A disappointing day

Today was a day of leftover-round-up in my house. Everyone's favorite, right? Blah. I can think of fewer food-related things more disappointing than a day of reheated food. I hate leftovers. At least, I hate the IDEA of leftovers. There are so many other things in the world (heck, in my pantry) to eat, why would I want to eat something I've recently had? Well, here's why:

Yesterday I made a massive batch of steel-cut oats, so it would only make sense that I chip away at them for breakfast. That was the intent, after all. So I had that with dried cherries, flax seed, chopped almonds, and agave nectar. Yum. Then I rinsed the black beans I'd soaked overnight, and got them into the CrockPot to simmer all day.

Shortly afterwards, my son tripped on something (pajama foot? toy? I couldn't say) and face-planted onto the hardwood floor. When I noticed the blood on my shirt after snuggling him, we made a trip to the pediatrician's office, where he was diagnosed with an (untreatable) lacerated frenulum--he bit through that hangy-down ridge inside the upper lip, between the teeth. Ouch. His morning snack was ice cream, and mine was ... nonexistent.

After his quiet time while I did some work, we shared (or tried to) a bowl of chicken barley stew. It must have been too hot or peppery for his split lip, because he cried at every bite until I just gave him plain whole-milk yogurt and blueberry applesauce. Because of his picky temper, I ate half of my not-so-hot bowl of soup very quickly before admitting it was not very satisfying. The dog lucked out this afternoon.

Once baby was down for a nap, I toasted a piece of 7-grain sprouted bread and topped it with the rest of my tuna from yesterday. I forgot to smear the bread with Dijon, so it was too dry to really be enjoyable. Argh. At this point I realized I had also not been drinking enough due to the day's events, so I had a few glasses of water and a vanilla protein shake while I ran the dishwasher and mopped the kitchen floor and living room.

Tonight The H was going to have pizza with the little guy while I went for my girls' run, and then the girls and I would order or make something for our dinner, but a change in plans (read: nobody showed up) left me dinner-less and running with my boys instead of girls. Enter a frozen portion of Clean Eating Magazine's sloppy joes (stay tuned for a recipe post) and a whole wheat Trader Joe's hamburger bun. I guess there is something to be said for a well-stocked freezer. I could have had chili from yesterday, or more chicken stew, but the small portion of the sloppy joe in a plastic baggie lent itself to quick thawing.

The H fed baby a slice of reheated pizza (also from my amazing freezer) and some green peas while I topped H's leftover gluten-free pizza crust with a few things and thawed my sloppy joe filling. Once baby was in bed, we sat down to eat. And then just because I was sick of seeing them in my house, I ate the last fun-size bag of peanut M&Ms. So there.

Here's to a fresh start (even though it will begin with more leftover steel-cut oats) tomorrow.