My AIP Journey- Day 6
Day 6- January 6, 2015
Do you ever notice how, after you’ve gone to the grocery store and stocked up, that for the first few days or so you’re eating really well, you’ve got lots of options, but then as the week goes on and you’ve somewhat depleted your resources, your options are limited, and you kind of have to start scrounging and getting creative? That’s kinda where I’m at right now. I suppose the obvious solution would be to head back to the store, but that’s not always the best option. First of all, we live in a small town with only one grocery store, and the prices there are more expensive than the stores in the nearest “large” city, Topeka, which is only fifteen minutes or so from where we live. So I try to only go to the grocery store once a week when I am in Topeka, where I can hit up a store with better prices. I mean, I’ll pick something up in a pinch, but I don’t just run to the store for every little thing. Plus, that gets expensive.
Breakfast- There was a tiny bit of the chicken soup from last night left over so I added some more chicken and veggies to the pot and let it simmer away! I remembered to add the spinach this time, and I threw in some spaghetti squash, to make chicken “noodle” soup! I thought this was genius. Added my olive oil, seasoned everything up and enjoyed it.
Snack- Pumpkin Chai Latte
Lunch- I had a meeting today at one, so I was racking my brain for what to make that would be quick and easy before I headed out the door. I baked a sweet potato in the microwave and topped it with some of the leftover chicken I had in the fridge, which I seasoned with cumin, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. Pretty good!
Snack– I grabbed some deli roast beef from the store on the way home from my meeting (yes, I know what I just said about not running into the store for every little thing, but it was on sale!) I munched on a couple of pieces while I made another Pumpkin Chai Latte. It’s like 2 degrees right now in Kansas. I don’t like it. I just want to drink tea and eat soup all day. So that’s what I’m doing. Don’t judge.
Dinner– I thought I was going to have a major recipe fail this evening, but it only turned out as a semi-fail. Since the fam isn’t doing the AIP, I’m currently making a separate meal for myself than what they’re eating. I do try to keep it simple, for the most part eating the same thing and just leaving out what I can’t have. Tonight I made potato-broccoli cheese soup and decided to experiment with a potato-free…potato..soup. You might be able to see where this is going. I put some chopped veggies in my soup pot- onions, carrots, broccoli and sauteed a few minutes, until soft. I’m out of garlic 🙁 That was the first part of this tragedy. Next, I added my homemade chicken broth, then decided to throw in some of the spaghetti squash I had in the fridge. I was planning on blending this anyway, so I thought it might add more substance to the soup when blended? See, I’m just guessing here. Now, potato soup is creamy, obviously, with the addition of milk and cheese. I can’t have either. But I wanted creamy. So I added a bit of coconut milk. And then I thought, “What did I just DO?” I mean, I like coconut milk, just not in everything. I mean it does have a certain distinct coconut flavor. In a pumpkin pie smoothie, I can deal with that. In a veggie soup? Not so sure.
Oh, I forgot to mention I added some spices like thyme and parsley flakes. I have a real thing for parsley flakes and love to put them in everything. Unfortunately, I bought my parsley flakes in the bulk spices section of Natural Grocer’s. Why is that unfortunate? Because instead of coming in a nice little spice jar like you normally think of buying spices, my parsley flakes came in a little plastic baggie, kind of like I would imagine if you were buying drugs. So instead of being able to shake a nice little portion of flakes into my soup… I accidentally dumped in half the bag. I tried to scoop out as much as I could, but there was only so much I could do. After blending, my soup was pathetically thin and not at all thick and creamy like my family’s soup. I felt sad.
Fortunately, the soup didn’t taste all that bad, and now that I’m thinking about it, I wish I would have had some cauliflower on hand to mimic the potatoes a little bit more. Not sure it would have been as creamy without the starch the potatoes lend, but I know a lot of people like to use cauliflower in place of potatoes, apparently with success.
I really wish potatoes would just divorce the nightshade family and make my life easier. Why can’t they just take up with another family, like maybe the crucifers? After all, potatoes and broccoli were the perfect of marriage of flavor in my potato soup, at least according to my family who got to eat it 🙁
