The Quarantine 19

I keep hearing people talk about the Quarantine 19 (like the freshman 15). I get it. Being stuck inside for most of the day, or outside but still not on your regular schedule, can throw your eating off. All of a sudden, that highly motivated healthy eater becomes a hungry, munching dragon ready to devour her husband who is getting in between her and her next snack. I'm not talking from experience. Why are your looking at me like I'm talking from experience?! Okay, I'm totally talking from experience. This happened to us just last Saturday. Ben handed me food and told me to eat as he slowly backed away from me. I'm determined not to gain the Quarantine 19. I actually have a goal of losing a few lbs and working on toning up through exercise during this time so I need to have a plan.

We are going to snack. There is nothing wrong with snacking as long as there is portion control and some healthy eating to balance it. Maybe mix some healthy snacks in there. Side note: My dad once told me he was eating healthier and had a trail mix. I looked at it....it was mainly M&Ms....like almost all M&Ms. A few raisins and peanuts doesn't make it trail mix guys. 🤣

I decided to do a blog entry revisiting some of my favorite healthy meals and snacks that I have been eating.

Breakfast:

1. 2-3 servings of liquid egg whites on an English muffin (I love the cinnamon raisin ones) and 1/2 cup of fat free milk. I can't do regular milk because the fat triggers GERD.

2. 2-3 servings of egg whites with two pieces of toast (no butter). I put the eggs on the toast for flavor.

3. 2-3 servings of egg whites (seeing a trend here 😉) cooked and then placed in a high fiber, low fat tortilla (I use Ole' Xtreme Wellness tortillas because they have 11 grams of fiber and 1.5 grams of fat) with 2 tbs of fat free cheddar cheese. I then role up the tortilla into a burrito and cook it on the stove for about 3 minutes on each side to brown it. The whole process takes less than ten minutes, and I can walk away from the stove while the burrito is browning to get other things done.

4. 1 serving of Bran Flakes with 1/2 cup of fat free milk. Watch out for some bran cereals that come with fruit or granola because they can be loaded with sugar. I just use a plain bran flakes cereal and add in about 8 raisins to it if I want to make my own raisin bran cereal.

5. Breakfast burritos part 2- I cook breakfast burritos for my husband that are different than mine but still healthy. For his, the inside has breakfast potatoes (read the back of the bags if you buy frozen instead of cutting the potatoes fresh. Potatoes have 0 grams of fat, some hashbrowns have 8 grams per serving). I cook the potatoes with onions and peppers. Then I cook some breakfast turkey sausage (If you have a Kroger affiliate around you, their Simple Truth breakfast sausage has only 4 grams of fat per serving, and you normally don't need a full serving per burrito). I do a mixture of eggs and egg whites (about 4 servings of liquid egg whites to 2 whole eggs). Then I mix everything in a big bowl and make burritos with the mixture and some fat free cheese. This process takes a little longer to make all of the burritos, but I normally make about ten at a time and can wrap them and freeze them for my husband to grab on the go in the morning. He likes adding a little salsa to them after heating them up.

Lunch/Supper

Sweet and Sour Chicken Stir Fry
-6-8 cups of veggies ( I use the Normandy broccoli mix at Sams and frozen peas because those are my favorites)
-1 lb of chicken breast
-6 tbs of honey
-6 tsp of ginger

I start by cooking my 1 lb of chicken breast (I use the tenders) in a pan until they are cooked through. I've also done this with extra lean ground turkey. In a pot, I mix and cook down all of my veggies. You can do fresh or frozen. I normally use frozen because I keep plenty on hand, but I throw in whatever I have fresh on hand also, like snap peas. Cut up the chicken in smaller pieces and mix it in with the cooked veggies. Add your honey and ginger, starting with smaller amounts and adding more as needed. It's that simple and so delicious! I always have leftovers to freeze for days when I need a meal. That way I don't reach for something unhealthy.

Winter Lentil Soup (Stewp is what I call it)
-1 lb chicken breast
-about 2lbs of potatoes, chopped
-1 cup of green lentils
-1 1/4 cups of green peas (or 1 can of no salt added green peas)
-1 3/4 cup of green beans (or 1 can of no salt added green beans)
-25 baby carrots (or you can use carrots. I always have baby carrots in my refrigerator.)
-8 cups of low sodium chicken broth
-1 can of no salt added black beans (optional, or you can choose another bean you love to add fiber)

This is a dump recipe that I created when I was hungry one night, and it has become a favorite. I cook the chicken in a separate pan and then chop it. Then I start with just the chicken broth and the chopped potatoes in the pot because they potatoes take longer, and I want them really cooked down. Bring it to a boil. I then add the other ingredients, bring it to a boil, and then lower the fire to medium and let it simmer for a while. After a while, I mash some of the potatoes to thicken it up. That's when it becomes more of a stewp than a soup. We still have some winter days in our spring so this is nice for those days. I make a big pot and, you guessed it, freeze 1 cup portions to have when I need it. I use no salt added to control how much salt I want to add to it.

