I have a nursery cmt meeting in the evening. Tuesday is farmer’s market and Kindermusik. Wednesday I might go to Harvest Health. Just depends how we’re doing on milk. And it is co-op pick up. Maybe Thursday we’ll do some kind of fun outing. Friday is our first MOPS meeting!! I’m so excited for that. Rebecca is too. And Saturday we’re going to a farm tour at Grassfields (where we get our beef). Not sure yet who all is going. Could just be me with the kids. Justin might come. And my SIL and nephew might come.

I think I’m going to take it a bit easier in the kitchen this week. I don’t have any canning planned (a nice break!!). And no major projects. I’m sure stuff will come up, but it will be nice not to have such a crazy week. Our letter this week is C, so who knows what we might bake…cookies, cake, chocolate…the possibilities are endless 🙂  I do plan to make pesto and beef broth. But that’s all that’s planned at the moment. I have some food experimenting to do today too. I’ll update on that tomorrow. Here’s what’s on the menu.
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S (prep lunch, make sauerkraut, church, make broth)
  B – leftover stuffed squash and leftover steak (me), sausage, muesli scones, fruit (Justin)
  L – rump roast w/ carrots, peppers and summer squash in cp
  D – zucchini sushi w/ cucumber, avocado, beets and beef (me), mini bacon meatloafs, broccoli, french fries (Justin)

M (make pesto, Meijer, nursery cmt)
  B – broth, ground beef, lentils, beans (me), yogurt, fruit, gf muesli parfait (Justin)
  D – (early, separate) – squash and sausage soup, crackers w/ cheese

T (boil eggs, KM, FM, prep smoothie)
  B – soup (me), hard boiled egg, toast (Justin)
  D – pan fried salmon filets, carrot and squash fries w/ fermented ketchup, peas, fruit

W (make mayo, C baking project, grind flour, co-op, put away laundry)
  B – kefir smoothie, sd peach muffins (Justin), broth w/ salmon, peas, squash and lentils (me)
  D – corn dog muffins w/ fermented ketchup, corn, applesauce (Justin), salmon, avocado, beets (me)

Th (clean office, GAPS intro day, C baking project?, outing?)
  B – broth/soup (me), hard boiled egg, toast (Justin)
  D – broth/soup (me), pork chops, sweet potato fries, broccoli (Justin)

F (clean, MOPS)
  B – broth w/ avcado (me), apple slices w/ almond butter, yogurt (Justin)
  D – scrambled eggs, toast, roasted veggies, fruit

S (laundry, GF tour)
  B – broth/soup (me), yogurt, fruit, granola parfait (Justin)
  D – cashew avocado chicken salad, squash

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