Anniversary Crawfish Lunch

Jesse and I celebrated 16 years of marriage last week! I had some boiled crawfish tails in the freezer and knew I wanted to use them to make something special. Our anniversary was the perfect time :)

I looked at a few different creamy crawfish pasta recipes and decided to make up my own. Big surprise ;) The taste of the crawfish really comes through!

I used leftovers from a crawfish boil, so the tails were seasoned really well. If yours are not preseasoned, don't forget to spice them up!

ANNIVERSARY CRAWFISH LUNCH

16 oz pasta, cooked (I used spaghetti, broken into 1/2 inch pieces)
1 stick butter
3/4 c. chopped onion
2/3 c. chopped red bell pepper
1/2 c. chopped celery
2 chopped green onions
2 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
2 lbs cooked crawfish tails
2 c. heavy cream

Melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, red bell peppers, and celery. Cook until almost soft. Add green onions and garlic. Cook for a few more minutes. Mix in crawfish, cream, and parsley. Heat through. Combine with pasta.

Friday Night

I took it really easy today. Lunch was the precooked steak strips, rice, beef broth, and some cheese, all mixed together. I enjoyed a Ghirardelli 72% for dessert :) Supper was canned chicken mixed with rice, butter, and parsley, buttered peas on the side. And another chocolate :yum The chocolate tasted so good today!

Late this afternoon I had another BM. It was round 1 of the concoction working its way through. There was some gritty stuff in the toilet. Based on last time I know I dissolved a stone, I'm pretty sure that was the remnants of the stuck stone :)

My stomach feels like round 2 is coming. Eventually :p

For now, I'm thankful that I can eat regular food again! Hopefully in the morning I'll be okay to drink a cup of coffee. This is the third day in a row without caffeine and I miss it! No withdrawal symptoms though :) I was a little surprised I didn't have so much as a slight headache!

Friday Morning

After I got the concoction down, the rest of the night went pretty well :) I put on some quiet worship music and read on my nook for the hour. When my timer went off, I sipped some mint/green tea. I had minimal heartburn and nausea. Phew!

I slept through the night. Woke up earlier than I hoped but thankful for the sleep I got! Not long after I woke up I had a BM. It was a little loose but almost normal. I know there's another one coming, and that one WON'T be normal :p

After the BM, I was pretty nauseous :( Thankfully it passed before too long. Until I walked into the kitchen... The juiced lemon carcasses were still on the counter. I got one whiff of them and started gagging :( Jesse came and put them in the trash for me while I turned on the ac fan to help dissipate the smell.

My stomach feels yucky. I know that big, bad BM is coming. But I can happily (and thankfully!) report that I can no longer feel the stone :) There's some lingering soreness where it was but that's it!

So far today I've just eaten a banana. I bought some precooked steak strips and romaine for today, but I don't know if we'll have that for lunch or supper.

I'm really encouraged that 1. I don't feel the stone, and 2. I tolerated the concoction really well once I got it down. Supposedly, the more toxic your body is, the worse your body reacts to it. Last flush was pretty bad. I thought this one would be too since my body was so rundown etc.

The fast/juice was rough :( But I'm not feeling too bad today, all things considered. I feel the effects of the fast. I'm a little nauseous when I stand up but that's from lack of food. I have to remind myself to go slow with food today. And fairly low fat.

I'm so glad it's over...

In Progress...

I got the concoction down. Barely. I ended up having to alternate 5 gulps with a few drops of Sprite till it was gone. I started gagging before I even started drinking it so I knew it was going to be rough :(

My hour has started...

P.S.

1. I wish there was a way to tell how sweet the apple juice was before I bought it. That way I could get the most tart one. Drinking this much sweetness is just disgusting to me! Today I've had to chase it with a sip of water almost every time I've drank it. So glad it's done now!

2. My mineral balance was off last night. When I did my neti pot, I could almost taste the salt in the solution. I'm sure it's not much better today...

3. One positive about all this - I'll get to try out the lemon squeezer I bought a couple months ago for the first time! Gotta find something to smile about in the midst of all this ;)

Where Did THAT Come From?!

Tuesday night I had my first gallbladder attack since March 2010 :( It wasn't terrible, but it definitely wasn't pleasant... I don't know what brought it on. I ate normal. I'm guessing it was just a perfect storm in my body - a month plus of major stress, lack of supplements, having a cold, time of the month, etc. It started with my stomach hurting, then after a while I knew it was my gallbladder. Late Tuesday night or Wednesday morning I could feel the stone in there.

Wednesday morning I headed to the store to get 2 days worth of apple cider. I was happy that they have the half gallons in the produce section this time of year :) Much cheaper than having to go to the health food store for it! I got my 64 oz in yesterday without too much trouble. I didn't eat anything. The thought of veggies without butter or OO was NOT appealing :p It was a rough day. Still sick with the end of a cold, no time to mentally prepare, not much sleep the night before...

This morning (Thursday) we had a home visit with Ethan's social worker. It was nice because it kept me mentally occupied for part of the morning. Physically I felt better earlier today than I had Wednesday. It helps knowing the worst of it will be over tonight! I've spent most of the day on the couch wrapped in my Snuggie. I ate a can of green beans earlier but that's it.

I need to go to the store in a bit to get the ingredients for the concoction and a few other things. Including whatever I want to eat tomorrow. Which means I need to figure out what I want to eat tomorrow :p

I'm definitely missing protein! But I'm more than that I'm missing fats. I think the fats are one thing my body really needs to function optimally. I was eating fairly high protein before so this is the first flush where I've had the opportunity to miss fats.

I was hoping to dissolve this (small) stone and get it out without doing the actual flush (and avoid the concoction) like I did a few years ago but it looks like that isn't going to happen :( But I was planning on doing a flush in November anyway. I didn't want to do one yet for various reasons but my body had other ideas...