Emotions, Preparations and Stocking my Larder

I’ve been coming to terms with my own insecurities regarding this journey this past week, and today, let’s face it, has been hard. What if this doesn’t work? What if we fail and nothing changes for Raleigh? What if things get worse before they get better? Will I be able to handle all of these things?

My kids spent last week at VBS at our church.  The VBS cd has been going non-stop in our house and car and, THEREFORE, in my head at all hours of the day, especially 2 am for some reason.  But I have one specific song running repeat and, the lyrics say, “God is with me, He is for me, I am not alone.” As simple as those words are, they ring true in my spirit. I know I’m not alone in any of this. I’m blessed to have a wonderful support system that’s as close as my husband and reaches as far as the prayers from the lips of family and friends that are miles away. I am blessed, and I am not alone.

So I’ve been preparing. I’ve been in the kitchen by making gelatin from chicken feet and freezing it in Star Wars molds, poaching my first chicken, and making honey and coconut cremes for Raleigh. Today I am making my first ever chicken stock. I’ve been making bone broth for a few years now but have learned there are differences between stock and broth and different nutrients derived from each. So his soups in stage 1 will be made from chicken and beef stock, and later on he will have more bone broth brought into his diet.

This first week is going to be a big, fat experiment in how much soup to make, how much soup Raleigh will eat, and how many times I will be running back to Whole Foods to buy more raw chicken. For this first week, my original plan was to alternate giving him two soups: Basic Chicken Soup and Tomato Soup. I found a fantastic cook book written by a woman who put her entire family though the GAPS diet with wonderful success. This is the book:

It is proving to be essential in this quest. Give me a cookbook, and I can do anything. So, I’m really thankful I have this tool.

I get really excited about ingredients and having a stash, or a larder, full and ready to be used to make nourishing foods. Some find excitement in sports, I find chicken feet and my pantry exciting. Really, I’m quite a catch.

My larder is stocked and ready to be utilized as we move Raleigh through the first six stages of the Introduction Diet. I will soon be making my own ghee, and fermenting yogurt and sour cream to aid his body in healing. I have already dabbled in making my own sauerkraut and kefir, and I will be adding small amounts of the brine of the kraut to his soups as a necessary probiotic in the first stage. There really isn’t anything like homemade sauerkraut.

I made the chicken soup today and will make the tomato soup tomorrow. I also decided to put chicken liver into the chicken soup. I’ve never touched a liver before, even though I take desiccated cow liver daily for the numerous health benefits. The liver was grotesque, to say the very least, and looked like bloody elephant ears, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wince a bit when I had to handle it. It was somehow so much grosser than the chicken feet I’m used to touching when I make bone broth. I was also really excited to find local tomatoes with which to make the soup . The last picture is of the chicken stock before it simmered for six hours.

ingredients for week 1

We have also set up a few reward systems to encourage the eating of lots and lots of soup. Every time he eats a bowl for a meal or snack, he will get to put a penny in a jar. When he gets to a certain number of pennies, he will either get to pick a toy out of the surprise toy box, go pick out a balloon from Party City, go see a $1 movie, and a myriad of other surprises we have in the works.

I know there will be times, likely many, where he’s just tired of eating soup. I really can’t imagine any 4-year-old excited to eat soup over and over for every meal and snack. We’re going to need a lot of grace and prayer.

As the last preparation day has come to an end, I’m feeling ready for day one. I’m anxious, but we’re prepared. A lot changes tomorrow for all of us. Mercy Me has a song out on the radio right now called Even If. I heard it for the first time about a month ago, and it really brought me to tears and to my knees. Here is a portion of the lyrics: