Hi! We are back from camping, in fact we have been for a while... I would have blogged (I think), but well, I was ill. We got back from camping on the bank holiday weekend and then by the time we had caught up on the washing, seen the necessary friends, restocked the house with food, etc, etc, it was Thursday and I suddenly got a pain in my upper right side. I thought the pain would pass, it did for a few hours, but by Friday evening it was back and just kept getting worse. I lost my appetite and I was very nauseous. Saturday we went to a kids birthday party and I had to leave early to go the the Out of Hours Clinic as I was not right and getting worse. The nice doctor at the clinic told me that she thinks it was my gall bladder and that she could either put me in hospital for the weekend or send me home with some pain killers if I promised to see my GP on Monday. She gave me codeine as painkillers, and boy did they mess with my head. It felt like my body was floating away from my head. On Monday I saw my GP who was convinced that I need to be admitted to hospital, she said that she would get in contact with the surgical team and give me a call back within an hour to confirm. Well, when she phoned an hour later she told me that because I don't have a fever that the doctors are happy for me to stay at home on pain killers, but I would still need an ultrasound and see my specialist. She told me that she would need to give me Morphine syrup to be on, but only if I got someone to assist with James... apparently you can't be alone with a two year old while you are on Morphine (gee, I wonder why?). So, Gareth took off work while I basically slept the pain away. Wednesday night I did start developing a fever, but it went on its own, and have had a few more since then. But, the pain has subsided and the fevers are now gone. Gareth has gone back to work and I am still waiting for my appointments for the ultrasound and specialist to come through. Oh, and what I had was called Biliary Colic.... apparently it will come back again and again, I am not looking forward to that.
I thought seen as I have not blogged for a while that I would share my Shepherds Pie recipe with you. It is actually a Weight Watchers recipe, but the most delicious Shepherds Pie that I have ever had. I think that it has actually become Gareth's favourite food. Although I must also tell you that I do alter this recipe quite often as I change the veg a bit. Sometimes I like to add courgettes, or add sweet potato into the mash, etc. Tonight I am adding leeks and taking out the celery, I also adding mushrooms and in the mash I am adding a swede. Basically I look at what veg I have in the house and work around that.
Ok, the recipe -
Serves 4
20 minutes to Prepare, 1hr 20-35 minutes to cook
Ingredients -
Low fat cooking spray
1 onion, finely chopped
180g Carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
500g lamb mince
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
300ml hot lamb stock
1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
650g floury potatoes, peeled and chopped
Method
1. Mist a pan with low fat cooking spray and add the onion, carrots and celery. Cook over a medium heat, stirring, for 5 minutes, then add the mince and continue to cook, stirring for a further 5-8 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, rosemary and Worcestershire sauce, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and cook gently, stirring occasionally, for 30 - 35 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Season to taste.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C. Place the potatoes in a large pan of water, cover and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and boil gently for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain thoroughly and return to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and mash until smooth.
3. Spoon the lamb into a 1.5 litre ovenproof dish and top with the mashed potato. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is crisp.
Showing posts with label liver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liver. Show all posts
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Where to start?
Well clearly I am not meant to be a person who updates their blog on a regular basis. Oh well......
James has turned into a monster and discovered the art of throwing a tantrum, great! It just means that I am ready to murder him at any given time, including when he finds it funny to empty out his box of muesli on my kitchen floor and draw pictures in it. I think it is safe to say that the terrible two's are hitting us already, as my child now throws himself on the floor and has a body wriggling, head banging, smacking, kicking, pinching, scratching, biting, screaming tantrum when he can't get his own way or if we are too slow.
Gareth has just finished his second lot of exams today. We are holding thumbs on that. Since April 16 Gareth has been away in Brentwood for work. Luckily he comes home for weekends, and has had some study leave lately, but I really can't wait for this to be over. Being a single parent to a terrible two's toddler sucks.........
