Summer Recipes

When the sun is high in the sky and the temperature is rising, I just don't feel like cooking. I want summer food! Usually that's something simple and cool like salad or a wrap sandwich or a big ole pile of fruit. I thought I'd share some of my favorite summertime recipes today.


Chicken Salad -- delicious with rotiserie chicken, grapes and celery. I love this on a bed or mixed salad greens and slices of fresh tomato

Tortilla Pizza -- So many this isn't just for summertime but I love how quick and easy these Tortilla Pizzas are - and once you get going on these, the topping choices are endless! They work great by using the round fajita shells, or you can use the FlatOut Bread for something a bit more sturdy.

Fruit Smoothies -- nothing like a healthy protein smoothie on a hot summer day. The Fuzzy Navel is a favorite. Or my go-to option is just banana & strawberries.

Protein Popsicles -- Yes, we all need a sweet frozen treat. Here's a recipe for Protein Fruit Popsicles. Or how about Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas? I especially love my Blackberry Yogurt Protein Popsicles.

Salads -- I love this Crunchy Asian Coleslaw and it makes a great dish to pass for picnics. Or you could do some Greek Yogurt Coleslaw for some added protein.

Fruit Jello Bars -- and who doesn't love Jello for a cool summer treat? These are a great hit at picnics too. They're like finger Jello for adults.

For more food ideas you can always check out my Recipe Index for a full list of all the recipes here on my blog.

Enjoy!
Pam

Freezing Strawberries

I love strawberry season! It's a bit early for Michigan Strawberry season (that's in June-ish), but it must be the season somewhere because my local grocery story recently had a huge sale. Whenever I find berries on sale -- strawberries, blackberries, raspberries -- I buy up a whole bunch and freeze them.

Frozen fruit is great for making smoothies by replacing ice cubes with fruit for a rich flavor. You can also freeze banana chunks and yogurt cubes or even leftover fruit salad, pureed and transformed into smoothie starters.

So I bought about 15 quarts of strawberries ($15 investment). Just hull the strawberries, cut them in half and spread out on a baking sheet. Then freeze for a few hours until the fruit is solid and then transfer to gallon size zipper bags.

Once finished I ended up with 3.5 gallon bags of strawberries. When I checked the price of this amount at the store, it would have cost about $35 for that much!

New Crock Pot Love

Guess what I got for Christmas from my brother and sister-in-law? Yep, a new Crock Pot! And I love it!

To the casual Pam observer there may be questions about why I'd need yet another slow cooker. After all, I've already got four slow cookers and use them all regularly. So one would think I'd be disappointed in this gift choice, right? Nope. Not at all! In fact, I've been wanting this particular model for a while now and I'm really glad someone bought it for me.

My daily schedule is pretty crazy. I leave my house around 7:00 a.m. and don't get home until about 12 hours later. So setting a normal slow cooker to cook for 12 hours could be a very bad thing and I'd end up with some overcooked, mushy food. Which means the only time I ever use my Crock Pots are when I'm actually home on the weekends.

This particular model is programmable. I can set the heat to begin hours after I add the ingredients (this would work well if I start with frozen food). Or I can set it to cook straight through and then when the time is expired, it will automatically switch to "warm." So now I can cook during the week and not worry about burning the place down while I'm gone. So excited!

Here's what I got:



So you know what this means, right? It means that YOU will be blessed with some delicious slow cooker recipes very soon. The first one I'm going to try is Beef Barley Mushroom Stew. I bought all the ingredients yesterday and will be putting it together for tomorrow's dinner. Let's see how that turns out and I'll share the recipe soon.

~Pam

The No-Sweets Holiday Eating Strategy

We all know that the Christmas season often equals Christmas Cookies! Last year at this time I was knee deep in baking cookies for a charity cookie walk fundraiser - and don't forget the adorable snowman cookies for a cookie exchange. It's been three years since I made my all-time favorite variety of Christmas cookies - Creme Sandwich Cookies - that my grandmother would always make when I was a little girl. Yep, lots of cookie action going on in past years for me.

But this year I have a "No Sweets Holiday Eating Strategy!"

The strategy is simple. Don't eat sweets! Don't make sweets. Don't buy sweets. Don't hang out near sweets. Ok... well, it's not exactly that cut-and-dried. I'm allowed to have some sweets, but only at certain times.

At our WLS Support Group meeting in November, I made the commitment that I would not eat any holiday sweets (from Thanksgiving through New Year) unless I was at a party or family gathering. In fact, several of us made that same commitment. And so far it's worked out really well. There have been a few instances where I've indulged and not been at a "party" -- but at least there isn't anything in my house this year. 

I have not done any Christmas baking at all. And whenever I attended a party where a dish-to-pass was required, I would make something healthy like a meat and cheese tray or a crock pot of meatballs or a veggie salad. None of the gifts I've given have been food-based either. The only special request I've received is from my Grandma Brown who wants a batch of my peanut brittle (which I'll make for her after New Year and pack up the entire batch for only her). 

What's interesting is that even when I'm at a party or family gathering and I know I'm allowed to have some sweet treats.... I don't over indulge. In fact, my taste tolerance for ultra sweet stuff is pretty low lately. I have a very high tolerance for sugar and I don't dump, so its not that type of tolerance I'm talking about... it's the actual taste of anything that's too sweet that I don't seem to like much anymore. 

