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Pear sorbet.

Apple waffles (leftover batter recycled into apple pancakes this morning).

Applesauce (containing apples, pears, dates and figs.

Apple/pear/date/fig cider (strained juice from the applesauce cooking).

Salads, salads and more salads!  Some with grilled chicken!

Stir fry!

I really felt like I’d made a lot more things than I did; I spent a lot of time in the kitchen!  I guess we did eat a lot of salad this weekend, because it’s just starting to get hot outside.  In any case, eating more vegetables makes me feel more human somehow, and I can’t see any down sides.  It just meant a lot of prep time with very little actual cooking in the “I made this” sense.

I didn’t feel like eating much of anything when Sami and I got home today, so I gave her a bowl of the navy bean, sausage and kale soup I made over the weekend. She sucked it right down and loved it to bits.

I decided to make something out of the greens from three beets in my weekly CSA share. (Yes, I think I’ll be talking about the CSA a lot.) So I made myself a few slices of turkey bacon. Then I chopped up a few cloves of garlic and tossed them into the oil the bacon left behind, followed by some chunky carrots, and then finally the beet greens and stalks. Lightly sauteed, tossed with some salt and pepper, and that’s it.

Um, yum.

I only wish that each individual item in my CSA box didn’t come in plastic bags. Nothing to do with the food, and at least I can save them up and put them in the plastic bag recycling at the market. But I plan to write to Be Wise Ranch to suggest that they eliminate the plastic packaging where possible.

OK, so it’s mostly not lettuce.  But boy howdy, I just had a salad with the spring mix that was in my CSA box from Friday, and I will not hesitate to eat the greens straight up, no tomatoes, no cucumber, no dressing in the future.  These greens taste GOOD, on their own merit.

One chopstick!

Originally uploaded by cinediva

I think she may have noticed that it doesn’t work as well with only one. But she still had a blast trying! I estimate that by age 4 she’ll be a natural with the chopsticks.

Michael Ruhlman has written a post, America’s Fat Problem, which expresses well how I’ve been feeling about the idea of food and nutrition but haven’t been able to adequately describe.

I’ve been loathe to switch from full to skim milk (just don’t like it) or to use fat free cheese (yuck!) I have always known that when I have problems with eating, it’s not the food’s fault; my portion control is to blame. My two prong approach, as of last week, has been to up fresh fruits and veggies and avoid prepared and processed foods. I’ve also avoided sweets and fatty foods, but only because I need to change my habits before I confront things that have tempted me to overeat in the past.

I’m not going to wax nutritional here. I’ll leave it to Ruhlman.

Also, isn’t that photograph gorgeous?

Today Sami only nursed 3 times - first thing in the morning, first thing upon getting home, and right before bed.  (And she went down without a fight, I might add!)

She requested nursies in the usual manner (wiggling herself into a sideways position on my lap and then making the “milk” sign while staring purposefully at my shirt) sometime shortly before table dinner, and I explained to her that we weren’t going to do milk again until bedtime.

Somehow, this explanation flew.

I don’t know when I’ll be ready to give up nursing completely.  I do know that I don’t like how little solid food she eats when I’m around because she wants to nurse ALL THE TIME and wants to eat NEVER.  No solids = lots of sleep interruptions = grumpy me and Ben = short fuses all around.

So I’m not claiming any victory yet.  But she did eat a metric ton of cheesy pasta for dinner, and I’m just saying that this might be a good sign for upping the solids and reducing the nursing to a regular schedule.