The Musical Fruit

My weekend goal is to make 2 or 3 meals, so we have plenty of quick options during the week.  We typically rotate between these options for lunches and dinners during the week.  As someone who comes from a large family, I do not know how to cook for three.  If I make a soup or stew, it can feed us for weeks.  This works out to our benefit, and we invite over friends for dinners or store the extra in the freezer for later.  Since I am not the best at meal planning, this keeps us eating good foods during the week without the everyday question of what’s for dinner.  I am rarely home in time to make an entire meal while still being able to eat together as a family.  This weekend, I made a delicious healthy chili from Two Peas & Their Pod.  It was the perfect meal for this cold winter weather. 

Since my cancer diagnosis, we have really amped up on our beans.  I add them to so many recipes now and garbanzo beans are a personal favorite.  Although I would say I am a seasoned chef and know my way around the kitchen, cooking with dry beans is a whole new experience for me.  With all the BPA controversy in the canned products today, I try to allow time for dry beans in my recipes whenever possible.  If I need to use the canned versions, I always make sure the label indicates BPA free, and I rinse these puppies well to wash away as much of the salt as I can.  Using dry beans can be a great $$ savings in your wallet, as well.  

This recipe calls for 2-15 oz cans of black beans and 1-15 oz can of kidney beans.  We had some dry beans sitting in our pantry, and since I had the time to soak them overnight, I decided to put them to use.  Both bags were 16 oz bags of dry beans.  Had I bothered to google the proper conversion, I might have seen that a 16 oz bag of dry beans does not come close to equaling a 15 oz can of beans.  Looking back, I really should have realized this, but in the midst of my weekend rush to get things done, it totally slipped my mind to question the difference.  I ended up making the two entire bags of dry beans.  As I was mixing all the ingredients together, I kept thinking, wow this is a lot of beans!  The last time Emily made this, I don’t remember it having so many.  This would be because I added entirely too many (8 cups to be exact) to this recipe.  This was a valuable lesson to learn in my newfound experience with dry beans.  You may find the conversion helpful yourself, so here it is thanks to a blog I came across.  1 - 15oz can of beans equals ½ cup of dry beans, which equals 1 ½ cups of beans after cooking.  I have found that dry beans have a little crunch to them after soaking and cooking for the recommended time.  Personally, I like the crunch, but if you are not used to it, you may want to cook a little longer than what’s recommended.  I also read in Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Diet book that adding a strip of kombu (sea-weed) can help make the musical fruit easier on your digestion, but I have not given this a try yet.  

When we first cut meat out of our meals, we noticed the hearty feel and satisfaction seemed to be lacking.  Adding beans is a great way to add some heartiness, fiber, and protein to your recipes.  Plus, they are digested slower than meat, and you stay satisfied longer.  Low in sugar, beans keep our insulin levels from spiking and are a great source of energy to fuel our bodies.  

This recipe also calls for quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah).  If you have not tried this fantastic grain, look for it the next time you are shopping.  Quinoa has a mild nutty flavor and can be used to replace rice, couscous, pasta, or thrown into stir fry or soup.  The first time I made it, however, I missed the part about rinsing.  Make sure you rinse out the grains before you put them on the stove to cook, or you many notice a bitter taste.  Quinoa gives you some great added benefits including amino acids, fiber, protein, and iron.  It cooks very similar to rice and is so easy and can be ready in as little as 20 minutes.  I like to add fresh garlic and onion (powder works too) to my quinoa while it is cooking for some additional flavor.  I often make quinoa on the weekends to throw in the fridge.  I pull it out and add veggies for a lunch option or quick dinner.                 

