Restarting

 Keep an eye out....new post coming soon.

Keto - jumping on the band wagon

I have been going through my church cookbook as noted in previous posts but it is now time to get myself straight. I have diabetes type 2 and epilepsy. My bones are weak. Last year I broke my ankle and my wrist. Being wheelchair bound was not fun. With my neurological imbalance on my right side (hence the falls) I am finally only required to use a crutch.

Let's face it friends: I am overweight. So much so that the following word that I hate is applied to me right now. Obese. Ugh.

I am going to work now to fight the reasons behind my obesity and do my best to overcome those things which hold me back.

Number 1: I come from an abusive background. Being overweight helped me to be "invisible". I knew that no one would really look at me as an older, heavier woman.

Number 2: Poor diet choices. Is there anything more lovely than a Krispy Kreme donut? Well, actually there is: twelve of them! Sugar was my comfort food and my enemy.

Number 3: Carbohydrates. I know we need some but it was all I was eating. Pasta, potatoes or any other high carb food. And not in correct portions. 

Number 4: Exercise. It was a dirty word for me. And sitting in a wheelchair only added to me eating more comfort food and not getting any exercise. Plus, when I had to go through any painful thing my reward was donuts.

So....now I have begun to get it under control. I have taken the bare principals of keto to heart. Am I an expert or a doctor. No. I don't recommend or not recommend you follow it. I just know that right now it works for me.

And the proof is in the pudding that I don't eat anymore! At the doctor today I got on the scale and I have lost 11 pounds. Yes, I fall of the wagon sometimes. After all, it takes time to kick the bad habit of self comfort with food. It's a life long habit that I am working to change.

Do I want to be high school weight and size? No! but about 50 pounds or so down would go a long way to getting healthier.

So, I will be posting recipes I have found that work for me. And I'll try not to be absent for so long!
Thanks for reading! And God bless you.

The Cookbook Experiment: Beef A Roni

Hello! Another recipe from the church cookbook. This one was submitted by Mary Grode who is the mother of Judy Mastros. Great families, all of them!

I was looking for a fast dinner tonight and as I poured through the cookbook this one jumped out at me.

Beef A Roni by Mary Grode

1 pound ground beef
1 cup Elbow macaroni
1/2  onion, minced
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1-15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 - 3 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Cook ground beef. Stir in macaroni, onion, green pepper, salt and pepper; cook stirring until macaroni is transparent.  Add tomato sauce, water and Worcestershire sauce and cover. Simmer 20 minutes. Stir then let stand 5 minutes with heat off.

My take-aways from this recipe:

1. I could not wrap my head around adding the macaroni at the stage it said in the recipe so I did not. I boiled my macaroni noodles separately.
2. I increased the amount of sauce and noodles because I have a house full to feed.
3. I also used ground turkey in lieu of hamburger because we have someone in the family who is allergic to red meat.
4. It was really good however I am going to talk to the daughter of the recipe writer and see if the macaroni really goes in before being cooked.
5. I really wanted to add cheese to this...blame the Italian in me.

Until tomorrow!! Take care.

The Cookbook Experiment: Aunt Lorraine's Carrot Soup

Hello all! What do you do when you have too many fresh veggies and are not in the mood for a salad? Don't let them rot! Make a soup! I turned to my trusty church cookbook to decide what direction my soup would take and came across another recipe submitted by the amazing Martha Lee Cash and her Aunt Lorraine! If you stroll through my previous posts you will find an amazing recipe for her lasagna. 

Aunt Lorraine's Carrot Soup

1 lb. carrots
3 medium potatoes
1 large onion
1 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
Dash of salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups milk

In a soup pot, saute the chopped onion in 1 tablespoon of butter or low fat margarine.  Add 1 1/2 cups chicken broth.  Combine with the carrots and potatoes and cook until done about 15 minutes. Put in blender, blending to mush consistency. Return to pot and add a dash of salt and pepper and 1 1/2 cups milk. Store in refrigerator. When ready to serve, heat and garnish with dill (optional).

SO....once again I goofed it up like I did last night. I went a little off the rails as I wanted to use my Instant Pot. This is what I did since I had veggies to use up.

I used a 16 ounce bag of carrot chips and cut them into slices.
I set my Instant Pot on saute and put the onion and butter in to soften up. After the onions were softened I dumped in my carrots. I did not chop my potatoes very small since I was worried they would break down too far. Next I added the chicken broth.  I also had some stir fry vegetables that consisted of chopped fresh brussel sprouts, red onion and cauliflower.  I did not mush any of them in a blender.  Next, because I knew the Instant Pot needed to pressurize I added two more cups of water. I am just a novice with the Instant Pot so don't just do what I say. Read your manual and judge for yourself how much liquid you need with your food items. I set my Instant Pot on Soup/Broth and then fell asleep and took a nap! When I got up about an hour later the soup was done and it had self-released. All the veg was very tender. I did NOT add the dairy. Dairy does not really belong in the Instant Pot and honestly, I liked the lightness without the milk.

So I went pretty far off the recipe on this one. But it was the beginning and a good start. And it is a healthy lunch for all this coming week.

