So roasted veggies including butternut squash, zucchini, and red & yellow peppers were a delicious side dish this week. (except for the fact that I roasted them for a bit too long...)
And let's see a show of hands-- ever heard of spaghetti squash before? I never had.
But it's AWESOME! You cut it in half, bake it in the oven, and then as you spoon it out, it turns into little spaghetti-like noodles! I put a little gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free mozzarella cheese & oregano & basil on top and it was DELICIOUS! (you could also use spaghetti sauce on top as well & it'd be a healthy way to sneak in another veggie!) I actually liked this way more than Caroline did, but that won't keep me from serving it. (what do they say? it can take between 15-20 times before a kid will like it? well, we'll definitely try a few more times because she's crazy if she doesn't like this.) :)
Our homemade, gluten/dairy/soy-free version of hamburger helper that Daddy made! (with turkey) For added nutrition, Daddy snuck in some diced zucchini and some flax. (fyi-- the easiest way to add some desperately needed omega 3's into your diet is to get a bag of flax seeds, grind up a handful at a time into a powder, --we use an old coffee grinder-- and then scoop a little powder into things like cereal or any meal. It's important to know that you don't get any benefit from whole flax seeds-- they have to be ground up...)
This wins the prize of worst tasting food attempt this week. It was a recipe I found for a casserole with millet (a gluten-free whole grain similar to rice), beans, cauliflower, etc. It turned out too dry and bland-- kinda like what you'd probably normally think of as "health" food. bleh.... but ironically Caroline DID like this!
And the prize for BEST tasting food of the week (by all 3 of us):
this spinach, peach, & walnut salad!! It used melted goat cheese (which I had never had before, so I don't think the melting job was supposed to look like a spider web! ha! But it tastes SOOOOO good-- WAY better than regular cheese.) And this salad was the perfect blend between salty, sweet, and just overall delicious!!
A few things about this entire journey that shock me almost daily:
1) how differently I feel after eating (and when I eat out at a restaurant NOW, I'm sorta surprised at how bad I sometimes feel afterwards & didn't ever pay attention to it because I thought it was just normal or "full" feeling for my stomach to ache!)
2) how my cravings have changed. I'm tempted WAYYYYY less to eat fast food than before.
3) i view food SO differently now. instead of thinking of it only for the enjoyment of my taste buds, i see it more as the source of health and how it functions in my body. (how is this food working FOR me?)
4) being so restricted on what we can eat as a family has shown me what a stronghold food was (and still is) over me and how I gripped on so tightly to my "right" that I should be able to eat whatever food I wanted to. So many food issues there. I think whether we eat too much or too little, weigh too much or too little, think about food too much or too little, we all have food issues of some type. This has definitely brought out my own, but without it, I wouldn't have changed. So even though it's been a hard transition, I am grateful.
Don't get me wrong-- I still LOOOOOOOVE a good pizza & Dr. Pepper anyday!!.... but it's just so crazy to me how much the Lord is working in MY heart regarding food and cooking and nutrition, above and beyond what I'm doing for Caroline's benefit. Thankful for the way He's challenging and growing me each day.
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