Frugal GAPS? a start towards health

Our family is setting ahead on the GAPS diet.  I read the book three weeks ago, saw a nutritionist to discuss this diet and children, and began slowly implementing the diet this week.  

My goal has been to remove sugar this week and I have been able to do that! 

The ingredients are costly and difficult to begin.   I decided to use a menu from my pantry and eat that food instead of shopping that week.  

That left $100 to start the diet.  

$30 for 4# almond flour

$18 for 5# organic coconut flour

$25 for 54 oz EV coconut oil

$7 for raw honey

I bought probiotics too.

The next week I spent $100 on veggies, fruits, eggs, organic dairy and fish.  We continued eating the frozen meats on hand.  

Having the flours and healthy fats on hand, made it possible to ease into the diet with basic baked goods as treats like pancakes with almond flour and cookies with coconut flour. 

Stuffed Potatoes

Whenever I bake banana bread, I have a empty rack in the oven. It feels like a wasted opportunity and energy, so I try to fill it up.
Today a threw in some potatoes for supper.
Tonight we have baked potatoes with steamed broccoli and cauliflower (frozen .99 a pound) quarter pound of bacon crumbled (bought a 3 pound box of bacon ends for 2.33 a pound) and cheese sauce like this.

Chicket Pot Pie Casserole

Yesterday I boiled up some chicken and had some broth to use.  I had bought peas and carrots for 0.67 and that popped into mind.  I whipped up some homemade cream of chicken soup.  It was something like this. Then tossed in one shredded chicken breast and half a pound of peas and carrots.  I greased a 9x9 and poured it in there.

I was too lazy to make a crust or biscuits to top it, so I buttered some bread ends seasoned and chopped those up.  I broiled them on on low for 4-5 minutes and put that on top of the casserole with about 1/4 cup of cheese.

Everyone liked it, which is a small miracle. 

Apples...

Many people's trees are full, but unpicked.  I asked on Facebook if anyone needed to have their apples picked.  They did! :) Free food.

I made nine quarts of apple pie filling.

This is the recipe I used.  It's good and gooey.  I can see it being used as a filling, a pie or on top of waffles.

Then I had a mound of apple peels.  Google to the rescue.  I am making these chips now. 

I put all the cores into water and boiled.  I strained it and had apple "juice" after I added a little sugar and pumpkin pie spice. 

I have 4 friends offering apples... what to make next?

"New" Canisters for Storage

I have an extremely small kitchen.  There are two small drawers.  All the silverware and utensils are in them.  I HATE stuff on the counters, but there is always stuff- chargers, bills to pay, kids treasures, keys, phones.

These have no place to call home at my house.

Then I saw these at a second hand store.  

They were $1 and look very beat up, but I like the shape and knew they were the answer to my countertop woes.

I scrubbed and painted:

I liked them two-toned and I liked the original black handles.  So I kept the tops black.  

They cost $3.50 for blue spray paint.  I had the black on hand.  

Total cost $4.50 

I will store paperwork that needs action in the large one, cords in the next largest.   I could even label them with a white board marker.

Great find!

I took a chance on this 12 month down coat.  It was on sale at a second hand shop for .25 but it was VERY stained.  I soaked it with Shout advanced, tossed it in the washer and there are no stains!!!  We're set for next winter! 

worse version of self

As I was unloading the dishwasher yesterday, a task I had put off all day, I wondered with annoyance how many times I'd put away my white plates, bowls and mugs.  I wished for magic dishes and clothes that reappear clean and put away where they belong in my home.

My head has been aching for 48 hours and so my home has slipped out of my grasp again, filling every basket with laundry, the floor with grit, every surface with stuff and my mind with the blues.  I can feel myself slipping into the land of blahs, the place of gloom.  The place of failure.  The kind of failure that causes a person to give up and to miss out on the joy of what's in front of her.

When I was younger I would have waited for this feeling to go away.  I would have waited and waited and waited.  As if the magic of the cleaning fairy would arrive while I slept.   I chose to believe that I deserved a rest or that the chores were so overwhelming that I would feel worse if I decided to tackle the mess. 

Now that I am older, I know that the only way out into the bright skies of joy is to get off my rump, ask the Lord for help and do what needs to be done.  To turn off the TV, this computer and to set a timer.

Yes, a timer.  I am nothing but a child in a woman's body. If I play a game with myself I can trick myself into doing what needs to be done.  I look around and decide on a time. I say 10-15 minutes in one section of the house.  Then I move clockwise through the space and do NOT allow distractions to enter my space.

So today I'm starting to see a glimmer of hope as the third load of laundry goes into the blessed machine and the cleaning fairy does arrive to drag me back to the light.  All along she's been here, she's me.