Meal Plans Week of 6-12-11

Almost mid June already!  Time sure is flying.  Abram has passed the one month mark.  And we're anxiously waiting to hear about the birth of a niece or nephew any day now (SIL was due the 10th).  Abram sure is growing!  I've already started using some 3-6 month clothes.  Crazy how quickly they stop looking like a newborn.  He's still a great eater.  And we're still working on the reflux stuff.  I think I might be making progress on figuring out a few things that I eat that bother him.  I'll have to experiment more this week.  More to come on that below.

Last week wasn't too eventful.  It was fun to be able to go to the farmer's market again.  I was surprised by how much was there already.  It was nice to get some fresh veggies.  And I got rhubarb and strawberries.  I made a grain free crisp and grain free muffins with them.  I think I'll make a batch of sourdough muffins with the rest of the rhubarb today.  I can't wait until strawberries are at their peek so I can stock up and freeze and dry a bunch.  In the kitchen I also made mayo, fed my sourdough (finally!), tried out my new dehydrator and made crispy cashews, made graham crackers, golden grahams and roasted beets (LOVE having them on hand...so good...and nice to have an easy to digest veggie that is ready to go right from the fridge).  I had a salad with the first lettuce and spinach from our garden.  There's lots more coming, so we'll be eating salads more often for a bit.  I think my tummy can handle the soft lettuces, so that's nice.

Not too much going on this week.  Today is church.  Monday is Meijer and Justin has his last council meeting!!!  Tuesday is farmer's market.  Wednesay is Harvest Health and my 6 week check up with the OB.  Friday we are going to a Whitecaps baseball game.  That's Justin's Father's Day gift from me (I "gave" it to him early so he would know ahead of time what's going on).  Rebecca and Abram will give their gifts later.  Abram will be just shy of 6 weeks old...almost the exact same age as Rebecca when she went to her first Whitecaps game.  We're waiting to hear when our beef will be ready.  So there is a chance we'll have to pick that up sometime this week.

Not sure what I'll be up to in the kitchen this week.  There is a chance we will get one meal from MOPS yet, but nobody has signed up.  So I doubt it.  I want to bake sd muffins today.  Possibly some gf muffins later this week.  Salad dressing for our salads.  And we'll see what I make or preserve from the farmer's market this week.  I did buy coconut milk last week but haven't had a chance to try it yet.  I also need to work on planning baptism food.  I think I've got it mostly figured out.  But I'd like to finalize the menu.  It's a month away, but it will sneak up on me.  And I want to see if there is anything I can do ahead of time.  Like possibly a cake...we'll see if I'm up for that with an infant or if I'll just do easy desserts.  I'm still working on cleaning the freezers in preparation for getting our beef.  One is actually mostly empty...and will probably hold it all.  But I'd like to organize the other one anyway.  It's a huge mess.  So many baked goods...I hardly know what's in there :P

On to the health front.  Lots of updates/ideas.  I'm still trying to get better about having broth regularly.  So my challenge this week is to have it every single day.  I already had beef broth for breakfast.  And I have a huge pot of chicken broth/soup going in the crockpot that will hopefully last the rest of the week.  I know broth is the best gut healer.  And I can tell I feel better when I consume it.  I find that chicken broth is easier on my tummy too (even though I like beef broth better :P).  I'm struggling a lot with sugar cravings.  I think I'm not getting enough fat in my diet.  Cutting out most dairy really cut out a lot of the fat I was eating (full fat yogurt, kefir, cheese, butter).  So I need to somehow bump that up again.  I know animal fats are the best, but unless you just cooked some meat it's hard to get.  I think the broth will help.  And maybe I'll try adding EVOO to more of my food.  That is recommended early on in the GAPS diet.  So I'll give it a try.  I might also add butter back in (and see how Abram does).  I'm trying to increase my veggie intake.  I've been doing pretty well with that over the last week.  But I may have pushed things a bit with raw veggies.  I'll have to find a good balance that my tummy can handle.  I know right now I can't have too much fiber.  But some raw is healthy.  Last week I was finally brave enough to give the new probiotic a try again.  I started with a half pill this time.  So far I think it's going ok.  But the last couple days have been a little off (headache, tummy not as good).  I might be having some die off again.  Hopefully it will be short lived.  In a week or so I'll bump up to a full pill.  I did some more research on digestive enzymes.  I think I will order some from the GAPS website.  In addition/until then I will keep up with eating sauerkraut before meals.  And try to get back into the habit of chewing better.  That helps your body start the digestion process properly.  Last week I discovered that I kind of like olives!  Every time I've tried them in the past I could barely choke down one.  But with our meal from church was a salad with olives.  I tried one...and thought it wasn't too bad.  Had a few more.  And I bought a jar to try them.  So I've been eating a few olives every day.  One more way to have an easy veggie and get healthy fat in my diet.  I guess my tastes really are changing :)  To get more good gut food I would like to start adding kefir back this week.  I'll try just doing a spoonful here and there.  See how Abram does.  And later this week I'll try a small smoothie and see how it goes.  Even if some dairy does bother Abram hopefully not kefir.  Finally I need to talk to my doctor about my eyes.  Seems like ever since giving birth my eye sight is worse.  I know pregnancy can alter your eye sight.  So we'll what comes of that.  For now it really helps to wear my glasses when I read.

