Steak and Strawberry Salad

We eat Primal in this house. I like to think of it as a relaxed version of paleo. We do dairy and white rice.

It hasn't been the easiest transition for Ava. Like most 7 years olds she loves cakes and bread and sugary treats. One big problem we were having was that she kept pouring over kids cooking books and getting upset that she couldn't eat anything in them. So I bought her a couple Paleo kids cookbooks. One of them was Eat Like a Dinosaur

I think she must read this book at least once a day, pouring over the different recipes. We've tried quite a few in the book and they've al been a hit. Yesterday we decided to make Steak and Strawberry Salad. We'd had steak for dinner so it was the perfect way to use up the leftovers.

Steak and Strawberry Salad

 Ava loved it (I could not get any good shots of her eating)

We sat outside and had a little picnic. It was beautiful and fresh on a warm winter's day.

We didn't end up dressing the salad and I don't think it needed anything. The combination of meat and fruit was surprisingly delicious. Definitely one we will be making again!

Letting off some steam and worry

Sometimes I worry. Sometimes I worry a lot. This week has been one of those weeks.

Ava spent a night in hospital on Monday. She has bad asthma and unfortunately that means trips to hospital. At first I was excited because one night in hospital is our shortest stay ever. I began to hope that maybe she was outgrowing her asthma even though I'm told that she won't. And then I realised something.

Ava spent the night in hospital because she got a runny nose. It wasn't even a cold, she got the sniffles on Sunday and on Monday it hurt to breathe. I did everything I'm meant to do to keep her out and it wasn't enough.

It wasn't that her asthma is improving but rather that the underlying virus was so mild. She didn't look very sick to the untrained eye. I didn't know she needed to go to hospital and that does not make me feel like a very good mother. But then I wonder how am I meant to know that the child that can run to a triage desk needs to be in hospital.

I wish the Dr's wouldn't look at her like she was about to explode (even though she might). I wish that they wouldn't use words like "volatile" and "brittle" to describe her lungs.

Ava will get over this quickly but as usual it will take months before I can stop worrying, before I can stop obsessively checking on her. And so I finally relented and ordered one of these.

So just a little bit of venting and steaming. Believe me I know life could be far worse and she could be much sicker. But she is my little girl and I wish she didn't have to be sick at all and I wish her little lungs weren't permanently damaged - it's not fair.