Not The Hospice You Know

In many ways this has been a God-send for Carl and I. Like most people the word Hospice is scary and says it’s over; prepare for the end. This is not the focus of palliative care. Whether it’s short term quality of life or  long term, the medical team helps both the patient and the family.

The treatment regimen prescribed by his cardiologist is continued. He has a music therapist who gets him to exercise along with discussions about music; a nurse that checks him once a week and reports to the doctor; an aide to help him with showers; a social worker who assesses emotional and mental well-being and any needs I might have; a chaplain and a doctor. Since Carl was a pastor he and the chaplain have some enjoyable discourses. Equipment that I would normally have to buy or pay a co-payment, durable and disposable is 100% paid for through Medicare. It is my hope that his next heart assessment will show it’s increase in strength. If we are successful, he won’t need this kind of care. If not, I am glad to have it.

Attached is a link that explains palliative care. It’s a quick but informative read.

https://getpalliativecare.org/

Cornbread and Soup Update

Guess what? I made the cornbread and forgot to put the Ener-G egg substitute. Now I have to make it again with it and then the aguafaba. Must be true to my scientific process.😀😂

Gluten-free Cornbread and Soup

I guess you’re asking, “What is this woman’s obsession with cornbread?” I’m a southern born and bred girl. There are just some things that have to be eaten with cornbread. My experiment was to answer the question about flour substitutions to teff or oat flour. Today I used Quinoa flour. I have eaten quinoa but I have never used the flour. I used my gluten-free cornbread recipe and substituted quinoa for soy flour. The taste was great but it didn’t rise as much as expected. I was very pleased with the browning. The other breads didn’t brown as pretty. This is not my last experiment  with cornbread.
My next experiment will be using aguafaba instead of Ener-G egg replacement. I’ve read that aguafaba can be whisked to form a meringue like product that can be used in baked goods in place of eggs. It’s suppose to make a lighter texture in baked items. Stay tuned.The soup also provided an opportunity for experimentation. I made vegetable soup with meatless Italian sausage. Pretty straight forward. The problem: to much basil. I used Young Living Essential Oil’s basil vitality. This oil is very concentrated and intense in flavor. I only intended to use 1 drop but a second one dropped before I could lift the bottle. So how do I neutralize this basil. I added chickpeas to the soup and let it simmer. Side note: I cooked a batch of chickpeas earlier. I avoid can goods when I can. The chickpeas mellowed the basil intensity and added more texture to the soup. This was a great lunch.

Strong Shallow Roots

My roots are strong but shallow!

Knowing your roots is important. If you don’t know where you came from, how can you know where you are going? Non-colored people are more likely to shout this epitaph and are thrilled to go to Scotland or that little village in Italy to discover their roots. I was watching Project Runway All Stars and in one of the episodes the 23 and Me founder offered the designers free DNA tests. She talked about the importance of knowing your ancestry, knowing your roots. There was great enthusiasm for this activity and its results. Then a commercial for Ancestry.com came on and echoed the same thing. My mind turned to my ancestry. What is it? I know it’s African but which country. Is it Ghanaian, Nigerian, Kenyan, Zambian? More often than not the response when a black person speaks about not knowing and the effect of not knowing is “Get over it. You are American.”

Because I can’t reach in to Africa with specificity of country, how deep can my roots go?

My known ancestry tree is planted in Alabama. Each branch is strong. I am the granddaughter of strong women and men. I am the great-granddaughter of strong  women and men. I am the grandneice of strong women and men. I am the mentee of strong women. They all survived Jim Crow south with wisdom and grace. They taught me how to see and perform to survive.

My roots are shallow but strong.

Can you imagine how much stronger I would be if my shallow roots ran deeper; deeper back to the black soil of a specific country, a specific city or village, a specific tribe of Africa.

Inspite of all this, I am grateful and proud of my Strong Shallow Roots!

The “Eat Loaf”

Most of us who have changed to a plant-based eating lifestyle are on a continuous search for great tasting meat substitutes.

Yesterday I prepared the Esselstyn’s “eat loaf” recipe contained in their The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook. I refrigerated it and we ate it for dinner today. I was so involved with getting the other dishes prepared that I forgot to take a picture. The picture below is what is left of the loaf. If you decide to try this, it makes enough for two loaves.

Heart healthy “Eat Loaf”

This loaf can be a meal with nothing else. It has so many different veggies; carrots, greens, beans, onions, garlic and for added texture, oats.