It has been refreshing to not be obsessed over sweets and junk food! Remember when I'd rant every year about over indulging? In fact... remember the year when I got out of bed at midnight with a cookie craving and threw everything into the trash? If the rest of the holiday season goes as good as it has until now, I won't be faced with that again this year. 

Prayer and meditation has helped too. I asked for strength in resisting temptation and for help with some of my impulsive tendencies. Its nice to know that Someone's got your back when you're faced with a cube of peanut butter fudge, ya know!

~Pam

Everything Still Works

When you get a few years out from bariatric surgery there are days when you doubt that things are still working like they should be. You're able to eat very much like a normal person and you have established routines or habits that you don't have to think much about like you did right after surgery. Life just trucks along normally for long periods of time. Until one day, you're suddenly reminded that you have a very small pouch that needs special care and procedures.

So last night I made some dinner, like normal. I fired up my George Foreman Grill and made a piece of boneless, skinless chicken breast. I fixed a side of steamed broccoli and some delicious long grain rice (I found a deal on Uncle Ben's microwave rice at my local store). It was very good and definitely hit the spot for a healthy dinner.

Then suddenly I realized I'd been eating too quickly and felt that all-too-familiar feeling of having chicken stuck. Oh boy! This hasn't happened in a very long time. Way back when I was a newbie, chicken and I had a rocky relationship and that horrible "stuck feeling" was something I was well acquainted with. But that rarely happens anymore and usually only when I'm not paying attention and eat too quickly or don't chew well enough. So last night was one of those rare moments.

I was miserable for a couple hours -- wishing that it would move, either go down or come up. But nothing. Finally I had to take matters into my own hands and made some hot tea and started sipping. It didn't take long... only about 5 minutes ... and relief finally came in the form of gut wrenching vomiting. I had never been so happy to puke in my life! As soon as that was done, life was beautiful again and all was right with the world.

So this was a reminder to me that I'm not normal and that my pouch keeps me in check even when I'm not paying attention to it. My pouch still works to keep my portions small. And it's behavior keeps me in line with being conscious about my eating and taking my time to do what's right for my body. I love my pouch!

As my friend Nikki said when I told her this story... "Only in our world is this a happy occasion."

I love that I'm nearly four years post-op and my pouch still works just fine. Makes me happy for sure!

~Pam

What did you eat last year?

Lately I've been bored with my food choices. I've been eating on the run so much in the past few months that I feel like I've forgotten how to cook or something. Ok, maybe that's not true since this week I'm having Southwest Chicken for my lunches. But I certainly feel very uninspired lately and need a way to boost my creativity.

So I decided to go back to my FitDay food journal and find out what I was eating a year ago. Luck would have it that I didn't actually record my food much last September. But one day in August I recorded the following:

August 18, 2010

Breakfast 1 -- Protein Chai Tea
Breakfast 2 -- Carbmaster Yogurt and strawberries
Mid-Morning -- Coffee with vanilla flavored creamer
Lunch -- Veggie stir fry
Dinner -- Pizza
Total calories: 1,145

Unfortunately that wasn't very inspiring. In fact, I had chicken and veggie stir fry for lunch yesterday and had some pizza this past weekend. So I went back two years to see what was happening.

September 9, 2009

Breakfast 1 -- Protein Chai Tea
Breakfast 2 -- Carbmaster Yogurt, fresh blueberries and Fiber One Twigs
Mid-Morning -- coffee with creamer
Lunch -- White Chicken Chili and pretzel crisps
Afternoon Snack -- grapes and cheesesticks
Dinner -- Turkey Mignon, carrots, and what looks like a salad of lentils, black beans and italian dressing
Bedtime Snack -- Quaker Rice Snacks and Chocolite Protein  Bar
Total Calories: 1,355

Well... this is a bit more inspiring. And actually interesting too -- look at how much food there is on this second example and still the calorie range is under 1,400. I haven't made White Chicken Chili in a while and I'm curious to recreate whatever that lentil and black bean salad might have been.

So what were you eating a year ago? Or two years ago? Have you forgotten about some yummy food you use to eat all the time but haven't had in a while?

Happy Cooking!
Pam

Today's Eats - in the car

How about a peek into my day of eating? On a school day when I'm gone for 16 hours of the day. And during a week when I didn't cook my lunches for the whole week because I was gone on my cooking day. And right in the midst of a very stressful, overly busy time in my life. Ever wonder what a day of eating would look like with all those caveats?

Today - Thursday, May 5th - you'll see several people around the WLS blogosphere who are also sharing their day's eating. So after you get done ready about my adventures in food here, go visit the rest of them to see what they're doing. Also, why not find a way to share YOUR day's eating too? If you have a blog of your own, make a post and share the link in my comments section. If you're on Facebook or Twitter, share your eats there. Or hop on a forum and start a new thread with your eats. Here are the other bloggers:

• Beth (aka "Melting Mama")
• Andrea (of WLS Vitagarten)
• Rob (of Former Fat dudes)
• Shelly (of The World According to Eggface)
• Nikki (of Bariatric Foodie)
• Tom (of Beariatric.com)

Our goal of showing you what a WLS patient eats in a single day is to help you understand that we are all different. There is no absolute right or wrong way to do this post-op life thing. We have to each develop our own routine and eating plan that works with our schedules, preferences and the way our body works. We hope this sheds some light on the mystery of what long-term post-wls patients actually eat.

