Another Christmas

So another Christmas has come and gone.  All the pressure is off, the gifts are opened, the turkey has been cooked and served and I can at last relax.  Relatives  are on their way as we speak so I'm gearing up for yet another day of feasting on all the things we look forward to all year. We like to start with turkey buns with stuffing and homemade cranberry sauce, a few sausage rolls, some Mexican spirals and of course all the cookies and pumpkin pie. So we might gain a couple of pounds but it is definitely worth it to spend some time with friends and family around the food table.

Sweet Potato Cranberry Bread

Since I've been home from Vegas I have gained 4 pounds. It is because I have been scarfing down bread.  I don't usually eat bread but we went to Saskatoon and tried some Sweet Potato Cranberry bread. Mmmm.  It was so good I came home and made some and then I made some more and some more and more still. This is a great recipe because if you don't eat it all you can use it to stuff your turkey. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did....well still do.

SWEET POTATO CRANBERRY BREAD
3/4 cup potato water
1/4 cup melted margarine
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes
2 tbsp honey
salt (I put 1/4-1/2 tsp)
3 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 cup dried cranberries
I put the ingredients in the bread maker,wait for the beep to add the cranberries, put the machine on dough mode.  When ready make buns or loaves, let rise until doubled in size then bake 350 degrees in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Christmas Purr-fection

I always strive for a perfect Christmas.  I start planning in November, writing and rewriting lists.  Lists of cookies I want to bake, lists of breakfast, lunches and dinners I want to serve. Even lists of what Christmas quilts go on which bed.( I think I have too much time on my hands). My tree is always decorated just so, the house has wreaths and Christmas fru-fru all over the place, the Christmas china comes out to grace our table which last year I had set 9 days before Christmas and then ended up having to wash the dust off everything.  The Christmas cakes that I baked 3 years ago will come out of the freezer(again) and be offered to visitors with a little something something to wash it down. But that's the price of being perfect.  My son seems to have inherited my qualities?? of perfection. Yesterday he decided to decorate his tree. Striving for his purr-fect tree all it took was a string of lights and a cat.
Hope you have a perfect Christmas too.

Its all about Family.

I was talking to a girlfriend the other day and she was saying that Christmas isn't what it used to be. She doesn't like it anymore because it involves giving and getting gifts that nobody wants or needs.  Older people (sorry gal) are downsizing now and as much as the thought is there, some gifts are just not needed.  When I was growing up it was all about family.  Visiting and spending time with family.  Now it is all about commercialism.  What to buy. Who to buy for. How much to spend.  Forget it! This year I have decided that I want to go back in time.  I don't want my kids to worry about  buying us gifts. And I don't want to worry about buying gifts for my family that they don't want or need just so you can give gifts.  I just want my family.  I have a sister who always goes away for Christmas.  She has two kids.  One has his career happening and he can afford to go the other is trying to get his career going and he can't always afford to go. But this year the one son said to his mom,  I'm gonna get my brother a ticket to Hawaii, and mom said just hang on I'll check into it.  They divvied up the cost and bought a ticket for the brother.  How awesome was that ! Really the best gift you can give yourself and your family  is the gift of family. Time spent together is the most important thing.  Don't worry about how full your tree is,  worry about how full your house is.  My family, my children and my grandchildren are my gift this year and always.  I love you guys.  See you soon.
Cheesey yes, But I am so  grateful to have family to spend the holidays with.

Christmas Season Starts

This morning I awoke to the ground covered with snow and really cold temperatures.  So its  time to drag out the tree, deck the halls, and start looking for cookie recipes.  Christmas is my most favorite time of the year.  A magical time. It always has been.  My sister asked me the other day if I remembered  when we were young we would come home from church on Christmas Eve all decked out in our finest clothes, Dad in his suit, Mom in her best dress and high heels and she would serve up sausage rolls .  I didn't
remember that but  I remembered how my parents always made Christmas special.  Later on Mom and Dad  used to host Boxing Day and all the relatives from the area would gather for the day.  What fun those days were. Aunts, uncles,cousins,sisters and brothers sitting around the living room playing guitars and accordions singing Christmas carols or old western songs from the past. Others playing crib or just catching up.  The smell of food wafting from the kitchen.  Now my sister holds a relly rally(a gathering of relatives) every year not on boxing day but earlier before Christmas,  carrying on a tradition that I hope will not be broken.  I can't make it home every year for those special times and I sure miss them.
 But times change and you make your own traditions and I'm hoping that I will have all my family and all that entails home for Christmas. So whether they are here or not Christmas comes anyway and I think this year I will make some sausage rolls.


