Author: nancyruth

From liquids to solids…

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

Two weeks after starting the ketotic diet I had surgery. The post-op diet was full liquids. Initially this was fine as I was not all that hungry after surgery but when I began feeling better/ more normal after four or so days it got very tedious.

I am so tired of all things vanilla! My meals have consisted of vanilla protein shakes, vanilla yogurt, vanilla pudding, vanilla ice cream with an occasional fruit popsicle and butterscotch pudding. When on solid food I will not be able to have chocolate or fresh fruits or vegetables but more flavors and tastes will be allowed. Then in two weeks I can resume my regular diet. But I’ll start slow because my stomach will not be used to eating as much as was normal.

I began dreaming about meals to make and eat after my two weeks of full liquid diet. I will have to grind or shred meats and eat them in a gravy sauce. I must have very cooked vegetables like green beans, beets, and carrots and must avoid gas producing ones such as broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, onions, and cabbages. I’m dreaming of a soft scrambled egg and piece of toast. Interestingly one can have toast but not plain bread.

The solid food comes with a caveat that it must be easily chewed to baby food consistency. For my first breakfast I had a softly scrambled egg with a piece of toast smeared with a smidgen of butter. This sat in my chest for a while. I had tea to wash it down over the course of the morning. In the early afternoon I had lunch comprised by one half can of tuna, one teaspoon of mayonnaise, and four saltine crackers. This seemed to go down more easily than the morning’s meal. At this rate of calorie consumption I may continue to lose weight.  I do not feel hungry but eat because I know one must have nutrients to keep the body and mind healthy.

Thoughts on day one of solid food: my planned meal of roast chicken, finely chopped with gravy did not go down well but I did enjoy my sweet potato and baby green peas. The grape flavored Popsicle made with real fruit was savored slowly like a fine glass of wine.

No Halloween candy for me this year. For day two I prepared a beef stew in the crockpot with stew beef, potatoes, baby carrots and green beans cooked with beef broth. I shredded my portion of beef with the immersion blender and this went down nicely. it was also quite tasty for such a simply prepared stew. I am eating more slowly than usual but this is a good thing. Today’s supper will be leftover beef stew and then the leftover roast chicken.  I will mush the chicken in its gravy so that I can swallow it more easily than the first time. Then I will make hamburger gravy which is a dish my mother made when we were growing up as a means to extend the meat to a family of six. But for me I added chopped spinach for a vegetable.

This is what my meals will consist of for two weeks. I am beginning to adjust to the lesser food amounts. However I am starting to crave the restless and mindless eating while watching TV in the evenings. I need to pick up my embroidery projects while watching the TV to occupy my hands and thoughts.

When there are dietary changes…

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

Admittedly my dietary changes are temporary and thus make them easier to endure than something permanent.

First up, a ketotic diet was prescribed to supposedly reduce some belly fat prior to abdominal surgery. It was a high protein, moderate fat, and low carbohydrate diet. Step one: receive Ketotic, pre- and post-op diets in the mail. Panic over the idea of only 20 g of carbs per day. Step two: Buy every non-starchy vegetable in the freezer section of the grocery store. Reread diet over and over and find it is actually 40g carbs per day. Step three: Obsess over food choices. Wake up thinking about food and menu for the day. Get out scale and weigh breakfast foods. Plan Salmon for dinner.

Thoughts on day one: I spent a great deal of my mind’s time thinking about food. I think I missed on one serving of protein not having a cheese stick with my dinner. I was not hungry throughout the day much to my surprise. I saved my celery and peanut butter for my watching TV at night snack. Drinking 64 fluid ounces of water/liquid was simpler than I thought it would be.

This was my eating plan for two weeks. Luckily it came with four sample daily menus. Although I was to keep track of carbs and proteins, I figured if I did not eat the off-limit foods I would be in compliance. Giving up sugar and restless eating was the hard part as well as eating all those eggs for breakfast every day! I did enjoy having deli roast beef wrapped in lettuce and eating cottage cheese. The best meal other than grilled salmon was the beef stir-fry.

  • 5 ounces lean beef (I used steak-ums cut in strips)
  • 2 cups peppers, onion, and mushrooms
  • 2 tsp sesame oil, a bit of garlic, and 1 ½ Tab soy sauce

The meat and vegetables were cooked with the oil and garlic in the cast iron skillet with the soy sauce stirred in for serving. I supposed this could have been served over cauliflower rice but it was plenty to eat on its own.

I was often not hungry but missed the mindless eating of anything desired. This Keto diet was making me evaluate my eating choices of what, when, and how much. That is probably a good thing regarding one’s relationship with food.

