Tuesday, May 19, 2009

So many ups and downs I am beginning to feel like an elevator....

Just haven't had the energy to post lately. But, here I am! Since being under the weather, I have gone from no appetite to chip and dip with a movie! Not a good thing at all. Hopefully we will be on course in a day or two. Until then, I will do the best I can with what I have. The one thing that remains the same is breakfast. OH HOW I LOVE MY BREAKFAST! On a good day, I will have eggs and toast, with two slices of the precooked style bacon that comes in at 80 calories. Come to think of it?
There don't seem to be any bad days for breakfast for me! Worst case scenario is Shreddies, Splenda and milk, but that is not enough to keep me going. Lunch lately has been cottage cheese and strawberries. Supper? I could care less. This is where chips become a meal replacement, but ideally, meat, potatoes and veg would be the ticket. Meat to me, is fish, chicken, beef, pork, shellfish - whatever. If it lived? In my mind it is meat! The thing it, it takes effort to cook, and often, I am just not up to the task, so cheese and crackers, or oranges work just as well for me!

I will work out this weeks menu plan and post it tomorrow. See you then!

Friday, May 8, 2009

I am alive!

For the first time in weeks, I got out of the house, and went grocery shopping. Haven't done that in quite awhile, and it was getting pretty desperate around here. You should have seen the mouldy yucky stuff that hid away in the recesses of the refrigerator. For weeks I wasn't interested in eating, and in that period of time, a lot of spoilage can happen! So, out with the mouldy cottage cheese, and the rotten mushrooms....still tucked under their plastic, but very, very vile. After I tossed and cleaned the frig, we went shopping. Now I am set for a couple of weeks, give or take a green pepper or two. I actually bought a hot pepper to experiment with...spring comes along and all of a sudden the possibilities are endless for fresh vegetables. Everything looked and smelled soooooooo good today. I guess my appetite is coming back, too. I actually managed to eat three meals today. Breakfast as usual, late lunch of liver sausage and olive sandwich and two lemon cookies and ministroni for supper. MMM good. Now, I know that my choice of sandwich isn't for everyone, but my oh my, what a treat for me!

Tomorrow we are planning to go to the Bulk store, and buy some quinoa... I tried some tonight, and really found it appealing. There are so many ways to serve it, from cereal to a Tex-Mex style. I think it would be a good substitute for bread like items, as it does give the "impression" of that kind of goodness! I will let you know how it all works out.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Wednesday

Menu planning day. Without a family to feed, life is so much simpler in a lot of ways, but more complicated in others. Gone are the days when I had to scan the kitchen to make a grocery list as the cereal and ice cream disappeared quickly....now we are fortunate if the ice cream makes it to the bottom of the container without developing a beard like Rip Van Winkle, and the cereal is used up before it goes stale. Even my Skinny Cow bars get ice crystals before we can eat them. The trick is to keep the "regular" supplies, and still add enough frills to keep life interesting.

I read somewhere the other day that people usually eat the same 25 things day in and day out. Not so in our house. We are "foodies" by nature, and the thought of having one sort of cheese is unthinkable! Our frig is always stocked with plenty of vegetables, our freezer with meat - although that is one area that I notice I am using the same items over and over. Keeping staples in the house means we can exist for quite some time without going to the grocery store for things other than fresh produce and dairy. So. Here is my list of things we always have on hand, hence, always eat and can't live without:

