Scrappy Hearts

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 6, 2018

Tuesdays are for Yoga!! So grateful to be a little active these days. Mark and I reserve Tuesday nights for Yoga Stretch at Echelon Fitness. Our instructor is super mindful about limitations people may have and is constantly sharing ways to modify or increase impact for each and every participant. Until I am comfortable enough to get into the pool, this is a good way for me to stretch and strengthen my muscles without having a negative impact on my joints. It has been too long since I have been able to do anything physical, I am grateful for stretch yoga at a time that is convenient for us.

And Then This Happened

The joke of the evening was that I waited until Beer Week was over. Seriously, it wasn’t a joking matter. I have been suffering with a cold since last Wednesday. I should have noticed the warning signs but I didn’t. It is not in my nature to slow down. The cold, as it were, took the traditional route. Meaning that by Friday, I had no voice. I powered through a full busy day at the shop on Saturday, and woke up feeling relatively energetic on Sunday. 

The problem, I just couldn’t get anything done. The minute I put myself upright I became nauseous, dizzy and unable to move. And it got worse. By the time Mark arrived home from work I was on the floor unable to move. The long and the short of it, vertigo. These two crazy kids entertained us almost the entire time we were in the hospital. I couldn’t ask for a better support group.

Little Eggie Things

Thursday evening my hubbie made these cute little egg thingies. He is trying to help me eat a better breakfast so that my sugar numbers are more stable. You see, I am not much of a breakfast eater and when I do have breakfast it is generally waffles or pancakes. I just love them. But these cute litte thingies are chock full of goodness. Sauteed veggies, a little breakfast meat, eggs and voila - instant breakfast. He packaged them up in little containers so all I have to do is heat them for less than a minute and I have a healthy hot breakfast that is dietician approved and diabetes friendly. The GI doctor even approved. For me, the real bonus is how delicious they are! As we move into the new year, finding healthy solutions to my dietary issues is going to be essential. We are taking it one day at a time and every success is celebrated!

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struggling would be a better word. Seriously, changing my eating habits has proven to be a much more difficult task than I ever thought it would be. The truth is, it is hard to limit my cards during the winter when my body is just perpetually cold. I love a warm scone with a cup of tea or a pile of pancakes on a snowy morning. I think my hardest adjustment has been portion control. I do well with the unlimited vegetables, but limiting my fruits during clementine season is just about impossible! Oh well, hot cocoa made with Dark Chocolate Almond Milk isn’t so bad. Baby steps.

More Baking, Not the Diabetic Kind

Oatmeal raisin cookies, a special request from my hubby! Saturday I made diabetic approved Chocolate Chip Cookies. Sunday I made diabetic breakfast cookies that are gluten and sugar free. Today I made the Oatmeal Raisin cookies complete with a full cup of white sugar and a full cup of brown sugar. Needless to say, one of those cookies is enough sugar for me for a week! I never got around to baking cookies before Christmas and it is such an easy task I am not sure why I don’t do it more often. I will see how long these cookies last before I start baking additional cookies. I have no will-power so I hope that Mark hides them someplace where they cannot be found!

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Sous Vide Cooking

Sous vide, French for “under vacuum”, refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food and cooking it in a temperature controlled water bath. The truth is, the food really does not need to be vacuum sealed in order for it to be successfully cooked sous vide. Which is why it is possible to cook sous vide at home. 

Now, I did not know about sous vide cooking and I certainly was not entertaining the thought of learning about it, just yet. But, this year for Christmas, Jason and Jessica presented Mark and I with our very own Anova Precision Cooker. Yes, that thing in the photo above that looks like something out of Star Wars. It was overwhelming me so Jason and Mark decided they would cook Christmas dinner using their smart phones and the Anova. It did not work as well as we had hoped. Dinner was delicious but the timing seemed a bit off. 

New Years Day we decided to try again. Unfortunately, Mark could not figure out the app and I offered no help in that regard. After Mark left for work I decided to see if I could get it to work manually. Woohoo! I did. So today I have been cooking up a storm, sous vide. First pork tenderloin encrusted in herbs. The meat is cooked in the bag while it is immersed in water and then to finish it off, it is seared in a pan.