Since I posted this blog I have been on the lookout for a sausage roll recipe.  This is my version of my Mom's sausage rolls which I am sure was a breakfast sausage rolled up in pie dough.  My version keeps the pie dough and makes low sodium  sausage from scratch. My son calls these little yummies..Snauss Babies
                                                              Sausage Rolls

1 1/2  pounds ground pork                                      PIE CRUST (OLD CRISCO RECIPE)
1 1/2 tsp dried sage                                                2 cups flour
3/4 tsp ground black pepper                                   1 cup crisco
3/8 tsp italian seasoning                                          1/2 cup or so water
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper   flakes
pinch of cloves (1/16 tsp)
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp fennel seed
1 egg
Roll out rectangles of pie dough, make a log out of sausage, place on dough, roll up jelly roll style brush edges with another beaten egg.  Cut rolls into 1 inch pieces and brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired and bake on middle rack at 375 for about 25 minutes. Serve warm or cold with your favorite dip. Can be frozen raw (I haven't tried that yet)
Makes 42 pieces. Sodium content is about 55 mg per 3 pieces.

I Was Sad Because I Had No Shoes

Today I'm going to the care center where I volunteer.  I've realized that you really have to give back in life.  Not just to the people that have helped along the way but to reach out and help people you don't even know.  I met an elderly lady at the center. What a lady! She would have turned 101 on her next birthday but unfortunately she fell and broke her hip and passed away shortly thereafter. She used a walker to get around but man, could she move on that thing.  We used to have dancing one day a week and I swear that woman wore me out. She loved to dance.  I was taking her back to her room after dancing one afternoon and she said "Thank you for being so nice to me" I laughed  because I didn't know what to say to her. Even the smallest kindness can make a difference in someones life.  So get out there people and give a little of yourself to someone.
"I was sad because I had no shoes until I met a man with no feet" ( Original author unknown)

Dad's Good Intentions

Last week my Dad came to visit me. Hes been dining in Greek restaurants and so he tried to teach me how to cook all things Greek.  I had some bone-in chicken breasts and he told me to put them in the oven with some partially baked potatoes.  So I partially baked the red skinned potatoes, threw the chicken in the oven with some garlic and herb Mrs. Dash, added the potatoes and then asked Dad how long I should bake it for?  He asked if I had partially BOILED the potatoes. I said no!  you told me to bake them.  He said red potatoes! I thought you had russets.  Then he told me I'd screwed up the whole thing and to do what I wanted. Yikes! Anyway to make a long story short we ended up with basmati rice sprinkled with tarragon vinegar to go with our chicken and it was fantastic.  Thanks for the recipe Dad.

I Love Soup

Imagine my surprise when I actually came down with all the side effects of prednisone!  There I was  trying to pretend that everything was normal and I was just a little weak.  Huh!
One of the worst things for me was losing my taste buds. Suddenly I could not taste food. I love to cook and eat and I can't taste food.  Now what?
My doctor had informed me that my maximum salt intake was 800mg sodium daily!  Keep in mind that everything has salt.  Whether its natural sodium or added,  most all foods have some sodium.  Even your drinking water has some sodium. 
The challenge of coming up with a meal that has low low sodium and taste was very difficult. All canned, frozen or processed food was out. I had to learn to cook on my own without any help from Campbells, Kraft or Duncan Hines.  Now it was hello Mrs. Dash, Herb and Spice and Vinegar. At this point it really didn't matter because I couldn't taste anything anyway.  I did persevere and tried cooking with "big flavor" foods such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and I even snuck some blue cheese in my food.  High in sodium but high in flavor too. I didn't need much just a sprinkle or so.
I am also a soup lover and had to figure out how to make soup.  I had always said that when i was an old  widow woman  I would stock my pantry and live off Campbell soup.  Well that was no longer an option.
Now I had to figure out how to make and preserve a big batch of soup.
I made this soup using pretty exact measurements so that I could post the sodium content but you can certainly adjust the vegetables to your own likes and dislikes.

