Fluffy with the Food Network

One of Mom's favorite channels is the Food Network. She loves watching them give tips and fix recipes and could probably keep tuned in all day sometimes! Whenever I come to the house, she always has some treat she wants me to try. So far, I've done recipes by Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray, and Barefoot Contessa's (Ultimate Ginger Cookies) just to name a few.

Undoubtedly, when I arrived this week to spend extended time with her, and even though we were all kind of dealing with a new reality of this stage of the disease, she had her trusty list already being constructed and wanted me to hit the grocery store to pick up some coveted items.

So I felt like the next Food Network Star this week as I tried a few dishes:

• Filet Mignon stir fry with red and yellow bell peppers, broccoli, baby bella mushrooms, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, onions, garlic and special sauce over rice. She loved this so much she ate it for breakfast the next day!
  
• Veal scallopini with lima beans and cheddar/pecorrino romano au gratin potatoes.
  
• Chicken salad
• Various omelets
  
• Skirt steak fajitas

I also introduced her to Palmetto Cheese, the best pimento cheese in the world. She loved it on anything, Triscuits, Fresh Market's Toasted French Rounds, and especially croissants. We also had some family friends provide a beautiful Honeybaked Ham and dinner from a local restaurant so we wouldn't have to cook every meal.

I'll admit that I took a little pride in the fact that she cleared her plate every meal. I was glad to be able to serve her in that way.

It was tough to try to stick to my healthy eating plan while cooking all of these new dishes. It's gotta be way more fun trying to gain weight than it is trying to get skinny. She says that she's rather be 'fluffy' than skinny any day.