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 !

Bad day

Yesterday was one of those days that started bad and became worse. Bob had a funeral, a need to get some car repairs done , I needed to get in to renew my Drivers license, so he took a sick day so we could accomplish them all. Nice plan, but did not work out that way !

Breakfast was fruity oatmeal , and during this Nick kept going on and on about a message on the cable , and it kind of got on my last nerve. It happens . We moms are human and sometimes our children do thing that grate on us to the point where we become less than charitable souls. In our house, this is never a good thing with Nick, for when I get impatient he reverts to more autistic behaviors, and the rest of the day is a real struggle. Turns out the message was for an upcoming boxing match- something no one in this house was interested in. What a waste !

Bob left to do the funeral and we began school.Plan was he would come home after, pick us up, we would hit sweet tomatoes for lunch, do the DMV, then he and Nick would go do the car while I had a little peace to do the grocery list and menu. We began with Math, and this was one of the days where Nick stumbled into one math difficulty that he has had for the past 11 years and NOTHING seems to help. This on top of the episode at breakfast made for a very frustrating morning. After an hour of struggling to complete an exercise that should have taken 10 minutes, I told him we needed to put it down and head for a walk. A brisk walk not only leads to fitness, but clears your head, hits your emotional reset button, and lets you look at something different to refresh your spirit. After the walk, we both felt as lot better. Back to the books, and suddenly I glanced at the time again. Due to construction traffic Bob was running late, I did some quick time math ( factoring in variables like crowd flow) and called Bob to suggest a change in plans for the afternoon. Subway instead of Sweet Tomatoes, skip the liscense for this day and just deal with the car. It was a winner.
I heart Subway's Veggie sub !Pair it with more veggies at home and it is even better.

Lunch finished, the guys headed off and I sat down to plan. Less than an hour later Bob called and delivered the bad news- the anticipates 100 dollar repair was going to be 600 and take 7 hours. He decided to shop around and came home. We both agreed that our car was fast becoming a money pit ( we had to put 700 dollars into car repairs in the last 6 weeks and more expensive jobs were on the near horizon), and made the decision that the time has come to trade it in. Car issues are a serious matter with us. We ran into very serious financial trouble due to a used car and endless repairs, and we will never go that route again. We have only one car, so having it run well is critical. New cars are fun- but sadly this means a death knell to moving plans this year. Heavy Sigh. Hall Walking will be my salvation for a while longer it seems. Then we had a discussion about our mothers - both of whom have Dementia , and it just felt like a very emotionally heavy day all together. I made a little alteration to our planned dinner ( because I was out of a key ingredient) and instead made this ultimate comfort food sort of meal

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with ham and Sweet and Savory Kale

Baked macaroni and cheese with ham

8 oz Barilla Plus Elbows
1 can diced tomatoes
8 oz cream cheese ( fat free if you have it)
1 cup cheddar
½ cup Plain Yogurt
¾ tsp pepper
¼ tsp salt
diced red pepper
1 cup frozen corn corn
½ cup shredded cheese to top mac and cheese
2 cups chopped ham
White Alfredo sauce

White Alfredo Sauce
1 cup warm water
1 cup powdered milk
2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare the pasta according to directions.
To create homemade Alfredo sauce:
Place all ingredients in a jar and shake

In a large pot combine American cheese, cream cheese, yogurt, butter, tomatoes, homemade Alfredo sauce, salt, pepper , ham, corn and red pepper Stir on low heat until all cheese is melted. Then drain the pasta andadd it to the cheese sauce. Mix well.Then pour the Mac and cheese into a large baking dish. Top with shredded cheese . Bake for 40 minutes on 375


Sweet and Savory kale

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 teaspoons white sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 cups stemmed, torn and rinsed kale
1/4 cup dried cranberries
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup sliced almonds


Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic; cook and stir until the
onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mustard, sugar, vinegar, and chicken stock, and bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in the kale, cover, and cook 5 minutes until wilted.Stir in the dried cranberries, and continue boiling, uncovered, until the liquid has reduced by about half, and the cranberries have softened, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sliced almonds before serving.

Both were yummy, comfort food sort of satisfying and while not exactly weight loss sort of food, nutritionally dense. Today is a brand new day and I am going to make it a good one !

Be careful what you wish for 'cause you just might get it

When I was pregnant , I had fond hopes and wishes for my son. I wanted him to be intelligent, compassionate, law abbiding and able to stick up for himself. Yesterday I realized I had gotten my wish- and wanted to kick myself. Then later in the day I began to think that perhaps I should nudge my son into considering a career in law...