My Quest for Homemade Pancakes

Today is a beautiful snowy day here in Maryland.  We are literally snowed in together staying warm and cozy.  I love snow days.  They bring back fantastic memories of my childhood and all the fun times my brother, Daniel, and sister, Kelly, and I had with the neighbor kids.  Snow days were filled with sledding for hours, snow forts, hot chocolate, and a lifetime of memories.  Brynn, Mere, and Greg, if you are reading this, I am missing our fun times growing up together with all this snow outside :o)    

Pancakes are one of my all-time favorite breakfast foods.  They were a regular in my house growing up.  We probably had them at least three times a week.  As a teenager, I would often make them for my brother, Daniel, when he came home from the neighbor's farm for breakfast.  We always used the Aunt Jemima original pancake and waffle mix.  This is the kind that you add milk and eggs to before pouring the deliciousness onto the griddle until they were a gorgeous golden brown.  They really are delicious!!!  However, in my quest for healthier alternatives, I have realized that pretty much anything you buy that comes in a box is not really nutritious.  Homemade, from scratch, with “real” whole wheat flour is the best way to go.  My friend, Emily, recently shared a vegan pumpkin pancake recipe with me that I have been dying to try.  Since I have this snow day to thank for the opportunity to make a homemade breakfast for my family, I decided today was the day to give it a try.

 My first time ever made from scratch, non-Aunt Jemima pancakes.  Unfortunately, I don’t have the success story I was hoping for.  I could not get them to cook all the way through, and they were gooey in the middle.  It could be that I mixed the batter too early before I actually cooked them.  Charlotte decided that today was a day she would sleep in late, so the batter sat for quite a while before I actually poured them out.  Charlotte loved them, but Steve and I were not big fans.  I was very disappointed, but I will try again.  I am on a quest for a better recipe, which I will hopefully share with a raving review.  Although I strive to find vegan recipes, whenever possible I am still a big supporter of the chicken egg.  My next go-round with pancakes will probably contain some great ingredients, including the egg.  We only buy free range or cage free organic eggs unless we know where they come from.  One of my older brothers gives us eggs from his chickens during the summer months, and we love them.  Nothing compares to an egg from a chicken that has had the freedom to roam the fields and has not been confined to a small space.  The difference is in the color and taste.  I will warn you, eggs from free range chickens tend to have blood spots in them, but don’t panic.  It’s not going to hurt you.  But if they bother you, just scoop them out before you add the eggs to recipes or fry them up.  I know growing up, when we would chase the chickens around, we were always told to stop, because it would cause blood spots in the eggs.  When you see those little spots, just think about all the fun those chickens had running around or being chased by crazy kids.  What a life :o)

In addition to the Aunt Jemima pancake mix, I also grew up on Log Cabin syrup.  It is made with several different ingredients (including sugar), which seems odd when you think about maple syrup.  By its very nature, maple syrup should be straight from nature.  S,o why would it contain more ingredients other than 100%, straight up, sticky goodness of pure maple syrup?  Aunt Jemima is another one of the syrups I grew up on, which also includes many added ingredients, including high fructose corn syrup.  I have transitioned us from these very processed syrups to straight up, 100%, no added ingredients maple syrup.  I also have a bottle of organic maple agave syrup sitting in my pantry.  If you are making the switch to a pure syrup, this might be a good transition for the kids as they get used to less of a sugary sweet tasting syrup and a more natural tasting one.  Agave has its own critics, but if you are using it to transition your family to a pure maple syrup, it’s much better than the alternatives out there, and I say go for it.  Just get to that pure 100% maple at some point.                     

The Future of This Blog........It's Going to be an Exciting Journey!!!!

I have been giving a lot of thought to the future of this blog.  Writing is not something that comes natural to me, and it takes time for me to write posts.  I won’t mention my horrible spelling that no matter how hard I focus on still seems to sneak into my writing.  It’s become something we laugh about, because I have totally given up in this area.  My sister, Kelly, and older brother, Darin, are the writers and storytellers of the family.  Definitely not one of my strong suits.  But here I am, giving it a go.  The start of this blog was focused completely on information sharing to help keep everyone informed about how I was doing as I worked through surgery, chemo, radiation and more surgery.  Keeping this blog updated helped us share information without needing to pick up the phone and call a long list of concerned family and friends.  If you are a regular follower, you have probably noticed my updates are not happening with any regularity at this point.  But, I am hoping to change that.

