although i was up three times with the happy toddler last night, the last time i crawled back into bed, i felt oddly awake, as though i could have gotten up and done some homework or something. and yet, i chose to luxuriate in just snuggling in bed a little while longer. then, i heard the pitter patter of little awake feet as our boy crawled into bed with us. i love it when this happens, but this morning, it ended badly with a slightly too energetic boy who accidentally body slammed his skull into my be-spectacled nose. crunch. i’m still bruised and sometimes chewing food hurts my nose, but it’s not broken, thank goodness. poor mr. happy stuff woke up with the same headache from yesterday, so a sure-win smoothie was called for. i chose to try the smoothie one of my “clean” experienced friends had named as her favorite–the almond butter/frozen peach/cardamom combo. it reminded me subtly of oatmeal and was much easier for me to drink than yesterday’s.
lunch today was a bit late and scattered. the short version is, i didn’t get to eat until 2:00 and since i’d only had half an apple and a handful of cashews for my snack, i was a bit…. fragile while putting the boy down for his nap. but since he was more fragile (he usually goes down for naps between 12:30 and 1:00), he won and i pulled patience reserves from somewhere deep inside of myself. luckily, he fell asleep super fast, and i knew i had this plate of deliciousness waiting for me:
stir-fried veggies with chicken and buckwheat noodles. yum! it was a huge plate of food (neither mr. happy stuff nor i actually finished our portions, so there’s even enough for leftovers!) and while i thought it was extremely tasty, mr. happy stuff felt it was too…. much. the ginger and sesame oil tasted overwhelming to him, but we both agreed that the all-buckwheat pasta had a really nice texture and flavor for a gluten-free pasta. in our discussion, i also realized one more reason that cooking from these recipes feels so foreign to me. it’s not just that they’re wheat/dairy/etc. free, it’s also that many of the menu suggestions are the typical “piece of meat +two sides” that seems to be so common in cookbooks and cooking magazines. we don’t generally cook that way! we are a casserole & soup sort of family, with sandwiches and pasta thrown into the rotation for variety. but it’s extremely rare for me to prepare a “side dish” of any kind (except maybe a salad). is that my more with less mennonite heritage? or is it a midwest thing? either way, i think i’m going to search out some new recipes with that knowledge of what will feel more familiar in mind. not that we don’t like trying new things, but this is a lot of “new” to take in all at once.
supper was a comfort food option for mr. h-s and me–black bean & butternut squash soup:
i added a dollop of avocado puree to mine (it is really difficult to take an appetizing picture of pureed soup!) and we both agreed that this was a soup we could eat more than once. i’ll try to be more mindful of the proportions next time and i’ll put together an actual recipe as this was one i just made up using approved ingredients and i haven’t seen anyone else posting bean soups. are we unusual for loving beans so much?
overall, i experienced more feelings of hunger today and my patience was lower (did my son always screech that much before? maybe all the wheat and dairy foods provided more of a buffer for me. or perhaps he’s just chosen a poor time to take up really loud, annoying behavior?) and i’m a bit alarmed by the section in the book describing typical experiences of week 2, where the author says that your body will be adapting to the changes in your diet and he recommends “accomodate your adapting body. meanwhile, don’t overly accommodate other people if you can avoid it.” right. ever tried not accommodating a toddler? all day? we’ll see how this develops.
