Water matters

One of the things that My Prince does for me and Mama when he comes to town is help us stock up on water.  Mama has to drink steadily because of her kidney failure and constant UTIs.  We've been so successful with this "water therapy" that her kidney is (for now) stabilized at 29% function.  For my own part, I am very protective of my kidneys.  The diabetes is expected to wreak havoc on them at some point, and I take quite a few medications that challenge my kidneys already.  So far, blood tests and a recent sonogram say that they are in good shape, but I continue to want to do my part to keep 'em happy with lots of water.  After all, both my doctor and I agree that the knuckle of my big toe may well be harboring the intention of flaring up with gout if it hasn't given me a mild preview already.

We drink water.  Lots of it.  The water of choice is distilled. 

This costs $1-$2 per day.  We only buy gallon jugs, and, whenever possible, buy the house brand (Kroger's mostly).   We have been recycling the plastic water jugs, with My Prince hauling them back to Austin for recycling pickup and both of us cutting them down to create mini-tubs out of the base for sorting and storage needs. 

Recently I discovered an HEB store--Joe V Super Savers--in this area and liked their remarkably low price on gallon jugs of water.  Joe V's sells only small quantities of distilled water at a comparatively higher price.  Signage (and branding) seemed to indicate that it is intended for baby formula.  For the rest of us, it is "drinking water."   My Prince, a great reader of labels, pointed out to me that the water accompanying the labels was likely drawn from the Houston water supply.  I shrugged, assuming that it had been at least filtered and wanting to get this part of our pre-Christmas shopping done more quickly.  He picked up 20 gallons to help fill our supply shelves.

GAG!  It tastes like dirt!  

Now I could use these jugs to water plants, make flavored drinks (to cover the taste at least), or just pour them out.  No one would really know. 

Or I could get real:

• Even Mama 's nephrologist says that distilled water is unnecessary.  She could use the trace elements found in the city water supply.  
• I grew up on this water supply.  I've tasted much worse in both East Africa and Louisiana.  (Seattle's water was yummy, tho.)
• All sorts of state and federal regulations protect the water supply.  I've even sat on committees that assured that that was so.
• Chucking out all this water will only cost about $10 or $11, but it will add 20 more plastic containers to our recycling bin--for no useful reason.

Perhaps I just need to check the local water quality reports and be brave.  After all, eventually I will get used to the taste.

Just to catch up

Sometimes I post comments on forum related to beading, another love that allows me to express myself.  I dared to respond recently to someone's post about starting a blog by offering "my insights" and realized that I hadn't actually done any blogging in quite a while.  Here is it Christmas time again, and I never even had a chance to finish sharing the delights of last year's presents.  Time flies, and elder care can be fairly time consuming even when it doesn't seem that I am doing all that much.  For writing, it's the interruptions that take their toll.  Come to think of it, I haven't been able to do much beading either.  Interruptions, again.

All is quiet right now.  My Prince has arrived to spend a week with us and share our Christmas celebration.  Mama is resting--for now.  And I really ought to take this opportunity to catch up a little.  Who knows when there will be another chance to do this?

So.  The aforementioned Yoshi blade (ceramic knife) has actually been quite the boon this past year.  I have used it almost daily for cutting vegetables, meats (even semi-frozen), and tomatoes.  I have to say, tho, that the special tomato slicer (oddly serrated knife) that I picked up at a dollar store is even better for those tough old tomato hides.  Still, I love the ceramic blade so much that I have asked Santa to bring me another one (or more).

I never had a chance to blog about my favorite new toy from last year:  An immersion blender (Quisinart Smart Stick).  While I haven't had as many opportunities to use the stick blender as I have the ceramic knife, I have to say that it works a treat.  I feel all Top Chef-y when I use it, chortling like a mad woman as I turn those veggies into a puree.