And then me, where do I start? Well, as of Monday I have gone onto part time hours at work. Great! I am heavily overweight and have started Weight Watchers (and have started a second blog about that - maybe I will actually update it every now and then .......lol - http://heavysights.blogspot.com/) and I am starting at the gym on Saturday. I have a special 3 month referal programme from my doctor that I need to do. And then my kind of big, kind of probably not so big, but kind of worrying me news. Since July last year my doctor has been running blood tests on me every so often and since the beginning of the year, every couple of weeks. The have found that my CSR(?) and my ALP(?) levels are up. This is a sign of imflamation in the body, particulary the liver. My GP sent me for a scan, but they could not pick up anything, so she has refered me to the Liver Disease Clinic at Bournemouth Hospital so that I can see a specialist. Now I know that I have no reason to be concerned yet and that this is all probably because I am too fat, but when you see your name on a piece of paper and it says liver disease next to it, it kind of freaks you out a little bit, especially when I know that a friend of mine's Dad got told that he had liver cancer and 6 weeks later he was dead.... yes, I am thinking the worst, but wouldn't you? So I am asking anyone out there that reads this, if you can please muster up any vibes, prayers, thoughts or whatever it is that you do, that there is actually nothing wrong with me, and the 20 odd blood tests that my doctor has run are all wrong or that it is nothing serious. Thank you....
Well, I had better go to bed..... have an early start tomorrow. And we are having the first delivery of Organic Veg and Fruit box (and I added some fresh herbs) tomorrow, and I will need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed to think up recipes with low point values to make with my veggies..... oh and I have to have myself and James up and ready by 7am tomorrow morning.......
James has turned into a monster and discovered the art of throwing a tantrum, great! It just means that I am ready to murder him at any given time, including when he finds it funny to empty out his box of muesli on my kitchen floor and draw pictures in it. I think it is safe to say that the terrible two's are hitting us already, as my child now throws himself on the floor and has a body wriggling, head banging, smacking, kicking, pinching, scratching, biting, screaming tantrum when he can't get his own way or if we are too slow.
Gareth has just finished his second lot of exams today. We are holding thumbs on that. Since April 16 Gareth has been away in Brentwood for work. Luckily he comes home for weekends, and has had some study leave lately, but I really can't wait for this to be over. Being a single parent to a terrible two's toddler sucks.........
And then me, where do I start? Well, as of Monday I have gone onto part time hours at work. Great! I am heavily overweight and have started Weight Watchers (and have started a second blog about that - maybe I will actually update it every now and then .......lol - http://heavysights.blogspot.com/) and I am starting at the gym on Saturday. I have a special 3 month referal programme from my doctor that I need to do. And then my kind of big, kind of probably not so big, but kind of worrying me news. Since July last year my doctor has been running blood tests on me every so often and since the beginning of the year, every couple of weeks. The have found that my CSR(?) and my ALP(?) levels are up. This is a sign of imflamation in the body, particulary the liver. My GP sent me for a scan, but they could not pick up anything, so she has refered me to the Liver Disease Clinic at Bournemouth Hospital so that I can see a specialist. Now I know that I have no reason to be concerned yet and that this is all probably because I am too fat, but when you see your name on a piece of paper and it says liver disease next to it, it kind of freaks you out a little bit, especially when I know that a friend of mine's Dad got told that he had liver cancer and 6 weeks later he was dead.... yes, I am thinking the worst, but wouldn't you? So I am asking anyone out there that reads this, if you can please muster up any vibes, prayers, thoughts or whatever it is that you do, that there is actually nothing wrong with me, and the 20 odd blood tests that my doctor has run are all wrong or that it is nothing serious. Thank you....
Well, I had better go to bed..... have an early start tomorrow. And we are having the first delivery of Organic Veg and Fruit box (and I added some fresh herbs) tomorrow, and I will need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed to think up recipes with low point values to make with my veggies..... oh and I have to have myself and James up and ready by 7am tomorrow morning.......
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