Recipe: Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread for the Bread Machine

We don't eat a lot of bread around here, but when we DO eat bread, we ONLY eat whole wheat. For a long time now, I've kept a sourdough starter going just so I can have the occasional fresh-baked loaf of whole wheat sourdough bread with an evening meal. My whole family loves it and it makes great sandwiches when there are leftovers... Here's how I make it using my bread machine. Got a loaf going now for Mandy's birthday dinner....she's 18 today!

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread for the Bread Machine


Ingredients
1 1/4 cups sourdough starter
3/4 cups warm water
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
1 3/4 teaspoons dry yeast (or 1 packet fast-rise yeast)

Directions
Put in bread machine pan in the order recommended by manufacturer. This is generally the wet ingredients first, then the dry ingredients with the yeast being the very last thing you add and that being put into a dished area in the top of the other dry ingredients.
Select basic bread cycle OR whole wheat cycle if your machine has this option.
If there is a crust selection option, go with the lighter or medium crust.

Revision?

So, December 21st I was supposed to have my surgery... I went in. They took me back. I got changed into the gown. I had labs drawn. I had an IV running. The anesthesiologist had already been in and explained that "you'll be asleep for this..." and asked me if I knew that. I told him it certainly was my preference! They gave me the "shot to help you relax." And I was waiting for my turn when one of my doc's nurses came in and asked me if I'd be okay with rescheduling for Weds, 12/23 (two days later).... UGH! Are you freaking kidding me? Well, she wasn't! The case before me, an RNY on a very heavy woman who'd had numerous previous abdominal surgeries and had tons of scarring and hernias inside, was running WAY longer than anticipated. The doc didn't think he'd be 100% to do me when he was done. SO, we rescheduled...and I went home...and I was still mad though I had to respect his decision.

Then, on 12/23, I went back and did it all over again. But, nothing went well. Took 4 tries to get an IV in and when it finally worked, it was at the hand of Atilla the uncaring doctor who gave me no choice in how he did it and basically had me in tears from the pain by the time he got it running. Then, more waiting. The anesthesiologist this time was cool too. Answered my questions and told me that he'd see if he couldn't get that IV out of my danged hand while I was under in the OR. That didn't happen, for whatever reason. But, he did get one in my arm in recovery. I was in a room shortly, but freezing and in a lot of pain--more than I remember after my RNY... I was using the morphine every 2 hours and taking Percocets every 4 hours for two days! The very first night, I got a roomie at 11 pm. LOTS of noise and suddenly losing control of the TV when I was in too much pain to do anything else! Not a happy camper!! LOL Plus, the darned nurses kept pulling the drape between us and they'd pull it so far it blocked the TV screen anyway, so even when this other chick was asleep, I couldn't make use of the TV. By the third day, I had walked enough to get the gas moving in my chest (they pump your abdomen up with gas so they can move around and see easier for the laparoscopic procedure). That pain was letting up, but the surgical incisions were still awful. And, they'd used that Dermabond (superglue) to close me up instead of stitches and it itched like a demon!! I would MUCH rather have stitches after this experience! The only good thing??? No drain!!

After I got home, I was doing more than I should have been, but you know how hard it is to sit there and see things that need done and know that no one else is going to do them......SO, I really did not take the proper amount of time to heal before I was back at it. And, I caught whatever the grandbaby had and got sick on top of it all! When I went back to work on Monday, Jan 4, I was more tired than I was before we got out for break.....UGH!!

Now, I am pretty much healed, but still have times when my abdomen sort of knots up for no known reason. I'll ask the doc about it at my followup this week. I was told that he took my pouch from "about 80 CCs" to "about 50 CCs," so I should feel more restriction to the amount of food I can eat, but have not really experienced that. I did have one incident with eating too much and some of it coming back up. Yuck! Hadn't had THAT happen in about 2 years! I guess I can eat a bit less than before, but it still seems like I can eat a lot more than I could early on... I have not seen any additional weight loss other than dropping the water weight I put on in the hospital from all the IV fluids... We'll see! This surgery was NOT about losing additional weight though! It was about fixing my hiatal hernia and the candy cane hook on my intestine below my pouch. I have seen a drop in the amount of burping and belching, but not a total alleviation of that problem. Maybe with time.....
Current weight? 210

Wow, 3 mos and so much has happened!

When I signed in just now, it said that my last post was posted Sept 11, 2009! OMG, that is 3 months ago! And, there has been SO much happen in my life since then...

I seem to recall posting about my knee scopes. I think I posted about hubby having health issues. Maybe I need to go back and read it again myself to see just what I have posted already! BRB LOL

Okay, so I posted about my knees, but not much more health-wise. I did tell you guys that I had found a bariatric doc here in FL. Dr. Shieh is great! He did my EDG on 9/23 and determined that my bypass is sort of messed up. The end of my intestine, which SHOULD come straight up to the bottom of my pouch, is hooked over like a candy cane with the end of the intestine closed up and connecting to the bottom of my pouch from the top of the candy cane hook. This means that I have my pouch, then below my pouch the food flows into this hook/chamber area and fills up there before my pouch fills up, so I essentially have TWO pouches and can eat a lot more than originally intended. In addition, I have a hernia that needs fixed. It causes lots of burping/belching every time I eat or drink ANYthing (and I do mean anything--even a sip of water!). At the time it was all diagnosed, I was not working and doc didn't think the insurance I had would cover the surgery to repair it all. Well, I have just gotten insurance approval to have this all fixed. It is technically a revision of my original RNY, but is a surgery specifically to correct the hernia and this hooked over intestine/pouch area. I will be having surgery on 12/21 and will be all fixed up afterwards. The hard part? It is really like having the RNY all over again! Teeny little pouch (as he'll make sure all is good on the actual size when he is done--it is a little large now plus the extra pouch space from the intestine), full liquids for days, etc. The good part? I have done it before and know what to expect this time. Hopefully there won't be any of that what-the-hell-did-I-do-to-myself phase this time!

