April Check In & Chocolate Pots de Creme (Paleo)

Hi Friends! Hope everyone is doing well. My life has been unexpectedly busy lately & I’ve fallen a little behind on my blog posts... And my email.... And my social media!  But I wanted to stop in and tell you guys what’s been going on & tell you about some exciting happenings.

Chocolate Pots de Crème (Paleo) over on Empowered Sustenance
Lauren over at Empowered Sustenance asked me to guest post on her site, where I am sharing a recipe for Chocolate Pots de Crème and some thoughts on custards & AIP reintroductions (this recipe contains pastured egg yolks & chocolate, both of which I have successfully reintroduced). This recipe is one of my husband’s absolute favorite things I’ve ever made (paleo or not), so I encourage you to go check out that post!

Allergy Cards for eating out
I posted over on Instagram about these allergy cards I’ve designed to take to restaurants to ease the challenges of eating out while following AIP. While my own cards include info about some extra food sensitivities I personally have, I’m also working on making a generic AIP printable card that you all could use for eating out too. While using these cards don’t mean that AIP eating out will be problem free, but it does make communicating with restaurant staff much easier. Watch for that post coming soon!

My AIP-iversary 
Last week, I marked my first anniversary of following the Autoimmune Protocol.  Prior to following AIP, I was following a reduced gluten, low acid, standard American diet, and I was on various medications, but still not seeing all my symptoms go away....  A new doctor I had begun seeing suggested I make dietary changes similar to AIP (only eliminating a few further items than AIP has one omit). I committed right then and there. Truthfully, I did not fully understand the changes I was making or that they’d be longterm--I foolishly thought it would be a 6 week stint & then I’d go back to things as they’d been. HA! While my life is far from perfect now, it is so so so much better than it was a year ago!

(left) Texas Blue Bonnets blooming in early April; (right) South Carolina Dogwood during our Easter Trip  

Travels
My schedule has included much traveling as of late. We went to visit family in SC at the beginning of April. I’ve added acupuncture in to my care plan, as well as a new functional medicine doctor, so there have been weekly car trips to and from the city. Now, I’m back in North Dakota for a bit to spend time with my parents & other extended family.

(left) Tulaby Lake, MN; (right) taking a walk with my Mom and Mollie-dog 

As always, if you’d like to see what I’m up to on a day-to-day basis, follow me on Instagram. I’ll be back next week with a new post!