Wheat Mills

Melanie wrote: I grind my own wheat flour. I have a fabulous grinder. It processes quite a bit in such a short time. There are a lot of different brands of wheat mills on the market, maybe you should invest in one. We are also using almond flour and the oat flour. Can you eat graham crackers?

Julie has a great pancake mix recipe that I love. I use oat flour and whole wheat flour, as well as the chopped oatmeal. I love it! I don't remember how much sugar is in it, but it is minimal. Maybe you should have her give you the recipe.

Good luck and happy eating.

Myrna wrote: Julie and AnnMarie bought mills just like yours. Julie was telling me that I should get one. I think that she said Kirsten also had one like yours. My old wheat mill died. Have you tried coconut flour? I bought one of those small packages at the grocery. I used a little with the whole wheat flour to make some pancakes (with unsweetened applesauce for the sweetener). It was a bit dry, I think because of the coconut flour, so I had to add more. Dad and I really like the rye Wasa flatbread. We have been having it with our almond butter for our afternoon snack. I have one cracker and Dad has a couple. It reminds him of a bread/cracker they ate in Denmark. I didn't have that while I was there. We did have the rye bread in Denmark quite a lot. It was made at the bakery daily. It doesn't rise much and is very dense. It was good.

Julie said that you can also use applesauce for her pancake recipe to replace the sugar. Bless his heart, Jim wants to cut out sugar also. Julie and I have been trying all sorts of deserts. Jim's Aunt just loaned Julie a cookbook that uses fruit and juices for sugar. They have tried the banana bread and Jim said it was really good. We are going to buy one if we can find it.

Dr. Maturlo's office gave me a new glucose meter. It seems to be better than the one I bought. I saw Christine Hansen this last visit. She is  the P.A. My blood levels were continuing to improve. That made her happy and she said she thinks that I am doing fine and, for now, can stay off meds. I just need to continue to be strict. No sugar and nothing white. She went over the carb counting with me again and I think that I have that down pat now. That helped. It also helped that Dad went with me. He had been bucking me a bit, thinking I was too strict with myself. My feet still have a lot of feeling which is one thing that they will continue to monitor. Every other day I do a fasting blood sugar measures blood glucose after you have not eaten for at least 8 hours. On the other days, I do a 2-hour postprandial blood sugar measures blood glucose exactly 2 hours after you start eating a meal. I do lunch one day and dinner the next. The fasting one has bounced around a bit. It should be around 110 and mine will be anywhere from 80 to 112. The 2 hours after a meal one is supposed to be less than 160 and mine has been around 104 to 112.

Losing weight has helped. I am stuck at 135 though.

I exercise a lot. I walk for one hour now. I go up Turkey hill and all over, after that. I can do a block in 1.5 minutes. I don't know what that means. Good or bad? Some days Dad goes and some days he doesn't. Oops. I am supposed to be in bed. Good night!

The reason why there are so many cake recipes all at once.

What all of you don't know about the plethora of cake recipes is that I called Mom in a panic on Wednesday night after work when I realized I had somehow lost all of her best cake recipes.  I had to make a cake for a funeral before I went to work early Thursday morning (but after I taught a lot deacons the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge Wednesday night).  Fortunately, I got her 1, 2, 3, 4 cake recipe and frosting with coconut and made that late at night.  But I realized that I didn't want to be in that predicament again so I asked her to send them out again.  This time, I am doing this the old fashioned way and writing every single one of them on note cards and putting them in my recipe box.  
Ams

Grinding Flour

Melanie wrote: I grind my own wheat flour. I have a fabulous grinder. It processes quite a bit in such a short time. There are a lot of different brands of wheat mills on the market, maybe you should invest in one. We are also using almond flour and the oat flour. Can you eat graham crackers?

Julie has a great pancake mix recipe that I love. I use oat flour and whole wheat flour, as well as the chopped oatmeal. I love it! I don't remember how much sugar is in it, but it is minimal. Maybe you should have her give you the recipe.

Good luck and happy eating.

Our Health

Oh, now that is shocking news about the type two.  What ever were your symptoms or had you made an appointment to get checked?  We are doing fine. Wally and I both went to a specialist, a dermatologist he sees annually and I too had an exam; moles, tags, and what seems a poor complexion for some old gal!  We are in good shape, but I did get a topical prescription for the face.  When I went to pay it was generic l.5 oz and was a cost of $120.00 USA. This Dr maybe somewhat of the high end, a specialist, of course. Bought the topical and we talked about the cost and time of our back to back and dual appointment each just l0 minutes long.  Wally's co pay was $20 and mine $30 so don't know what the real fees charged to insurance have totaled yet,  just that it was $170 for 20 minutes out of pocket!!  Laurel and Tom are near finished with their pool and fence also required.  Probably busy getting plants for the landscape out by the pool and etc.  Laurel and Cyd had lunch for her little sisters birthday while they were in Price. Seems like it would be lonely somewhat for Cyd without Laurel, but she seems to be a trooper or okay with Mike of course and daughter Terri. I worry some about her, but I worry about a great deal of things. She knows I am still available for her anytime she may need me.

