Financial Challenges Support Group
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I love to drink. When I quit drinking alcohol soda became my drink of choice along with coffee. Along the way I've experimented with different drinks from frozen to juices on a quest to find the perfect drink for me.
My first year in England I began to see the greatness of ginger. The best drink there is Rochester Ginger. Their slogan is With the kick of two angry mules. A wonderful night time drink.
So, my experimentations began trying to make this drink for my own. I would get close but never quite there. The problem I had was using powdered ginger. I tried so many ways to strain the powder but nothing worked.
Then a couple of months ago on a food website I saw an article about shrubs. Shrubs is another old English drink. It can be alcoholic as well as non-alcoholic. The idea is to combine fruits together and sometimes even ginger to make a drink.
I learned the secret with ginger use the root, not the powder. The first one I made was a kiwi-ginger drink. It was great! The best has been lemon ginger.
Anyway, you get some fruit, whatever you like. And if your store sells day old fruit, that's even better, it's not for eating but for drinking. You slice it up and put it in a large pot. You cut up some ginger root again this ain't for eating so, the root can still have the skin on it. With that you add a cup of sugar and a cup of apple cider vinegar. Let is set like that for an hour at least. The longer the better.
Then add two liters of water and bring to a boil. Let it set over night. The next day use a strainer to drain it and you have an amazing tangy drink. The vinegar and sugar really work well together and the ginger gives it a bite. And the vinegar acts as a good preservative to keep it fresh.
One of the worst expenses I have is eating amounts of fruits and veggies. They can be quite expensive. This drink will last me for over a week and I am getting what I need with fruits.
My latest creation? Watermelon-banana and ginger. And to add to the taste, some tonic water can be mixed in or even some club soda.
No caffeine, no high fructose corn syrup. No aspartame. Enjoy.
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With my heart condition my diet needs to be "pretty good." I can't live on junk food. So this has made fruits more affordable.
Veggies? Fresh is very expensive and canned has to much salt. The frozen ones - "steamables" - are great. One pack will give me two meals...
My first year in England I began to see the greatness of ginger. The best drink there is Rochester Ginger. Their slogan is With the kick of two angry mules. A wonderful night time drink.
So, my experimentations began trying to make this drink for my own. I would get close but never quite there. The problem I had was using powdered ginger. I tried so many ways to strain the powder but nothing worked.
Then a couple of months ago on a food website I saw an article about shrubs. Shrubs is another old English drink. It can be alcoholic as well as non-alcoholic. The idea is to combine fruits together and sometimes even ginger to make a drink.
I learned the secret with ginger use the root, not the powder. The first one I made was a kiwi-ginger drink. It was great! The best has been lemon ginger.
Anyway, you get some fruit, whatever you like. And if your store sells day old fruit, that's even better, it's not for eating but for drinking. You slice it up and put it in a large pot. You cut up some ginger root again this ain't for eating so, the root can still have the skin on it. With that you add a cup of sugar and a cup of apple cider vinegar. Let is set like that for an hour at least. The longer the better.
Then add two liters of water and bring to a boil. Let it set over night. The next day use a strainer to drain it and you have an amazing tangy drink. The vinegar and sugar really work well together and the ginger gives it a bite. And the vinegar acts as a good preservative to keep it fresh.
One of the worst expenses I have is eating amounts of fruits and veggies. They can be quite expensive. This drink will last me for over a week and I am getting what I need with fruits.
My latest creation? Watermelon-banana and ginger. And to add to the taste, some tonic water can be mixed in or even some club soda.
No caffeine, no high fructose corn syrup. No aspartame. Enjoy.
****************************************
With my heart condition my diet needs to be "pretty good." I can't live on junk food. So this has made fruits more affordable.
Veggies? Fresh is very expensive and canned has to much salt. The frozen ones - "steamables" - are great. One pack will give me two meals...
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I invited Bill to have dinner with me last Sunday. He wasn't willing to drive 7 hours to mid Michigan and teased me with his beautiful ribs!!! So, of course I ate alone and had cedar salmon
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check out that smoke ring. It tasted really good. I smothered it with Maulls BBQ sauce which is Local to St. Louis and one of the best I ever had.....
