Monday, March 28, 2016
Today started early and painfully. After being awake from
3am to 5am, the alarm went off at 6 to leave the house for a difficult meeting at school with our administrator
regarding some challenges we’ve discovered with one of our children.
That meeting lasted, with much prayer and lots of tears, till ten a.m. and was
followed by two more meetings later in the day with others who had been
impacted by our child’s choices. It was the perfect day for food temptations,
trust me! I thought many times how yummy
a cold, fizzy soda would be, and when my husband asked me to go to lunch with
him (something we rarely make time for), I decided to join him, but make the
best choices I could without making him uncomfortable about having asked me. I had the nachos, with
baked tortilla chips, black beans, lettuce, avocado, and a bunch of other
“allowable” stuff. Unfortunately, I was not at the counter to tell them to make
it without cheese, so I did end up eating some of the cheese. I also ordered it with
the grilled chicken, knowing 1) I needed all the strength I could get for the
decisions that needed to be made, and 2) that my husband would enjoy the
leftovers more if I saved him most of the chicken. J
When I had an hour at home between appointments, I was able
to spend some time on II Chronicles 20: 1-4, where Jehoshaphat declares a fast
throughout the land of Israel. The reason God gives for the fast is that the
people were afraid. Though they were afraid because of an imminent attack, all
of us face fears on a regular basis. These verses were perfect for me today,
because it is easy to be overcome by fear when a child is turning their back on
God’s ways, or when I am facing difficulties with my health. Both of these fears have had an impact on me today.
For meals today, I spent a LOT of time and energy shopping
for the specific items that would make these choices easier. I discovered that
Aldi sells a lot of items with no added sugar. The pasta sauce that my whole
family loves has no sugar!!! J
I bought a spaghetti squash to go with that.
Aldi also serves some dried fruits that have no added sugar, and they
are an inexpensive place to get the nuts I’d like to use in some of the dishes.
I also buy my rolled oats there, which makes oat flour and oat-based foods easy
and inexpensive. Their pesto is also amazing, yummy, and has all legal
ingredients.
For other items, I finally made my first trip to Sprouts.
Again, God gave miraculous strength, not only to be able to participate in so
many meetings (usually, I would be in pain, or too dizzy to be able to
concentrate), as well as to work my way through two stores. I have not been
able to shop in over a year because of the migraines, and even before that, I
was using handicapped carts because of my hips. I did use the electric cart at
Sprouts, and reminded myself and my husband both why I am NOT driving right
now! J
Let’s just say, this 'woman driver' had some close calls, proving that I am not able to
focus on where I am going while also watching for cross-traffic. J
With all my new yummy ingredients, I was able to make a
version of Taco Salad (black beans, corn, diced tomato, and homemade taco
seasoning in the crockpot) with avocado to give it a creamier texture (I really
missed my cheese and sour cream!!!) and brown rice to make it stick to the ribs
a bit better. I served this to the whole family, and they loved it for the most
part. We forgot the lettuce… go figure…. So that’s about par for the course
around here. J
I
also used a recipe out of the Daniel Fast book to make oatmeal raisin cookies.
While they’re a little more dense and less sweet than I would like, they really
hit the spot when you haven’t had “real sugar” in a few days! However, I
quickly discovered that I cannot drink Coconut milk plain. YUCK! I can use it over
cereal, but alone, it tastes like someone strained cow’s milk through their
dirty socks! I think so far (after only 48 hours!), it is cow’s milk that I
miss more than anything else.
What are your thoughts on the choices I made? What would you have done differently? Any recipe suggestions from the ingredients I listed?
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