Cold weather improv

We had the first "snowstorm" of the season.  Because my son's foot had grown 2 sizes since last winter, I had to venture out to get him a pair of snow boots.  While we were out, the kids started talking about the things we traditionally eat when it snows - my daughter requested chicken noodle soup (assuming eggs noodles have no wheat) and we all desperately wanted some hot chocolate.

At first I thought we could finagle the hot chocolate - I envisioned melting some chocolate chips into the coconut milk but of course I discovered that chocolate chips are not all chocolate - they can contain milk, butter, and of course sugar.  We thought about doing unsweetened cocoa powder but that seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.  We finally settled on lattes.  I made a pot of OVC decaf and topped it off with the extra creamy coconut milk.  It was absolutely delicious...there's no need to go back to cream and sugar.

We stopped by my friend's house on Thursday and her mother offered us some shiro, of course I had to turn her down because chickpeas are not Whole 30.  My daughter on the other hand gobbled it down like a fiend.  My friend reminded me that she used to eat qulwah with romaine lettuce when she was more carb conscious but it seemed like blasphemy not to have the food with the requisite injera.

Today I was thinking that nothing warms the soul like a spicy Eritrean dish so I made beef zigni.  I served it with okra, eggplant, and romaine.  I was a little mortified about how fast the food was consumed.  I had chopped onions, garlic, and vegetables and the food had simmered in the crockpot for 3 or 4 hours (the meat was frozen, so I had no choice) and within 25 minutes the dish had been refilled several times and the food had been devoured.