Fiber Fool

Insurance is finally working properly and I have my maintenance medication back. Yay! Sadly, I was off of it long enough that I have to rebuild my tolerance to the side effects - mainly extreme drowsiness. So I’m moving a bit slower than normal and sleeping quite a bit longer. I’m not in a rhythm. But hopefully I’ll adjust faster since I had previously been on this drug for 3 or 4 years.

The nausea has pretty much left unless I let myself get too hungry, so that is good. But last Thursday it was bad enough that all I really wanted to eat was a large soft pretzel. But, those are not made from whole grains so it would be a more or less nutritionally empty thing to eat. I was good that day and did soup and salad with a small dinner roll for lunch, but I still just really needed something resembling comfort food, but I wanted some nutritional value - some fiber, some protein. Enter Pinterest, where I stumbled upon knitpurlgurl’s pin of a 2006 Real Simple recipe for German Pancakes.

On a whim I entered the recipe with a few tweaks into a custom recipe on Lose It! to see what the stats were. I subbed in whole wheat pastry flour for the AP flour and 1% milk in place of the whole milk as that is what we have on hand. Then I left out the confectioner’s sugar, deciding it would be best to add as desired to individual portions. I also subbed in my homemade low-sugar raspberry peach jam and did not use it as heavily as the recipe called for. I ended up at just a titch over 200 calories with a decent balance of fat/carb/protein per quarter of the skillet. We had a side of fake bacon with ours (one of the few fake meats I can tolerate as it has gluten much lower on the ingredient list than most).

The result was surprisingly filling and satisfying, including mentally! We liked it so much on Thursday night that I did it again on Saturday morning for brunch and snapped these pics quickly. This time we topped them with a mix of yogurt and the same jam as well as apple sauce.

Healthy German Pancake

• 3 Large Eggs
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup 1% milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup low sugar topping of choice, yogurt or fruit jam (2 tablespoons per quarter pancake)
• 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs until frothy with a hand held mixer or in a standing mixer.
3. Sift whole wheat pastry flour into eggs and mix just until combined thoroughly.
4. In another bowl, mix milk, extracts and salt.
5. Place butter in a large oven proof skillet (cast iron is great here if you have it) and put in oven to melt butter.
6. Slowly add the liquid to the egg and flour mixture and mix until combined.
7. Remove skillet from oven, pour batter into skillet and place back into oven.
8. Bake for 14-18 minutes, until golden all over.
9. Remove from oven, cut into quarters and serve with a variety of toppings.

Without toppings, this one comes out at about 173 calories, 9.8 g fat, 13.4 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 7.3 g protein per quarter.

1. Buy natural, unprocessed food as much as possible. Yes, convenience is sometimes necessary and making everything from scratch is not realistic in this age of dual income households and the packed schedules most families have between sports and church and other extra activities. But, buying less processed foods saves you in the long run.

2. Grow some of your own food. I’m not 100% convinced that we save too much here when doing that due to our need to water fairly aggressively most years. Add on that the amount of hail we’ve been getting the past several years that does wipe out at least some of the crop and I question the savings a bit more. But, since we grow organic and are caring for the food ourselves we know exactly what is going into our bodies which is worth a lot. It also keeps us aware of what is in season locally so what foods we do buy we can do so smartly.

3. Which brings us to - eat with the seasons! Food that has traveled less distance is cheaper and healthier since it is fresher. So eating what is in season where you live will often save you a lot of money.

4. Always check the per unit prices of things. The store loyalty cards are not always the best value, nor are the larger packages. Calculate your costs per ounce or pound etc. and make sure you are really getting the best bang for your buck. Don’t forget that lots of companies out there are shrinking their package sizes significantly and charging the same, so be certain to double check the size of the package and don’t just go off of memory!

5. When buying fresh produce, do so twice a week (or more if you regularly pass by a store without going out of your way). We find by purchasing the fresh food multiple times a week we waste less. If we deviate from our menu plan adjustments can be made with the menu later in the week.