Let's talk about my day first. The food here is for yesterday's eats. Wednesdays are school days for me, so that means I leave my house around 7:15 a.m. to go to work, head to class after leaving the office and get home around 11:00 p.m. after class. Typically my routine is to have meals prepped over the weekend so I have a packed lunch for each day of the week and sometimes a packed dinner for school nights. But I was out of town this past weekend, so I'm off routine this week. I have no pre-planned lunches and there's not even much in the house to use for dinners. So I've been winging it all week.

I ate in my car. A lot. Way more than normal. LOL! I always have my morning protein drink and muffin on the drive to work. But since the weather was so nice I also had lunch in my car while soaking up the sunshine. Then on school nights I typically eat a small early dinner while I'm driving between the office and school. I did eat my late night snack at home though. So this day's eating was a bit of a "grab as I go" type of day.

The short version of my day's eats:

7:15 a.m. - Hot Vanilla Caramel Protein Tea

8:15 a.m. - Banana Oat Muffin

9:15 a.m. - Coffee with SF Vanilla Creamer

1:30 p.m. - Arby's Chicken salad wrap and a few french fries 

3:00 p.m. - Fun-size peanut butter M&M's

5:30 p.m. - Wendy's chili and mandarin oranges

11:00 p.m. - 2 mandarin oranges & 2 cheesesticks

The pictorial version of my day's eats:

Fast food!? Twice? And CHOCOLATE? Dang Pam... you're a bad WLS patient! Yep. It was just one of those days.

I've logged my food into FitDay and copied the journal entries below for your inspection. Notice that the Arby's chicken salad wrap is a strangely inputted. I am only recording 75% of the wrap sandwich because that's how much of the multi-grain tortilla I ate, but I picked out all of the remaining chicken inside the discarded wrap. So I added some regular chicken salad (my homemade version) onto the food log to make sure I accounted for all the protein I really did eat. I do this often when I can't make the electronic food log do what I want it to do. It helps me remain as accurate as possible in my logging.

So really, even though I ate fast food (twice) .... if you look at my numbers, they weren't that far outside the norm for what my goals are. In fact, my calorie intake was spot on. Just that the fat intake was a bit high (which I don't worry too much about anyway) and my protein percentage was a bit low (even though I hit my gram-intake goal) so it threw off my percentages for the day. My daily goal is around 1200-1500 calories with 40% from protein, 35% from carbs and 25% from fat.

So here's how the numbers shook out:

Calories: 1,490
Fat: 63g - 37%
Carbs: 148g  - 38%
 fiber: 21g
Protein: 98g - 25%

What did YOU eat today? Share on your own blog and link to it here in the comment. And go visit the other bloggers who are talking about their food today too.

~Pam

I'm Impulsive

Today I bought a new Jawbone Bluetooth  headset. Why? I didn't need one. In fact, I've already got a Jawbone in a newer model that works just fine. So why did I buy a new one? Well, it was only $9.99 and it was PINK! Two reasons that seemed to justify the impulsive purchase. Right? Nah... not so much.

Earlier I was in another part of the office building where I work, making some deliveries of paperwork to folks, and I ran across a spread of homemade cookies and goodies. I looked. I thought about it. I wanted one of those chocolate chip cookies so bad! But I turned around and walked the other way without partaking.

For the past several weeks I have been working on Impulse Control. So far today I'm 1 for 2.

So what's the big deal about Impulse Control, anyway? I'm glad you asked. During a discussion a month or so ago with a WLS friend, we were discussing the difference between Food Addiction and Compulsive Eating. I know that many in the bariatric community struggle with a food addiction and those who don't usually have some level of obsessive compulsive disorder that shows up in some form or another as compulsive eating. (Thank you Dr. Williams for teaching me about the differences and helping me discover where I stand on the spectrum.)

To read more about this stuff, here are some links:

• Food Addiction (and another link)
• Compulsive Eating
• Impulse Control Disorder
• Obsessive / Compulsive Disorder

I'm not a food addict and I don't believe I have a full-blown mental disorder for any of the others I've listed above. But I know I struggle with some minor level of compulsive eating that is somehow based in impulse control. Binge eating, out-of-control frenzied feelings, overeating and grazing all fall into this category. I've already got some OCD tendencies in other areas of my life where I like things neat and orderly and symmetrical and "just so" -- so it makes sense that it would flow over into my relationship with food. (by the way, those "neat and orderly" tendencies don't extend to all areas of my life - just putting that out there for those who have seen my messy kitchen and wonder if I've lost my mind with that statement LOL!)

I don't believe I'm into this compulsive eating stuff so deep that I have "binge eating disorder" or "compulsive overeating" -- but there are times when grazing can get out of control or I eat based on impulse rather than in a deliberate or planned way.

This impulsiveness with food seems to show itself in other areas of my life too. Impulsive shopping/buying is the one that I seem to notice the most. Never to the point of financial ruin - in fact, I'm debt-free and don't even use credit cards - so I'm not actually spending money that I don't have to spend. But, just like all of us, I sure could use a bit more padding in my retirement and savings accounts and cutting back on those impulsive purchases might help those accounts grow faster.