Hubby went along with this eating plan to be supportive. What a guy! For one meal we saved up our Carb allotment to have a bun with our grilled hamburgers. Overall this experience has reduced our reliance on carb heavy foods for meals and snacks.

My husband has taken over my kitchen!

~ nancyruth ~ 4 Comments

It is true that the Hubby has taken over the kitchen, sort of. He has not done so in the sense that has taken on the jobs of meal planning, prep, and cooking, although he is the breakfast cook and the dishwasher. He has established himself at the kitchen table for large parts of the day. His laptop is there so he is listening to his news sources, reading up on and reviewing his stocks, playing solitaire, and looking at “cars”. I had thought about moving him into the dining room and creating a home office space at one end of the dining room table for him, but truth be told, I have taken over the dining room table with my sewing projects especially the quilting efforts. Plus one cannot arbitrarily move one’s spouse from room to room without his expressed consent.

For myself, I have the sunroom set up as my sewing room and utilize the dining room table for cutting out and assembling larger projects. I have made a sitting room of the smaller upstairs bedroom. It will also function as a guest room as it has a futon that converts from sofa to bed. It is a quiet place to relax and read or have phone conversations. But until we turn the thermostat up to more livable heating, it lacks warmth. So the reading and relaxing and such is done in the living room where there is a gas fireplace that makes the room very cozy. It is also where the TV is situated for our evening sojourn in front of the “boob tube”, or “idiot box” as my father used to say.

In retirement we must make space for each other as well as share spaces. We also are finding that our appetites have decreased and we eat less. My plan was that we would have our main meal in the middle of the day but this has not worked out. As mentioned above Hubby is the breakfast cook. If we have our lazy coffee mornings until 9 o’clock or 10 or so, then a nice breakfast of eggs and bacon and cheese in wraps or with toast, we do not find ourselves hungry for a big meal at midday. Lunch is substituted by a yogurt cup (me) or cheese and crackers (him). And because it has been grilling weather, supper has been some piece of grilled meat with a salad and/or frozen veggies cooked on top of the stove.

I am hoping to try some new recipes for the holidays.

Thanks for reading.

Coffee Cake

~ nancyruth ~ 2 Comments

I like coffee cake, especially with streusel. Coffee cake goes nicely with that first cup of coffee in the morning and or a cup of tea in the afternoon. There seems to be a classic sour cream coffee cake that is especially popular and I used to make that one. I decided to make the plainer coffee cake from my Betty Crocker cookbook. The cake part is a no fuss recipe.

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 egg

Mix everything together for two-three minutes. Spread half the batter in the greased baking pan. I used the 13×9 inch option. Make the streusel by mixing the ingredients until crumbly.

  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3 Tablespoons firm butter

Sprinkle half the streusel on the batter in the pan. Pour in the rest of the batter and top with the rest of the streusel. Bake at350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes.

It was tasty.

Thoughts: Why on earth did Betty give a 13×9 inch pan option? There was barely enough batter and one cannot see the layer of streusel. The other option was a 9×9 inch square pan and both my square pans are 8×8 inch. Those actually would have been sufficient and more appropriate for the layering effect with the streusel.

Ginger Beef

~ nancyruth ~ Leave a comment

Well I seemed to have lost momentum for writing. So I’ll try again. It’s not like I don’t have time. My time is my own as I am retired. There are some demands on my time such as Stepdaughter’s wedding, Easter celebrations with grandkids complete with burnt cinnamon rolls, attempts to keep an exercise routine going, various healthcare appointments, etc.

And I am cooking and baking just not writing about it partly because I don’t always make something new and I try other bloggers’ recipes. And some of those are very worthwhile to make over and over again!

I was gifted by a friend several (actually a lot) packages of frozen meats. I have ground pork from which I will be trying to make younger Stepdaughter’s pork pie. But what to do with ground beef? There is just so much chili my aging stomach can tolerate. Hubby will be making his fancy meatloaf at some point, and we have preformed burger patties ready and waiting already. So I perused a few of my many cookbooks, looked at the NYTimes Cooking app, and decided to make Stir-Fried Beef with Onions and Ginger from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything but with ground sirloin instead of flank steak. My ingredients are as follows:

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • Olive oil for sauteing the onion, and then some more for the pan to brown the meat
  • 1 inch ginger root, minced
  • 1 pound ground sirloin beef
  • 1/2 cup vegetable broth, homemade
  • 1 Tablespoon soy sauce

First, brown the onion on high heat until beginning to char, then I added the garlic just at the end. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and remove from pan. Add more oil, most of the ginger and the beef. Stir cooking this until the beef is no longer pink. Add the rest of the ginger, the broth, and the soy sauce. Cook and stir until most of the liquid is gone, but leave some. This process took less than 20 minutes with the ingredients prepped already.

