The past few days, being off the ranatadine were pretty bad. My face was swollen, the rash came back (albeit much less than originally, at the onset of all this), and I had very poor heat tolerance, which affected my sleep. I'm saying all this in past tense, although I'm not completely recovered yet.
After my appointment with the allergy doctor this afternoon I could resume all my allergy medicines, plus another one he's prescribing but my insurance doesn't want to cover. So far I've just taken my dinner-time ranatadine, but my facial swelling is already greatly decreased. Maybe tomorrow night I'll be able to sleep with the CPAP again.
The allergy doctor didn't seem sure what caused this, but he suggested that Lyrica, which I take for fibromyalgia, can cause some of these symptoms. He talked about maybe me having to get off of it for a couple weeks to see if that helped my symptoms. Of course, this alarmed me because if I get off Lyrica there are not a lot of options regarding what to replace it with, and most of them I already know I can't take. Savella is the only one we discussed that I haven't tried and don't know how I'd tolerate it and/or how effective it would be for me. Just being off Lyrica for 2 weeks would probably have effects that would go a lot longer than 2 weeks because it very likely would trigger a fibro flare. But I don't know for sure yet, that I'll have to get off the Lyrica.
The other thing that is really troubling is this weakness I've developed in the past couple weeks. I am hoping that if we can get this allergy thing taken care of that will also resolve itself, since it started shortly after the allergy symptoms started. But I haven't heard anyone say that weakness is particularly a symptom of allergy, or fibromyalgia, for that matter. My primary care doctor wanted to x-ray my back to see if there's anything going on there. Just what I need, another health problem. Isn't it enough that I have an allergy problem? Evidently not. Anyway, as I resume my allergy medicine and those symptoms subside, if the weakness doesn't also diminish, then I guess I'll have to accept the real possibility that that's something different going on.
As you can guess, I haven't been able to look at any of my life history materials. It's all I can do to deal with the present, including financial and (car and health) insurance problems too.
I haven't done a lot of cooking either, except to make tortillas for the fajita fillings I'd made and last night I made a recipe for cantaloupe muffins. I tried a new tortilla recipe and I liked it a lot. The muffin recipe was a bit of a disappointment though. I mean they tasted okay but I think there was too much fat content in them, they were hard to get out of the pan, and you couldn't really even taste the cantaloupe in them. Because of the novelty of cantaloupe muffins, I could be tempted to make the recipe again, but there are so many changes I'd make that it would almost be easier to use a different recipe altogether and tweak it to use cantaloupe puree for the liquid. I had some mixed dried peaches and cantaloupe (from last year's dehydrating) so I added those in and that was a nice addition. The tortillas required no tweaking.
~ Meg
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Monday, September 13, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
108. More Health, More Food
I'd rather talk about food than health.
Here are a couple pictures of the pirog from my last post, with some matryoshki (nesting dolls) in one of them.
One of the recipes I used for my corn on the cob was taken from a culinary magazine I used to pick up sometimes when I lived in Austria, but I didn't note the name of the magazine when I cut out the recipe. This recipe is "Mais-Scheibchen auf Dillsahne." Of course, the dill caught my eye immediately, because my dill plant needs using. I had never made, nor eaten cut up corn on the cob, but I found that it really does work pretty well. The corn on the cob is simmered and then cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces and served with a sauce, in this case a dill cream sauce. Using a sharp knife, it was actually pretty easy to cut the corn off the cob piece, and so to have corn on the cob without resorting to it being a finger food. Very nice.
I had recently bought some steak on a 2 for 1 sale, and I wanted to make fajitas, but I decided to try to use things I had on hand, so I used more of the corn, and some other things for the filling and marinated the steak and fried it today. So I'll be freezing that up in portions for meals later on.
I still have one cantaloupe to prepare and I was half thinking to just cut it up and freeze it for use in future smoothies, but I came across a recipe for cantaloupe muffins, which sound intriguing.
I've also been trying to deal with this car insurance thing, because my 6 month premium is due and they raised the rates (across the board), so I'm working with them to figure out how to bring it down, I may have to drive to the agent's office tomorrow because mileage is one of the possibilities, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow. I also need to work with Medicaid regarding some issues, but I've had to put that on a back burner for now as I'm limited on how much I can do at one time.