Aunty Esthers Hamburger Tomato Barley Soup

1 lb hamburger       220 mg
200g potatoes           12 mg
200g cabbage           40 mg
150g carrots              55 mg
100 g rutabaga          34 mg
1 onion                        5 mg
1 stalk celery             35 mg
1 28oz can of no salt added diced tomatoes 35mg
1 cup low sodium v-8 juice  135mg
1 1/2 cartons low sodium chicken broth (Not campbells. I use Pacific only 70 mg per cup) 365 mg
1/4 cup pot barley        0 mg (Western Family)
3 or 4 bay leaves          0 mg
parsley, dill and pepper

Fry up the hamburger in a big pot until brown. Add bay leaves.  Add veggies and cook for a five minutes or so.  Throw in the tomatoes, juice, broth, barley and spices. Cook until done.
I use my big red cast iron pot and when the soup comes to a boil on the stove i throw the pot in the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes.  This makes it thicker but i think it adds flavor.

Total Sodium about 950mg for the whole pot.  Makes about 12 cups. 80 mg per cup.  Not bad!

My aunty Esther says you can freeze any soup so I freeze this in plastic containers.

Salt free

My husband always loved my cooking. What meals we used to have. Scalloped potatoes, quiche, german potatoes, baked beans. All of these were served with ham or bacon or sugar and of course salted to taste.
Then in 2005 things changed. My new diet suddenly consisted of maximum 800mg of salt a day and a huge reduction in sugar.
We had driven about 300 miles on our first holiday in 10 years when I became concerned that I hadn't urinated in quite some time. When I casually admitted this to my hubby his helpful comments were, "it probably had something to do with hating this province and wanting to go home". However , being a considerate husband he did compromise by getting a motel room and purchasing KFC and a big jug of root beer. This did not seem to alleviate the problem as I started to swell and still could not urinate. I had heard that when something like this happens you just need to get some water pills. What a surprise when the pharmacist informed us that these were by prescription and that we should see our doctor. My husband of course considers himself smarter than the average pharmacist and decided I was dehydrated. Our vacation would not be canceled but instead I would drink copious amounts of water. Who ever heard of drinking 3 gallons of water and not peeing ? He even suggested beer as this always makes him go. I resisted and we headed home.
My Doctor sounded alarmed at my symptoms and sent me directly to the hospital. My husband actually looked worried but I assured him the doctor was just being careful. Probably a few tests and send me home. Two weeks of hospital stay later we started to realize it may be more than dehydration or my dislike of the unnamed province's scenery. I even at one point confessed that my life may not be that long.
I was diagnosed with a disease called diffuse IGAN with acute nephritis. I have no idea what this meant other than I had a disease that attacked my kidneys. The doctors did assure my husband that if we continued our trip I could have died. Neither of us had ever been seriously ill before so we had no idea how this disease would change our life. I did get my water pills but that was only a part. There were drastic diet changes and the dreaded PREDNISONE and in large doses.
Prednisone can't be that bad we thought. It was quite cheap. Sure the side effects were a bit disheartening (may cause skin to thin, may cause face to become moon shaped,  may cause loss of hair where you want it and excess hair where you don't) but I have seen bad side effects on bottle of antacid. Due to my high dosage over a period of six months I managed to get all the side effects plus.
 So now how do I cook a meal that is tasty considering I no longer have operating taste buds and how do I convince my husband that he too needs to change his taste to a low salt diet.