Lip conditioner/cuticle cream; Just another miracle of Coconut oil

This one is for Donna aka sadekat.  We were discussing the benefits of coconut oil on her blog one day and I mentioned how well it worked on my chapped lips.  Next thing I know this smart and sassy lady had melted down some coconut oil and filled an old chap stick tube.  Tell me your not impressed!

I’ve used it for a long time for both my lips and an all over body moisturizer.  But I recently found out just how good a cuticle cream it is too.

So Donna here is you a twofer and you can even make it cherry if you want.

Here’s what you will need:

• 1 empty mint tin – hopefully it’s from sugar free mints
• coconut oil
• 2-3 vitamin E capsules
• essential oil- I used orange because it’s my fav (make sure it’s food grade)

Melt enough coconut oil to fill your tin half way (if it melts you don’t want it to spill). Add essential oil and poke and squeeze the oil out of the vitamin E capsules.  Stir to mix, pour into your mint tin and chill ‘til set.

Now I haven’t carried it around in my pocket so I don’t know how  quickly it would melt if  you did, but I keep  one beside my bed, one tucked in my armchair caddy and one in the kitchen.  If I carried a purse I might put one in there too, until Summer gets here.

Now I have it handy anytime I need it and it only cost me a few cents to make.

If you try it, let me know what you think. I enjoy  the fresh orangey smell and taste every time I use it, and my cuticles never looked better.

Ham and Swiss Panini

We all love sandwiches from time to time, they are easy to make and somehow very satisfying.

Finding a bread that is low in carb and makes a good sandwich can be difficult.  There are Cleo’s oopsies of course which are wonderful, and you know how much I like Joseph’s Lavash bread, but sometimes you need something hardier.  Enter Laura Dolson’s Focaccia -Style Flax Bread.  I love this bread recipe just as written, but I just have to play around with everything.  I’ve made many, many sweet versions and several savory ones as well.  My favorite has got to be Jalapeno.  It’s this recipe that I’ve used for my Panini.

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces Jalapeno Flaxbread( I cut mine into 18 pieces)
• 2 slices thin sliced ham
• 2 slices Swiss cheese
• mustard or mayo
• butter

Method:

1. Slice both pieces of Jalapeno bread horizontally so you have 4 slices of bread
2. Cut ham slices in 4’s, dry off if needed.
3. Cut each piece of Swiss into 2 pieces
4. Melt butter in small frying pan, toast the “inside” of the flaxbread
5. Add mustard or mayo to the inside of the bread
6. Add cheese to 2 slices , then ham, and remaining slices of cheese.
7. Top with remaining bread.
8. Place in frying pan and weigh down with something heavy.  I used cans. Flip and toast other sides.

Serve while hot, with fresh veggie sticks and dip, or nice hot bowl of soup. 

Once you’ve made them once you will find yourself playing around with all kinds of flavors.

Update on mom

It's been a week since my last post I know. I'm sorry I keep saying I'm going to get better about blogging on a regular basis, and then some how, I don't.
Well a quick update on mom. They moved her over to rehab (same hospital different building and set up) on Saturday. She's doing very well. The physical therapist comes and works with her three times a day. They are working on building the muscles back up in her legs and teacher her how to get up and down without pushing, pulling or putting any pressure on her chest.
The occupational therapist is coming twice a day to work with her on getting dressed, personal hygiene and other such things, without straining, pulling or stretching her arms and shoulders (so she doesn't put any pressure or pull on her chest)
Then there is another activity therapist that comes once a week, he's got her playing games while doing physical activities. Such as playing dominoes but when you don't score you have to hold your feet up until you do, or raise your arms over your head or some such thing. Sounds odd but it's actually kind of fun.
Every Tuesday the doctor, therapist and anyone else that works with her, all get together to discuss her progress with her and set goals and projections. Only having been there a few days when this Tuesday (yesterday) came round, there wasn't too much to discuss, but the projected day of release is set for Feb 5th as of now. It could be sooner or it could take longer, but that's the goal right now.
The left side weakness is still coming and going, which is very worrisome to me. But the doctor and therapist keep saying she just needs to strengthen the muscles on that side more. That with therapy she will recover. I sure hope they know what they are talking about.

I'm addicted to iced coffee drinks again!

With mom in the hospital, my aunt (her sister) has been staying up here with us so she can go to the hospital every day to see her. She lives about 67-70 miles away and at nearly 80 she doesn't need to be making trips like that very often.
Anyway, her first morning here she forgot she wasn't making coffee for her and her son and she made a great big pot. Not wanting to waste it she pour the left overs in a pitcher and popped in in the fridge for me. I tried to resist honest I did, I even let it sit in there over night. But I kept hearing it sing to me, and oh what a song it sang.
Well, as you can guess I finally gave in, and darned if I didn't drink nearly the whole pitcher at one go. I'm so bad.
So in case you have more control than I do and would really like to enjoy an after dinner treat you might enjoy my favorite iced coffee.