In OA there is an unwritten rule that sugar is the nectar of Beelzebub. But I had drank so much Diet Coke and I believe Aspartame has done damage to my bladder, as well as cause depression. (plus, Aspartame is likely to cause fibromyalgia)
My OA issue was the take aways. I ate so much Chinese Food MSG was my middle name. :)
I need to drink Chamomile tea more often for sleeping better and sorting out anxiety issues.
An old girlfriend had a recipe for a flu tonic - boil a few cut lemons with sliced ginger and garlic, use the reduced liquid to brew tea and add honey. I swear it works. Here's the full recipe, you could modify it as an everyday brew: http://netsperience.org/content/blog/flu-season
My doctor asked me to cut down on sugar. I like the Vitamin Water drinks, but I avoided the Zero low sugar varieties because I didn't like their taste compared to the sugared ones. I decided to give them another go. They use erythritol as a sweetener, which sounds pretty chemical. I did some research, it is produced when yeast digest sugars. Studies have shown no adverse side effects. Much safer than Aspartame. So getting used to the taste.
I have also used powdered Stevia in coffee etc.
My daughter and others ask me why I don't drink more plain water. I don't like the taste of bottled water, nor my city tap water even when I filter it and distill it (I have a home distiller for my house plants). And then I remember what W.C. Fields said: "I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it."
It's not that I overeat, but I have a ridiculously slow metabolism, and I don't exercise enough. I maintain a level (slightly over)weight on 1 1/2 meals a day, which may not be enough intake of nutrients, so I am also taking vitamin supplements at my doctor's request.
I just had my "meal" a baked potato with olive oil margarine, plus half an avocado with alfalfa sprouts and olive oil + vinegar. Other times I have a brown rice/veggie bowl, sometimes with fake soy meat or tofu. Or I have whole grain pasta + salad. Yesterday I had 2 slices of whole grain toast with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese and some pesto hummus, and a salad. I make my salads with chopped green onions, crushed garlic, Peruvian black olives, sprouts, leaf lettuce, kirby cucumber, and grape tomatoes - and sometimes avocado, which has a lot of fat, so it's not an everyday item. I dress with olive oil & balsamic vinegar. For breakfast I have whole grain cold cereal with soy milk & fresh fruit, or oatmeal with tahini, cinnamon, and honey. I also make unsweetened oatmeal with an egg cooked in it, but I have cut down on that because of my elevated cholesterol. For a treat, I have whole grain waffles with soy sausages & organic maple syrup. Sometimes I mix an egg with brown rice, scallions and grape tomatoes & nuke it for breakfast.
I got out of the habit of going to the gym when I became caretaker for my mom a few years ago, then segued into caretaker for my wife last year. I didn't ride my bike since my wife and I reunited about 5 years ago, because her friend was killed in a gruesome bike accident and it wasn't worth stressing her. When I consult on site in Manhattan I often walk 2 or 3 miles a day briskly in the city during my commute, but I have been working from home, mostly. My new job is not near the bus terminal from NJ, and only a half block from the subway stop, so I won't be walking much unless I skip a few subway stops, which is an option. Need to resume exercise routine. I have been paying for my Bally Fitness gym membership all this time, now that I am working in NYC again, there are a couple of clubs there with pools, I love swimming. But they probably won't like me swimming in a public pool until I have psoriasis on my legs reduced - it started spreading earlier this year, and it's not contagious, but looks bad. My doctor gave me a referral to a good dermatologist.
Although I am vegetarian, my cholesterol and triglycerides are on the high side, probably because of my psych med Seroquel. I'm going to ask my new Pdoc about alternatives in July. My PCP doctor prescribed Lovasa, which my insurance doesn't cover, anyway it is fish oil. I started taking Flax Seed oil capsules for Omega 3-6-9.
My uncle who had lived some time in Wisconsin taught me to make what he called Snowshoe grog....it was ginger brandy and peppermint schnapps over ice....man that was one good drink...but low and behold I have not taken alcohol into my system since June 14, 1995 which yesterday was 20yrs ago....so I am not going to try another snow shoe grog...LOL
I do not know how to make drinks like you messenger....I just keep drinking diet soda...which I just posted elsewhere about the 8 benefits of stopping drinking diet soda from Yahoo....I prob should stop....but tea can get boring...coffee is mornings only....and water is ok but it has no real appeal other than to quench thirst of heat origins.....when hotter than hell nothing beats a darn cold glass of fresh water....