I served this with rice and a cucumber/carrot salad with sesame dressing.

Thoughts: the fat in the ground sirloin (90/10) and the onion overpowered the ginger. The sesame dressing on the salad had more flavor. It also needed a sauce. Very thinly sliced flank steak would be the choice of meat as in the original recipe. For the leftovers I will douse this with teriyaki sauce. It could then be served over more rice or in a wrap.

Until next time…thanks for reading!

Another Summer Pie

~ nancyruth ~ 4 Comments

I was reading recipes and came across one with lemon curd and blackberries. That sounded like a fabulous combination and I found blackberries at the store and bought a bunch of lemons as well. Now what to create? What about a lemon curd pie topped with blackberry sauce? (I probably saw these somewhere so the idea is not very original.)

Here’s what I did:

  • made lemon curd: I used a microwave lemon curd recipe from the Allrecipes.com website; there are plenty to chose from.
  • purchased a premade graham cracker crust: in general I do not prefer these but it is summer and these do not have to be baked.
  • made a blackberry sauce with one cup of blackberries: smush these in a sauce pan with a tablespoon or two of sugar and a splash of lemon juice. Thicken with one teaspoon cornstarch and two teaspoons of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes or so.
  • assembled into a pie and chilled for several hours
  • served with whipped cream and fresh blackberries

Whipped cream covers a variety of errors! This was tasty but not pretty. The lemon curd did not set as I expected. Perhaps cooking it one minute longer would have made a difference. Mixing fresh blackberries into the cooked sauce may have also made it prettier that it was. But Hubby and I ate two pieces the first night!

Blueberry Cream Pie

~ nancyruth ~ 1 Comment

My local newspaper sends the weekly advertising flyers in a “food section” through the mail every week. Sometimes there are interesting recipes that I keep to try out. Sometimes there is an article or two about wine or other food issues that are interesting to read. I confess, I mostly peruse the recipes and cut a few out with the intention of making them.

This recipe is from America’s Test Kitchen and was summer appropriate using blueberries. You can find this on their website if you are a member. I found it in my newspaper flyer. I bought a graham cracker crust instead of making my own. I thought that would be the easiest way to take it to share with “the girls” with whom I go to the Cape with for a week each summer.

  • one graham cracker crust
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 pints blueberries, divided
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup heavy cream, chilled: I bought a can of whipping cream instead; this does effect the results.

For the filling, whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt in medium saucepan until no lumps remain. One is supposed to process 2 cups (1 pint) of the blueberries in a food processor until smooth. Well, I merely used an immersion blender so my blueberries at this point are mushed but not smooth as silk. One is also supposed to strain this blueberry puree into the sugar mixture. I did not. This will effect the ability to pipe the cream later. Bring this mixture to medium heat and cook until whisk leaves a trail that slowly fills in. I cooked this to a simmer and then for 1-2 minutes longer. Whisk in the lemon juice. Reserve 2 Tablespoons of the puree for piping. Stir in the remaining pint of blueberries and spread in the graham cracker crust.

For the topping beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a stand mixture until smooth. I then folded in the canned whipped cream instead of mixing in heavy cream and beating until stiff peaks formed. Put this mixture into a pastry bag along with smears of the reserved puree to pipe decoratively onto the pie. My blueberries got stuck in the tip and my whipped cream was collapsing so my pie does not look as pretty as the pie in the newspaper picture.

But it was fantastically tasty! The girls and I gobbled this down the first evening at the Cape, even those concerned about carb watching and sugar content. I hope to make this again!

Moonrise at the Cape over the Atlantic

Orzo Casserole, my way

~ nancyruth ~ 1 Comment

I cooked! I read a recipe in the New York Times cooking section and thought “I could make that!” Mind you, I did not have all the ingredients but “what the hey!” Here is the original: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1024402-one-pan-zucchini-pesto-orzo?action=click&module=RecipeBox&pgType=recipebox-page&region=all&rank=0

So I had no zucchini nor mozzarella cheese nor mint nor a lemon nor parmesan. What I did have was orzo pasta, I thought I had a jar of pesto, and my neighbor’s garden fresh tomatoes. What I did: I substituted fresh basil for the mint, jarred lemon juice for the lemon juice and zest, the little bit of homemade pesto for the pesto, and Feta for the mozzarella. And cooked chicken for some protein.