Turkey Burgers (so much better than the frozen ones at the store)
-1 lb extra lean ground turkey
-1 serving of egg whites
-1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs or 1/4 cup regular bread crumbs

That's it! I mix everything all together and make 5 patties. For mine, I just use salt because I can't have a lot of seasoning. Ben loves Pampered Chef's Smoked Applewood rub so I use that on his. This is an easy meal when you don't have much time.

Burrito Bowls
- These are one of my favorite family meals because everyone can put what they want in them. I cook chicken breast and ground turkey (with taco seasoning for the ground turkey), pinto beans, black beans, rice (you don't need much. We use 1 cup for all of us for a couple of meals), lettuce, fat free cheese, and pico de gallo (for the husband since I can't have tomatoes.  A typical burrito bowl for me include about 3 oz of chicken, 2 tbs of rice, 1/4 cup of pinto beans, 1/4 cup of black beans, lettuce, and 2 tbs of cheese. I normally make plenty, and we make the leftovers into burritos the next day.
Hint! I use canned beans to make it go quickly but hate the sodium. So, I buy no salt added beans so that I can control how much salt we put into them.

Snacks

Almost No Fat Banana Bread
This is one of my favorites, and my son and students love it too. This one isn't my recipe. It comes from Allrecipes. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/23426/almost-no-fat-banana-bread/ It's delicious and freezes well.

Gingerbread Cookies (not just for Christmas)

-3/4 cup mashed bananas ( I normally use applesauce to replace butter, but I didn't have any so I just used mashed bananas. You can sub applesauce if you don't like bananas.)

-1 cup brown sugar

-1 serving of liquid egg whites

-3/4 cup molasses

-4 cups of flour (I used white flour because I didn't have any wheat flour. Wheat flour would have upped the fiber content)

-2 tsp ground ginger

-1.5 tsp baking soda

-1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

.75 tsp ground cloves

.25 tsp salt

Directions:

Mash the bananas well. Mix the mashed bananas and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add egg and molasses and mix again. In a separate bowl,( I know, I hate dirtying two bowls too.) mix the flour, ginger, baking soda, ground cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Add the dry mixture to your wet mixture a little at a time and mix together. Cover and refrigerate for a while, depending on how hard you need the mixture to be. I just dropped by spoonfuls so I only refrigerated the cookie dough for about an hour to make it easier to work with. If you want to use cookie cutters, I would recommend refrigerating the cookie dough for a few hours. 

Drop by spoonfuls onto your cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. My first batch was fine at 10 minutes and my second one burned a little.

I hope some of these gave you some new ideas to try. I'll continue to post some of my favorites over the next few weeks. The picture was my supper tonight, sweet and sour chicken stir fry!

Meal Ideas, Hurray!

Okay, lame but straight forward title for today's blog post. I started back at school this week so I have been thinking about all of the quick breakfast, lunch, and supper ideas that I use to stay on track.Here are some of our family favorites.

Breakfast:

1. 2-3 servings of liquid egg whites on an English muffin (I love the cinnamon raisin ones) and 1/2 cup of fat free milk. I can't do regular milk because the fat triggers GERD.

2. 2-3 servings of egg whites with two pieces of toast (no butter). I put the eggs on the toast for flavor.

3. 2-3 servings of egg whites (seeing a trend here 😉) cooked and then placed in a high fiber, low fat tortilla (I use Ole' Xtreme Wellness tortillas because they have 11 grams of fiber and 1.5 grams of fat) with 2 tbs of fat free cheddar cheese. I then role up the tortilla into a burrito and cook it on the stove for about 3 minutes on each side to brown it. The whole process takes less than ten minutes, and I can walk away from the stove while the burrito is browning to get other things done.

4. 1 serving of Bran Flakes with 1/2 cup of fat free milk. Watch out for some bran cereals that come with fruit or granola because they can be loaded with sugar. I just use a plain bran flakes cereal and add in about 8 raisins to it if I want to make my own raisin bran cereal.

5. Breakfast burritos part 2- I cook breakfast burritos for my husband that are different than mine but still healthy. For his, the inside has breakfast potatoes (read the back of the bags if you buy frozen instead of cutting the potatoes fresh. Potatoes have 0 grams of fat, some hashbrowns have 8 grams per serving). I cook the potatoes with onions and peppers. Then I cook some breakfast turkey sausage (If you have a Kroger affiliate around you, their Simple Truth breakfast sausage has only 4 grams of fat per serving, and you normally don't need a full serving per burrito). I do a mixture of eggs and egg whites (about 4 servings of liquid egg whites to 2 whole eggs). Then I mix everything in a big bowl and make burritos with the mixture and some fat free cheese. This process takes a little longer to make all of the burritos, but I normally make about ten at a time and can wrap them and freeze them for my husband to grab on the go in the morning. He likes adding a little salsa to them after heating them up.


