A companion to the upcoming book of similar title, this blog gives recipes to make your own homemade and healthy Meals Ready to Eat. Whether you prepare these for survival in emergency situations or to provide healthy meals for work and camping/backpacking, or if you just need portion control for your diet, there are recipes here for nearly everyone! // ALL ingredients are dehydrated or freeze-dried, or shelf-stable, and all recipes are for one serving. // At least ONE new recipe will be added each week.

Help at the House and Farmette

Since Winter is coming and I don't have the strength to get some of our little farmette jobs done before the cold weather sets in, we put an ad on Craigslist and have hired a man and his wife to help out.  Seems like a good fit.  They understand that I'm quite ill, and are willing to help Hubby re-build our front yard fence (needed to take it down so the water well people could get to the well to dig it further).  They will also build a new chicken coop for the 13 baby bantam chickens we have in our garage. They absolutely need to go outside within a month because they are getting so big and they need to acclimate to outside weather before the cold gets here.

As for me, I'm not feeling any better.  And now, my insomnia is bothering me again.  So I wait until Hubby is asleep, and if I don't feel sleep coming any time soon, I gather a few things (pillow, water bottle, phone) and go into the living room.  Our wonderful but dumb Labrador retriever lays beside me, sometimes nuzzling my tummy or leg in sympathy.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to add foods to my day, like oatmeal.  I tried it with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar, but the sugar made me sick.

Ug.

I hope that soon, someone will figure out what's wrong with me and will help me be able to eat again.  Once that happens, I can start posting on here again some healthy homemade instant meals!

Oh, how I look forward to that.

Still Quite Ill so Sorry

It's been about a week since I got home from the hospital, and I'm sorry to say that I've made very little progress.  I see my PCP tomorrow to discuss my hospital stay, and hopefully to get refills on the 3 meds plus the skin patch that are keeping my food in me.

Hoping she agrees to it.  Because, even with the meds, I'm barely hanging on.

And now I have constant dizziness to go along with everything else.

I seem to be slightly better in the mornings, so I'm making sure I drink a protein drink (pre-made or Carnation instant with extra protein) plus a Bolthouse or Naked or V8 fruit/veg juice... for the nutrition.  Then, if I can't get anything else to stay down during the day, I'll feel like I not doing too awfully bad, nutrition wise.

Again, I apologize for not doing much to help you on your health journey.  I can barely think about food without getting more nauseated.

Thank you.

My Health Scare

Today is August the 13th, and I just got out of the hospital.

You might know that since I had my right knee replaced in November 2014, my fibromyalgia has tilted into full pain mode, and I'm non-stop nauseated.  The doctors I've seen said the nausea is from the meds I was on, so I didn't worry about it.

Then I had my second (left) knee replacement surgery in April 2015, and the nausea got worse.

But this week, on the 10th, a few days after our well went dry, my nausea went bonkers, and I became uncontrollable nauseated, with vomiting and severe abdominal pains. My family took me to the Emergency Room (a 35 minute drive) where they did everything they could to get me quieted down. Nothing worked. It actually got worse because every time they flushed my IV with saline, the taste of it make my nausea worse.  By 4 a.m., they had admitted me to the hospital.  Over the course of the next 2 1/2 days, they tried many different medicines to calm my stomach.  I threw up about 30 times in  24 hour period. You can bet my ribs and throat hurt.

It took the combination of three (yes, 3) medicines plus a nausea skin patch behind my ear to get me to stop throwing up enough to go home.

So, if I don't write much about making homemade healthy instant foods for a while, you'll know why.

Thank you for your patience.

MRE RECIPE: Protein Popcorn

Yeah, I know. Weird.  Yeah, popcorn, since it comes from corn, has a slight amount of protein. But this recipe will bump up that protein AND add flavor and nutrients.  Plus it tastes cheesy without adding the dairy!

INGREDIENTS:
2/3 cup of heirloom popcorn kernels
2-3 tbsp. oil (olive, walnut, avocado, your choice)
3 tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast Flakes

DIRECTIONS:
Place kernels in a brown paper lunch bag, fold down the top a few times, then put in the microwave for about 4 minutes. Take out when kernels aren't popping fast.

Once popped, take out and place in a bowl  Add a little oil, the nutritional yeast flakes (and salt, nuts and M&Ms if you'd like).  Mix well.  Add more until you get the taste you are going for.

NUTRITION DATA:

NOTE: If you air-pop your popcorn, after it's done, drizzle on the oil before sprinkling on the other ingredients.  It helps them stick, and adds healthy oils to your snack.  You could also pop the kernels in a COVERED pan on the stove or over a fire (just be sure to add oil to the pan first!)

NOTE: Please do NOT use pre-packaged microwave popcorn .. it has toxins in it and seriously, you can do it just as easily yourself.  //  Also, my son has a problem with regular GMO corn (is it any wonder?) so we buy heirloom popcorn, multi-colored, from Azure Standard.  They have a LOT of bulk products, many heirloom and non-GMO, and are so reliable.  They rarely mess up my order.

NOTE: If you took my advice and are putting enough food and such away for a year, please be sure to add these ingredients, especially the nutritional yeast.  You can use them in your dehydrated flax crackers, on pasta and so many other ways where you want to bump up the nutrition while adding a cheesy taste.

COPYRIGHT (C) 2015 Vikki Lawrence.  This recipe is for your personal use only.  Please do not copy or distribute without written authorization from the author.  Thank you.