This year, Christmas is a quite a bit tamer.  Even though I had already scaled things back in 2010, working hard to be "smarter" and more relaxed about it all, there was still too much activity for one person to do.  My Prince is indeed a prince, but he's more a watcher than a doer when it comes to Christmas.  Mama gave up doing a long time ago, but she is still the focus of all our celebrations.

This year I have pretty much called it quits on anything that involves anyone else besides Mama and My Prince.  We did have three friends over last week to sing carols and share a pot luck dinner, but this week has been (and will be, I hope) very quiet.  So far, Mama and I have driven around the neighborhood to look at the Christmas lights.  Tonight we had an old family favorite for dinner.  Saturday--if the turkey thaws out--I'll cook it.  We'll have a quiet Christmas Eve, a relaxed Christmas morning, and hope for some magic in the kitchen (I'm thinking elves here, not a sudden improvement in my cooking skills).  Whatever happens, we won't starve.

Tonight's treat was Corned Beef Stew.  This was something my late father cooked.  It was always a treat.  I have changed the recipe slightly to lower the carbs (a little).

• Corned beef (canned is "traditional" at our house) - the meatier the dish, the less need for carbs.  Tonight I only had one can of corned beef in the pantry, so we here heavier on the carbs.
• Potatoes - I used red potatoes to reduce the starch a little; Daddy used Irish potatoes.  Quantity depends on how far you need to stretch the soup and how many carbs your table-mates can handle.  
• Onions - I used white onions, halved and sliced.  Actually I load up the stew with onions; suit yourself.
• Salt and pepper - I favor coarse ground pepper.  I have to go lightly on both because of assorted dietary needs (and people-who-get-cranky-about-too-much-pepper), but the stew can handle a heavy hand on the pepper.

Throw it in a pot with some water (cover the vegetables, add more if you need to stretch the stew).  Cook the vegetables until tender.   Since I am lazy about chopping the potatoes (and never peel them anymore), just quartering the smaller ones and hacking up the bigger ones, I use a potato masher to smash the potatoes once they are cooked.  This releases a little starch into the broth, but that's pretty much in the nature of potatoes anyway, I reckon.

My father thickened the broth with a flour and water paste.  I stopped doing that long ago, wanting to cut down on carbs wherever I could.  I don't think he really liked my version of the stew without that extra dose of starch, so you might want to try it both ways.

Traditionally, we serve this with cornbread.  It's yummy to crumble your cornbread into the stew, soaking up most of the broth with the bread.  Since I have to worry more about carbs, I have started eating the stew without any bread at all.  It turns out that that broth is quite yummy, and I don't miss the cornbread at all.

Tomorrow, we'll have another Christmas favorite:  Tamales.  Those we will have to buy.  I think if you remove the corn husk tamales don't actually have any carbs.  Right?


Merry Christmas!  Happy Hannukah!  Safe and happy holidays!

Food therapy

Sorta. 

It's more like blogging therapy, I suppose.  Long story short:  I've been urged to write more to gain more control of my life/body/health.  Since food is at the center of much of what is happening (and going wrong) in my life/body/health, I may as well try to channel the activity in a semi-productive way and make an effort to keep this blog going.  (I say "effort," because it's not the blogging that takes energy.  Time and space to concentrate have been challenges for well over a year.  Caregiving has taken precedence.  Now I am reminded that taking care of myself needs to be higher on the list of things to do so that I can continue to be a caregiver.)  Let's see how it goes.

So, hi, subscribers (both of you!) and readers (undetermined).  Happy New Year!  How have you greeted the new year?  So far so good?

Top Chef: DC

I spent the longest time yesterday looking for when Top Chef: DC would start.  No joy.  I found it for today, and then spent most of yesterday and today thinking, "How weird!"  I thought it was going to be on Wednesdays, instead of Thursdays, and, I thought, this could conflict with Project Runway:  "I hope they keep the schedules separated."

Mama asked me three times today what day it was.  Every time I told her it was Thursday.  And then I actually checked.  Not Thursday.

