Happy Monday! Today’s gratitude prompt is, be grateful for your body. Is my body perfect? Absolutely not! But, I still respect it and am grateful for it. I have both arms, legs, feet all of which help me to hold, lift, exercise, move in general, walk, stand, run, jump, type, etc. Even if I have some flabby triceps I am still grateful for my arms. Even if I don’t have Buns of Steel thighs, I am still grateful. I have both my hands and I am grateful for that. I have a little arthritis, so I can’t do some of the things I used to, but I am still grateful to learn to do other things instead. I am grateful for my head that houses my brain and my eyes and ears. Without my eyes and ears I wouldn’t be able to see and hear the beauty all around me. I am grateful for my chest that expands when I breathe and houses my heart and lungs. My heart and lungs the lifeline to the body. I am grateful for those. My hips and abdomen that houses my womb where my children grew and thrived for 9 months before entering this world. My kidneys which to me are just as vital as my heart and lungs. While I still have 2 only one works well. But, I am still grateful for that, and all of the learning experiences that have come with having a failed kidney. Be grateful for what you have!
Friday I made some homemade pizza. It was super easy, affordable, and had good flavor. So, why was it a fail? Because, I used puff pastry for the pizza dough. I had it on hand, it has great flavor and figured why not. It was delicious, but puff pastry is flimsy and just did not make a good pizza dough. We ate it, but we just had to cut it instead of hold it. We didn’t use a lot of sauce and just added cheese. Super affordable!
Saturday, I made Hillbilly Casserole. This is a recipe I found on Youtube. It was super easy, delicious and affordable. However, it was not very healthy for anyone with CKD, or if you are following a low carb diet. All you need is a large bag of instant potatoes. I used Idahoan and they were only 1.50. A package of bologna. I used hot dogs, of which I only had 3 left from last week. It really was not enough hot dogs to get the full affect, but it worked. The last thing you need is cheddar cheese. I used about 4 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese. Fry up the bologna, mix up the potatoes. Put it all in a casserole dish, add the cheese, and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. This has a ton of salt in it, and phosphorus. Neither of which is good for CKD. Eat this in small amounts only and add some side veggies or a salad if you can. My family loved this, though more hot dogs in it would have been preferred. We still have some left and it will be a side for our chicken and broccoli tonight. Would I make this again? Yes, but with hot dogs not bologna, which to me are the same things. I would try and be sure we had veggies or side salad though.
We still have some of the homemade pork and beans leftover. That was definitely a budget friendly meal. I actually had them over the Hillbilly Casserole for my work dinner last night. They were super delicious that way. Bu, the last three days I have been eating way too many carbs. So, today I have to get back on track.
One thing I have already learned from my budget grocery shopping is that the sales flyers come out on Sunday. There were some great deals in the paper yesterday, but I had already shopped on Friday. I won’t make that mistake again. I will have to menu plan right through to Sunday and shop on Mondays.
If you would like to learn more about Gratitude Journaling and how it can help you, or how to budget grocery shop, meal plan especially with a Chronic Disease, use the contact form after the images to message me for a free email meet and greet. All new customers get 1 month of coaching for only 25 dollars.
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Living Life With CKD 