Bison, ground
Pork, tenderloin
Chicken, whole
chicken, breasts, skinned
Pork, sausages "Bangers"
Bacon
Beef Steak
frozen shrimp
frozen fish portions, breaded and plain
Milk
Eggs
butter
olive oil
peanut oil
grape seed oil
rice
pasta
potatoes
carrots
frozen peas, mixed veggies
bread
chicken broth
canned soups
beans, all varieties, canned
corn, creamed and niblits
onion flakes
frozen spinach pizza
Canned tomatoes, diced, sauce
Canned fruit, peaches, pears
Fresh apples
Fresh oranges
Romaine lettuce
carrots - ever since that email about "baby" carrots, I use the organic large ones for everything!
variety of fresh produce, seasonal - cauliflower, broccoli, celery
frozen berries
frozen oven fries
All sorts of baking provisions, although I rarely bake. Craisins, dried blueberries that I do use for salads, coconut - that sort of thing.
PC white macaroni and cheese in a box
Pickles. Olives, beets, dills, sweet mix, black olives. LOVE my pickles!
cheese,Feta, Boursin, shredded mozzarella mix cheese, Parmesan and cheddar slices
dry cereals - Always Shreddies, usually three other varieties as well. That is how many Tupperware Cereal containers I have!
canned salmon & canned tuna
crackers (quite a collection at present!)
Beverages: Tea, coffee, hot chocolate,Chrystal Light,Orange juice, V8
I am sure there are quite a few more items, condiments and such, but that is pretty much what I use to make our daily fare. It is really quite amazing when you think that with these few ingredients, you can make a new dish everyday for a year, without repeating, if you so desired. There is such variety at the grocery stores compared to when I was growing up. Now here is something to consider. Broccoli was something new to me in my teens. Yep. If it wasn't grown in our garden, it wasn't on our table at home. We didn't live in the country either. My mother stored and canned enough vegetables from our garden in the city to keep us through the winter. We didn't eat a lot of pasta or rice, but garden potatoes were a staple. It makes you realize just how lazy we have become over the span of fifty years. When I was young? all the mothers had gardens, but now? The odd person has a tomatoe plant on their deck. Yet, our houses are bigger, and more well equipped than at any other point in history. Perhaps this latest recession will force a sort of household economy on us that time has eased. Nah. It is too much effort! LOL I think gardens are gone to most people, gone the way of the u in neighbour, labour and favour. Sigh. The only thing you can be sure of in life, is change.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Definitely feeling better...

and my appetite is coming back. We had bison burgers for supper again tonight, and they were just as good as yesterday's! I managed to dust the bedroom, too, and didn't have a nap this afternoon, as much as I desperately wanted to.....life in the fast lane in the city - NOT! I even attempted a closet clear out. After taking every item out of my closet with the intention of an doing an extreme purge, I hung absolutely everything back in the closet. I just didn't have the energy to do it today. All was not in vain, though, as my nighties and shirts are now arranged according to colour and sleeve length....sigh. Tomorrow is another day.

I ordered some new white Capri's
from my favourite US shopping channel. I have a pair of khaki ones that I wore all last summer, so I thought white would be nice as well, and go with a few rogue shirts I have. They have a touch of spandex, and are just the right fit, so I am hoping there hasn't been too much of a change in the cut or fabrication. Shipping things back and forth is costly, to put it mildly. But, you have to do what you have to do to present yourself attractively to the world, right? I am one of those people that wear 20% of the clothes in my closet, and no matter how severely I purge, the ratio of clothes that I don't wear remains the same. I pick my favourites, and somehow totally blank the rest out. You really must ask yourself why you even keep the stuff, because if you don't wear it new and now, when will you wear it? I never seem to go back in time to pick something to wear, and nothing dates a woman faster than a wardrobe that matches her last years lipstick and hairstyle. Speaking of which, I am due for a cut, and since it is spring, it is time to shear this sheep. I am looking forward to a short choppy chopped look for the summer. Cool, and easy care hair!

I really must get busy tomorrow and make a menu for the next week...although, I could just recycle the menu plan that was shelved when I got sick...hmmm...that could work....hmmm...guess I will start fresh! It will give me a reason to get out of the house, and back into the world. Tomorrow....tomorrow....maybe....

One heck of a week...

still taking the Benadryl...can this stuff be addictive? It seems like forever since I have been out of the house...hubby informs me that it has only been two weeks, but when the furthest you travel is to the kitchen and back, it is a LONG two weeks....today, I have been able to sit up a little longer, but I am still spending most of my life with the television. Hopefully this will go as suddenly as it came. Until then? The menu plans are out the window. Tonight we had barbecued bison burgers, and were they ever good....first charred food of the season!

My goal is to make it down to the laundry room tomorrow. Who knew it would recquire so much effort? Bit by bit, I have an elephant to eat in the laundry room. A lot of wash accumulates in two weeks.

Now for the good news. I am not covered in big red welts any longer! That is progress! The battery in my scale is kaput, so I haven't been able to track my weight. But common sense tells me that the news will not be good...two weeks of inactivity, even if you are on minimal rations, will not give anyone a loss! Onward and upward...but first? Back to bed....