Regarding health, which is why I'm so limited on how much I can do, I'm going through a bit of a time now that I'm off of all my antihistimine medications. My face is still puffy and my rash appears to be coming back, but it's not bad yet. I have almost 3 days more to go of this though until I can get back on the antihistimines. My weakness is also increasing and I decided to use a cane to go to the doctor today because I'd have a bit of walking to do between the car and the office. The rheumatologist yesterday said that the weakness I'm having is not from fibromyalgia, but he thinks it's neurological, so he said he'd talk to my neurologist. Today when I saw my primary care doctor (she's now back from her personal leave) and she suggested getting an x-ray of my spine since I have a history of that (had back surgery). We decided to wait and see how things went with the physical therapy and also if I improve again after returning to the antihistimines. I hope it'll just resolve itself after I get over this allergy thing, but I'm sure that the weakness problem is unusual for just allergies.
Today in going over my medicines and supplements with the nurse I remembered that I had some lidoderm patches for use when I have fibromyalgia flares, so I decided to make use of them now since I'm having extra pain in the neck and upper back. It's amazing really how once you get multiple conditions they all feed on each other and limitations are just compounded and magnified. Even my IBS acting up means I have put forth some effort to keep that part of my body functioning okay. On days like today I feel like I'm 80, but I'm really just 50 and when I'm doing okay people usually think I'm much younger than I am. Not today, though.
I must admit that it would be nice to have more of a support network in times like that. It's been nice that people in the church here have asked how I'm doing, either by phone or e-mail, which is nice, especially since they don't know me that well even. But I think too of my nor fairly estranged family. I'd like to call mom, and I know she's going through her issues too, but I'm afraid that it's a bit of a power play where whoever gives in first loses the power battle, and she and my brothers are betting on my just letting things blow over and eventually needing them and giving in, especially about what happened prior to my coming back here. But I've learned that in this family given half a chance and a reason for doing so, they'll quite gladly dredge up things from the past, almost like a kind of emotional blackmail. I don't think in my family (siblings, mom) it's possible to have egalitarian relationships; one person always has to be on top and the other on the losing end of a relationship.
Now I know that ours isn't the only dysfunctional family around, but I want to believe that somewhere out there there are fairly "normal" families. I'm also curious about what psychologists and family counselors have to say about that. I mean, certainly the/a purpose of family counseling is to develop healthy family relationships, so there must be an assumption that it's possible to have a family with healthy relationships. Unless, of course, psychologists just want us to believe that this is possible, when all the while they themselves don't believe that it is. Somehow I find it hard to believe that there is such a professional conspiracy, which means that they must think that it's indeed realistically possible to have healthy functioning families. Okay, all you psychologist types out there, what does a healthy, functioning family look like?
I'm tired, so I'm going to start my bedtime routine. Good night?
~Meg
Here are a couple pictures of the pirog from my last post, with some matryoshki (nesting dolls) in one of them.
One of the recipes I used for my corn on the cob was taken from a culinary magazine I used to pick up sometimes when I lived in Austria, but I didn't note the name of the magazine when I cut out the recipe. This recipe is "Mais-Scheibchen auf Dillsahne." Of course, the dill caught my eye immediately, because my dill plant needs using. I had never made, nor eaten cut up corn on the cob, but I found that it really does work pretty well. The corn on the cob is simmered and then cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces and served with a sauce, in this case a dill cream sauce. Using a sharp knife, it was actually pretty easy to cut the corn off the cob piece, and so to have corn on the cob without resorting to it being a finger food. Very nice.
I had recently bought some steak on a 2 for 1 sale, and I wanted to make fajitas, but I decided to try to use things I had on hand, so I used more of the corn, and some other things for the filling and marinated the steak and fried it today. So I'll be freezing that up in portions for meals later on.
I still have one cantaloupe to prepare and I was half thinking to just cut it up and freeze it for use in future smoothies, but I came across a recipe for cantaloupe muffins, which sound intriguing.
I've also been trying to deal with this car insurance thing, because my 6 month premium is due and they raised the rates (across the board), so I'm working with them to figure out how to bring it down, I may have to drive to the agent's office tomorrow because mileage is one of the possibilities, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow. I also need to work with Medicaid regarding some issues, but I've had to put that on a back burner for now as I'm limited on how much I can do at one time.
