Because the Best Recipes Aren’t Always Planned
This “new normal” has really been a doozy.
I’m learning that even the smallest changes can make a big difference—for better or worse. I still don’t have a diagnosis, but I definitely have hard days. And I’m learning more and more that there are triggers hiding everywhere.
This past weekend, the Supreme Commander and I headed north to help our youngest son pack up and move back home. He graduated from NAU and is getting ready for student teaching. Since there isn’t much money in that, he’ll be staying with us while he finishes this last chapter. We’re excited to have him home.
Unfortunately, Sunday was rough…and today wasn’t much better. I even had to call in sick. Thankfully, by this afternoon I was finally feeling like myself again, just in time to cook dinner.
I don’t know if it was the long car ride, the couple of snacks I had, or the gluten-free pizza at Fat Olives (a certified NVP restaurant in Flagstaff), but something (or several somethings) definitely didn’t agree with me.
Speaking of dinner…
One of my favorite gluten-free meals is peanut butter pork noodles. Apparently, it is not one of TJ’s favorites. While I was meal planning last night, I mentioned making it, and he asked if I could leave a portion plain—with no sauce. I looked at him like he had completely lost his mind.
The sauce is the dish!
Instead of making two completely different meals, I decided to pivot. And honestly? Some of the best recipes happen when you stop trying to force Plan A and start looking at what you already have or already love.
A Pantry Pivot
I had ground chicken and a fridge full of vegetables, so I started thinking about a gingery, garlicky stir-fry. While looking at all of the gathered ingredients, I noticed a recipe on the back of the rice vermicelli package for Spicy Vermicelli with Beef. It piqued my interest and was adjacent to my original thought. Close enough. Off I went…
I swapped the beef for the ground chicken I had on hand, skipped the cherry tomatoes because I didn’t have any, and tossed in:
- regular onion
- zucchini
- red bell pepper
- an entire bag of shredded carrots (shameless shortcut)
The sauce was simple but packed with flavor:
- lime juice
- brown sugar
- oil
- minced garlic
- red curry paste
- turmeric
- fish sauce
The Fish Sauce Moment
I’ll admit…the fish sauce almost scared me off.
The kitchen smelled terrible for a few minutes! We ALL noticed it. Thankfully, once everything came together, the smell mellowed out and the whole dish smelled amazing. The turmeric and red curry paste gave it the prettiest golden-orange color.
And just like that, the pivot turned out surprisingly well.
The Tweaks
Next time I’ll add more oil. I only used about a tablespoon, while the original recipe called for a quarter cup, and the noodles ended up a little dry.
I also thought it needed a little more salt, so I added a few splashes of coconut aminos (soy sauce will work for anyone who isn’t gluten-free; tamari would also work) and that absolutely did the trick. I finished each bowl with green onions and black sesame seeds. Some people at the table added Sriracha, which worked really well too.
The New Normal (One Small Change at a Time)
Best of all? One serving went straight into the freezer for tomorrow’s lunch.
One of the things I’m learning through this process is that leftovers can sometimes be tricky since histamine levels increase in foods that sit in the refrigerator. One small change I can make is to freeze a lunch portion right away. At this point, I feel like anything I can do to help keep myself feeling my best is worth the extra effort.
It may seem like a tiny adjustment, but I’m discovering that these small choices really do make a difference.
My new normal revolves around my new focus these days: not dwelling on all the things I can’t eat, but building a freezer, pantry, and meal rotation full of foods I know work for me.
Every recipe that works feels like another little victory.
And when you’re still searching for answers and learning your body’s triggers, those victories—no matter how small—start to add up to something much bigger.
Final Thoughts
If this journey is teaching me anything, it’s that focusing on what I can eat beats mourning what I can’t. There are going to be plenty more pivots along the way, but if this dinner is any indication, some of those pivots just might turn into dinner on repeat.
Real food. Real kitchens. Real love. The Food Civilian.