 I have decided to make an exciting shift and share information about nutrition and how I am trying to stay healthy and instill strong health ingrained habits into Charlotte’s life.  Preventing a recurrence of breast cancer is something I feel very strong about, and I am 100% focused on preventing a breast cancer diagnosis for Charlotte.  My fear that Charlotte will be diagnosed in her early 30’s totally drives my thirst for information.  For the last month or so, I have been researching places to study nutrition.  Thanks to a fantastic book I recently read called Kicking Cancer In The Kitchen, I came across The Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NY.  I received a raving recommendation for the program from one of the authors of KCK who was nice enough to share her personal experience attending IIN with me just the other day.  The course is online based and very much geared towards someone who is busy with work and family.  The program will take a little under a year to complete.  I have not signed up yet and am still doing a little research, but I am very excited about this program.  I am pretty sure Steve thinks I am crazy to pursue this.  He already thinks I am spreading myself too thin (sometimes literally too thin) with everything I have going on at work, non-profit, being a good mom, wife, and just life in general.   

I am constantly giving advice.  In reality, advice might not be the right word.  I tend to lecture my family and friends related to what they are eating, and I don’t always have the answers to their questions or have the right response to their resistance.  I know whole grain is good for you, but why?  And what's the big deal with white flour?  Although, I am not quite as opinionated as I was in my early to late 20’s when my big mouth got me in trouble on numerous occasions (if you know me you probably totally have a story you could tell…..please don’t).  Cancer has totally mellowed me and my opinionated mouth, but I am still very passionate about certain things.  Don’t ever get me started on organic milk and why we should care about it.  I have had several heated conversations on this very topic, but I will save organic milk for another day :o)

I have been soaking up information about nutrition like a sponge ever since I read Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr.  I read this book sometime during my 1st phase of chemo when things really started to click, and I started to connect the dots.  As I read through the chapters about dairy, sugars, pH balance, meats, and many more great topics, I started to piece it all together and understand just how important what we eat and put in our bodies really is.  I started telling my friends and sharing the information I learned from this book with others.  I enlisted some friends to take the 21 day cleanse challenge in the fall of last year and again this past January.  Our dear friends and fantastic neighbors, Jeff and Emily, totally embraced the 21 day cleanse, and they have made so many great changes to how they eat on a daily basis.  Emily is my go-to for recipes, and because she is insanely organized and one of those crazy meal planners I always wished I could be, she always has great things to share.   After reading this book, Steve and I started eating more raw vegetables and cut out a large percentage of the red meats we eat.  We are now down to maybe once or twice a month eating red meat, and if I had my way, there would be no more.  We started experiencing the power of the green juice and how it can really make you feel better.  The benefits are so worth giving it a try.  This book is full of bent page corners, tabs, and highlights.  I re-read it often to reinforce why Splenda is bad, the benefits of acid vs. alkaline foods, enzymes, gluten, probiotics, and so much more.  

I hope you will follow me on this journey as I continue to improve, gain, and share knowledge about nutrition and how important is really is to our incredible bodies.

What's New With Me

Hello Friends.  I am sorry I have been a little MIA. I know some of you are starting to get a little worried, but in this case, no news is good news ;o).  Today is a very snowy day here in Maryland, and I am making myself stop and write a little update while Charly is napping, and Steve is out shoveling snow!!

