B&J’s Hearty Vegetable-Beef Soup

Long time, no post, I know. But I haven’t known what to do with this blog for over a year because my living situation has greatly improved and my mental health has improved with it. I don’t feel the need to talk about my eating disorder at length anymore but some readers expressed an interest in recipes. So, with that in mind, have one that my spouse and I came up with together.

 

B&J’s Vegetable Beef Soup

 

Recipe:

B&J’s Hearty Vegetable-Beef Soup

Ingredients:

1.5lbs of beef cut into ½” cubes – dealer’s choice but we usually use rump roast or a London broil

5 cans (10 cups) of no salt added beef broth

12oz frozen sliced carrots

1 (one) 15oz can sliced new potatoes

1 (one) 15oz can rosemary, and oregano diced tomatoes

1 (one) 15oz can basil, rosemary, and oregano diced tomatoes

1 (one) 15oz can roasted garlic diced tomatoes

1 (one) 15oz can no salt added diced tomatoes

1 (one) 15oz can no salt added corn

1 (one) 15oz can no salt added green beans

1 (one) 15oz can seasoned black beans

1 (one) 12oz box of noodles – we usually use garden rotini

4 tablespoons garlic powder (3 to be used during browning of meat, 1 to put in the soup broth)

1.5 teaspoons dried oregano (optional)

½ teaspoon dried sage (optional)

½ teaspoon chili powder (optional)

Method:

Brown the meat in large stock pot with 3 tablespoons garlic powder and ½ teaspoon chili powder

While the meat is browning drain the cans of: corn, green beans, potatoes, and no salt added tomatoes

Once the meat is brown, add the beef broth, drained cans, cans of undrained tomatoes, undrained black beans, and spices. Bring to a boil then simmer for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, add the frozen carrots to soup cook noodles according to box directions.

Serve by putting some of the cooked noodles in bowls and ladle the soup over the top. Store noodles and soup separately.

Makes A LOT of soup and noodles.

Soup in storage, noodles are in the cottage cheese container.

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Dill Pickle Dip

I saw this recipe in a food group I belong to on Facebook. I asked the author permission to share it and they said yes.

Dill Pickle Dip

By Olivia Callaway

1 8oz block of cream cheese softened
1/4 cup of yellow onion
1/4 cup of dill pickles
Dried dill flakes
(Pickle juice added to reach desired consistency)

She says she used something similar to a Slap Chop to chop up her onion and about 5 spears of pickles. The picture she posted had pretzel rods as the dip vehicle so I think it’d work lovely with crackers, hard pretzels, veggies, really I think the sky’s the limit here.

Chest Binding And Body Image

This post contains discussion of gender dysphoria, body dysmorphic thoughts, and eating disorder thoughts. Read at your own discretion.

My 28^th birthday is coming up and I’ve been trying to think of what I might like for it. But, unfortunately, everything I’ve thought of costs around $100 and we just can’t afford it. Then I remembered that I had a binder bookmarked and I’d heard really good things about it. It’s from GC2b, which is supposed to be more comfortable than other binders on the market ’cause they’re actually designed for AFAB* non-binary/tans folks. And their most expensive option at the largest size is only $40, made in the USA. So I’m thinking about that.

However, I’m concerned because I weigh a lot more than I thought I did (more than ten pounds more). I know this because my doctor’s office now gives you these visit summaries and I saw my weight on one of them ’cause I was looking at it. I’ve told them before that I have an eating disorder and I turn my back when they take my weight so I’m really upset about it. Should probably file a complaint about it but I have other, bigger things I need to complain about.

Anyway, because of that, my body dysmorphic thoughts have been worse. And my stomach isn’t anywhere near flat. The binders only bind the chest so I’m afraid I’d look really beer-bellied and I’m afraid it would be more damaging to my body image than helpful. However, my breasts really bother me on a gender dysphoric level and I’m not sure what to do about it. I’ve wondered about top surgery but I had a really traumatic surgery in July and I’m just not sure if I’ll ever be able to put myself through it again, not to mention the financial cost (most insurers do not cover gender affirmation treatments like surgeries or hormones here).

