In my last few updates, I mentioned that my 21 year old son was planning to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, complete with all the foods that I am currently not eating (and not sure I will ever eat again for some of them).
I was a little bit disappointed at the thought of having to cook my own little Thanksgiving dinner to eat alongside all of my former favorite foods, but I could handle it. Well, today my son found out that he was chosen to work Thanksgiving Day. Apparently there is a lottery drawn on holidays and whoever gets picked has to work. He told me this morning and said he'd be cooking Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, instead.
Imagine my surprise at how happy I felt because this meant that someone needed to cook a meal for the day. Having spent my entire adult life cooking Thanksgiving dinner and then not being able to cook it this year, I guess I hadn't realized how it was making me feel. I told my son then I'd fill in and cook a GAPS Thanksgiving Dinner instead.
That meant I had to do some quick thinking and luckily I'd purchased Sarah from Heart of Cooking's… wait… it seems there has been a change to the website and now it is Allergy Free Menu Planners. Okay, we'll go with that. A few days ago I decided to buy Sarah's Thanksgiving Limited Diet Menu Planner (I liked this product so much that I signed up to become an affiliate for Sarah) for $5.95 just to see if there was anything I could make for myself, some new ideas for recipes.
I was very impressed with the comprehensiveness of the menu planner. All the recipes have nutrition information (calories, fat, protein, carbohydrate, fiber, cholesterol, sodium) and she includes helpful tips along the way. She also includes a grocery list of the things you'll need to have on hand. And there are a ton of recipes to choose from!
Now I'm really glad I invested in it because there are a couple of recipes I'd like to try out on Thursday.
Here's my base plan:
- New York Strip Holiday Roast (on sale at Fry's Grocery $3.77/# – not sure how to cook this yet)
- Faux-Tatoes
- Onion Gravy
- Sauteed Mushrooms with Butter
- Butternut Squash Puree ala Pioneer Woman
- Black Olives
- Green Olives
- Carrots, Celery, Radishes, Cucumbers
Okay, here are the recipes I'd like to try from Sarah's Thanksgiving Limited Diet Menu Planner (the ones that are bold, I definitely want to make those):
- Butternut Squash and Apples
- Green Bean Casserole
- Spiced Cranberry Sauce
- Coconut Bread Stuffing
- Pumpkin [affiliate link] Bars with Cashew Cream Frosting
- Pumpkin Pie with Nut-Free Coconut Pie Crust with Coconut Whipped Cream
- Pecan Pie
Uh. I think I have gone way overboard!! LOL!!
I definitely want to make the Spiced Cranberry Sauce and the Coconut Bread Stuffing. For the record, I'm going to cheat with the coconut whipped cream as the full fat coconut milk [affiliate link] that I bought contains guar gum, which is not allowed on GAPS.
My thumbs are still hurting and sore, and man, if I happen to bump the swollen joint of my right thumb against something, oh the pain. My eyes cross it hurts so bad. I wonder if this will ever heal completely. It makes me sad. And makes me wonder what else I need to eliminate. Or is it the dental crown I got recently? Or is it just old age setting into my thumbs.
In spite of my having realized that nuts cause my thumbs to hurt worse, I am going to have nuts for Thanksgiving. They are, after all, legal on GAPS. I just hope I don't suffer too much as a result of eating them.
I had to order more glucosamine. I think I've been taking it for two months now. I had read that it takes three months until you feel any effect. Well, I have felt a great deal of improvement. I had really hoped to be completely healed. The new glucosamine that I ordered last night has glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM. The last brand had only glucosamine and MSM, no chondrotin.
I felt a lot better today, in spite of only having six hours sleep. I actually felt happy and excited for part of the day. It will be another night of not getting enough sleep as I got home late from work.
Hugs to all! Don't let the bed bugs bite!
P.S. The author of Lights Out says we crave carbohydrates when we are tired. When we are well rested, we have less of a tendency to have cravings for carbs, and if we do, have an easier time not giving in to the cravings. I shopped at Sprouts tonight, and on the check out aisle next to mine I saw a package of Medjool dates. I squished on the package a bit and they were the softest, freshest dates I've ever seen. So I bought them. And when I got home, I ate one. I controlled myself. I wanted to eat a second one, but I stopped at just one. Partly because in the past eating sweets has kept me awake at night, and I hate insomnia. I was proud of myself for only eating one date. It has been hard at times this month to avoid eating fruit, and I have had a few pieces. Like yesterday I had half of an apple and today I had the other half. I also had several spoonfuls of peanut butter [affiliate link] yesterday. Awful peanut butter, too! It was some Jiffy stuff with sweet crap in it! Anyway. I consider it a small cheat and I am not going to beat myself up over it.
I wonder if you have tendon problems on your thumbs. You should have a doctor look at them. It is awful to have a lot of pain, and not know how to fix it.
disgruntled dh speaks now… i rise up in silent protest of this LIGHTS OUT PHENOMENON that somehow has slowly crept jnto my ME time! I took a solemn oathe as a child to never again allow someone to dictate my most valued and cherished 4 to 6 hours in the day. Not to men only, you opposites! I believe the time for my swift and sure rebellion is at hand. Stay tuned for