Healthy Fragging

Good grief!  Megan posted on Facebook that she was thinking about following a diet she saw in one of the magazines lying around here (have I ever mentioned my magazine addiction?) and the backlash was immediate.  That it was promoted by Dr. Oz seemed to be everyone's biggest problem....even though it was not developed by him, but Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat to Live.

I was surprised by the reaction since I was looking at it myself. Aside from the Dr. Oz connection that seemed to set people off, the big problem most had with it was the lack of carbs, meats, and fats.  Well, that and the claim of losing 10 lbs. per week.  I take that particular claim with a grain of salt, myself, but I've learned enough over the years to have a pretty good idea what's healthy and what isn't.  Now, whether I do what I know....that's another story.

The basic idea is to eliminate processed foods and eat whole foods, with the added twist of nearly (but not quite) eliminating meats and dairy products, too.  The plan calls for getting your proteins from green veggies and beans/legumes.  It allows for a couple of small servings of meat and dairy per week as well.  The idea is to eat veggies and fruit....as much as you want....no calorie counting.  While the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle is not for me, I don't understand why this diet raised such a fuss.  Vegetarians tend to be very healthy people.

One salad into it and Meg admitted it wasn't going to happen for her.  My girl is too much of a carnivore...and she's not exactly a fan of veggies unless they are the starchy ones.  I'm going to give it a go with a one modification.  I'm all for the mass quantities of veggies, but I'm going to allow lean meat with dinner.

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Yesterday was my follow-up appointment with the neurologist for the neuropathy I've been having off and on in my hands and feet since Christmas.  If you've been around for a while you know I went through a bunch of tests last month.  

So, what did they learn?  It's not caused by diabetes, MS or vitamin B-12 deficiency, which are the main culprits (when a culprit can be identified).  In the majority of neuropathy cases the cause is never identified.  That's where I am.  For now all I am to do is continue taking the meds, which seem to be helping, drink more water and get more exercise to force blood flow into the extremities. 

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Getting my hair done today.  Yea!  I get keratin treatments to straighten my super curly, frizz-prone hair.  They last a fairly long time with proper care....using sulfate-free products and only washing every other day.  I've been able to go 4-5 months with ease.  This time, however, I'm at the 7 month mark and it takes a lot to make it look presentable.  You know how a perm looks as it grows out....straight hair growing in with curl on the end?  Reverse that and you've got what I'm dealing with....a good three inches of thick curl with straight after that.  Ugh!

Going for color and a cut today, too.  Can't wait to see what we come up with.

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This cool, wet weather leaves a lot to be desired.  School's been done for over a week and I haven't been in the pool yet.  I don't even have all my flowers planted or all the flower beds weeded.  I am thrilled with tomorrow's forecast, though.....sunny and a high of 78 degrees.  Absolutely perfect for a concert.  And since I happen to be going to see my favorite, Toby Keith, tomorrow, that's good news!  Every other year I've gone it's been August or September and the temperature's been 90 or above.

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The hubby is home today.  It's probably his last Friday home.  Work is finally picking up and next week he's going to another site before starting his own project the following week.  So glad for that.  Not that he won't be around as much, but for the overtime.  It has been a lean winter.  The company really struggled to keep all the employees working even though it was their worst winter ever.

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I have to share this recipe for a healthy (well...healthier) chicken burger I saw in Spry Magazine.  You can find it and 29 more healthy burger variations at Spryliving.com

Peach BBQ Chicken Burgers

Spryliving.com

1 tbsp. vegetable or canola oil

1/4 cup onion, minced

1/2 tsp. kosher salt, divided

4 large, ripe peaches, peeled and chopped OR 2 cups frozen peaches, thawed and liquid reserved

2 tbsp. brown sugar

2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

2 tbsp. cilantro, minced

2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 lb. ground chicken breast

Sauce: Heat oil over medium heat in a saucepan.  Add onion and 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, cook until softened.  Add peaches (and juice if using frozen peaches) and tomatoes, cook until peaches are mostly softened.  Stir in vinegar, brown sugar and chipotle peppers, cook for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat; stir in cilantro, lemon juice and remaining salt, and allow to cool.  Blend to desired consistency in blender or food processor.  Return mixture to pan, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Burgers: Combine chicken with about 1/3 cup of the sauce and mix well.  Divide evenly into 4 patties and cook using desired method.  Cook until meat thermometer registers 165.  Serve on whole grain buns, top with sauce, lettuce, and cheese.