• 1 cup coffee
• 1/4 tsp. dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup hood milk or cream
• 1/2-1 cup crushed ice
• Sweetener to taste I use a couple pkg. stevia

Pour into plastic jug with tight fitting lid (yep I'm to lazy to pull out the blend and beside the jug is quieter) give it a good shake and pour into a tall glass and enjoy! I like mine with a straw.

Variation on same drink:

• 1/2 tsp espresso powder
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup hood milk with a splash of cream
• a good spoon of Walden farms chocolate syrup
• sweeten to taste
• 1/2 cup crushed ice ( sometimes I just use ice cubes)

Pour it in a jar and shake.

I swear I'm hooked again. I haven't had any coffee in I don't know how long. When drinking it hot, I'd just a soon have tea, but nothing beats the sweet richness of iced mocha!

i.am.jenn's low carb kitchen: Bacon Maple Quiche

If you haven't tried this recipe i.am.jenn's low carb kitchen: Bacon Maple Quiche from over at Jenn's new place you best run over there as fast as you can and give it a try. I'm talking amazingly good. And if you haven't checked out Jenn's new place what the heck you waiting on? See you there.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I roasted another 5 lb bag of leg quarters the other day and then made a big batch of stock.

I saved back the stock and part of the chicken so I could make a big pot of soup.  I just wasn’t sure what kind I wanted to make I thought about Tuscan Chicken Soup  but I didn’t have any kale and without the kale it’s just not the same, then I was thinking Tortilla Soup but I didn’t have any Rotel.  Then I remembered we never had our traditional after Thanksgiving Homemade Chicken Noodle soup.  Something my mom has been making for use since we were kids.  So I decided that Chicken Noodle sounded wonderful.

With Cindy and my aunt Val at the hospital most of the day I needed it to be something that would easy have hot and ready to eat whenever they straggled in. So instead of cooking the pasta in the soup I cooked it and let everyone put what they wanted in their bowls.  Makes it easier to freeze left overs too.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chick stock (home made if you have it)
• 3-4 cup water
• 2 cups pre-cooked chicken
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 3/4 cup chopped celery
• 4 gloves garlic, minced
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper (a good shake of red pepper flakes adds a nice kick if you like)
• Pre-cooked Dreamfield’s Pasta (we use the linguini)

Method:

1. Saute veggies in a tsp. pork fat or butter
2. Add stock and water let simmer until veggies are tender.  Don’t over cooked, remember you stock is already flavored
3. Add chicken and season well.
4. Serve with pasta and crackers for your carbivores. 

Some folks find that Dreamfields Pasta cause them blood glucose spikes, mom and I are among them, so we only use just a little pasta.  I think I had about a 1/3 cup of cooked pasta or about 1/3 a serving in my bowl, if that.  Of course you could use shirataki, or simply skip the noodles all together.

Don’t skimp on the garlic or it won’t be nearly as good, even though this is not a garlicky soup by any means.

Since pasta doesn’t freeze well and get mushy when reheating, having the pasta separate makes left overs much better or you can just freeze the left overs for another day.

(I didn’t get a picture today, but I’ll try to get one tomorrow when I have left overs)

Thank you for all the Prayers

We as a family we would all like to express our gratitude to all those that have sent up prayers on her behalf.  Prayer is a very very powerful thing and it not only blessed my mom, it made us all feel better knowing that so many people were praying on her behalf.

Mom came through the surgery like a trooper.  The surgeon said her pressures were already going down when the surgery was over and that she will feel so much better now that she’s had the valve replaced.

Our pastor and one of the elders of our church came out and prayed with her before she went in to surgery and that made her and us feel better too.

I can’t even begin to explain how happy and relieved I am.  I was so worried.  I knew she was in God’s hands, that I had no doubt of, but what his plans were, well that part I worried about. 

I’m so very thankful that God answered our prayers and brought her through the surgery so well.

So again thank you so much for all the prayer and for those praying for a speedy, easy healing.

A very grateful Vikki

Peanut Buster

One of our favorite on the go meals is a peanut butter roll up.  Which is nothing more than peanut butter and cream cheese mixed together (lower carb and creamier that way) spread on a low carb tortilla, drizzled with imitation honey and rolled up.  It’s filling, portable and doesn’t need refrigeration so it can go anywhere.

I was making a few for mom and Cindy to carry to the hospital in the morning ( 4 hours of pre-op) and decided that if I added a little Walden Farms chocolate syrup and a tsp or two of cream  to the left over peanut butter mix it would taste like a peanut butter cup.

What I found was that instead of a peanut butter cup it tasted like the Peanut Busters I remember as a kid, even without the ice cream.  I was thrilled.  Had I added more than just a drizzle of chocolate syrup it might have tasted more like a peanut butter cup but I liked it much better with the stronger peanut flavor.

