Relearning how to eat

My husband was surprised with bypass surgery 2-1/2 weeks ago and since then we have been learning how to eat! Reading labels is a startling experience with many of our regular favorites now on the don't buy- don't eat list. But it has also opened us up to experimenting with food that actually IS good for us and making it enjoyable.

Not every meal has been a big success. The chick pea, no-fry falafel patties may have been better if we had had an onion in the house. Since we didn't, I substituted yellow bush beans (which we have a mountain of from the garden)to replace the moisture. I used lots of gourmet ground pepper instead of salt. The year-old frozen oat bran pitas had not improved with age. So overall, though nourishing, it was NOT an acceptable dinner.

Tonight we had our first actual meat meal. Well-trimmed boneless pork ribs with corn-on-the-cob and butternut squash. Who knew that you could enjoy corn without butter and salt? I found a recipe on
Eating Well.com for Mexican Grilled Corn.

2 tablespoons low fat mayo
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Squeeze some fresh lime on the cob and then spread with the sauce. Sprinkle finely shredded cheese on the corn. We used Asiago while the recipe recommended an aged Mexican cheese called Cotija or Parmesan. Never missed the salt and butter. It was delicious. So much so that we are going to run out and buy more corn tomorrow. For two ears of corn, half the sauce recipe would suffice.

The butternut squash has been decorating the kitchen counter since last fall. Now that new ones are growing in the garden, we need to finish eating last year's crop. Our norm would be to cut it in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, and add butter, chopped pecans and brown sugar. (yeah, no wonder he had high cholesterol.)Tonight we sprinkled Splenda on the squash and that was pretty acceptable. Since the garden is already producing more Butternut and Acorn squash, it will require some research to dress them up.

Another interesting and satisfactory dinner. Tomorrow the plan is to make our own salt-free pizza sauce, from last year's frozen tomatoes, and see what we can use to top a whole wheat Bobolo pizza crust! Maybe bush beans?