“Cardiac event” was most definitely not on my To-Do list.
Following an extended pull-my-hair-out busy patch that seems to happen for at least two weeks each month despite my retirement, I was looking forward to a short stretch of downtime. Instead, I began a beautiful October weekend with a ride in the back of an ambulance.
The good news: My radiating chest pain and rapid heart rate (200-plus beats per minute) turned out not to be a heart attack. The bad news: After an overnight stay in the hospital spent hooked up to a Holter monitor, I left with a diagnosis of A-fib and “diastolic dysfunction.”
The upshot: My eagerly-awaited downtime this past couple of weeks has been supplanted by a round of follow-up doctor visits. I’ll need to add three new heart medications to my ever-expanding drug salad, and a lot more salads to my increasingly restricted diet. And veggies.
Alas, since I prefer chocolate-covered peanut butter cookie bars to celery, it is even harder for me to adhere to a healthy eating plan than it was for me to quit smoking 15 years ago. Add to that, the challenge of finding recipes my husband and I can both stand. We each have veggies we like and veggies we loathe. Problem is, the ones I like are on his “loathe list” and vice versa.
But the cardiac event that hijacked my calendar has reminded me of my need to keep “self-care” on my list of priorities – after all, 1 Corinthians 6:19 says my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It’s past time to stop taking my health for granted.
So I’d love to have readers of this blog share their irresistible veggie recipes. Or yummy salad recipes. “Quick and easy to prepare” is a plus.
Count on my husband to add a bit of levity to a tense situation. While waiting for me to be released from the hospital, he and I were discussing the health issues we’ve both been experiencing this past year.
I said, “At our age, we probably need to get used to this. It’s going to be the new normal.”
To which my sweetie pie replied, “You mean the new abnormal? We were NEVER normal, my dear!”
Seriously Seeking Answers 
Roasting veggie cubes and chunks with olive oil and either rosemary and other savory spices is good or using sweet spices like cinnamon and nutmeg and ginger. Experiment with cubed sweet potatoes and butternut squash and carrots and potatoes. It’s pretty too. Or try broccoli or cauliflower and carrots. Or bake while sweet potatoes after putting olive oil on the outside. Bake at 400 fmuntil
Fork tender then the skin will peel right off easily. Leave off sugar as they are sweet anyway but add cinnamon for health if you desire.
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And one from my sister Marian, which looks really good: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/butternut-squash-vegducken-with-mushroom-cranberry-stuffing-recipe
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Mrs. Wallace’s WWII Potato Salad
Boil 6 cups small new red potatoes in their skins until nearly done (this is somewhere around 4 lbs. of potatoes)
Boil 4 eggs hard-cooked.
Cool these while you cook the dressing.
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
In a heavy saucepan, cook and stir until thick and bubbly.
Cool.
Mix 1 cup of real mayonnaise into the cooled dressing.
In a large bowl, mix the 6 cups of peeled and cooled potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced.
1/4 cup shredded onion
1/4 cup chopped parsley, preferably fresh
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Toss gently. Add dressing and stir until well mixed.
Best when chilled.
Serve with paprika.
Lasts two days when refrigerated.
This is a sweeter version of potato salad and originally (think 1970’s), I got it from a magazine, where it had won second place in a contest. People just love this recipe at potluck dinners.
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Thanks! I’m going to have to try this. I’ve never done a potato salad where I cooked the dressing.
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