And she's the one who's supposed to be having senior moments!

It's a feast!

Feeding Mama has its challenges. Her food palette (and perhaps her palate as well) is fairly limited. She likes kid food, familiar food, and country cooking. Some of this is a reflection of the cultural foodways of East Texas and the Texas Gulf Coast. Some of it reflects economics. These days, we also have to factor in age and memory loss. If she only remembers a few food terms, then she can only request (or understand the description of) a few foods or dishes.

It is interesting then to sometimes stumble across something that Mama clearly loves but didn't know she did. Like pizza.

The most fun, however, is to cook something that she likes and see her face light up with delight when she declares, "It's a feast!" Feasts include pancakes, French toast, chicken fingers, and, these days, pizza.

Mama hasn't been well enough to go out to a restaurant for some time. This spring I have started trying to coax her into going inside (as opposed to driving through) to eat, reminding her that she doesn't have to walk (I push the wheel chair) and that she has enjoyed the restaurant before (even though she may not remember it).

My Prince and his daughter came for a brief visit recently. In order to accommodate all the food tastes in the group, I suggested that we take Mama to Cici's Pizza. She hadn't been there in at least a year, perhaps even two. She didn't remember the name or the food until we wheeled in the door--and then she remembered that she and Daddy used to love to go to Cici's when he was alive, that this was one of her favorite places to eat.

Indeed it was. I fetched and she ate. And ate. And ate. Normally she eats really small meals. I sometimes have to work hard to tempt her appetite. That night she ate seven pieces of pizza (excluding the end crusts), one cinnamon roll, one brownie, and five slices of dessert pizza. And laughed and talked and clearly had a great time.

It was, indeed, a feast.

One we will repeat as soon as possible.

Cooking for one-and-a-half

Cooking for myself has it own challenges. Cooking for both Mama and me is a whole 'nother thing. Not only do we have the difference in taste preferences, there's also the problem of appetite. Mama eats like the proverbial bird (but not a real bird--they eat half their own weight each day). Me, a little more (than the bird).

I ran across this somewhat relevant article on how to cook for "just yourself." There are some interesting ideas for shopping, storing, and cooking for one person. "Try cooking sequences that use common bases" has worked for us. I can bake a chicken (we both are happy) and take the leftover chicken (and pot juices) to make chicken and dumplings for Mama (the dumplings are taboo for me) and chicken salad for myself. If there is still chicken left over, I can use it to flavor soup with fiber-rich veggies (again, both happy).

What I dislike about the article is the contradiction in recommendations to buy smaller packages so that food doesn't go to waste and to buy in bulk and throw the excess away because it's cheaper! Maybe the author should review recommendation #9: "Try cooking sequences that use common bases." Oy!

What day of the month is this?

That's a sample of recent conversations with Mama, and that particular quote represents progress. She's had a tough time of it in the past few months when she didn't know what day it was nor care. It has--as you can tell by the long gap in posts here--also been quite hectic for me. Today she actually looked at a calendar and tried to figure out the date. This places us as close to normal as we've been in a long time.

I have myself been finding more and more time to think, including thinking about food and this blog. I'm taking a risk by trying to post again, but let's see how far we can get. I certainly have lots of thoughts to key in.

If we have stability and time for a while, here are some of the thoughts that have been occupying my mind lately: fiber, peristalsis (that's as polite as I can make it), weight loss, more cup towel, slow cookers, old kitchen tools, and more. Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving dessert

We are trying to avoid the traditional pumpkin pie this year, although it is a struggle. It's one of Mama's favorites (at this time of year). It happens that I also like this pie, so I want to avoid having one within range of my (sadly lacking) willpower. Maybe I can buy her a pie before I leave, with instructions to eat it all before I return (like that will go over well).

Big Kid Cousin came up with a recipe for pumpkin cheese cake but decided against adding to the workload by trying a complicated new recipe. I volunteered my Dreamsicle Pie, and that is what we are going with.

