It was just me and the kids this week, so meals weren’t quite as organized as usual…in that I didn’t have much of a meal plan aside from P’s birthday meal. Beyond that, it was a lot of leftovers.
After the persimmon bread was gone, I had real phat foods bread for a few breakfasts. This bread is so good with butter on top. Usually I prefer Earth Balance, but I’m currently in a Miyoko’s creamery butter phase.
The kids are also into parfaits right now. This is lovely development because it is a super easy breakfast option due to the fact that it has P’s milk dose already IN IT. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have dosed him this way because he needed more food in his belly to cushion the allergens, but he is far enough into maintenance now that I feel comfortable giving him cow dairy first thing in the morning and it hasn’t been a problem yet.
This one had fresh mango and strawberries with coconut flakes and organic vanilla greek yogurt.
BTW, he did get new bloodwork drawn at his 7 year old well child visit and both his peanut and dairy IGE levels dropped again (!!!) so this is very encouraging for us as we continue to dose him day after day after day.
I had a TON of grain bowls this week.
They really never get old. Especially when they involve candied pecans and Meredith Dairy cheese.
I had brown rice for the first half of the week, and then I made a big batch of wheatberries for the second half of the week.
Otherwise they were all the same, kale, lemon miso dressing, grain, slivered almonds, dried cranberries, candied pecans, goat and sheep milk cheese.
Then I ran out of my fave cheese and it wasn’t quite as good. I had a different cheese on the side with Mary’s seedy cracker, but the grain bowl didn’t feel right.
So then I turned to a former flame…
Remember this Costco salad that I used to make alllll the time? It’s not that hard to replicate when you have Brianna’s poppyseed dressing. All you need is a greens blend (in this case broccoli slaw, cabbage and kale), plus sunflower seeds and dried cranberries.
Of course, I added mac nuts and avo like I used to.
I also made this perfectly easy salad again.
These two and their crafts! They spend HOURS on whatever art projects I set them up with.
Most of the time I sit with them and work on something else on my own, but sometimes I step away entirely. Which makes it oh so sweet when I spy on them chatting away with each other about who knows what. He helps her with things she can’t do yet and she idolizes his every move.
This dinner was a combo of random and planned mixed together. We had leftover roasted potatoes so I paired that with a Caesar salad made with shaved Brussels and romaine, topped with some pecorino romano.
I massaged the Brussels in the dressing in the morning so they were totally soft by dinnertime. Raw Brussels aren’t the easiest on my gut, so I’ve found this step helps in breaking them down a bit.
BIG TIME NEWS! My favorite Nugget spice rub (the burgundy pepper that we always get on the tri-tip) is now being sold on it’s own. AND. Nugget is also selling it as a burger patty.
I am PUMPED about this.
I used up the last of the Bitchin’ sauce pesto and already bought another.
This sauce on gnocchi is WOW.
So now I have another phase I’m going through. Get ready for it. You may see this another 100 times before summer is through.
I added some greens to the pan to wilt a bit before serving.
Perfecto.
And then there was dessert.
I had birthday cake, too, but already showed that bad boy off.
Check out this nutella bar though!!
Nugget’s dessert section is full of hidden gems. Because cakes and pastries aren’t typically my thing, I rarely look in that section but I was getting two dozen cookies for a Valentine’s day party and happened upon this guy and couldn’t NOT get it. To be totally honest, there wasn’t that much nutella flavor. But it was chocolate heaven with a thick fudgy texture than did not disappoint.
Sad to say, this was not that good. Honey ginger and lemon seems like it was made for me, and yet, it was not that great. I can’t even put my finger on what about it was meh, but I wouldn’t buy it again.
thanks for all the new posts lately.I’m curious as to why you use a non dairy butter while you consume other forms of dairy? Also can you update us on your digestive struggles.
It’s basically based on taste preference. I don’t always love the flavor of plain butter (probably because I’ve gotten used to the non dairy butter alternatives). We have it in the house because every once in a while I use it for baking, but both that and Earth Balance last forever because of how infrequently we use them. As far as other forms of dairy go…that is also based on mood. I like certain cheeses a lot (especially specific goat and sheep’s milk ones) so I tend to buy those the most, BUT, now that P is pretty much fine with dairy and I’m the only one who doesn’t tolerate it very well, I am re-learning (slash UN-learning) my anti-cow milk buying habits!!! My gut is still basically the same in terms of what it can handle, but I’ve found there are times of the month that I don’t react too badly (I’ve said it before but I think there is definitely a hormonal component to my GI tract’s functioning). Also, I’ve learned that having bloat and gas and a little GI upset is not the end of the world and that even though diet culture wants me to freak out and think that I’m ruining my body with symptoms like that, it can be a normal reaction to digestion. So I am working through my emotional reactions to feeling physically off (making sure it’s not a disproportional reaction to what is really going on). Does that make sense?