So...whats for dinner?
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Our rv trip to Gulf Shores was delightful. The weather was perfect, bright and cool enough to leave the windows and door open in the rv. No a/c required. DH and I had a couple of invigorating bike rides on the paved bike trails that we could access at the rear of the state park where we stayed.
I had taken along fresh and frozen food, thinking I would do some cooking, but we had one cooked breakfast after a bike ride. The rest of our meals we ate out in restaurants with our friends, who occupied the site next to us. For the most part the food was good. I had red snapper at The Original Oyster House and two delicious side dishes, turnip greens and coleslaw. The meal we had at a Mexican place the next night rated no better than a C. On Friday we had lunch at Shipp's Harbor Grill, and I had blackened tuna that was superb. This is the best restaurant we've found in the area. It's actually in adjacent Orange Beach and also offers ambiance and a wonderful view. On Sat. night we went to Pappa's Pizza and I had a pesto and veggie pizza that was outstanding. As good as my pizza!
Nance, I thought about you every time I saw the Ruby Reds on the menu! Lacey, I thought about you because of all the pollen in the air. Near our campsite were some large ligustrum shrubs popping out in bloom.
Tonight I'm making a dish that's featured in the WW weekly pamphlet that I got at the meeting this morning. It's a quinoa dish with leeks and mushrooms.
At the supermarket I found rhubarb today and bought some to cook for dh. It was $5.99 a lb!
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Also meant to add myself to the list of those who miss Susan. I hope she's well and I wish she would return.
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Crazy weather here. 80 degrees yesterday and snow flurries today. I've lived here long enough to know not to plant any tender vegetation until May but the warm weather has really sent the apple tree blossoms swelling. Hope they're ok the next few freezing nights.
Carole, sounds like a lovely time. I'm glad. I like the Original Oyster House too. Can't remember if I've been to Shipp's Harbor Grill, I can't imagine that I haven't, but if not, it's one to try next trip!
Tonight is chicken and "slicks" (dumplings). I spent an hour on the phone with my cookbook guy and miracle of miracles! He got it running on the new computer. Yay! He also taught me a couple of things about 8.1. I'm feeling slightly more positive about it since I've managed to successfully transfer my favorite programs. It's still weird though.
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Quick post- maybe more later.
Dh came home Saturday late afternoon. My MIL passed away this afternoon. Trying to get a game plan for flying to Florida for services. Had to tell the boys. Dh and I are taking it harder than them.
DS2 has double ear infections and I have one too. Hoping we are healed before we have to fly.
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Oh Laurie, I am so sorry. (((Hugs))) to you and your family.
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Laurie my sympathy to your DH and you and the whole family. Please remind him his Mother probably waited til he left. My DH Mom did that too. Much love.
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Laurie- Sending love and hugs to you and your family. Hope you and ds feel better before you fly. (((((hugs))))
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Arggggghhh......lost my post.
Sending condolences to you and DH, Laurie. Hope your trip is painfree and peaceful as you celebrate MiL's life.
Carole, glad your trip went well...and impressed that you hopped right back on the WW train upon your return!
Won't go into all I just wrote and erased (!) about my functional medicine consult today....bottom line, I need to eliminate dairy for the next month or so, and rotate other food items (many of which are my staple fruits and veggies!) and starting next week will start self-injecting (ouch!) a serum made specifically for me to deal with the environmental allergies. Told my clinician there how well I felt now that I am off the Tamox and my hesitance to try out the AIs. She seems to think that if we can build my body up, I will be better able to tolerate these cancer drugs, which seem to induce inflammation in me.....that's the functional medicine lense, anyway. Who knows. I have to try something rather than the status quo. Tho it is so hard to cut back on food items that are basically good for me, until we sort out this possible "leaky gut" issue. I had never heard of this leaky gut business before. Whole new world, but maybe a path to better health! I feel a bit like I'm "drinking the kool aid!!"
Tonight, after our stretching class, (small miracle how it helps my joints now without the help of Celebrex), I made shrimp and cocktail sauce over a huge bed of lettuce....with some sour dough bread I picked up at Whole Foods after I "drank the kool aid".
I really do NOT like anything but Bessies' milk in my tea or coffee....but guess I'll get used to this almond milk thing. ;/
Need to think about what to bake for a neighborhood breakfast we're going to on Saturday. Maybe just some banana muffins? Easy peasy......
