Taking the Scenic Route

I had her use a chair as a counter to mix the ingredients.

And she insisted on cleaning up afterwards.  As if I would argue.

I was down for the count for a good week.  Fever, chills, massive sinus and chest cold, but thankfully no gastro issues.  Doing the low carb thing meant that my usual sickness stand by, chicken noodle soup, was out, so I was in search of something with a similar feel that would be healing.

I ended up taking some chicken/bone broth, a bunch of frozen chopped spinach, several cloves of garlic, then streaming in some eggs at the last minute for some awesome egg drop soup.  This, along with lots of hot tea, an avocodo and some oranges became my menu for the week.  It was a good choice.

I feel much better now.  I do have a lingering cough, but from my understanding it may hang around for a good month or two if it follows the trend of everybody else who got knocked over with this bug.  Last night was my first night back in bed with the rest of the crew and I didn’t have any coughing fits, so I think I am on the mend.

So far, Zach hasn’t gotten sick at all.  Zane was sick the day before I was, never had a fever, and was better in two days.  Zora started coughing earlier this week, but hasn’t progressed to a fever, so she might luck out too.  I am SO glad that it hit me harder than the kids.

Last week at the Autism parent’s meet-up the people next to me all had the most delicious looking/smelling pepperoni pizzas (Old Chicago…what they are known for). I have been craving pepperoni pizza ever since, like CRAZY craving it. Tonight we made a substitute that, although not exactly healthy, was yummy and low carb. Crustless pizza. lol. Take a pie plate, put pepperoni and cheese in it, put it in the oven until the top looks like it is supposed to, all bubbly and browned. All of the yum, none of the carbs. If we would have had tomato sauce, that would have been great as the first layer, but we didn’t, and I didn’t care, so we skipped it.

My more usual daily fare is a BIG A** SALAD, taking inspiration from Mark’s Daily Apple.
Two Minute Salad
Ultimate Salad Recipe
Earlier this fall we actually hunted down the “serving bowls” that match our wedding set and got two. I have this sensory thing that makes the sound of metal scraping metal almost intolerable to me, so eating giant salads out of my mixing bowls was about to do me in. It was worth it since we use them at least once a day, sometimes more.

In the warmer months, a salad is easier with such an abundance of fresh veggies. As winter winds down (and so does our pocketbook), we are reaching farther and farther into the pantry and freezer to find salad fixings, but it is still quite yummy. Krogers/Dillons had red roasted peppers in a jar on a great sale a few weeks ago, and I stocked up and am enjoying at least one big red pepper on there every day, along with sun dried tomatoes and either gorgonzola or bleu cheese. Add in some anchovies, leftover chicken or meat, or sardines (although the texture of sardines makes them a little tougher to eat), some balsamic vinegar and decent olive oil and it is still a pretty good nutrition. I usually have an avocado and a bag of something from the frozen veggie section in there too (like broccoli, cauliflower or green beans), but didn’t take the time to do that tonight. I vary the greens, but my favorite is a bag of spring greens I can get for a good price at Aldis, because it has a nice variety. Throwing a bunch of herbs and spices on it also helps give it a nice depth of flavor. This is the core of my food for the day. If I get enough healthy fats in there it is amazingly satisfying.

$.99 a pound chicken

some olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

a little rosemary on some of them (none for Zane’s pieces)

Yum.

Zora helped make the fudge after she donned the apron and hat from Oma.

She was so excited to bake her cake, I couldn’t resist grabbing the camera to memorialize it.  She chose Strawberry flavored cake and, although we helped her with measuring ingredients, she is the one who did most of the mixing.

My proud little baker.

She is helping me make Cherry Pie while Zach is making the Pumpkin Pie.  We also made Pecan Pie.  Yum!