Nate, who is 16 now, has a number of food intolerances and prohibitions, mainly driven by his sensory issues with the textures of certain foods. Some of these things are completely RANDOM. Prior to the age of 7, Nate would both eat and apparently enjoy chicken. Then he saw the movie "Chicken Run." Here's the link on Wikipedia: Chicken Run!
Okay, no more chicken! From the second he saw those stop-motion chickens shivering in fear of "the CHOP," Nate absolutely refused to let the Colonel's crunchy goodness touch his lips. And since pork, beef, GROUND beef, hot dogs, lunchmeat, and other forms of animal protein also presented problems for him, I was left to flail around for vegetable sources. Cue the split peas, lentils, beans & rice! Ah, but how to prepare them?
YES! Strawberry Pig loves my Crockpot, and SO DO I! I learned that I could throw a 1 lb. bag of split peas, 10 cups of water, some baby carrots and potatoes and a bit of salt and pepper in there and 8 hours later serve up hot, steaming bowls of protein-rich soup that Nate would devour like a starving man. Sometimes I'd even hide some secret bacon in there, or diced ham (I'm not a Spy for nothing!).
Some people are domestically gifted, such as my sister Erika, and love the work of making a household into a home. This includes cooking and baking. But for me, her far-less-talented older sis, I struggled for years with my hatred of La Vida Domestica. My heavy weight, with its accompanying sleep apnea, chronic pain and subsequent tiredness, just made cooking another horrible chore at which I was mediocre at best. Thankfully, in the last few years I have not only gained a tremendous amount of energy, I've also found the tools to help me to do the most efficient job in the least amount of time in the kitchen. To wit: My veggie chopper!
I love this thing! I found it at Target years ago and it is so cool. You rough-chop your desired veggie, place it over the metal grid, then SLAM the white top down and the chopped veggies fall down into the clear plastic receptacle underneath. I use it all the time--to chop veggies for stews, or to add zucchini and summer squash to spaghetti sauce or even chili (I know it sounds weird, but try it!). For someone with my lame hand-chopping and slicing skills, it is a life-saver!
I've been gradually working at re-introducing chicken to Nate over the last several years as well. He seems to be okay as long as the chicken is not in a recognizable form, so I do a lot of shredded chicken breast. I am not ashamed to say that I use Chicken Helper on a regular basis. Martha Stewart may have a heart attack, but dammit, sometimes ya gotta go with the quick meal choice!
I fill out the meal by adding a bag of frozen vegetables to the skillet while it's cooking--usually a stir-fry asparagus or sugar-snap pea mix that you can find at any supermarket--and both Brodie and Asher like a bit of shredded cheese sprinkled and melted on the top. Nate, for reasons of his own, is a non-shredded cheese kind of person.
For the RUNNERS: Here's a couple of pictures of me doing stretches and incidentally attracting the attentions of our cat, Pumpkin Jack:
And here is what I look like AFTER the run, which was 8.58 miles at an 8 min. 16.5 sec. mile pace:
Today I noticed that my left achilles tendon hurts a bit. Yesterday's run was 8.94 miles with a LOT of uphill in Portland's Western Hills, up by Dosch, Fairmount and Talbot Rd. I was running along a particularly arduous uphill slope when I spotted another runner up ahead. She had STOPPED and had her cell phone out and was calling her husband to come pick her up! She was 'way thinner and looked faster than me, so I felt a little dip in my fighting spirit just then. But I just kept running.
My achilles was a little sore at the end of the run, but I didn't think anything of it. This morning, however, definite stiffness and discomfort. So, as any runner knows, it's time for ICE and cross-training to give the tendon a chance to heal. Here's a pic of my ice-pack:
Strawberry Pig is also a fan of my ice-pack. Which doubles as part of a nutritious, delicious meal! AND on that note of La Puerca Fresa's definite approval, I shall sign-off for another week. 'Bye for now, folks!
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