Last Supper

Howdy, gang. By the time you read this post, I will be in the hospital recovery from surgery to repair a hiatal hernia. Yes, my presence was requested at the hospital at 5:15 am Monday morning. Really? 5:15? What, are they trying to save money on anesthesia? Do you have any idea time I will have to wake up?

As with most surgeries they tell you not eat anything after midnight the night before. I'm cool with that. However, the details of my post-surgical diet are anything but cool.

• 2 Days Following Procedure: Clear liquid diet only
• Next 2 Weeks: Full liquid diet (ANYTHING YOU CAN POUR)
• Next 4 Weeks: Soft diet (ex: baby food, well cooked vegetables mashed, well cooked pasta, oatmeal, grits, etc. Anyone up for some baby food?)

That's 6 weeks of NO chewing. So for Sunday's meal, I was having whatever I wanted. 

But, what did I want? 

As I pondered that question, I knew I didn't want to veer from my Trim Healthy Mama eating plan. (BTW, I'm so glad Jan turned me on to this when she did. I now have LOTS of recipes for protein-packed smoothies and they will be my main source of sustenance during the full liquid phase of this diet. At least having a good source of protein will ensure I'm burning fat and not muscle. And if there's one up side to this post-surgical diet, it's that I WILL lose weight.)

Back to Sunday's meal. I'd been promising my boys brisket. 

So smoked beef brisket was at the top of my list. You can find that recipe here.

But what else did I want?

Comfort food. And it doesn't get much more comforting than this.

Yes, I got to have homemade mac and cheese without veering from THM. I just used the Dreamfields brand of macaroni and added glucomannan (you can learn more about what that is here) as a thickener instead of flour. No one could tell the difference. It was amazing.

The next thing on my comfort food list was, of all things, deviled eggs.

And apparently I'm not the only one who likes them. There were a dozen of these babies before the vultures got to them.

Which meant my plate looked like this.

I know I should have had a salad, and had intended to make one, but I just couldn't do it. I mean really, this is my last substantial meal for six weeks. Salad is not at the top of my list.

My daughter and son-in-law joined us for dinner and this was the complete spread. The mashed potatoes were for the guys and the cupcakes were to celebrate my daughter's birthday this Thursday. 

No, I did not have one. But I did make a cake-in-a-mug for me. :)  Recipe here.

Needless to say, since I'm confined to a liquid diet, I will not be doing any cooking for a while. But the wonderful ladies here at the Yankee-Belle Cafe have agreed to cover for me for a few weeks. Just think of all the smoothie recipes I'll have for you. :)

For the record, since I announced my plans to get back on track with my eating and start knocking off some of this weight that has so graciously attached itself to me, I have lost eight pounds. 

It'll be interesting to see how much I lose in the coming weeks. Though it's not exactly what I had in mind.

Now I have to ask, if you were planning your last meal, what would you choose?