Friday, October 31, 2014

2000 miles

While I was at the hospital yesterday for physio, I noticed that the odometer on the wheelchair had reached the 2000 mile (3200 km) mark. That's averaging just under 700 miles a year. The new batteries were installed at 149o miles so I've done over 500 miles (800 km) on them since July 4th. Pretty impressive. 

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Big Decision

A couple of days ago I decided to go vegetarian. Meat doesn't hold the same appeal it once did and it plays havoc with my gut so why not.

A FB friend asked if I wouldn't miss bacon. I told her that I haven't eaten bacon since I contracted scleroderma - too greasy/salty/rich. In fact eating with scleroderma is all about giving up the things you love to eat but in the long run, they're probably the foods that aren't good for you anyway - french fries, hamburgers, lasagna, ribs, fish and chips, the list goes on but in their place, now that I've committed to vegetarianism, I'll be on the lookout for new ideas.

So, to mark the occasion, I found a recipe for mushroom gravy, went to the market and bought some cremini and shitake mushrooms and proceeded to make the recipe. It was a lot of work but boy was it worth it. It may just be the best gravy ever. I made some substitutes like fresh herbs from my garden in place of dry and regular flour instead of rice flour (gluten free isn't an issue with me) and ghee instead of olive oil.  Froze most of it and plan to take my own gravy to Thanksgiving dinner at my son's next weekend. Today, I cooked up some mashed potatoes and slathered them with the gravy. Absolutely delicious. Vegetarianism might just be okay despite some trepidation.

Of course, because I am on TPN which supplies all my nutritional needs, I won't have to be concerned about making up for the lack of meat.

Update: Thanksgiving dinner at my son's. As planned, I stuck to mashed potatoes with my mushroom gravy, lots of mushroom gravy!  Didn't miss the other fixin's at all. Still, I ate too much and was a little bloated last night but not enough to ruin the good times. BTW, the gravy had been frozen and wasn't affected at all. Tasted jut like the first day I made it.