Donna, Fiber pills aren't the worst thing in the world, but get some from your diet and increase your fluids. I am not a fan of Fiber One, but I love making muffins and banana bread with All Bran and the Martha White bran muffin mix. They freeze well so I can take out and thaw only what I want. Hmmm, maybe I need to get on the fiber kick, too!

I got everything done today: on my 4th glass of water, did my exercising. I decided I had better finish the exercising early in the mid-afternoon as we are waiting for the winter storm, we are part of the storm warning but not the ice storm warning. We generally lose power.

Thanks, everyone, glad to have some encouragement. Made my day!

Well, I'd best make last rounds in case the power goes out. hopefully we will have a good night and there will be school in the morning (I'll just stay off of that soapbox for tonight).

Night all! Kathy

Good Evening Golden Girls. Been working at adjusting my exercise schedule so I can keep it going year round. In the past I quit exercising in the summer because I'm so busy gardening and around the farm, but then come fall I don't want to start again. Gonna loose weight and keep it off this time, well that's the Goal!

MaryGee -Welcome!

Rhonda, I'm knitting wash cloths, good idea for hands- but I concluded to watch less tv cause I was eating out of boredom. Gotta figure out what works for you, good luck.

Kathy, Glad you are in better spirits today, me too! I agree about increasing water intake, makes everything work better.

Diana

Hi MaryGee - Welcome. I know what you mean about buying the heating oil all at once. My step-daughter has propane heat, but they haven't been able to come up with the money to buy it for about 5 years now. For a while either his mother or we were buying it for them, but we decided it's time for them to learn to budget for it and stand on their own two feet, so no one will buy it for them. They have been heating their home with space heaters and kerosene heaters for years. It upsets me, but it's tough love. His mother has passed away and we aren't going to be here forever, so they have to get their act together.

Bobbi - I was really nervous about the yogurt, but I think it turned out good. I wrapped the crock pot in a big towel and set it on the floor next to the heater vent. My little Maltese was really curious and kept going over and sniffing around it. LOL After 6 hours I checked it and it was thickening up nicely, but I left it there 2 more hours. Put it in the fridge at bedtime. I made it with just skim milk and 1/4 C of plain yogurt from the store. No sweetener or flavoring, because I want to experiment with it. This morning I scooped some into a little bowl and tasted it, just as it was. It is not nearly as tart as the stuff I bought from the store. I don't know if that's good or bad. I stirred in a little bit of sugar free strawberry jam and it was good like that. I am going to drain some in a strainer with some cheese cloth and see how I like that. I think I could use that on a baked potato. Or if it gets thick enough I could add some kind of flavoring, maybe some powdered ranch dip mix, and spread it on crackers. I got an email from the nutritionist and she is a little bit leary of turning off the crock pot and wrapping it in a towel. She doesn't think that will keep the temperature high enough to be safe. She is recommending I buy the yogurt maker. But I have found so many people online doing it this way and I think if it wasn't warm enough it wouldn't have thickened. If I can think up a way to store it, I don't think I will buy the yogurt maker.

I also bought some Quinoa. I got a 16 oz bag for $6. I don't know if I'm going to like it. I am going to make some Hoppin' John and put it over Quinoa instead of rice. My husband won't eat any of this stuff, but I'm tired of eating the same thing over and over. He will eat the Quinoa if I put it in soup because he won't know it's there. LOL

Karen3 - How do you check for your Afib? When I was having those palpitations my cardiologist said it was "extra beats" but not Afib and not an irregular heart beat. I don't know what the difference is. I'm glad your medication is working. How is your knee?

Rhonda - I have heard often that you need to eat to lose, but it doesn't make sense to me. When I eat, I gain. LOL They say that cutting back too far makes your body want to hold onto the fat. I guess with eating the steak you got in some good protein and then the extra water helped. Whatever it takes, I always say!

Karen31 - Good luck to you with the 1000 mile goal for 2013. That is commendable. I hope you make it! I agree is is difficult to exercise when you are coughing and congested, and they really tell you not to, but if you take it easy until the coughing subsides you should be OK. I just heard this morning that after you have a cold the cough will linger for about 3 weeks, and that's normal.