  • about one cup chopped cooked chicken; this was the meat from two thighs
  • 1 yellow onion, sliced
  • olive oil for the skillet
  • sprinkle of red pepper flakes
  • pinch of fine sea salt
  • 1 3/4 cups chicken stock, homemade and previously frozen
  • 1 cup orzo
  • scant 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
  • 4 ounces of crumbled Feta cheese
  • handful of fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped, and one sprig of fresh oregano leaves removed from the stem
  • grated Romano cheese, about 1/4 cup
  • about 1/4 cup pesto from previously frozen homemade

In a large skillet I sautéed the onion in olive oil with the red pepper flakes and a bit of salt until slightly browned and then added the chicken. Then I stirred in the stock and brought to simmer, added the orzo and lemon juice and another pinch of salt. Covered this and let cook for 10-12 minutes.

Meanwhile in a small bowl I tossed together the tomatoes, fresh herbs, another pinch of salt, and another shake of red pepper flakes with a drizzle of olive oil. This marinated while the orzo cooked.

When the orzo was done, I added the Romano cheese and the pesto. Stirred this and let cook one more minute with the lid on the pan.

To serve top with the tomato mixture and more Romano cheese.

This was very tasty. It could have served three people but we had not had lunch that day so Hubby and I ate it all.

The Joys of Store-Bought!

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Granted, there is nothing like home-baked cakes, cookies, and pies. But sometimes one has to “just buy it”. Usually I succumb to this urge at bakeries and/or bakery sections of grocery stores. Especially if I go shopping when I’m hungry.

There are some things that home-made cannot beat. Oreos come to mind right away. A home-baked chocolate sandwich cookie is more of a Whoopie Pie and definitely not an Oreo. Although I have tried to make crackers which come out “alright”, these I think are also best bought in a box. And unless you want to spend the time and effort to make croissants and puff pastry (which I have done) these are also items I buy already made. And then there is Angel Food Cake. I tried to bake one from scratch eons ago and it turned out to be a hockey puck so I haven’t given that a second try.

What about box mixes? When I was in high school Mom would sometimes buy cake mixes on sale. I remember them on sale 4 for a $1 at times! I generally try to stay away from these except for cornbread mixes for the camping trailer. I also get tins of biscuits and cinnamon rolls for camping but never for home. If I think about it I could mix all the dry ingredients for a cake and then list the wet ingredients to add such as eggs, butter, and milk. This would be what one adds to cake mixes anyway. I’ve never tried this but think about it from time to time. I could mix the dry ingredients for a chocolate cake and take it to bake camping. Or I could just bake the cake at home and bring it along. Or just buy a small cake. Our most recent camping trip I bought cupcakes at the bakery section of a grocery store and the grandkids loved them. For the grandboy’s birthday coming up I will make a chocolate cake and bring it along. That cake will be from scratch. I need to remember if he wanted yellow or green frosting!

For our Father’s Day backyard picnic I made the potato salad and coleslaw which are best made from scratch in my opinion. I have in the past bought them at the deli section but at what price for a small amount! I opened a can of baked beans. I hope to try these from scratch sometime this summer as I have found a few recipes to throw into a crockpot. The hotdog buns and rolls were store-bought. For dessert I sliced strawberries for the store-bought angel food cake and canned whipped topping. Real whipped cream is easy to make but so is squirting it from a can!

Returning to Writing

~ nancyruth ~ 8 Comments

I’m back! Well, I never went away but I did stop writing about the recipes I’ve made. This is mostly because I find I am making other people’s recipes, from blogs and from websites and from magazines. I tend to stick to standards and have not been inventive lately. I have been laid up with broken bones so Hubby had to do shopping, planning, prepping, and cooking. I am blessed to have a Hubby that cooks.

So now that I am no longer an “invalid” I have begun to cook again but not in an inventive way. This week we had pork chops with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, with peas as the green vegetable. We also had grilled salmon with baked potato and salad. And another dinner was fish sticks with broccoli. I also made a vegetable quiche with the magic ratio of 2 cups milk and 4 eggs. The liquid can be reduced to 1 ½ cups if there is a lot of filling items such as vegetables and the like.

Baking leads to overeating of sweets. This past week I baked brownies. From a mix. It was gluten-free. I must have bought this before my daughter had to give up sugar. It was about to expire. They were very rich and chocolate-y. I was able to store/hide them in the bread box so they were not eaten all at once. I need to avoid baking cookies because they get eaten in stacks. Even if I freeze some, I know where they are and a frozen cookie can be good to eat! Even store-bought cookies!

Do you pay attention to expiration dates on food products? To be honest I really only attend to dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese. On occasion I look at cans but most cans don’t stay in the pantry long enough to outlast themselves. I knew a woman once who actually honored the expiration date on a carton of eggs! We did go through the fridge to clear out old jarred items that were opened who knows how long ago.

Mostly I’ve been crocheting. Little things that finish quickly.

Here are some pictures: quiche, crocheted cup cozy, and dog Gracie hiding from the thunderstorm.