Regarding health, which is why I'm so limited on how much I can do, I'm going through a bit of a time now that I'm off of all my antihistimine medications. My face is still puffy and my rash appears to be coming back, but it's not bad yet. I have almost 3 days more to go of this though until I can get back on the antihistimines. My weakness is also increasing and I decided to use a cane to go to the doctor today because I'd have a bit of walking to do between the car and the office. The rheumatologist yesterday said that the weakness I'm having is not from fibromyalgia, but he thinks it's neurological, so he said he'd talk to my neurologist. Today when I saw my primary care doctor (she's now back from her personal leave) and she suggested getting an x-ray of my spine since I have a history of that (had back surgery). We decided to wait and see how things went with the physical therapy and also if I improve again after returning to the antihistimines. I hope it'll just resolve itself after I get over this allergy thing, but I'm sure that the weakness problem is unusual for just allergies.
Today in going over my medicines and supplements with the nurse I remembered that I had some lidoderm patches for use when I have fibromyalgia flares, so I decided to make use of them now since I'm having extra pain in the neck and upper back. It's amazing really how once you get multiple conditions they all feed on each other and limitations are just compounded and magnified. Even my IBS acting up means I have put forth some effort to keep that part of my body functioning okay. On days like today I feel like I'm 80, but I'm really just 50 and when I'm doing okay people usually think I'm much younger than I am. Not today, though.
I must admit that it would be nice to have more of a support network in times like that. It's been nice that people in the church here have asked how I'm doing, either by phone or e-mail, which is nice, especially since they don't know me that well even. But I think too of my nor fairly estranged family. I'd like to call mom, and I know she's going through her issues too, but I'm afraid that it's a bit of a power play where whoever gives in first loses the power battle, and she and my brothers are betting on my just letting things blow over and eventually needing them and giving in, especially about what happened prior to my coming back here. But I've learned that in this family given half a chance and a reason for doing so, they'll quite gladly dredge up things from the past, almost like a kind of emotional blackmail. I don't think in my family (siblings, mom) it's possible to have egalitarian relationships; one person always has to be on top and the other on the losing end of a relationship.
Now I know that ours isn't the only dysfunctional family around, but I want to believe that somewhere out there there are fairly "normal" families. I'm also curious about what psychologists and family counselors have to say about that. I mean, certainly the/a purpose of family counseling is to develop healthy family relationships, so there must be an assumption that it's possible to have a family with healthy relationships. Unless, of course, psychologists just want us to believe that this is possible, when all the while they themselves don't believe that it is. Somehow I find it hard to believe that there is such a professional conspiracy, which means that they must think that it's indeed realistically possible to have healthy functioning families. Okay, all you psychologist types out there, what does a healthy, functioning family look like?
I'm tired, so I'm going to start my bedtime routine. Good night?
~Meg
Friday, September 3, 2010
106. Health, etc.
I actually felt a bit better today, although my face is still swollen. Maybe I'm getting used to it, but I'm not using the CPAP because of it, which isn't good either.
Yesterday at my doctor's appointment I said that if the bruising at the puncture points (where I had blood taken from for tests, for example) was a trend then the places where I'd had blood taken the day before should develop into bruises too. Well, lo and behold they are indeed developing into new bruise spots. I had to go in to have another blood test done for my Wed. rheumatologist appointment.
Other than paying rent and getting bloodwork done, I piddled around at home. The sweet potato salad I made yesterday is okay but nothing to get excited about. I got canteloupe and corn on the cob yesterday because they were on sale. Since tomorrow is laundry day and my washer/dryer takes up half the kitchen, including limiting access to the fridge (I can't open the door all the way when it's moved into the kitchen for laundry), I thought I'd better do some cooking today. I finished the sesame beef and broccoli stir fry yesterday, too, so I needed a new main dish. I made the mushroom "meat" balls, and they came out pretty good. So I've got the frozen marinara in defrosting and I'll use my homemade spinach linguine to go with it. I'm not vegetarian, but I sometimes have vegetarian main dishes.
For the canteloupe I'm making gelato. The sale on canteloupe was 2 for the price of 1, so I have 2 canteloupes and the gelato didn't quite use 1 (I froze the remainder of that canteloupe for use in smoothies). I have a couple other recipes to try with the other canteloupe. Right now I'm waiting for the simple syrup to cool down so I can add it to the canteloupe puree and then I'll chill it overnight before finishing the gelato. Fortunately, I'd bought All Whites with a coupon at BJs, but I froze all 4 cartons, so I have to defrost it now, as this recipe uses egg whites.
