Oh the temptations

Since Christmas in right around the corner I thought I would share some kidney friendly recipes, and web sites where you can find some more.

This can be an especially difficult time of year for some. Watching everyone indulge (read gorge) themselves with such treats as honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes, squash, stuffing. Not to mention all the cakes, cookies, pies, chocolates, eggnog, and all the other irresistible treats that will be dangled in front of our faces. Hard enough for anyone to resist in the attempt to avoid a bulging waist line, now imagine being someone who, because of medical restrictions can NOT stray from their diet.

So how can we help so everyone can join in on this epicurean event? With a little planning it can be more than just palatable, it can be delicious too. Be sure to have a little something for each course.

A great way to start is by letting them bring something that they may already like to make. Then find out what their particular restrictions are and go from there. Who knows you may find a fantastic variation on an old favorite. Here are some tasty recipes I have found.

Breakfast:
Breakfast sticky buns: 16 servings, 2 slices per serving
1 packet active dry yeast                                    3 to 3 1/2 c all-purpose flower
1/4 c warm water                                               1/2 c unsalted butter
3/4 cup rice milk, heated to a simmer               1 package(4 servings) butterscotch jello instant pudding
2 tbls sugar                                                        1 tbls ground cinnamon
2 tbls canola oil
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix warm rice milk, sugar, and oil and cool to lukewarm. Add 1 1/2 c flour, yeast mixture and stir together. Add enough of the remaining flower to make a soft dough. Turn out on a lightly flowered surface and knead about 8 min. until dough becomes smooth across the top when it is shaped like a ball. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, place in a warm spot, and let it rise about 15 min. Punch down, knead out the bubbles, and shape into 16 balls. Melt butter add butterscotch pudding and cinnamon together. Dip each piece of dough into the mixture and place into a pre sprayed, oiled, non-stick bunt pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning bake at 350f for 40 min or until the dough is browned on top. Let cool, and flip out of the pan.         

Frittata:
8 eggs
1/3 c rice milk                                      1/4 tsp ground sage
1/3 c chopped green peppers                4 vegetarian sausage patties, browned, cooled(optional)
1 tbls chopped chives                            and diced
3/4 tsp dijon mustard                            vegetable oil spray
1/3 c chopped onion                             1/3 c diced swiss cheese (optional)
Whip together all ingredients except the spray. pour into a skillet and bake in a 350f oven for 15 to 20 min or until firm.

Fruit plate: a mixture of some or all of these fruits suggested serving is 1/2 c
blueberries, raspberries, strawberries cut in 1/2, pineapple sliced, cherries, red grapes, and apples sliced

Finger foods:
Horseradish spread:
6 tbls reduced fat cream cheese              1 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbls sour cream                                     1 tsp mrs. dash onion herb seasoning
1tps horseradish

cream both sour cream and cream cheese together. Add other ingredients together and serve with Melba crackers(bagel chips), carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, cauliflower, red pepper slices

Filo cups:
3 sheets thawed filo                                                                             cooking spray or drizzle evoo
2 tbls melted unsalted butter                                                               1 tbls mrs.dash onion herb seasons
1/2 med summer squash, onion, zucchini, and red pepper diced        Parmesan cheese
1 inch mini muffin tin
Roll out filo and butter each sheet, layering them while buttering. cut into 2 1/2 in X 2 1/2 in squares. Meanwhile, dice and saute your veggies with the oil and seasonings. Place filo squares in small inch muffin tin and fill with veggie mix, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake in a 350f oven till filo is browned, about 15 min.