  Our little Dandalynn is so adorable and very busy by now.  Now at 14 months her walk has certainly increased to an almost running gate.  She has some word vocabulary, no sentencing yet. Maxine will be going in for more surgery soon.  Think it is for her hip again.  I will be talking to Robert L soon.   Take care and Love,  Char and Wally

Health

I was just tired all of the time but I had quite a summer with a lot of visits from family. Most of the kids and their kids were here for a week or two each. Melanie was here for a couple of weeks and then went home and came back for a couple of more weeks. It was fun but I was so very tired. I made an appointment with the doctor and found that all seemed normal so he dug deeper. He said my sugar was high so he called for one more test, an A1C, and found that my sugar was really out of the norm. It is not so much so that I need meds but am managing it with diet and exercise. I know of no one on either side of the family who ever had diabetes--cancer, heart disease, yes, but diabetes, no. I think I must be weird. I do know that type 2 is mostly a life-style disease that comes from not taking good care of yourself, gaining a few pounds, eating too much sugar, etc. I have lots 25 pounds. I am at 135 and the doctor wants me at 125. LHT spent too much time in the sun when he was young so he has the fun of getting things burned off on a regular basis. I have a few spots that I have had to deal with. Yes, every doctor you see, specialist or not, charges a high enough fee to pay for the summer cabin and month long vacation to said cabin. Bob is just about 8-years older than I am. I think Maxine is even closer in age to me. They certainly do have some health issues. I just keep praying that they will keep on keeping on. I think getting old is difficult at best. I know that for a fact since I am old. I will be 72 in December. Shudder. Of course, that is better than the alternative, right? LHT is the energizer bunny! His hearing is his big problem. He just got new hearing aides yesterday and they seem to be doing the trick. Cyd said she is happy where she is. She said Laurel had asked if they didn't want to follow them south but she said they did not and were happy enough in the old hometown. I am just happy that Mike is doing so much better. His speech was much improved when we saw them last, during June.

From Laurel and Tom‏

Dear Myrna and Tim,

We are now living in Mesquite full time and we love it, we are exploring new places. We just went to the Valley of Fire. It was great and not far from our house. Dad built a lot of the bridges in Zions so that's awesome to remember.

How is everyone in your family doing? I hope you can come and see us. We have a lot of room.

All our love, Your Sis Laurel and Tom

phone number: 702-345-2255

e-mail: tomlaurelm@rconnects.com

Tom and Laurel Marinos

1059 Crestview Drive

Mesquite, Nevada 89027

Comments About Pumpkin Molasses Cake‏

Kirsten wrote: I think you are officially craving sugar. :)  Love all the cake recipes!  Love you too! XOXOXO, Kirsten
Melanie wrote: I need to make something for a friend, I think this will be the recipe. Thanks Mom!

Myrna wrote: I love this cake. I love anything with pumpkin in it. Got any ideas for people who can't have sugar? Nothing else makes a tender cake but sugar. Oh, well.

Incidentally, all of the cake recipes were sent at the request of AnnMarie. She needed a cake recipe for a bake sale and realized that she didn't  have any of our old favorites. I thought maybe the rest of you would also like them. Hence, the fury and hurry in sending and posting all of my old favorites. What fun it has been. Do you know, every recipe has a memory (or one or two or three or a multiplicity)?

Melanie wrote: I have been using half brown sugar and half splenda. It makes cookies a little crunchie, but I don't mind so much. Have you ordered the Diabetic Living magazine? They have some great recipes in each issue. I subscribe as well. They have a great web site, diabeticliving.com...check it out.

Have you checked Walmart for the sugar free cake and brownie mixes? I believe that Duncan Hines makes them.

Love you!

Thanks from Eva

Myrna,  Thanks for this.  I cannot believe I misplaced some of my missionaries addresses so this will help.  Will you please also give me Ben's again.  Sorry I am getting so dingy.  

I got a new Great Grandson Saturday.  JD & Angie had a precious big boy;  8# 12oz. 21".  JIM & Karma took me to the hospital to see hem last night. They were supposed to go  home today. They had not settled on a name last night yet.  

Raf & Meghan are expecting their little boy in January. 

I guess Tim gets his hearing aides tomorrow according to Helen. I hope they are terrific gor him. Have a good week.  Love,  Eva   

Myrna wrote: 

Elder Benjamin C. Bolton
c/o California Fresno Mission
1814 N Echo
Fresno, CA 93704

CONGRATULATIONS! You are getting quite a brood. That is so wonderful. Tim is still making up his mind about the hearing aides. He hears so much better in his bad ear that the little sounds he wasn't hearing are a bit annoying. He'll like them, I am sure.

