Wednesday, March 05, 2008

No cheating today!

We did it! We got through the day without a single cheat on our diet! I even made up my own seasoning salt because Johnny's has citric acid and wheat in it. Basically I started with a fourth of a cup of salt, and added everything in my spice drawer, and ended up with a seasoning salt that tasted pretty good!

My friend Emily gave me a tip: perhaps Lacy was having so many cravings because she needed more protein. Of course! So I focused on making sure she got a little more protein in the morning.

So here's today's menu:

breakfast: rice pudding, made from yesterday's coconut rice. It's so easy to make-- equal parts rice and (rice) milk, margarine (I used about 5 T) and sugar (I used xylitol since sugar is not allowed, and xylitol is not the same thing, plus it's good for your teeth!) To add protein, I put in 1/4 c. soy protein powder.

snack: bananas and cucumbers

lunch: mashed potatoes and gravy (made from tapioca flour, margarine and fresh chicken broth) and leftover chicken from yesterday.


snack: apples, cucumbers and soy crips

dinner: grilled pork chops, barley primavera (with red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice) and green beans. Unfortunately, I used purple prairie barley, which cooks at a different rate than pearled barley, apparently, because it was still chewy and pretty much inedible. Yuck. I can't believe I wasted 4 cups of beautiful, beautiful homemade chicken broth for that.

My chicken broth is the easiest thing, for those who are afraid of making their own: I take a chicken carcass and neck (I only buy whole chickens so I can get the carcass), add vegetable trimmings that I have collected over the last week or so, a couple bay leaves, peppercorns, salt, a couple sprigs of thyme, and put it in the crockpot on low overnight. Next morning, you have the most gorgeous broth imaginable. So easy! I don't pay money for broth now, when I can get it for free from scraps I would otherwise compost!

I think Rose's teeth might be deteriorating because of a vitamin D deficiency. It totally makes sense to me. I probably didn't get enough during pregnancy because I was pregnant over the winter and she was born in mid spring, and she doesn't get it in anything because she refuses to take her vitamin and breastmilk is the only kind of milk she drinks, and that sure ain't fortified with vitamin D. So I guess this is a lesson learned. I send Lacy and Rose outside every day for a couple of hours to play in the backyard now, to help them get that vitamin D they need so much. It's great because I can work in the kitchen and see them playing, so they're doing their thing and I'm doing mine.

It looks like Rose's repaired tooth is taking a turn for the worse, and the dentist can't see her until the 17th. I think I might call and talk to her again tomorrow, because I am really, really concerned and I don't want her to have to lose another tooth when we just went through this already.

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