Let's Talk Dessert

 Let’s talk dessert. Valentine’s Day seems like a good day to do that.

 Leading up to my gastrectomy there were so many uncertainties. No one could provide a list of foods you would and would not be able to eat after surgery as it varied person to person. Dessert was one of the biggest unknowns. Having no idea whether I would ever be able to eat sweets again, I tried to make up for it the months before surgery, having dessert with virtually every meal. I figured if I wasn’t going to be able to eat them again, I was definitely going to enjoy them now and I didn’t care how much weight I gained. I was going to quickly lose it anyway.

 I am thrilled that I can still eat dessert. It’s often just a few bites, but I still enjoy sweets. I get to enjoy the wonderful taste and am usually satisfied with just a few bites, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to have a whole dessert. A couple of years ago, I made a favorite dessert for a time we were having some friends over. It’s one I’ve made for years. I made a couple of variations to make it better for me, but was still surprised when I find myself eating the whole thing. Usually my body tells me when to stop, but it didn’t. I wondered if I was going to regret it later, but I didn’t. I’ve now made it several times, and I’m almost always able to eat a whole slice of my Frozen Strawberry Yogurt Pie. It’s quick and simple to make: mix together one 8 oz. tub of thawed cool whip, 3 8 oz. containers Greek strawberry yogurt, and 1 14 oz. container of sliced frozen strawberries. Spoon into a graham cracker crust and freeze. Most people enjoy it best if thawed for awhile before serving, although I also enjoy it frozen. The only changes I’ve made from the original recipe is substituting regular yogurt for Greek yogurt and using unsweetened strawberries instead of sweetened strawberries.

 I don’t usually worry about grams of protein or calories or anything, but I have tried to calculate for those that do. The counts will vary a little based upon the brand of Greek yogurt, etc., but cutting the pie into 8 slices, each slice is approximately 240 calories, 16 grams of sugar, and 6 grams of protein.

 Having discovered that I can eat a whole slice of this pie, it got me curious if there were similar ones that I could eat as well.  I found one that I modified a little, but also enjoy: Cream cheese chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. Combine 8 oz. thawed Cool Whip, 2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, 1 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup peanut butter chips. Spoon into a chocolate cookie pie crust. Refrigerate. If cut into 8 slices, each slice is approximately 700 calories, 32 grams of sugar and 15 grams of protein. This one does have more calories and more sugar, but also more protein. Since it is quite a bit richer, I usually actually cut it into 12 slices. I can usually eat 1/12. I often can’t eat 1/8.

I continue to look for other desserts with high protein and low sugar, but these are definitely the best I have found so far. The great thing is that as well as me getting to enjoy a whole dessert, my friends and family like them too.

 Happy Valentines Day!

New Clothes for Christmas

Men's, size Small

I've lost enough weight that I definitely need more new clothes. I thought about asking for some for Christmas, but didn't really know sizes and it's also hard to tell other people what to buy for you unless you have something specific. I decided that I would be safe with asking for sports apparel for KU, Pitt State or Royals. That's the type of thing that I'm not as particular on the specifics and having some new t-shirts and sweatshirts that fit well would be nice. I went to Kansas Sampler, our local team sports apparel store, and tried on some random tops to be able to specify sizes. I knew there was still a chance something wouldn't fit and would have to be returned, but at least that would give a closer starting point.

Men's, size Medium

I decided I needed a size small in men's t-shirts, a size medium in men's sweatshirts, and a size large in any ladies cut shirts.  There were a couple of items that I really liked so I asked for them specifically, but mainly I was open to anything.  Most of what I have is men's/unisex large or extra-large, so everything would be significantly smaller than what I have.

Men's, size Medium

I ended up getting five shirts total.  A nice variety of clothing and sizes, but everything fit.  The size differences are crazy, but that's how it is.  It's fun to have new clothes that I look good in.

Ladies cut, size Large

 Everyone comments on how skinny I am.  I tell them it's all relative.  I have always hidden my weight well.  I didn't look like I weighed 243 pounds before the surgery and I don't look like I weigh 165 pounds now.  I get told "well, you're tall", but size 14 jeans has nothing to do with height and isn't normally concerned skinny.  But anyway, I'm happy with where I am.  I feel good about what I weigh and how I look.  I am slightly concerned about how to tell my body to stop losing weight.  I started to stabilize around 170 pounds, but then I started losing again in December.  I think it may be because of eating too much junk food.  Most people gain weight in December from eating cookies, candy and party mix, but I think I lost weight because of it.  I didn't eat a lot, but ate more of that kind of stuff than usual and as a result probably didn't have as much good, healthy snacks with protein.  I'm hoping that with the holidays behind us, I'll do better.

