Skittles, anyone?

I'm on day thirteen of a medically restricted diet: no milk or milk products, no tomatoes or tomato products, no nuts, no chocolate, no carbonated beverages. For a month. If you're thinking, "Oh, that's not so bad," I'm not sure we can be friends.

The day I came home from the doctor, I looked at the list of dinners I'd made for the week and crossed each one out. Chicken tikka masala? Tomatoes. Crock pot chicken tacos? Tomatoes. Baked potato soup? Milk and cheese. Chimichangas? Cheese and tomatoes. I finally decided to make kung pao chicken, set the chicken to marinate and began the first step: sauteing dried red peppers with peanuts before I realized I couldn't eat that without special provisions either.

Truthfully, it's been better than I thought it would be. I've purchased some soy milk so I can have oatmeal for breakfast, and I went to a fancy market to buy some vegan buttery sticks so we can still make some (non-chocolatey) treats if the need becomes desperate (and it has).

Still: the traditional foods for General Conference and Easter are right out. I don't mind trying new things (as should be evidenced by the vegan cookbook I checked out of the library last night), but I think I'm allowed a little melancholy nostalgia--even if my medical restrictions will end four days after Easter*.

On the bright side, I'm down four pounds in two weeks!

*Yes, I've already put aside all the Easter candy I plan on eating. It's mostly missing my mom's rouladin and crown rolls next week that brings tears to my eyes.