Originally, I "invented" this pie to serve as a pumpkin pie alternative solely because it was orange. The main ingredient is: sugar free orange Jello (or whatever the house brand equivalent might be). The important thing for this occasion is orange color and sugar free. I also "invented" this as a pie, so I made a "crust" for it. This year, we will skip the crust because of food/teeth issues for the elders.

Here's the pie:

• Make the sugar free orange gelatin according to package instructions. I use one large or 2 small packages. Allow to set in refrigerator.
• Remove your now fully set orange gelatin from the refrigerator and dump it into a blender. Add a small amount of heavy whipping cream and blend it until you have a smooth mixture that is a pastel shade of orange. Keep adding cream (but not too much) as long as you think the mixture will not become runny and still needs a lighter color.
• Pour the mixture into a glass pie dish, with or without a crust. Cooking spray might be needed if you don't have a crust. (I guess I will find out on Thanksgiving.)

The crust:

• Mix chopped pecans and a small amount of melted butter or margarine (just enough to lightly coat the pecans).
  
• Place the pecans in the bottom of a glass pie dish and press into shape to form a thin crust on the bottom (and up the sides if you have enough nuts).

With or without the crust, cover the pie with plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator for some more setting time. Cut and serve as proudly as you would a homemade pumpkin pie.

The whole pie tastes like a dreamsicle ice cream and is delicious. It has zero carbohydrates without the crust and very few with the crust. The dreamsicle taste with nuts just goes to a whole new level of yummy.

You can make this pie with other flavors of gelatin. Try something red for Valentine's Day, even green for St. Patrick's Day.

I've not tended to worry about garnishes nor bothered with any topping. You might try try it with whipped topping of some sort (mind the carbs!) or sprinkle a few nuts in the middle of the top, but the pie is certainly tasty enough without anything extra.

A shared Thanksgiving

Our thoughts are turned to Thanksgiving now as, along with the rest of America's foodies/moms/persons-with-appetites, we ponder what might be served and enjoyed on our overladen tables of autumn bounty. This year's turkey day will be very different from years past, and, I must say, I am quite looking forward to it.

For my nuclear family (i.e., My Prince and our real and fictive children), there has been little opportunity to have a Thanksgiving Dinner at our own home with just our own selves to please and serve. Instead we have had to divide ourselves among three households of our parents' generation and consume at least two massive turkey dinners within the typically four-day holiday period. These dinners have been prepared (his side of the family) by some wonderful cooks and served in mass quantities or consumed (my side of the family) at various buffets in hotels and restaurants. This was (a) expensive, (b) food coma inducing, and (c) occasionally stressful.

This year will be different in that we have removed My Prince from the struggle. He will stay--peacefully and happily--in Austin while we put together a version of Turkey Day here in Houston. Instead, for him and the grandkids still in Austin, we will share a meal on the Sunday after Thanksgiving (when I hope to be back there to prepare it). We still don't know what that meal may be, but we've all agreed that it can be as simple as Mystery Casserole just so long as we can be together and express our thankfulness for each other and the good things in our lives. I look forward to it.

Meanwhile, here in the Bayou City, Big Kid Cousin and I have collaborated to have a shared Thanksgiving Dinner, which we will prepare for our mothers and her aunt. The youngest person in the group will be >60; all of us have our own handicapped hang tags for the cars. Needless to say, BKC and I are concentrating on simple and easy fixings at the same time we are striving mightily to keep everyone from slipping into a food coma for one reason or another.

Our biggest concern in this meal is carbohydrates, of course. Three of the five participants in this feast need to avoid carbs like the plague. Getting the sugar out of the menu is pretty easy--we are opting for sugar-free on just about everything. Getting the starch out is an altogether different matter, so we are going to have to sacrifice some traditional items from the menu or seriously reinvent those items to get rid of the starch.

