I am on a gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free diet. Basically, I am starving. Okay, I am not really starving, but my brain thinks I am a lot of the time. I have had to adapt from eating  whatever I wanted, to eating everything I did not want. I have to keep my protein intake up as well, which is not as easy as it sounds. I am this close to hating eggs for eternity.

During this whole process though, I have found a lot of fantastic recipes and meal ideas.  and a few great lessons.

Lesson #1: Cauliflower can be good, and good for you- as long as you chop it with a gas mask on.


One of the new recipes was the pizza with the cauliflower crust I posted yesterday. To be honest, I had never even put a piece of cauliflower to my lips before last week. I am a hypocrite. I used to get my kids to eat it by telling them it was broccoli's brother. I on the other hand, preferred the less albino of the two siblings. When I found the cauliflower recipes I decided to just leap in. As I riced it, the pungent, very unpleasant, odor assailed my senses. It smells like LuLu's farts. (LuLu is my dog, not by daughter.) Despite the awful smell, once it is mixed with other ingredients, it's not even recognizable.

Lesson #2: Never ever think recovering addicts/alcoholics have it easy.

Every time I walk by sugar; whether it is a donut in the bakery, a piece of candy corn on the table, or a handful of smashed Skittles on the sidewalk— I get an instant urge to put it in my mouth. Followed by shame, hunger and then, finally, euphoria at my ability to resist (if I did).

Lesson #3: Not everyone who says white sugar, white flour etc. is bad is a hippy.

My doctor does not look, sound or smell like a hippy and she told me all those things were bad. I have also felt better than I ever have before. So either I was wrong, or I am now a hippy.

There are surely more lessons to be learned, but that is enough for one day.

I will try to post more recipes or meal ideas here for anyone who would like to cross the line and come to the dark side.

This last weekend was a whopping three days long. It was also Jon's birthday-- his 40th. In honor of his birthday, I stepped out of the house and let Jon, Kyle and Jon's brother play video games for more than 24 hours. I know- I'm that nice. It also gave me a chance to work a little and get some of my stuff done.

Saturday we had cake and ice cream and then Jon and I went to a fundraising dinner. The Moscow High School Bear Boosters have a dinner each year to raise money for sports at the school. This includes club sports, like my son's lacrosse team, which the boosters help financially. We hadn't planned on going, but at the last minute our friends asked if we wanted to fill in the seats at their table (someone had bought tickets but couldn't go).

I felt like a fish out of water. There was a silent auction before the dinner and everyone (they all knew each other) was mingling with drinks in their hands bidding hundreds of dollars on spa packages and tickets to various sporting events etc. When dinner came it was a pleasant surprise. Lots of good company and good conversation. Jon and I had ordered the beef medallion. My idea of a medallion of beef is that it is the size of a medallion. Not this beef. It was more like a beef plaque. The plate came with a ginormous slice of prime rib. It must have been an inch thick and 7 inches in diameter. Jon grunted in pleasure and I tried to figure out how best to eat it without looking like an indelicate pig (sitting next to the vegetarian who said it wouldn't be so bad to watch if the beef was free range).

This wasn't the actual dinner, but the meat looks pretty similar. You can see how this would be unappetizing to sit next to if you don't eat beef for personal reasons. Who am I kidding? This might make me drool even if I was a vegan who had never eaten meat before in my life.

We ended up having to cut the night short when Maggie missed her ride home from the ice skating rink. The weekend ended on a superb note though. Our friends Amy and Allan invited us to their home for dinner Sunday night. We had some of the best corned beef and cabbage and the night was so pleasant.

Good friends, good food, good conversation and a lot of laughter. What more could I ask for?