6. Which brings me to - plan your menu before shopping. I’m not the best at this. We do it in spits and spurts. If we are both very busy it gets difficult to stick to it. But, when we do plan a menu and shop for it specifically it does make our shopping more efficient and we waste less. Plus, sometimes it is nice to not have to think about what is for dinner, but instead know.

7. There is of course the oft heard - don’t go shopping when you are hungry. That is certainly true.

8. Always shop with a list and try not to deviate from it. Though I sometimes do because I realize I forgot something else that is actually required for something on the menu etc.

9. Buy in bulk! In standard chain groceries stores you need to again calculate price per unit as the bulk section there is not always the savings you would expect. I know in our Safeway the bulk rice is much more expensive than the bagged. But we are regularly by our local food cooperative and regularly buy pantry staples in bulk like all our flours and sugars. Where we save the most though I think is on the spices and herbs! The bonus of shopping in bulk is that you can save packaging from going to the landfill by bringing in your own containers. Some of our containers are even recycled. Lots of our beans and lentils are in quart pasta sauce jars.

10. Not everyone will agree with me on this one, but I do not shop around at many different stores on a frequent basis. My time is valuable, as is the gas required to drive to all the different grocery stores in town. Most of the time I shop at either chain store that is nearest our house, often depending upon what is on our list as some of our regular items are only available at one or the other. At least once a week we are near the food co-op so we may or may not shop there in a given week. Then maybe once a month or so we go to a natural food store like Whole Foods, Sunflower or Vitamin Cottage as those are quite a ways out of our way.

How about you, did I miss any of the ways you save money on groceries - other than the obvious of clipping coupons, which I’ve never been good about making use of in the end?

Remember this?

And this?

Well, if you are a subscriber to Spinning Daily and have an eagle eye you saw a more revealing look at this project in your inbox this week. I’ll share more as the newsstand date draws nearer. I have lots of detail shots of this one!

Thanks for the well wishes on my seemingly neverending health issues these days. So far, today has been pretty good. Not quite normal, but I’m able to concentrate and being a bit more productive today. How has your week been? We’re nearly at the weekend! Yippee!

I’m digging back into the picture archives this week. Way, way back actually to the first round of Project Spectrum back in 2006! That was the project that really sparked my love of photography and began developing my skills, so these aren’t the best photos you’ve seen around these parts, but not too shabby for being 5 years old.

I’m on day 6 of intermittent nausea and it is taking its toll on me in a variety of ways - most markedly the lack of desire to cook with lack of energy coming in at a close second. With the Easter holiday on the horizon though my mind always jumps to the thought of deviled eggs. They are not something that shows up at our house often as I’m the only one who eats them, but I do enjoy them.

A month or two ago I made some deviled eggs to bring to Monday night knitting when our eggs had piled 3 cartons high (we get a dozen delivered each week with our 1/2 gallon of milk). I did them a touch bit differently this time. Growing up it was always Miracle Whip and mustard mixed with the yokes, usually in roughly equal proportion. Sometimes we put in finely minced onion. For this version I did just a touch of Greek yogurt and much more Gulden’s Spicy Brown Mustard - just enough for the yokes to be moist. Then I added about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of ground sumac for 6 yolks. I blended some smoked paprika with some aleppo pepper to sprinkle on top for some added punch in flavor and color. It was a subtle change, but it seemed to produce a bit deeper flavor profile. It also lowered the fat and sugar a fair bit too which is always a bonus in my book.

Did your family have deviled eggs at Easter? What is your quintessential Easter indulgence?

—————

Okay, now onto what I’m sure you have all been waiting for…

The random winner of two skeins of Chickadee yarn from Quince & Co to make the Masala slippers from Nourishing Knits is….

Beverly aka PoMo Golightly!! Congrats Beverly. Start choosing your color combination and watch your inbox for an e-mail from me. I hope you’ll stop by and share your slippers when they are done :-)

Many thanks again go out to Pam and the rest of the crew at Quince & Co for providing this wonderful yarn for the giveaway!