The day began with Birthday wishes and overnight steel cut oats. In today's mix took 4 cups of water, 3 chopped madgool dates , 2 T of dried tropical fruit mix and brought it to a boil. Then I turned off the heat, added 1 cup of steel cut oats, put a lid on it and went to bed. In the morning I put it back on the heat, added a little more water because it had swelled so much and cooked it about 5 minutes. The I topped it with blueberries- quick , healthy breakfast for 3 ! A nice start to the day.


And then, the trouble started. Bad news on the doorstep, in the form of the Sunday Paper with coupon inserts. Nick LOVES to read the paper and he pays very close attention to those things that he has learned to be important - like the sales fliers and coupon inserts. He also loves the Arts and Entertainment section, the book section and home and garden. Good things. Nick is a high functioning autistic who has some behaviors that make you think of the movie Rain Man (KMart has underwear 3 for 5), and can drive you nuts. He also memorizes things like our house rues, everybody;s favorite everything,and more. Thus was the makings of "The Perfect bad food storm". House rule 1 is that when it is your birthday, you get to pick the eats. House rule 2 is unless there is an allergy involved, no substitutions. House rule 3- use a coupon whenever possible. So when it is your birthday and the paper offers coupons for Steak and Shake and you repeat this fact to your mom 9 billion times in an hour and remind her of how much she likes their portabello burgers between those repetitions, it becomes something like Chinese Water Torture. I finally asked him if he was trying to say he wanted to go to Steak and Shake for his birthday lunch and he said yes. Nick still has problems discerning between being asked if he wanted something and being told we are doing something, so we try not to mention anything he fixates on unless we are prepared to offer it. I forgot because I was being pecked to death by a duck, so to Steak and Shake we would go. Bob got home, we told him of the change in plans and then he dropped the next bomb- his singing schedule for the month after Easter. 3 Saturdays and Sundays , which means once again we can do nothing on any weekend, go no where and weekends will be rushed. Extra bonus if there are any Saturday Morning Funerals, which there is no way to predict in advance. After 29 years of this, I am getting really , really tired. Yet, there is no way out of the situation. It is who he is, his vow of ordination means he will serve in what ever capacity he is called on for , and we need the money he makes from this. Also his plan for retirement ( coming in 10 years) is to go full time into doing wake, funerals and weddings in a multi denominational capacity , and he needs to build up contacts and connections now. Just means I have to think more outside of the box to figure out a way to make all this work. I will,but at the moment I felt like I had been beaten by a sledgehammer and I just did not care about food. Steak and Shake it is.

Afterwords we went for a walk in the park, and talked. Walking and talking really helps me to clear my head, and we were given a rare 20 minutes of peace while Nick decided to play in the playground. It kind of ended when he fell off the slide ( mass + gravity+slick pants = boy shoots off slide like a missile). It was really nice to walk in the sunshine and STIFF breeze though !

Dinner was right back on program for all. Nick requested crab cakes, macaroni and cheese and spinach salad for dinner . I made baked crab cakes for the guys ( Moc crab, lemon juice, yogert, horseradish, breadcrumbs , mustard and parsley , form into patties and bake at 350 for 15 minutes) and the following

Mandarin Spinach w/ Caramelized Walnut

Line 3 bowls with desired amount of baby spinach, add thin sliced red onion an 1 clementine orange to each. Top with caramelized walnuts and dressing ( recipe follows)

Caramelized Walnuts:
2 cups water
1 cup ¼” diced walnut pieces walnuts
3 Tablespoons splenda
Boil water. Add walnuts and cook for 40 seconds. Strain the walnuts. Combine walnuts and sugar in a bowl. Stir to coat. Place sugar covered walnuts on a sheet pan and bake at 325 degrees for approximately 8 – 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Dressing:
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1 /2 cup splenda
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tsp Spanish paprika

Process in a blender till combined

And Macaroni with 4 cheese- a healthier version of an old favorite comfort food

Macaroni and 4 Cheeses

Cooking spray
1/2 pound small shaped whole wheat pasta
1 can solid pack pumpkin OR 1 pack frozen pureed squash
1 cup skim milk( or rice, soy or almond milk)
2 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar -- grated
1 ounce Monterrey Jack cheese -- grated
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 /2 teaspoon powdered mustard
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon unseasoned bread crumbs
1 teaspoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender but firm, about 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.
Meanwhile, place the pumpkin or frozen squash and milk into a large saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally and breaking up the squash with a spoon until defrosted. Turn the heat up to medium and cook until the mixture is almost simmering, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the Cheddar, Jack cheese, ricotta cheese, salt, mustard and cayenne pepper. Pour cheese mixture over the macaroni and stir to combine. Transfer the macaroni and cheese to the baking dish.
Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan and oil in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the top of the macaroni and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes. Then broil for 3 minutes so the top is crisp and nicely browned

Dinner got thumbs up . Spring break begins for us today and my plan is to do a lot of exercise and figure out how to further refine our life !