There are other challenges to be overcome, of course. We have picky eaters who like simple foods which would do well on the Children's Menu of a restaurant. We have menu restrictions related to gout and colitis and some concern about phosphorus levels. We also have traditionalists who can't quite see a Turkey Day without "the official Thanksgiving menu." It's gonna be fun to try to work our way through all these problems.

I look forward to it.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

This is a "transition year" for my family, so we won't be having a "traditional" Thanksgiving, whatever that is. Instead, while My Prince and the grandkids get through with all their stuff and I finally get back to Austin the Sunday after Thanksgiving Day (when we will have a meal for giving thanks), Mama and I will join Big Kid Cousin and her crew for the Big Day. It will be kinda fun, with an age range from 62 to 91.

The challenge of the day, however, is all of the food restrictions we have among us. The biggest one is the need to go low carb. Two diabetics and one quirky digestive tract pretty much dictate that we kill every carb we can find. Still, there will be an abundance of sweet tooths (teeth?!) at the table, so we are gonna have to be creative as well as careful.

I've found a nice little treasure trove of recipe and other ideas that HEB published for the 2007 holiday season (My HEB Goodness, Holiday 2007). I might just write about those if I can get a chance over the next few days. In the meantime, I'm quite interested in the page they devoted to "Tips for Diabetics During the Holidays." Here they are:

• You can control your diabetes by eating small portions.

This, I am told, is how to control a lot of things, including weight. Sadly, it's hard to turn away from something that tastes really good. That's why I find it easier to avoid the dark side of large portions by making something that needs a lot of chewing, that is filling, and has as few carbs as possible.

• Use smaller portions of bread, potatoes, and dressing (which contains starch). The vegetable dishes should be free of sauce and excessive butter. Always include fresh fruit and vegetable salads on your plate.

Or, like, don't serve bread, potatoes, and dressing--or anything else that contains high amounts of starch. Butter doesn't scare me, and (hello!) it contains no starch. Sauces are an important part of cooking and flavoring food, so why not think of sauces that contain no starch or (if you are really afraid that olive oil is going to bite you) fat. Why does everyone try to shove high carb fruits down a diabetic's throat? I eat them now and then, but fresh fruit is a serious argument for "small portions." Berries are different, of course, and I do love avocado and tomato, but I'm guessing that that's not what the HEB foodies were thinking about.

• Vegetables served with low-fat or salsa dips make good appetizers.
  

Or serve with salad dressings. I learning to make my own viniagrette (or what I call viniagrette). Tossing a bunch of carrot slices in a small bowl of that or using it for a dip is quite tasty and filling. It's harder to find things that I might like to dip into salsa.

• You can make a lot of healthy desserts by replacing sugar with products such a H-E-B's BetterSweet.

Duh! Just as big a problem, however, is getting rid of the other carbs in desserts--like flour or pre-sweetened fruit.

• Skip the crusts of pies and the icing on cakes to cut down on fat and carbohydrates.

Indeed. Or make your crusts of nuts (all nuts), and ice your cakes, if you have to have cake, with sweetened cream cheese.

• Take a long walk after a holiday meal. It will help control your blood sugar level and you'll feel better.

Word! I especially like the part of the walk that involves letting someone else do the dishes. ;)

Big Kid Cousin and I are already having great fun trying to figure out what we can cook that will satisfy the traditionalists among us and keep us all healthy.

Ike and the scrounge for ice (1)

When the power went off during Hurricane Ike, we began the countdown that would end with rotten food from the refrigerator. Since we had prepared for the loss of power by using up as much of the frozen items as possible, we didn't lose $1000 worth of meats. Still, the loss was significant. Even things like mayonnaise and salad dressings cost a fair chunk of change, and we had to throw out more cheese than I could bear to part with.

