Level 1 - Day 24

My Mother's Here For 4 Weeks

While I dearly love my mother, she is the pickiest food eater I have ever known.  Her motto is, "plain is best".  She doesn't like sauces, or dressings, or mustard, or ketchup, or mayo.  Very few veggies pass her lips.  And, she despises garlic, mushrooms, whole grains, and anything she has never tried before.  Plus, she has a sweet tooth.

To say the least, it will be a challenge preparing meals for the upcoming weeks because she's not very adventurous.  My only hope is the fact that she recently found out she has Type II Diabetes.  So, sugar is out, thankfully.  Plus, her doctor wants her to eat a little healthier.

She is extremely fearful of having to take insulin, so that's my ace-in-the-hole.  Right now she is managing nicely on medication and daily finger pricks.  So, she's open to trying a few things.  We'll see what happens.

Breakfast - Fruit, then I exercised.  Afterwards I had a bowl of Kashe Whole Wheat Puffs and non-fat milk.  Plus, a little SomerSweet.  My mother had Cherrios.

AM Snack - Small organic apple.

Lunch - Leftover Basil Chicken from Day 21 and leftover green beans from last night.  My mother didn't like the pesto under the skin, so we cut it off.  It starts already!

PM Snack - A piece of pepper-jack cheese.

Dinner -  My mother loves green peppers (one of the few veggies she'll eat) so I made Stuffed Bells for 6 (found on SS web site).  Plus, sauteed prosciutto and kale.  I don't have to tell you that my mother didn't even try the kale.

What's nice about this dish is that I could prepare the meat stuffing the night before to save time.  Then, in the morning I stuffed the peppers and let them roast in a slow cooker, on low, for 7 hours.  (I used 2 each of green, red, and yellow peppers.)

While they were very good, they needed a little more flavor.  I think adding additional crushed tomatoes during the last 15-20 minutes would have helped.  As, a lot of the juices flowed to the bottom of the slow cooker.  And, I think 7 hours was too long because the larger peppers fell apart as I was taking them out of the slow cooker.

While I did miss the rice, typically found in stuffed peppers, the addition of mushrooms and canned green chili were a nice change.  When we re-heat the remainder for lunch on Friday, I'm going to add more sauce and a sprinkle of Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick to add a little more punch.