TURKEY SAUSAGE VEGGIE SOUP

My son's wedding is just a little over a month away & I am still not happy with my belly. The rest of my body is looking better, but that belly just refuses to budge! I tried cutting out all breads & grains and all that did was make my blood sugar drop too low and make me dizzy and light headed. Years ago, I tried the Cabbage Soup Diet. I love cabbage, so I actually liked it, but got bored with it after a few days. I have learned that my body needs lots of protein. So, I made up my own version of Cabbage Soup with a little turkey sausage and beans thrown in for protein. I'm hoping that after eating this soup for lunch a few times a week, my belly will be gone... or at least noticeably smaller.

HEALTHY TURKEY SAUSAGE VEGGIE SOUP

1 head cabbage, chopped

1 bag frozen okra

2 cups frozen corn

1 onion, chopped

2 tsps Garlic salt

2 tsps McCormick Hot Shot

2 tsps minced garlic

1-2 jalapenos, chopped (optional)

½ pkg of Turkey Smoked Sausage, chopped

1-2 cans Ranch Style Beans or any beans

2 small or 1 large can All Natural low sodium chicken broth

1-2 cans Rotel tomatoes

1 small can Hunt’s tomato paste

2 – 8 oz cans Hunt’s tomato sauce

In crockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat, add chicken broth, tomato paste, Rotel tomatoes & tomato sauce. Add water using your cans if you want. It all depends on how much liquid you want.

Add remaining ingredients, place lid on pot & let cook about 30 minutes. Or can turn on low & simmer for a few hours.

NOTE:  This is the basic recipe. You can add to or take away according to your taste. I also like to add chopped zucchini when available. I had about 1 cup of taco meat leftover that needed to be used, so I tossed that in as well.

You can add a bag of whole grain pasta or serve over a bowl of brown rice.

Super healthy & loaded with vitamins, antioxidants, fiber & protein.

*** I SPECIFICALLY USE HUNT’S PRODUCTS BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL NATURAL AND HAVE NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP OR ADDED SUGAR.

Check the labels on the other tomato products & you will see either corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar. Del Monte does have “Organic Tomato sauce”, but it is more expensive than the ones with the corn syrup & sugar in them.

CRAZY BLOOD SUGAR & YUMMY PIZZA

NOTE: I wrote this on 2/1/2012, but apparently forgot to "publish" it.

The wedding is getting close! I am at a standstill with my weightloss and wanted to lose more before the wedding, so the last 2 weeks I have ate NO bread, rice, pasta, etc, even whole grain. I have just been eating meat, veggies, fruit & eggs. I dropped 3.5 pounds, but was feeling pretty shaky & light headed. I took my blood sugar and it was 54. I drank a big glass of 100% Blueberry Pomegranate juice & ate a piece of whole grain toast with All Fruit Jelly, then checked it again & it was 116. So this week, I have been eating whole grain toast for breakfast with my eggs and about every other day I eat tuna on pita bread or whole grain bread. It seems like the only way I can drop pounds is to cut out ALL carbs, but then my blood sugar bottoms out & I know that our bodies need some carbs. It looks like I am not going to be the size I wanted to be for the wedding, but at least I can walk without limping and hopefully won't be passing out.

So, the day my blood sugar bottomed out was last Saturday. We had a wedding that evening & had to get dialysis done early. I can't get very far from Kevin while he is hooked up to the machine. So, I took a shower while he was getting the machine ready because there would not be time for me to shower & get ready after dialysis. I had not had time to go to the grocery store, so the pickings were slim for lunch. I made cheese pizza out of pita bread. It was absolutely YUMMY! 

PITA PIZZA

Organic whole grain pita bread

olive oil

marinara sauce

garlic powder

Italian seasonings

Basil

Provolone cheese

Shredded Italian cheese

Place the pita bread on a cookie sheet. Drizzle pita with olive oil. Spread marinara sauce on pita. Sprinkle garlic powder, Italian seasonings, basil, etc. whatever your favorite herbs are. I tend to go heavy on the garlic & basil. I placed Provolone (oh how I love Provolone) circle slices in the middle of the pita. Sprinkle with shredded Italian cheese. Bake in oven at 450 degrees about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted & gooey. 

You can add any veggies you like or meats, etc.

Beef enchiladas

Today is my 24th wedding anniversary. Where has the time gone? We were so young... and thin back then. It hasn't been perfect, but we have survived. We have gone through job layoffs, his & mine, health crises, bankruptcy, etc. but we have come out stronger, wiser, closer to God and closer to each other. We went to Norman on Saturday and celebrated with friends. Tonight our dear friend, Ricky, will be Kevin's nurse while I cook his anniversary dinner. He has requested beef enchiladas and butterscotch pudding.

