Hi Everyone!

I want to say how proud I am to see all of the people across the country out to protest what is happening to our country. I also want to thank all of the other countries who came out to support us. 

Hands Off.

This is Hwy 101 in Florence, OR. 

My town showed up.

We are a small town but here we are.

This is Portland, OR.

 Thank you to all of the people across the globe that protested for America.

We truly must stand.

Nicole

Sunday with good news

 Hi Everyone!

I guess I didn't know just how stressed out I am about Mr. M's health and everything else I have on my 45 plates. Just a number I came up with. Things feel difficult and I need to start meditating to calm myself. Stress the worst thing for lupus. Anyway, I am pretty proud of myself. With all the research on food for Mr. M. it has worked! Mr. M. had blood work done and it is all in. Everything and I do mean every number has improved. His creatine is one point to normal. The only disappointing thing is he is still quite anemic. We see the doctor in the next few weeks and I will talk to him AGAIN about that. With all of that, eating what Mr. M eats I have lost 11 lbs. Wow!

We never eat at fast food places. But home made burgers and fries are no longer on our food list. 

 

Last month I took a few photos on our trip to Salem.

This is just outside of Florence. The Siuslaw River. Yes, dark and overcast as usual. LOL	This is on Poodle Creek Road. These people have a nice spread for sure.
This is about 12 miles from Florence. Some of you may remember there was a huge fire a few years ago. This is what part of it looks like now.	Part of the same place above.
This is on a back road to Salem. Logging everywhere.	Ohhh and this is out my bedroom window. It was so pretty.

Well, I'm off to create a desert for Mr. M. He's been telling me he wants something sweet.

Me concocting kidney friendly food. Good thing I like to cook. Ohhh I do NOT have gray hair. LOL

 

Have a great Sunday.

Nicole

OMG I am so late and forgetful.

 

 Welcome To Friday Face OFF (FFO)

This is the place to show off your faces or your face. Post any type of face from any medium. You can create it, or find it in nature, or even that face in the design of the

woodwork in your house. 

Human, animal, alien, or monster. 

ANY KIND OF FACE!

 

OK blame it on old age an according to the AI too much drink?

 I totally didn't know what day it was.

 

Please join in for FFO.

Nicole

I will have a great FFO next week.

 

YAY some cake

 Hi Everyone!

In my adventure to make sure Mr. M. is eating correctly I do find some triumphs. As most of you know before all of this I did a bit of baking.

Cookies, cakes and breads are some of the things Mr. M. is missing. Ahhhhh.... it took some doing but I found a cake that is kidney friendly and is perfect to top with strawberries and a bit of cool whip. 

 

OK, so it is not like the cake in my AI but it so good.

Here is the recipe for anyone who is looking for a kidney friendly cake. I did make a few changes to lower the protein, phosphorus and potassium even more.

Original recipe.

Ingredients

1/4 C unsalted butter, 3/4 C sugar, 2 eggs, 

1 1/4 C bread flour, 3oz 2% milk.

(Before I go on. I used 6 T of aquafaba in place of the 2 eggs, and I used water in place of the milk and I used APF instead of bread flour.)

Cream butter and gradually add the sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients. At first it seemed a bit dry but keep mixing it will turn into a thick cake mixture. The recipe reads to line an 18x9 pan with parchment and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes. However, that just seemed like an awfully thin cake. So I baked mine in a loaf pan. Because there is no leaven, the cake did not rise. Duhhh... everyone knows that, right? LOL But it is perfect for kidney friendly slices. 

Using the aquafaba and the water and APF I removed 17 gms of protein from the cake. The protein in APF is less than bread flour but does contain a few more mg of phoss. But not using the eggs and milk kind of balances it out. I removed 190mg of potassium. Then I take how many slices of cake divide it by the 3ps and I get how much for each slice. Whewwww all of that for this beautiful desert.

One last note, because the cake is a bit dense it is very filling. But ohhhh Soooo good.

Let me know if you try it.

Nicole
 

 

 

going out of my mind.

 Hi Everyone!

Yes, I'm going out of my mind. 

I do believe the artist is Tina Ann

You ask me why? Trying to figure out this diet for Mr. M. I don't know how people do this. Or if they do it. For Mr. M's. stage 4 CKD, his age and weight he has limited protein 56g potassium 2-3g, and phosphorus up to 1g a day. EVERY FOOD item has those 3 things in it. And phosphorus doesn't have to be on a food label and comes in many different forms.

Here is an example. I found this (so called) kidney friendly baking powder. Regular baking powder is high in phosphorus. So I find this.

I think, great I have a substitute. However, with further research, I find that Cream of Tartar is a by product of the wind making process.  

Cream of tartar is a white, fine powder made from tartaric acid, a natural byproduct of the wine making process, specifically the crystalline acid deposited on the walls of wine vats, and is also known as potassium bitartrate or potassium hydrogen tartrate. So this substitute may be low in phosphorus but it is very high in potassium. In fact, 990mg per tsp. OK, I get it if I use 1 tsp in, say muffins and divide that 990mg by 12 it's 82.5mg of potassium per muffin. That doesn't sound like a lot but I have to add the 3ps from all of the other ingredients in the muffins. Like I wrote before, I can't believe no one has put out kidney friendly foods? In addition every web site contradicts each other. Another thing, that I didn't know before. Vegetables like spinach for example. 3 oz of Raw spinach contains 2.7 g protein, 167.4mg of potassium, and 15mg of phoss. Now let's cook this, it all changes. Protein not so much,

 it goes up to 2.9g, Potassium goes up to 839mg and phoss goes up to 100.8mg. Any vegetable that shrinks when cooked nutrients go up. If you are trying to eat a kidney friendly diet. I hope my madness helps you. LOL

Nicole

 

FFO 3/28/25

 

 Welcome To Friday Face OFF (FFO)

This is the place to show off your faces or your face. Post any type of face from any medium. You can create it, or find it in nature, or even that face in the design of the

woodwork in your house. 

Human, animal, alien, or monster. 

ANY KIND OF FACE!

 

I hope all of you had a good week. I had 3 1/2 days of gorgeous weather. I was able to get more of my garden set up and many vegetables planted. Then, up came the wind and rain. We will have heavy rain for the next 9 days. Starting at 5PM we will have 35 to 45 MPH sustained winds and 60 MPH gusts. Ohhh, I'm so flippen thrilled. I have battened down the garden and hope it will still be standing when this wind is over. 

 

This umbrella comes in handy for the garden when it is just days on end rain. I had to take them off for the wind. 

As for art, again no time at all.

A few weeks ago I had a dentist appt. Before the appt. I was informed that my dental insurance had been canceled. WHAT??? So now I have to pay out of pocket. Well, credit card.

I think I have mentioned before that lupus and especially sjogrens is very hard on teeth.

With that here is what I found for FFO.

These were all on Pinterest.

I love this girl.

and of course if I'm looking at teeth I would really like this in my house. How cool is this?

 

 Now for some features

Debra

Erika N

 

Jeannie

 

LinsArt

Don't forget to link up with Gillena

That's it for me, 

now it's time to show me your face.

Nicole