Lunch/Supper (In Louisiana, it's all considered dinner 🤣)

1. burrito bowls!- These are one of my favorite family meals because everyone can put what they want in them. I cook chicken breast and ground turkey (with taco seasoning for the ground turkey), pinto beans, black beans, rice (you don't need much. We use 1 cup for all of us for a couple of meals), lettuce, fat free cheese, and pico de gallo (for the husband since I can't have tomatoes.  A typical burrito bowl for me include about 3 oz of chicken, 2 tbs of rice, 1/4 cup of pinto beans, 1/4 cup of black beans, lettuce, and 2 tbs of cheese. I normally make plenty, and we make the leftovers into burritos the next day.
Hint! I use canned beans to make it go quickly but hate the sodium. So, I buy no salt added beans so that I can control how much salt we put into them.

2. chicken breast (I always use the tenderloins because they come out more tender.) with a small baked potato. For flavor for the potato, I normally add 1 tbs of fat free sour cream and 2 tbs of fat free cheddar

3. fajitas- This is one for my husband because I can't have onions or peppers. I cook chicken breast tenderloins, onion slices, and pepper slices with fajita seasonings (If you buy a packet, try using half to lower the sodium). Then I heat up white corn tortillas to eat it on. White corn tortillas are much better for you than flour ones when it comes to fat (GERD friendly).
Since I can't have the fajitas, I just cook chicken tenderloins for me and eat them on one of my tortillas with some cheese

4. baked chicken breast with baked mini potatoes and carrots- this one is pretty basic but an old faithful for when I come home, still need to cook, and want to get a workout in. I use spray olive oil instead of coating the veggies in olive oil to take out almost all the fat from oil, and I use seasonings around the house like salt and basil. Then, I can get a workout in while everything is cooking in the oven. When cooking in the oven, I normally buy regular chicken breast instead of the tenderloins.

5. chicken noodle soup with a twist- I use 6 cups of chicken bone broth instead of regular chicken broth. The bone broth has collagen that can help your stomach and is recommended for GERD. I have found some at Costco that is much better with the sodium level also. Hint, Costco has it much cheaper than our local grocery stores. For the chicken, I only use chicken breast. I add carrots and celery (watch the amount of celery you eat if you have GERD because it can be a trigger). I really like to add zucchini noodles instead of regular noodles. It reduces the calories drastically, and I doing find that the zucchini has much flavor. It takes on the flavor of the broth and adds texture.

6. Fish tacos!- This is a family favorite for us. Ben loves orange roughy, and I love mahi mahi so we usually cook both. We normally just bake the fish and then heat some white corn tortillas in a skillet (heat, not fry). You can add some fat free cheese, lettuce, and pico (if you don't have GERD). My husband was so hesitant the first time I made this and was convinced that he would hate it. He absolutely loves it and frequently requests it now.

7. Turkey burgers- no, not the ones from the freezer section! I repeat! Not the ones from the freezer section! We use to eat those all of the time. Then I actually looked on the back and saw the fat and sodium content. We now make our own. I like to use 99% fat free ground turkey (GERD friendly because it is low in fat). I then add in a serving of liquid egg whites, a few tbs of fat free milk, and 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs. 1 lb normally gives us five big patties. We then eat them on a lower fat bun. The best I have found have had between 1.5 grams of fat to 2 grams of fat. This normally wouldn't be a big deal, except that they advise people with GERD to have meals with no more than 3 grams of fat to avoid it triggering the GERD. The great news is that my turkey burgers only have .8 grams of fat so I can have my burger, bun, and some fat free cheese on it and still stay under 3 grams of fat!

Now, onto the good stuff. I am a snacker. I will always be a snacker. I don't survive well being hangry between meals. (and my husband can confirm that hangry me is a completely different person than regular, well fed me)

Snacks

I stay very simple with my snacks. Here are some quick ideas.

1. Fruit- an apple is easy and portable, bananas are great for GERD too, pears are good too
             1 cup of cantaloupe (my current obsession because it is in season)

Other fruits aren't bad for most people, but they can be triggers if you have GERD. The key with fruit is portion control and watch your sugar. If I have a cup of cantaloupe, I'm not going to have a big apple also. Fruit is good for you in moderation, but you can go overboard and have way too much sugar. I buy seasonal fruit to save money. Right now I am obsessed with locally grown cantaloupe, my husband eats an apple a day, and my son begs for blueberries.

2. Nuts- My husband snacks on cashews. Almonds are the best for GERD so I snack on almonds. Portion control. A serving is good for your. An entire container that you absently ate while watching your favorite reality show or a sporting event is not good for you.

3. Make your own mix- Have fun with it but watch the portions. I love to mix 1/2 cup of bran flakes, 8 almonds (about 1/4 serving) and 1/2 serving of yogurt covered raisins and then snack on it. I get a healthy fat, fiber to keep me full, and sweet to satisfy my sugar craving.