And on the reflux front - I've been doing more research.  One thing I found was that probiotics can be very helpful (moreso than things like tummy/gas drops).  So I think I am going to order some baby probiotics for Abram (from the GAPS website).  See if that helps.  I know that babies get most of their gut flora from mom...so my kids are already at a disadvantage (sorry kids).  Plus something I didn't realize...being born via c-section can hinder them even more since they usually get that stuff going through the birth canal.  So they lose out on a lot.  This pertains to Rebecca too.  So over the last week I've been making sure she ate some kefir every day.  And I gave her very small dose of probiotic one day.  I think I'll start doing that regularly.  It's nice that the pills I have you can open up and use as much or as little as you want.  So I can just sprinkle a little in her food each day.  I also read that mom taking digestive enzymes can help a baby with reflux.  So one more motive for me to take them.  Finally it dawned on me that if my kids get their gut flora from me, then what bothers me will likely bother them.  Makes sense.  And when I think about it I have already noticed that.  One food that seems to really bug me and Abram is coconut flour.  So no more of that for a while.  Still working on some other potentials for him that I need to cut out.  I'll update later.

Odd to say it, but a baby with reflux may be a blessing in disguise.  I keep telling Justin that having 2 kids is forced exposure therapy for me.  An infant (and a 3 year old too) doesn't care how mommy feels/what mommy wants to do.  They have needs that come first.  So I can't afford to not feel well/let the ocd take over.  It's great motivation to eat the way I know I should.  And to really heal my body so I'm the best mom I can be.  And with having to cut things out for Abram it helps me get one step closer.  Much easier to eat right when I know it really impacts my baby.  I reread the GAPS stages yesterday.  I'm kind of doing them backwards.  A good way to work up to doing intro.

Well, one kid is screaming the other is stirring.  Better finish this.  Here's what's on the menu.  I made a huge beef roast yesterday (free up freezer space!) that will make meals easier this week.  And I'm cooking extra chicken today too.
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S (make chicken soup and extra chicken for week, church, bake sd muffins, make thousand island dressing)
  B - gf muffins, beef broth (me), pancakes w/ strawberry topping (Justin)
  L - roast beef on bun (plain for me), roasted potatoes, asparagus, carrots, summer squash, beets
  D - cobb salad (lettuce and spinach from our garden!!) w/ chicken, egg, avocado, cucumber, olives, nuts, bacon, dried fruit; sd strawberry rhubarb muffins

M (Meijer, council)
  B - chicken soup (me), sd strawberry rhubarb muffins, grapes (Justin)
  D - beef and veggie stir fry w/ sugar snap peas, summer squash, peppers, beans and broccoli

T (boil/peel eggs, farmers market, make GAPS pancakes or bread or gf strawberry muffins?, roast beets, pick up beef)
  B - chicken soup (me), hard boiled egg, toast (Justin)
  D - MOPS meal or chicken chili, grilled cheese (Justin) / salad or leftover stir fry (me)

W (Harvest Health, Aunt visiting, Dr. E., make kefir)
  B - chicken soup (me), yogurt, granola, fruit (Justin)
  D - bacon and salmon egg muffins, baked bacon and eggs, roasted brussels sprouts, gf muffins? (can't get salmon out of the freezer b/c it's too full of beef :P)

Th (prep smoothies, make mayo?, make GAPS pancakes, Target)
  B - chicken soup (me), egg muffins, smoothie (Justin)
  D - cashew avocado bacon chicken salad (on bread for Justin, on pancakes for me), roasted brussels sprouts, beets

F (clean, Whitecaps game)
  B - chicken soup (me), breakfast cookies, yogurt, fruit (Justin)
  D - at baseball game (pack GAPS-legal snacks)

S (laundry, organize beef, make hot fudge, make strawberry bread, pack for Sun.)
  B - chicken soup (me), english muffin (Justin)
  D - grilled steak, salad, carrots, baked or grilled potatoes