Death and an Ice Cream Sundae

UPDATE on physical progress since being wheat-free since mid to late July 2012 I have:

1. Lost over 30lbs.  (I have more to go, but I am happy because it WILL keep coming off)

2. Over 95% of my pain has disappeared (spinal injuries)

3. All my little aches & pains have gone away

4. My female cycle has VASTLY improved and shortened in days & activity (ladies should know what I mean by that). 

5. I feel FREE and no longer confined by the prison of pain I was trapped in!

6. I look forward to being able to start exercising and knowing that I wont get stuck on the floor in pain because my hip/lower back got "locked up".  Last time that happened I wanted to kill my husband because it hurt so bad when he tried to help me up.  

UPDATE on cooking and food

Since my mother passed, things have been restless in the family.
It has not been easy these last few weeks.  I do find myself wanting to partake in a sundae with whipped cream quite often ( I have to have the whipped cream ) and I have indulged it.  Some people hit the booze, I have a sweet tooth.  It isn't really a craving per se... just one of those things you do for instant gratification when you feel down.  The last few days I also found myself raiding some supplies of "fun size" York Peppermint Patties at he in-laws.

In all of this "sugar haze", I have still lost weight.
Ok, it wasn't so much a sugar haze as it was falling off the sugar wagon a few times.  I know what you are thinking "Hey!  Ice cream has no wheat in it".  True, but I have been trying to limit sugar in all its refined forms as much as possible.

I just haven't really felt motivated to try anything new in the realm of cooking.
I haven't really felt too motivated to even eat much except that sundae now and again.

BUT, I have discovered that the crockpot is a life saver in such times.
Grab some veggies, potatoes, beans and meat and you are half way there.  Cleaning the veggies take some effort, but slice um and dice um then add some broth or tomato juice, spices and you have a huge pot of food that will last several days.  Gives you time to do other things.  In my case, mourn... but oddly family dynamics is even keeping me from doing that properly at the moment.

I promise, I will share food soon.  Afterall, my mom would not be happy with me flaking out on this and that I need to be doing it.  She told me several times when we were with her last month, "I'm proud of you and keep it up girl, you are looking good."

My Mother's Passing

I'm sorry to all my readers that I have not posted lately.  My mother that has been fighting cancer passed away last week.  I am sad that she is gone, but this is my own selfishness talking.  I am happy for her because I know where she has gone and am very comfortable and secure in that.  I am happy for her, but I will miss her.

I never imagined that I would be present when she passed.
It was a moment I shared with my husband and also our pastor.  Mom was laying on her side in her bed facing me.  I had my hand on the top of her head and the other on her hand.  My mom's eyes were shut the whole time we were talking to her, but she was responsive and communicated to us.  She did hear us and was not drugged up on morphine like so many are at such a time. Before she passed she opened her eyes and looked at me, I told the pastor and he went to get the rest of the family from the other room.  She looked up toward the ceiling for a while and I knew she was leaving.  She stopped breathing and closed her eyes.

I stayed with her until the hospice nurse came and then I left.
The last couple of days I find myself thinking "I'll have to tell mom about that" or "I should ask mom.."

I will not end this blog, my mom was very proud of me for getting my health turned around and also loosing the weight.  She told me to "keep it up girl, you're lookin' good".  So, for my mom I'll continue to share.

I do have an upcoming entry on blueberry muffins.  Mom wasn't too thrilled with those and enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies more.  But I think if I had of added more blueberries she would have liked them more.  I will try to post soon.

Lasagna With Tofu Noodles!

Lasagna.  Ok, how the heck can you eat Lasagna without using wheat noodles or even "gluten-free" noodles?  Wait, back up... no noodles?  What is wrong with "gluten-free" noodles you might ask?  The short and simple of it is that the vast majority of "gluten-free" products contain various starches to replace the wheat.  Such starches (tapioca, potato and etc.) will increase your small particle LDL levels up to 10 days after splurging just on 1 meal on 1 day.

According to Dr. Davis (a preventative cardiologist), in his book Wheat Belly, he states:
"In my personal experience with thousands of patients with heart disease, nearly 90% express the small LDL pattern to at least a moderate, if not severe, degree."  He goes on to explain that the big deal isn't really about "high" cholesterol that causes atherosclerotic plaque accumulation and eventually heart attack and stroke.  It's all about the particles... the SMALL LDL's to be exact.  He goes into a lot of detail and honestly, you should get the book!  I've already highlighted the heck out of mine!

So do you get a cholesterol test yearly?  I did because my MD had me on a cholesterol med.
According to Dr. Davis that blood test is actually based on an equation and will NOT measure SMALL LDL particles.  "The only way for your doctor to truly know where you stand is to actually measure LDL particles in some way, such as LDL particle number (by a lab method called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, NMR, lipoprotein analysis) or apoprotein B particles.

So enough of all that!  How can you enjoy Lasagna?????  That is really what it boils down to isn't it?  What can you eat that tastes good.  Here is my first shot at ever making lasagna.  Wouldn't you know it would be a non-traditional kind!

I replaced regular lasagna noodles with fresh from the package firm tofu.  I did press out the liquid first because it seemed like the thing to do.  I then sliced the block with a cheese slicer. Ok.. you have to be careful here because the tofu seemed to have wanted to crumble or crack on me.  Somewhere there may already exist tofu lasagna noodles, but I had to make due with what I had.  I will find them, oh yes... I will find them!

You will need a 13"x9" baking dish
Preheat oven 350 degrees F
Cook 45 minutes covered with foil, then uncovered for 15 minutes longer or until cheese is brown.

Ricotta/Spinach filling:

2 cups (15oz) ricotta cheese
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups chopped fresh spinach or 10 oz. frozen and squeezed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon italian seasoning or dried oregano

Other ingredients:
19 0z. block of firm tofu
4 cups (32 oz.) marinara sauce, divided
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
8 slices deli style Provolone cheese
1 cup (4 oz.) Shredded Parmesan cheese

*Optional ingredients:
Meat, mushrooms or anything you think might be good. (have fun with it!)

I didn't have the required size of baking dish so I used a couple smaller glass ones.  they also come with handy lids for storage in the fridge.  Also, my bag of frozen spinach was a tad bigger then the 10 oz. that is called for.  That is why my filling is so green!

So here is what you do:

Combine Ricotta cheese, eggs, spinach, salt, pepper, nutmeg and italian seasoning in small bowl and set aside.

Cook your optional ingredients to use as a layer in the lasagna.

Assemble the lasagna.  Here is what I did:

I put sauce on the bottom of the pan,

then layered the tofu slices on top, and then added the ricotta mixture.

I added a layer of mozzarella and then another layer of the tofu slices

I topped the tofu slices with more sauce, mozzarella and then slices of provolone cheese

 I added Parmesan cheese and then popped it in the oven

This was my second dish to use up the "extra" ingredients since I didn't use a 13x9 dish.

Final Critique:

I thought it was good and so did my hubby.  Next time I plan on using less spinach (or more Ricotta) and then a bit of ground turkey or chicken sausage... something like that!  I may go for a thicker spaghetti sauce too just to see how that turns out instead of a thinner sauce I used.  I love my sauces!