My 2020 Challenge

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alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2020 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Dgflorida wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 8:39 am Did the tree trimmers do a good job?

I think they did a good job but will have to wait and see how far the squirrels are willing to jump from the tree to the deck.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2020 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Yesterday for breakfast I had cottage cheese with coffee and half and half (free).

Lunch finished the last of the tuna fish salad as a sandwich with my gluten free bread. I realized too late that the bread is somewhat fragile and needs to be at least lightly toasted to hold together for a sandwich. I used the last of my pickled jalapeno peppers on the sandwich. They really do perk up a plain tuna fish salad sandwich. No problem I have two more jars in my pantry...lol I bought them when they were BOGO quite a while back. They are one of the things I try not to get too low on. They add a lot of zip to different things like egg salad, salsa, tacos etc. I well save the jalapeno pickle juice and I am going to thaw out some frozen cauliflower and squeeze the water out of it and toss it in the juice. It will make a nice addition to my salads and will not waste the lovely juice. If you buy pickled mixed veggie's at the grocery store it costs an arm and a leg. Sometimes I will blanch some carrots but sort of low on carrots right now and they are one of Teddi's favorite treats. I do not have to blanch the cauliflower since it was blanched before it was frozen. The cauliflower was a winter mix of broccoli and cauliflower from Dollar Tree. I already picked out the broccoli to use in another dish so maybe .50 cents. A whole lot cheaper than buying the pickled veggies at the grocery store.

Dinner was chili that I had thawed out from the freezer. I added a slice of (free) cheddar cheese when I nuked it..yum! I also thawed out some leftover cookie dough that was left from Christmas baking. Big mistake.lol.. They are not gluten free and they are not low carb..lol.. Last night I ate some with cottage cheese on the side. Today had a few cookies for breakfast with some cottage cheese. The cottage cheese sort of helps to neutralize some of the carbs in the cookies. I know it sounds like a joke but if you read the Zone diet he states it is ok to eat the Snicker's candy bar with a 1/4 c of cottage cheese. So I applied it to the cookies and my blood sugar was within a decent level afterwards yesterday and today. Thankfully there were not that many cookies left to bake so when they are gone that will be the end of them until Christmas this year when I will bake more for my great nephew. It is his favorite cookie. Today for lunch I will have the last of the chili for lunch.

Dinner will be Thai yellow curry. I have one red potato left that was given to me a long time ago from my aide. She gave me about 4 stating they go bad on her and she cannot use them before that happens. I do not know why her's go bad so quickly. I put the potatoes in my pantry closet in the utility room in a bowl and they stay in the dark closet which is a little bit cooler than the rest of the room and they do not go bad on me. I will serve the curry over riced cauliflower from the freezer. I also plan on making another batch of hot and sour soup. Dessert will be sugar free jello from Ruler.. I think it cost .39 cents. I really need to get my old receipts out and make a price book so that I can make a quick reference to prices.

I had a really nice day yesterday despite the wicket weather. We had sleet, ice, and heavy rain but I used one of my Duraflame logs in the fireplace and baked cookies. It was so nice. I felt warm and cozy despite the weather. Later in the evening Teddi was all snuggled down on a pillow beside me while I watched TV ate cookies and drank coffee. I was a bad mama I baked some of the cookies without the cinnamon and sugar just so he could have a couple of nibbles of freshly baked cookies. I know he is a dog but who can enjoy a cookie or three and see that little sweet face looking at you with the same desire to have a cookie.

Right now the wind is howling. I noticed a few birds were checking out my deck and all of their food is gone. I just put some out under the table and in areas that are somewhat protected from the strong wind and more and more birds have received the memo that she has finally put our food out...lol. I love seeing them swoop in and out and the pecking order. If you looked out in to the wooded area behind my house you would see splotches of red cardinals, blue blue jays and every once in a while the King (wood pecker) will make his/her presence known and they all stand back and wait for him/her to leave. The little birds are so cute they just jump in and do not seem to care who is on deck. I use to buy my bird seed at the Farm and Home store but one day while at Ruler I saw they have bird seed which looks almost identical and a whole lot cheaper.

I guess this brings me up to date.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2020 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Yesterday I had cottage cheese for breakfast and a fresh pot of coffee with half and half (free).

Mid morning I had a Gala apple for a snack (free) with a small handful of pecans.

Lunch I opened a can of canned chicken from my emergency stock pile. It was a large can bought to keep on hand for long term storage. I did not like it. It was in broth and yet is seemed dry. I added some mayo from Dollar Tree and added chopped up pickled jalapeno peppers to give it some zip. I ate it plain without bread or crackers. They say you should not wait for an emergency to try out your emergency foods and your emergency plans. You need to determine before hand how things will work. I am glad I only bought one can of this particular brand of chicken.

Mid afternoon toasted some of my home made bread and added a little butter and the last of my cherry jam.

Dinner was a lettuce salad with green olives, pickled jalapeno peppers, sunflower seeds, and I opened a can of garbanzo beans. They were BOGO but not sure if this is a free one..lol. Used Ranch Dressing bought at Big Lots.

Late evening toasted two more slices of my homemade bread and a little butter. I have one more slice left.