Ham and turkey are fine to cook as usual (turkey is better if salt is an issue for your loved one)

Side dishes:
Mashed potatoes: these need to be started the night before. Serving size can be up to a cup

1 sm. head cauliflower chopped and boiled                    white pepper to taste
5-6 med sized potatoes peeled diced and leached           mrs. dash onion herb seasoning(if desired)
3-4 tbls unsalted butter                                                    1/2 tbls garlic and onion powder(not salt)
2-3 tbls sour cream                                                          each if desired and not using mrs. dash                                                          

To leach your potatoes(this is very important) peel and cut into chunks. soak in a pot of water over night, changing the water several times. This cuts the potassium by a third. Boil the potatoes as usual, they will cook a little quicker. At the same time boil the cauliflower till tender. Mash both potatoes and cauliflower together. Start by adding 1/2 the cauliflower at first along with the pepper and other seasonings if desired. Then add the sour cream and butter one table spoon at a time. Adding the ingredients this way helps you find what tastes best to you. I tried a cauliflower mash once as a mashed potato substitute and did not think it was even close. By chance, with my leftovers I mixed the two and came up with this. When mixed with the right portions of potato and cauliflower I couldn't tell that it wasn't all potato. The cauliflower also helps to moisten the potatoes without having to add milk or lots of butter.

Glazed carrots: 1/2 c serving size
 2c carrots, sliced 1" thick                      
1/8 tsp salt
1tbls sugar                       1/4 c apple juice
1tsp cornstarch                2 tbls margarine, melted

Cook carrots in water until tender. Mix together sugar, salt, ginger, apple juice, cornstarch, and margarine. Pour mixture over carrots and water in the pot. Stir until thick.


Deserts:
Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake: portions:8  serving size 1/8         1/2 egg substitute
one 9-inch Nilla wafer crumb pie crust                                    1/2 c pumpkin puree
1 egg white                                                                               1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2  8-oz packages cream cheese, softened                                 8 tbls frozen nondairy topping
1/2 c sugar                                                                                   (like cool whip)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat  oven to 375f. brush pie crust with egg white and bake for 5 min. Reduce oven heat to 350f.
Combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a lrg. bowl and beat with mixer on high until smooth.
Beat in egg substitute. Add pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice and blend until smooth. Pour pumpkin mixture into pie shell and bake 40-50 min. until center is set. Cool pie, then refrigerate.
Cut into 8 slices, and serve with 1 tbls of whip topping.

I hope these give you all a place to start. There are lots of sights out there for more recipe ideas. A great place to start, and my favorite is www.davita.com . They have a great section called kidney-friendly recipes. www.kidney.org has a bunch just click on kidney disease, then a to z heath guide, then nutrition diet, and finally kidney kitchen. Its a lot of clicking but the recipes are worth it.  www.kidneywellbeing.com which is chef Laurence Keogh's web site, and also has great food. He is a chef who had a kidney transplant, and created a free cook book available to down load. I also always have a link to these on the blog. Enjoy!!

I hope you all have a happy holiday.

We'll take more than just your kidney

Just because you may not be ready to part with a kidney doesn't mean you can't donate. If you'd like to, the Kidney Foundation would love to take your car off your hands. Thats right, they want your car too!

No...not the family car (although they would take it if you're offering). You know the one, it's been sitting in the driveway taking up space because it costs too much to fix. The one you're planning on trading in, not because they're going to give you anything for it, but they'll at least get it out of the driveway. Yup...they want that one!

Here's how it works. You contact the Kidney Foundation at www.KidneyCars.org, and they come and take it off your hands, usually in a matter of days. It doesn't matter what condition it's in, trust me. I've donated three cars over the past ten years (I like to drive my cars into the ground). One had a blown engine. Not my fault, well maybe...who knew you should check oil levels? The other one I would have traded in, but they practically laughed me off the lot with it. The last one I donated had been sitting in my yard for four years, and consequently needed so much work done after that amount of time I couldn't afford to fix it. It had been a lovely home for some mice though, till the snake moved in.

Why would they want your junk you ask? Well, they don't, but some scrapper at an auction does. The Kidney Foundation takes them all to auction and sells them (for scrap if it's like mine), and viola, money.

And for you, a tax write off. Once your car has sold someone from the foundation will call. They'll let you know what it sold for, and send you some papers (and a cool bumper sticker) you can give to your accountant (you keep the sticker). He/she/or you can then turn this into a tax deduction, aka less money you owe the government. We all know why this is good. Win win.