Some foods could be given a bit longer life with ice. We had already started bagging ice from the ice maker the day before the storm. Since Mama sometimes forgets how the ice maker works, we had to keep checking to make sure that the thing was still running after she had loaded a glass with ice. Sometimes it wasn't. That kept us on our toes the day before.

We stayed in touch with Next Door Cousin while we prepared for the storm and got the idea from her to freeze bottles of water. These solid chunks of ice would help keep freezer and fridge cool longer, while we waited for the power to be restored, and we could drink the water after they melted. NDC did a fine job of getting lots of bottles into the freezer; I only put in a few. Big mistake.

NDC also found that her neighbor on the other side had an old chest freezer. They turned it on and tried to freeze zip lock bags of water. Sadly, while the old freezer was willing, there just wasn't enough time for this idea to work before the storm knocked out the power. Still, it's an idea for the future.

When the power didn't come back on (sounds like I was depending on magic, doesn't it) after a couple of days, things became desperate. Our ice supply would give out on the third day (as NDC kept us in little bottles of frozen water). Food was going to spoil faster than we could eat it; drinks were going to be on the warm side. While My Prince and I were already well used to room temperature soft drinks (seriously no biggie, people), Mama doesn't drink her soft drinks without ice. Cold isn't good enough; ice is essential. So she began to really feel deprived at that point.

One ray of goodness came when Big Kid Cousin, who lives a couple of miles away, got her electricity back. No magic there, just the power of politics. BKC lives in an old folks reservation (senior citizen apartment complex) which also happens to house a lot of people who came to Texas in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina. Cheers for the Mayor of Jacinto City (Mike Jackson), State Representative Ana Hernandez, and others who went to bat for the old folks . . . seniors . . . at BKC's apartment complex. While these folks got their power back 10 days ahead of the rest of the area, a lot of suffering was eased, not to mention the potential complications for those with health problems.

Another bit of goodness about that restoration of power is that, for a few days, we could put more bottles of water in BKC's freezer--and use her stove to cook. For the first few days after the storm, there was no place to buy ice. Without power, there was no way to find information on television about the location for ice distribution. The newspaper was useless on the subject and the radio was less than useless. We were on our own, and thanks to BKC and her freezer, this was going to be doable . . . until our car broke down.

(to be continued)

43 days and 3 hurricanes

Holy mackerel! What was supposed to be a short trip to Mama's house morphed into a forty-three-day stay. The long stay was because we kept anticipating hurricanes, especially Gustav and Ike.

We did some serious preparation for Gustav and breathed a sigh of relief when he passed us by. There's no ill will in that. Everyone on the Gulf Coast knows that the best outcome is for these storms to just fizzle out. No one ever hopes for a storm to do damage anywhere. But we can't help hoping for a shift north or south just a tad, to dodge the bullet so to speak.

We dodged that bullet with Gustav, but Ike hit us dead on. That was several hectic days of preparation, one night of heavy thumps and scary thoughts, two weeks of no electricity, and who knows how many weeks of recovery.

There will be lots of foodie stories from the storm, but, for now, we are pleased to say that the whole family is safe. Mama's home suffered comparatively minor damage. Our cars fared somewhat worse. And My Prince and I finally made it home today. We had some sick plants, a huge pile of mail, and the every welcoming dust bunnies to greet us, but it was all a beautiful sight. I get to sleep in my own bed for a while, cook in my own kitchen, and maybe even send some of those dust bunnies back where they belong.

Now let's hope for no more big storms for the rest of the season.

Secret veggies

Eating green things has never been a happy occasion around our house. When our daughter was younger, I actually put green food coloring in pancakes, thinking that I could convince her that green didn't taste horrible. I can't say that that was a success, but she will (as an adult) occasionally allow a green bean to pass her lips if it's solidly encased in all the glop that goes into a green bean casserole.