4. Trick yourself ice cream cone- Yep, I named that one 🤣. One of the greatest casualties in my fight with GERD was the love of something I like to call...Blue Bell. She use to be a best friend. She comforted me on nights when I was mad, sad, glad...any of the "ad"s. The fat alone knocked her out of my life, and I began searching for something I could have when I craved ice cream. Enter fat free cool whip. When I have a major ice cream craving (or any random Sunday because I make sure that my in laws' freezer and pantry are stocked with it), I put some fat free cool whip in an ice cream cone. Once again, moderation. Don't eat an entire container of the stuff.

5. Random- for cookies, I like to eat a few reduced fat Nilla Wafers. Goldfish also makes cupcake flavored grahams. I only eat about ten of these when I eat them, but it is enough to make me feel like I've had a delicious dessert. Ricer rollers are also very good. They taste kind of like Honey Smack cereal (ah, childhood is calling) and have no fat. I normally stick to only one or two of these because they are empty calories like the Nilla Wafers and Goldfish grahams.

The biggest thing that helped me shift my thinking with eating was that food is designed to fuel my body so I need to make sure that I'm putting in the good stuff. You deserve the good stuff y'all 😉

In my next blog post, I plan on talking about how to eat healthy on a budget. I always hear that it's too expensive to eat healthy because junk food is cheaper. I hear you, but I also know that you can use sales and things in season to still eat healthy without breaking the bank. I also try to use the perspective that it is way cheaper to eat healthy now than to pay all of the doctor bills from obesity related illnesses (when I started, my bmi was morbidly obese, which can lead to so many illnesses. Now, it is considered overweight and on it's way to being healthy)

Personal update: I hit a major milestone this week. I now weigh the smallest that I have ever weighed as an adult and am about ninety pounds down from when I started. Even better was that I worked in my class this week and was much more flexible and energetic when having to get in some odd positions to hang decorations and move things.

These are my current favorite tortillas. I like like them crisped on the stove a little.

Let Them Eat Cake!

Okay, I'm going to be completely honest. I was totally bummed yesterday. I'm used to eating my GERD friendly diet every other day, but holidays still get to me. Barbecue was out of the question, and there was no way I was making my traditional apple pie. So, I decided to do something to cheer myself up.

The challenge: Could I make one of my childhood favorites healthier and GERD friendly without losing the quality? I decided to take Mrs. Betty's Apple Coffeecake.

Y'all no one cooks better than a Southern church lady. It's a fact, not an opinion, so don't even try to debate me on it. I don't care that I live in Colorado now. I still want to be considered a Southern church lady when I cook. I took this challenge because I couldn't ruin Mrs. Betty's coffeecake.

The original recipe called for oil and eggs. That knocked me out of the running because each serving would be 14 grams of fat, and I can only have 3 grams of fat per meal. So, I replaced the eggs with servings of egg white substitute and the oil with applesauce. Because of the sweetness of applesauce, I cut the sugar in half from two cups to one cup. I was afraid of it being too sweet. My husband said this is a fear that I should never have. 🤣

Here were my ingredients:

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of applesauce
2 servings of liquid egg whites
3 cups of flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of salt
2 tsp of vanilla
4 cups of diced apples

I first creamed the sugar and applesauce together. Then I added all of the other ingredients to the bowl. The recipe calls for four cups of apples. I used medium honeycrisp, and it took two and three quarters apples. I could have increased the fiber by using wheat flour, but I decided to try with white flour for the first time trying this. I poured everything into a greased pan (I used a 9 X 13) and baked it at 350 degrees. Mine took 35 minutes before I felt it was ready.

What were the results? Half of the pan is currently gone. It cured my Fourth of July I can't eat any delicious food funk! It actually got better as the day went on and tasted more moist.

Feedback from my husband and father in law was that it needed more sugar (my father in law said this as he ate his second piece 😉) My husband said a little cinnamon sugar on top would have worked instead of more sugar in the cake. My mother in law said it was sweet enough already. It was more dense than Mrs. Betty's so I would whip the egg whites before adding them to the mix next time to give it a lighter texture. I plan on trying this again for sure, I mean for scientific blog purposes only of course.

Now, for the nutrition. I put the recipe in My Fitness Pal so that I could get the nutrition. The big one for my GERD diet is fat. I love the original recipe, but 14 grams of fat would have had me in pain and possibly telling Ben what to tell the hospital workers if an ambulance has to come get me (I may be a bit dramatic sometimes). This new recipe has 0 grams of fat per serving instead. I wouldn't recommend eating the entire pan because of course it is still a dessert, but I would definitely make this to cure those I need some dessert blues. These facts are for 1 piece when I divided the pan into 16 pieces. You can see from the picture above that it was a good size piece.

