Hi again! Wodka - I'm no angel by a long shot. I am using my Weight Watchers to guide me. My winter tune-up has a lot to do with mentally taking better care of myself. It's too easy to beat ourselves up - which I can do when I'm not taking care. And for me it is a daily effort to pay attention to what I am eating that creates a balanced diet. I totally get the not being hungry at times - especially when stressed. You have a lot on your plate to deal with. Giving as much as you do to support your husband takes a lot of energy which is why paying attention to trying to eat on some sort of regular pattern is very important right now. You need to pay attention Wodka to yourself too. Keep your strength up. I trip and fall all over the place on my journey. My help with WW is facing the truth and keeping a journal of my foods. Some days are great, some not too good. It's the overall picture every week I strive for. We all need a piece of cake, cookie (sorry Simon) and some comfort. I'm just trying to pay more attention to portion sizes. And I use lunch plates for dinner because it's more what my Mom used to serve and she kept her weight all her life. Granted she loved and ate many vegetables in her meals. So Hang In There Wodka. Even if one meal a day you can incorporate something for Wodka from your daily goals, I think right now that would be great. You have come such a long, long way from your first post here. I was so happy to see you still here after my coming and going over the last couple of years. Don't ever beat yourself up and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. You have been amazing on your journey. I'm so pleased to hear Bob's care can come closer to home. It will be of more comfort for Bob not to travel so much as well as for you. I continue to send positive energy, prayers to you and Bob. Hang in there Wodka. I'm so glad you are here. Hi Raeanne. I have not done SS but many folk have had lots of success with her diet. Suzanne is a wonderful lady. She is inspirational in so many ways. I remember years ago she published a book of poems. Her tenderness and intimate thoughts came out. Her beauty comes from within more than what we see on covers. I believe you too will have success with her positive energy coaching you along the way. Dee you are wise to stay home. Too many folk go to work when a few days of rest would get them on the road to recovery so much better. Years ago while serving in the military we had to report on 'sick parade' - medical clinic - where the doctors would decide if you went to work or went home. I hated that. There were so many times I should have been home in bed. Forget the fact I had to bus halfway across town to get to the clinic with a fever, or flu, infecting everything I touched and people I sat next too. Not funny at all. You take good care of yourself Dee. I am glad you can stay home to recover. My goodness I yap alot, eh? Hugs to all, Peggy

Thanks for the replies and video. I don't have a large kitchen, but I will be either constructing or purchasing a large pasta board. As for me, I have nothing against store-bought pasta. I'm doing this simply because I want to learn how to make pasta from scratch. I don't have anything against using a machine, but I don't have room for another machine. Personally, I prefer not to use machines when I can use my hands. For my space and my personal needs, a wooden pasta board and pasta rolling pin make the most sense. I do have two places in mind that offer pasta rolling pins with sock so I guess I'll go ahead and contact them. I was just hoping to get more information here before placing an order, especially regarding the one egg, two egg, three egg rule for the rolling pin length (or something like that). Thanks again for the feedback.