And since I had finished my silken tofu, which I was using in smoothies, and the All Whites was frozen (I didn't plan ahead on that one) I had to find a substitute for my evening smoothie, and I remembered that I'd recently come across smoothie recipes using avocado, and luckily for me, I bought 2 on sale, so I used one for my smoothie. I must say that the smoothie came out fine, although the color was a bit odd for a smoothie. But at least it's healthy and tastes good.
I hope I'm better soon so that I can get back to the main topic of this blog.
Yesterday at my doctor's appointment I said that if the bruising at the puncture points (where I had blood taken from for tests, for example) was a trend then the places where I'd had blood taken the day before should develop into bruises too. Well, lo and behold they are indeed developing into new bruise spots. I had to go in to have another blood test done for my Wed. rheumatologist appointment.
Other than paying rent and getting bloodwork done, I piddled around at home. The sweet potato salad I made yesterday is okay but nothing to get excited about. I got canteloupe and corn on the cob yesterday because they were on sale. Since tomorrow is laundry day and my washer/dryer takes up half the kitchen, including limiting access to the fridge (I can't open the door all the way when it's moved into the kitchen for laundry), I thought I'd better do some cooking today. I finished the sesame beef and broccoli stir fry yesterday, too, so I needed a new main dish. I made the mushroom "meat" balls, and they came out pretty good. So I've got the frozen marinara in defrosting and I'll use my homemade spinach linguine to go with it. I'm not vegetarian, but I sometimes have vegetarian main dishes.
For the canteloupe I'm making gelato. The sale on canteloupe was 2 for the price of 1, so I have 2 canteloupes and the gelato didn't quite use 1 (I froze the remainder of that canteloupe for use in smoothies). I have a couple other recipes to try with the other canteloupe. Right now I'm waiting for the simple syrup to cool down so I can add it to the canteloupe puree and then I'll chill it overnight before finishing the gelato. Fortunately, I'd bought All Whites with a coupon at BJs, but I froze all 4 cartons, so I have to defrost it now, as this recipe uses egg whites.
And since I had finished my silken tofu, which I was using in smoothies, and the All Whites was frozen (I didn't plan ahead on that one) I had to find a substitute for my evening smoothie, and I remembered that I'd recently come across smoothie recipes using avocado, and luckily for me, I bought 2 on sale, so I used one for my smoothie. I must say that the smoothie came out fine, although the color was a bit odd for a smoothie. But at least it's healthy and tastes good.
I hope I'm better soon so that I can get back to the main topic of this blog.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
105. Respite Continued
The more immediate crises I have, at least in the last couple years or so, the more I tend to sort of focus on the present, mainly because it's all I can do just to keep myself together, and I don't have energy left to think about the past or future (beyond the next day or week). It's what I call "being in survival mode". So that's where I am right now and until things change / settle down again, I'm not going to be able to focus on delving into my past.
I don't know what mom thought when I told her I'd been in e.r. I didn't call anyone in the family while in the crisis because I don't consider myself as having any emergency contacts any more. Her response was that she thought she should call me more.
Anyway, yesterday was indeed a very busy day, and somehow I managed to do everything I needed to, except I didn't get one of the detailed billing statements I'd hoped to get for August. I ended out figuring that I didn't have time after the blood work to come home and be back for my first appointment, so I made a breakfast sandwich to eat with my pills. I also packed a travel mug of hot coffee, but I hadn't used it in a long time and I guess it had somehow developed a leak, so I had to deal with that mess. Then I bought a cup of coffee later and I guess I didn't put the lid on well and it spilled when I was trying to drink it. Later in the day I must have forgotten to push down the knob on the top of my metal water bottle and it spilled in my bag too. So it was not a good day in the drink / spill department yesterday. That's what happens though when you're not feeling well, tired, and pushing yourself - you do a lot of dumb things. I don't think I'm the only one like that, so you might understand what I mean.
The first appointment should never have happened and the doctor even asked the registration people to cancel it so I wouldn't have to pay the co-pay. That was really nice of her. That was the infectious disease doctor, but I'm, thankfully, over the virus, so I didn't need to see her, but I forgot to cancel and when I got the reminder call about the appointment I figured I should at least go to it rather than be a no-show.
The other appointment was the neurologist, and he did find that I had some weakness when he tested me. He also referred me to a rheumatologist, actually the one I already go to for fibromyalgia, but I made an appointment for next week with him because of the new symptoms. He ordered more blood tests, too, and I was able to make it to LabCorp before they closed. I'd already been there earlier in the morning (for the fasting tests), so I didn't have to fill out all their paperwork again. Then I returned to the neurologist's to finish the discharge process and noticed that I had a third bruise, and I'd never been so prone to bruises before. It seems that they're appearing in all the spots where I've been pricked, including from last week's e.r. visit. So then I decided I wanted someone to check it out, and so I made an appointment with the primary care doctor again today and he agreed that it was a little unusual and worth noting.