Ladies cut, size Large

As I type this, I'm actually on an airplane headed down to MD Anderson for a follow-up appointment tomorrow.  I have a feeling Dr. Mansfield won't be happy with my continued weight loss, we'll see.

Thanksgiving

Being the first major traditional stuffing yourself holiday since my total gastrectomy, I was a little anxious about how Thanksgiving would go.  I was pretty pleased.

I slept in, had breakfast about 9:30 and then got making apple pie.  I had made pumpkin and sour cream raisin (my first attempt...my husband's favorite, so I thought I would give it a try) the night before.  During the pie making, there was one issue after another, but survived not finding the mixer bowl I was looking for, the meringue not stiffening, the pie crust falling apart trying to put it in the pie plate, a collapsed crust, and whatever else went wrong.

We left the house a little after noon to head to the home of my step-sister-in-law's mother (did you follow that one) where we would share Thanksgiving Dinner with about 30 "family".  Having been about 2 1/2 hours since I had ate breakfast and knowing it would be at least an hour and potentially a couple of hours, before we had dinner, I took along a protein bar to eat as a snack on the way.  I laughed about eating a snack on the way to Thanksgiving dinner, but knew that if it got much over 3 hours between me eating, I could potentially have issues and wanted to avoid that.

We ate around 1:30.  I put small portions of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn and a roll on my plate.  I've got pretty good about judging how much I can eat, but I thought there was a good chance I had put too much on my plate this time, but I hadn't.  I ate every bit of it.  I sat at the table and visited for a little bit and then eventually decided I was able to have some pie.  I cut a little bit off of a piece of apple and a piece of pumpkin and had probably about 3 bites of each.  It was delicious (if I don't say so myself) and satisfying.  I never felt bloated or sick or anything.  I had succeeded in limiting myself to just the right amount.

I continued to feel great the rest of the day.  I would say that's a successful Thanksgiving!

Long 4th of July weekend

My husband, Keith, has a website, kansastravel.org, where he goes around the state of Kansas and takes pictures and posts about everything from museums to waterfalls to zoos to locally owned restaurants and all sorts of stuff. Basically, his belief is every community, regardless how small, has something. In the 9 years we have been together, we have traveled Kansas together. Often times he has taken me to things I've never seen or heard of as a lifelong Kansan. Sometimes I can fill him in on details he doesn't know because I grew up here.

With the focus on my surgery, we obviously haven't done much exploring Kansas this year. Living on the east side of the state, it is particularly hard to get to the western edge very often. You pretty much need a 3 day weekend or more. Since the 4^th was on a Tuesday, he suggested we take Monday off and make it a 4 day weekend and head west. I was reluctant at first because I still wasn't sure about my energy level, but ended up deciding to go ahead as long as he was willing to accept my criteria: don't push me too hard and don't force me to get up too early in the morning. Keith usually does all the driving so I figured I should be able to easily relax in the car. Then of course I knew meals would be a little bit of challenge because the restaurants would be chosen based on what he wanted to try for his website, not what I thought would have the best options for me, but I'm getting pretty good about finding something that works wherever we are.

When Keith figured out where he wanted to have supper Friday night and how far west we wanted to get based on July 4 weekend events, it was decided we should leave work early to hit the road around 4pm on Friday. It was closer to 4:30 before we got gone. I had packed snacks (string cheese, pretzels, nuts and protein bars). I hadn't had my afternoon snack yet, so ate string cheese and pretzels as we left Kansas City. We also stopped to pick up a $1 iced tea at McDonalds. Keith likes me to read to him in the car while we're traveling, but I don't like to read novels, so after finishing my snack, I read to him from “100 Things Kansas Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die” by Ken Davis.

We reached our dinner destination, Three One One in Abilene, just before 6:30pm. Since surgery, I have established a general rule for myself that I try to keep my restaurant meals under $10 unless it is something that I plan on taking home and getting several other meals out of. I knew that for this trip, I would be forced to make exceptions to that rule. One of the things this restaurant is known for is grilled Mahi-Mahi, so I ordered the Mahi-Mahi sandwich. It came with two large filets on a bun and a side of house-made chips. I ate most of one filet, leaving behind the bun. I was also tempted by the slice of very ripe, very good tomato. I've only had a little raw tomato, but the skin peeled off easily and I ate most of it. It was very delicious. I only had a few of the chips. My husband had a hamburger and ate my second Mahi-Mahi filet. Since we're experiencing this for the website, and the restaurant is known for their key lime pie, we had to try a piece. I only ate one or two bites, but it was pretty good.

