My Afflation

I planned this menu last week and never got around to the grocery shopping. We ended up eating whatever I could throw together from the fridge and eating out at least twice. Not good for my budget. Lately, I've had to make even more adjustments to our diet (read that as "lifestyle") and how I cook. In addition to dairy intolerance, tolerable if she takes a Lactaid, my daughter's soy intolerance is a borderline allergy. She can't have anything that contains soy oil (looking at you Trader Joe's snacks), or that has soy lecithin . Did you know that stuff is in practically everything ? I couldn't even buy tapioca for the pie I made (recipe and link coming soon). It tasted so much better than it looks.

Well, this past week was nice, weather-wise, and I forgot to menu plan, so there was a lot of cleaning out the fridge and using a few recipes from the previous week . The lentil stew and red beans and rice made meals for multiple days. In fact, I'm still eating lentil stew. I think I will freeze the rest for a rainy day.  And then I took a look at the upcoming weather and decided that it will just be too damn hot in my apartment when I get home to cook. It's a pleasant 70-something outside now, but between 4-7PM my apartment heats up into the high 80s. The downside of living on the top floor. I seem to have misplaced the lid to my slow cooker. So .... Monday: Avocado Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing  - with chicken for protein Tuesday: Thai Chicken, Mango, and Pineapple Salad Wednesday: Steak and Arugula Salad  - minus the ciabatta and capers Thursday: Salmon Cucumber Salad with whatever greens are left over from the previous ...

The last few weeks (months?) I have been lazy and fell back into some old habits. The result, I've gained back some of my hard-lost weight, I feel weak and tired all the time, and I crave carbs like nobody's business. To the point where I resorted to eating a piece of (Orowheat Honey Wheat Berry) bread dry. No butter (apple or otherwise), and once with chocolate coconut frosting on top. I mean, who does that???? You don't even want to know how much chocolate I have eaten in moments of emotional stress, or boredom. It doesn't help that the office candy lady now sits right next to me ... This week I have endeavored to eat more healthily and get back on the mostly paleo diet that has been working wonders for me (losing weight with minimal high impact exercise? Sign me up!). Dinner menu is below, IP had some input, and the Teen is back in town so I'll have to adjust how much I cook for the next three months. My lunches for the week will either be leftovers or Tuna...