Boy's In The Kitchen!!

My big boys have taken over my kitchen! It seems they are always creating something new!! Healthy desserts (most of you would not call them desserts) smoothies, main dishes and just about anything in between! I'm not sure if this is good or not!?? I like it most times but at any time they might decide to create something and along with that comes the trail that they tend to leave behind them without them even realizing it...:) They do great though and more then not I stand back in amazement...;)

From the beginning of Jordan's food sensitivity journey and even when going all gluten free I wanted to teach Jordan how to read food labels on his own. I wanted him to learn how to create foods that are great tasting yet friendly to him. I felt a bit overwhelmed with the idea of me always having to be right there creating his food and making sure he not take a single bite of the foods he cannot have. I got him involved right away and since he has always enjoyed being in the kitchen he picked up on it right away!

I will find Jordan using a scissors and cutting off the leaves of fresh parsley, he cuts the pieces real fine then sprinkles it in with his dish! This kid is detailed and the food he can create is amazing!! He gets frustrated so often because the rest of the family will come along and pick at his food because it's just that good!

Justin has come to realize that Jordan's food is better then his and he has taken a liking to the kitchen as well!! I think they challenge each other to see who can come up with the better dish. Jordan even tells me he can now make better tasting food then me!!...:) I tell him "well I'm still faster and can do it with less mess":) He is learning though and he always puts his things away behind him now. It's mostly just dirty counter tops and an extremely oil spritzed stove top once they are done in the kitchen...:)

I do the grocery shopping and I find if I have lots of veggies on hand they create most of the dishes based on those! I always have cooked "organic brown rice" in the refrigerator, this gets added to many dishes to (even breakfast) but only a little bit because they add so many different things that it don't take to much rice. Pork Chops were on the grill this evening. They grilled onions, peppers, peas and more together then they cut the meat in small pieces and added it to the veggies. Sometimes it goes on a bed of lettuce with nuts or something or drizzled with olive oil but most times they just eat it like this...;)

I chop up cabbage, celery, snap peas, broccoli and whatever I have in this line a few time a week and keep it in a dish in the fridge, that way when we want to create something fast the veggies are all ready to throw in a pan with some coconut or avocado oil. I learned so much can be done with veggies if we just get a bit creative!! I want to wean my family off of so much meat but that needs a bit of work yet...:) They have cut back but I still think it's to much...:) I'm liking the "Plant based ' diet more and more but this will take more "Baby Stepping"...;)

The Zook Brothers might be opening their very own diner one day and I'm convinced the food would be great!...:) Justin is doing the same diet as Jordan the past few days minus the fact that he can have milk, chicken eggs and fruit in moderation. He struggles a bit with the "No Sugar" thing like Jordan did at first but this is to be expected.

 I love how Jordan will watch Justin as he tries certain things that Jordan has been eating for the last few months! Like his oatmeal at breakfast....:) Justin shivered a bit through this one this morning...:) Jordan has gluten free oats cooked with rice milk then he sprinkles cinnamon and a bit of stevia on the top... This took time for him to like it but he likes it now. (only he likes it when he makes it and not me:}) It was cute how he watched Justin out of the corner of his eye as he was trying to like this oatmeal at breakfast this morning...:)

Jordan seems to enjoy having Justin on board with him. The past months he had to watch Justin enjoy many of the foods that were off limits to him,  now they seem to cheer each other on more and I think it's great. I hope these boys learn a lot while they do these weeks of "Whole Food" only! I hope they recognize how much better they feel. I hope they create good lifetime habits through all of this.

This has been a journey that started with "Baby Steps" but having cut out so much processed and bad foods from this families diet has been more of a blessing then a burden in more ways then one.

 It does get a bit trying at times when I enter the kitchen bright and early in the morning to pack school lunches and basically I have a "full blown cooking session" going on before the lunches are packed for the day. I do not always feel like creating more Jordan friendly food! Some days I want to go back to the pancakes and syrup, toast, French toast and the easy stuff that I was always used to.