I'm beginning to think that besides the allergy thing, there may also be lupus, which I imagine might be why the neurologist wants me to see the rheumatologist and why the dermatologist ordered the ANA test. In checking on line there are a few symptoms that could match lupus. The bruising is actually one of those symptoms, but another is hair loss, and not long ago I had requested my thyroid be checked (I had active Grave's until spring '07), but it came back normal. But hair loss and also weight loss (which I've also had recently) could also be lupus symptoms. I guess we'll see what the blood tests show.
Anyway, it might seem strange but yesterday after pushing myself to get everything done I was wiped out, but more in a mentally tired way than just physically, so when I got home I didn't really want to sit inside so I weeded grass from my neighbor's garden. It was a cool evening and it felt good to do that.
Today I had the one doctor's appointment and then worked a bit on bills, went grocery shopping and finally made the sweet potato salad. I had to go grocery shopping because I think I forgot I need the pepper for this recipe and used the original one I'd bought for something else. I did get to use my basil and chives in the salad though, which was nice.
When I was out grocery shopping I couldn't find the sour cherries I needed for the cake balls, although I did find frozen bing cherries and canned sweet cherries in heavy syrup. Both of those were on the expensive side, so I couldn't really justify spending that kind of money, so I'm going instead for chocolate-plum cake balls. That means I'll be adapting the recipes for the cake and filling accordingly.
My face is still puffy and feels tingly. You can have that tingly feeling with fibromyalgia too, and I found that folic acid helped it. Maybe I should try increasing my folic acid... Anyway, whenever I have the tingling in the face it tends to make me more tired. I don't know why, but it does. I need to exercise some more for my fibromyalgia, so I guess I'll go for a walk now.
~ Meg
I don't know what mom thought when I told her I'd been in e.r. I didn't call anyone in the family while in the crisis because I don't consider myself as having any emergency contacts any more. Her response was that she thought she should call me more.
Anyway, yesterday was indeed a very busy day, and somehow I managed to do everything I needed to, except I didn't get one of the detailed billing statements I'd hoped to get for August. I ended out figuring that I didn't have time after the blood work to come home and be back for my first appointment, so I made a breakfast sandwich to eat with my pills. I also packed a travel mug of hot coffee, but I hadn't used it in a long time and I guess it had somehow developed a leak, so I had to deal with that mess. Then I bought a cup of coffee later and I guess I didn't put the lid on well and it spilled when I was trying to drink it. Later in the day I must have forgotten to push down the knob on the top of my metal water bottle and it spilled in my bag too. So it was not a good day in the drink / spill department yesterday. That's what happens though when you're not feeling well, tired, and pushing yourself - you do a lot of dumb things. I don't think I'm the only one like that, so you might understand what I mean.
The first appointment should never have happened and the doctor even asked the registration people to cancel it so I wouldn't have to pay the co-pay. That was really nice of her. That was the infectious disease doctor, but I'm, thankfully, over the virus, so I didn't need to see her, but I forgot to cancel and when I got the reminder call about the appointment I figured I should at least go to it rather than be a no-show.
The other appointment was the neurologist, and he did find that I had some weakness when he tested me. He also referred me to a rheumatologist, actually the one I already go to for fibromyalgia, but I made an appointment for next week with him because of the new symptoms. He ordered more blood tests, too, and I was able to make it to LabCorp before they closed. I'd already been there earlier in the morning (for the fasting tests), so I didn't have to fill out all their paperwork again. Then I returned to the neurologist's to finish the discharge process and noticed that I had a third bruise, and I'd never been so prone to bruises before. It seems that they're appearing in all the spots where I've been pricked, including from last week's e.r. visit. So then I decided I wanted someone to check it out, and so I made an appointment with the primary care doctor again today and he agreed that it was a little unusual and worth noting.
I'm beginning to think that besides the allergy thing, there may also be lupus, which I imagine might be why the neurologist wants me to see the rheumatologist and why the dermatologist ordered the ANA test. In checking on line there are a few symptoms that could match lupus. The bruising is actually one of those symptoms, but another is hair loss, and not long ago I had requested my thyroid be checked (I had active Grave's until spring '07), but it came back normal. But hair loss and also weight loss (which I've also had recently) could also be lupus symptoms. I guess we'll see what the blood tests show.
