One week later

It's unbelievable, how much calmer I feel after leaving my last job. I knew that the stress of the workload, scheduling and political situation was bothering me considerably, but I had no idea that it was this much. The fact that my only concerns pertain to what's going on in my home/personal life makes each day so much more manageable.

I've been eating far fewer foods that are bad for me. I had a five-hour cook-a-thon last Thursday which produced the following yummies (and a sore back!):

• Chicken thighs, pan-fried and seasoned with salt and pepper. Today, I made a chicken salad with the meat.


• Chicken soup 'cause Matt's been sick, made with organic vegetable boullion cubes, chicken leg meat, 2 de-seeded jalapeno peppers, 1 head of garlic, 1 yellow onion, 1 grated ginger root, chopped celery, chopped carrots and a jar of Classico Bruschetta Topping


• Celery sticks for dippin' into the roasted red pepper hummus I picked up


• Ratatouille made with roasted red and orange bell peppers, roasted garlic, sauteed onion, sauteed green and yellow zucchini, pan-seared grape tomatoes and black olives


• Sweet potato mash with goat cheese, crispy prosciutto, chives and roasted garlic

On Friday, I made homemade marshmallows which are far denser than commercial marshmallows, and probably just as bad for me.

A trip to The Big Carrot on Saturday yielded non-dairy creamer, so it's likely that I'll be making up another batch of non-dairy ice cream this week. I've been thinking of doing a brownie version this time.