My Own Weight-Loss - Update

When I went in for my surgery on November 19 2014, I weighed 254 pounds.  After the surgery, I was so nauseous, on pain killers, and didn't feel like doing anything.

But to regain mobility in my knee / leg, I needed to do leg exercises.  By the end of December, I had lost several pounds, had regained full mobility in my knee, and, except for the pain, was starting to feel better.

The surgery made my fibromyalgia worse.  Biggest flare-up I've ever had, and it's not going away.  I read about diets to help with the fibro, so I started eating mostly fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes, and gluten-free.

I added exercycling to my daily routine.  Then found my 3-pound hand weights and started working with them, in addition to physical therapy.

But the physical therapy was making my other leg/knee worse.  I had to stop that.  I researched exercises to do in bed, and changed things.

As of last week, I have lost 27 pounds since my surgery.

I exercycle daily.
I work out with weights daily, on the bed.
I do my knee exercises daily, on the bed.
I do mock-stomach-crunches daily, on the bed.

I started water therapy 2 weeks ago, but because of the snow, have attend only once so far. Hope the snow goes away soon.

If **I** can lose weight, so can YOU!

I have another 50-75 pounds to go.  I CAN do this!

MRE RECIPE: KFC-Like Original Recipe Chicken

KFC-Like Chicken:

I love Kentucky Fried Chicken, but in most cases, it is so greasy. And I usually just want to eat the skin because it’s so delicious. Nope, soooo not healthy.   But now, for those of us working to be more healthy, I think I've come up with a taste substitute for KFC chicken.

I have been experimenting with KFC copycat recipes, trying to convert them to an instant meal, and I think I might be close for Original Recipe chicken. I need your help to experiment.

Ingredients:
1 cup pre-cooked freeze-dried chicken pieces
2 tbsp Accent (MSG seasoning)
1 tbsp buttermilk powder
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp onion powder
1-2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant egg powder
1 tsp ground oregano
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp chili powder

Directions:
Combine everything except chicken until completely mixed.  Add dried chicken and toss again. Store in a tightly sealed container, keeping out moisture, light and oxygen.

When ready to eat, rehydrate with 2 cups of boiling water. Could take a little more or less, depending on humidity, etc.  Allow to sit, covered, for at least 10-20 minutes. Drain extra, although the flour, egg powder and buttermilk powder should thicken the extra water into a nice flavorful sauce.
Notes:
I don’t like using MSG / Accent and I don’t like much salt in our food, so I leave them out usually. We also don’t eat black pepper when we can avoid it.

Give it a try YOUR way, and leave your comments below as to how it tasted for you.  Feel free to top this onto some instant mashed potatoes (with or without butter powder). Maybe make a side of cole slaw or corn.

To Make Gluten-Free:
To make gluten-free, replace the flour with arrow-root powder or chia seeds or ground flax meal (to thicken). Check the other ingredients to make sure they are all gluten-free.

To Make Dairy-Free:
To make dairy-free, eliminate the buttermilk powder. It will taste a little different but give it a try anyway.

==============

Makes 1 serving.

Copyright (c) 2015 Vikki Lawrence
Do not copy or share this recipe. For your personal use only.

Sincere Apologies

I feel so bad that I haven't written in this blog in a while. 

I had knee replacement surgery November 19 2014, and I've been struggling with recovery ever since.  The next knee replacement surgery is scheduled for April 2015.  Once I've recovered from that surgery, I **WILL** get back to writing regular posts here.

If you subscribed to this blog via Amazon.com, please contact me at vikkibooks aT yahoo period com. I want to send you something for staying with me.

So ... I really am sorry that I haven't posted in a while.  I am planning a post for this Friday for my version of instant KFC - Original Recipe Chicken!

Thanks again.

MRE Recipe: Caribbean Coconut Chicken

Caribbean Coconut Chicken: This is so delicious, nutritious and very filling. Yes, the coconut has fat, but it's a healthy fat. Eat this worry-free!

 

Dairy-Free. Gluten-Free. Make as spicy as you'd like. I personally don't care for a lot of spice but my husband can tolerate a lot!

 

Remember, all ingredients are shelf stable, freeze-dried and/or dehydrated.

 

Ingredients:
Baggie 1:
1/2 cup instant rice (or rice you pre-cooked and dehydrated)
½ tsp turmeric (optional)

Baggie 2:
1/2 cup chicken dices
1 tbsp scallions
½ cup dehydrated strips of orange bell pepper [or red, yellow or green]
½ cup dehydrated carrot strips
1 tsp garlic flakes or powder
3 tbsp powdered coconut milk
3 tbsp sweetened coconut flakes
pinch hot red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste (we leave them out)

Directions:
Rehydrate Baggie 1 with ½ cup boiling water (more or less).  Rehydrate Baggie 2 with 1 ½ cups boiling water.  Let sit until completely reconstituted.  Serve chicken mixture on top of rice.

Options:
1. Add ¼ cup of dehydrated halved cherry tomatoes to Baggie 2.  You will need to increase the amount of boiling water for this bag.  

2. Add 1 tbsp of tomato powder to Baggie 2.

Remember that all ingredients are freeze-dried, dehydrated, or otherwise, shelf-stable.

