It is harvest time in Indiana! My favorite time! A bustling, busy time! We always bring our kids to the farm to feel the rhythm of the season in October. The crisp air. Cool nights. Warm days. Colors of gold and orange. Abundance of produce. A sense of action among the farmers with work to be done before the weather changes. It is good to be home and good to share this with my children. This is why we homeschool. To share my heritage.

But being home has its challenges. Apple dumplings with ice cream. S’mores around the bonfire. Harvey Hinklemeyer’s–the best hometown pizza place ever. And for some reason this trip home hits harder than ever. I’m missing wheat and dairy like I miss my good friend Kim from South Carolina. Just to sit over a cup of coffee with Kim. Just to sit over coffee with Wheat and Dairy, my long-lost friends.  Oh, how I miss them.

Fall must have been a time where I curled up with a great dessert and warm, fulfilling food. Because I’m pushing my discipline to the limit here at home at mom and dad’s house with regard to this SCD/GAPS stuff.  And Mom isn’t helping matters too much.

My mom loves to feed people.  You can almost see her gain strength and power as people relish her food and cooking. It isn’t healthy for any of us. Her. Us. Me.  But it is what it is. And that’s the way it is. But she can’t cook for me right now because she will cheat and throw stuff in there to make things taste better. Or she’ll use an ingredient that I could eat last week and not this week, on my ever-changing GAPS/SCD journey.

In addition, she often gets frustrated because she thinks I’m not eating enough. Heaven forbid that I lose 10 pounds. I must be starving myself.  “I’d just go get the surgery to have my colon out and be done with it,”  she says.  “I’ve seen enough of your diet.”  She gets a bit ouchy to be around.  Because food is more than food, it’s a part of her identity.

“Hey, Mom.  Want to go out for breakfast with us in the morning?” I asked, wanting to giggle and laugh with her and my sisters over a cup of coffee.

“I don’t know”.  Then in an accusing voice, “YOU won’t eat anything anyway.”  Pouting.  It’s not really her fault.  I don’t mind too much.  She has always lived to feed and love us.  And if we aren’t eating, there’s something wrong with us. And if we aren’t eating her food, we must not appreciate her. As if there’s not so much more about her to appreciate!

But, on this trip, I showed her that I am eating!  And it’s yummy.  On my last day, she even cooked it for me!!!  Bliss!

Roasted Vegetables With Turkey Breast

5 Whole garlic cloves

1 Red pepper, cut into rings

1 Bunch of asparagus, cut in half, the top halves of the stalks cut into 1
inch pieces or smaller, discard the fibrous bottom half

1/4 of a small spaghetti squash, shell peeled off, squash cut into chunks

1 and 1/2 cup spinach cut into strips

1-2 skinny/young zucchini, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup of fresh parsley, chopped

Dried Basil, about 1-2 tablespoonsful
Dried Parsley, about 1-2 tablespoonsful
Sea salt to taste
Pepper if desired
Turkey breast, cut into 2-3 inch wide strips
Olive oil, about 1/2 cup
Cookie sheet with rim around it

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Splash 2-4 tablespoonsful of olive oil to coat pan so vegetables don’t stick.
Place cut/chopped vegetables and garlic in pan and drizzle with almost 1/4 cup of olive oil (I’m upping my oil intake, so use more or less to your needs!!!!)
Sprinkle with salt, pepper, dried basil, and dried parsley, but save some of each to sprinkle on turkey breast (Yes, I did use both dried and fresh parsley.  It’s good this way.).
Toss to coat it all together.
Drizzle remaining olive oil on both sides of turkey breast and sprinkle wtih salt, pepper, dried parsley, and dried basil. Lay on top of vegetables.
Bake until turkey juices run clear, about 20 minute to half an hour.

Make with any vegetables you choose, but this combination hit it off for us.  Other favorite additions are small florets of broccoli, halved brussel sprouts, small florets of cauliflower, and 1/4-1/2 inch squares of cut butternut squash.

Served 2 of us.

Finish dinner with No Egg White/No Dairy/No Nuts Pumpkin Good Enough!

No Egg White/No Dairy/No Nuts Pumpkin Good Enough

Was it pumpkin pie? No. But it was good enough when you’re on vacation and working through GAPS intro stages and realize you don’t tolerate dairy, egg whites, or nuts too well!  And everybody is eating ice cream, apple dumplings, and cake.

1 baking pumpkin, about the size of a volleyball

7 egg yolks

1/2 cup honey

1 tablespoon legal vanilla

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cloves

Oil for pan

Dierections:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut pumpkin in half.  Lay halves on a rimmed cookie sheet.  Fill pan part way with water.  Place in oven.  Bake pumpkin until soft and fork-tender, about an hour.  Scoop out pumpkin flesh into a medium-large bowl.  Either mash or mix with a hand-mixer, whichever you prefer.

Reset oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Separate egg yolks from whites.  Mix the yolks into the pumpkin.  Add vanilla and spices.

Oil a 9X13 baking dish with oil of your choice.  Pour in pumpkin mixture.  Bake for an hour.

Good enough.