So, I thought I would share my beef enchilada recipe with you. It is easy, delicious and filling. I make it all the time for church potlucks, funeral dinners, etc. and everyone always ask for the recipe. I started with the recipe that my Mom used to make, but changed it up to how my family likes it.

BEEF ENCHILADAS

2 pounds ground beef
1 onion (chopped)
1 pkg taco seasoning (we prefer Taco Bell)
1 can refried beans
2 pkgs tortillas (any kind you like)
1 large can Wolf brand chili
2 cans Old El Paso red enchilada sauce
1 can Ro Tel tomatoes
2-3 cups shredded cheese

1)  Add ground beef and onion to skillet, sprinkle liberally with Garlic Salt. Brown beef.
2)  When beef is done, add taco seasoning and 1/4 cup water. Mix thoroughly.
3)  Add refried beans to meat and mix together, you may need to add a little more water.
4)  In a large saucepan over low heat, mix together chili, Ro Tel tomatoes and enchilada sauce.
5)  Take tortilla and dip in chili mixture. Add beef mixture in middle of tortilla, roll up and place seam side down in pan.
6)  Repeat until all of beef mixture is gone.
7)  Pour chili sauce over the top of enchiladas.
8)  Sprinkle cheese over all.
9)  Bake at 350 degrees 30-45 minutes until cheese is melted and all is hot & bubbly.

Enjoy! Please let me know how you like them and if you make any changes. I always enjoy changing things up.

Lori

Life is crazy - so adopt some puppies

Did anybody get the number of that bus? Wow! What a busy few days. Friday night watched our niece & some kids from church play basketball. Great kids & very talented. Saturday attended another niece's bridal shower, then took Tiffany to set up her bridal registry. That morning, before the shower, we adopted two 5 week old puppies. We haven't had a puppy in 9 years, so had to get the house set up for the new babies. We only get one day a week off from dialysis, so everything that we do revolves around "will we have time to still do dialysis?" or "is that the day we want to take off this week?".  Dialysis takes a total of about 4 hours. Actual treatment time is between 2 hrs 40 mins to 3 hrs 15 mins, but the set up & take down time is about another hour. We hadn't gone to a basketball game all season, so we decided to take our day off on Friday to go to the game. So, that means we had to still had to do 4 hrs of dialysis Saturday & Sunday no matter what.

Hank & Lucy

Sunday we drove to Durant to help Cole get moved into his & Tiffany's new apartment. Most weeks we only make it to the Sunday morning church service because of dialysis, but since we had to do dialysis that evening, we decided to not go to church Sunday morning, so we could get Cole moved & get back home & get Kevin hooked up. Their apartment is absoutely adorable! I am so happy for them. They got a loft apartment in downtown Durant over one of the businesses. How they got that apartment is a story in itself. Basically, God gave them favor in a big way. We are still in awe of how it all came about. God is faithful. The only thing is that the stairs are extremely steep, but I managed. This time last year, I would not have been able to climb those stairs. Praise God! I made it up & down them twice. I mainly worked on his laundry & getting things set up while Cole & Kevin moved in the furniture & boxes.



Hank



Lucy



We took the puppies, Hank & Lucy, to Durant with us. They did great! They whimpered a little, but not too bad. They are 1/2 Australian Shepard and 1/2 Heeler. They are a lot of work right now, but it will be worth it. Having puppies is like having a baby. Some people don't take being a pet owner seriously, which really upsets me. A pet, especially dogs, will be a loyal loving companion if you just take care of it & spend time with it.



Slick



Our 19 year old dachsund, Slick, does NOT like Hank & Lucy at all. She is a dog snob anyway, but she definitely wants no part of these puppies. They laid on her favorite blanket and now she refuses to have anything to do with the blanket and I think she is mad at us for letting the puppies lay on her blanket.

Life is crazy. Life is hectic. Life is stressful. But, my family, my wonderful friends and my dogs make it all worthwhile.





Turnips - God's food vs. Man-made "food"

A co-worker plants turnips on his land for the deer. Deer season is over, so he brought me turnips that the deer didn't eat. I got so excited pulling them out of the sack. They were fresh out of the ground and dirty.