You see, it's not just your kidneys they'll take off your hands, though if your offering you do have a spare.... Your car can make a big difference too.

So the next time you get a new car, or notice your trashy neighbor(me) has too many cars not moving from their yard, give the Kidney Foundation a call. And don't forget to tell your friends... and that neighbor.

Right now my other cars are saving a life.

You never know

When I was young my mom would always call me Mr. Magoo. This was because no matter where we were or what I was doing, walking, riding my bike, I payed attention to were I was going...oh ya never. My feet may have been moving forward, but I was almost certainly not looking in that direction. She would tell me to stop lolly gagging and pay attention before I ran into something or got lost (which I did with some frequency). I would tell her I was paying attention, and I was... to everything but where I was going. I like being aware of my surroundings. She thought I had my head in the clouds, and sometimes I did. I also like to stop and smell the roses. This comes with consequences, I'm still always bumping into things and getting lost. I can get lost anywhere, ask my boyfriend and he'll tell ya I get lost in the Maine Mall. If you're not familiar with it, its TINY!!

My point? Ahhh....yes there usually is one, but I like the scenic route remember.
The other day I was headed into the transplant clinic to have my blood tested for compatibility, and as I walked through the door (and yes, maybe I was looking, well... not forward) I bumped into someone as they were leaving. Though I smiled and apologized, they still seemed pissed. Were they, I don't know, but they could have said no problem, or its o.k.... right? Instead they kinda just grumbled something, then kept going. At first I was annoyed, I mean I hadn't done it intentionally. I did make eye contact, smiled said sorry and meant it.

Then I remembered where I was, and what door it was that I had just walked through. Truth is, this door isn't like most other doors, this door, is different. If your going through it, its likely because you or someone you know and love is not well. And while for right now, I feel I have a reason to be hopeful, others may not. I have no way of knowing what the person I bumped into heard behind these doors today. What they were thinking, and what they were feeling. But I did have the benefit of  knowing were they had just been, and that perspective made a lite flick on. Having this knowledge made it easy for me to understand their reaction at the door. Often, we don't have this benefit.

Now, since the smart phone explosion has enabled us to indulge our narcissism 24-7, it's easy to forget that we share this world with others. Gasp...its not all about me all the time! What I'm trying to get at here is this. The next time someone doesn't hold the door for you and it slams in your face. When you hold open a door for someone, and that someone doesn't seem all that thankful. Or when you receive any number of un-courteous gestures that seem just plain rude in the surface...try to remember, and I will too. We have no way of knowing what they may be going through, what's on their mind, or what kind of day they just had. It's no excuse, but we've all had bad days, and I'm pretty sure we've all been "that guy" before.

 So for this holiday season I'm asking each of you to put on that big toothy smile the next time you and "that guy" cross paths. Maybe they really are a huge D, and in that case nothing usually pisses them of more than someone being nice when they want to be an ass. Or... who knows, it might make a difference in their day. Maybe it will be just the thing to make them smile again too :)

Oh ya...one more thing. Try putting down that smart phone for a minute or two (after you read my blog of course). Stop and smell the roses, or heaven forbid take the long way home. You may like it!!

Taking steps tward donating: is it right for you?

Donating organs saves lives!!! Kidneys in particular, since more than half of all transplants needed are kidney transplants. The good news here is that unlike other organs most people are born with two kidneys, and provided they are healthy we can continue to live long healthy lives with just one. So, if we were fitted with a spare why not give the other one to someone who needs it. Think of all the people we could save. All the family's that would get to keep their loved one around a lot longer.

 Wait.... Sounds great but, before you put me on ice and yank out my kidney how do I know if its right for me. Well keep reading, hopefully this will answer some questions for those of you who might be interested. For those of you who are on the fence, maybe this will be the nudge you need to jump off. For those that feel donating an organ just isn't a decision they can make,( lets face it its a lot to ask, and having someone take out a perfectly good organ is some scary sh..t) a little information is good for everyone. Getting the word out for a worthy cause is never waisted breath.

