Ugh, come on 3 day weekend! It’s only Thursday and I’m already drained. But yesterday was another long day of work and visiting my grandma in her new care home after. And it wasn’t a fun visit because she was in a negative and bitter state getting tired of the place, the care she’s receiving, and feeling like the staff is not listening to her. I understand her frustration, it has to be a horrible change for her after living independently and having the freedom to do and eat what she wants. She was in such a state that I felt nothing I could say or do would make things better, all I could do was listen to the complaints and express sympathy for two hours.
When I got home, I was starved, tired, and cranky. But still needed something for dinner and to get in a workout. Days like this I’m thankful to have an elliptical and Bowflex at home I can use during late hours when packing up and going to a gym isn’t an option.
And it’s a great time to do a little DVR catchup. Sunday I happened to catch a FaceBook post that CNN was airing a special that night called The Last Heart Attack featuring Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of Forks Over Knives. So naturally I set the DVR to grab it and finally got a chance to watch it. I’m not sure it was a great viewing choice after a long and tough day, it was interesting and a bit infuriating. It started with interviewing Bill Clinton about his journey to a vegan diet after two major heart procedures for a health reality check. But the scary part was he supposedly had access to the best health care while in the White House and the early signs to his heart troubles weren’t caught. Essentially the special was about regular check ups and monitoring cholesterol levels not being enough to protect from heart attacks and strokes because of types and sizes of cholesterol that can be in our blood. And the average bypass surgery costs $112,000 – whoa, that’s a house!
Dr. Esselstyn was interviewed for his research on plant-based diets and success heart patients had refusing to have a bypass surgery and choosing to follow his plant-based diet instead. The takeaway message seemed to be medical procedures can only fix so much for so long and in a very expensive and painful way if lifestyle changes aren’t made. And such lifestyle changes can prevent heart attacks all together and the need for these procedures by preventing heart attacks and strokes. It hit hard for me watching the difficulty my grandma is going through now after her stroke and I didn’t need to see to gory footage of open heart surgery.
On a lighter note, I scored big getting free squashes from a co-workers garden. I’m not even sure what the green, pumpkin-like thing is, but I’m told it’s good. The two zucchinis are probably the largest I’ve seen!
They’re probably 15 times the size of the cute, little organic ones I get from Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.
And possess weapon capability.
There were other goofy hubby pics, but I try to keep this blog G rated.
There’s only one thing to do with zucchinis this large, spiral slice them into noodles of course! I had to chop them up into sections just to use the spiralizer.
And only half of one overflowed a large serving bowl.
So I slathered the noodles with a hemp seed marinara sauce I whipped up in the Vita-Mix.
For a messy, runny, but delicious dinner.
I really do think eating raw zucchini noodles saturated in a creamy hemp sauce is just as good as eating plain old pasta. Okay, so some might disagree on that, but the flavor and texture on plain pasta is boring to me.
Perfect comfort meal and now I just need to survive through tomorrow to get to the 3-day weekend! Any plans for labor day?
Like you, I can’t wait for the 3 day weekend! I do plan to see some friends but am mostly just excited for 3 days off in a row.
Is your grandma strong enough to leave the home she’s at at all? I think her situation is probably quite different from my dad’s, but it always seems to help tons when I can take him to the park or to a coffeeshop.
She’s not yet strong enough to leave, still having problems walking. I think getting her outside would help a lot though and soon I hope.
“I really do think eating raw zucchini noodles saturated in a creamy hemp sauce is just as good as eating plain old pasta” — I AGREE!!!
and those are the biggest zukes i have EVER seen!
they arent zukes, they’re baseball bats for 6 year olds :)
Your pasta looks yummy! I’ll have to try mine with a hemp dressing. We have zucchini coming out of our ears! They have literally taken over our garden. I’ve been having a ball making new recipes with these gigantor veggies. Thus far, we’ve made pasta noodles, quiche, wraps, chips, lasagna, hummus, bread, muffins – all raw, of course. Yesterday, we picked a 6 pounder at 15″ long. Batters up! ha ha
Sorry to hear about your grandma’s state. It’s so hard. Hope you have a restful and relaxing Labor(free) Day weekend. :-)
I’d definitely pay attention to your grandma’s comments about the care she’s receiving. Many homes like that are notorious for negligence or a general lack of compassionate care, and it’s horrifying. My grandmother had to stay in one for a few months while recovering from a hip replacement, but she has Alzheimers and can’t speak coherently or really understand what’s going on around her. So my family members had to be active advocates for her care, which was really subpar at times.
Gah, hope that doesn’t just depress you even more! It’s just a note of warning, and for all I know the care at your grandma’s place is just fine and your grandma is just taking things extra hard because she’s used to doing everything on her own.
Anyway, giant zucchinis are great. :) I have an overload of zucchinis from my garden, and I’d share with you if I could!
Excellent point and we’re trying to be very careful to listen. We carefully researched the place before placing her there, but that’s not enough sometimes. I’m thankful that both my mom and sister have worked at similar homes and are better at noticing the signs than me.
It must be hard to hear that from your grandmother. I can only imagine the frustrations. Visiting with her, listening to her, and caring is a great thing and has positive effects.
The zucchini dinner looks so comforting. The sauce looks super fulfilling too! I used eat spiralized zucchini with homemade creamy pesto alfredo and pesto mixed) as my go to comfort filling dinner for months back in school.
I hope things go up and life eases some stresses on you and your loved ones :)
Thanks! It’s tough, but hopefully she’ll be in a better mood today.