Food Month: Week Two

So, today is actually day 17. Food is so hard. There have been tears. I have learned a lot and my day to day conversations with the Lord have both increased and changed in the last 17 days. I'm still a bit behind on the blog, so I will catch up on week two today and hopefully be all caught up by the end of this week.

Here are the highlights of week two...

Day 8- Monday
Eric is still gone. I miss the convenience of grabbing something quick. I am super craving a hamburger, fries and a giant lemonade. I stopped at Forest Hall Farm today to grab some more meat. So far, all the meat I have purchased has been super reasonable in price. Very comparable, if not cheaper in some cuts, to the grocery store.

Side note: I am having extreme difficulty locating anything other than pork and beef. Don't get me wrong, I like steak, hamburger and bacon... but I miss chicken and fish. Still on the hunt for a place to purchase these things.

While at the farm I got the kids flavored honey sticks. They all tried them, no one was a fan. I also lucked out and my friend (and school nurse) Dawn brought me some herbs. This gives me more than onions and garlic to season with! So tonight for dinner the kids all had burgers, chips and watermelon. I had a bun-less burger. I chopped up cilantro and onions added salt and pepper and mixed it in with my hamburger. I hallowed out the center and filled it full of the cheddar I bought from Forrest Hall and topped it with salsa that I canned from our garden last year. It was super yummy!

Day 9- Tuesday
The garden is producing zucchini and squash like crazy. I have a love/hate relationship with these veggies. They are supplying me with my main source of nutrients at this point in the game... but I am tired of it. It is mushy and tasteless without seasonings. Jax, on the other hand, LOVES zucchini and squash... which is a positive! He is eating everything I eat.

The blackberry bushes are LOADED with green berries! I really need those berries to turn!

My Chesapeake Farmery Box came today. Everything in it was something I will eat, except the one unidentified object that I will have to google and figure out how to cook.

My craving for something crunch is crazy high, so I attempted to make sweet potato chips. Ultimate fail. I was so disappointed. Every chip was burnt or soggy. I will need to research and try this again.

Day 10- Wednesday
Today was just a normal day filled with eggs, squash and zucchini. Until the evening... I had the amazing opportunity to go see Hamilton at the Kennedy Center. Nothing revolved around food, just went and saw a show with some sweet friends (and council member Pamela) I haven't been able to see in several months. It was so nice to get out of the house, spend time with friends, enjoy the theater, and not have to worry about what food to eat or not eat!

Huge shoutout to my friend Rachel who stayed with my kiddos so I could go! Normally this would have been a "order pizza and not worry about dinner" night... but since that wasn't an option, rock star Rachel fixed them all dinner too!

Day 11- Thursday
I miss pasta. I miss any sort of seasoning that is not salt and pepper. I miss donuts. I miss chocolate. I miss fruit... all fruit that is not a blueberry or strawberry. I miss bread. I miss muffins. I miss lemonade. I miss fish. I miss chicken- fried chicken especially. I miss Chic-fil-a. I miss ice cream. I miss olives. I miss banana peppers. I miss lemon and lime. I miss avocado. I miss mustard... all condiments really. Condiments are what make a lot of food bearable... I'm waiting for you condiments... soon enough we will reunite.

Day 12- Friday
The unidentified object from my farm box was a chayote squash. I looked up how to prepare it. Turns out you can eat it raw (supposed to taste like a cross between cucumber and pear) or you can sauté it. I went with raw (so done with sautéed veggies). I felt it tasted more like a raw potato. I would never choose it... but it was a nice crunchy texture, like and apple, that I had been missing... so I powered through.

We had a ceremony and reception for Landen's promotion into middle school. There was cake. I'm going to be honest here... I started praying last night that the Lord please help me to take away the desire for all these things I can't have, or to show me some amazing, tasty things I'm missing, instead of being so caught up in what I can NOT have. Today, I didn't even miss the cake. I was 100% involved in the moment and didn't even think about the food I was missing out on.

Day 13- Saturday
Today was the day. Tears were shed. It's the grocery store y'all… I am still doing a good bit of shopping for the family at the grocery store. It is just loads of food I can't have. And I'm not even talking about all the junk, I'm talking about healthy options that are from somewhere other than Maryland. I went shopping for our camping trip, picking up things for hotdogs and smores... none of which I could consume. I walked out of the store and got in the car. Eric said, "What's wrong? You look like your puppy died." I said, "I just really miss food. Why is this so hard?" and started to cry.

I got over it pretty quick. Just needed to let it out I guess.

I also had a cheat, I think, today. We were running errands and I got a salad from Panera. I got the strawberry poppy seed salad. I did not read ingredients, just looked at the pic on the wall. Strawberries, blueberries, chicken, lettuce, walnuts... all things in season. I was good. Except- there is pineapple and mandarin oranges... not in pic. I picked around them and tried not to consume any, put the dressing on the salad what a for sure cheat... an unbelievable burst of flavor cheat.  There... I fessed up.

I also went to a couple of markets today and the seafood store we have right here in town (who knew? not me!) I found a small bad of homemade granola at the Amish market (that I consumed lickety split). I also bought a chicken! Chicken... not so reasonably priced. I paid almost double what I pay at the grocery store. I baked it and seasoned only with salt and pepper to have for our camping trip. I found local butter and jalapeno cheddar cheese at the Amish market. I also bought the kids some AMAZING smelling cinnamon rolls.

And I bought a fish. Like a whole one that was caught that morning. This for some reason seemed very funny to me... but now I have fish and chicken. Yeah!

Super thankful the Lord is giving me some opportunities to enjoy the process.

Day 14- Sunday
I have never wanted a burnt hotdog and campfire smores so much in my entire life! We are camping, something I am not a big fan of, but for some reason everyone else (even Jax) loves it. So, I put on my girl pants and tried to have a good attitude. The only thing for me that makes camping bearable is the junk you get to eat... roasted hotdogs and smores... I had chicken that was re-heated over a fire and cucumbers and strawberries.

For breakfast everyone else at delicious yet horrible for you junk cereal (because we are camping- its a special occasion). I had a boiled egg.

I got over it and enjoyed the beautiful hike. These people are my whole world. And even though I'm not a fan of camping and hiking... I sure am a fan of the people I get to do it with!

If you stuck through this crazy long post... your a champ!
Thanks for joining me on the journey!

After having my own little pitty party about the food