Ah, family. What a complex topic. Fortunately, I’ve been blessed with a wonderful nuclear family, and the extended family is much closer than most too. Unfortunately, my blood relatives are for the most part back in Minnesota. Those who are not, are not in Colorado so I do not get to spend time with them near as often as I would like.

There is also of course the family you make, through marriage and through close friendships. I’m a bit guarded for whatever reason (I could make some educated guesses, but this isn’t a therapy post), so my chosen family tends to be a very small group of people. But, those people I trust with my life as I do my blood family.

1. Shared history is one of my favorite parts of family. There is nothing more enjoyable than retelling the same stories over and over and laughing about their absurdity. Of course the longer you’ve known the family member, the better the stories. Although a few of my chose family as just so good at humorous storytelling you can’t help but to pee a little when they tell a story, regardless of how recently it happened, LOL!

2. I guess that one automatically brings one to laughter. I never laugh as much as when I’m with family. When I go back to MN for two weeks, I always come back having lost weight, no matter how many steaks and burgers and meat in general I’ve consumed. While some I’m sure is due to the reduction in carb consumption, I have to suspect some is due to the massive amounts of deep down, belly laughing that happens. Frequently my sister and I fall into peels of laughter where we swear we are turning into our grandma Bakke because we can not finish getting the story out. Instead we have tears in our eyes and are practically wheezing. And the dogs - they never fail to get at least one laugh out of me each day. Especially since we added Brandon to the family. He is a hoot and a half!

3. Shared interests, be they photography (with my sister), knitting (my chosen family), gardening (my dad) or fine cooking (husband, SIL1 and others) always provide plenty of conversation fodder and even activities to enjoy together. Togetherness is definitely part of equation for family ties.

4. No judging! I know not everyone is lucky enough to have a family that doesn’t judge, or at least doesn’t let you know they judge. But other than my grandfather who is getting bad about it in his old age, my family doesn’t really judge. Since that is kind of a rare trait I’m all the more thankful for it!

5. They know how to celebrate & have a good time! My family really knows how to celebrate things of all types. Mom is the queen of birthday celebrations, from going to the Ice Capades and an epic scavenger hunt to just obnoxious tween sleep overs, she knows how to make birthdays special. And even from a distance they go out of their way to call and post all over (Facebook, Lose-it, etc.) to send good wishes. Some of the local family even brings fantastic yogurt and granola to SnB as “birthday cake” that I can eat :-) My chosen family here in Colorado is also fantastic about throwing celebrations for holidays, even obscure ones like Talk Like a Pirate Day or Mad Hatter Un-Birthday parties.

6. Games! One of our favorite things to do when we get together is play games - board games, card games, travel games, you name it, we enjoy it! I have memories going way back to playing games with friends and family on all sides. Many years ago we used to have weekly game nights with some of the local friends. I miss that, but we are not in the position to do so weekly right now, nor to host. But perhaps in a few years it will get resurrected.

7. They enjoy good food! Many are great cooks - DH, SIL1, mom, grandma, grandpa, Ashley (no longer CO family *pout*), Gene et al. All have at least a dish or three that they are especially good at. And they of course enjoy the food I make. They even will eat the failures, LOL!

8. Hugs! My family is a family of huggers. For whatever reason I don’t hug much here in Colorado. But boy do my arms get a workout when I’m back in MN and visiting grandparents and aunts and uncles. We’re good huggers from all that practice too. I still remember a tiny, curly read headed little girl giving out her special “squeezy hugs.” There we are, back at shared history, aren’t we?

Photo by my sister of AMS Photography, post-processed by me

9. They know how to lighten the mood! I’m prone to darkness and my family can lighten my mood faster than anything. I don’t know how they do it, but I sure appreciate it!

10. Support! There is nothing like knowing someone has your back. When pain levels are high I know I have DH and a few local friends who will pitch in and help out. And putting together Nourishing Knits has really driven home this point as well - I’ve listed many of the people who have helped me in various ways with the book’s acknowledgements section, but I could never list it all. Perhaps one of the most valuable things about putting together this book is the realization of how much support and encouragement I have from a much wider pool of people that I expected when I first set out on the journey.

How about you? What do you most love about your family?