A Day in the Life: Small Victories

Alright. So here it goes. As promised, an honest, look at a day in the life of a very pregnant real foodie.  So, without further ado, I present a non-normal, but still fairly typical day in my little life:

Monday

Morning: As is fast becoming my weekday habit, I sleep in as late as possible before work. Today, I sleepily judge that I'm clean enough to do without a shower today, and exchange that luxury for an extra 15 minutes snoozing. When I'm finally dressed (inexplicably all in black), I spoon some yogurt in a cup, slop granola on top, kiss hubby goodbye, and head to work. I don't pack a lunch because my husband has the day off from school for Veteran's Day, so he will come meet me for lunch and bring something from home to eat.

Mid-morning: Heat some water in the work microwave, toss in some cinnamon and a black tea chai tea bag for a pick-me-up

Lunch: When hubby comes, he's forgetten to bring lunch. So we head out to our eternal back-up plan: the local grocery co-op/health food store. Thankfully, the hot bar today includes tomato, vegetable, & chicken soup (made with organic ingredients, so it doesn't feel like too much a of a compromise). That, with a hearty nuts and seeds whole wheat roll, makes for a decent $5 lunch out. I also buy a cup of black coffee as a treat for the afternoon (don't worry: I always mix in at least a quarter cup decaf to keep down caffeine for the baby). I also drink less than a third of the cup in a day, and save the rest for later.

Evening: Home by 6, which is lovely. Hubby is home the whole evening, too, which is even lovelier. I am SO much more productive when he is there. I'm starving, so I grab some kale and pre-cooked chickpeas from the fridge, throw them in the cast iron with some olive oil and garlic, cook until it looks tasty, squeeze on some fresh lemon juice, and devour. Then we get down to business: tackling the closets in the name of minimalism. Or, more accurately, tackling the enormous piles of clothes scattered around our bedroom in the name of minimalism. We successfully divide clothes into three piles (I'll let you guess who contributed most to which pile): clothes we actually wear now, clothes I will actually wear again when not pregnant, and clothes we are getting rid of. I'm happy to report that the third pile was the largest by far.

         We also did some dishes, bagged and froze the pot of chicken stock hubby made that afternoon, emptied the dehydrator of apple slices and bagged them, and also filled a large box with unnecessary kitchen items to give away or throw away. Mondays are also usually my soup night, so I made enough cheeseburger veggie soup (recipe below) for hubby's dinner that night and my work lunches the rest of the week. I even sorted the soup into appropriate sized storage containers in the fridge, and washed the pot immediately. We are cracking down on the dishes in our house! For dessert, I enjoyed a huge glass of raw chocolate milk (and even used it to wash down my fermented cod liver oil!). Then I laid out my work clothes for the week, packed my lunch bag, mixed up a few jars of rice and essential oils to infuse for scented sachet Christmas gifts, drank a big cup of pregnancy tea, and cuddled up to hubby for Bible reading and bedtime (before 10:00!).

       I won't lie- I feel REALLY good posting all that. After months of answering "curled up in the fetal position and watched Doctor Who on the the laptop" when hubby asked what I did before he got home that evening, I love feeling like I've accomplished something. I'll take victories where and however I can get them, and so, dear reader, should you.

Cheeseburger Veggie Soup (a blessed invention by Kate of modernalternativemama.com):

 

      Note: I usually make couple meals a week that take more time, and in this case, more expensive ingredients. I'm okay with that because they'll comprise lunches, snacks, or leftover dinners for the rest of the week. This is simply what works for us right now, so take it or leave it depending on your own time frame, and budget. :)

 

1 lb of grass-fed ground beef (I mean it! I strongly recommend abstaining from meat until you can afford the real stuff.) (also, can sub. venison if it's handy)

1/2 onion, diced

3-6 cups of homemade stock (we usually have chicken stock on hand, but the original recipe calls for beef, and we will often mix in some water to make our stock supplies last longer)

2 tbsp arrowroot powder

2-4 organic potatoes, diced (hubby likes his soups heavy on potatoes, and we get them free from the farm he works on). 

1 cup whatever vegetables you have on hand (broccoli, spinach, carrots, etc. We've also made this with just potatoes before)

1 tsp dry mustard powder, if available

just under 1 cup of grass-fed milk

up to 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

 

1. Brown ground beef and onions

2. Add stock, veggies, mustard powder, salt & pepper to taste

3. Simmer (low to medium, depending on your burner) for 40 min or so

4. Mix cold milk and arrowroot powder, add to soup

5. Add your cheese

6. Let cool, and enjoy!

 

(For us, this soup costs just under $10 to make in total, mainly due to the $6/lb local meat we buy. However, we get about 10 servings out of the meal, and it is extremely nutrient dense if you've used good homemade stock from pastured poultry. Less than $1/serving works for us! Costs will obviously vary based on where you source your ingredients. As mentioned before, we get a lot of free organic vegetables because hubby works on a farm. I know that is not everyone's situation, and truthfully, if we had to buy all the vegetables out of pocket, we'd probably get organic potatoes and buy conventional for the onion and other veggies. For more on judging grocery budget priorities, click here).