Pages

Friday, April 12, 2013
I wanted to follow up on the meal plan I posted last week to talk about how we've liked or not liked what I've cooked so far.  

I also wanted to mention that I haven't been blogging because I've been so busy and tired and sick feeling.  I didn't make big outfits for the kids for Christmas.  I didn't make Valentine's outfits or Easter outfits.  In fact, I haven't sewn hardly anything since Christmas.  I've had a lot of anxiety and symptoms, but kept thinking it was just lack of sleep and put off going to the Dr. until I felt I had been sleeping enough hours each night for several weeks.  My blood sugar was reading 465.  After a few months my Dr. diagnosed me with type 2 diabetes, hyper-thyroid, and Graves disease.  I can't get into see the Endocrinologist until May 6th, so my diet has to be extremely low-carb right now.  My average blood sugar is 250.  I'm taking 1 Glimerpride in the morning and afternoon,  2 Metformin in the morning and afternoon, 1 Pioglitazone in the afternoon, and 1 Omeprazole in the morning each day along with my multivitamin (which is a prenatal) and calcium with vitamin D added.   

I've missed blogging so much.  My house is still a wreck, and I still struggle to maintain it.  I wish I could sew, but right now the focus seems to be on food.  How to prepare it, eat it, and clean up after it.  I'm trying to still cook more "normal" meals for the rest of the family.  Daniel really doesn't want to try the low-carb stuff I make, so I'm eating a LOT of salads.  

So without further delay, here is what I've been doing all week....

Breakfasts:
*Mushroom and Asparagus Strata (Pg. 88 of the Better Homes and Gardens Annual 1999), bacon, fruit We loved this recipe.  It calls for 4 cups of mushrooms in a variety of types.  I only had one cup of regular mushrooms, but it turned out perfect and I don't think we would have liked it with 4 cups of mushrooms in it.  I believe the mushrooms would have been overpowering.
*Fried eggs, bacon, fruit, toast This is a favorite "goto" breakfast for me.  But this morning I made a new toast recipe that Mandy sent me.  It's Low-Carb and I'll try to post the recipe at some point.  Maybe next time when I actually follow the directions.  I forgot to put in the flaxseed meal.  Oh well.  It was still tasty.
*Whatever omelet (whatever's in the fridge that I can easily access to throw in an omelet), fruit, biscuits
*Cereal, turkey bacon Do I really need to say anything about this one?  I mean, it's easy and probably one of the kid's favorite breakfast days when we have something sweet in the cupboard.
*Creamy Fruit Oatmeal, turkey sausage, scrambled eggs.
*Breakfast Burritos (using my low carb-pancake recipe instead of tortillas), fried bananas  I didn't actually get to the fried bananas on this day, and I'm not sure if I'm going to.  I'd love to for the kids, but I'd want to sample some and it's just too high in carbs, I've discovered.  Maybe after I've seen the endocrinologist.
*Yummy Yam Muffins (pg 62 of my Total Health Cookbook)  We made these for Sunday morning muffins and the kids and I really liked them.  Especially smothered in butter.  I tried it.  It was good.  Daniel thought they tasted too bland.  There wasn't any sugar in them, so maybe that's why. 

Lunch:  ~ Already once this week we decided to grab a loaf of bread, some lunch meats and a blanket and have a picnic in the park.  I also took along a left over salad and chips for the kids.  It was nice.  Here is a picture of Enoch enjoying the shade.
 