There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with making casseroles! It's one of the economical bonuses on a tight food budget, and a way to use small amounts of foods that might otherwise go to waste. (As we all know, wasted food is the most expensive food we buy.) Here's what I teach in nutrition classes about casseroles and other mixed foods items (like pizza, tacos, stir-fry, and fusion bowls). It's not volume, it's nutrition and the number of servings within the mixed-ingredient meal. Just because the ingredients are combined doesn't mean you don't count them towards your daily requirements of servings for each food group for the day.... Nor are casseroles an excuse to over-eat because you make large portions using cheap ingredients. To be economical: "Stretch" an expensive protein (meat) with a low-costing protein (eggs, beans, dairy, peas, lentils, whole grains like amaranth/quinoa, nuts, plant proteins like seitan and leafy greens, even protein powders...); NOT more grains/starches in the form of pasta, rice, tortillas, and fillers like high-sodium condensed soup - with just a token amount of protein per serving. Most people consume far too many servings of grains/starches as it is. Especially those that are typically empty calories, highly-processed, low-in fiber, high-glycemic, and void of nutrition. Examples: I serve a small 1/2 serving of chicken (about 1- to 1-1/2 oz. - a small tenderloin or a small chicken leg) with white cannellini beans for the remainder of the protein serving. A nice example of a recipe I did this with is "Tuscan Rosemary Chicken and White Beans" (http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/tuscan-rosemary-chicken-and-white-beans/854e2207-1eb9-43e9-a118-0301f615cc05). I use smaller portions of meat and increase the vegetables. Tuna salad - add hard cooked eggs and/or cannellini beans to the mixture as high-protein extenders to get more servings of protein. Before going gluten-free, I would mix homemade gluten, ground (aka "wheat meat" or seitan) 50/50 with any kind of ground meat as a high-protein, plant-based meat extender. Food-for-thought: Tuna is NOT an inexpensive protein when you figure the cost by the pound. A 5-oz. can of tuna that costs 69-cents = $2.21 (rounded up) per pound. If you spend $1.19 per can = $3.81 per pound (rounded up) A serving of protein is 2-3 ounces and the suggested amount is two servings of protein per day (whether from meat or alternative non-meat protein sources). Therefore, a 5-oz. can of tuna is 2.5 servings of protein. So you need to build your casserole to meet your daily requirements from all the food groups. Each serving of tuna and noodle, or tuna and rice casserole, should have at least 1- to 2-ounces of tuna and/or protein alternative in it (depending on the number of servings of protein it needs to meet for the day), and 1 oz. of starch (1/2 c. of cooked rice or pasta) per serving of grain/starch you need for the day. It's suggested by the USDA MY PLATE we consume at least 6 (1-oz.) servings of grains/starches each day. I follow the old "Basic-4" and consume 4 servings of grains each day because I gain weight eating more than that. In general, 1 ounce of meat, poultry or fish, ¼ cup cooked beans, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, or ½ ounce of nuts or seeds can be considered as 1 ounce-equivalent from the Protein Foods Group. - See more at: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/protein-foods#sthash.0TkMWywO.dpuf -Grainlady

2many, my dinners sure don't look like AnnT's and sometimes I forget to take pictures until after I have started eating, LOL. I think jasdip has taken a lesson from me in that way too, sometimes. It doesn't always have to be pretty, it just has to taste good. You don't even have to take pictures, lots of members just tell us what they had, it's all good. AnnT, Elery thinks he would like an espresso machine, I sure don't know where the heck we'd put it. Sleevendog, your sesame noodle bowl led me to my own supper tonight, which was certainly not pretty, but it was good. The recipe called it an "egg roll noodle bowl" and that's pretty descriptive. Ground pork, ginger, soy sauce, cabbage, carrots, rice noodles, and Elery and I both enjoyed it. I also started some lamb marinating for gyros tomorrow. I'm not a fan of lamb, but if I chop it up really finely, marinate the heck out of it, cover it with a ton of sauce, I can eat it. Elery loves the stuff, so I sometimes just cave in. Anyway, I was out of dried oregano, so I went out and dug some out of the snow. It was still green and aromatic: Over the weekend Dave and Elery were installing a pellet stove here, and so everyone had dinner here. (Everyone being Amanda and Dave, Makayla and Bud, Elery and I) Saturday we had baked ham, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, brussels sprouts, garlic rolls and gluten free brownies. Sunday we had pork loin, baked potatoes, green beans, fresh beer bread with sorghum molasses and gluten free shortbread squares. . I didn't take a picture either day, of course, because...well...I was busy and I forgot, LOL, except the shortbread: I baked some beer bread and this loaf of Harvest Wheat, filled with dried cherries, dried cranberries and pecans: I had some ripe bananas, so made banana muffins and drizzled them with caramel glaze: My dear helpful grandson was "in charge" of the dessert, and managed to stir the chocolate into the hot cream for the ganache just long enough to justify licking the whisk! Yeah, his sister was here too but she was too busy making mocha with my coffee and playing with the cat to help much in the kitchen. Yes, she's 14 and is already a veteran coffee drinking. I didn't start drinking coffee until I was nearly 30, but she's got a jump on that habit already! Annie