It also gets trying sometimes when shopping for food and all the yummy looking, handy premade stuff is jumping out at me yet off limits for us. It gets overwhelming when I think of taking Jordan to a restaurant to eat ever again! Summer picnics and Bar-b-q's look overwhelming sometimes!

I could feel sorry for myself on schools "Hot Lunch" days to but I decided from the beginning that I will put my heart into this if it helps Jordan's healing journey, I will take it as a blessing that we can actually do something so simple as diet change to help Jordan heal. I tell myself God has me here for "Such A Time As This"

I told myself I will help Jordan be independent so he not need to depend on me for the rest of his life. For the most part this has been fun and easy so far! We spend countless hours in the kitchen together. This is fun...:) He picks stuff up from me even without me realizing it. Like how to cut a pepper. At first he cut it any old way but after watching me he now makes nice long strips...:) He can not use many seasonings at all so we add fresh herbs which can really create a great unique taste of it's own. We tried making many foods we didn't end up liking. It seems to be an everyday teaching session in my kitchen and for the most part I'm loving it...:)

This whole diet change for Jordan has been so good for all of us and I'm staring to look at it as a bigger BLESSING then a BURDEN.

Yes it takes sacrifice and some major changes needed to take place. More time went into food preparation at first. Tears were shed at the grocery store. Grocery shopping needs to be done more often to have fresh vegetables on hand. It seems to take more money. Reading labels was hard at first and I just really do miss baking all the yummy goodies the way that I used to. But we are blessed and I refuse to let it get me down... We just do what we need to do for our kids and in the long run I see it being good for all of us...:) It's more of a mind thing then anything and once we have overcome the mind games it really is not to hard!

Today's CHOP appointment with Jordan went well. His doctor was encouraged at how well he seemed to be. The weight loss was not as significant as our records are since it was a year that he was there. He had been steadily gaining weight the past year before his food allergy test was done so he was down five pounds since last year for the CHOP's records and not the twenty that we have recorded. His signature winter time cough is none existent since his diet change. He has more energy and his bowels have changed drastically for the better! They took blood today to test his levels. Now we wait to see if anything has changed there.

The Doctor did tell us that Jordan's antibody levels were so extremely low that the chances of him ever coming off of these treatments is really low! He referred it to a diabetic person who's body can't make it's own insulin so they need to give themselves insulin shots for the rest of there lives. Jordan has the same issue with his antibody cells. They are not there so he needs replacement shots. Oh well we still continue to believe he will be able to come off of these treatments one day and his body will recover and heal.

I dropped Javon off at school this morning and quickly slipped in a five mile run. (Thanks Rachel Ann for picking him up at school again!!) I proved this morning that I can still run five miles without a problem...;)  I'm hopeful that my body won't be to shocked come spring and I start to put on more miles. I tell myself if I can go a five then I can still do a ten...:) I will not miss the cold of these snowy winter runs but the beauty was so often breathtaking and this I think I will miss a bit...

I feel a hint of spring in the sun. It just seems to be a warmer closer sun. I think the grass must be getting green in under all that snow. It has been a record winter of snow and cold in my book and I'm not always sure it was the best winter to cancel the gym and keep up with the running...:} The treadmill in the attic did not get used once this winter by me and since I road run I hate the thought of getting on that thing! Justin uses it more then anybody else...:)

I juiced this "mean green juice" after my run this morning. I still have some in the fridge for Dave...;)

We plan to have an evening of books and games tonight. The Little's love to be read to while the guys play Acquire...:) Sometimes we play "Candy Land" to. Dave told me that time change is next week-end!!?? Is this for sure right?? Are we ready for this already while we have snow on the ground?? I guess we will soon be trading in the books and Candy Land games for bright evenings outdoors...

It sure has been a fun winter for us!!! I'm never a winter person but I'm not so sure I'm ready to let go of all the beauty that came with this season..?? I'm sure God has much beauty in store for our Spring to but it can take awhile with this much snow that needs to turn into slop first...

Enjoy a cozy Wednesday evening indoors while winter is still here...:)