Dinner was delicious so I just kept on cooking. Next it was pork and sauerkraut which was supposed to be last night’s dinner and now I am cookng Tuscan Chicken. The process is simple and the meat is tender and delicious!

As we enter the new year we are trying to be more mindful of what we are eating since my confirmed diagnosis of diabetes. Using the Anova will help us to better plan our meals and help me to accomplish more cooking on Sundays while Mark is at work. Using a crock pot along with the Anova should allow for several meals being prepared so that I do not become too overwhelmed with cooking during the week that I skip meals altogether or just eat junk food to fill my belly!

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Monday was Cold

Actually, it was freezing in school. I think I mentioned that before. Well, as a result of being cold all day and hanging around germs, I developed bronchitis.

I didn’t realize it at first. I thought I had a head cold on Monday evening. But Tuesday, I didn’t feel great so I stayed home. Wednesday I went to school with the best of intentions but after 2 hours, the nurse sent me home. The truth is, if I am sick, I don’t want to be at school. I do not want to share germs. I just had no idea.

So today is Thursday. After 2 doses of the z-pac I am feel so much better - I didn’t realize how bad I felt. Bunkey delivered a little cake to help with my recovery. She left it at my front door since I am still contagious. What a friend!

Sweet treats to brighten my day! I changed the sheets on the bed so that they are clean and germ free. And now I am going to take another nap. I will make it to school tomorrow!

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Well, I cannot really say how Tuesday was in Second Grade today because I wasn’t there. On Monday, in Second Grade, I nearly froze. I spent the majority of the day wearing my coat and gloves hoping to warm up just a little. I even drove home during lunch so that I could warm up. You see, just like large apartment buildings that have heat controlled at a central location, our heat will not be turned on until October 15th. Usually it isn’t so bad, but yesterday, after a wet and cold weekend, it was raw inside. I had two students absent and several with colds so today I was home. A head cold and no voice = unable to teach. Here’s hoping tomorrow that I wake up with a voice on Wednesday!

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Healthy Eating

For the better part of the past month I have been recording my sugar levels two to three times a day. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any real pattern as to when my sugar is insanely high to moderately low. I have tried modifying my diet in several ways with no real results. So now I am getting serious.

I spent an evening several nights ago pinning recipes that are supposed to be healthy for diabetics. Tonight I attempted to create my first recipe, Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookies. Unfortunately, since I took a nap after dinner, I am still waiting for them to finish cooking. I can tell you that they smell good. Here’s hoping that they taste good also. 

Tomorrow evening I will try making Cup Quiches, which is really a misnomer since there is no cheese used at all in the recipe!  The final recipe I will make tomorrow will be Breakfast Burritos. The recipe as presented using quite a bit of meat which really does not appeal to me so I will load my burritos up with eggs and veggies. Here’s hoping that they all taste good enough so that I can get myself on a decent food routine and finally begin to tame my sugar levels!

Sunday Breakfast

Sunday morning is for carbs. There, I said it! I think I may be a carb addict. Especially when it comes to waffles and pancakes. I love them. I could eat them not only for breakfast, but also for breakfast lunch and dinner. Maybe that’s why I have developed diabetes. This didn’t just start - Sunday breakfasts have meant carbs for as long as I can remember.

When I was young, my mom would go out to the Village Bakery on Sunday mornings to pick up donuts. She would buy enough for each person in our family to have one. She knew what each of us would prefer. For my brother Tony, a jelly donut and for my dad, a French cruller. I always got a crumb bun or an apple danish. I think Suzy liked the jelly donuts also, but I don’t remember. I do remember how much I looked forward to Sunday morning and those special sugary treats.

As I grew up, my Sunday breakfasts changed based on where I was and who I was living with. My children loved chocolate pancakes and then went through a stage of bagel and egg sandwiches. Then we got a waffle iron and, as far as I’m concerned, waffles were high on the request list.

There were the years that I babysat my nieces. It wasn’t just Sunday, both weekend days would call for waffles. I’m still hooked, although I am trying to be better. Today’s pancakes had added chia and flax and were served with turkey sausage for the protein. A quick check of my sugar afterwards indicated that I might be on the right track! I think I might just be able to do this diabetes thing!