Anyway, it might seem strange but yesterday after pushing myself to get everything done I was wiped out, but more in a mentally tired way than just physically, so when I got home I didn't really want to sit inside so I weeded grass from my neighbor's garden. It was a cool evening and it felt good to do that.
Today I had the one doctor's appointment and then worked a bit on bills, went grocery shopping and finally made the sweet potato salad. I had to go grocery shopping because I think I forgot I need the pepper for this recipe and used the original one I'd bought for something else. I did get to use my basil and chives in the salad though, which was nice.
When I was out grocery shopping I couldn't find the sour cherries I needed for the cake balls, although I did find frozen bing cherries and canned sweet cherries in heavy syrup. Both of those were on the expensive side, so I couldn't really justify spending that kind of money, so I'm going instead for chocolate-plum cake balls. That means I'll be adapting the recipes for the cake and filling accordingly.
My face is still puffy and feels tingly. You can have that tingly feeling with fibromyalgia too, and I found that folic acid helped it. Maybe I should try increasing my folic acid... Anyway, whenever I have the tingling in the face it tends to make me more tired. I don't know why, but it does. I need to exercise some more for my fibromyalgia, so I guess I'll go for a walk now.
~ Meg
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
104. Going Off Antihistimines
Well, today was the first day without Zyrtec. I haven't felt very good, to say the least, but so far it's tolerable. I still have 2 more days on the doxepin, though. I take that in the evening.
I still sort of find things to keep me busy, even though I feel crumby. I just pace myself and pick things to do that are reasonable, considering how I feel.
So I started portioning out my weekly meds, but I need to get some refills, and I try to do that on the first of the month so that that will count for meeting my "share of cost" for Medicaid, my secondary health insurance.
I also vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom. Did a few little things in the kitchen. Otherwise I've been working on my recipe database more.
I also did some exercises for fibromyalgia too. At least now I have a selection of exercises I can do to mix it up and also to adjust what I do according to how I feel.
Tomorrow is going to be a very busy and difficult day.
First of all, I have a whole slew of blood tests, which I have to fast for. Since my breakfast meds/supplements are by far the largest quantity of any during the day, it's hard to take them without eating to help get them down. So I'll probably have to take my pre-breakfast ones and then go to the lab to get the blood tests done. Then I'll come home and have breakfast.
I have two doctor's appointments, also, so I won't have a lot of time to dilly dally. And I promised the physical therapy place I'd stop by tomorrow with the p/t prescription and my insurance cards, and I should also get some detailed medical bills from a couple places. These things are all in the same general area, near each other.
I also have to pick up my meds from the pharmacy, because I won't have enough for the next day.
This might not sound like a lot, but it's REALLY a lot when you feel crumby and you just sort of do things even though you're only half there. At least in body you can physically be present for these things.
I bought a container of mushrooms at BJs the other day, so a while ago I decided what to do with them. I have enough (you get big containers of things at places like BJs) to make both a mushroom pirog (a Russian recipe, a large flat yeast dish with a filling and then another piece of dough on top, perhaps like a pizza sandwich, but without the sauce) and also mushroom "meatballs" to go with the marinara sauce I have frozen from my earlier roma tomato plant). I also have a couple sweet potatoes that I need to make a salad with. I'll probably do that Thursday. Cooking is sort of a fun outlet for me, something that gives me pleasure and I also try to cook healthy, although I am also planning a not-so-healthy sweet.
Last fall when I sort of went overboard on holiday baking (although, in hindsight, it may be the last time I do that for the family, so I hope that, and my putting on Thanksgiving dinner, are good memories for the others) I learned about cake balls. You can really get creative with them, and for my Christmas baking I made a walnut cake to use in the cake balls. But this time I want to make a chocolate & cherry cake. This will be a smaller cake (the walnut cake was a large sheet cake), so it won't make so many. How it works, basically, is you make (or buy, I suppose) a cake and use something as a binder, such as frosting, cake fillings, and the like. You break up the cake to make cake crumbs and then mix it with the binder (frosting or whatever). Then you make little balls out of this mixture. Finally, you melt candy coating and dip the balls in the coating like you would do for truffles. So, really, the sky's the limit on all the possible combinations you could make. The cake I've chosen this time is a single-layer chocolate-cherry round cake, and then I'll bind the crumbs with homemade cherry filling. I have a bunch of candy coating (and other holiday baking components too) left from last fall, so I could use either the light or dark chocolate coatings to dip them in.
