Saturday, January 8, 2011

One Down!!

I did it!!!  I made it through the first week of watching Izzy and Jake.  On Wednesday, I had my doubts as to whether I could still do this, but as the week progressed, it got a little easier.  As a diabetic, I have to eat my meals -- no skipping.  Unfortunately, Jake's idea of Grammy's weight loss is to not let her eat.  Breakfast hasn't been a problem, since I eat before the kids get here.  Lunch was a different story.  On Wednesday, I made myself a smoked turkey sandwich with provolone cheese on an Arnold's Sandwich Thin, (if you haven't tried these, you don't know what you're missing).  Put it on a little plastic plate with some red seedless grapes, and fixed Izzy her lunch.  Jake must have sensed that I had left the living room, because he started to cry -- and I do mean cry!  I carried my lunch plate into the living room, set it down on the little table next to my chair and got Jake out of the swing.  I sat down in the chair and was trying to settle him down, when all of a sudden the plate slid off the table and my sandwich and all the grapes went flying.  Izzy laughed, but I wanted to cry.  I'm too old for this, I'm not physically up to this challenge, I told myself.  And the tears started to flow.  Izzy hugged me, told me not to cry, and promised to clean up my mess.  How can you be sad with such a great little helper??  I neglected to mention that the table is stacked with papers topped with my Kindle.  But I have to do this!! I wouldn't be content with someone else watching my grandkids.  So, I began to think, think, think.

I started by looking through my slow cooker books to find a few recipes that I could make, and began to plan menus for the week.  As I did the menus, I put what I needed on a grocery list.   Did you know that you can do baked potatoes in a crock pot??  Well, I didn't and I'm going to try it out.  With some decent planning and my "triple threat" crock pot, I should be able to put some easy, healthy meals on the table. How does "Peachy Pork Chops" or "Beefy Mushroom Steak" or "Apricot Chicken" sound?  Daughter Mary is a huge Rachel Ray fan, and is going to loan me one of her cookbooks.  Hopefully, I can find some 30-minute meals to add to my repertoire.

I've never prepared veggies in advance, but it sounds like it would work.  I'm thinking that if I chop the veggies for soups or stews the night before, I just have to throw it all in the crock pot the next morning.  And by using my new bread books, I can mix up bread dough on the weekend and bake it up through the week.  So, wish me luck.

2 comments:

JustCindy said...

Good for you! You will also remember how to juggle Jake in one hand while you eat with the other. You have the right idea using your crockpot. Your lunch menus sounds yummy.

Nancy said...

Make sure the potatoes are super dried off before putting them in the crockpot... I love them like that.. I also will put chicken pieces in the crockpot all day and then add noodles right into the juice before dinner...or just eat the chicken straight from the crockpot with veggies. I have an easy recipe for homemade veggie soup if you are interested. I make a batch and then freeze it in individual servings. I'm also diabetic so I know how it is..