Where to start....hmmmm....way back in 1963...nah, let's not go that far.
Right off the bat I need to tell you that I am not a professional cook, I am not a dietitian, nor am I a nutritionist. However, I am becoming more of a health foodie everyday. I try to cook as inexpensively as possible. My food budget is apporoximate $150 monthly, sometimes I spend more, sometimes less. Also, I live alone, so the dishes I cook only have to appeal to me, and I'm not a picky eater.
Just to let you know a little about me and why I decided to do this. I'm a widow, (I hate that word, it conjures images of a little old woman wearing a black veil over her face), I have been widowed since 2007. My husband died from esophageal cancer. I am also a stroke survivor, and I have diabetes, as well as cerebral small vessel disease. I have a bicuspid aortic valve, unsuccessfully underwent a surgery to replace it. I did have my aorta repaired because of an aneurysm, just not a new valve because I had to be zapped back to life twice during surgery. I'm lucky in the fact that as far as diabetes goes, I'm barely over the border. My last A1C test was 5.7, so it's not that bad. It's been worse, but I've never been bad enough to have to take insulin injections. I take two Metformin tablets daily, my goal is to eliminate them altogether. My doctors have told me throughout the years that I need to lose weight. I didn't listen, because in all truth, I never believed I had what it takes to do it. I guess I was afraid of willpower. I had started an account at myfitnesspal.com way back in July, 2010, but never kept it up. My weight then was *taking a deep breath* 247 pounds. It gets worse: I weighed 260 pounds on January, 9, 2015, the day I decided I didn't want to be obese anymore and promised myself that I would get myself to a healthy weight by doing it right-no gimmicks, fad diets, pills or powders. I have been asked why I have not used shakes and such. It's simple. I want my food formulated in a garden or on a farm, not in a laboratory.
I can truthfully say that at age 54, I feel better than I did in my 40's, and it's all because of my new way of living. Although I've always loved to cook, I bought mostly processed food. I believed that healthy food was too expensive. That is not true, I wished I would have never listened to that myth. Granted, it might sound expensive to go buy a lot of fresh veggies, but think about it for a minute. You can buy a head of cabbage, a bunch of celery, a bag of carrots, a bag of onions, bell peppers, chicken broth and a few cans of diced tomatoes and make a pot of soup that makes several servings and still have a lot veggies left over for other dishes. With that being said, I am ready to wrap up this evening's entry. I'll leave you with a recipe for Dolly Parton's Cabbage Soup. It's a staple in my freezer, I make a double batch around the first of each month and freeze it in cup serving sizes.
Right off the bat I need to tell you that I am not a professional cook, I am not a dietitian, nor am I a nutritionist. However, I am becoming more of a health foodie everyday. I try to cook as inexpensively as possible. My food budget is apporoximate $150 monthly, sometimes I spend more, sometimes less. Also, I live alone, so the dishes I cook only have to appeal to me, and I'm not a picky eater.
Just to let you know a little about me and why I decided to do this. I'm a widow, (I hate that word, it conjures images of a little old woman wearing a black veil over her face), I have been widowed since 2007. My husband died from esophageal cancer. I am also a stroke survivor, and I have diabetes, as well as cerebral small vessel disease. I have a bicuspid aortic valve, unsuccessfully underwent a surgery to replace it. I did have my aorta repaired because of an aneurysm, just not a new valve because I had to be zapped back to life twice during surgery. I'm lucky in the fact that as far as diabetes goes, I'm barely over the border. My last A1C test was 5.7, so it's not that bad. It's been worse, but I've never been bad enough to have to take insulin injections. I take two Metformin tablets daily, my goal is to eliminate them altogether. My doctors have told me throughout the years that I need to lose weight. I didn't listen, because in all truth, I never believed I had what it takes to do it. I guess I was afraid of willpower. I had started an account at myfitnesspal.com way back in July, 2010, but never kept it up. My weight then was *taking a deep breath* 247 pounds. It gets worse: I weighed 260 pounds on January, 9, 2015, the day I decided I didn't want to be obese anymore and promised myself that I would get myself to a healthy weight by doing it right-no gimmicks, fad diets, pills or powders. I have been asked why I have not used shakes and such. It's simple. I want my food formulated in a garden or on a farm, not in a laboratory.
I can truthfully say that at age 54, I feel better than I did in my 40's, and it's all because of my new way of living. Although I've always loved to cook, I bought mostly processed food. I believed that healthy food was too expensive. That is not true, I wished I would have never listened to that myth. Granted, it might sound expensive to go buy a lot of fresh veggies, but think about it for a minute. You can buy a head of cabbage, a bunch of celery, a bag of carrots, a bag of onions, bell peppers, chicken broth and a few cans of diced tomatoes and make a pot of soup that makes several servings and still have a lot veggies left over for other dishes. With that being said, I am ready to wrap up this evening's entry. I'll leave you with a recipe for Dolly Parton's Cabbage Soup. It's a staple in my freezer, I make a double batch around the first of each month and freeze it in cup serving sizes.
Dolly Parton's Cabbage Soup
1 small head of cabbage
3 stalks of celery
2 green bell peppers
1 medium onion
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
Water
Salt and pepper to taste
Cut all veggies into bite size pieces. Put in large soup pot with just enough water and cook until cabbage is done, about 30 minutes.
Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels!
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