Mission success!!! 🎆🎉

Help! I Hit A Roadblock!

So, you've decided to eat healthy. You've bought healthy food, made a plan, and are determined to really stick to it this time. Your motivation is high, and your bank account is now low (healthy food isn't exactly cheap). What could go wrong right?

Roadblocks. 🚧 They are always there no matter what your goal is. What you don't expect is that many times the attempted roadblocks on your healthy journey are the ones you care about the most. Family, friends, coworkers. What do you do when temptation is all around and others are encouraging you to just eat "a little" (let's be honest, it turns into a lot and you wind up feeling guilty, miserable, and, frankly, craving more)? Sometimes people do it innocently, like grandmas who love you so much and just want to make sure you are fed and full....every...minute...of...your....life. People who really love you and support you will still get it wrong sometimes, but most of the time they will make an effort to support you. There will always be others though. Not everyone or every situation will be supportive. Someone I know was recently at a work event where people repeatedly put soda and cookies in his face trying to get him to eat them even though they knew he was trying to eat healthy.

In the end, the responsibility falls on the person trying to be healthier. So, how do you do this?There will always be roadblocks, but let's talk about some detours that have helped my family.

1) Always have snacks with you!- If you have a healthier option on you, you are less likely to "need" the non healthy option. This seems pretty easy, but it requires planning. At any given time, you can ask me and I'll have a small apple in my purse. (Reminder to myself: put a new apple in after son confiscated the last one at the park today). I snack throughout the day when I'm working. As a teacher, this means snacking at planning, eating my lunch, and snacking right after the students leave and I'm working in my class. "I'm always on the road all day" I totally get this one. My husband drives a semi and is often waiting in line for hours for his load. He needs snacks that can easily be eaten in the vehicle while he is sitting in line. I pack a portion of nuts for him, an apple, and something small like a fig bar. Other small options that you can always have on hand in a purse, in a pocket, or in your car: one portion of lower fat granola, some dry cereal (I'm pretty much an 80 year old with my eating habits so bran flakes is my go to), or a small piece of fruit (cutie, apple). For those with access to a refrigerator, low fat string cheese is a great option.

2) If you are tempted by sweets, HAVE A BETTER SWEET AVAILABLE!- I have already talked about apples, but sometimes that just doesn't do the trick. When I first got diagnosed, sweets was such a struggle. I love sugar! Gilmore Girls was one of my favorite shows growing up, and I aimed to eat like a Gilmore Girl. There are always sweets in the teachers' lounge...ALWAYS...and I felt like I was always depriving myself. So, I started keeping two jelly beans in my purse. Yep, just two. When I was trying to avoid cake, donuts, and every other sweet known to man in the teachers' lounge, I would just suck on my two jelly beans to enjoy them slowly. I took care of my sugar craving and saved myself a lot of calories and sugar. If you don't have GERD, you can do the same thing with a mint. If you do have GERD, avoid mints because they are a trigger.

3) 🎵Have a little help from my friends...🎵- Yep, that would be a Wonder Years reference, another part of my childhood. Despite all attempts, sometimes it just stinks. Have some kind of accountability person that you can talk to, even if it is just shooting them a text saying that there are donuts at work today for the third time this week and you really want one and sometimes it just stinks because life would be easier if all you saw was carrots and broccoli and everyone ate like you and.....okay, so I may be drawing from experience from this one. I normally text my husband, and his usual response is, "You've got this". Those three little words set me up for complete success and help me to walk away with a little more confidence. It's also cool to have friends that totally understand that you might eat a little different and support you in it, like when they are all ordering burgers and fries and you are sitting there with your English muffin with no butter or jam (yep, that happened recently. Shout out to my amazing friends for no judgement and plenty of laughs that night!)

4) It's okay to say no!- I feel like some of us need to read that daily. I was raised with amazing Cajun manners. You always show respect. Part of this had me feeling guilty for turning people down with food. "You wouldn't want to hurt their feelings" was the little voice I heard every time. The truth is, it's okay to say no! It's healthy to say no sometimes. Like I said before, your family and friends love you and want to support you. Sometimes we are the ones making ourselves feel badly. We go over to eat at my in laws house after church on Sundays. Nine times out of ten, I stop at a store and pick up some chicken breast tenderloins to cook for myself to go along with something else for lunch. I know that my GERD diet is different than what most people eat so it's just easier for me. This week my mother in law had steamed some broccoli so I just paired it with my chicken for lunch (followed by fat free Cool Whip in a sugar cone which I highly recommend for dessert! Yum!). When I first started, I felt so guilty about not eating what my in laws had cooked. I even considered eating something that I knew would give me a reaction because I didn't want anyone to feel badly. No one had made a comment or tried to make me feel badly. I had to get past my own self imposed guilt. This one was helped along by the hubby who gave me a look like I had just landed an alien aircraft when I said maybe I would just eat a little. I had to teach myself that it is okay to saw no.