My Prince has had his own unhappy relationship with green foods, but he will, at least, eat it if I put it on his plate. Having seconds is a little more iffy; there are always more green leftovers than other colors. As I've tried to cook and eat a healthier diet, some of this effort has spilled over to his plate. Thus we had the comment a few days ago, in a distinctly amazed tone of voice: "We sure are eating a lot of green vegetables these days." Ya think?

Mama has always been a vegetable eater. She's losing words these days, so it took us a while to figure out what she was referring to when she talked about having "that veggie dish" the other day. She meant the chicken pot pies that she consumes almost daily. What she likes about them, aside from all that crust and cream sauce, is the vegetables. She enjoys being taken to Cracker Barrel and having a vegetable plate. It's just that the veggies should not be too green, please, and if they have to be green they should be English peas or green beans (preferably cooked with bacon).

How can I feed these people??????

At one point, the solution for My Prince was to cover the green with bacon bits or cheese or both. I think he'd eat anything if I put cheese or bacon on it.

My new strategy is to hide the vegetables. A fun place to hide spinach, for example, is in marinara sauce. Let them think we are having spaghetti and meatballs, yes, but get a good serving of spinach in there as well. This works very well for My Prince, although he did give me the Evil Eye when I put a little broccoli in his omelet. Tricking Mama is a little harder, but I did manage to sneak in some spinach when I served spaghetti and meatballs on Friday night. She only ate a little bit, but she may have been full. It's hard to tell sometimes whether she's had enough or she's just not telling you that she is really sorry that she put that on her plate.

Anyone else have good hiding places for vegetables?

Yet another discussion of "foodie"

Having owned up to being a foodie, I am now concerned with protecting the brand, so to speak. There really is an ongoing debate (here's another episode) about whether this is a good label for people who are interested in food or whether it is pejorative. I'm starting to think that those who consider it pejorative would rather fancy themselves to be on the "epicure"/"gourmet" end of things, which then leads me to think of them as the very snobs that foodies would not want to be. More precision in definition, however, is still beyond me.

One thing I do know: Mama is not a foodie. Yes, she is interested in food. Yes, she talks (endlessly it seems) about what she has eaten recently. Yes, she spends a lot of time considering where her next meal is coming from. Her interest, however, is in getting something tasty and filling to eat in a timely manner, not in how it was prepared, what its ingredients are, and what variations might make it better. Indeed, Mama is pretty much locked in to the children's menu in most of her food tastes. Chicken fingers. Chicken pot pies. Sausage and biscuit. Cereal. Pigs-in-a-blanket. Hot dogs. That sort of thing.

Since I am staying with Mama more these days, we have had some food wars. Or at least some battles. I need healthier foods. Her menu would (a) kill me in under 10 minutes and (b) make me fatter before it did. She, on the other hand, is wasting away. She's lost another 5 pounds in the past month.

We have reached something of a detente lately. I will fix whatever she wants, if she will have it. Many times she just says she is not hungry. I will fix whatever I want and offer it to her. Most of the time she will refuse it. Oftentimes, however, she will sneak a taste of what I have cooked. If she likes it, she will get a bowl and serve herself. If she doesn't, well, there's always another pot pie in the freezer.

The battles were bad for both of us, so it's not just a matter of giving up on feeding her. I do worry about that weight loss. Indeed, it was one of the things that made me decide that I would spend most of my time at her home rather than my own. At her (great) age, this sort of weight loss is not a good thing.

My solution (aside from hoping she will eat something that I have cooked for myself) is to try to get some of those kiddie foods to carry a little nutritional value. My best success so far is nachos with fresh veggies. It's not much, I admit, but I added diced tomatoes and green onions to the chips and cheese along with some shredded baked chicken. She would so much rather have the gloppy version from Fuddrucker's, but I have managed to con her into my semi-homemade nachos a few times. I'm not sure she'd touch a tomato otherwise.

On the other hand, I had no luck whatsoever in getting her to accept carrot chips instead of corn chips with her grilled cheese sammich. *sigh*