Giving into temptation

Found out yesterday that if certain stretches were still too painful to do while standing, I could do them without pain while lying in bed. Sounds silly and like the ultimate lazy person's work out !  In reality, doing the movements without the added burden of body weight, at first, helps the muscle to get in the stretch alone. I discovered this quite by accident , and doing these adds a little more mobility. More mobility means more activity  and more activity means more strength , and before long these add up to a return of normal life . A good thing !

Back in the dark ages , when my son was locked into the worst of the texture issues and bad diet, you would find our cabinets full of pasta and the infamous blue box mac and cheese, because these were the only foods he would eat without having a neurological melt down because of the texture.After a lot of supplement intervention  and work, many other foods were eaten without problem, and I have really shuddered at the idea of making any form of macaroni and cheese again ! While I try to avoid it, Nick does request it from time to time ( but looks at the blue box stuff and says it is not food). I fear it would set off a trigger in him for one thing, as well as being such a high carb food ! We do need some carbs to keep our adrenal functions healthy and other nourishment at a cellular level ( something that does not become apparent till one goes through several years of low carb eating and a metabolic crisis hits), but it seems to be best to eat these with a high level of fat in order to minimize the bodies insulin response. If you eat high carbs with low fat, your body responds in such a way that you will soon feel hungry /snacky, and will often lead to a binge. ( this is NOT a form of uncontrolled behavior, but a pure biological response) . For this reason, if I was to make a macaroni and cheese again it would definitely be made from scratch , and would have to be the right proportion of fat and protein to carbs. I stumbled on this one that I found on Kelly the Kitchen Kop's blog, and decided to give it a try

Mona Lou’s Homemade Baked Macaroni & Cheese
  3 1/2 c  pasta
  1 1/2 sticks butter
  16 oz  shredded cheddar
  3 slices  colby cheese
  2 c  milk
salt and pepper

Boil water in a large pan, add about 2 T. Olive oil
Add 3 1/2 c. elbow macaroni
Stir well several times during the 8 minutes it cooks
Drain well in a colander, running hot water over the macaroni
Use a cold stick of butter to grease a large 4 qt. glass bowl and add the macaroni
Add sea salt & pepper
Add 2-8oz. packages of shredded sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese Stir well
Add milk just until you can see it coming up the sides of the macaroni – about 1 1/2 to 2 c. – not sure on the amounts, I’ll try to remember to keep track next time I make it.
Put a few slices of colby cheese and 5 or 6 pats of butter on top
Bake 375-400 for about 1 1/4 hours, depending on how hot your oven is – it should be just light brown on top

Verdict ? DEFINITELY high enough in fat  to prevent a binge, as well as protein. Super easy to make and my son thought he had died and gone to heaven . I thought it was missing something small, but was definitely yummy ! Baked Mac and Cheese is a hard thing to dislike. I am going to add this one to the rotation of meatless meals in Lent. Lent and spring - coming up faster than we realize !