You've got this. Roadblocks happen, but detours always help. To quote a song we use to sing in kids church that has been constantly in my head while typing this, "Hey, what do you say? Move that mountain out of my way!"

And to those waiting on my Cajun food post...keep watching because I'm working on some recipes this week. The one I am most excited to try to recreate isn't Cajun, but it was a huge part of my childhood. For those from BBAG, I'm going to attempt a healthier version of Mrs. Betty's apple coffeecake!


                                 My amazing little guy decided to do sit ups with me today. 

Just A Cajun Girl Living In A GERD World

Y'all, don't get me wrong. I love living in Colorado. I love being next to the mountains and having amazing parks to bring my son to. I enjoy having so many healthy options restaurants and stores. Colorado was ranked number eight in healthiest states for 2018.

But...I'm from Louisiana, which was ranked number 50. I'm convinced that part of that ranking was the Cajuns. Our food is delicious. I grew up on gumbo, jambalaya, bread pudding (okay, my mouth is literally salivating), and beignets. I won a church cooking contest with my crawfish pie. Now, y'all know it's good when it wins at pentecostal church cooking contest. That was Cajun grandma good.

The problem is that Cajun food doesn't exactly have a reputation for being healthy, and I've been in this GERD world for six months now. I haven't had a single Cajun dish for six months. I have been known to boude' about this in my house. My husband has even learned that word and uses it on me now. So, can Cajun food be made healthy and GERD approved without tasting like Disney's version of gumbo (I'm still not over that)? What happens when I can no longer have the Cajun Trinity and Tony Chacherie? (Don't worry, I'll let Ben have it in his.) That's what my challenge to myself is this week!

When my parents moved into their new house, my mom took all three of her girls to the back of the house where things were stored and told us that we would be able to look through her cookbooks and keep some. I tried to keep my heart rate down as I saw my sisters grabbing the "fancy" southern cookbooks because I knew exactly what I was looking for and was able to grab it before they even noticed the treasure before them. No one cooks better than a Cajun grandma, no one. I collected a treasury of church women cookbooks and the local cookbook made by senior citizens. Those cookbooks have been stained as I tried to learn all the secrets inside of them.

This week, I'll be going through all of my cookbooks and attempting to make some of them GERD friendly while still tasting delicious. Easy, no (probably my toughest challenge yet actually), but this Cajun girl is missing her Cajun food.

If anyone has any specific Cajun dish that they would like me to try to take on, leave a comment here or just comment on my post on my Facebook page when I share this. I'll be doing a new blog post with my results and recipes for the dishes that we like.

So, wish me luck and allons!

                                                  The pot of gold at the end of a rainbow!

Pizza Challenge!

Ben has been craving pizza 🍕since starting his 30 day "Eat Like Kristie" challenge and has made it very known...very known y'all. My husband is probably made of about 50% pizza at this point from all that he has eaten over the years. He didn't think I could create a healthier pizza. Because I love challenges (and because I haven't had pizza in 6 months and it sounded amazing!), I decided that we would do a pizza challenge!

We used three different crusts in our challenge. The first was just a Martha White mix, the second was a wheat crust recipe (http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/252206/whole-wheat-pizza-dough/ ) and the third was one I found that Weight Watchers suggests. The last one was simple but intimidating. It is just one cup of fat free yogurt and one cup of flour mixed together (Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes). Simple enough, except for the fact that my husband hates yogurt. I kept hoping that the yogurt taste would magically cook away. We decided the only fair way to judge would be to split each pizza in half. "We all try them all!" (and yes, I was singing that Office reference in my head as we talked about it)

Ben and I required different toppings. Ben wanted a hearty pizza with lots of toppings. On his side, he had 1/4 cup pizza sauce, 1 cup fat free mozzarella, 1 cup skim milk mozzarella, 7 turkey pepperoni, 1 tbs bacon crumbling pizza topping (this was the one topping he didn't like), 2 tbs onions, 2 tbs bell pepper, 1 tb mushrooms, 1 tb olives, 1 tbs parmesan, and some Italian seasoning.

On my side of the pizzas, I had to use nonstick cooking spray instead of pizza sauce (huge GERD trigger!) but it worked out pretty well.  You can also just use a little olive oil. I then added 1 cup of fresh spinach, 1.5 oz of chicken breast, 1 cup of fat free mozzarella, 1 tbs of parmesan, and some Italian seasoning. Mine was simple, but I was still excited at the prospect of pizza.

The best thing about making your own pizza is that you control what goes on it. You control the calories, carbs, protein, and fat. Since being diagnosed with GERD, I've embraced controlling what goes in my body through cooking my own foods and experimenting with modifications. "I've got the power!" (I'm full of pop culture references tonight, okay... always.)