Lots of love, M

Eva wrote:
Myrna,  Thank you for Ben's address; i found his old one but it was for the MTC. Maybe Tim will just have to turn the sound in his bad ear down a tiny bit at a time until he gets used to them. How wonderful it will be to be able to hear again. The only other thing that would be worse than deaf is blind. I just pray all the time that I will be able to keep my sight and my mind. 

If you go into Face book, on Angie you can see the pictures of Gil Galad Dixon. He is a precious little guy.  

Richard is in the hospital again. When he called me last Saturday, he had a sore throat and by Sunday he had a fever which is really bad because his immune system is gone. They are giving him antibiotics via IV  for several days.   

Thanks for sending me the boys emails; I love reading them. Have a good weekend. Much love, Eva   

Comments on Cakes

 Melanie wrote: Pumpkin Molasses Cake--I need to make something for a friend, I think this will be the recipe. Thanks Mom!

 Kirsten wrote: I think you are officially craving sugar. :)  Love all the cake recipes!  Love you too! XOXOXO, Kirsten

Myrna wrote: AnnMarie needed a cake recipe for a couple she needs to make for a funeral. I typed in the ones she asked for and then decided to send them to all of you. You are right, I would like a big piece. BUT I am not going to have any. I have lost 25 pounds! Love you!Myrna wrote: I love this cake Pumpkin Molasses Cake. I love anything with pumpkin in it. Got any ideas for people who can't have sugar? Nothing else makes a tender cake but sugar. Oh, well.

Melanie wrote: In Aunt Ava's Buttermilk Spice Cake--Do you have to use Crisco? Can oil be substituted?

Myrna wrote: I haven't used Crisco since you were a little girl. I use either butter, if I'm taking it somewhere, or cooking oil. Don't use olive oil though, because it makes it have an off-flavor.

Melanie wrote: I have been using half brown sugar and half splenda. It makes cookies a little crunchie, but I don't mind so much. Have you ordered the Diabetic Living magazine? They have some great recipes in each issue. I subscribe as well. They have a great web site, diabeticliving.com...check it out. 
Have you checked Walmart for the sugar free cake and brownie mixes? I believe that Duncan Hines makes them.
Love you!

Myrna wrote: I am not allowed to use Sucralose (also known as Splenda). My endocrinologist, in Provo, said it is as bad for a diabetic as sugar. The worst sugar, of course, is high fructose corn syrup and it is in everything. I read a lot of labels. 

I did order the magazine and there are some things I can use and some I cannot. They are a bit more liberal than my doctor. But then I am trying to control my diabetes with diet and exercise. Kimberly uses insulin. If you take meds, then your diet is easier. Tonight, I baked apples for Dad and I and I just used spice and no sugar. Our apples are quite sweet tasting and we were both satisfied. I did offer to get out sugar for him but he didn't want it. 

But as for cookies and cakes, I can only use one kind of stevia (not truvia) and that does not work so well for baking. Agave is also out. I cannot use aspartame. I also have the problem of no white flour, white rice, white potatoes, corn, cornmeal, etc. The whole wheat flour has to be WHOLE grain whole wheat flour. It is interesting learning to eat this way. Mostly I am happy but, unless people just go about their lives (I can always find food I can eat--salads, vegetables.), my diet can make things difficult. Jim went on the same diet I am on because he has diabetics in his family. He has lost even more weight than I have and he, like me, feels much better than he was feeling. Julie made some great pie crust with oatmeal flour she ground. I can also not use soybean (because of thyroid problems) or corn oil. 

They gave me a little card, when I got my meter, that had the diabeticliving.com site on it. They also gave me a couple of other sites to check out. 

I did make the raisin-filled cookies for the hunt and I just didn't eat any. That was OK. I didn't even care. I didn't even lick my fingers when I was cooking which is a new first. (Ugh! Really, I washed after I licked and before I continued baking.)

My blood sugar is still all over the place. It can be low--88--one day and high--127--the next. It seems to me that the days when I drop a couple of pounds are the days when it is higher. I have an appointment on Monday and that is the question I am going to ask (100 is normal). I eat a LOT of fish because that helps more than anything, including exercise. I don't really like fish but I will keep trying. I tell Dad that my Danish ancestors were not fishermen they were farmers. ;)

My Own Creation

Myrna's Very Own Jell-O 'N Pudding Cake

I made this cake up for a church award I was working on.

1 small package cherry Jello gelatin

1 large package Jello chocolate pudding mix, regular cook-style

1/2 cup cooking oil

4 egg whites

1 cup milk

1 3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Stir all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add liquid ingredients and blend on low speed of electric mixer. Then beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Pour cake into lightly greased pans (2 8-inch layer pans or 1 9X13 pan). Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes for the layer pans and 30 minutes for the 9X13 sized pan. Other flavors of pudding and jello may be used. Vanilla and orange are good but chocolate cherry is the best.