Everyday Life: On Grace through Green Macaroni

All is quiet upstairs now.

He's gone to bed hungry after refusing to eat his dinner tonight. There was a storm of angry tears and frustration first, though, along with a sinking-stomach feeling settled deep in my body.

We're no longer caving to all his wants for food that isn't delivering him the nutrition he really needs.

Three long days of torture for the mother-heart, I tell you.

This trying to do what is right, what will nourish and heal his body instead of allowing his cravings and desires to infiltrate reality as needs.

It feels like a battle of epic proportions, taking on the 2 year old and his food preferences for only carbohydrates, meat and dairy. Nothing green goes in unless its been finely shredded and mixed in with another food. And that's only a recent development.

I cling to it, and I cling to His feet.

This is about so much more than whether our toddler eats green beans.


And yet, it is exactly about our toddler eating green beans, too.

Because like with anything else in life, the mind and the will directly relate to the health and the strength of the body and both the heart and metaphorical heart.

This battle is mind/will and strength/body combined in a doozie of a saga.

I know what his food preferences lead to -- they lead to catching every cold that comes his way as well as long-term illnesses parents pray their children will never face.

This sugar-loving, acidity-forming, antioxidant-lacking diet doesn't lead us down paths we want to tread.

Try explaining that to a two year old who knows the wonders of cheddar bunnies, though, on his tongue.

We must grow, though. Him in his tastes and me in me ability to determine how to best help him make healthy choices.

And all the while be sure that enough grace is laced into the hardballs life naturally throws in our faces; I must keep reminding myself that we parents don't really have to teach our kids the hardness of life. Life teaches that on its own.

But grace.

Grace must be lived out, shown with flesh on.

So while there will still be the movement toward healthier eating for sure; we'll probably never repeat him going to bed hungry again.

I know; one missed meal won't hurt his body. It's true. He will learn to eat his dinner if we continue to tow the hard line. But maybe the line can be towed without the fast-forward jerkiness that comes from my desire to teach him to eat well and eat what's served nownownow.

I don't know if I know what that looks like in real practice, in real life. Maybe love, maybe grace while still standing firm looks like the green macaroni we had for lunch today -- when I blended spinach into the cheese and milk and made a green cheese sauce for his quinoa/kamut/amaranth/durum noodles.

I really just don't know.

But I do know this -- neither his belly nor his heart are overflowing with anything but anger and emptiness tonight.

And, when thinking, that's not a place I'm willing to go again.

Living Healthfully: Best Chicken Soup Ever

At first I wasn't sure whether or not to be highly offended or highly flattered when John heartily took a heaping bite of the chicken soup I'd slaved over {read: chopped veggies for} all day {read: the time it took me to chop the veggies} and exclaimed that it was surely the best soup I'd ever made.

I mean, I'm not some fabulous chef or anything close, but I've made some pretty darn good soups; they are kind of my thing.

After assuring me that most of my soups have been good and that all of his past compliments hadn't been pity remarks {kidding!}, he added that this one was exceptionally good.

So because it's super healthy{I mean, like, whoa healthy}, exceptionally tasty and it's pretty painless to make, here's the play by play on how to create my {creatively titled} Best Chicken Soup Ever in your own kitchen.

Ingredients:
One small whole chicken
Four stalks of celery
One pound bag of carrots
One bunch of parsley
One bunch of cilantro
One sweet onion
One bunch of leeks
Olive Oil
Five cloves of garlic
Sea Salt
Pepper
One cup of frozen Kale or about 5 large fresh leaves chopped well
Dried Italian Seasoning blend
One Lime
One bag of baked Blue Corn Tortilla Chips* {optional}

Directions:

Place entire chicken {remove organ pack if it's included first!} in a crock pot with enough time to cook for about 6-8 hours. Add 6-8 cups of water {basically you only want the top of the chicken to be above water} and drizzle olive oil atop of the chicken. Turn the heat on high.

While the crock pot is warming and the chicken is beginning to cook and make a simple broth in the pot, get busy chopping carrots, celery, parsley, leeks and onion. Crush the garlic. Add all ingredients to the crock pot after you're finished chopping and allow them to simmer on high with the chicken. Also add a generous sprinkle of the dried Italian Seasoning blend now.

About an hour and half before serving your soup, begin breaking pulling the chicken meat off the bones. After removing much of the meat, take the carcass {leave the leg bones in the crock pot to simmer}and place it in a big stock pot. Cover the carcass with water and simmer the carcass in the stock pot with the lid on. You'll want to cover the carcass with about an inch or so of water.

Next, chop the cilantro and add most of it along with the kale to the crockpot. Toss the rest of the cilantro into the stock pot. If you have another clove of garlic, add it to the stock pot, too. Let the carcass simmer for about an hour but check to make sure the carcass is still covered with water in the pot during the simmering period. Add more water if needed.

After an hour, pour the stockpot contents into the crock pot using a strainer to strain the bones and meat.

Then pick out the meat from the stock pot and add it to your soup.

Add sea salt and pepper before serving and serve with a side of fresh lime and blue corn tortilla chips.

{*If you are following the Body Ecology Diet like I am, this meal adheres to the guidelines for first and second phases minus the tortilla chips. Don't eat the tortilla chips alongside a protein or starchy veggies!}