Donna/change4life - I buy Wheat Thins Fiber Select crackers. They are tasty and I try to eat some every day with some hummus or bean dip. Many people who don't like beans like bean dip. Also, when I was eating cereal, I used to add some Fiber One to Cheerios, since I didn't like the taste of the Fiber One by itself. And like Bobbi said, it can be crushed and used in meat loaf, or as a coating on chicken or as a topping. The skins of fruit like apples contains fiber and so does the skin of baked potatoes. There are things like this that you can fit into your diet that might not be a lot of fiber, but a little here and there adds up.

Carol Sue...I agree and disagree with your nutritionist. Back in BC they didn't have refrigeration and Iran is in the desert, yet they thrived on yogurt. I think having the yogurt maker is more of a convenience than a necessary. You know how many calories are in each jar where as one unit you'd have to weigh it and divide the calories into oz to figure out each serving. I put one jar (57 calories) into the cheese maker and I'll know there will be 57 calories in that batch of cheese. I'm so happy you're satisified with your crock pot yogurt, putting sugar free jam in it is a good idea. I have so many bags of frozen applesauce from our trees, I usually put applesauce and cinnamon in my breakfast yogurt.

Bobbi - As for what the nutritionist said about the yogurt, not one person online who talked about making the yogurt in the crockpot said anything about it spoiling, or getting sick from eating it. I ate some this morning and I'm still OK. LOL

I think I need a cheese maker more than a yogurt maker. I put some of my yogurt in a strainer lined with layers of cheese cloth and so far, it's not draining. Maybe I used too much cheesecloth, but I didn't want the yogurt to seep through, just the whey. The one I found on Amazon looks like yours but I think I'll look for one in the store before I order from Amazon. Even if I decide not to continue making homemade yogurt I can still make yogurt cheese from store bought yogurt.

I made my quinoa and I think I didn't use enough water. The directions on the package was for 4 servings and I tried to adjust but didn't seem to be puffed up enough and it was still a little crunchy. I ate it with my Hoppin' John which turned out excellent. I am not giving up on the quinoa. Directions online said to use water and quinoa 2 to 1. My pkg directions called for less water than that. I think I'm going to like it once I get the ration right.

http://www.amazon.com/Cuisipro-Donvi.../dp/B000064841

Carol...yup, thats the same brand and cheese maker as mine and I did purchase it from Amazon. You're right, you can make your own cheese from plain unsweetened store bought yogurt.

Diana...I make those dish cloths too, that is when I can find 100% cotton yarn. I had a couple dozen made up and sold them on a rummage sale I had last year, they went like hot cakes. I have a pattern where you put two together and the poem that goes with it, little britches or something like that. You can give them as a shower gift to new bride, after pulling out the string that holds them together, you get two cotton wash cloths.
Kathy...good advice on eating foods with fiber rather than pills, sorry you don't like fiber one as a breakfast cereal. Sometimes at night if my fiber isn't as high as I want it, I sprinkle dry fiber one on top of my sugar free pudding and cool whip. Tastes like a upside down pie, no kidding!

DonnaTN..I've harped on the benefits of eating lots of fiber over the years that some of the gals just gloss over me. HaHa, I can just hear them say yada, yada, yada. So I'll spare them and tell you to google the benefits. I'm proud to be the fiber queen, just don't ad anything nasty to that title. .

Good evening goldies,
Dropping by for a quick hello. I'm starting to rot. We have had rain for a week and a half. I'm flooded in. There is so much water everywhere. We have 2 ways of getting out and one of them is impassable. The other way out is only by 4x4. Young son has my truck to go to work. I'm so sick of this rain and water. I need sunshine.
Diet is going ok so far. I just need to get off my behind. The weather is so gloomy that's how I'm feeling.

Gotta run
Cajun

OK Carol Sue-I'm new to this board...what's a Hoppin' John? I see you have it for breakfast so I assume it's a muffin or pancake? Or maybe some type of oatmeal mixutre?

Reading this month's board I see folks from one end of the continent (can't even say country) to the other, so I'm sure I'll have more questions on local foods, etc. Like soda = pop = tonic; and hero = sub = grinder = hogie.

I have to say Im jealous of all you "farm girls" - I see references to home-made applesauce from fruit trees; and home-made yogurt; and frozen fresh fruits and veggies; and fish from the lake; or hunted elk/venison. I grew up in New York City and now live in MA -- never did any of that. I was proud of the flower garden my first husband and I had when we first moved to MA. Now that I don't work anymore, I should make the effort to learn to do some cooking from scratch.