Be sure to let me know how you like this recipe!

Cost of Ingredients

We are almost out of freeze-dried beef chunks, beef crumbles, chicken and turkey, so I went online to take advantage of sales. Couldn't believe the prices! How much did I really spend last year when I got all of the meats plus other ingredients, like artichoke powder?

Money is really tight this year. Lots of medical problems, surgeries, and more. Can't afford to restock our meats. So what shall I do?

I hit the grocery store.

• Cans of chicken and other meats now reside in our pantry. Including Spam (hubby's choice, not mine!)
• We already had lots of tiny and whole grain pasta, instant rice and potato flakes.
• Endless supplies of oats!
• Have lots of spices.
• I had bought, in the Spring, a giant bag of soup veggies from Vitamin Cottage, so in addition to those I dehydrated this past Summer, we're good for veggies.
• Fruits, stocked up from dehydrating and from www.justtomatoes.com

My point is ... if you don't have the money to buy freeze-dried meats, look through your grocery store. Maybe buy some cheap fresh meats, cook and dehydrate according to your dehydrator's instructions.

There IS a way to eat healthy, on a budget, using shelf-stable ingredients.

So tomorrow's dinner...

No, wait! It's my son's birthday tomorrow.

THURSDAY's dinner is chicken noodle soup. Gonna make it in my big crockpot. Easy to take the ingredients to make over a campfire. You'll notice there is no onion in this. Yeah, my son doesn't like onion. I'll add some to mine and hubby's portion.

• 1 can chicken
• 1 box whole wheat rotini
• 1 cup dehydrated soup vegetables
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium chicken bouillon
• 1 tablespoon garlic granules (from Sam's)
• Season to taste (sometimes I add turmeric because it's so healthy).
• Add 4 cups of water. Stir. Heat until pasta is cooked through and al dente / tender.

Enjoy!

= = = = =

Sorry I haven't been posting regularly. Preparing for an upcoming knee replacement surgery. Please be patient!

Dehydrated Fruit

While I do dehydrate a lot of fruit for our snacking, desserts and oatmeal, there are certain things I buy ALWAYS from www.justtomatoes.com.  Have for many years!  Order soon, and use my discount code “BACK-TO-SCHOOL” for 15% off. And if you order over $100 worth of product (after the discount), then you get free shipping (ground).

So, yesterday, I made a bunch of oatmeal breakfasts for my husband. Enough for at least 3 ½ weeks for him. That’s when I noticed that I was running super-low on fruit powders. Today, I ordered some more, including a couple of fruits that I have trouble dehydrating.

Mango, whole

Raspberry, whole

Banana, powder

Blueberry, powder
Mango, powder
Peach, powder
Pineapple, powder
Raspberry, powder
Strawberry, powder
 
I didn’t order whole blackberries or blueberries because we still had plenty of those. I also usually order peas but when I was going through my storage, I found some.  I sometimes order tomato slices but I still have plenty from what I dehydrated last year.

They used to do mushrooms, scallions and others (I think they still do garlic) but they discontinued some things several years ago because of lack of interest. Join me in asking them for more vegetables. That survival and prepping for emergency people really need a good source of HEALTHY (no additives) vegetables, fruits and other ingredients. I just called and put in my request. Do the same! (800) 537-1985

What do I use all of the fruit for? My son needs more fruit in his diet, so he (almost daily) gets mango, blueberries and blackberries, and usually munches on peas as a snack. I munch on their “fruit salad” and raspberries , blue/blackberries, and mango, and, of course, what I dehydrate (plum, nectarine, peach, apple, banana, pineapple and grapes).

 

I also make delicious crumbles and other desserts.

As far as the powder, we use that to flavor oatmeal. We particularly love tropical oatmeal (powders – banana, mango, pineapple, plus coconut flakes), raspberry and cocoa (so yum), peach, and PB&J (peanut butter powder with raspberry, peach or strawberry powder).

Give some of these a try. Trust me, they make DELICIOUS foods. And so healthy.

p.s. I do not get any compensation of any kind from Just Tomatoes.

MIJ Diet: Lentil and Rice Soup

As my last post mentioned, I decided to help my weight loss along by using Meals In Jars (MIJ), aka Homemade Healthy MREs.

My "diet"  requirements:

• gluten-free
• tasty
• filling
• healthy
• dairy-free (as much as possible)
• low-sugar (pre-diabetic .. although I would rather use raw sugar and honey than asparatame!)
• low-sodium (I have high blood pressure)

So, the other day, I made my go-to dinner for the family: lentil and rice soup. This time, I made it from mostly dehydrated or shelf-stable ingredients.

• Lentils (pre-cooked and dehydrated)
• Rice, Brown (instant)
• Mixed Soup Veggies (I get these at the local Vitamin Cottage)
• Garlic powder (NOT salt)
• Chicken bouillon powder (low sodium)

Because I made this at home, I also added a dollop of bacon grease! I know, not the healthiest choice, but bacon makes otherwise bland meals quite delicious!

To make this yourself, use the same amount for rice as you do with lentils. Add a couple of tablespoons of mixed dried veggies, and season to taste.

VEGAN: eliminate the bacon grease!