On My Plate // On My Body 12.3.23

Spoiler alert: it’s a wild mix

old dissh set— they just released a similar knit top and bottom set, though

This photo was taken the week before Thanksgiving. I had everything in order, y’all. I was on top of my game. I literally looked O straight in the eyes and said “I’m getting fully back into my meal prepping starting now. Lets just keep our heads down, eat in every day and hunker down.” I completely stocked the fridge and spent hours on meal prep—I made a luscious vegan lasagna and a gluten and dairy free lasagna for the kids. I made soups and stocks. I prepped salad ingredients and cooked up six salmon fillets for lunches. I snapped photos of the few delicious meals excited to share recipes in the Sunday letter.

And then we left town for two weeks and everything in the refrigerator rotted.

Such is life.

While we were away, I still had to be mom. I went straight to the grocery store because that’s what needed to be done. We leaned heavily into survival mode most days (rice, grilled cheese, simple pasta, cereal for dinner…) but I also made pies and pancakes and casseroles and elaborate tacos and Thanksgiving dinner even though Canadian Thanksgiving was the month before. As much as I want it not to be true, food is healing and normalcy is good for the bones.

I wanted to get this post up just to get back into routine, but trust that while we were away I looked like I did the week before college finals mixed in with a touch of the first week postpartum. Aside from the days where I wore traditional Nigerian clothing, I don’t have a single outfit worth noting. And the cherry on top is that on our flight home, I noticed Enakhe felt warm and his cough had picked up. An incredibly challenging night and doctor’s office nose swab later confirmed he has that good ol’ pandemic virus. Since we landed in Dallas I’ve held this sweet, stuffy baby no less than 17 hours a day.

If your Holiday magic season has started off differently than you imagined, I’m raising my hand and saying ‘same.’ But the Lord is gracious and I have hope that next week will be a beautiful one just as there was beauty in each day right here in the thick of it.

just documenting the sandal + Canada snow combination

aaand then we got home and I looked like this everyday trying to settle back into school and real life.

O claimed this curried butternut squash was his favorite soup I’ve ever made so if that sounds up your alley, definitely give the recipe a try.

my kids watched me make a lasagna and give it away so they begged for some of their own. I used my go-to recipe (the same recipe I shared in this post) except I subbed gf lasagna noodles and vegan cheese in ours and vegan meat in O’s. It got a standing ovation from everyone so I highly recommend if you have food restrictions.

This paleo chocolate pudding is so light and simple. Is it basically just coconut? Yep. But the kids were thrilled to have something fun for dessert and I loved the flavor so, so much.

Dragon fruit + wild berries + collagen + acacia fiber + pea protein + chia seeds + almond milk. Chefs kiss.

I still feel like we’re under water to be honest, but hopefully next Sunday’s post will have a bit more normalcy. Thanks for loving me even if that post ends up being more of tonight’s vibe, though:

robe, bonnet, squeaky clean face, leaky baby. some mom out there is nodding her head in solidarity right now…you are my people.