*Chicken Salad Sandwiches with chips & applesauce  I have my own Chicken Salad recipe that I love and use most of the time, but I also like trying everything in my cook books at least once, so I tried the Chicken Salad recipe from Jessica Seinfield's Deceptively Delicious cook book.  I loved this recipe.  It's very different from my own, but I used to put grapes in my chicken salad.  I also used to put pecans in my chicken salad too, and so I put some in with this recipe after eating a few bites and deciding that's what was missing.  Kai, Carolina, and Enoch all like this.  Delsin and Daniel refuse to try it.  That reminded me of why I stopped putting grapes and pecans in my chicken salad.
*PB&J w/carrot sticks and ranch  This is another "goto" meal around here.  And all time favorite in most households, so it's usually on the meal plan at least once a week.
*Tuna Salad w/broccoli and ranch
*left overs  Just had these today.  Mmm Mmm Good!
*Cup of noodles and turkey & avacado sandwiches
*Cheeseburgers & fries or steamed veggies
*Loaded baked potatoes and salad

Snacks/Appetizers:
*Potato skins (pg 1 of the Trousdale County School cook book)
*Mediterranean walnut spread (pg. 48 Better Homes and Gardens Annual 1999)
*Appetizer Soup (pg 27 Total Health Cook Book)
*Apple-Carrot Salad (pg 33 Total Health cook book)
*Avacado Spread (Deceptively Delicious Pg 136)  I made this to go with the breakfast burritos.  I'm the only one that thought it was OK.  Not as good as guacamole though.  I'm going to serve it today at snack time with some tortilla chips or toasted flat bread.
*Fruit  Always on the meal plan and always a hit.  I have to limit the amount of fruit they eat each day.  We always have some while waiting on Mama to cook breakfast, and then once or twice throughout the wee we'll have fruit for the kid's 4 o'clock snack.
*Banana Boat (Blue Willow Inn Cook book)
*Crackers N Cheese
* veggies and ranch

Dinners:
 *Olympia Chicken (pg 58 Better Homes and Gardens Annual 1999), roasted potatoes, sauteed greens with Kalamata olives, Czechoslovakian egg braid (pg 1 Blue Ribbon cook book),  I made everything except the Czechoslovakian egg braid, the other day.  Gosh!  I should be working on it now.  I don't usually make breads, you have to start too far in advance, but I'd like to try my hand at it more.  Everything is scrumptious.  I used the leftover chicken to make a Chicken Pizza Crust Pizza from the Trim Healthy Mama cook book, when we had pizza night on Tuesday.  

*Soup & Salad Sherried Artichoke Shrimp Soup (pg 52 Better Homes and Gardens Annual 1999),  
*Field greens w/Quesadilla "croutons" pg 51 same book.  I haven't gotten the sherry yet to make this dish.  I did make the Field greens w/quesadilla croutons.  It wasn't one of my favorite things.  I probably won't ever make it again.  I liked the shrimp quesadilla, but it should have been made on one tortilla folded in half.

* Pizza See my note above about how I used the leftover Olympia Chicken for a very low-carb meal to satisfy my pizza cravings.  I also used a low-carb pizza sauce found on allrecipes.com
*Roasted Tomato Pasta & Basil w/Salad (from Martha Stewart on the Today show earlier this week.)
I made this last night and I really loved it, but I can't have pasta.  So, I just had some of the roasted tomatoes on my salad.  It was great.  Delsin declared that he doesn't like roasted tomatoes because they are too juicy.  Kai doesn't like tomatoes much anyway, so she ate the pasta around the tomatoes.  Carolina fell asleep before dinner was done and so didn't try it.  Enoch seemed to like it fine.  Daniel did too, but didn't offer up the information.  I had to ask him if he liked it.  So, we may not make that again until I can eat it.  I think this would be great with a grilled fish along side it.
*Roasted turkey cutlets with Fennel & Garlic (from Martha Stewart on the Today show earlier this week.I'll be making this tonight and will let you know how it goes.
*Spiced tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches  (from Martha Stewart on the Today show earlier this week.)
*Turkey Carnitas Tacos  (from Martha Stewart on the Today show earlier this week.)
*Carrot Peanut Loaf (pg.44 Total Health Cook Book)

Special Drinks I want to try:
*Cherry Lemonade (pg.1 Trousdale County Elementary School Cookbook)
*Yogurt Frosty (pg. 24 Total Health Cookbook)