So I'm making a conscious effort these days to pay closer attention to my impulse control. Nothing formal or rigid - just trying to be more aware of why I make decisions throughout the day.

Isn't it fascinating how we continually learn new things about ourselves as we go through this WLS Journey? Remember the days when we'd just float through life in a blissful daze of disinterest in what was really happening around us or within us? Nowadays I seem to in-tuned with my body and my mental state and seem to notice stuff like never before. So right now I'm working on the impulse stuff. Who knows what else I'll learn about myself in the next phase of self-discovery...

~Pam

What's for lunch today?

Today a co-worker brought in a pot of white chicken chili with a mini buffet of toppings (scallions, tomatoes, salsa, cilantro) ... I'm enjoying a cup right now and it's delicious. Alongside the soup I'm having a few ounces of my favorite Jennie-O cracked pepper turkey breast from the deli.

And my entertainment? Why editing my book, of course! I've been carrying the notebook with me everywhere lately and I'm almost done with my round of red-pen-edits. I talked to Nikki earlier today and she is still editing too.

Of course, enjoying lunch at the table next to the window with a lovely view is good too. I'm glad it's Friday and I'm looking forward to a weekend with no formal plans in it.

What did you do for lunch today?

-Pam

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Making the right choices

Sometimes you actually make the right choices... Even when your emotions and cravings are screaming at you to make the wrong ones. Isn't it amazing how that works?

So yesterday at work was pretty stressful. There's a big project coming up next week (which is also why I've been MIA lately) and things are heating up as we approach deadlines on several aspects of the task list. I've also got school on Thursday nights so having to stay late at work made for a very rushed drive to class. Plus I needed to get some dinner on the way.

I've said before that one of my main triggers for emotional eating is anger. And boy was I pissed last night!!!  So I decided in my emotionally compromised state of mind that I was going to McDonald's and ordering a Big Mac, fries and chocolate chip cookies. (Yes I've eaten them before and no they don't make me sick.)

So I head for the drive-thru to place my anger-food order ... The speaker asks for my order and I start to speak. But what comes out of my mouth is not my Big Mac order. I was overtaken with by the Good Behavior Fairy and ordered oatmeal without brown sugar and a sf latte. Whoa! Where did that come from? Who knows! But it certainly was not a conscious decision on my part at all. I guess all that work in establishing good eating habits and making good choices has finally paid off so when I'm tempted to misbehave, I'm overwhelmed with the habit of good behavior instead.

I'm definitely not relying on this to happen regularly when I'm tempted to indulge in cravings and bad food choices... But it's nice to know it can happen.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Dreamfields Pasta

When you look at this photo you're probably thinking: "Pam has lost her mind!" Yes folks... what you see before you is pasta! Whoa! Can you believe it! Pasta in a recipe on a WLS blog by a self-professed-pasta-avoider. But your eyes are not deceiving you. That's real pasta right there!

But before you get the recipe, I want to tell you about the pasta and my little experiment. So let's talk about Dreamfields Pasta. Even though the nutrition label looks exactly the same as normal pasta, they have something called Protected Carbohydrates which reduces the total digestible carb count to a ridiculously low number. How does that work, exactly?

From the Dreamfields website:

While the total number of carbohydrates is the same as traditional pasta, our patent-pending formula and unique manufacturing process protects all but 5 grams of carbohydrates from being digested. The Dreamfields fiber and protein blend creates a protective barrier to reduce starch digestion in the small intestine. The unabsorbed, or protected carbohydrates then pass to the colon where they are fermented, providing the same health benefits as fiber. Dreamfields Pasta is the only pasta clinically shown to have a lower glycemic index than traditional pasta . (Dreamfields GI=13; traditional pasta GI=38). This blend also protects all but 5 grams of the carbohydrates per serving from being digested and therefore lessens post-meal blood glucose rise as compared to traditional pasta. We carefully monitor and clinically test our pasta on healthy people to ensure accuracy of its stated GI level.

 OK, you all know me well, right? I'm the biggest skeptic there is! If I don't understand the science behind something, I won't accept it until I figure it out. And since this manufacturing process is "patent-pending" the Dreamfields folks they don't give much detailed information about how it actually happens - just that it works and that they've tested it, etc.

Here's what a nutrition label looks like on the elbow macaroni I bought for this recipe:

Obviously they have to list the traditional nutrition stats on the label until the FDA gives them permission to do otherwise. So it looks like you're getting the full 41g of carbs with each 2oz serving and a whopping 190 calories. But if you do the math and calculate calories based on the claimed digestible carb count, then you're at:

Fat 1g = 9 calories
Carbs = 5g = 20 calories
Protein = 7g = 28 calories
Total = 57 calories

So I decided to give it a try with my own blood glucose levels and see what happens. I ate 2oz of pasta (measured dry, then cooked according to the box) and added just a bit of extra virgin olive oil for flavor and sprinkled in some Italian Seasoning mixed herbs. I started on empty - hadn't eaten anything for 3.5 hours before this experiment. I tested my blood sugar and this is what I found:

• Before eating - 77
• 30 minutes after - 134
• 60 minutes after - 118
• 90 minutes after - 115

These number are pretty much in line with a normal meal that's balanced with protein, fat and carbs. No reactive hypoglycemic blood sugar crash at all! And most importantly.... no tummy ache! I still don't understand the science and will remain a skeptic until more information is published about how they make undigestible carbs and stuff.... but for now, Dreamfields passes the Pam Test!