Then I have to just try to not eat them all at once, but spread them out as little treats. That's why I don't bake much, although I've found that I have pretty good self-control when I make popsicles or put homemade ice cream, sorbet, etc. in some popsicle push-up molds I have. I have yummy Mexican mango popsicles now.
I guess that's all for now. Have a good evening.
~ Meg
I still sort of find things to keep me busy, even though I feel crumby. I just pace myself and pick things to do that are reasonable, considering how I feel.
So I started portioning out my weekly meds, but I need to get some refills, and I try to do that on the first of the month so that that will count for meeting my "share of cost" for Medicaid, my secondary health insurance.
I also vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom. Did a few little things in the kitchen. Otherwise I've been working on my recipe database more.
I also did some exercises for fibromyalgia too. At least now I have a selection of exercises I can do to mix it up and also to adjust what I do according to how I feel.
Tomorrow is going to be a very busy and difficult day.
First of all, I have a whole slew of blood tests, which I have to fast for. Since my breakfast meds/supplements are by far the largest quantity of any during the day, it's hard to take them without eating to help get them down. So I'll probably have to take my pre-breakfast ones and then go to the lab to get the blood tests done. Then I'll come home and have breakfast.
I have two doctor's appointments, also, so I won't have a lot of time to dilly dally. And I promised the physical therapy place I'd stop by tomorrow with the p/t prescription and my insurance cards, and I should also get some detailed medical bills from a couple places. These things are all in the same general area, near each other.
I also have to pick up my meds from the pharmacy, because I won't have enough for the next day.
This might not sound like a lot, but it's REALLY a lot when you feel crumby and you just sort of do things even though you're only half there. At least in body you can physically be present for these things.
I bought a container of mushrooms at BJs the other day, so a while ago I decided what to do with them. I have enough (you get big containers of things at places like BJs) to make both a mushroom pirog (a Russian recipe, a large flat yeast dish with a filling and then another piece of dough on top, perhaps like a pizza sandwich, but without the sauce) and also mushroom "meatballs" to go with the marinara sauce I have frozen from my earlier roma tomato plant). I also have a couple sweet potatoes that I need to make a salad with. I'll probably do that Thursday. Cooking is sort of a fun outlet for me, something that gives me pleasure and I also try to cook healthy, although I am also planning a not-so-healthy sweet.
Last fall when I sort of went overboard on holiday baking (although, in hindsight, it may be the last time I do that for the family, so I hope that, and my putting on Thanksgiving dinner, are good memories for the others) I learned about cake balls. You can really get creative with them, and for my Christmas baking I made a walnut cake to use in the cake balls. But this time I want to make a chocolate & cherry cake. This will be a smaller cake (the walnut cake was a large sheet cake), so it won't make so many. How it works, basically, is you make (or buy, I suppose) a cake and use something as a binder, such as frosting, cake fillings, and the like. You break up the cake to make cake crumbs and then mix it with the binder (frosting or whatever). Then you make little balls out of this mixture. Finally, you melt candy coating and dip the balls in the coating like you would do for truffles. So, really, the sky's the limit on all the possible combinations you could make. The cake I've chosen this time is a single-layer chocolate-cherry round cake, and then I'll bind the crumbs with homemade cherry filling. I have a bunch of candy coating (and other holiday baking components too) left from last fall, so I could use either the light or dark chocolate coatings to dip them in.
Then I have to just try to not eat them all at once, but spread them out as little treats. That's why I don't bake much, although I've found that I have pretty good self-control when I make popsicles or put homemade ice cream, sorbet, etc. in some popsicle push-up molds I have. I have yummy Mexican mango popsicles now.
I guess that's all for now. Have a good evening.
~ Meg
Friday, July 30, 2010
20. Food, Glorious Food! (Apologies to Oliver Twist)
After yesterday's account I thought it might be appropriate to focus on food today. It's a terrible thing to be hungry, for sure, and I've had a couple times when I/ve lived, for example, largely off of tomatoes growing in the yard where I was house-sitting. (Thankfully, I like sauteed tomatoes on toast.)
When K. and I finally reached Pula, we ended out renting a private room from a kindly lady with a very cute little grand daughter. The apartment was overlooking the local market... which you see here in the picture.