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Laurie, hugs to you and your dh.
Nance, did you make the Cook's Country (or America's Test Kitchen) chicken and slicks? Sounds delicious.
The Quinoa with Leeks and Mushrooms was very good. DH liked it, too. We had a salad and small seared catfish fillets, almost blackened.
Eric, could you describe your jasmine rice and chicken salad? I found brown jasmine rice in Gulf Shores at a farmer's market. The rice was grown in Louisiana!
I switched from Windows xp to Windows 7 with very little difficulty.
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Carole, I did not. I used a basic recipe that I've had for years. I've been trying to duplicate my great grandmother's for years and this one is as close as I can get to hers.
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Laurie, my condolences to you, your husband and your boys. Also, I hope your ear infection clears up before flying.....ear infections and flying don't mix well.
Eric
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laurie - so sorry for your family's loss - I hope your travel is safe and easy and healthy.
lacey - leaky gut is part of the basis behind the diet I am also on - it is also affected by GMO's - was there any mention of that from the appointment you went to? I have not really eaten dairy since the first of the year and while I do miss cheese and sour cream, I have gotten used to it. I use unsweetened coconut milk in my coffee and smoothies, and almond milk for some other things. I was amazed at how quickly I unbloated after cutting out dairy, my stomach went flat within 72 hours. I was allergic to milk as a baby, so it makes sense that it may be a problem for me. I still have not reintroduced the 7 food items I cut out, and am now down 20 lbs. total.
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Special, sounds like that dairy elimination in your diet has worked well for you. I'm not expecting any changes in digestive tract since I have no symptoms there, tho I understand that's why many people make these dietary changes. I will really miss cheese and yogurt...and worry about being a terrible dinner guest (have those other pesky food allergies!). Do you NEVER let dairy pass your lips?? For me it seems like such a circuitous route to help my body tolerate the anti-estrogen therapy. I feel like a very challenged foodie.
More importantly, today, on the anniversary, Boston is honoring the victims of the Marathon bombing and the recovery of the injured survivors. Thoughts with them and so many others who have been so painfully affected by terrible acts of violence. As hoped for by little 8 year old victim, Martin Richard, Peace......
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Lacey, somehow I missed your last post. Went back and read it thanks to SpecialK's referring to your leaky gut issue. I've never heard of that and don't really know what it is. Sounds dire. Sorry you have to give up foods you enjoy. Hope that serum does the trick.
SpecialK, 20 lbs! Good for you! I remember seeing your picture with Michelle when she was in FL. You didn't look overweight. The important thing is feeling good.
I thawed out a carton of home-made lentil soup and had a bowl for a late lunch. Yum. It was so good I could have easily eaten a 2nd bowl.
Dinner will be chicken breast cooked some way. Maybe flattened and panfried. Maybe chicken marsala. And warmed up leftover quinoa dish from last night.
I looked up a recipe for rhubarb jam that calls for some orange zest and orange juice as well as sugar and some water. I think I'll give it a try. Hope the result isn't too much orange taste.
Also I saw Rachel Ray cook peaches in some butter in a recent show. I bought some AL peaches that aren't ripe enough so I thought I'd give that method a try with splenda substituted for sugar. Or at least partially substituted.
Nance, your garden sounds very promising!
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Laurie - thinking about you and your family at this difficult time. I too hope the ears clear up quickly since flying w/ear infections won't be fun.
Carole - your trip sounds great. I've always wanted to go to Gulf Shores.
Lacey - sorry to hear about the allergy mess but hoping the serum will work and you can add things back in before too long.
Special - 20 lbs - WOW. Good going.
I just returned from a quick 2 night trip to Galveston. I needed to be around some moving water and saw a production of West Side Story on Sunday afternoon at the 1894 Grand Opera House. Excellent cast and it's been such a long time since I'd seen the show that I was captured by the story. Unfortunately a cold front came through so it rained Sunday evening & much of yesterday. 84 degrees when I drove down on Sunday. 50 degrees yesterday afternoon w/a 35mph wind. Oh well, I went Christmas shopping on the Strand instead of walking on the beach & found a wonderful used bookstore. Had an excellent beef tenderloin w/mushroom gravy. Unfortunately it seems my taste will continue to be off through this year of Herceptin so the fried shrimp weren't great. The best thing was the blueberry doughnuts at the little, old, homemade shop that's been there forever. Had 4 yesterday and brought a dozen home.
