Meal Plans Week of 6-13-10

One busy week down, one more crazy week to go.  Or maybe 2.  But for sure this week will be crazy busy.  Justin will be gone all evening Mon., Tues., Wed. and Thurs.  I'll be gone on Fri. evening.  Maybe we'll see each other next week :P  This is Justin's last full week of class!!!  After this he only has his final exam.  We are both so excited about that.  So, this week...today is church in the morning, followed by a reception for one of our pastors.  He's retiring.  Today is his last Sunday here.  Sad to see him go.  In the afternoon Justin has an open house for his class at his professor's house.  He'll go earlier.  Rebecca and I will join him after her nap.  Monday is grocery day, and Justin has council.  Tuesday I have a Dr. appt. in the morning, then hopefully I can still go to the farmer's market.  And Justin has class.  Wednesday I'm planning to go to Forest Hills Food to check out their seafood, and Justin has a dinner thing for work, so he won't be home until late.  Thursday I'll probably visit my grandparents and bring them their beef.  Justin has class.  Friday I am going out to dinner with some ladies from my MOPS group at Bistro Bella Vita.  Can't wait for that!  Our plans for Saturday aren't set yet.  My brother and SIL are coming out.  We have to figure out if we're going to the beach with them in the morning or not.  We'll definitely see them in the afternoon.  That should keep us plenty busy.

My food adventures continued last week.  I made my first batch of chicken broth.  Mmmm.  I made strawberry rhubarb crunch (for a church thing) and soaked granola.  I sprouted some hard red wheat berries, made them into flour and then used it make vanilla wafers and honey whole wheat bread.  I made black bean brownies and a small batch of fermented black bean paste.  A couple exciting things.  First, I got my kefir grains!!!  They are growing right now.  And with this heat I think they're growing quickly.  I may be able to try some tomorrow already.  The other exciting thing is we got our beef!!  A full side of beef is a lot of meat to put in your freezer :P  I'll be offloading some to my grandparents and my brother this week, so it will be manageable again.  Right now our freezers look like a meat locker.  Last week I also ordered a compost bucket (we've been composting for several years now, but my old buckets got too nasty.  I'm finally getting a replacement so we can compost again!) and a large plastic bucket for my wheat berries (never knew it would be so tough to find a large plastic bucket WITH A LID...they don't exist in stores.  And even online they aren't common.  Seems so odd to me.  Doesn't anyone else ever need a lid on their bucket?).  Can't wait for those to come.  At the farmer's market last week I got asparagus, strawberries, sugar snap peas and summer squash.  And I placed my co-op order for June.  We're getting a whole chicken, chicken legs, pork jerky, bacon, ground chicken, milk and peppermint oil (to use for digestive help and maybe some homemade health and beauty products).

I continue to make progress on my food goals...even faster than I thought.  I had veggies for breakfast 6 days last week!  There were days I had 10 different veggies in one day.  That's a lot of variety.  I should be getting a good variety of vitamins and minerals :)  I also had some coconut oil every day.  I had homemade broth at least 4 days.  I ate lentils a couple times.  And I had seafood 3 times (salmon and cod).  Last week was definitely a much better week then the previous 2 weeks.  I hope it means my body is starting the healing process, and I'm on the right track.  I notice the healing both physically and mentally.  A few days ago I thought I felt kind of blah (even though I had just gotten a bunch of stuff accomplished).  But then it hit me, I didn't feel blah...I just didn't feel anxious!  I don't know what it's like to feel at peace, calm, content...just be.  There is always some sense of anxiety, worry, etc.  But I just felt calm.  And I experienced it multiple times.  It was so nice.  A small taste of what could be.  God is good.

I am super excited about the healing and my progress.  But I'm guessing it will slow down now.  I have once again started taking hormone pills as I prepare my body for our coming IVF cycle.  And after just 1 day I can tell.  It amazes me how quickly they impact my body in so many ways (and not in good ways).  For now I'm just trying to do my best, stay focused and place it all in God's hands.  The anxiety has gone back up after just a couple days.  But I know it's temporary.  And God is in control and has a plan.  I am so excited to finally be in the process of trying for baby #2 again (the waiting was not easy).  But it is frustrating that it has to happen just as I was finally making good progress on healing my body.

Nothing too major for food projects this week.  Like I said, I'm working on my kefir.  So I'll be making/using/experimenting with that.  A little whilte back I got some yellow split peas.  I've never had yellow before.  So today I'm trying yellow split pea soup.  I wonder if it will taste any different.  I'm also hoping to have time today to make some mayo.  I need to use some of my sourdough starter this week.  I think I'm going to try some strawberry banana muffins or bread.  And possibly a regular loaf of sourdough bread.  I also plan to stock up on strawberries this week and freeze and dry a bunch of them.  Rebecca LOVES dried strawberries.  So I want to make a bunch of those.  I realized this morning I'm almost out of granola.  So hopefully I can squeeze in a batch.  And of course continue to prep veggies so I always have some on hand for snacking and meals.  If time allows I might soak and dry more oats, make chocolate chips, make caramel corn or make crackers.  Oh, and I can't forget I need to finish shopping for Father's Day!  Not food related, but I need to remember :)

Here's what's on the menu:
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S (make kefir, make whey, church, retirement reception, class open house, make mayo, make beef jerky)
  B - yogurt, granola, misc. veggies
  L - yellow split pea soup, cheese and crackers
  D - leftover lentil soup

M (make punch, make kefir, Meijer, fruit stand, dry grapes and strawberries, council)
  B - fried eggs, toast, veggies
  D - spaghetti w/ homemade meat sauce, beans

T (Dr. appt., farmer's market, class, prep veggies?, feed sd starter, make granola?, make shortcake?)
  B - sprouted apple cinnamon bagels w/ honey nut cream cheese, butter and peanut butter, fruit/veggies
  D - leftover pea soup

W (make strawberry banana sourdough muffins, FHF, Harvest Health, pediatrician, Justin out to eat, freeze and dry strawberries, dry cherries)
  B - strawberry banana muffins, fresh fruit/veggies and/or kefir
  D - shrimp and avocado over rice leftover pea soup (me), out ot eat (Justin)

Th (visit Grandma/drop off beef, chop/cook veggies, dry apples, soak pecans, class)
  B - kefir smoothie w/ fruit, veggies and coconut oil, strawberry banana sourdough muffins
  D - leftover pea soup

F (clean, MOPS dinner?, dry pecans, soak flour)
  B - strawberry banana muffins, fresh fruit/steamed veggies
  D - Bistro Bella Vita? (me), tortilla soup from feezer (Justin)

S (make strawberry banana bread, organize beef, clean, laundry, soak oats, beach?, K and S visiting)
  B - strawberry banana bread, fruit, veggies
  D - scrambled eggs, bacon, roasted asparagus, home canned peaches, strawberry banana sourdough muffins TBD if my brother and SIL stay for dinner