September 19th, 2013
Hubby reminded me that I did not give a purpose as to why I am writing blog. I write for myself mostly b/c I find it is a creative outlet where I can vent and do no harm or hurt feelings, at least when I did it the old fashioned way. I write to share what I have been thru, and learned, thru having a husband who is gluten intolerant, a child who has sensory issues and a picky eater, and a child that has ADHD. I would say I am the only normal one in the family but I am the worst of them all but you dont' need to know ALL my skeletons!
I wanted to learn how we react to food. I have seen changes in myself that I should have noticed might also affect my children. When I eat chocolate...I get angry. As in I have zero patience with anyone or anything. So hubby can tell when I have dipped into something simply by how I react to things. Sucks actually b/c then I am so busted that I had sweets, which are my Achilles heel. After I read one of the 10 books on my shelf that discussed food and how it affects us, then I read another about how gluten sensitivity can affect your over health including your heart, I was in shock about foods power. But it began to make perfect sense. You eat processed foods full of sugar and sodium and you feel bloated and gross. You drink caffeine you go bonkers, well I can feel my heart beat if I drink more than 2 caffeinated drinks in a day. Heart gymnastics does not feel good let me tell you. So why wasn't I listening not only to my body but watching what my family was doing. (Monkey gets a Kool-aid lip from some food but for the life of me we can't figure out what does it b/c it happens so randomly!) Food rules our life...
So I have been cooking fresh food as much as possible, buying local and/or organic product. I used to think cooking an entire meal from scratch was the most difficult thing. But when I began to notice the differences, feel better, see the money saved by how far a meal stretched, and figured up the time to whip up something versus driving to, getting seated, ordering and then waiting on someone else to cook it, plus sticker shock of the end bill...not worth it. I keep a few types of meats frozen in the deep freeze (organic beef, chicken, and pork) and then occasionally buy fresh fish or shrimp and cook it that night when I can plan ahead. I also keep frozen fish as well. Now I am not a purist so if you look in my freezer you will see taquitos, Kosher mini hotdogs, and the almighty chicken stick that is the sustenance of the Lawyers life. I have found gluten free beef hot dogs that have meat parts I recognize versus other brands AND no red dye. IF I buy frozen food, I try to get something with as little ingredients as possible and not just junk. As I said I quit buying from the middle of the store b/c I began to read labels and then read what those cryptic chemistry words were and was horrified.
My purpose, you remind me, is that I was trying to explain that taking a bit of time to read labels, make things ahead where possible or do some prep work the day of is how I coped with our "issues". I have been asked why I do what I do and how I do it. I hear no one has time. I have the same 24 hours and was the most procrastinating person you know and I make meals for my family. I am not June Cleaver nor am I up all night cooking. I begin to think about dinner in the morning, actually I think of food all day long, it is not any wonder that I am not 2000lbs! But if I think about what I am in the mood for, what I have on hand, and what I have had recently it begins to be easy. I record and watch cooking shows, I pull recipes from magazines I think of countries we can visit with food! Do we eat out? Yes. Do I buy junk, yes but only occasionally. If I am going to waste calories I want that food to be worth it so I make pies and cookies that are better quality ingredients so I know what I am putting in my body even if it isn't "healthy". Food, I have learned, is not the problem. It is how we treat it that is. I don't' want food as my master or the master of my kids.
For example, tonight I had a school function at 5:30. I had to be there around 5:15. My girls were doing an after school activity up until almost 4. I took frozen purple hull peas, and I keep a bag of just ham chunks I buy at a local meat shop and I drop a chunk in with 2 cups in a pot and cover with water. I boil the peas and then cover and turn on low for about 45 min. I did that about 3pm. I took uncooked chicken strips, cut into nuggets, and then soaked them in a buttermilk and egg mixture for about 30 min. in the fridge. I had several scoops of a GF(Gluten Free) flour blend in a bowl on the counter to dredge the chicken in before I put them in a deep skillet. I took 4 yellow potatoes and washed them off and put them in a pan and covered them with water and sat them on the stove so I was ready. I ran to school, which is .6 mile away, and brought them home. They each got one snack and then had to do after school activities. Piano, get on a school math program, and read 1 or two chapters out of a mom approved book. While they did this, I took chicken out and dredged it thru flour on cournter, turned on potatoes, and dropped chicken into skillet and grape seed oil. I had dinner on the table by 4:30. Lawyer, the picky one, got her beloved chicken sticks and a potato, Monkey got what I got...although she thinks she was eating black eye peas and not purple hull. Hey, I will call them ice cream if she will eat it! So the two of us had GF fried chicken, peas, and potato.(Yes I did feed hubby, he came home later).
We had a home cooked meal, not from a frozen bag (ok the peas were but they were packed fresh so get over it) and it took me as much time as it did for a friend to drive across town to get sandwiches from a local chicken chain. I saved gas, calories, and my blood pressure. Winner winner chicken dinner!
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