Heart Healthy? Or Not?

My mother has a congenital heart defect that causes holes to develop in the heart muscle. Recently she had heart surgery. Again.

This is the second heart surgery she has had in her life, but the procedure was totally different. The first time she had surgery, they cracked her breast bone and opened her up. Then they put in a plastic piece to fix a hole in her heart.

That was 40 years ago.

 

Now, however, they didn’t even put her completely under anesthesia; she was in “twilight mode.” They used a catheter that went up from her groin arteries to reach her heart. Once there, the doctor used a tool that entered the holes (there were four of them!) in her heart, injected a glue-like substance, and removed the tool. The substance expanded and stuck to the heart muscle around it, closing off the hole.

We joked that my mother had her heart spackled. Ever having an awesome sense of humor, she thought that was funny.

I love my mother.

While visiting her in the hospital, though, I noticed something that bothered me. They had her on a “heart healthy” diet…makes sense when you consider she just had heart surgery! But the first thing they fed her was spaghetti with meat sauce, salad with Italian dressing, and a breadstick. Really?! That’s heart healthy?

When the attendant came and took her order for breakfast the next morning, her options were 1 of the following:

• Cream of Wheat
• Oatmeal
• Rice cereal

She also had the option of applesauce or bananas, turkey sausage, and wheat toast or an English muffin.

I sat appalled at what they were feeding my mother, and it took everything in my self-control to not throw a fit in the hospital! Pasta and bread stick? Cream of wheat AND wheat toast? Really?

Feed her meat, I wanted to yell! Feed her an avocado slice and some sauteed onions or tomato slices with her turkey sausage. Add some strawberries (she loves them!). And for goodness sake, add an egg to the plate!

I realized I would be in serious trouble if I went into the hospital for any cardiovascular issues. Between my allergies and intolerances, the “heart healthy” diet that the FDA encourages heart patients to follow would either starve me or kill me!

Apparently they brought her fish that evening…she’s allergic to the mercury in fish. Thankfully they listened to her and brought her something else to eat. I think she said it was a chef salad…and it was wonderful! 

Have you encountered any dietary issues while staying in the hospital? How did you address those issues with the staff? Did they listen? Please share, so we can all get some ideas on how to handle this situation.

Breaded Pork Chops and Almond Flour Fritters

The old saying is that “necessity is the mother of invention.”

It seems that “waste not, want not” causes more invention in my house.

I was raised poor. I mean dirt poor. As in “eating out of church boxes, one missed rent payment from living in a box on the street” poor. So the idea of wasting food, even to this day, makes me sick to my stomach.

So when I decided I really wanted breaded and fried pork chops the other night, I hit a small conundrum. Okay, maybe a few small conundrums.

Conundrum 1 (I love this word, by the way): What am I going to bread the chops with? Regular flour is right out, because a) I don’t eat wheat and b) there isn’t any in the house.

Solution to Conundrum 1: Almond Flour. Why not? The texture of almond flour is closer to corn meal than wheat flour, so it would make a nice, crumbly crust. I thought, I’ll just dredge the chops in some egg and then the flour mix and fry them up. So here is the mix I used to make 2 chops. You'll want more oil if you make more.

Breaded Pork Chops

1 cup almond flour (you can use Bob's Red Mill or Trader Joe's)

1 tsp Trader Joe's 21 Salute Seasoning

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

2 tsp bacon grease

2 tsp coconut oil

Heat the oil in a skillet. Mix the almond flour, seasoning, and salt together in one pan. In the other pan, whip the eggs (don't cook them!). Dip the chops into the egg mixture, then dredge in the dry mixture on each side. Place in the skillet and cook on both sides until done. Don't turn them too much. I actually only turned the chops once.

It worked! The chops had a nice, fried, breaded coating...what? I'm a Hoosier! We like our fried food. And my husband and I don't cook like this often.

Then I hit…

Conundrum 2: What do I do with the leftover breading? Throwing away almond flour is completely out of the question! Even if it has had raw pork meat rubbed in it. Almond flour is way too expensive to waste! For that matter, so were the leftover farm-fresh grass-fed eggs I had used.

Solution to Conundrum 2: I’ll add a little more salt to the almond flour and seasonings then add the egg. I’ll fry them in the pan after the chops are done, and voila! Almond Flour Fritters!

What?

They’re kind of like a hush puppy, but shaped more like a pancake. But they were tasty! I stumbled upon a great idea! And here’s the recipe.

Almond Flour Fritters

Makes about 8-10 fritters

1 cup almond flour (I had to add some to get back up to a cup)

2 eggs (about 1 egg had been used to coat the chops)

1 tsp Trader Joe’s 21 Salute seasoning

¼ tsp salt

Oil for frying

 Mix the dry ingredients together, then blend in the eggs. Let the batter sit about 5-10 minutes. In a skillet, heat enough oil to be about ½-1 inch of oil. Drop teaspoon servings of batter into the skillet. Cook until done on one side, then turn and cook until done on the other side. Drain on a paper towel and serve warm. Though I had one the next day straight from my fridge, and it actually tasted better cold.

I served the chops and fritters with some boiled red potatoes (yeah, I know they're not Paleo, but I'm a little too Irish to give them up). Dinner got my husband, David's, grunt of approval.

Drop me a line and let me know what you think of these tasty morsels.