Have a good day/evening all.

I have a hernia, and it is getting worse.

It will protrude several times a day, and I have to push it in (umbilical) It is happening more and more. Once in a while, it get stuck. When that happens if is excruciatingly painful.

Had an episode tonight. 3 hours of horrible terrible pain.

I'm OK now, but I have to bite the bullet and go to a surgeon.

:*(

Good evening, ladies. It's been a pretty good day, so except for my sore thighs from yesterday's new exercise that I did, I can't complain. Water--done, had tap class tonight so exercise is done too. Right on my meal plan today.

Oh, Cajun, I am right there with you. We are trying to dry out, too. I am glad that the temp stayed where it did last night, so that we didn't have any ice. What a wet start to 2013!

Mary, Hoppin' John is soup, one I never had when I grew up in Chicago. Had it once when we first moved to KY. Once was more than enough for me. I know that my friends have it on New Year's Day for good luck.

TNDonna, glad you are going to the surgeon before something really bad happens with that hernia. Be thinking of you!

Bobbi, I do love Cracklin' Oat Bran, and All Bran. I like to add the All Bran to some of the other cereals I like that are lower in fiber to heft them up a bit. I like to make a cobbler-like dessert with the All Bran, a single serving fruit cup minus half the juice, cinnamon. Pop it in the microwave and add whipped cream when it's done, or a baby scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Sheesh, I was going to ask something, but it flew right out of my head. Hate that! Another time.

Goodness, it's later than I thought. Wednesday is such a goofy evening with my dance class at 5:30 and Emily's isn't until 8:30, trying to finagle dinner inbetween them. DH was sweet and made dinner for us tonight.

Everyone have a good evening and morning

Kathy

morning....no Afib in 36hrs......k3

Mary forreal and Kathy - I have only made Hoppin' John twice and I got my recipe from a can of black eyed peas. I wanted a tasty way to eat them rather than plain out of the can. Maybe in the south it's soup, but the recipe I used wasn't soup. I sauteed onion, celery and red bell pepper in some oil. When the veggies were softened I added some diced ham ( they said you could also use bacon) and the can of drained beans, adding some of the reserved liquid from the can. I also added some cayenne pepper, garlic salt and parsley flakes. Simmer. Mine was the consistency of chili and I served it over cooked white rice. This time I didn't have any ham to add so I made it vegeterian. I think it is delicious, but if you don't like beans you won't like this. Here is a recipe I found online that is similar to mine.

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/hoppin_john/

I also have a recipe for chili I want to try where you use ground turkey instead of beef and black eyed peas instead of kidney beans. Otherwise, it is a basic chile recipe, tomatoes, spices etc. I intend to try it, and I think my husband just might be willing to eat it.

Kathy - I would like more details about making the Cracklin Oat Bran with the fruit cup. I think I would like that because it would not be an overly sweet dessert (or I could control the sweetness). I am not a sweet lover. I eat those little fruit cups and I think I would love it with the Oat Bran.

Bobbi - I am wondering about your yogurt cheese. Do you add any flavoring or seasoning to it? Does it turn out similar to the goat cheese you like? Before I went to bed I tried some of my yogurt cheese on my Fiber Select crackers and it seemed a little softer and a little milder than cream cheese, but I think it would be much healthier...lower in fat. Now I have some more yogurt draining. I think I like the idea of making this 1 qt recipe of yogurt, and keeping 1/2 to eat as yogurt and making the cheese from the other half.

Mary forreal - I am also a city girl. It is only in the past couple years I have tried my hand at "home made" such as canning tomatoes, home made apple butter (I made this once) and now the homemade yogurt. It's a natural tendancy for a city girl to say "It's so much easier to go into the store and buy it," where a country girl like Bobbi has been doing this all her life. I am seeing that homemade is not only much better tasting, but cheaper, and healthier, because you control the ingredients. For example, when I made my apple butter I used gala apples. Because they are so naturally sweet, I think next time I make it I will not add any sugar to it. You won't find that in any store bought. I didn't eat much apple butter before because it was too sweet for my taste, but now I can make it the way I like it.