Earlier I said I would share my oatmeal recipe with you, so here it is. It came from a booklet of recipes that came with some Tupperware microwave containers I got in the 1980's. The variants are my own, though.
I used to make this sometimes in Russia, although I didn't have a microwave, so I did it stovetop. Now I make packets of the dry ingredients and in the morning all I have to do it is add the water, nuke it, and I generally add milk (even though it already has powdered milk in it too).
PLUMP RAISIN PORRIDGE
Makes 1 serving
1/3 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
3 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons chopped nuts
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup water
In 16-Ounce Casserole [caps in original] combine the oats, milk powder, raisins, nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir. For make-ahead, seal and store up to 1 month.
To bake: Remove Seal. Stir in water. Bake, covered, at 350[degrees] for 20 minutes or till water is absorbed. (Or, bake immediately, covered, as directed above.) Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes to finish cooking.
To micro-cook: Remove Seal. Stir in water. Micro-cook, covered, on 100% power (HIGH) for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or till water is absorbed. (Or micro-cook immediately, covered on HIGH, as directed above.) Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes to finish cooking.
My notes & variations.
First of all, I add about 1/3 cup water, so it comes out thicker, and hence I add liquid milk after it's cooked.
I just microwave it 2 minutes and don't let it stand.
My variations are this:
Sweetener: I eventually decreased the brown sugar by half, and now I have a stevia plant, so I put about 2 tablespoons of steeped stevia water as part of the water before cooking.
Sometimes I use dried fruits other than raisins, or add other fruit on top of the raisins.
I've also used a variety of nuts, but I usually use walnuts, just because they're cheaper and I like them fine.
I've sometimes added 1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa in with the dry ingredients, and since the stevia adds a taste that I'm not crazy about, I've upped it to 1/2 teaspoon cocoa.
I've also sometimes used coconut milk as part of the cooking water, usually 1-2 tablespoons.
I tried soy-based protein powder, but I definitely didn't like that at all. Maybe a whey-based protein powder would be better, or a flavor other than vanilla, which is what I tried.
I'm sure there are other possibilities, but these are just some that I've tried.
I hope you like it!
~ Meg
When K. and I finally reached Pula, we ended out renting a private room from a kindly lady with a very cute little grand daughter. The apartment was overlooking the local market... which you see here in the picture.
Earlier I said I would share my oatmeal recipe with you, so here it is. It came from a booklet of recipes that came with some Tupperware microwave containers I got in the 1980's. The variants are my own, though.
I used to make this sometimes in Russia, although I didn't have a microwave, so I did it stovetop. Now I make packets of the dry ingredients and in the morning all I have to do it is add the water, nuke it, and I generally add milk (even though it already has powdered milk in it too).
PLUMP RAISIN PORRIDGE
Makes 1 serving
1/3 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
3 tablespoons raisins
2 tablespoons chopped nuts
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup water
In 16-Ounce Casserole [caps in original] combine the oats, milk powder, raisins, nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir. For make-ahead, seal and store up to 1 month.
To bake: Remove Seal. Stir in water. Bake, covered, at 350[degrees] for 20 minutes or till water is absorbed. (Or, bake immediately, covered, as directed above.) Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes to finish cooking.
To micro-cook: Remove Seal. Stir in water. Micro-cook, covered, on 100% power (HIGH) for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes or till water is absorbed. (Or micro-cook immediately, covered on HIGH, as directed above.) Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes to finish cooking.
My notes & variations.
First of all, I add about 1/3 cup water, so it comes out thicker, and hence I add liquid milk after it's cooked.
I just microwave it 2 minutes and don't let it stand.
My variations are this:
Sweetener: I eventually decreased the brown sugar by half, and now I have a stevia plant, so I put about 2 tablespoons of steeped stevia water as part of the water before cooking.
Sometimes I use dried fruits other than raisins, or add other fruit on top of the raisins.
I've also used a variety of nuts, but I usually use walnuts, just because they're cheaper and I like them fine.
I've sometimes added 1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa in with the dry ingredients, and since the stevia adds a taste that I'm not crazy about, I've upped it to 1/2 teaspoon cocoa.
I've also sometimes used coconut milk as part of the cooking water, usually 1-2 tablespoons.
I tried soy-based protein powder, but I definitely didn't like that at all. Maybe a whey-based protein powder would be better, or a flavor other than vanilla, which is what I tried.
I'm sure there are other possibilities, but these are just some that I've tried.
I hope you like it!
~ Meg
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