They smelled fresh & dirty. I used to would not touch food that had dirt on it,  but now I cherish it. It reminds me that it is food that God made. The food that God put on the earth to nourish our bodies. It took me over 45 years to realize that the more of God's food that we eat, the healthier we are and the better we feel. It makes sense, because God created our bodies and He created the food that we need to keep our bodies healthy. Man-made "food" destroys our bodies. It really is as simple as that. So these days if I don't get all the dirt washed off my veggies and fruits, I don't panic. (Unless purchased in grocery store, then I make sure I wash extra extra good because they are probably full of pesticides.) I am so blessed to have friends that have beautiful gardens & share with me. I also try to buy organic when I can at the store.

I sliced up those gorgeous turnips, drizzled olive oil all over them & sprinled with salt & pepper & roasted in the oven at 450 for 30 minutes. So satisfying & delicious.

You just don't get that kind of satisfaction from a fast food place or a box. Wishing you all a happy, healthy & prosperous 2012.

Lori

Buche de Noel

I am addicted to the new show, The Chew. Michael Simon is one of my favorite chefs, so I have DVR'd it since it started. Last week, Linda Evans was on there and made her favorite Christmas dish, Buche de Noel. I was intrigued because it has no flour & is a beautiful dish. Buche de Noel is French for Christmas Log. My friend, Teri's birthday is a week before Christmas & she is my guinea pig for new dishes. Teri loves chocolate and maraschino cherries so every year I make her something with that in it. I found a recipe on All Recipes.com that looked good & had rave reviews so that is what I used. Here is the recipe from the website with my alterations/additions.

BUCHE DE NOEL

Filling:  2 cups heavy cream
              1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
              1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
              1 tsp vanilla
              (I added 12 chopped maraschino cherries)

Cake:    6 egg yolks
              1/2 cup white sugar
              1/3 cup cocoa powder
              1 1/2 tsps vanilla
              1/8 tsp salt
              6 egg whites
              1/4 cup sugar
              (I added about 2 tsps cream of tarter to egg white mixture)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a 10 x 15 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper & spray liberally with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whip cream, 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa and 1 teaspoon vanilla until thick and stiff.  If you want to cherries, fold in to whipped cream. Refrigerate.

In a large bowl, use electric mixer to beat egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar until thick and pale. Blend in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1 1/2 tsps vanilla and salt.  In a large glass bowl, using clean beaters, whip egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar & beat until stiff peaks form. Fold chocolate egg yolks mixture into egg whites. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.

Dust a clean dishtowel with confectioner's sugar and turn the warm cake onto the towel.  Remove parchment paper. Starting at short edge of the cake, roll the cake up with the towel. Cool for 30 minutes.

Unroll the cake and spread the filling to within 1 inch of the edge.  Roll the cake up with the filling inside. Place seam side down on a serving plate. Dust with confectioner's sugar. Decorate with mint leaves and maraschino cherries to look like holly. It is supposed to look like snow on a log. Our Farmer's Market didn't have mint leaves, but they had parsley, so that is what I used.  

TIP - Beat the eggs (yolks and whites) very good. Since the cake has no flour, the texture of the cake is totally dependent on how well you beat the eggs. That is why I added cream of tartar to egg whites. It helps to stabilize egg whites & meringue.

Don't be intimidated by this cake. It is really not difficult. And the presentation is beautiful! Very light, but decadent cake. Enjoy!

Fast & easy desserts using pumpkin

I don't eat cake mixes anymore unless they are organic, but I do have to whip up quick & easy desserts to take various places a LOT. Have you heard of Hungry Girl? You can sign up to receive daily emails, Like her on Facebook or Follow her on Twitter. She focuses on reducing calories & fat in recipes. I like a lot of her tips, but she uses too many artificial sweeteners & ingredients for me most of the time. However, in my opinion, her best tip ever is the many uses for a can of pumpkin. Pumpkin is loaded with antioxidants, fiber, beta carotene, etc. Just make sure you get REAL pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie filling.

EASY HEALTHIER BROWNIES

1 Devil's Food cake mix

1 - 15 oz can of REAL pumpkin

Mix together and pour into cake pan or muffin tins. Bake as directed on cake box.

EASY PUMPKIN BARS

1 Spice cake mix

1 - 15 oz can of REAL pumpkin

Mix together and pour into cake pan or muffin tins.  Bake as directed on cake box.

Both of these recipes have about 183 calories; 3.5 g fat; 1.5 g fiber; 2 g protein.

I have only tried it with the Spice cake mix and the Devil's food cake mix. I'm not sure how it would work with others. But, these are moist and delicious.

Life is so busy for everyone these days. I try to eat the best I can 90% of the time, but there are times that life just gets in the way.

Enjoy! And many blessings to you and yours.

Lori