After dinner, we drove on to WaKeeney where we spent the night. There was a cattle drive as part of July 4 festivities near Goodland at 10am Mountain Time Saturday morning. Keith really wanted to do it, thus the reason for pushing so far Friday night. Before leaving home, I had agreed to being on the road by 9am Central Time Saturday morning. That had me getting up a little earlier than I would prefer, but I was willing to do it for one day of our weekend. The motel had a very basic breakfast, but nothing really appealed to me and the only thing with protein was hard boiled eggs which I don't like. I had brought with me Special K Protein cereal for just an occasion and had my cereal with their milk for breakfast.

On the way to Goodland, I read the first chapter of my mother's 1936 Kansas History textbook, Four Centuries in Kansas. We reached Goodland for the cattle drive in plenty of time. We sat in a field in lawn chairs while a woman in period dress explained about life in the 1800s and what we were getting ready to see. Some of the information she shared seemed to be taken from the book I had been reading such as stories about the millions of buffalo that once roamed the land. About 6 cowboys brought the cattle in to the water hole near where we were sitting. The lead cowboy was in character as he talked about bringing the cattle through on their way to Wyoming and the hardships along the way. After the reenactment, we watched a real cattle drive down the street as they moved the cattle from this field to another one. There was a herd of buffalo in the field next to where they were moving the cattle which we also got to photograph.  

After the cattle drive, we went on into Goodland for lunch at the Butterfly Cafe at the local Goodland airport. I got a grilled chicken sandwich with a salad and mashed potatoes. This was my first try at a salad, but I have had a little bit of tomato and lettuce on a sandwich, so decided I was good to give it a try. I only had a few bites, but did OK. Again, I just ate the grilled chicken, not the bread. I can eat bread OK, but just don't want to fill up on it. This was another place known for their pie, so we got a slice of apple pie to share. I had 2 or 3 bites.

After lunch, we went to a local bar to find the owner to talk to him about a gas station he had restored that we had stumbled across on a previous trip. When we asked about him at the bar we were told he was grilling in the kitchen, but “stick your head in” and see if he can talk to you. So Keith stood in the kitchen doorway interviewing Rod as he kept cooking. I waited at the bar and ended up having a very nice chat with a family sitting nearby. One of the women at the table was best friends with Rod's wife and she ended up texting her to come down so we could see the inside of a house Rod had restored. Less than 5 minutes later, the wife was at the bar, relieving her husband in the kitchen, so he could go show us the house. It was an amazing house that had originally been a doctor's home and office. He had done lots of work inside and outside, as well as to the horse barn behind the house. In the process, he had discovered all sorts of the doctor's equipment and other medical supplies, which he has nicely on display within the house. Fully furnished, if he didn't find it in the house, he filled in with other antiques he already owned. It was nicer than many museums, but was a passion of love and is not open to the public except by invitation.

From here we drove to Lake Scott StatePark, photographing anything of interest along the way, including small towns, murals, abandoned buildings, landscapes, animals, whatever. We drove around the lake taking more photographs and then on down to Scott City. We had a few minutes before our dinner reservation so were driving around when we noticed an old car at the gas pumps of another restored gas station we had photographed on a previous trip. There were two men talking and we thought there was a good chance one was the owner. Sure enough, after one left, the other man went inside, so we stopped and Keith was able to get more information about the station.

Majestic Theater Restaurant, Scott City, Kansas

We had supper at the Majestic Theater Restaurant, a very elegant restaurant in an old theater. The menu was somewhat limited, but I ordered grilled shrimp (was way over my $10 limit with this meal). It came with a salad and bread. I was enjoying my salad with delicious blue cheese dressing, along with the bread, but decided I needed to stop or I wouldn't be able to have any of the main meal. I don't know if I ate too much or if there was too long of a break before the entree came or what, but by the time my meal came, I wasn't feeling great. I took one bite of the grilled shrimp and was chewing and chewing, but couldn't make myself swallow. I was finally able to swallow that one bite, but knew that was a sign I shouldn't eat anymore. I felt bad not eating any of this nice meal at a nice restaurant. At the end of the meal, I just politely explained to the server that the food was great, but I wasn't feeling well, and asked for a box. I didn't go into any detail about why I couldn't eat more.