Side Note -- 2oz of pasta was not very much food for someone 3 years post-op. It was barely enough to pass as a small snack for my mature pouch. So right after that last blood test, I went and found some real food to satisfy this hunger. :-)

And what does this mean for you? It means new types of recipes will be coming your way... including the one pictured above - the One Pot Dinner which I'll post in a day or so.

~Pam

Pantry and Freezer Shopping

This is not my pantry, but it sure does look familiar!

NOTE: This picture is NOT my pantry, so don't panic - it's just a visual to give you an idea of how stuffed fully my shelves are too. My pantry has healthy stuff in it, not crap.

In the past several months I've had a dedicated goal of using up food from my pantry and freezer. There was a time when I WAY over-bought food and was stockpiling food in my pantry, cupboards and freezer. I think some of that might have been based on a level of compulsion - but that's a whole other topic to explore later. Anyway, this past summer I made a conscious decision to try and use up as much stuff in my pantry as I could without buying a lot more groceries. And so far, it's going well.

Yes, I'm still working through my pantry stash about six months later and I could probably go another six months with minimal grocery shopping. Crazy, huh? But then again, I'm just one person so it's not like I"m feeding armies of family members either. But in the past six months I estimate I've reduced my stash by about 50% or maybe slightly more.

I do still buy groceries each week, but mostly just perishables like milk, eggs, fruits, veggies and deli meat or anything that I need for a specific recipe that can't be substituted with something I already have. But there might be a 2 or 3 week stretch between shopping trips at times, which seems to be saving me some $$$ in the meantime.

I mostly use my freezer to store individual serving size meals (usually leftovers from my once-a-week cooking) and large quantities of fresh ingredients that I bought when they were in season. For instance when berries are in season and on sale for super great deals ($1/container) I'll buy $20 worth, then flash freeze them and package them into gallon size freezer bags. Then I have "fresh" berries all year long. Frozen berries are great in protein smoothies! Same goes with farmer market produce that I can get for super great deals. Also when I'm chopping an onion or celery or peppers and only need a small amount for a recipe, rather than let the remainder of that go to waste, I'll chop up the rest and stash it in the freezer for the next time I need it.

Here's some of the stash for this bulk-buying:

• Strawberries - bought on sale - 3-4 gallon bags
• Raspberries - bought on sale - 2 gallon bags
• Blackberries - bought on sale - 2 gallon bags
• Cherries -- picked from a neighbor's tree - 1 gallon bag
• Butternut squash - from farmer after Halloween (cut up and frozen during this recipe) - 3 gallon bags
• More beans than I care to think about. Me and My Brilliant Ideas
• Chopped onions, celery, peppers - 1 quart bag for each

But I also have a bunch of stuff that wasn't bought with the purpose of stockpiling because it was a good buy at the time. I've got more sauces and dressings to "try out" than I could ever get through. I have cans of tuna and shrimp and chicken for salad toppings. I have way too many protein bars, granola bars, snack bars, peanut butter crackers and stuff. I've got a bunch of miscellaneous protein powder samples that I really just need to give away to newbies. I have lots of dry goods like beans and grains. A bunch of canned goods like diced tomatoes, beans, mushrooms, sauces, fruit, etc. 

It's all pretty organized right now, but there's some stuff hidden that I'm sure I don't know about. I guess what I really need to do is pull everything out and organize it all. I could probably box up a lot of it and donate it to family or the food shelter. But that sounds like a lot of work that I'm not exactly willing to do (yes, folks, I'm lazy too!). 

So I'll continue to work my way through the stash. It's kind of fun, actually. To actually see empty spots on shelves and airspace inside the freezer makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something. 

Anyone else have this problem? 

Thanksgiving Grocery List

My shopping list

Whew! My Thanksgiving recipes are picked out and my grocery list has been created. I'll stop tomorrow and buy my ingredients and start the cooking when I get home after work tomorrow. I'm not even cooking the whole meal!  Just bringing a few dishes to pass for the family meal. Here's what's on the menu:

Butternut Squash Casserole
A combination of a couple different recipes. Some of this one and and some of this one - but with a few more tweaks. I'll post the recipe once I figure it out.

Scalloped Corn
An old family favorite with cream corn, whole kernel corn, onion, cream, butter and a cracker topping. Recipe to come soon.

Ham & Cheese Ball
A cream cheese base cheese ball with bits of ham and onion and rolled in chopped nuts. Serve with veggies or crackers and it's always a bit hit. Recipe to come.

Lemon Meringue Pie
My grandfather always wanted his lemon meringue pie for every holiday. It's also my favorite pie! But since he's been gone it's doesn't seem to be such a hard and fast rule anymore I found out today that nobody planned to make one so I volunteered to add it to my list. Yes folks.... you see "pie crust" on the list because i have no plans to make one from scratch. LOL!

Cookie Exchange - Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
This isn't really part of my Thanksgiving menu, but the ingredients are on my shopping list and I plan to make the dough while I'm messing up the kitchen this week. The cut-out cookies will be part of the cookie exchange I'm doing with several other family members. I'll be giving away or sharing the 8 dozen Christmas cookies I get back from this little event. We've got a family favorite recipe and I'll share that with you later.

