I Know It's Not Tuesday but......Tasty Tueday- Friday edition!

By Tuesday my final (YA BABY - I said FINAL!!!) chemo side effects will be in full force and I'll be in no mood for blogging much less posting recipes but I can't let this one go by - I might forget.

One of the fun things (because you have to find fun in any situation or you loose your perspective) about chemo day is the magazines and the quiet reading time. Once you've spoken with the Dr, got your IV's in place and had the juice and cookies delivered by the (outstanding) volunteers you have lots of time to just sit and read. Sean comes with me for chemo but we barely talk, we both just stick our noses in our books.

But for those who forget books, they have nicely stocked bookshelf (we've borrowed and contributed to this collection) as well as a wide array of magazines.

I love going through magazines for recipes. Often times I'll only find one, or maybe two because most of them are out of my skill level in cooking or are things that a majority of my family won't eat and can't be adapted for them to eat - in which case I become a short order cook making more than one meal for supper and I'm just not into that.

So at chemo yesterday I went through the Canadian Living magazine to see if there was anything that appealed to me. I hit the jackpot. Unfortunately I didn't have time to write the recipes all out and though I hate doing it, I actually ripped some pages out of the magazine. (I hate doing that because so often I've been reading a magazine and found a recipe I want in the recipe index only to find that someone has ripped it out - just like I did.)

I'm sorry world. But I had to have these recipes.

What I wanted to share with you today was actually a few recipes - all for the same thing. Berry Vinaigrette Dressing. I love Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing but it's not going to fit in with my new healthy lifestyle since the second ingredient in my store bought brand is sugar. This means lots of sugar. And some of the other ingredients that I can't even pronounce, much less tell you what they are.

But this....not only can I say all the ingredients, but I can buy them, add them and and best of all, they are healthy. Be forewarned though - there is some real prep in this - the balsamic vinegar must sit for a week before making the dressing. But it will be well worth it, I'm sure!

So here you are - courtesy of Canadian Living Magazine (July 2012)

Basic Berry Vinaigrette.

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
2 tbsp berry (strawberry, blueberry or raspberry) balsamic vinegar (recipes to follow)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small shallot, minced
pinch each of salt, pepper and sugar.
combine all ingredients and whisk.

Now, the recipe says to store in an airtight container for up to 24 hours. I can't see why you wouldn't be able to store it in the fridge for longer but who knows. Either way, it's a simple mix so making it the night before for your lunch or supper the next day is not really a big deal. Once the berry vinegar is made (and can be stored longer) you're good to go.

Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar

1 1/2 cups white balsamic vinegar
1 cup halved strawberries
1 tsp peppercorns
5 fresh basil leaves
pinch of salt

In saucepan, combine vinegar with strawberries, mashing slightly. Add peppercorns, basil leaves and salt,  bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Discard basil leaves.

Seal in heatproof jar (mason jar would be perfect). Refrigerate for 1 week. Strain through cheesecloth-lined sieve into clean jar. Refrigerate for up to 1 month.

 

 

 

Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar

1 1/2 cups white balsamic vinegar
1 cup blueberries
1 strip of lemon rind
2 sprigs of thyme
pinch of salt

In saucepan, combine vinegar with blueberries, mashing slightly. With the back of a knife scrape off any white pith from the rind and add to pan along with thyme and salt, bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Discard thyme and lemon rind.

Seal in heatproof jar (mason jar would be perfect). Refrigerate for 1 week. Strain through cheesecloth-lined sieve into clean jar. Refrigerate for up to 1 month.

Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar

1 1/2 cups white balsamic vinegar
1 cup raspberries
1 strip of orange rind
5 large mint leaves
pinch of salt

In saucepan, combine vinegar with raspberries, mashing slightly. With the back of a knife scrape off any white pith from the rind and add to pan along with mint and salt, bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Discard mint and orange rind.

Seal in heatproof jar (mason jar would be perfect). Refrigerate for 1 week. Strain through cheesecloth-lined sieve into clean jar. Refrigerate for up to 1 month.

So there is a little pre-prep required for the dressing - since the balsamic will take a week to be ready but once you've got that done...if you're a regular salad eater it's going to come in really handy.