After supper, we drove on down to Garden City where we spent the night. Keith let me sleep in Sunday morning. I got up just in time to do the breakfast buffet which was included in the room, but was a full buffet instead of the continental breakfast at many motels. I had a few breakfast potatoes, scrambled eggs, 1 slice of bacon and a few chunks of watermelon. Before we left town, we took various photos in Garden City, including at the cemetery and of the Courthouse. Then it was on to Ingalls Cafe in Ingalls, Kansas (a town of 300) for lunch. I ordered the fried catfish dinner. It again came with salad. I only had a couple of bites this time, but made Keith eat most of it. Since he was only getting a sandwich, his didn't come with salad. I got two huge catfish filets, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and a roll. I don't think I ate any of the corn and only a bite of the roll. I ate most of one filet, eating out the center and leaving the more crispy edge behind, as well as a little potatoes.

Liberty Garden 9-11 Memorial, Dodge City, Kansas

From Ingalls we headed on through Cimarron and ultimately to Dodge City continuing to photograph whatever struck our fancy along the way, including another courthouse, churches, an old hotel and more. In Dodge City, we toured the Mueller-Schmidt House, a stone home built in 1881, and the Liberty Garden, a memorial to 9-11, among other sites. We went from Dodge City up through Ness City and other small towns, eventually returning to WaKenney Along the way, we photographed more courthouses, churches, murals and other buildings.

Supper was at the Western Kansas Saloon and Grill, housed in a former hardware store, in WaKenney. I had the pork loin special with new potatoes and green beans. There were 3 pork loins, I ate most of one. Keith sampled part of one and had the rest, along with my grilled shrimp from the previous night, for breakfast the next morning. I only ate a little bit of the new potatoes and green beans. For one, the potatoes were very large for new potatoes and not quite as done as I would have preferred.

We stayed at the same motel that we had stayed at Friday night. The continental breakfast was only open till 9am, but Keith brought a bowl of milk to the room so I could add my protein cereal and didn't have to get up that early. Monday is the one day the local historical society museum is not open, but Keith had arranged for someone to meet us there at 10am. He gave me the option of sleeping even later, but I did get up to go. I didn't allow quite enough time to get ready, and we were coming back to the room to check out after our appointment, so I waited to eat breakfast after our visit to the museum. When I took the milk out of the refrigerator, I found the top had frozen over (as had the water bottles in the refrigerator...I think the temperature was turned down a little too low). I tried stirring the milk, but couldn't get rid of the ice crystals, so gave up in frustration. Thought about going across the street to the convenience store to buy milk, but it was nearing the 11am checkout and I didn't want to try to eat a bowl of cereal in the car. I started eating the dry cereal out of the box and discovered it actually didn't taste that bad, so ate that for breakfast in the car.

We headed toward Hays for lunch at Al'sChickenette, stopping along the way in Ellis for photos at Memorial Park, Mount Hope Cemetery, and an old truss bridge. For lunch, Keith ordered a gizzard appetizer and we shared a 2 piece chicken dinner that came with two sides, so we got one for me and one for Keith. It was another place known for pies, so I had a couple of bites of peach pie.

After lunch, we photographed a church in Catharine and the remains of a church near Emmeram. We tried to photograph two multi-arch stone bridges, but couldn't find one, even though we followed exact directions, and gave up on the other when we found the road being grated and couldn't figure out how we would get around the grater.

We made it to Abilene about 5:00 and checked into our Bed & Breakfast. I found it difficult to answer the question about allergies or food restrictions. I went ahead and told my story, received the usual shocked response, and we agreed on smaller portions, protein and not much sweets and agreement that she wouldn't be offended if I didn't eat something or very much. I had prepared myself to be up front about my surgery as breakfast at a B & B is totally different than at a standard motel. I hadn't thought about the fact that also meant getting up earlier as we were given the choice between eating at 8:30 or 9:00. I quickly chose 9 and silently wished it were 9:30 or 10.

We had been in the room for less than 15 minutes when my cell phone rang. It was my oldest daughter, Jesi, “I'm about to ruin your vacation.” Turns out she was in the ER with appendicitis. She had went to her primary care doctor who had run a test, diagnosed appendicitis and sent her to the hospital emergency room. Since she hadn't seen the ER doctor and we were over 2 hours away, we decided to wait till we had more information before deciding to head home. We went to supper in Detroit, Kansas. I had a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich with french fries. I didn't care for the fries, but really enjoyed the sandwich and ate most of it. After supper, we went on to Chapman to do some more photography of a cemetery and church memorial.  

