WED.....

Good Morning everyone. First I would like to remind everyone Brians surgery is today so lets all keep him in our prayers. I know I will. Second, Im very excited about the support group tonight. Is anyone else going and do u think they would mind if my husband went with me for my first mtg? Its almost a 1 1/2 hr drive each way and I prefer not to drive all that way by myself. Third....Sam come to the mtg. Well I just got a call from my husband and his plane landed safely...hes on his way home now from Indy...only to drive back there later tonight with me . Mariah

I don't live near Kokomo, but I'm certain your husband would be welcome at the support group. It's not just you that needs support! This is a major change for your entire FAMILY as well.

Good Morning, Mariah, lLast month I took my daughter, and there was lots of husbands or a family member. I hope to see everyone but my doctor kinda put me on bedrest till the swelling goes in down knee. Hugs and Blessing, Gail Brian is in my prayers too.

Good morning one & all! Yep, support members are very welcome to the support group meetings. In fact, it's encouraged to bring your family so that they can get a better feel on what you will be/are going/ or have gone through. You do NOT need to wait till approval or surgery date to go. You all have a terrific day! Sherri

Hi Sherri, Had a question for you. A while back you posted some recipes for use after WLS. One of them was for No Bake Cookies. I tried to make some over the weekend using only Splenda in my normal recipe. They are waaayyy too sweet and almost sickening. Can you send me your recipe so I can try again. My recipe calls for 2 cups sugar so I used 2 cups Splenda, I think it was too much. Thanks

Julie, I'm at work right now and the recipe for no-bakes are at home...so when I get home tonight, I'll try to remember to add their recipe to here. If I don't, email me to remind me, ok? Here's a few other recipes I've tried that I liked (and either know by heart like the PB cookies or had the recipe card in my purse). Oh..and non-WLS people liked these as well. Bill loves the PB cookies and at work, the eclairs & strawbery dessert were gobbled right up! Sherri ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SF...Flour-less Peanut butter cookies 1 c Splenda 1 c Peanut Butter 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla Mix well, spoon onto cookie sheet. I smash them down with a fork to give them that 'peanut butter cookie' appearance. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 for 15 minutes. Let cool thoroughly on a rack before storing. Yield: Depends on size of cookie, usually ~12-18 cookies per batch. For nutritional info, add the values for the PB you used plus that for 1 egg, divide by # of cookies. Mine are usually ~90 calories/cookie...although, I do think that some of the fat from the peanut butter cooks off because you can see the greasiness on the cookie sheet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SF Chocolate eclairs Dough 1/2 c water 1/4 c butter 1/2 c flour 2 eggs Vanilla Filling 1-1/4 c cold fat-free milk 1/4 tsp vanilla 1 pk (1 oz) sf instant vanilla pudding mix 1 c fat-free whipped topping (*they just came out with SF Cool Whip) Chocolate topping 1-1/2 c cold fat-free milk 1 pk (1.4 oz) sf instant chocolate pudding mix For dough, bring water & butter to a boil. Add flour all at once, stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from heat & allow to stand for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue to beat until mixture is smooth & shiney. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag, seal. Cut a 1" hole in one corner of bag. Pipe eight 3-1/2" logs onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 400, bake an additional 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wie rack. IMMEDIATELY cut a slit to allow steam to escape (I used a pair of kitchen shears for this in order to do it fast). Cool completely. Split and set tops aside. Remove inside soft dough if needed. (I didn't need to) For filling, beat milk, vanilla, vanilla pudding mix until thickened with a mixer on low speed (~2 minutes). Fold in whipped topping. For topping, Mix for 2 minutes or until thickened on low speed milk & chocolate pudding mix. Assemble by spooning vanilla pudding mixture on top of bottom dough layer, add top top layer, top with chocolate topping. yield: 8 1 eclair = 170 calories, 7 g fat, 70 mg cholosterol, 418 mg sodium, 19 g carbs, 6 g protein ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No-Bake Strawberry dessert 1 load (10-1/2 oz) angel food cake, cut into 1" cubes 2 pk (.3 oz each) SF strawberry gelatin 2 c boiling water 1 pk (20 oz) frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed 2 c 1% milk 1 pk (1 oz) SF instant vanilla pudding mix 1 carton (8 oz) frozen reduced fat whipped topping, thawed Arange cake cubes in a single layer in a 13"x9"x2" dish. In a bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water, stir in strawberries. Pour over cake and gently press cake down. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. In a bowl, whisk milk & pudding mix for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Spoon over gelatin layer. Spread with whipped topping. Refrigerate until serving. Yield: 20 servings 1 serving = 92 calories, 2 g fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 172 mg sodium, 16 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I didn't dump or have any problems with any of these. Remember, if use lower calorie (or higher) items than what is listed above, adjust the serving nutritional items as needed. Myself, I used light butter instead of regular, I'll use SF when-ever possible (like the Cool Whip) and fat free milk instead of 1%.

Julie, Here's the recipe for the no-bakes as was given to me by my sister Cindy..who is ~3 yrs post op. I think the next batch I make I'm going to try replacing a small portion (1/2 c maybe) of the oats with Flax seed to give it a little more fiber. Sherri ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No Bake Cookies 3 c quick oats 2/3 c peanut butter 2 c splenda *1/4 c sugar (Cindy thinks they are a little bitter if you omit this..so I never tried it without adding it) 1/2 c low fat butter (1 stick) 1/2 c milk (skim) 1/3 c HERSHEY's cocoa (Cindy has tried other brands and they just didn't taste as good) 2 tsp vanilla Measure out oats & peanut butter & set aside. Combine splenda, sugar, butter, milk, cocoa, Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a rolling boil then remove from heat. Add oats, peanut butter, and vnilla. Stir quickly and mix well. Immediately drop by heaping tsp onto wzx paper or foil. Cool. Makes 2-4 dozen...depending on size of cookie.