My return to posting and a new recipe: Best Ever Corn Pudding

I'm sorry I fell of the map. Life has a way of knocking you around and I let it get in the way of a lot of things. I fractured my ankle and ended up having surgery. I have also fractured my right wrist and have been in a cast for three months and am hoping it won't mean surgery too.

Additionally my depression has had a strangle hold as well. Changes in life, church, children - I have let it all just run through like a large storm. Time to take back control.

I am continuing going through my church cookbook with the goal of trying every single recipe. Tonight it was "Best Ever Corn Pudding" by the amazing Pat John. She is an incredible woman of faith and I should really be more like her. Here is the recipe:

Best Ever Corn Pudding by Pat John

(1) 16 ounce can cream of corn
(2) eggs, beaten
(1) can evaporated milk
(2) heaping tablespoons of flour
(1)  teaspoon salt
(1/3) cup sugar
(2/3) cup melted margarine

Beat eggs. Add other ingredients. Bake at 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes. Use an 8 1/2" square dish, sprayed.

There is a VERY important reason I have no picture for you. I got distracted making this and forgot to add the milk. Disaster. It really was not that bad but it was mostly just over-buttered cream corn. I will make it again soon and this time I wont forget the milk. I'm sure its wonderful.

I hope you all are doing well. I'm working on getting back to the normal things of life. Take care!

Simple Fish Tacos with Corn and Tomato Salsa by My Fitness Pal blog

Still no church cookbook but I am continuing my quest to make exceptionally healthy and fulfilling meals for my family and stay at 400 calories or less. I'm really enjoying the adventure of cooking in new ways. Tonight's recipe was found after hitting Google up for "Recipes with 400 calories or less".

Google led me to the Fitness Pal blog and "14 Filling Dinners - 400 calories or less". The recipe that caught my eye was the Fish Tacos. Truthfully I have always been afraid of cooking fish. I was never taught how and it seems pretty intimidating to me.

You can find the recipe right here:

Simple Fish Tacos with Corn & Tomato Salsa

I decided to use Tilapia instead of Mahi-Mahi. I also decided to get a frozen bag instead of buying it fresh. I'm not really sure how to buy fresh fish so frozen worked for me. I was in a little bit of a rush at the store and missed a few ingredients. One important one was the coriander for the rub/sauce that went on the fish before it was baked. I ended up using more cumin in place and it worked. I did learn something new: coriander is basically dried cilantro.

When I made the corn and tomato salsa the recipe said to cut the grape tomatoes in half. I did not like how large that left the tomatoes so I cut most of them into thirds. I also forgot to purchase the shallot so I used green onions in place of the shallot.  It was very good.

First bite of the taco was amazing! I loved it and it tasted better than any I have ever had in a restaurant. Yeah, I know, I made them but it was wonderful. I baked the tilapia and it turned out perfect. I will definitely make this again!

Womans Day magazine recipes

We are finally back in our home. Unpacking is continuing and I have no idea where my church cookbook is but I hope to find it soon and resume my testing of each recipe in the book. Until then I have been looking for healthier ways to feed the family.

The March 2017 issue of Womens Day has four recipes that are 400 calories or less. The first one I made tonight was the Meatball soup. It was a little bit labor intensive because of the grating of the fresh ginger. Outside of grating the ginger, it was a fairly easy recipe to make. I admit I was a little nervous broiling the meatballs but it worked very well. I am not going to list the recipe but instead I have provided the link to the website as this is not mine.

Gingery Meatball Soup with Bok Choy

My take aways for this recipe:

• I only bought one head of Bok-Choy. Truthfully the recipe was not exactly clear. It said four heads and about 12 ounces. I believe it actually needed four separate ones but not sure. I felt like the one I bought did not provide enough greens for the soup. Next time I make it I will use more Bok-Choy. 
• It was the very first time I have ever tried Bok-Choy and was not sure how to use it. My little friend Google told me that the stem parts are edible as well so I tore the leaves into the pan but chopped the stems up so that they would cook quicker.
• The ground chicken was very, very sticky. I have no idea what I should have done to make it easier to roll the meatballs.
• I made my meatballs too big so the cooking time under the broiler was longer for mine.
• I did not chop the cilantro up well enough. Mine had large pieces of the leaves and that just did not work out well. Next time I will chop finer. 
• The husband liked it but the son did not. I liked it but felt the cilantro was too strong and that it needed more garlic.

As if trying one new recipe was not enough, I also tried a second recipe from the same magazine and same set. I have provided the link to the website as this is not my recipe.

Sweet and Sour Pork and Vegetable Stir-Fry

My take aways for this recipe:

• This recipe was quite delicious. The only problem is it did not have enough sauce. I do not know if it was the recipe or if it was me as I followed it completely except for the bean sprouts.
• The only reason I did not add the bean sprouts was because Kroger did not have them today.
• I think next time I will try this with chicken as my hubs cannot have very much pork.
• I will also double the hoison sauce mixture
• Everyone like this one - hard to believe a serving is only 317 calories.

Overall it was a successful meal. It was very challenging for me to use new ingredients I had never tried before. I hope you give it a try and I sure wish Womens Day would let me know some more info on both recipes.

Glad to be back!!