Here we are.

Weeks into isolation.

I actually don’t even know how many days it has been. I just went to look at how many, then stopped myself with the thought of “why does it matter?”

And it doesn’t. One of the first things I let go of was the date. Then the day. Then even the hour, to a certain extent.

It’s like everyone is finally on board with me living my hippy dream of doing what we want, when we want.

For the most part, my family is flowing along in this pretty happily.

We’ve all adjusted. My oldest has play dates with her friends on the tablet, her reading skills have increased exponentially and she ripped through every child appropriate chapter book we own in the first week, and she has been baking and cooking up a storm. Her goals this year were to learn to cook her three favourite foods: Spaghetti, or Pisghetti (you can make it, too, right here), french toast (which she’s since learned), and tacos.

And my husband has been home since week 2. And he’ll be home with us (minus a few weeks) until early summer.

CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT?

Because I sure can’t.

It all sounds pretty idyllic, doesn’t it?

Look at them.

They stay immaculately clean all the time, they read quietly together, no one bothers me ever. I get so much stuff done.

I’m done lying now.

If I’m being completely honest, the first 5 days were awful.

The day they announced that schools would not be going back after Spring Break, I had a complete breakdown. An adult hissy-fit, if you will. I shut my radio off (and haven’t turned it back on since), shut my phone off, ignored my landline if it rang (why yes, I still have one of those), and pouted. How was I going to manage?

My youngest had started teeth hard by that point of the week. She refused to be put down at all. Not even for naps. Barely at night. I was sleeping upright in an armchair for an hour at a time, at most. And now my oldest wasn’t going anywhere and my husband wasn’t due home for another three and a half weeks.

My oldest and I have been on really good terms for months now, but all of a sudden we were at each other over everything. And the babe was clinging. And I was stressed.

Social distancing meant I couldn’t just call a friend to come and help me out or send my daughter off for a day.

I am not a crying-it-out mom at all. They whimper and they’re in my arms before their next breath. So help me, but that’s how I raise my babes. But I reached my breaking point that afternoon after not showering since the morning the day before and I left my babe to cry in her crib for seven minutes while I cried and showered then rushed to her and cried some more.

I was so angry. I was downright outraged. I was more upset than I had been about anything in my adult life and I just sat in that emotion until it passed.

After that, I decided that we couldn’t keep living like that.

It was at that point that we accepted that we couldn’t control what was happening outside of our house, but we could control how we reacted.

We woke up the next morning with a new attitude and it’s been relatively smooth sailing since.

It’s amazing what a change in mindset can do.

I mean, the baby was still teething, and that was still awful, but that’s going to be awful regardless of any external factors.

We had an amazing week after that: full of games, baking, playing, and so. many. hours. hiking.

And then unexpectantly, my husband came home early!

And the good times have continued.

I am currently in the middle of co-hosting a free online program with Robyn MacIver, an Ayurvedic Wellness Coach, to help individuals deal with the stress of this uncertain time through helpful habits and wholesome recipes. These are things that help us daily and we created the program in order to help others.

This is a time for community if there ever has been one.

With all this wonderful family time going on (and the ongoing misery of a tiny person glued to me most of the day), I still need to use fast and easy recipes in order to feed my family. Kudos to the people in the world slowing down enough to bake bread. It seems like we’re busier than ever and the hours in a day fly by, but it doesn’t feel hectic like it did before because we’re doing things we enjoy. There’s no commuting, no schedules, no frantic scrambling out the door to make appointments. Just us, doing things that we want to do. It’s really made us question how things are going to be when we return to “normal.” Have you started thinking about it, too?

One of my favourite standbys for a quick dinner is split pea soup, thanks to my Instant Pot. This happens to be one of our tiniest daughter’s favourite foods as well.

I always cater to the fans.

The split pea soup of my youth, and I imagine everyone else’s, was primarily ham floating in a yellow broth with occasional chunks of carrots and potatoes making an appearance. I decided to make a vegan version because I craved the soup, but goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever had a ham bone in my house since leaving my parents’ household.

And I stuffed in all the veggies I could.

I also recruit the help of my best sous chef to help me get all the chopping done. She really is amazing help (when she wants to be). I could go on and on about what a help to me in regards to her sister. That will have to wait for another day. Let’s get to the soup!

Vegan Split Pea Soup Serves 4

1 cup yellow split peas, rinsed
4 cups stock
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
3 carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 zucchini, diced
2 cups of cauliflower, diced
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme*
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
4-5 drops liquid smoke**
Lemon juice, optional

Directions:

1. Place the peas and stock in the instant pot on high pressure for 20 minutes.
2. In the meantime, prep the veg.
3. When the peas are finished, add everything in, except the lemon juice.
4. Cook for 6 minutes on high pressure. When finished, taste to see if it's to your liking. I often add a squish of fresh lemon juice to my soup to brighten it. Enjoy warm while talking about the thing you are most grateful for that day.

Note
If you let the soup sit for five to ten minutes before serving, it'll thicken up.
This could also be made easily on the stove top. Just allow for an hour of cooking the peas in the stock (with an added cup of liquid) on low in a large pot with a lid, then another half an hour for the vegetables.

*I skip the thyme. I despise thyme. I don’t know why. Do feel free to add it, or even increase the amount, as its the most common herb in split pea soup.
**Liquid smoke. It’s what gives this soup that smokey flavour, without the ham. It’s a must have. You can find it usually on the top shelf near the barbecue sauces in your grocery store of choice.

I hope you are all doing okay during this time. If you find yourself struggling, please reach out. We can have a Skype date and chat. If you missed out on registering for our wonderful stress-reduction event and would like to join now, let me know and I can get you linked in. Remember, you’re not alone in this. We’re all in it together.

Much love to you all.

PS: I haven’t had a baby on me for the entirety of writing this thanks to my amazing husband. Man, am I enjoying this break! Maybe I should just keep going on and on and on… 😉