What's on your Thursday menu,RNYers?

Mine has a yogurt setting,and came with the recipe, but the process is: Boil 2 qt of milk 1%, 2% or whole. Cool to 115-120 degrees F (*too hot will kill the cultures, to cool and the cultures will have trouble growing) Add, to the warmed milk, a 4-5 oz container active culture greek yogurt and gently combine. Return the cover to the IP and set time to culture. I let it culture(grow) for 10 hours. Strain with cheese cloth for desired thickness (greek style) or refrigerate as is. I prefer the consistency of softened cream cheese.

If you're culturing without IP setting, or in a heavy dutch oven, cover and wrap in thick bath towel in warm, draft free area of kitchen. Let set to culture, then strain. I made yogurt in a dutch oven until I got the IP; I much prefer the IP method for ease and finished product.

As I've gotten more confident, I now use a gallon of milk and 2- 5oz greek yogurts. I personally prefer using bought yogurt to add in rather than some of the homemade yogurt.

Oh, also, a skin may form on the milk after the boil. I scoop it out with a fork.

Good luck

When I make mine In the Dutch oven, I put it the (cold) oven with the light on, wrapped in the towel For the sitting period. Keeps it out of the way and keeps it consistent temp the whole time. I have made it in IP and in the Dutch Oven, I "feel" like it's creamier and denser in the Dutch oven - might just be in my head though!

i don't have it to hand but the cold start yogurt recipe for the IP is even easier!

I make mine in the IP too.

Good morning~ SO happy it's Thursday, this week is dragging... I have a chiro appt this afternoon and I'm hopeful for another adjustment and be good to go! Considering I can't use advil, ice has been my best friend. Sitting for too long still hurts and that is where the ice comes in. The heartburn came and went a few times yesterday so I picked up some OTC omeprazole and will see if that helps. Today is Robs b-day and last night he found out he had to be in the Bay area early this morning so he had to leave the house at 3am. Poor guy. He will be exhausted when he gets home tonight. I doubt he will want to go out and celebrate. To cheer him up I gave him his card and gift early.

QOTD - Fresh tomatoes are my favorite. Growing up we used to eat them warm straight from the garden like apples. Oh and tomato sandwiches for days!! Any good ripe fresh fruit really - cherries, berries, peaches - yum! I can't remember the last time I had cherries - they are heaven and almost in peak season. I may have to get some now!

Accountability - more almonds - which was a far better choice than the fresh baked cookies in the break room!

B- coffee x 3, L&F yogurt

l-chicken breast, small caesar salad

d- TBD

s - beef jerky

Have a great day!!

morning folks!

So DH had his one year post op visit with the surgeon on Tuesday and they asked if we would be willing to speak at some of their seminars coming up...apparently we are enormous success stories and they want us to come speak to prospective patients, so that is exciting! We just have to email their coordinator and she will send us details.
I am trying to come up with a list of important things people would want to know when making a decision to have the surgery or to prepare themselves. Is there anything you wish someone would've told you before you did it? I feel like I was super prepared because I did a lot of research beforehand, so that's my biggest suggestion to people thinking about surgery.

QOTD: I absolutely love this summer chicken salad with apples walnuts and grapes that my mom makes but it's not exactly low cal...it's just an awesome summer treat!

Morning: coffee w/ SF coffeemate
B: 1/2 C Cottage cheese & no sugar added peach cup
L: parmesan bacon Shrimp & cauliflower rice, unsweetened applesauce cup
AS: L&F greek yogurt
D: garlic butter steak bites
ES: Enlightened ice cream bar

are the enlightened bars as good as a frozen L&F? I noticed on some of them the nuitutional info is similar but wasn't sure about the taste.

OMG they're soooo good. they don't have as much protein as the L&F greek yogurt (I think 6g each) but if you are craving ice cream or a sweet treat they are heavenly and low guilt lol.

Wow, that's cool. My nutritionist has asked me to speak eventually at a support group meeting. She said I'm the poster child for WLS. So far, anyway

I've been presenting to pre-op groups for a couple of years now. They usually have two of us there, occasionally three (usually a mix of RNY and VSG). Although there have been a handful of times I've been there by myself.

I first talk about my experience for about two or three minutes - why I chose to have WLS, which surgery I had, what recovery was like, how long did it take me to lose the weight. what I like about being normal weight, would I do it again. I also bring "before" pics to show them (I now have "before" pics of the other people who frequently present with me, too (there are about four of us altogether - but they rotate us. I seem to be there every time, though - but that's fine by me!) - I have "before" pics of all of us on my flashdrive). Then we open it up for questions. With some groups, pretty much the whole time is taken up with answering questions - some peeps have a ton of questions, and some groups are more engaged then others. HOWEVER, I'm always armed with an index card or two of answers to questions they SHOULD have asked but didn't, in case I come cross a quiet group. For example: 1) rate of weight loss - what factors influence this? 2) three-week stall 3) hair loss and excess skin (however, someone ALWAYS asks about this, even in the quiet groups), 4) don't buy giant tubs of protein powder before surgery. Pick up some individual packets instead 5) how vomiting is different after surgery vs before 6) constipation 7) Thrift stores are your friend during your weight loss phase 8) importance of weighing/measuring and tracking - for the rest of your life!

I usually come up with more items than that for my index card(s) - but those are some of the biggies. Just have it ready to go in case you're faced with a quiet group.

have fun with it, btw! I always do - I'm so glad they keep inviting me back!!

thank you for all the suggestions! this is great info- I will definitely prepare some notes for us