Soup's On

C's treatment went well this morning, and the good news from the Doctors is that his 3 years of maintenance has been reduced based on current studies showing the extended year has no benefit towards long term recovery. So he will be done next June! Then just monthly labs for awhile to be sure he is still in remission, then quarterly checkups, and finally just an annual review. This means he will be done with treatment just before he starts school - assuming he gets to go to school next fall - and my life will change once more. I'll have to think about what that means, but I am thinking it's time to start sharing the Orenda products again. I could do that while he is in school, and still do accounting in the evenings if needs must.

For today, I am happy to be concentrating on my health, and caring for the grands. That's enough. 

Today I baked Toll House chocolate chip cookies. They looked better than any cookie I've ever made, and M says they were great. My contribution to the tins of goodies they have just now left to deliver. I never licked a finger, was never tempted to eat a cookie, and left alone with leftovers there is no real chatter about sneaking a bite. I think it's because I really know now that what I have been saying for years is actually true, scientifically speaking, that one cookie is too many and a thousand not enough. That's addiction for you.

My soup for dinner was wonderful, and I have two more 14oz portions weighed and ready for protein, plus a large container to share that can be weighed as desired for meals this coming week. My dinner was so large, and I am so full, that is feels almost sinful. But it wasn't. What is was, was full of nutrition and flavour. Onions & shallots, celery and pablano peppers, a bunch of kale, half a bag of baby carrots, half a large plastic container of baby spinach, the leftover fresh thyme and sage from Thanksgiving, two bay leaves, and a packet of Knorr's French Onion Soup. Oh, and some Mrs. Dash table blend, and the last teaspoon of poultry seasoning. After sautéing the onions and shallots until soft and golden brown, I added the diced veggies as I finished cutting them up, then added the seasonings, a 1 carton of veggie broth and half a carton of chicken broth and a 15oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes. Once the soup was bubbling, l I turned the heat down to simmer and set the timer for half an hour.  

I know Susan doesn't like soup because she finds it hard to find peace in measuring it, but I love soup and find it easy to manipulate. I use a slotted spoon or spatula to drain the veggies a bit before weighing them, then add a scoop of broth. Tonight I added in 6oz of black eyed peas (the sausage was gone) and 1oz of cream cheese for my protein and fat servings. A few twists of black peppercorns later I had a scrumpdiddlyumptious bowl of rich, thick, nutritious soup. Okay, yes I know it would have been better to leave out the cream cheese, but some days a girl just needs a little luxury in her life. And I do get a fat with dinner.

Tomorrows Food:

B: Eggs over easy, rice, oranges

L:  Green salad, gorgonzola cheese & pecans, apples & cherries

D: Veggie soup, sausage

I realized typing out my lunch that I really need to dice up some apple to actually go in the salad - that's a classic! I'll probably split the fruit, adding some apple to the salad and making up the rest of my 6oz between pomegranate seeds and cherries. Whomever it was who said Bright Line Eating was boring was not doing it very well in my humble and probably skewed opinion. We love our bright, healthy meals and they are always inviting and delicious. We don't do boring very well, it just doesn't satisfy.

I'm looking forward to a fifth Bright night in a row, and after the chores and food prep of the day I'm also looking forward to cozying up on the new couch for some holiday fare from the tv. And with everyone gone, I get to pick. I must interject here that choosing programs is never a problem, we can always just go to another room and watch what we like. And we enjoy enough of the same shows to spend some family time together each week. Of course, most nights I am working, but on weekends and holidays we tend to gather together.

BLE: Bean with Bacon Soup

 As the temperature dips from the 100s to the 70s I find myself craving soup. Rich and thick bean soup that will be almost Bright Line compliant. Because I am going to cook some bacon to crumble up into the soup.  Just a bit, just enough for the flavour. I'm also going to use ham hocks to make the base of the soup along with vegetable stock, carrots celery and onion, and a whole box of fresh baby spinach.

My intention is to be meticulous about weighing the proteins, so I will carefully separate out the ham after cooking the vegetables. After storing the base in the fridge overnight, in the morning I will be able to skim off the fat, blend up the veggies, then weigh the soup into bowls. To those I will weigh in the beans, ham, and bacon. I'm going to have to back into the measurements, weighing the ham and bacon first, then figuring out how many beans to add. (The white beans are currently in the instant pot.)

And all of a sudden it's all seeming way too complicated at this point. Which is probably why SPT doesn't eat soup - it's just not simple. Maybe that should be my strategy - how do I make this simple. Back when I did this the end of last year, I just made the pot of bean soup with tons of veggies and divided it into however many servings of beans there were in the bag.

Okay, deep breath. When the beans come out of the instant pot I'll divide them into 9 servings. After googling my reasoning is...1# of dried beans = 6 cups cooked beans, each cup should weigh about 8.5oz. 6x8.5=51 divided by 6oz servings is 8.5 servings. But I am going to add small amounts of ham and bacon to each serving so I am spreading the beans out over 9 servings. Then tomorrow after processing the veggies I'll add to the containers filling them up. Because I've been using the same glass containers for a year I know what a meal looks like. For my brain this works, and really that is the only 'rule' to Bright Line Eating. SPT likes to say there are no BLE Police. And that we should make sane choices based on what works for us. For me this recipe seems reasonable. Lots of whole plant foods spiced up with a little animal protein and fat; a compromise I can live with for now.

That being said I shouldn't feel guilty about heading into the kitchen to cook the bacon. It will be crisp, and drained, before adding it to the soup. And it's a small center cut package that will be spread out over 9 servings. Not even half an ounce each. Am I fine with that? Yes, I believe I am. Or is it the part of me that is excellent at rationalizing that is thinking this? Maybe, but I know myself well enough to know that restricting anything can set off my rebel part. 

And now I'm thinking about the pig.

Well this has turned into a rambling mess, but I suppose that is what journaling is. What did I call this venture? Writing helps me Think?