In the meanwhile, I got a full-time teaching position! I am teaching social studies (world history, American history, geography, government, etc) at the very same high school that I graduated from way back in 1985. How cool is that? In a time when most of the counties here nearby laid off oodles of teachers at the end of last school year, I move back to town and get a position in the middle of the school year! Just had to be meant to be! There is a downside. The position requires dual certification--social studies AND ESE. My current certification is social studies, so I have to obtain the ESE certification. I am taking the FTCE for that this week. I'm studying and trying to get prepared. I take the test Thursday afternoon. Fingers and toes crossed and all prayers are greatly appreciated!

The World's Greatest Grandbaby has been in his dad's custody since 10/9/09. We've been to WV for court twice since then in my daughter's attempt to get him back. We've been waiting since 11/18/09 for the judge to render a ruling. How ridiculous is that? It has been almost a month now and we were told that he'd do what he could to render a quick ruling. If this is quick, I'd hate to see a slow ruling! Geez Louise! I have gotten to spend just about 18 hours with him since October 9th and we miss him dearly. We hope to have him home by Christmas.

Hubby has been through the wringer healthwise, but suffice it to say he is finally on the mend! He has had cellulitis that caused him to have a toe amputated. He had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass. Now, all that is left is the healing and that is going well.

What else??? Well, let me think and I'll post again soon!

Iron Update...

The bariatric doc called me back today and confirmed what I already knew (my hematocrit and hemoglobin numbers are in the "low" range and my ferritin is just 6.7). He wants me to do iron infusion therapy to get the numbers back up and start working on finding an iron supplement that will help keep it up once we get it there... They referred me to a hematologist and that office called me this afternoon to schedule that appointment. I will see them on 9/21 and may have the first iron infusion treatment on 9/22. Progress--finally!

Recipe: Spinach Artichoke Dip

This one looks SIMPLE and sounds yummy!

Recipe: Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients
1 box frozen spinach, thawed, rinsed and drained
1 package cream cheese
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp garlic salt
season with salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Mix cream cheese, mayo, parmesan and garlic salt until creamy. Blend well with spinach and artichoke hearts. Serve with tortilla chips, pita strips or bagel crisps (OR DIPPING ITEM OF YOUR CHOICE--whatever is on your program!). Refrigerate any leftovers promptly.

Confession is cleansing, right?

Starting weight for me was 410 pounds in 2006. These days, I range from 202 to 208 MOST days. That is a 200+ loss. My all-time low was 197. I know I will never see my goal of 185 without removal of LOTS of excess skin/tissue. But, I have also gone from a 36W or a 4X or 5X to a 14/16. I can also wear mediums in some stuff and larges in others. That is HUGE--being able to shop locally for all types of clothing! Trying stuff on in front of a mirror instead of shopping from a catalog... You all know what I mean!

I'm dealing with iron deficiency and will probably start iron infusion therapy soon. I'm getting my vitamin D up finally--51! I was down to 11 a year ago!

I have fallen off the calcium supplement wagon and only recently realized it. I hadn't taken a dose in almost two months! I had a routine before we moved from WV in June. I took them without fail, twice a day, EVERY day. Then, packing, moving, getting settled--my routine as broken, my supplements not located where they had been... Ugh! I just got them back in their place, took a dose and will start working to get back on track there.

I still battle DAILY with constipation.... How about you guys?? Had both knees scoped this past month and with the pain pills, that was even worse. Just getting back to normal (for me) now.

Eating....not sure I want to discuss that! LOL Confession time... I'm eating too many carbs (mostly complex, but still too many) and not really enough protein. I have changed my night-time snack from carbs (junk food) to nuts and or cheese, so hat is progress I suppose. But, still need to really get my eating back on track.

I moved from my home of the past 10 years, and my really strong WLS support group in June. I am back close to my immediate family, but they are not exactly the most wls friendly folks. Their eating habits are atrocious! And, they do NOT want to hear about it either. I have no support group here yet either. Heck, I only just found a new doctor Aug 27th! I'm still sort of stuck between home in WV and my interim home here. We are renting till we find/buy a house and go through another huge move. Everything seems sort of "in limbo" if you know what I mean. I think that is part of what has me so off track in everything.

Dr. Shieh, my new bariatric doc AND Labs results...UGH!

I saw Dr. Moses Shieh on 8/27. He seems to be a knowledgeable bariatric doc and even has a lab routine I can live with. I as impressed at his list of periodic labs as compared to what so many other docs request. He was happy with my surgery outcome and the fact that I've lost and kept off over 200 pounds. We talked about my iron concerns and he seems to agree that iron infusions are going to be necessary to get my numbers up again. He does want to start trying all iron supplement options again though and find one I can tolerate long term so that we can keep the numbers up once we get them there via infusions.

He ordered my labs and was going to do an EDG scope on 9/2 but had a family emergency and had to leave town, so the scope was cancelled for now. I had told him that I had reason to think my stoma may be enlarged and allowing food to pass more quickly than it did originally.

My lab results showed that my HCT and HGB were both low (lower than in Feb 09) and my Ferritin is at 6.7. It was 5.4 in February, so all the attempts at supplementation and the single dose of IV iron did practically nothing. Now that I have insurance again, I am hot to get that iron infusion therapy going. I am not going to take any chances on losing insurance again and not being able to pursue that option. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired! I feel SOOOOOOO tired all the time with my iron in the crapper!