Tag Archives for chronic illness

Breakfast for Dinner

I often have breakfast for dinner. After all, one of my favourite foods is pancakes. I found a simple recipe, with only four ingredients, that doesn’t require a lot of effort to make very tasty pancakes. I’ve made some small changes to the recipe

  • ½ Cup Flour
  • ¾ Cup Plain Yogurt (I use Balkan style instead of Greek)
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking soda
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • ½ Teaspoon Salt (My option)

I’m able to make the batter within about fifteen minutes. I mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) in a large mixing bowl. Then I mix the wet ingredients (yogurt and eggs) in a separate, smaller bowl. I use a hand mixer to whip the yogurt and eggs together, and then I pour them into the bowl with the dry ingredients. When the batter is smoothly whipped, I start cooking the pancakes. I lightly oil the pan with olive oil. When the pan is hot – I place it on medium heat – I pour in the batter and make medium-sized pancakes (about 14 centimeters or 5.5 inches).Yes, I actually measured them with a ruler.

While I make the pancakes, I usually sit on a chair in front of the stove. I still have difficulty standing for long periods, and making a meal – any meal – makes it necessary for me to stand. When making meals that are more complicated than pancakes I have to make the choice to power through to the end or do the prep work, take a break, then finish cooking later. Either way, how long I have to stand to prepare a meal affects my pain levels. However, this is one meal I don’t mind having a bit of extra pain to eat.

I forgot to mention, the recipe makes enough pancakes for two adults. Unless you’re someone with the appetite of a growing teen-aged boy, you can probably cut the amount of the ingredients in the recipe in half. I also like adding some scrambled eggs to my breakfast for dinner. When I finish all the cooking, before I dig in, I slather each pancake with butter and pour a healthy helping of pure maple syrup over the stack. Every forkful I eat confirms that there shouldn’t be rules for when you can eat a food. If you love something, eat it at any meal of the day to nourish your body and please your taste buds.

 

Jack Johnson – Banana Pancakes

Food Is An Expression Of Love

Cooking food for someone might be one of the best ways to express your love for her or him. Some of my family members started cooking for me when they realized how ill I am. One uncle in particular cooks multiple meals then puts the food in individual, meal-sized portion aluminum containers, which he labels so I know what meal I can look forward to eating next. I store the containers in my freezer then defrost one when I’m ready to eat a delicious home-cooked meal.

Chicken Dinner 1 Chicken Dinner 2

Before I had surgery, my uncle was one of the sources of the red meat one of my doctors ordered me to eat to raise my hemoglobin level. I remember asking him to make me a lasagne when I came home after my surgery. When he showed up to my home he had two shopper bags filled with those aluminum containers with different meals. Tonight I’m eating chicken that my uncle made for me. As it’s been warming in my oven, the aroma of it has filled my home and it smells delicious. The smell of it reminds me of how much I’m loved.

 

Booker T & the M G ‘s – Green Onions

Gratitude and Creativity: Sometimes I Forget

Sometimes I forget how blessed I am because my body is always feeling pain. However, I was reminded of my blessings yesterday when my cousin brought her three children to see me because I was hurting too much to go to her home to visit for a few days. I was so thrilled to see the children, especially the new baby who I watched come into the world thirteen days ago. The two older children burst into my home with so much life energy when I opened the door that they almost knocked me off my feet. They were so happy to see me it filled my heart. They greeted me with hugs, huge smiles, and the bright sounds of honest childhood laughter that hides nothing, as they asked me in turns to help them unzip jackets and remove shoes.

The new baby was napping in his carrier seat under soft, warm blankets. He was quiet and unmoving; until his mother gave me the go ahead to disturb his peace, and I took him out of his cozy corner of the world. When I picked him up he wiggled in my arms like a worm – he might have gained the misfortune of me using the word ‘worm’ as an endearment toward him for the rest of his life. He finally settled in my arms, almost weightless – he weighs just seven pounds now – and slid back into sleep as I held him against my chest. I had him in my arms or laying in my lap for most of the afternoon, with the only exception being when he woke up in search of his mother’s breast. It was a wonderful feeling.

I occupied the older children with a jumbo box of crayons, paper, and a children’s television channel that made their mother cringe. I’ve never been a parent so I don’t mind a few hours of children’s shows full of mindless rhyming songs and lessons on counting and primary colours. They were also easy to please with snacks that were thankfully lacking in sugar – bowls full of Cheerios™, sliced vegetables, and orange juice. What I couldn’t provide, they filled in with their imaginations. When they went home, my place was loudly quiet and still, but I felt full. I felt happy.

Today, I’m still feeling wisps of that happiness. But as I sat down to write, I realized I haven’t written anything in my art/gratitude journal in a few weeks. Instead of writing a new entry, I decided to flip through the pages of things I wrote about being grateful for in recent months. On the bottom of the page from my second entry back in April, I wrote a poem. That’s what I’m grateful for today. Not that specific poem; I’m grateful that I started writing again. Whether here or in that journal, writing is making my life with chronic pain a little easier to bear and helping me to make room for other things, happy things, in my life.

Still, sometimes I forget. What I’m hoping is that in the future I work at having more days like today where I look for ways to hold on to the joy and happiness that my cousin’s children brought to life in me yesterday.

Line To My Life