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Carole, nice plan for that rhubarb jam.
And Minus, sounds like a fun foodie trip (tho I hope you can do it again with taste buds!) despite the weather irregularities. We have the cold windy rain here right now, after a beautiful warm sunny day yesterday. DH just put the snowblower away yesterday......he's causing us to have some April snow soon. ;/
Continuing dietary saga.....today I did the first "burp test" to determine if I have enough acid in my stomach. Passed with flying colors! Need to do it for five consecutive days. Drinking the baking soda mix is similar to the colonoscopy prep drink....but much much smaller....thankfully! Four more to go....and I am smugly certain that the level of acid in my stomach is NOT a problem....another dead end to the leaky gut hypothesis! I really do not even think I have "leaky gut".... I would think that I'd have some issues along the digestive track. None whatsover!
That's great, Special, that your diet eliminations resulted in a good weight loss (I agree with Carole, you hardly looked overweight in your Michelle photo). I feel concerned that removing so much of my diet that I enjoy, in addition to the things I already can't have due to known allergies, may lead me to actually eat more (deprivation theory!)....and I've got eight more lbs I'd like to shed. Oh well, I'll stop grousing......
How can I even complain while watching the courage and hard work the marathon bombing survivors have shown. If anyone can access footage of the commerative ceremony today, some of the survivors were amazing in their remarks. WOW!
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Thank you ladies for the compliment saying I did not look overweight! That is so sweet! Michelle was a very petite person, as am I. I am 5'3" on a good day with a very small bone structure. When I graduated from high school I weighed 95 lbs and ate everything in sight. By the time I met and married my DH I was 105 lbs, still eating everything - I was very active, and was a regular runner and lifted weights. My top weight when I delivered my firstborn was 142, and went back down to 110-115 afterward fairly easily. Rapidly had another baby, also went back down to that weight afterward. Had a hyst/ooph when I was 45 and gradually gained a few lbs over the years, but could always work off 10 lbs before a wedding/reunion/special occasion/bathing suit vacation with the South Beach diet and some daily walking and weigh in the 115 range. I vacillated between 115 and 125 for the several years prior to my BC diagnosis. I weighed 127 when I started chemo, but I had 5 surgeries in the 3 months preceding. With chemo and steroids, 3 more surgeries and starting Femara/Arimidex I climbed up to 144 lbs - which is probably close to what I weighed in that picture with Michelle. That is far too heavy for my small frame, but I disguised things well with strategic clothing choices, lol! Today I weigh 124, but would like to lose back down to that 115 -120 range. One interesting thing is that having lost 20 lbs. by way of this elimination diet I have almost zero joint pain from Femara and my LE arm is quite a bit less congested and swollen/painful. Just saw my PS today and even though I still have stitches in he cleared me to return to walking and lower body work at the gym - yay!
The concept of leaky gut is not firmly established medically and not well understood, but is thought to be a permeability along the digestive tract that causes food sensitivity and a heightened body immune response. Those with Crohn's and celiac are thought to have this problem. It is also thought that certain foods that are not easily digested may contribute to this inflammation, and that GMOs may exacerbate it.
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Special - congrats on being cleared to start walking again. So glad things are going well.
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minus - thanks! I am excited - I have been laying on my bed for five weeks - three and a half weeks trying to heal the open skin, and now a week and a half after this second surgery because I have so many stitches! I am tired because I have been doing nothing, which is weird, but true!
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Carole, I love my little garden beds. Every year I say I'm not going to bother with a garden but then I go to the store and pay 76¢ for a pepper or a cucumber and think, "this is stupid" and I'm off to the races.
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Laurie, my condolenses to you,husband and family. You are all in my prayers.
Vivian
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SpecialK, I totally comprehend how inactivity can make one feel tired.
Nance, if I stayed home during June, I would have a garden. My mistake some years back was that I had too large a garden. It ended up being too much work with too much produce. Home-grown tomatoes are the ultimate luxury.
I ended up cooking a combination peach and rhubarb jam. It was dh's idea. The rhubarb seemed to disappear but the peaches add texture and the taste is really good. I won't eat much of it because I used sugar instead of splenda.
