It wasn’t so much a moment, or even a day, but a gradual creep. Things – every day things, that I never used to think twice about – have gotten harder and more taxing little by little until one day I realized “oh shit. This is what everyone’s been talking about.”

I still don’t feel pregnant – at least not in any of the ways that I expected to, or that friends told me I would. I don’t feel an enormous dead weight hanging off the front of my body, I don’t have a ravenous appetite, and I’m not sweaty or experiencing rib pain all the time (yet). But I feel different. Possessed. Not like myself. Sometimes, alarmingly like the days in the past couple of years when I was sickest and struggling the most, and I have to remind myself that this time, it’s ok. This is not a backslide. This is a forward, um, slide. It is amazing to realize that my previously-broken body is now so unbroken that it is able to not just support my own existence but someone else’s. 

But still… that doesn’t help with the fatigue. It’s not “I didn’t sleep much last night” tired, which I’m used to and don’t even notice anymore, but “someone removed the bones from my body” tired. So, I’m starting to invent coping mechanisms. Meal planning is one of them, and I’m going to start posting our meal plans soon for those of you who have asked me over and over for the last couple years for more meal planning guidance, and batch cooking is another. This salad is a perfect way to put batch cooking to good use, and enjoy a healthy, satisfying meal (because this salad is a meal; it’s so loaded that you can’t even see the greens underneath. No rabbit food here!) without feeling like you’re eating old, lifeless leftovers.

See, everything in this nicoise salad is meant to be served cold, so who would know if you prepared the components an hour ago or 3 days ago? If you’re tired enough, you can even trick yourself into forgetting. Actually, you don’t even have to try; you’ll just be so thankful to see actual food in the fridge that you don’t have to prepare.

The salmon can be made fresh, if you want, which is totally manageable with my super-quick, hands off seared salmon method. Sometimes, I even make several bowls of the salad base, with everything except the salmon, and put it in the fridge (covered, of course), until I’m ready to sear a piece of fish and plop it in the center of the action. And it is a bowl full of action: endlessly contrasting colors, textures and flavors that make every bite interesting and satisfying. This salad may be a desperation meal on your most tired or lazy day, but it certainly tastes like anything but.

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