Cookie Walk -- Magic 7-Layer Bars
My mother is helping to organize a Charity Cookie Walk with the VFW in Standish the second week of December. I've volunteered to bake 4 dozen cookies. I'll be making Magic Bars -- remember those bar cookies with sweetened condensed milk, coconut, chocolate and nuts? Yeah, those are the ones I'm making. I'll share the recipe and food porn later.

The Shopping List
I collected all my recipes together and listed each dish across the top of the page in their own column. First I checked the pantry and freezer to see what I already had on hand and collected stuff together. Then along the side of the page I started listing the ingredients for each recipe that I needed and carried that ingredient across the page for each different recipe. Then the last column is a tally of the amounts I need for everything.  Makes it easy make sure I get enough of the ingredients and don't miss stuff for various recipes.

Yes, yes, yes... I'll keep my camera in the kitchen as I'm preparing all these recipes and share photos and recipes as I go along.

What are you cooking?

Pam

Can Thanksgiving be Healthy?

Thanksgiving is just a few days away and I've noticed that many WLS folks are already starting to freak out. Some are mourning the loss of stomach capacity for hug pig-out-fests and some are mourning their body's inability to eat sweets due to dumping syndrome. Some think they can't participate in Thanksgiving dinner because of all the food choices. I'm here to help with the freak-out.

There is a way to survive Thanksgiving after WLS. There is a way to stay true to your healthy lifestyle but still enjoy your holiday. There is a way to eat traditional Thanksgiving treats and not sabotage your entire weight loss plan. Here are a few guidelines that I follow for my own Thanksgiving Dinner experience.

1. Thanksgiving Dinner is Only One Meal -- Nobody ever got fat by eating a single holiday meal. And we need to remember that Thanksgiving dinner is only one meal. If we eat 3 meals a day all year long, that's almost 1,100 meals a year. Of those 1,100 meals we can count on about 12 holiday or special occasion meals per year (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, weddings, family gatherings, etc.). Did we become morbidly obese from 12 meals a year? No, it was the other 1,088 meals that brought us to morbid obesity. So if we behave during the other 1,088 meals, we can splurge on the 12 special meals without compromising our healthy lifestyle choices.
   
2. Eat Normally the Rest of the Day -- Our family has Thanksgiving Dinner planned for 3:00 in the afternoon. There will be appetizers available before the meal (veggies/dip, cheese ball, ham/cheese) and a spread of desserts afterward, of course. But essentially, Thanksgiving is only one meal out of the entire day. So I'll eat a normal protein-forward breakfast right outta bed (probably my typical Hot Protein Chai Tea) and I'll eat a light mid-morning breakfast or brunch type meal around 11:00 a.m. (which might end up being the appetizer spread). Then I'll eat Thanksgiving Dinner mid-afternoon and later in the evening, while still socializing with family, I'll make myself a plate of leftovers for a dinner that focuses on protein. So essentially, I'm planning to eat  normally for all of my meals throughout the day except the actual Thanksgiving feast where I'll eat whatever I want.
   
3. Thanksgiving Dinner Breaks the Rules -- I will eat whatever I want to eat at Thanksgiving Dinner. My pouch capacity will limit the quantity, but otherwise I will not limit myself on what foods I choose. I'm going to eat excess carbs. I'm going to choose foods that have more fat than I'd normally choose. I'm going to eat sugary stuff. I'm going to eat one of my mom's homemade cinnamon rolls. I'll follow my basic WLS rules of eating protein first (2 bites of protein, 1 bites of something else). But otherwise, I'll eat a bite or two of whatever food is being served that I want to taste or enjoy. I'll follow the rules of my pouch to a certain extent by choosing protein first.... but after that, there are no rules. I'll eat whatever the heck I want to eat.
   
4. Eat Dessert -- Yes, you  heard me right. Eat some dessert. You might need to wait an hour or so after your Thanksgiving meal to actually  have enough pouch-room for dessert, but I highly recommend you actually eat something for dessert. Two bites of pumpkin pie does not contain enough sugar to make you dump (a full slice of pumpkin pie has about 20g sugar, so 2 bites small bites might contain about 5g). Or if you truly want to do sugar-free dessert -- make your own WLS-friendly recipe and bring it to share with the family. This new WLS lifestyle is not about deprivation, it's about learning to live a normal life and have a healthy relationship with food. If you deprive yourself of a lovely few bites of dessert at Thanksgiving dinner, your brain will just start to obsess about the fact that you didn't get anything and a couple weeks from now you'll finally give in to the cravings and binge on something you shouldn't be binging on. But if you eat a tiny sliver of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, the craving is satisfied and you can move on with life as normal.
   
5. Drink Lots of Water & Take your Vitamins -- When we get busy it's really easy to forget our need for water and vitamins. Make a conscious decision to hydrate well before your Thanksgiving dinner and bring your water bottle with you to the family gathering so you can refill it often.  Also remember to take your vitamins on Thanksgiving even in the midst of all the chaos of family gatherings. Set special alarms on your cell phone or whatever it takes to remember, but don't let these two important WLS tasks slip your mind in the excitement of the day.
   
