After several, and by several I mean 9 years, of not seeing a physician for regular checkups, I had a visit with my new doctor. She was amazing, and over the course of several weeks, ran various tests to develop an overall picture of my middle aged health, or the decline thereof. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I am in pretty good shape, for someone who is so out of shape. Just being honest. My biggest area of concern is the decline of my overall uterine health. Too much information perhaps, but if a reader is brave they will power on in their reading. For the next 3 months I am endeavoring to make some changes which should impact the aforementioned uterine health, and in doing so improve my everyday life. For those of you who do not possess a uterus, or whose uterus is serving them well, this may seem somewhat myopic a goal, but let me assure you, this pursuit is actually for the good of the many. Especially people living in my home. Like The Boy.

One of the challenges my physician charged me with is trying to cook at least one meatless meal every week. This is something I am actually eager and happy to attempt. More than half of my offspring have embraced vegetarian, vegan or pescatarian lifestyles, so the recipes I try will hopefully fill in some meal gaps over the holiday break when many of them will be home.

Monday night I created my first meatless meal, an adaptation of a family favorite, Chicken and Pesto, minus the chicken, add cannellini beans, some fresh tomatoes. Add the fresh Parmesan on the side! BooYA! It was awesome.

Then The Boy came in from raking. As he eagerly dug into the bowl of pasta and pesto, he noticed the missing chicken. I believe our exchange when something like this:

“Where is the chicken?”

“I used cannellini beans instead of chicken. This is a meatless meal.”

“Why would you do that? Why would you destroy one of the few meals that I enjoy? Ruining it by taking out the best part? Are you trying to make me miserable?”

This exchange continued for a few moments, until at last I admitted this change was for the improvement of my uterine health. He was thrilled. Kind of. But not really. But, he’s a glass half full kind of kid, so after taking a healthy serving of the new pasta dish, he sat down, and scooping up a hearty bite held it aloft saying “Here’s to our healthy uterus-es!” Under his breath I know I heard him mutter some other things, that may have included “I don’t even have a uterus”, “ Why do I need to be worried about this?”, and “How unhealthy can your uterus be to necessitate this horrible recipe?” All of which I ignored, opting instead to remind him of his many grudges related to the frigid temperatures in our house, the cool vehicle temperature, and my unchecked weeping while watching TV, attending concerts, parades or just talking about my day. I think things started to come into focus for him. A little. He stopped complaining at least. He finished his dinner, although there was a hearty pile of beans at the bottom of his bowl. Later he made a huge snack, Easy Mac, a sandwich, cereal. There was plenty of leftover dinner. He’s stubborn. He probably didn’t want to seem like he cared about improving uterine health. But deep down, I know he does!