Today reached 106ºF outside. We don't have air conditioning. It sucked.
We stayed in to avoid the heat and left the house in the afternoon for my chiropractor appointment. I made sure to pack whole30 friendly snacks for me and the kids and took a very large cup of ice water.
I got my results from my x-rays last week and the scoliosis that was under control a year ago is back with a vengeance. (Yay for a year of having no time whatsoever to schedule an adjustment!) The good news is that it's treatable. The bad news is that treatment is expensive and I don't know if I can afford it. Yay stress.
After a very very long appointment at the chiropractor, I decided we should beat the heat at Ikea. We're in kind of a limbo period where I can't really do much to prepare for moving yet, but the Ikea kitchen planning tool online has kept me feeling like I can do something while we wait and I had some questions about cabinets anyway. It's therapeutic. But, yet another source of stress.
We left Ikea around 7. I knew that this was going to be bad to push dinner late again. I started to search to see if there were any restaurants that had anything that we could eat, but by the time I figured it out, we'd passed all our options (which were VERY limited).
I made the mistake of telling Charlotte we could have Chipotle. I tried to explain to her that if we went to Chipotle when she was as hungry and upset as she was, she would probably choose to have the quesadilla she gets every time and would not be proud of her choice. The mental stream that had been running through my head all day came pouring out of her:
Why did I decide to do this now? Maybe I should do it when we're not in the hottest heat wave we've ever had in Portland. I'm upset and stressed and I just want to feel better and food will fix it if I can just have what I want right now. Maybe I should wait until we move and get more settled.
She's done amazingly well so far, but she had kind of a meltdown when I decided it would be better if we ate at home.
I spent the rest of the car ride home talking her off her ledge. The things I was trying to tell her to help her understand her feelings were the same things I have to tell myself. I thought having a 6-year-old buddy would last a day or two and would make it harder, but, surprisingly, she's been helping me stay on track because I talk her through it when it gets hard and it helps me too.
I haven't really felt deprived of any foods yet, so I don't think I'm faltering because of what I'm missing out on. The mental dialogue is more because I don't want to cook. I don't want to have to schedule around being home to cook either. But not cooking isn't any easier than cooking when you have two, very cranky kids to wrangle.
Thankfully when we got home I mustered some energy and cooked up pork fried rice using cauliflower "rice" from Trader Joes. My son ate 3 bowls. Charlotte was digging in with gusto until I told her she should be happy because she could still earn her dollar today. What? But this is rice mom! When I told it was cauliflower, she was not happy with me. I believe her response was "I hate Whole30. Why are we even doing this right now?!" I was amused.
In case anyone is interested in the recipe, here's what I made:
a handful of baby carrots chopped into pieces
peas, frozen
pork belly (could also use a pork chop, chicken, or go without) trimmed and cut into cubes
3/4 bag cauliflower "rice" from Trader Joes
1 egg
coconut aminos
Saute pork in some sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add diced carrots and saute another minute. Add in frozen peas and let thaw and warm up. Crank heat up to high, add a bit more sesame oil and dump 3/4 of the bag of riced cauliflower into the pan. Saute until it starts to get a bit browned. Make a well in the middle and crack the egg in the center. Scramble and start stirring in the rice with the egg. When the eggs cooked off (no shiny spots) drizzle with coconut aminos (this is your "salt" so add and taste until it's right). Drizzle more sesame oil on if you want more of that flavor.
Total cook time approx. 15 minutes.
We stayed in to avoid the heat and left the house in the afternoon for my chiropractor appointment. I made sure to pack whole30 friendly snacks for me and the kids and took a very large cup of ice water.
I got my results from my x-rays last week and the scoliosis that was under control a year ago is back with a vengeance. (Yay for a year of having no time whatsoever to schedule an adjustment!) The good news is that it's treatable. The bad news is that treatment is expensive and I don't know if I can afford it. Yay stress.
After a very very long appointment at the chiropractor, I decided we should beat the heat at Ikea. We're in kind of a limbo period where I can't really do much to prepare for moving yet, but the Ikea kitchen planning tool online has kept me feeling like I can do something while we wait and I had some questions about cabinets anyway. It's therapeutic. But, yet another source of stress.
We left Ikea around 7. I knew that this was going to be bad to push dinner late again. I started to search to see if there were any restaurants that had anything that we could eat, but by the time I figured it out, we'd passed all our options (which were VERY limited).
I made the mistake of telling Charlotte we could have Chipotle. I tried to explain to her that if we went to Chipotle when she was as hungry and upset as she was, she would probably choose to have the quesadilla she gets every time and would not be proud of her choice. The mental stream that had been running through my head all day came pouring out of her:
Why did I decide to do this now? Maybe I should do it when we're not in the hottest heat wave we've ever had in Portland. I'm upset and stressed and I just want to feel better and food will fix it if I can just have what I want right now. Maybe I should wait until we move and get more settled.
She's done amazingly well so far, but she had kind of a meltdown when I decided it would be better if we ate at home.
I spent the rest of the car ride home talking her off her ledge. The things I was trying to tell her to help her understand her feelings were the same things I have to tell myself. I thought having a 6-year-old buddy would last a day or two and would make it harder, but, surprisingly, she's been helping me stay on track because I talk her through it when it gets hard and it helps me too.
I haven't really felt deprived of any foods yet, so I don't think I'm faltering because of what I'm missing out on. The mental dialogue is more because I don't want to cook. I don't want to have to schedule around being home to cook either. But not cooking isn't any easier than cooking when you have two, very cranky kids to wrangle.
Thankfully when we got home I mustered some energy and cooked up pork fried rice using cauliflower "rice" from Trader Joes. My son ate 3 bowls. Charlotte was digging in with gusto until I told her she should be happy because she could still earn her dollar today. What? But this is rice mom! When I told it was cauliflower, she was not happy with me. I believe her response was "I hate Whole30. Why are we even doing this right now?!" I was amused.
In case anyone is interested in the recipe, here's what I made:
Pork Fried "Rice"
sesame oila handful of baby carrots chopped into pieces
peas, frozen
pork belly (could also use a pork chop, chicken, or go without) trimmed and cut into cubes
3/4 bag cauliflower "rice" from Trader Joes
1 egg
coconut aminos
Saute pork in some sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add diced carrots and saute another minute. Add in frozen peas and let thaw and warm up. Crank heat up to high, add a bit more sesame oil and dump 3/4 of the bag of riced cauliflower into the pan. Saute until it starts to get a bit browned. Make a well in the middle and crack the egg in the center. Scramble and start stirring in the rice with the egg. When the eggs cooked off (no shiny spots) drizzle with coconut aminos (this is your "salt" so add and taste until it's right). Drizzle more sesame oil on if you want more of that flavor.
Total cook time approx. 15 minutes.
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