The "The Nurses Check Us For Swelling Each Treatment Session" edition.

iPod shuffled to Bobby Caldwell, "What You Won't Do For Love". Nice and mellow. Some voices match the song. This is of them.  The nurses listen to our lungs, squeeze ankles, and poke stomachs looking for excess fluid. I always accuse them of feeling me up. Lol.  Sometimes I can tell some aren't to sure what to make of me.  Others ave figured out I'm a clown.  There are also nurses and techs who've seen me progress from someone who was scared, depressed and could barely stand up to the clown. :-)

So what do we eat on a renal diet?  My most recent meals have been; shrimp and low sodium smoked sausage jambalaya,  home made pizza,  beef tacos, chicken enchiladas, a vegetable meal consisting of fresh corn off the cob, fresh green beans, fresh tomato slices, fresh onion slices and cornbread, Texas chili - no beans, turkey burgers, spaghetti, and chicken and rice.  Cube Steak and Rice is on the menu for this week. 

Breakfast is usually eggs, turkey sausage and toast. I love grits, but the no salt rule kills grits for me. Grits really need salt.  Cheese can save grits, but cheese has phosphorus and sodium.  I'd rather use my meager portion of cheese on something else. I can also have pancakes or waffles, but I really prefer the eggs so I can get in my protein.  "Baby, I'm For Real", The Originals.  I was in junior high (using jr high dates me ), now called middle school, when this came out. I thought it was so pretty and dreamed about someone feeling that way about me. Getting in my protein. I'm supposed to get 7 serving of proteins a day. Lol. When the dietician told me that, I was like, wtf?  I'm barely eating a single meal (we don't have to worry about that now - lol ).  A single portion of protein is the size of a deck  of cards or a fist, not the super sized portions we are served in restaurants. Snacks tend to be fruit, cookies, marshmallow treats (apparently the official food of dialysis patients everywhere), low salt crackers.  We've really moved away from processed food. 

I wanted a meal my mom used to make this time of the year. We'd spend time at the cottage and fresh vegetables were always available. Farmers on back roads always had fresh produce and eggs ( once she wanted several dozen eggs, we had to wait for the hens to lay the rest of the eggs to complete the order....color me surprised that the eggs came out hot - lol.  I was used to eggs coming from the refrigerator ).   The meal was fresh corn, fresh green beans and tomatoes. Usually the vegetables had been picked the same day as mom cooked them. I got mine from Kroger.  Anyway, I've mastered the corn off the cob.  And thanks to Rachel Ray, we can slice the corn off the cob without kernels flying around the kitchen. 

The green beans were going to more of a challenge. I'd never cooked fresh green beans. Lol. My cousins and I prided ourselves on our lack of some cooking skills (cough-turkey-cough). Fresh green beans was in that category for me.  Now when our folks cooked them, they had hammocks and potatoes.  Both were no-nos for me. I already had a recipe for vegetarian greens, I decided to try it for my green beans. 

My recipe?  Heat up some olive oil, sauté fresh onions and garlic.  Add some red pepper flakes.  Let the oil get infused with those ingredients. Add the green beans ( 1 pound is not enough -lol ). Let the beans sauté for about five minutes.  Add chicken broth and some jalapeño pepper slices and jalapeño pepper juice from a jar. Cover for about 20 minutes.  Take lid off and reduce the liquid.  O.M.G.  That was delicious!!!  

I've included some portion size guides. :-)  Signing off with Beyonce, "Me, Myself and I". "...I'm gonna be my own best friend". Gotta love yourself first. :)