• 1 tbsp all natural crunchy peanut butter (2.5)
• 1 tbsp. softened cream cheese (.50)
• 1-2 tsp. cream (depends how  creamy you want it) (negligible)
• 1 tsp. Walden Farms s/f chocolate syrup (0 carbs)
• sweetener- to taste I added a couple drops of sweetzfree to the cream

Mix everything together and grab a spoon.   This could easily be put in the freezer for a frozen treat, I couldn’t wait that long…giggle

Vikki Does a Happy Dance

Turn your head and run away it's not going to be pretty! I was talking to my good friend Patty yesterday and telling her how I hadn't been able to break through my lowest weight in the last year. I'd dropped down before Christmas of '07 and I've been up and down anywhere from 5 to 20 lbs over the last year. Well, when I got off the phone with her I went and weighed, I hadn't yet and Sunday's are my weigh in day AND I LOST 6 lbs and I'm now 4lbs under my lowest! Yeah {Happy Dance} I'm so happy.
Hugs,
Vikki

Cabbage soup with Sausage

As you know I'm the queen of short cuts. I love all things that make getting dinner on the table quicker. I like to precook veggies so they are ready to go with whatever protein I cook for that night. While all veggies don't keep well, things like cabbage, turnips and squash all work wonderfully for this.
So today mom decided she needed to add a little something to her egg fast and boiled a whole head of cabbage. Boiled cabbage is something we both really like and it goes with most any meat you cook, so we like to keep it cooked.
But tonight I wasn't feeling great, it's this changing weather, and I wanted soup. This is the quick and easy soup I managed to get in a bowl in less than 3o minutes.

Quick and Easy Cabbage Soup with Sausage

• 8 oz. sausage cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/4 med. onion, diced
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 3-4 cups cooked cabbage with cooking liquid
• 1/2 cup cooked turnips or thawed frozen would work
• 1/4 cup of cream
• dash or two of salt
• 2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper (can use less but I love cabbage with lots of black pepper)
• Optional: fresh grated parmesan to sprinkle over each bowl

Add sausage to a hot pan and cook until brown, deglaze pan with just a little chicken stock and add onions and turnips and saute until tender and starting to caramelize. Add cabbage, the remaining chicken stock, spices and cream. Heat until just bubbling. Don't boil with the cream in the soup. Serve immediately with a nice sprinkle of fresh grated parmesan and a piece of Jalapeno Flaxbread.

It made a very warm, comforting and super easy dinner and boy has it kept me full!

Winter weather and other breaking news

First off, we were under a freezing rain warning last night (Sunday) and I heading out to the doctor this morning I was created with the most amazing trees. While thankfully the roads were clear the trees, grass and shrubs were coated in a thin layer of ice. The day was gray but the trees made it very magical. The glisten even without the sun. Pine trees looked as if they were made of velvet, because of the sheen the ice gave them. Cedars looked as if they had all been frosted. Dormant trees appeared to be made of glass. Even on gray dreary days, God shows us his beauty.

Also, a quick not about my doctor visit today. She told me I was definitely wheezing, to which I told her I could hear. Said my throat was starting to become infected and that I was running a low grade fever. She prescribed 2 inhalers until my asthma clears up and then just the Advair for a month or so to keep it clear. She wrote me a script for the z-pac and told me if I wasn't better by Friday or had any more trouble call her and come back in.

So I should be all fixed up soon.

Mom's surgery on the 16th is quickly approaching and it has left us all with mixed feelings. We're very happy the end is finally in sight and that she will finally regain her strength and stamina, not to mention just feeling all around better. But we're also very nervous, she's high risked and even with both doctors being so confident, it still leaves that little doubt in the back of your mind.

We're turned it all over to God, or at least we're trying and know in our hearts she will do wonderfully, but if you'd send up prayers on her behave, we would all be very grateful!

Well that's all the breaking news I have, I hope all is well with each of you and that you have happiness, health and Love!

Just a quick note

Well guys I did great sticking with plan until the week of Christmas. I was so busy trying to get ready that I fell into the old habit of picking up dinner. It's really been very hard to pick up and get back in the saddle again. But I'm getting there. Also, I've got a terrible bronchial infection and with my asthma it's a tough fight just to breath.

I've been symptom free for so long I had forgot had scary an asthma attack really is. You gasp and struggle just to get a tiny bit of air in your lungs. I didn't even have a rescue inhaler any more, since it's been several years since I've had any asthma symptoms at all.

Anyway, my point to all this isn't to gain sympathy from readers but to let you know once I've bounced back from this I will be back to blogging. I've been so slack at it lately I hope there are still a few of you checking in. For that I'm really sorry. But it's just terrible hard to think when your lungs will not inflate more than just a tiny bit.

My new years resolution is to jump back in with both feet and get really strict with myself and get all this inflammation out of my body! I know from experience eating low carb will reduce the inflammation and thus help with the asthma as well. Also I'm off dairy completely for a week or two to help reduce phlegm production. Which will help cut carbs as well, so for at least the next while dairy is a huge no no for me.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas an enjoyable and safe New Years. I'll be back soon.