Desserts we MIGHT make:
* New York Style Cheesecake (pg 60 Better Homes and Gardens cook book 1999 Annual)
or
* Chocolate Fondue (Deceptively Delicious pg. 174)

We won't be going grocery shopping again until payday, next Friday, so I'll be working from this meal plan until it's finished.  We had a hot dog night last week, spur of the moment, and will have another this week.  We will also have another pizza night, likely.  I'd like to try the Trim Healthy Mama Cauliflower Pizza Crust.  I'll blog about it if I do it.  I will try to take more pictures of my food too!

If you want any recipes that I own just comment below and I'll post it.
What's on your meal plan?
Friday, April 5, 2013

Meal Plan

I know I haven't been around much lately.  I've had some health concerns and I'll get into that more later, but right now I wanted to post a meal plan.  My life seems like it's pretty much all about food right now.  I'm spending hours each day planning and preparing and cleaning up after meals, so I thought I'd take a few moments to share while I try to figure out what I'm going to make for lunches.

Breakfasts:
*Mushroom and Asparagus Strata (Pg. 88 of the Better Homes and Gardens Annual 1999), bacon, fruit
*Fried eggs, bacon, fruit, toast
*Whatever omelet (whatever's in the fridge that I can easily access to throw in an omelet), fruit, biscuits
*Cereal, turkey bacon
*Creamy Fruit Oatmeal, turkey sausage, scrambled eggs.
*Breakfast Burritos (using my low carb-pancake recipe instead of tortillas), fried bananas
*Yummy Yam Muffins (pg 62 of my Total Health Cookbook)

Lunch:
*Chicken Salad Sandwiches with chips & applesauce
*PB&J w/carrot sticks and ranch
*Tuna Salad w/broccoli and ranch
*left overs
*Cup of noodles and turkey & avacado sandwiches
*Cheeseburgers & fries or steamed veggies
*Loaded baked potatoes and salad

Snacks/Appetizers:
*Potato skins (pg 1 of the Trousdale County School cook book)
*Mediterranean walnut spread (pg. 48 Better Homes and Gardens Annual 1999)
*Appetizer Soup (pg 27 Total Health Cook Book)
*Apple-Carrot Salad (pg 33 Total Health cook book)
*Avacado Spread (Deceptively Delicious Pg 136)
*Fruit
*Banana Boat (Blue Willow Inn Cook book)
*Crackers N Cheese
* veggies and ranch

Dinners:
 *Olympia Chicken (pg 58 Better Homes and Gardens Annual 1999), roasted potatoes, sauteed greens with Kalamata olives, Czechoslovakian egg braid (pg 1 Blue Ribbon cook book),
*Soup & Salad Sherried Artichoke Shrimp Soup (pg 52 Better Homes and Gardens Annual 1999), Field greens w/Quesadilla "croutons" pg 51 same book.
* Pizza
*Roasted Tomato Pasta & Basil w/Salad (from Martha Stewart on the Today show earlier this week.)
*Roasted turkey cutlets with Fennel & Garlic (from Martha Stewart on the Today show earlier this week.)
*Spiced tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches  (from Martha Stewart on the Today show earlier this week.)
*Turkey Carnitas Tacos  (from Martha Stewart on the Today show earlier this week.)
*Carrot Peanut Loaf (pg.44 Total Health Cook Book)

Special Drinks I want to try:
*Cherry Lemonade (pg.1 Trousdale County Elementary School Cookbook)
*Yogurt Frosty (pg. 24 Total Health Cookbook)

Desserts we MIGHT make:
* New York Style Cheesecake (pg 60 Better Homes and Gardens cook book 1999 Annual)
or
* Chocolate Fondue (Deceptively Delicious pg. 174)

If you want any recipes that I own just comment below and I'll post it.
What's on your meal plan?