So...which crust won? Ben was pleasantly surprised that he didn't consider any of them bad. He said they were all good but the wheat crust was his favorite. He liked the Weight Watchers one at first but said that he tasted a yogurt aftertaste. I loved the pizza with the Weight Watchers crust! I ate half a slice of the other two and a full slice of that one. The best part was that one slice (1/8 of pizza, 1/4 of my side) was only 130 calories, .7 grams of fat, and 16.7 grams of protein. Each of my meals can have up to 3 grams of fat so I could confidently eat more than one slice of pizza using this recipe.

Mrs. Martha White failed to impress. I would only use it in emergencies. Once again, making it yourself normally tastes better.

Our stomachs are full, and my kitchen now has so much pizza in it. Guess who isn't cooking tomorrow.😉

If you have any questions about the toppings or anything else about or pizza challenge, go ahead and comment below or ask me on my fb post when I share it.

And now.....dessert!!! Ben has been crazing brownies so Enjoy Life is coming to the rescue. We have tried several of their products before and like everything so far. Since I can't have chocolate, I'm enjoying an ice cream cone (fat free cool whip in a sugar cone) Treat Yo Self! (Parks and Rec reference. I can't stop y'all) Us Patricks know how to party!

The wheat crust. Ben got started before I could take a picture.

The yogurt crust! We grabbed this one quickly.

Martha White crust.

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

Announcement: Since my husband has been begging for pizza, we have decided to do a pizza cook off tomorrow. We have three different healthier pizza crusts (no cauliflower because I want to still have a marriage after this cook off), pesto and olive oil, and various toppings that can be included all topped with fat free mozzarella for me and skim milk mozzarella for him. Tune in to see recipes, pictures, and what we thought!

In my first blog post, I talked about some of the foods that I eat. The next step I faced...how do I make all of these random foods into meals?! For the first couple of weeks, I ate some seriously weird meals. I sipped bone broth while eating egg whites. I ate an apple while eating egg whites. I ate a handful of almonds with some egg whites on the side....there were a lot of egg whites people. And, for a while, it worked. My pain was gone, and I was losing weight. But, it wasn't sustainable. I needed to figure out how to take these random foods and make them into a lifestyle.

So, if you are in the same position I was in, I have good news! I'm posting some of my favorite healthy meals that have been approved by my whole family. Being approved by a toddler and a male who only loves meat and potatoes is pretty much the whole spectrum.

Breakfast:

*eggs-For my eggs, I use only egg whites. If you are not into the egg white scene, I mix one whole egg with 3 tbs of egg white substitute for Ben's eggs. You get the flavor of the yolk and cut out fat. 

*hash brown potatoes-I buy frozen hash brown potatoes because I'm normally cooking breakfast at 4 am on weekdays and I shouldn't be trusted cutting potatoes with a knife at this time of day. I can't have peppers and onions, but Ben can so his are the potatoes o' brien. I use non stick cooking spray and cook them in a pan over the stove with salt and pepper. 

*turkey bacon- There are so many kinds, but we found Applegate and love it! It has no fat but tastes better than other turkey bacon that has fat in it. It's already cooked so you just brown in in a pan over the stove (once again only using non stick cooking spray)

*pancakes- I absolutely Kodiak pancakes! They have very little fat and have a lot of protein. I bake mine at 425 degrees to reduce the fat of cooking it on the stove in oil/butter. Ben is not a fan so I use Hungry Jack for his pancakes and cook them over the stove. I only use non stick cooking spray, and we finish them with a little real maple syrup ( a little goes a long way. To save on syrup, you can also dip your pancake in the syrup instead of pouring it over).

*breakfast sandwich- I like having an English muffin with some egg whites to make a breakfast sandwich. I normally use cinnamon raisin English muffins. You can also add a slice of turkey breast or ham from the deli.

Lunch and Dinner:

*parmesan chicken/fish- 🎶 "Chicken parm you taste so good" 🎶 (Yep, that's a Payton Manning reference) Dip chicken tenderloins or fish (pay attention to what type of fish. Some are high in fat) in a mixture of fat free milk and egg whites. On the side, I make a mixture of parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and Tony's (or whatever seasoning you like). I then dip the milk dipped chicken/fish in the parmesan cheese mixture. I lightly coat it on both sides and then cook it in a pan on the stove using only nonstick cooking spray or in the oven. If on the stove, brown both sides, and then add a little water to continue cooking it until done. If on the stove, follow the directions for the temp and time for the type of fish or for chicken breast. This is Ben's current favorite meal.

*fajitas- This one is pretty basic. I cook chicken breast, onions, and peppers in a pan with non stick cooking spray and fajita seasonings. The difference for us has been the tortilla. We use to eat it with flour tortillas. A quick switch to white corn tortillas saves calories and fat. I like to heat the tortillas in a pan on the stove using...you guessed it...non stick cooking spray. Ben was amazed at how much he could eat for less than 300 calories and about 4 grams of fat.