6. Black Friday - Back to Normal -- Remember that I said Thanksgiving Dinner is only one meal. So that means the next day (Black Friday for us shoppers) we are right back on track with our normal eating schedule. If you choose to eat leftovers in the week following Thanksgiving then give away all the simple carb-based foods and  only  keep the healthy choices from dinner. Turkey, veggies, salads.... those are the things you can eat in the week after Thanksgiving. But don't let Thanksgiving creep into the days after the holiday. Get right back on track!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
~Pam

Sometimes...

Sometimes I'm naughty and indulge is things like this. I make no claims to being perfect ... How boring would that be anyway?  Because most of the time I make good, healthy, sensible choices, I'm able to splurge once in a while on things like this. Today happens to be a day designed for german chocolate cake cupcakes.
Wait wait wait ... It gets better.

The frosting on top is a light and cloudy mousse and when I dug in for my first bite I discovered that the traditional coconut frosting was hidden on the inside. OMG!

Ok getting back to the rest of the deliciousness. (Yes I plan to eat the whole thing.)


EDITED TO ADD:
You may be wondering how someone with reactive hypoglycemia can eat a sugar-laden cupcake and not have a blood sugar crash.

About 20 minutes after I finished eating this little slice of heaven, I had a couple cheesesticks to soak up a bit of that sugar. It gave me just enough of a protein boost and just enough fat to balance out the high-sugar treat.

Nope, I'm not advocating that everyone do this little stunt. This was a once-in-a-while indulgence and one I made while being fully aware of the rest of my day's eating plan and how adjustments were going to be made to accommodate the cupcake. I stayed within my calorie range for the day and a heavy-protein plan for the rest of the day brought everything back into line by the end of the night.



 

Meal Planning by Pam

I eat three meals and three snacks per day. Of those six meals - five of them are eaten away from home (on the road or at work). And once college classes start again, I don't eat at home at all on school days.

My crazy schedule requires serious meal planning. My personality requires that my meal planning ideas must be easy and fast. So I'll share with you some of the things that have worked for me over the past couple years.

Make All Meals Portable (Grab-n-Go)
I pack my lunch bag in the morning while I'm brushing my teeth (yes, I walk around during teeth brushing) - so that gives me about one minute to get it done. My rule of thumb is: "If I can't pack it in 30 seconds, it's not getting packed." So everything has to be ready to grab and go before I'm ready to pack it.


The Grocery Shopping Rule
I have a strict rule that if I'm going to go grocery shopping, I must also allow time afterward - when I get home - to put my food away properly. Nothing goes into my fridge or cupboard in it's "whole" package, it must all be packed down into single-serving size packages (bowls or ziploc baggies).

So if I buy grapes, I must have time to bring them home, pluck and wash them and get them into individual snack size baggies before putting them into the fridge. If I don't have time for that, then I don't buy grapes.

Grapes are pre-packaged in snack-size ziploc baggies

What's in my Fridge?

Early on Monday mornings when you open my fridge you'll see the following:

• Five individual serving size bowls containing my lunches for the week (more on this later)
• A short plastic "shoebox" containing baggies of grapes (or some similar fruit)
• A  short plastic "shoebox" containing a dozen or so Carbmaster Yogurt
• A bowl of cut up veggies (carrot or celery sticks, cauliflower or broccoli, etc.)
• A "basket" for all my tortilla pizza fixings.
• Salad fixings - either pre-made in bowls or a big bowl of mixed greens with toppings nearby
• Deli sliced turkey - weighed to 4oz and packed into baggies (it's gotta be Jennie-O)
• Sargento Light Mozz cheesesticks (yes, that specific brand and no others)

Trail Mix gets packaged into single servings

What's in the cabinets?

• Snack size baggies of Fiber One twigs (1/2c gives me 14g fiber!)
• Trail mix packed into single-serving baggies
• Soy Crisps in single-serving packs
• Protein Bars
• Peanut Butter Crackers
• Wasa Cracker / Flat Bread

The Same Lunch Every Day?

Yes, I really do eat the same thing for lunch every day for at least five days straight. And sometimes I even have it for dinner a couple times during the week. But why? Because I'm lazy... ur... efficient. 

Most weeks I cook a big pot (or pan) of something on Sunday afternoons. And then I package that big recipe into individual serving size bowls for meals later in the week. Some weeks it's an elaborate cooking production. Some weeks I'm rushed and it is an easy cooking day.

Salad for lunches this week!

For instance this week I'm having salad with diced turkey. So I pulled out my new bowl (similar to these by GladWare) and layered in my favorite salad toppings. Mixed baby greens, matchstick carrots, cherry tomatoes (from my garden). Then I weighed my turkey into 4oz portions and diced the thick slices - placing them in a baggie and then inside the bowl with the salad. I keep a bottle of Kraft Light Italian Dressing in the refrigerator at work.

On Tuesday I stopped at the Farmer's Market near my office and bought some heirloom tomatos. OMG-YUM! So I added those as a side dish to my salad for the remainder of the week.

Next week I think a pot of chili is on the agenda. The weather has turned into instant Fall and I'm in the mood for something warm and comforting for lunches.

What's for Dinner?
Dinner is the one meal that I really make a great effort to eat at home. Before my WLS surgery - and before I wised up and started eating healthy in the years before my weight loss surgery -- I'd stop at whatever fast food restaurant I was in the mood for that night. But now I make it a ritual to get home in time to cook dinner and eat at home. I use a similar solution for dinner that I use for lunch.