Per serving: 310 calories, 10 g fat, 65 mg chol., 17 g protein, 27 carbs, 3 g fiber, 310 mg sodium

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Join in the fun @ Friday Fragments

Here's What's Up

I've been A.W.O.L. lately.  Sorry about that.  It was a busy weekend and now I find I'm really feeling run down and tired.....which has me feeling "blah" and struggling to fight off those lies Satan likes to whisper in my ear.  I'm doing a so-so job at it and feeling a bit blue and sorry for myself today.

*Easter really bummed me out...as just about any holiday is tending to do these days.  Those are the times when it's impossible to ignore that our son and his family aren't here.  We send gifts to the kids and make a point of sending a message that we love them.  Tim has heard from him twice recently.  Megan hears from him now and then.  I haven't heard a thing.  It stinks, but I won't apologize for something I did not do.  I waffled about it a while ago and Tim said no.  I told him to go see the kids since the anger apparently doesn't extend to him.  He says he won't go unless I am welcome, too.  So now I feel guilty about that.

*Tim doesn't see the orthopedic guy for his hand until Thursday.  He hasn't slowed down on working with one hand in a cast....but when he's at home he wants Megan and I to do everything for him and gets mad if we don't.  Megan and I are running out of good humor.

*I haven't heard anything from the doctor about the x-rays of my knee, so I guess that means there isn't anything seriously wrong.  He said he'd call if there was and he's very good about that, not like some offices.  I think I'm still going to call later this week just to ask him to explain what I was looking at when I saw the big white spot on the bone with a white zig-zag running up from it.

*Megan stayed at a friend's house last night.  She is (according to her Facebook status) out putting in applications this morning.  I hope she has some luck.  Her big goal is to move out of here.  I'm not against that.  Maybe if she does we will still have a relationship.  Right now we're not so good.  She is back to sleeping most of the day and being up all night.  I rarely see her and when she is here and awake, she stays in her room avoiding us.  She gets loud and defensive if I try to say anything to her...doesn't even wait to see what's up.

Sigh.  This stuff with my kids is breaking my heart.  I wish I knew how it went so horribly wrong.

Anyway....

*Easter was a little different.  Our little fellowship had a service at 10:00 and several of us had decided to go out for dinner afterward.  Tim told Megan she had to go.  She did, though she complained about being tired and not feeling good the whole time and was worried about when we'd be done so she could go celebrate Easter with her un-boyfriend and his family.  We also invited my mom and her husband and miracle of miracles, they went!  I believe they enjoyed themselves, too.

*There was no ham in our Easter.  The dinner after church was at a huge Chinese buffet that just opened.  It was very good!  And this was my fortune....

Bahahahahaha!  Now that's a keeper!

*For supper that night I made chicken enchiladas.  Other than church it really didn't feel like Easter at all.  I guess, just like I've had to do with Christmas, I'll learn to adjust and accept that the traditions and family don't mean to others what they've always meant to me.

*The Civic Club met last night.  I shared a little about them last month.  We are looking at the fact that after 90+ years of service, it is time to disband the club.  It has outlived it's usefulness...and most of its members.  Things went better than I ever expected last night as far as taking care of business and I did something that someone should have done a long, long, loooong time ago.  I stood my ground with "Mary."

