Herb-a-Licious Dishes Or Save the Salt for the Slugs

No, I don't mean salty slugs. I personally don't eat them although I'm pretty sure they are very high in protein. I mean save the salt to sprinkle on the slugs in your garden, because it kills them. And, guess what--it can kill you too!

My spice rack is where the magic of cooking flavorful salt-free foods begins. My son Ron made it for me, according to my needs and the space available. It's in a most convenient space a few feet from my stove, my counters, my table, and my pantry, and it's alphabetized (so my sister suggested; I used to have it arranged according to whether food is sweet, hot, spicy, meat, vegetables, etc.) so I just step over to it whenever I'm cooking or baking, and choose my spices and  herbs. I grow herbs too. My family is so accustomed to taste-full food that when we eat out they can tell that much of the flavor is just from salt.

I especially appreciate my spices and herbs now that I must stay gluten-free.

Lists are pretty boring, so skip this list unless you REALLY want to know what I flavor my food with. 

Allspice, ground; Allspice, whole; Alum; Anis; Arrowroot; Bacon bits (real);Basil (a dozen varieties in my garden too); Cayenne; Celery salt; Celery seeds; Chili powder; Chive rings(and in my garden); Cilantro (in my garden too); Cinnamon sticks; Cinnamon powder; Cloves ground; Cloves whole; Cumin; Curry (very hot); Dill leaves (and in garden); Dill seeds; Garlic minced; Garlic powdered; Ginger ground; Mace ground; Marjoram; Mustard ground; Mustard whole; Nutmeg ground; Nutmeg whole; Onion chopped (and in my garden); Onion powdered; Oregano (and in garden); Paprika; Parsley (and in a flower pot); Pepper black; Pepper red crushed (and from my garden); Pepper white; Rosemary; Saffron; Sage ground; Savory; Sesame seed; Tartar, cream of; Thyme (and in garden); Turmeric; plus 12 salt-free blends.

This spicy soup is delicious.

Curried Carrot Soup

Sauté in 1 T of oil

5 stalks chopped celery

3 chopped onions

Add

5# of chopped carrots (in a 2-gallon pot)

Water to cover

Enough low-sodium bouillion to flavor (I used 11 tsp)

2 T strong curry

In last moments of cooking, add fresh or dry parsley to taste

This recipe is delicious. It makes two gallons of soup, with only 1335 calories in the entire pot. That’s less than 42 calories per cup. We each had a very large serving bowl of this soup as part of the main course. However, I added turkey sausages in the last 15 minutes of cooking the soup, so we had meat in our main course too. My son ate his on bread. I ate mine with prepared mustard (no gluten I hope).

I HAVE LOST 48 POUNDS. MY OLD CLOTHES GOT SO LOOSE I FINALLY DONATED THEM TO GOODWILL AND I'M PULLING OUT SOME OLDER, SMALLER CLOTHING. SOME OF THAT IS TOO LARGE FOR ME TOO. MY WEIGHT LOSS IS STILL MUCH SLOWER THAN PREVIOUSLY, BUT I AM HAPPY THAT IT CONTINUES AS I CONTINUE TO KEEP COUNT OF AND AVERAGE MY CALORIE INTAKE. MY AVERAGE AS OF YESTERDAY IS 1550/DAY.

16 Pounds Down; 68 to Go

Today I weighed myself at the hospital, on the same scale I weighed myself on February 7, the day after my diet started. I was very pleased to see that I had lost 16 pounds in 64 days. Since I'm such an "average" freak (you'll have to decide on the meaning of that), let's see how that works out mathematically. Dieting 64 days and losing 16 pounds means that I lost one pound every four days on the average.

Frankly, that seems like way too much. If the body of a 63-year-old woman my height requires 1943 calories a day to maintain a healthy weight, and my average consumption is 1554 calories per day, then I'm eating only 389 calories per day less. That's not really very much. Reckoning that a pound of body fat equates to about 3500 calories, it should take me about nine days to lose a pound. I'd be satisfied with that. I'm not exercising enough to cause many extra calories to burn. I'm wondering if the large weight loss is just because my obesity required many more calories in maintenance; in fact, one website said I would need over 3,000 calories a day to stay large. By that reckoning, I'm eating WAY less than I would need to stay big. Is that how "nature rules"? I'm sure that at some point, my calorie intake will more closely match maintenance calories.

I will continue to keep my average about the same as it is now, and I'll have to count calories well into the future so I don't bounce back again. I'll also continue to eat a well-balanced diet. Now that spring has finally sprung and my garden is calling me, I'll be getting more physical activity as well. My goal every growing season is to make my garden more spectacular than it was the year before, and that means working harder and longer than the year before!