Breakfast rut of the moment is home-made cashew yogurt with granola and cashew butter. It’s reallllly good.
Salad making.
I went big with avo and goat cheese on this one – usually I pick one or the other. And after a decent amount of massaging the balsamic vinaigrette into the kale, the chevre and avo made the most wonderful coating on the greens.
What a beaut!
Unfortunately this messed up my gut a bit and I felt a little blah for the rest of the afternoon. My GI tract has been pretty good lately so this was a rude awakening that I have to keep myself in check.
I re-heated the leftover pork and squash dish from the other night and served it over rice to stretch it enough for a full meal. I am so pleased that this meal ended up being a full 8 servings. Totally got my bang for my buck with the ingreds. Pork butt isn’t cheap, but it’s definitely affordable when it can be made over into an extra meal.
I had the same breakfast again. Plus some more snacks at a preschool parent coffee get together.
For lunch I made a chicken salad with the leftover thighs from this meal.
It had mayo, mustard, avo, and coconut bacon. With carrots and crackers on the side. I completely overdid it on the crackers and felt super full for the rest of the day. Doh! It’s all the coconut oil in the crackers. It’s addicting, but also really filling.
I made this lentil salad again for dinner. And (also like last time) served it with roasted Brussels sprouts.
If it aint broke…
We had a bit of free time between naps and our afternoon activity so I decided to bake cookies with the kids. They wanted “banana cookies” and since we had brown bananas on the counter I said “let’s do it!”
We made three baking sheets’ worth but only put chocolate chippies in the last portion of the batter. They are essentially the same recipe as my pancakes I make them only with a different ratio of wet to dry ingreds in order to get the right batter consistency. Also, I used cane sugar (because I usually don’t add sweetener besides fruit to their pancakes).
They ate four that afternoon so I think they turned out alright…
Plates for the wee ones. I served their lentils before adding the nuts and cheese. I’m sure V would like both, but I know P wouldn’t and since I have to feed him peanuts against his will already, I want to make the rest of his meal as enjoyable as possible. He seriously hates peanuts, which is a common problem for kids doing OIT (per the OIT facebook group), but I am hoping we can find a way to get past this without it become a big drama. Hiding the dose in the last few bites of his dinner seems to be the best way right now. I’m trying not to ruin foods for him, like applesauce has now been, by diversifying how I give him doses on the daily. 🙁 It’s a crappy game I have to play, but the end game is so worth it. I just hope he doesn’t hate me for being the one who he associates with this part of his day that he dreads with every ounce of his being.
I didn’t mean to get into all that. We’ve had a rough month. I try to stay upbeat about it here because it’s really such a positive thing, I want to be an advocate for OIT and encourage everyone with food allergies to seek treatment…buuuuuut, I’d be lying if I made it seem like it was all easy peasy. It’s a strain in a bunch of ways. It’s emotionally exhausting – for me, for him, for the whole family. It’s stressful and worrying – and that’s not even touching the travel. Or the ways we’ve had to ask my family for help. I would still do it without hesitation again and again and again though.
Goat cheese and hazelnuts added, time to serve it up.
Yeah baby!
It was just as awesome this time around. And just like last time, the kids inhaled the brussels and begged for more before they finished anything else on their plates. You would think that two pounds of Brussels would be enough for the four of us, but nope.
So happy that the whole family loved this because I looooved it. Kyle said he would happily eat this all the time and both kids thanked me out of the blue for making a dinner with all their favorites. I have never heard them claim that Brussels sprouts were their favorite food but I do know they love them. Technically they say that about a lot of things, namely bacon, but either way, it’s still nice to hear.
That’s both hysterical and totally awesome the brussel sprouts and lentils dinner is such a huge hit! Anything special added to the brussel sprouts? Or just the usual olive oil and salt and pepper..?
I saw an episode of jaime oliver a while back (random, on an airplane) and he tossed veggies with a basic vinegrette before roasting- i tried it with a mix of carrots and cauliflower and it’s delicious! The vinegar gives it a little extra ooomph.
P’s daily doses sound so not fun. Sounds like the peanuts are hated but he’s doing ok with eating the dairy doses. I know nothing but would peanut oil work as the dose instead of actual peanuts? It’s not a specific flavor and might be easier to add to his meals. Dunno.
And now I’m seriously thinking to buy that america’s test kitchen veg book, my day to day meals need a kick in the pants.
No sadly, it has to be the protein 🙁
The brussels were just olive oil and salt. I feel like I need to make 5 pounds for the amount we all want. Who are these kids?!?! (Answer: mine)