Mary is the woman that every church or club has.  She has been there forever so she "knows" everything.  She is bossy and wants things run her way.  I've been president for 2 years and I don't think I've done a thing without Mary calling (or having her hench-woman call) to tell me it needs done and how to do it.

Mary is manipulative, domineering, condescending, stubborn, expects to get her way, and will beat a dead horse into the ground during meetings.  The one thing she is very, very good at is claiming the limelight and getting her face and/or name in the newspaper.  Last night we had a motion on the table and I called for a vote.  Mary jumped in and wanted to discuss the disbanding.  What we were voting on was financial and would not move the disbanding forward in any way.  I told Mary we could discuss the disbanding after the vote.  She kept insisting we discuss it.  I kept telling her we would after the vote since it DID NOT AFFECT what we were voting on.  She kept insisting like I wasn't even talking.  I finally put on my big, loud, take-no-prisoners-voice, leaned across the table, pointed right at her and said, AFTER THE VOTE.  You could have heard a pin drop as everyone waited to see what Mary would do (she is not a popular lady except in her own mind because she belongs to virtually every organization in town).  She sat back and said...."Well, okay then."  And that was it.

I really don't condone yelling at 80-year-old women, but you know....sometimes they have it coming and need to be reminded that age doesn't mean you get to ride rough-shod over everyone.

*I made a  Sunshine cake for the meeting last night.  It was amazing!  Here's the recipe if you want it.

Cake
1 package of yellow cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil*
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
4 eggs
1 (11 ounce) can of mandarin oranges, undrained

 *For High altitude: Add 1/4 cup of flour and decrease oil to 2 Tbsp.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Beat cake mix, (flour-if High Altitude), oil, walnuts, eggs and mandarin orange segments with juice on low speed for 30 seconds. Then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool for about 1 hour before frosting cake. 

Frosting
1 (26 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 large package of vanilla instant pudding
1 (8 ounce) container of non-dairy whipped topping (my Mom uses Cool-whip)

Stir undrained pineapple and pudding mix together until completely mixed.  Fold in non-dairy whipped topping.  Frost cake.  Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Note:  Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Pondering & Spoonbread

Time to join up with Brenda and everyone else who's participating for Pondering with a Purpose.  Each week Brenda posts a prompt and we have our way with it, so to speak.  You never know what you might find....fiction, poems, true-life experiences, photographs....  You really should join in, but even if you don't want to write, click the button to the left and spend some time reading.  It's a lot of fun.

This week's prompt is:  Killing time.


My first thought was "Are you kidding me????"  We've already established here that I'm pretty sure I have  attention deficit disorder, so my attention span for things requiring focus is about the same length as a gnat's eyelash.  Oh, and I might have a teensy-weensy, itty-bitty, hardly worth mentioning problem with procrastination.

My second thought was "Honey, I am THE QUEEN of killing time."  I've already made writing this post take half an hour and it's not even done.

How do I do it, you ask?  You know.....I really don't know.  It's just a gift and comes effortlessly.  Unless, of course, I actually need to kill some time.  Then time will crawl and I will get antsy and have no clue what to do with myself.  But put a task in front of me and the hours melt away effortlessly to the point where I find myself in a stress-filled panic to finish the job.

Facebook, by the way, is the best (worst?) time killer I've found.  Don't tell them I said that, though, okay?  That socially challenged, nerd-boy, genius who created it would probably revoke my account and then what would I do????  Ack!  I'd have to do what I've been supposed to be doing all along.

N-o-oo-ooooooo!

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And now because so many asked yesterday (Okay, maybe 3 or 4 people), here is the recipe for my Nana's corn spoonbread.

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

2 eggs, beaten

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can cream style corn

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup melted butter

1/3 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp sugar

Grated parmesan cheese, to taste 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 2-quart casserole with Pam.

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients but the muffin mix.  Stir to mix.  Add muffin mix.  Stir well.

Pour into casserole dish and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove.

Sprinkle with cheese.  Return to oven and bake an additional 15 minutes or until center is firm.