So, I guess I’m stuck. I need to do more thinking but I feel really stuck about it. Real conflicted.

*Assigned Female At Birth

Ten Things Not to Say to Someone with Anorexia

I used to hear, “you weigh too much/you’re too muscular to have anorexia” when I was really sick. I was an athlete, though, and was OBSESSED with making sure I could keep doing my sport ’cause it was my escape. It was really hurtful when people would say stuff like that to me ’cause I was very sick and it made me feel challenged to “do better” about not eating.

Rose with Thorns

Mario eating a S’More

While slipping into anorexia, I was rewarded with compliments from family, friends, and strangers. Our society associates losing weight with health and happiness. However, eating disorders show that this is often not the case.

Instead of blaming those who made unhelpful comments to me, I want to make a list of common but detrimental phrases people often say to someone struggling with anorexia. One of the main things to remember is to not focus on someone’s weight. If you feel the need to compliment a friend, affirm a characteristic that you admire or something that he or she has done recently. Otherwise, if you really how that person looks, then choose another aspect of his or her appearance like an outfit, hairdo, or earnest smile. There are so many other ways to encourage someone besides mentioning pounds lost.

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Pasta Salad with Tuna and Peas

So, here’s a recipe I’ve adapted from someone I used to know. It’s really easy to make and pretty cheap, also fairly balanced.  I’m guessing at the amounts used ’cause I eyeball it then taste it as I go.

 

Ingredients:

• 12 oz multi coloured pasta (Wacky Mac is good but any multi coloured pasta works great)
• 10 oz canned tuna (we used whole white albacore)
• ~1 cup mayonnaise or more/less to suit taste
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 tablespoon powdered garlic or more/less to suit taste
• Juice from half a lemon, carefully seeded

Optionally can add shredded, raw carrots, celery, or any other crunchy veggie that sounds good.

What To Do:

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions. Immediately drain and rinse with cool water until the pasta is cold. Drain thoroughly.
2. Put the peas in a colander and rinse with cool water until thawed and soft all the way through. Drain thoroughly.
3. Open, drain and flake the tuna.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the peas, pasta, optional additional veg, garlic powder, and mayo. Mix until well incorporated.
5. Put the tuna on top, squeeze the lemon over the top of the fish, and then mix thoroughly.
6. Taste, adjust mayo/garlic to taste; serve with bread/crackers.

Do let me know if you try it and how you like it. Me, my husband and father have this pretty often.

End of the Road or Change in Topics?

I’m not sure what to do with this blog anymore. While I still struggle with my ED, it’s not been a primary focus in about a year ’cause I’ve been concerned with other things, like facing homelessness and chronic illness/pain, and realizations about myself. Plus I had to have a surgery and I’m still pretty messed up from it. Sometimes I think I should just delete this blog ’cause, while I started it in hopes that my words might make people feel less alone, I don’t know what to say anymore that’s even remotely on topic.

I don’t need this blog to be a journal or venting space ’cause I have a semi-private one for that. I do have a couple ideas about what I could write about from time to time but I’m not sure if my audience (if you’re all still there after my repeated unannounced hiatuses) would be interested. I’ve got some recipes to try, could talk more about chronic illness in general… I don’t know.

Thoughts, comments?

DIY Hamburger Helper

This looks really delicious. I’ll have to try it. And I need to make a real post here but I’ve been doing mostly okay on the eating disorder front so I’m not sure what to talk about.

a.feisty.brunette

I was going to make this, but it’s too hot in the house to use the oven. instead, I rummaged through the cabinets and came up with my own version of cheeseburger macaroni.

You’ll need:
* 2lbs uncooked pasta
* 1lb ground meat
* 14.5oz can diced tomatoes
* seasonings
* onion
* bell pepper
* 16oz jar cheese sauce

The best part is that you can use whatever veggies and seasonings you want. I only used about a forth of a cup of onions and half of a bell pepper but you can use more, less, or something completely different! The seasonings I chose were garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and thyme.

1. Chop veggies. Put them in a skillet with the ground beef. Sprinkle the seasonings over the mixture, add a little water so that the meat doesn’t stick, and brown the meat.

2. While that’s coming, make…

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