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This past week, my husband and I celebrated the 6 year anniversary of our first date and 9 months of marriage.

Since this past weekend was originally going to be our wedding date and we have been through a lot these past 9 months, we wanted to do something really special for our anniversary. So I created a romantic GAPS weekend to celebrate while still sticking to my healing protocol.

To start, we needed to get out of our apartment. Out of our mess, out of our kitchen, away from our distractions, away from the bright parking lot lights that shine into our windows. Thanks to our diets, it needed to be somewhere with a kitchen. Air BnB has some lovely looking options for decent prices, but we ended up lucking out: my in-laws went out of town that weekend. It turns out when you start dating during spring break and your mother-in-law is a teacher, almost every year on your anniversary the in-laws will be out of town for spring break. Score.

Since DH took his bed with him when he moved out, rather than sleep in his sister’s old bed, we decided to be really cool and camp in the living room next to the fire, the cats, and the TV where we watched the original Star Wars trilogy all weekend.

Beyond married couple stuff I won’t share here, an incredibly important part of this weekend was to give my husband some of his favorite foods that he hasn’t had all year. This was a bit of a gift for me, too; I let myself eat a few things that I maybe shouldn’t have added back in yet. But everything was 100% Full GAPS legal, and it turned out lovely.

Our weekend started Friday night with this beauty: A low carb, deep dish pizza made with nomato sauce, homemade Italian sausage, and raw cheese from the local co-op. DH worked all day, so I went grocery shopping and got everything set up at the in-laws’, including pre-baking the pizza so that he would be surprised when he showed up. Served with no veggies, because we’re celebrating, but I did throw in a mug of broth and some fermented carrots.

For a snack, I made chocolate almond butter cups (recipe to come). Peanut butter cups are my favorite snack ever and I hadn’t had chocolate since before starting GAPS. You don’t even know. We’re not even going to pretend this was a present for my husband….this was all for me. But he liked them, too. 🙂

The next day we ate lots of leftover pizza. It was incredibly filling so it took awhile to get through! We also spent a lot of time watching Star Wars and a TV series about taking motorcycles from Scotland to South Africa.

For dinner, I made Rindfleisch mit Schnittlauchsosse (boiled beef with chive sauce) – a favorite dish of DH’s. I was really worried about this one, since it calls for a roux. I’ve made a grain-free roux with arrowroot powder before, and I heard of using navy bean flour for a GAPS-friendly roux, but I didn’t have any of that as an option. I modified the recipe a bit, and DH still loved it! The beef is Stage One legal, and the chive sauce is Stage Two legal. Yay! I’ll post the recipe after a couple more tests.

Sunday morning, we ate more leftovers and packed up. Our last meal was a favorite Stage Three meal – eggs and avocado. I mixed it up by adding Italian sausage and some leftover chive sauce.

Leaving was really hard. We were 2 miles away from our apartment in the home my husband lived in for 23 years and over 5 years of our dating relationship – until just 10 months ago. But simply the change of scenery produced the most amazing change. We removed the burden of any chores, work, or responsibilities (other than cleaning the kitchen). We spent time together with no expectations. There was no stress, and I know that was amazing for my health.

Everyone needs to take a break sometime, especially those on healing diets. And it is still possible to do while still sticking to any food restrictions you have.

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