Steps to living donation:
Do you even qualify? Here are a few easy questions:
-are you physically fit & in good general health
-do you have or have ever had: high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, or kidney disease
If you said yes to the first two questions and no to the others then you passed the first stage to be becoming a living donor. Next is to contact a donor registry if you don't already have a recipient in mind. You will be asked to contact the recipients transplant center and they will get you started by sending a packet of info. and some papers to sign. You will need to send these back along with the last three years of your medical history. Once you have filled these out and sent them in they will decide if you may be a possible donor. This does not necessarily mean you'll be able to donate.

How will I know if I'm a match?
Provided you have had a regular check up within the year the next step will be a blood test for genetic testing ( a kit gets sent to you with instructions for the lab). This step can take up to two or three weeks. All tests at this point(including the genetic testing) will be still be done by your primary care physician and a local lab, but will be covered under the recipients health care coverage provided the testing was ordered by the transplant clinic.
What they are looking for with the blood test is a compatible blood type, and if it is, your blood will then be spun with the recipients blood. This is done because your DNA will always be present in your kidney even after it has been transplanted. The doctors look to see how the recipients immune system reacts to your DNA. A positive match means the recipients immune system has killed off all the donor's blood cells during testing, and would do the same to the donor's kidney (not so positive).
If the test is negative then the donors blood was not attacked and testing continues.

Next test... HLA or human leukocyte antigens:
This test identifies the markers we inherit from our parents. Though we are made up of thousands of pieces of DNA, this test will only need to look at six individual pieces. The best match would be a"six antigen" match, which means the donor and the recipient match all six. This doesn't happen very frequently, and usually will only happen between siblings. The cross-match only determines if the donor's kidney would be accepted by the recipient. Only after that is determined will the doctors move forward and test if the donor is healthy enough to donate.

After these tests have been performed and a potential donor has been selected the next series of evaluations begins. This includes the required laboratory tests, which are:
-a twenty-four hour urine collection
-blood work
-a urinalysis with urine culture that will indicate your kidneys are healthy and functioning normally

If every thing goes well you will be scheduled for a physical and history check, done by the transplant surgeon and nephrologyst(kidney specialist). You also meat with the transplant social worker and living donor coordinator at this time. Blood will be drawn and you will have an electrocardiogram(EKG).

Assuming you make it past all of that you will then have a three dimensional CT of your kidneys and a chest x-ray. They do the CT to make sure you have normal sized kidneys, that you have no kidney stones, and to determine the number of blood vessels that supply each kidney.

Great... you look very healthy....we'll be taking that kidney now please... O.k. so maybe they wont put it quite like that but, after all that testing the rest goes fairly quickly. It's just finding a time that works for everyone.

The primary goal of the living donor evaluation is to minimize risk to the donor. No one wants to cause another person to be ill!! The goal is to save people not injure them. If at anytime during these tests they where to find something wrong they stop testing, and send all the information they have to your doctor and the proper specialist. Any testing after this however, would not be covered by the recipients insurance.
As a donor you also have the right to stop testing for any reason, and end the donor process.
During part of the living donor evaluation you will meet with an independent living donor advocate. This person is here for the donor only, and is available at any time.

How does living donation affect the donor?
Studies have shown that one kidney can be more than enough to keep the body healthy. Living donation does not change the life expectancy, but, as with any surgery there is risk of complications. After surgery, the living donor can expect to lead a normal healthy life.
Recovery time is fairly short because the surgery is done laparoscopically. Most people are out of the hospital within 2 days, and back to work and daily life within 2-6 weeks depending on how quickly your body heals.

Many long-term (20yrs) studies have followed donor patients and found that they are no more likely to suffer from kidney failure or shortened life span than the average person who has not donated. There is lots of research that supports this, and that talks about how many donors have an above average life expectancy. This is due to the fact that donors are picked because they are the healthiest people.

I'll refrain from going on any longer. There is so much info. I could ramble on for weeks, but if you would like even more info. I have some great links so check em out. Class dismissed.