St. Patrick's Mission Church Memorial, Chapman, Kansas

By this time, Jesi still didn't know whether they were going to do surgery Monday night or Tuesday morning (on the 4th), but I decided I wanted to go ahead and head home. Basically if they did surgery Monday night, we would be there when she got out of surgery. If they did it Tuesday morning, we would be there before surgery. If we waited to head home Tuesday morning, we wouldn't be there either way. So we headed back to the B & B, picked up our stuff, and headed home. We drove straight to the hospital, getting there just before 11:00. We visited for awhile and got home about midnight. The next morning, we headed to the hospital about 9:00, having been told surgery would be between 10:00 and 10:30, it ended up not being until after 11:30, but all went well. Not the ending to the trip we were expecting, but that's how life as a mother goes. Because we started at the far western part of the state and were working our way back east, the parts that we intended to do on Tuesday that we didn't get to do, can easily be done in a normal weekend trip, and we didn't really miss out on that much.

Happy Easter!

Today was the first major holiday since my surgery and in my family Easter is a major holiday.  Started the weekend yesterday with my daughters and I making the annual Bunny cake that Easter dinner just isn't complete without.

While making the bunny cake, I couldn't resist doing the typical of eating a few jelly beans and one piece of pull-n-peel Twizzlers.  My second experience of having a little bit of candy and I did totally fine.  Later in the evening, just a few minutes before bed, I had a whole pull-n-peel.  That was probably a mistake.  I didn't feel horrible, but I didn't feel great.  I need to remember candy in very small quantities, but sometimes it's so hard!

After the bunny cake making yesterday, we went to a Royals baseball game with friends.  That worked out fine.  It was an evening game.  We left the house at 5:15.  I ate supper before we left.  I took snacks with me to the game and ate string cheese and pretzels earlier in the game and protein bites later in the game.  The peanut butter and chocolate protein bites are a new snack that I just purchased at the grocery store on Friday.  I was looking for something easily portable, but with protein.  They seem to fit the bill.  The game was made much easier with the parking pass for the lot right next to the stadium.  I had been concerned about having to walk a long way, but that was a nonissue.

After church today we went to my step-sister-in-law's sister's house for dinner (did you follow that?) where we had the normal gathering of "family".  A wonderful group of about 25 where everyone there is related to someone there, but no one there is related to everyone there.

Many of those there were ones that had gathered at a restaurant 3 nights before we left to MD Anderson for surgery to say goodbye.  Most of which I had not seen since returning home from surgery.  It was good to see everyone.  There were obviously lot's of questions about how I'm doing and specific questions about how I'm coping as this is something that no one really understands.

Being the first big dinner since surgery and not being in my own home, I was cautious about the things I put on my plate.  I mainly wanted foods that I've had before or at least I felt were pretty safe.  We had the traditional Easter ham.  I actually hadn't tried ham yet, but I've had pork chop and pork ribs, so I felt pretty safe with the ham.  I actually enjoyed the ham a lot.  It was very tasty.  Seemed to settle very fine and I enjoyed it being a meat that I haven't been eating all the time, mainly chicken or fish.  I enjoy chicken and fish, but I'm growing tired of them.  I enjoyed the ham so much that I asked to bring some leftovers home and will probably get 5 or 6 meals out of what I brought home.

I also had a little mashed potatoes (although I didn't eat too many since they were skin on and I found it difficult to separate the skin), cheesy potatoes, German potato salad (we like potatoes in this family), macaroni and cheese, asparagus and part of a roll.  I obviously didn't have much of the various potatoes or macaroni and cheese, but enjoyed most everything I ate.

I haven't had a chance to try many desserts yet because I don't want to experiment at a restaurant and I don't want to make a whole dessert at home to just sample a small amount and my husband doesn't eat much dessert as he is diabetic.  I decided today was an opportunity to be able to sample multiple desserts and brought home some of my bunny cake, a piece of a German cake, and a sugar cookie.  I'm obviously not going to try them all at once, but I can try a little of each one on different days and see how it goes.  That should give me a pretty good understanding of my ability to do desserts.  Tonight, just a few minutes ago, I tried a small piece of the bunny cake.  It was good.  I think I'm going to be OK.  I've been fortunate so far and haven't experienced dumping syndrome.  I hope to keep it that way.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter if that is a holiday you celebrate.  I know it was a good Easter for me.