I am having increasing problems with my gastritis. I am suppose to eat small frequent meals like every 2 to 3 hours.
Every time my gastroenterologist Dr tells me to stop my medications the gastritis pains return within a few days and they seem to be worse each time. I am pretty sure the foods I am eating are the cause of some of the problem. I have been trying to use what I have on hand but need to bite the bullet and invest in some better nutrition. I have been looking in to the "leaky gut syndrome". There are 5 differnt forms of leaky gut and I think I have finally figured out which form I have.

My brother has been on the diet for his particular one for about 2.5 years and he has stopped the progression of a nerve degeneration disease that he has. Medical Drs (5) of them at a big teaching hospital finally told him to stop going from Dr to Dr since there is no cure and he needs to face the facts. However the last Dr told him he might want to look in to a holistic approach. She could not say more due to conventional medicine does not always acknowledge alternative medicine. However after doing research he looked in to leaky gut. He not only halted the disease he seems to have regained some of the things he lost. As he said, food is medicine. I finally decided with my money situation improving when I make my final tax payment in Feb I need to start to eat more healthy food. I have been looking in to various foods that I will need to cure my problem and then to maintain it.. YIKES!! I am hoping that I will be able to grow more veggies on my deck this year and that will help with the cost. The one good thing is my particular form of leaky gut benefits from pears.. woo hoo. I still have pears in my fridge that I can cook down for the next couple of months. My pear tree is also very prolific and organic which is a plus. The book recommends eating more cooked foods to heal and my particular pears are not for eating fresh but more for canning so I cook them before eating them. So that is a big savings.

A lot to think about and to plan for the future. Buying better food for better nutrition to improve my health is going to be one of my biggest challenges since buying groceries was one of the few areas where I had wiggle room to save money. As always looking forward to the challenge.
Janet Alliesmama
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: My 2020 Challenge

Post by Dgflorida »

I agree on the food quality issue. You are what you eat, they say. That sure applied to hubs. From a conventional diet where he was gaining 10 pounds a year to a keto diet and losing 90 lbs in a year, he is what he eats. And he has regained a lot of health from the change. Of course, I went keto and no longer needed thyroid medication or any medication for that matter. Good luck finding your sweet spot.
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2020 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Dgflorida wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2020 7:22 am I agree on the food quality issue. You are what you eat, they say. That sure applied to hubs. From a conventional diet where he was gaining 10 pounds a year to a keto diet and losing 90 lbs in a year, he is what he eats. And he has regained a lot of health from the change. Of course, I went keto and no longer needed thyroid medication or any medication for that matter. Good luck finding your sweet spot.
Thanks Dg. I have tried keto but since I only have one kidney that works it gave me problems due to too much protein. I know you have done an amazing job with the keto diet improving your DH's health. My brother sort of follows keto now that he has done his leaky gut healing. It has helped him too. He found out he is dairy and gluten intolerant.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2020 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Eating the rest of the week is going to be clean out the fridge and freezer.
Breakfast was the last of the cottage cheese it was BOGO. I like cottage cheese but need to phase cheese and dairy in general out of my life for a while. I made a pot of coffee and used some of my (free) half and half. When the half and half is gone I will no longer make coffee. I will have to freeze the last of the ground coffee if there is any left when the half and half is used up.

Mid morning I had a cup of chocolate collagen powder. It is sort of like hot chocolate but no milk but it does have a chocolate flavor. It is suppose to help to heal my digestive system. I have a lot of collagen and bone broth powders bought over a year ago when they were on sale BOGO just have not dedicated myself to using them on a daily basis but I need to start to use them now.


Made another loaf of gluten free hearty whole grain bread. Much easier this time since I know the recipe better. Used up 2 more of my eggs from the .58 cents a carton for 12 so about (.09 cents). I had to add 1/4 cup of oil and the rest was water and yeast and a tsp of cider vinegar. I hope I will be able to continue with this bread mix when my gut is healed since it really is easy to make and taste great. Also so much cheaper than store bought pre-made gluten free breads.


While going through my freezer found a container of ham and potato soup. The soup was left from a free packet of soup that I received from an emergency food supply company. They had sent some samples for me to try. I actually liked the soup and had added some leftover bits of ham in to it when I had some ham scraps leftover when I trimmed the fat from a ham. I carefully cut the fat away and used the meaty ham bits in the soup. So lunch was the gluten free bread with a nice bowl of ham and potato soup. Basically the soup was free. I used half of my slice of bread to make a dessert of toasted bread, butter, and a dab of strawberry jam. Also shared a nice big slice of bread and butter with my aide. She had brought her own soup from home.

Mid afternoon snack was a (free) Gala apple.

While rummaging through the freezer this morning I found the last link of beef kielbasa so I cooked it for dinner. I cut it in to quarters and then sliced it thinly. Sauteed it for a little bit in a tiny bit of bacon fat from from my scraggly bacon. Browning it a little bit gave it more flavor as did the bacon fat. I opened a jar of sauerkraut from Aldi's. Their kraut comes from Germany and is reasonable in price and very tasty. I only buy my sauerkraut from Aldi's or Big Lots since their's comes from Germany and they know how to make sauerkraut well in Germany. Dessert was another cup of chocolate collagen.

I have enough of the sausage and sauerkraut for lunch or dinner tomorrow. Back when I ate a lot of meat the sausage would have been the center of my meal and the kraut a small side now I make the meat a condiment and it is much more frugal. I grew up on a farm and we grew our own meat, and even made our own sausage, so I ate a lot of meat thinking that is the way we were suppose to eat. Now realize that much meat is not good for you. At least not for me anyway.
Janet Alliesmama
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