Support needed

Ok, let me just cut to the chase.  I have a support ticket out on my instant pot.  It’s broken.  F&^%, right?!?!?!  Blah.

I’ll let you know what’s up when I know more, but as of now, it’s got some issue with the pressure sensor (kinda important right?) and won’t do anything.

I added wild rice to it for dinner and plugged it in a it just started beeping at me.  I referenced the manual and then went online and that’s when I realized it was probably not coming back.  I could have cried right then and there.  But I had to hold it together and make dinner!

RIP IP  🙁

I ended up making it on the stove, no problem in a big sauté pan, which allowed me to add greens and serve it out of the same pan later that night.  By the way, this greens blend is back and I grabbed one as soon as I saw it on the shelves despite having no plans for it this week.  I’ve already used it twice.  It’s not organic, which is a bummer, but I am going to concede in this instance and lower my standards because the benefits of the collards has to outweigh the potential negatives from chemicals and pesticide sprays.  Right??

It is the perfect stew/soup green too because it’s hardy enough to not turn into mush when cooked, but still softens.  And collards and mustard greens are so good!

While I was attempting to file my support ticket and sort out dinner, they were doing this.

AGH!  Not that there’s ever a good time for your brand new expensive appliance to quit on you, but having two kids covered in sticky sugar asking for your help during the whole ordeal is far from ideal.  Mental test!!

It probably helped me stay calm, though, because had I been by myself I may have been cursing, but instead I was spreading icing on the roof tops and walls of this gingerbread house for optimal candy coated decorating.

She gave up after the roof was done, but he stuck it out until every side was properly covered.

It’s on the counter in the kitchen (next to me as I type this) and the smell is insane.  It’s like living in a bakery.  I feel like I’m high from the sugar just being in the vicinity.  I wonder how long I have to keep this thing?  I wonder if they’ll ask to eat it?

Anyway, I am all over the place with this post.

Kyle had a flight before the sun was up, so it was just me and kiddos in the morning.  The most exciting thing about feeding them lately is that they can peel their own cuties!  It’s slightly embarrassing how thrilling this is for me, but peeling citrus takes up more of my life than you’d think and I don’t even get the rewards of eating it.  Now they can do it on their own.

After dropping P off at school, V and I went to park the car somewhere downtown and go on a run.  I wanted a change of scenery and was thinking I’d pop into the co-op at the end.

Casual shopping trip NBD.  We didn’t end up buying anything though because I went looking for one specific thing.  It wasn’t a waste though since I at least got a long run in a different area of town.

I had breakfast back at home…Nourish bread with almond butter and himalayan pink salt from my new TJs salt sampler.

Once I’d showered, me and V set off to “adventure” together.  She is so freakin’ fast on her scooter now I have to jog to keep up.

We went around the block once and then ended up at the park (behind our house), but she mostly did laps around the park, rather than sliding or anything else.  We took a different route to get home and then she played in the back yard while I prepped lunch for both of them.

Annie’s FTW.

P picked this out as a “special treat” from WF after his last OIT appointment and I forgot about it for a week.  I added a bunch of frozen mixed veggies to bulk it up and between the two of them they finished the whole thing off in one sitting.

I’m still too nervous to try the real cheese (non vegan) version of mac n cheese with P, but it’s probably totally fine given how much dairy he eats without issues these days.  I just don’t know how to calculate the protein content in foods that have protein from other sources (ie wheat) to know how much actual milk dairy protein he’d be getting and that’s still an area of discomfort for me.  I feel like I’m getting better and better at it though, and over time, with enough experimentation, he will probably get close to truly “free eating” dairy.  Per the MD, I can basically up his dose (even higher than the 4 g of protein that is considered graduation / maintenance dosing) as much as I want as long as he tolerates it.  He eats 7 g (the amount in a string cheese) with regularity and has no problem, but that’s as high as we’ve gone in a single serving.  Cheeses are super variable in their protein content, so I am always looking things up and doing math in my head, and then erring on the side of caution out of habit.

My lunch was the lovely poppyseed salad I make 75% of the time, so I hardly feel like posting it, but there it is in all it’s repetitive glory.  Stay tuned for the same one again tomorrow!  😉

Ok, now I’m back to where I started this post.  Making dinner!

You’d think V was the one who lost her instant pot with how grumpy she was that afternoon.  I took a pic of myself holding her, while cooking, because she was so needy.

PSA: I am on a total butternut squash kick.  I probably will be until April, so get used to it.

After we had all gotten our stuff done in the kitchen (me with dinner, P with his gingerbread construction) we killed the last half an hour before Valley’s soccer practice by biking in the front yard.

As soon as we were back from soccer it was assembly time…

Voila!

How does this differ from the bowls I made two night’s before, you ask?  VERY slightly.  The salad from Monday was a cold salad with raw lettuce and didn’t have a grain.  This had wild rice that I sauteed with the greens.  Otherwise, they are basically the same.  I added dressing, pecans, squash, and fig goat chevre and WOW was it good.

There wasn’t enough goat cheese for them, so I added parmesan cheese to their bowls. Both of them LOVED it.  P inhaled this like nothing I’ve ever seen.  And asked for more.  As compared to Monday’s salad that he ate fine, but didn’t seem to stoked about.  He actually commented that he wanted this again.  I think it was the parmesan cheese, but I’m holding out that it was the whole grain + green hippie bowl combo that I finally sold him on.  😉

Bowl #2

All mixed up…mmmmm baby.

Dessert night!

Now excuse me while I wait on pins and needles to hear back from the instant pot peeps about my faulty pressure cooker.