I am doing great post-surgery.  I have pretty much resumed all activities and can pick up Char with ease.  I can always gauge how strong I am when I pick her up, since she is constantly getting heavier.  I still have some pain and pulling on the right side, but I try to listen to my body and take it easy when needed.  I started doing a little yoga, which I love and am so happy to be able to get some good stretching in, but again I have to take it a little easy on that one side.  I am always cautious of what side I am lifting on and try to limit how heavy things are on the right side.  The last few months have been the normal holiday craziness I am sure most of you can relate to.  We had a great holiday with family and friends.  We are doing normal parenting stuff having a two year old with potty training, swimming lessons, etc.

All my follow-up appointments have gone well.  I started Tamoxifen on 1/11/13, so I have officially completed my first full year (with a little break for surgery).  Only nine more, yes nine more, years to go!!!  The hot flashes started a few months ago.  Most of mine happen in the middle of the night with night sweats.  They seem to be stronger and more often around the time of month when my hormones are higher.  Drinking wine also seems to trigger these nasty little disturbances.  If it keeps my cancer from recurring, I will gladly endure the hot flashes.   

My thyroid is still having some trouble getting jumpstarted.   I am on my forth regiment of synthroid, and each time a little increase or decrease is needed.  I am hoping this is just a temporary issue, but with the radiation I had done to the lymph nodes in my neck, this may be something I struggle with for a long time.  I think I am due for another adjustment.  I have been really tired and feel a little run down.  I have a follow-up in a couple of weeks for some blood work.

I have been trying really hard to eat healthy and really limit the amount of processed foods we eat.  It is definitely challenging when life gets busy.  Eating fresh fruits and veggies take dedication, work, and frequent trips to the grocery store.  But, boy can I tell a difference when I am not getting a high level of veggies every day.  Steve and I have been doing a 21 day cleanse where we eliminate all processed foods, animal products, and gluten.  We already try to limit animal products and eat a lot of fresh veggies and grains, but the cleanse gives us a little jumpstart after the holidays.  Meat is something that Steve struggles with giving up, while I rarely miss it.  But, I am only human and sometimes I get a craving for a good organic burger or movie theater popcorn.  If I am not feeling well or am tired, the cravings seem to be stronger, and I can’t always resist the temptation.  Everyone asks me how I get Steve to give up meat and do a cleanse.  I should add that while he will do it, it’s not done silently, and he reminds me on a regular basis how much he misses meat and cheese.  I always say it must have been watching me go through chemo while being sick and bald that gives me a certain level of persuasion.  In reality, it probably has more to do with me harassing him and not wanting to hear my lecture when he is eating something I disapprove of.  A happy wife equals a happy life right?!?  Moderation is a word I hear a lot of people say.  Especially when I am talking about why I don’t eat fast food or drink soda.  A lot of people say it’s all about moderation.  But, what does that really mean?  To me, moderation might mean I eat something once every three months.  Whereas someone else might think eating this same thing once a week or once a day is moderation.  Everyone has a different definition of what moderation means to them.  I think we each have to come to terms with what is really good for our health and not everyone is ready to hear about why something they enjoy is not so good for them.   

What’s next in my journey you might ask?  I need to decide what I am doing about my ovaries.  The opinions seem divided on the pros and cons related to removing them for prevention of both a recurrence and ovarian cancer.  There is a really interesting study taking place at Hopkins that I would be a candidate for.  Some new studies show that ovarian cancer may originate in the fallopian tubes and then spread to the ovaries.  For high risk patients, they are removing the tubes and leaving the ovary function.  This would be a really great alternative since I would not have to deal with the added full blown menopause symptoms.  If I opted to go down this road, it would just be a temporary precaution, and they still recommend I have the ovaries removed around 40, which will be in 2021.  The removal of the tubes is done laparoscopically and is a very minor procedure.  The doctor I talked to is fantastic, and I really liked her a lot.  Part of the study would involve monitoring during the period between tubes and ovary removal, and I would continue to have a pelvic ultrasound every six months.  I still need to think about this and decide how I want to proceed.  That's all I've got for the moment.

 If you are in Maryland, enjoy this beautiful snow day and be safe.