Friday, December 28, 2012

Leftovers. What to do with them

Christmas in my house is now officially over.  The guests have departed, the gifts have all been taken home by those guests or put away by us.  The wrap has been picked up by the garbage men and the recycling trucks.  The house is quiet, at least for a few days.  

Except for the fridge.  The fridge is making odd noises.  It almost sounds like someone talking.  Or better yet, groaning.  I hear it at odd times throughout the day.  It could be the fact that is is literally overflowing with leftovers.
  

Oh those leftovers.  What to do with them? I tried to send them home with my parents and my sister.  They said they didn't want them.   We have leftover turkey, potatoes, brussel sprouts, turnip, gravy, stuffing, corn.  We have leftover pie, cheese, crackers, veggie and fruit trays.  And let us not forget the Chinese food.  We have lots of leftover Chinese food.   

I walk by the fridge and I hear it speaking.  "hello?  would you like a bite of something?  aren't you feeling a little peckish?"

And so I open the fridge.  I look in.  I stare.  I move things around a little to see if I can find what it is that is talking to me.  The problem is that it is all talking to me.  I have to figure out what to do with it all.  

The big old turkey carcass has been delegated to the freezer in the basement.  Put there on Christmas night after it had been picked over.  It will become soup.  I may actually do that later tonight when I get home from work.  

I went out yesterday and bought a whack of new Rubbermaid containers.  Maybe this morning I will break out and wash them and then start putting food in them.  I'm thinking a little bit of everything in each one, and then into the freezer they will go.  That way, my daughter can grab one and take it to work with her for her lunch or dinner or whatever.  Perhaps my husband can grab one and pop it in the microwave on those nights when I start work at 5pm and don't feel like cooking beforehand. 

Or I could just make up a couple Turkey pot pies, and pop them in the freezer.  They are pretty easy to make and they keep nicely.  And all those veggies that got stuffed back in the fridge when we ran out of dip?  They would go nicely in there.  Celery, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots.  Yup that would work.  

As for the Chinese food.  That started out as our Boxing Day Feast for 16.  What is it about Chinese food?  You always think (or at least I do) that you can eat a ton of it.  Then after about a plate and a half, I realize that I cannot eat another bite.  I am stuffed.  And of course I can never bolus correctly for that stuff.  Not that that stops me from eating it once or twice a year.  I just deal with whatever comes along after the fact.  It is the holidays right?  

In fact I sort of treat the holidays as my holiday from Diabetes.  Well not exactly.  I mean really,  there is NEVER a holiday from Diabetes is there?  I just tend to eat whatever I want to eat and deal with the fallout.  I figure that I spend the whole year being a really good girl, and Santa has me on the "good" list, so my treat to me is that I eat whatever I want and try to bolus correctly.  So I'm not always bang on, but I do the best I can and enjoy myself.  

How do you handle the Holidays?  And what do you do with your leftovers?
 

      

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

time and traditions

omg  it seems like a lifetime since i've posted anything.  the days are just flying by and yet i feel as though i am standing still.

not sure what this means.  one week today and it is Christmas.  am i ready? 
absolutely not!!  will i be?  one can only hope.

my whole family has been sick for the last 2 weeks.  not a flu, not a cold, but a kind of combination.  achey, sniffly, chilled, fevery, coughing like a mad person, kind of sickness.  my husband started it and then it spread throughout the house.  i guess he didn't want to be the only one.

hopefully it will be banished from my household by Christmas.   we are drinking lot of fluids, and washing our hands like crazy.  soup is the food of the week.  between watching the grandkids (also with colds), and working every night, i have been making batches of soup.  it seems the only thing anyone feels like eating.

amazingly enough my BG's have been pretty steady throughout this whole time.  nothing too drastic.  thank goodness.

for the rest of this week, i hope to get a little Christmas baking done.  nothing fancy this year.  we are cutting back on the sweets around here!  

turkey and all the fixings will be the Christmas Day meal. a tradition we can't break away from. all of my children and their spouses and the grandkids will be here.  my parents will also be here this year.  

Cameron has learned to play "go fish" so we will be having a tournament at some point during the day!  I am looking forward to spending the day with family and enjoying our time together.

Boxing day, we will have more family join us for a second day of festivities.  my sister and her family will join us and we will open more gifts, play more games, and this time we will enjoy Chinese food for dinner.  it was decided that this would be the easiest way to feed 16 people without a lot of fuss. a break from the usual leftovers or lasagna! 

i am looking forward to spending time with family and enjoying everyone's company.

what do you do for Christmas?  are there any traditions that you keep every year?