It Takes a Village

Mother's Day is kind of a humbling day. I don't always feel like I'm doing that great of a job. This is for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the misguided comparisons I make to others and the perfectionism that seems to be deep-seated in my veins. Also, I yell a lot.  And yet, despite my fears that I'm failing,on Sunday I was lavished with hugs and kisses, homemade cards, adorable presents made at school, and declarations of love.

Oh yeah, and breakfast in bed. 

Cha-ching!

I reflected on Sunday how the best parts of me as a parent are due to, first of all, God's incredible grace.  Clearly He thinks I can do this job, but it wouldn't happen without His wisdom and guidance (when I shut up and listen, that is).  The best parts of me are also a result of the influence of all the incredible women in my life: my mom, mom-in-law, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, sisters, Christian mentors, and friends. Not to mention my husband without whom I would be a weeping mass prostrate upon the floor.  I mean more than I already am. It truly is taking a village to help raise my children; an amazing community of which I am undeserving but am eternally grateful for. To all of you who are a part of this tribe I thank you.

BACK TO FOOD!
I ate the delicious breakfast you see pictured above slowly, one delicious bite at a time. It's a root vegetable hash made of parsnips, turnips, beets, sweet potates, and carrots with venison steak** mixed in.  I (rather, my hubby) used the recipe found here. I also had it for breakfast this morning and will probably finish it up tomorrow. Hooray for leftovers!

**Yes, I've mentioned venison a lot during this journey.  We have family in Michigan who hunt and fish, so we are very lucky to get some quality meat.  Venison is not for everyone, but I enjoy it in the right dishes.

Sunday lunch was a trip to Chipotle.  Thank you, Chipotle, for serving well-raised meat and quality ingredients! My order was a fajita bowl sans beans and rice (lettuce lined the bottom instead) with steak, fresh tomato salsa, and green tomatillo salsa.  I love sour cream and was going to miss that creamy element the most, so I decided to give guacamole a shot.  I have never been a big fan of guacamole, but I've been branching out over the last two weeks and trying avocado in some other dishes, so with my palate slowly changing I thought I'd give it a go. I actually really enjoyed it! (in small quantities :) ) 

Sunday evening we enjoyed a stew that James pulled together and cooked in the crock pot all day. Meat of choice? Venison steak of course.  And pretty much every vegetable you can imagine (except white potatoes. My eldest son was fooled into thinking parsnips were potatoes, however.  Heh heh). I also had discovered this recipe for chile lime chicken wings that I just HAD to try, so we gave that a shot too.  The grill isn't quite fired up and ready yet so we did them in the oven.  Great flavor but they should definitely be grilled, we decided. We had an avocado-cilantro-lime dipping sauce and today I made a homemade ranch (from the book, duh) for the leftovers. Super yummy.

Some brussels on the side, yo.

Yesterday was a day for leftovers, which is fine by me. Dinner for me was eaten on the fly before dashing out the door, and I threw together this dish. It calls for fish sauce which I did not use because the only Whole 30-compliant fish sauce needs to be ordered on Amazon, and I am just way too Dutch for that business. It was a delicious little meal and very, very quick to make. Which me likey.

Tip of the day. 

I've been missing my fun drinks a bit, I cannot tell a lie. There's just no substitute for a glass of wine at the end of the day. And it would defeat the purpose of the Whole 30 and its mission to retrain the psychology that happens between me and food to TRY to substitute.  But just to mix up the blandness of plain ol' water all the time, I discovered these gems:

A little smidge of fruity after taste and some bubbles.  Works for me!