Kin finally scheduled his bloodwork for next Friday, so we'll have some more insight on what, if any, changes we need to make to our diets. But in the meantime, I'm trying to get better, just in general, at cooking "healthy" (again, whatever that means).

I've made some changes:

• I've lowered the amount of protein I strive to eat each day. It just wasn't sustainable to continue to go for 118 or so grams of protein a day without relying heavily on protein powders, something I'm planning on not taking any longer (once we finish what I have in the pantry).
• I'm saving all the vegetable scraps throughout the week and making vegetable stock. I go through a lot of stock with my cooking, so this makes sense. I just have to remember to get some out to thaw regularly. But as I'm freezing these in small, 1.5 cup portions, it should thaw more quickly than the 4 cup container I had been using previously.
• I've joined "Natalie Cooks" cooking club. I love it, even though, if I'm honest, I have yet to cook anything from it. I have, however, started to think more about meal prep — how to get stuff out of the way on the weekends so my weeknight meals are easier to pull together. I've pickled some red onions — I'll serve those for Kin in lieu of just the raw red onions he puts on his salad. I'll try marinated some lentils this weekend too. I will add some of Natalie's recipes to the upcoming menu for sure.
• As we are cutting down on our meat consumption, I do have one eye on my iron levels. According to my bloodwork, I should be eating (lean) red meat once a week in order to boost ferritin etc. When I prepare the menu for April, I will try to keep this in mind. That said, in April we are going for a weekend hike, and Fred and family are coming to visit. So I'm not sure how great my adherence to any diet will be. That said, eating out probably means eating more red meat.
• "The great muffin experiment" is still on pause, as I'm thoroughly enjoying cooking my way through the Rise and Run superhero muffins.
• New experiment: cooking with weed and CBD. I'll probably start this weekend by trying to make some weed butter. I'd really like Kin to stop smoking, and making food is a good alternative. It needn't be sweets — that's hardly a better option (although, wait, yes it is better for the lungs). I've bought some CBD olive oil, which I've been using in the vinaigrette on our salads every night. I'm not sure I notice anything, so I'll probably try increasing the dosage. I have little interest in pot, but I would like help with muscle recovery and sleep, so I'm curious to see if CBD is helpful there.
• I'd thought about doing a nutritional coaching training, but I think I'm too much of an ideologue to be a good coach. I have far too many opinions and while I try to keep them to myself when it comes to food, they natter away in the back of my head — not great for me, and certainly not ideal for any sort of client I might have. That said, I'm really interested in exploring how I can dovetail some of this interest in "healthy cooking" with a "career" — so maybe I'll go into the "healthy weed granola" business or something.