Roasted veggies become the side dish for dinner all week

As I mentioned above, I have the fixings for tortilla pizza and salad in the fridge almost all the time. But I also tend to cook a large portion of something and have that for dinner - or at least part of dinner. This past weekend I roasted some seasonal veggies - squash, zucchini, green beans, broccoli, onion, mushroom - tossed in extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with Mrs. Dash. So I can pair any number of things with veggies for a different dinner each night. I've got frozen individually frozen chicken breasts and fish and steaks -- so the choices are plentiful.



What if I'm lazy?
Of course there are times when I feel lazy or just don't feel like cooking at all. In the past week -- and probably because of my new Ninja purchase -- I've had a protein shake in place of meals when I normally would have cooked.

Ninja Update -- these ice cream shakes out of the Ninja are seriously amazing. I just edited the recipe in the original blog post because I discovered that the chocolate ice cream shake is so much better if you add a bit of chocolate pudding mix and lots more ice. I had one the other night and needed to eat it with a spoon because I couldn't suck it through a straw (too thick!). The folks in my support group will get a treat next week... I'll be taking my Ninja to the meeting so we can try these together.

Meal Planning Summary
My basic philosophy about meal planning is that I need to find a simple routine that will work within my too-busy schedule. I also have to take my own "rules" seriously. There's nobody who is going to do my meal planning for me if I don't do it myself and I have to respect myself enough to follow the rules I set for myself.  So my "grocery shopping rule" is a serious rule... my "30 second packing" rule is a serious rule .... and because they're serious rules, I must follow them.

My plan works great for me and my lifestyle. You'll need to figure out what your plan needs to be based on how you live your life. But once you have a plan, it sure does make life much easier and make it pretty simple to eat healthy and make the right food choices.

~Pam

Our Favorite Protein Shakes

This is the third installment of the summary of this evening's support group meeting.  The other two parts of the discussion summary can be found here:

Meal & Snack Planning Tips
Our Favorite Protein Bars

We went around the room and asked everyone for their favorite protein shake recipe. Some were super simple, some more complex... and some not even a shake at all.


Keith
vanilla protein powder
almond milk
banana
strawberries
carbmaster yogurt
ground flaxseed
-- whirl in blender


Karen
Muscle Milk Light ready-to-drink protein shake


Lori
Nectar Fuzzy Navel protein powder
Apricot/Mango Yogurt (Yoplait or store brand)
water
ice
-- whirl in blender


Tammie
Body Fortress chocolate protein powder
water
-- shake in blender bottle


Kathy
Chocolate protein powder
Coffee



Cheryl
unflavored protein powder
coffee
sugar free flavored syrup (English Toffee -- Black Cherry -- Hazelnut)

Ruthann
Body Fortress Vanilla protein powder
Coffee
Vanilla Caramel Coffeemate Creamer


Jean
GNC 100% Whey - chocolate or cookies-n-cream
water
-- shake in blender bottle


Michael
Ultimate Nutrition (GNC) Chocolate Creme
Milk
Raspberry Torani Sugar Free Syrup
-- shake in blender bottle


Holly
Isopure Chocolate protein powder
Coffee or Milk
-- shake in blender bottle

Pat
Body Fortress chocolate
milk or water
ice
--- whirl in blender


Alice
Skip the shake... go straight for the oatmeal. Mix the following in large bowl making several servings and cook until done. Then each morning take our your small portion for breakfast.
-Steel Cut Oats
-Flaxseed
-Protein Powder
-Cinnamon
-Slivered Almonds


Mark
Body Fortress Strawberry protein powder
Milk
Ice
-- whirl in blender


Pam (that's me)
Iced Protein Coffee
Protein Chai Tea - served over ice in the summer, hot in the cooler months


Which one sounds the best to you?  I'm intrigued by Lori's Apricot Mango Fuzzy Navel concoction and I love the idea of doing a healthy oatmeal for breakfast. I can see experimentation coming on...

Share your favorite protein shake recipe in the comments section!

Our Favorite Protein Bars

Continuing to compile the recommendations of my support group members. This is a summary of the discussion about protein bars. For the rest of the discussion, see: 

Meal Planning & Snacks 

Our Favorite Protein Shake Recipes

I personally have a set of strict rules when choosing a protein bar. I'll spend an hour in the protein bar aisle at the grocery store reading labels before choosing a new brand. Here are the rules:

• Less than 200 calories
• Must have more protein grams than carb grams
• No more than 9g sugar
• Be careful with sugar alcohols, some people have problems with these
• Fiber is good

The taste of protein bars is so subjective, that you'll have a dozen (or more) opinions about which brand is the best. Here are the ones mentioned at the meeting.

• Pure Protein Bars - Chocolate Peanut Butter -- Chocolate Deluxe -- S'Mores
• Chocolite Protein Bars - Triple Choc Fudge -- Cookies-n-Cream -- Peanut Butter - Chocolate Turtle
• South Beach Protein Bar - Peanut Butter -- Cinnamon Raisin -- Chocolate -- Maple Nut
• Power Crunch Bar - Triple Chocolate -- French Vanilla Creme - Peanut Butter Fudge
• Oh Yeah! -- Peanut Butter Cup -- Vanilla Creme -- Vanilla Toffee Fudge
• Atkins Endulge Bars - Caramel Nut Chew -- Chocolate Chip Granola - Chocolate Coconut