I'm going to make some today - not sure which flavour, I'm hoping for strawberry but they're harder to find this time of year here so we'll see.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Last One!

Tomorrow is my last chemo. I hope.

I obviously can't speak for what the future holds. I hope and pray I never, ever have to do chemo again.

The last 18 weeks have really gone pretty fast. The last 6 months have really gone fast. You know when you're anxious for something to happen and it seems like forever before it does. I was anxious for this day to come and it didn't drag on, it's here.

I'll admit, I'm scared as hell. Chemo has been like a little safety net. I can tell myself that I'm okay because I'm having chemo so it's killing any cancer that might have been left. But now chemo is over so what happens now.

Well, for starters, I need to change my diet. Completely. And it's going to be hard. I've been so good about not googling but I'm trying to find information on eating to prevent a recurrence, particularly breast cancer. I saw a book at Chapters specifically for that but it's not being released until July.
So when I google I get a lot of conflicting information. Some say coffee is good, some say it's bad. Some say some red meat is okay, others say not at all. Some say one alcoholic drink a day is okay, others say no. The only thing they all agree on is that artificial sweeteners are not okay. So that will be the first to go for me.

Of course, this means s a few important changes in my diet. The biggest one being my double double will be a 2 milk, no sugar. I think my only saving grace on this is that my taste buds have been shot and for the most part I can't really taste sugar (or salt or garlic)   I'm going to start reading labels and avoiding anything with 'ose' in it. Fructose, glucose, sucrose...you know...the dreaded 'oses'.  I suspect there will be a lot of things I won't be eating anymore.

I'm also going manage my portions better. I bought myself two smaller plate so that when I'm dishing out my dinner I'm forced by the size of my plate to take smaller portions and I'm going to stick to the rule - 1/4 of the plate is protein, 1/4 of the plate is carb and 1/2 the plate is vegetables or fruit.
I did great at dinner, I had two small chicken drumsticks (no skin) a small serving of brown rice and a large salad (with green leaf lettuce - I prefer the darker leaves like romaine over iceberg lettuce but the romaine was no good so I got the leaf lettuce instead. I also put in celery, peppers, clementines, grapes, mango and strawberry and then put about 1tbsp of raspberry vinaigrette dressing on it)

The problem is that I took my steroids before dinner and within an hour I noticed the appetite kicking in and craved something sweet. So I had a piece of chocolate caramel cheese cake. BAD BAD BAD. I felt guilty as soon as I ate it but I guess I'm calling it my one last hurrah. I'm not going to deny myself of little treats entirely but I have to really, really, really put my mind to this. Because this is not something I can fail at. I truly, honestly believe my cancer is largely due to lifestyle and I have to do everything I can to prevent it from happening again.

I also need to exercise and loose some all of this extra weight.  I have to be careful with exercise, partly because of the effects of the chemo on my heart and lungs but also because trauma to my arm could case lymphadema and I already have it slightly. I don't want to aggravate it or make it worse.

I'm going to make an appointment with my oncologist to discuss my exercise, nutrition and a back to work plan.

I guess I'll know more tomorrow about what is going to happen next but for now I'm looking forward to my new Step One

I did another craft a la things I found on Pinterest. I love these and have lots and lots of ideas...which is great because I have 5 boxes of these tiles that are not being used.

They are coasters made from ceramic tiles. I've used modge podge (from here on out I'll be calling it podgy because that's what we've always called it and modge podge sounds stupid...even though that's what it's actually called.) I've podgied some scrapbook papers that were cut just slightly smaller than the tiles, onto the tiles. When that dried I covered them with another layer of podgy. When that dried I sprayed them with two coats of acrylic spray but be warned, this stuff has to be done in a well ventilated area and takes a long time to dry (though I suppose it didn't help that I did them on the porch and it was -5 C outside. The one with the words on it - that is velum that was part of a scrapbooking kit I had.   I put foam pads on the bottom of the tiles to prevent scratching the table. What's the point of putting your drink on a coaster to protect the table if the coaster itself is going to scratch the shit out of your table, right?

Anyhow, here's a look-see at what I made.

I think they're pretty darn nice, don't you?