I am my mothers daughter!

The difference is that my mother cooks like this all the time. Me?  not so much!

In preparation of this Fridays surgery, I have been cooking up a storm in order to have meals ready to go for Steve.  If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that my husband eats to live while I live to eat!  Yes, opposites do attract people!

My nutrition requirements at surgery will be as follows:

First 3 days:  Clear liquids - water, crystal light, broth, jello, etc.
Next 4 days:  Full liquids - protein drinks, SF pudding, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.
Wk 2 through 4:  pureed food

So, as when I had my band surgery last year, I do not want to be worried about cooking while I am drinking so I have been making some meals for Steve and freezing them as I go.   Yesterday I made a huge pot of sauce and I made a lasagna that I baked, let sit for a while until it got cold, than cut and placed on a baking sheet so it would freeze.  Once frozen, I placed in FoodSaver bags and sucked and sealed!  It is now in the freezer in individually wrapped packages just waiting for him to heat up!  I also made a pot of chili that I portioned out for a few dinners.  I will be able to eat this during the pureed stage as well.  I also made 2 batches of brownies and a pound cake that I also cut up and packaged individually in  packages and they are also in the freezer.  While my husband may not be a big fan of food, he does love his desserts!  I make him chocolate chip cookies that I freeze and he will literally take 1, yes you read correct, 1 cookie out every night and have with his coffee.  Who can eat just 1 cookie?  My husband!  Today I will be making eggplant parmesan and doing the same thing, baking, freezing and bagging.  This is his favorite!

I have also been thinking ahead for me as well for when I get to the pureed stage.  Anytime I've made something that can be pureed, I have been doing just that and freezing it in ice cube trays. Each cube holds 1 oz which is perfect as I will only be able to eat 3-4 oz. at each meal.  This is the most amazing thing for me about VSG.  I will have restriction from day 1.  There will be no "bandster hell" that we all experienced before our first fill.  Nope, surgery, restriction, boom....done!  It has been a very long time since I have had any type of meaningful restriction so I am really looking forward to that!

My hopes are that a lot of the food that I've made for Steve will still be in the freezer when I go to NY in July.  This way I can go visit the girls and not have to worry about him not eating.  Seriously, I left him a lot of food in Jan. when I went to NY, he ate it for dinner every night and lost 10 lbs!  Why?  Well, that was all he ate!  No breakfast, no lunch!  Without me around nagging, he didn't eat other than dinner.  The dog gained weight though, not sure how that happened!  These are the things I worry about when I leave...Steve losing and Brutus gaining!

I'm thinking once I get past the first 2 weeks after surgery, I will be feeling up to cooking so I will be able to make things for us to eat.  The fact that I will only be eating 2-3 oz. (in the beginning maybe not even) at a time should leave room for lots of leftovers to be frozen for Steve.  Works for me!