*red beans and rice- I'm a Cajun through and through and need my red bean fix. I'm actually cooking a huge pot of red beans  for tonight. For mine, I just cook red beans from scratch on the stove and add salt. For Ben and Zander's, I'm adding a pound of extra lean group turkey and some Butterball turkey sausage. Even though it is turkey sausage, the sodium and fat add up. So, be careful with how much you add. A little goes a long way. You can add rice when serving, but I no longer add rice to mine because I have gotten use to not having as much rice.

*burrito bowls- Another family favorite! I love that each member can customize it. I put out a little buffet of cooked chicken breast, rice with a little cilantro, black beans, pinto beans, lettuce, fat free cheddar, and fat free sour cream. I normally only use a little rice, about 1/4 cup or less, and make sure I focus on beans and chicken breast to get some healthy protein.

....and now....the update you have all been waiting for. Ben decided to do a 30 day challenge to eat healthy with me. I've gotta admit, the first day was rough. He was hungry, cranky, and had decided that I was starving him. There were flashbacks to my own behavior six months ago. Day 2 was so much better as he realized his body was already starting to feel better. His joints that usually hurt were no longer hurting. He has completely surprised me with his dedication, and has already made plans for his cheat meal after the 30 days. The surprise was when he said it would be a cheat meal and then he was going right back to the healthy eating. This has become his new lifestyle since seeing the changes in his body already. We went to the grocery store this weekend, and my husband actually checked the nutrition labels! I never thought I would hear,"Wow, that's a lot of fat" or "Did you see how much sodium is in this?" from Ben. His favorite breakfast bowl had 33 grams of fat. His beloved sub had 28 grams of fat. He summed it up pretty well the other day when he said that most people want to eat healthy, but they don't have the tools or know what they are looking for when they look at nutrition labels. I thought I was taking the summer off from teaching, but these lessons are some of my favorites because I know that I'm investing in my family's healthy future. As of Saturday, he was down ten pounds in less than a week and loving his new meals. Don't get me wrong, there are still many pizza cravings, but it's a process, he hasn't given in once, and I couldn't be prouder of him.

This picture is from 2011. It has been my goal picture, my dream. I've saved it on my phone, printed it as motivation, showed it to everyone who would look hoping that it would motivate me. I was only this weight for a couple of weeks before gaining some of the weight back and eventually gaining so much more than I ever thought possible. I saw this picture this morning and realized I'm the same weight I was in this picture. It's not a goal or dream anymore. It's my current reality and it is my past because this girl has got some new goals!

Help! My Husband Is Trying To Eat Healthy!

My rock star husband Ben and his friend decided that they are going to jump on board the eating like Kristie train for 30 days as a challenge. The problem...they start today and Ben is already convinced that he is going to die of hunger, convinced y'all. He mourned all the foods he loves one by one this past weekend. Bye bye soda, adios pizza, au revoir cookies and chocolate, see ya later Gatorade. The mourning period was sad (okay, I may have laughed...a lot) 🤭. Y'all, he seriously got up from bed last night to get a piece of cheese because he said he had a craving. His last words to me before bed were," See you in food purgatory."

In no way am I talking about this to make fun of my husband. I'm talking about it because IT'S HARD! I totally get it. In my first post, I talked about how I literally cried in the grocery store and told Ben there was nothing I could eat...nothing. I'm a big believer in "no man is an island", and when I started eating healthy I felt like a deserted island complete with sand, water, and my pain as the only motivation to keep going. I threw pity parties so often that I should have invested in streamers and a banner. We fail so often because we believe the ads that say it is do easy and then get discouraged and feel like failures when it isn't easy for us.

So, as these 30 days go along, I'm going to update this to brag about my amazing husband and his motivation (I may have spies at his work for accountability with soda and Carls Jr. 😉), and I want to encourage everyone working on goals that seem hard and sometimes impossible. DON'T TRY TO DO IT ALONE! Build a support system. Don't have one? Congrats, I'm your support system now. I will cheer you on. I can even mail you an envelope of confetti and glitter to celebrate. Side note, that is a personal dream of mine that I will do some day. Comment on this or talk to me on Facebook any time.

I love seeing people succeed in their goals. Want to get a new job? Whoo hoo! Going for your masters?  You've got this! Have some faith (Hey, Faith,did you get that shout out? 😉🎉) Want to get healthy? What what! My mom has childhood videos of me cheering my team on in basketball instead of playing. I even cheered for the other team because I couldn't leave them out. If you are reading this, you are on my team now. If you are reading this out of spite or to make fun of me, you are on the other team and I am still cheering for you to succeed!

Whatever your goal is, I can't wait to see you rock it! And for those wondering how Ben does...keep reading because I'll be updating the good, the bad, and the hilarious. Don't worry, I read this to him before publishing, and he laughed just as hard as I did, maybe slightly less than I did.

Ben during happier times, when he could eat whatever he wanted. He said no pictures this morning because he was feeling crank in anticipation.