In Michelle's Kitchen

Something I was considering doing alongside the Book Project was creating a cookbook featuring various recipes that have gotten me through this horrendous time. The purpose of this cookbook is basically a re-education on what a lap-band wearer can eat, especially when it comes to portion sizing.

I’ve been inventing recipes for some time. My mother tried to educate me for years on how to make her Thai dishes, but I never could duplicate any of her dishes.

When I was vegan, I could turn every single one of her recipes into a vegan Thai delicacy. It was the vegan version of all of her dishes to perfection (and better than what she could make). She could never duplicate my vegan Thai recipes.

That’s when she said to me that the true way to know if you are a good cook is when you know you can duplicate recipes the exact same way as the books. But to prove that you are an amazing chef, you have to be able to take a regular recipe, improve upon it, and make it taste better than the original recipe…that’s what sets you apart from the good cooks, because you can invent a new recipe.

My mother is an excellent chef, but to this day, she has never been able to duplicate any of my vegan Thai recipes…no matter how many times she watches me do it. Actually, she can’t duplicate any of my non-meat dishes (not even the sweet potato home fries – baked version or fried version).

For lap-band wearers, we are lucky to get one meal down a day. But the way I look at food is different than I did before. If I’m going to eat anything, it better taste so damn great, it was worth every morsel. Why waste one meal on crappy flavored food?

Since lap-band wearers have a lot of difficulties getting simple foods like apples, carrots, cucumbers, etc. down, I’ve been reinventing a lot of recipes to sneak a lot of those healthy foods back into the diet, because for most lap-band wearers junk food is easier to get down, so they will eat more of it (instead of nutritious foods).

I’m not a big fan of junk food…after all, I was vegan for a while. I had to be if I was going to fight cancer.

I love nutritious foods, but I don’t like that it’s difficult to eat a banana, apple or a carrot these days (trust me, I was miserable when I started vomiting up carrots…brought back awful childhood memories). So I’ve revamped a lot of recipes that I know lap-band wearers can get down that are nutritious and flavorful.

I do mean…FLAVOR…as in, if I’m going to be able to get one meal down a day, it better taste amazing (because our tastebuds change after getting the band).

Here’s the link to the new page: In the Kitchen with Michelle

I’ll be sharing a few new inventions just for lap-band wearers. And for those who are dieting…you may enjoy some of these recipes, but if you want to lose weight…stick to the portion sizes that we’re used to (it’s easier said then done).

I was recently looking through “The Biggest Loser Cookbook” and I told my co-worker, “Well, I could eat that, but without the bread here, here and here…I could eat half of the stack of pancakes they say I should be able to eat, etc.” Portion sizing for lap-band wearers are 1/2 that of regular dieters (1/2 of what a Biggest Losers can eat…if we could eat half of that crap), so you’re going to be super hungry if you try these recipes without a device to control your portion sizing. I call mine “Will Power.”