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Definitely a better jam with real sugar! Sounds delish, Carole!
By the way, can you or Nance share how much dry popcorn you pop in the microwave. I bought a new pyrex bowl, but not sure how much I can pop....just small batches? Thanks!
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Oh, forgot to mention, speaking of gardens.....early yesterday DH saw our resident woodchuck eating the first of the green perennial flower shoots. And I had thought about trying to have a bit of a garden this year. Last year he was the healthiest eater in the neighborhood....heavy kale diet. We got none! Hope he will at least leave my herbs (yet to be planted) alone.
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Lacey, this is pretty imprecise, but I put in enough to just cover the bottom of the bowl. Fills it perfectly with popped corn. I've done this with several different sized bowls. Btw, I parted with my old friend, my greasy old popcorn pan and lid, kicked to the curb in favour of the microwave method. I bet I've had that pan for over 20 years, used exclusively for popcorn. It's an old ugly odd shaped thing with a non stick coating that had long since worn off. Now my other pots and pans stack nicely!
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OK, Nance, thats what I was wondering.....if the bowl filled up. We tried less than a quarter cup and found that not so much of it popped. So it's encouraging to hear that we might expect some better yield as we keep trying different times, amounts. Thanks!
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Lacey, I usually put a couple of tablespoons of popcorn. The neat thing is that you can redo any unpopped corn kernals. The last time I made a bowl for dh and a bowl for myself. The 2nd bowl popped better. I wondered if it was because the bowl was already hot. I spray my popped corn with butter-flavored spray and sprinkle a little salt. DH likes celery salt and butter spray on his. Popcorn is a good fiber food in addition to tasting good. Warning: the bowl gets very hot.
Nance, we used to pop corn in a pot on the stove when I was a kid. Always used some oil. Shake, shake, shake!
We're off to the airport today to pick up dh's nephew in the early afternoon. We plan to stop at Drago's in Metairie after we pick him up and enjoy some grilled oysters in the half shell. Drago's created this now-popular food. They douse the grilling oysters with melted butter and top with grated cheese. The rest of their menu offers some great food, too. Drago's has a downtown restaurant, too, if you're visiting New Orleans.
While Rhett is here a couple of days, we'll also have some boiled crawfish. It's crawfish season now. You wouldn't believe how popular "mudbugs" are in this part of the world. They're not cheap but people buy sacks of them for cooking outdoors in big propane cookers with lots of "crawfish boil" seasoning and corn on the cob and small potatoes. We'll drive a few miles to Crabby Shack and order them off the menu and eat them there.
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Oh Carole, yum on the oysters! Drago's was already on my go to list for the next visit. That just moved it to the top! What brand of butter spray do you use? The one I got was pretty tasteless. I like crawfish, but I've decided they're too much work. I stick to the etoufees lol!
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Laurie, my condolences to you and your family.
Minus, what will you be having for dinner with your blueberry muffins? ha ha!
To all you gardeners, I am so glad that I held off buying "starts" and planting them this weekend. It snowed last night! This weekend is the big cleanup of the community garden and first workday, there will about 100 of us. So fun!
I haven't cooked anything interesting recently except some cod from Moosewood cookbook low fat favorites, with green onions, tomatoes, garlic paprika and lime for my daughter. I made asparagus with it. Afterwards, she "made" me go by ice cream. I ate it too. So much for an attempt at being healthy!
Today I've had 2 cups of coffee with Swiss Miss and ice cubes, as I am too lazy to go buy milk. Still on Alaska time.
It's time to take a shower, and practice and go back to my fiddle group tonight and show everyone how awful I am, now that I haven't practiced in 6 months. That should motivate me.
I hope that everyone is having a beautiful day.
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Last night was potato corn chowder. The frozen corn I used was pretty tasteless so it was quite forgettable. Fish tacos tonight with some black beans and rice and chipotle slaw. That should be more exciting.
I'm debating on whether or not to join a CSA. Once again, the commitment is making me hesitate, but I so enjoy reading about all the wonderful things those of you who belong to one get, that it makes me want to try it. I am able to get lots of local produce from my friend the truck farmer and he might be cheaper than the CSA. But I'm sort of attracted to the "surprise" factor.
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