Happy Friday friends! I hope you all have some fun things planned this weekend.
We had a crazy day yesterday. We spent the entire day at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City with our 15 year old son.
He had a Cardiac Ablation surgery done to hopefully cure his Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.
Wolff-Parkinson-White is basically an extra small pathway in the heart that causes the heart to have an irregular beat. We found out our son had it when he was just a couple months old, although he’s never had any symptoms. When he was a baby, his pediatrician heard a small heart murmur and recommended he get checked out by a cardiologist.
I’m sure glad she did because the cardiologist was able to tell us that the murmur was not a big deal (and has since gone away), but was also able to discover that he had Wolff-Parkinson-White!
He’s been monitored over the years and actually 4 1/2 years ago we went to the hospital to get this exact surgery done. They put him out, put catheters into his heart to do the surgery, tested his heart and then decided that his case wasn’t severe enough to complete the surgery!
I found this picture from that day. He’s a cutie pie.
The doctors pretty much told us that he had a clean bill of health and that he didn’t have to worry about his WPW anymore! Strangely enough, about 6 months ago I got a random generalized letter in the mail from his cardiologist basically just saying “We haven’t seen you in a while! If we’ve missed you, call our office and make an appointment.”
When I saw that, I thought, well y’all gave him a clean bill of health FOUR YEARS AGO and said we didn’t need to see you anymore! However, just to be safe I thought I’d call the office to see if they’d want to see him.
I ended up making him an appointment and I’m glad I did because the doctor basically told us that research had changed and now showed that he was still at risk and they would recommend fixing his heart!
Crazy.
BTW, when they say he’s “at risk” they mean he could be one of those people who just dies suddenly of a heart attack out of the blue. The chance of that happening was still very rare, but it was a risk we didn’t want to take, so we decided to do the surgery!
I’m glad it’s done and he’s doing great. Oh, and BTW, the surgery is done via catheters that they place into blood vessels and then into the heart. They use heat to zap that extra pathway in his heart so his heart beat becomes normal again!
It’s crazy the things they can do! I’m sure grateful for modern medicine.
I gotta tell ya that being in a Children’s Hospital all day long is very sobering though. It broke my heart to see so many sick kids and stressed families. We even heard a Code Blue called over the intercom while we were there. It just made my heart ache.
I was sure humbled by the amazing doctors, nurses and support staff though. There are so many amazing people out there in the world. It also made me so grateful we weren’t there for anything more serious. #countingourblessings
I snapped this pic as we were waiting for our son to get out of surgery. My heart and mind were full of so many different emotions all day long. It was yet another reminder to me to not take my health for granted.
Well, I didn’t mean to go on and on about that! It was just a full day yesterday and has been on my mind a lot lately!
Oh, and since this is a health blog, I will share that I was glad to find a healthy Greek salad in the hospital cafeteria and I also brought some healthy snacks to tide us over throughout the day (apples, sweet potato chips and rotisserie chicken.) Super easy and yummy!
Later that night, we visited the cafeteria again and I got a grilled chicken sandwich, but didn’t take a picture. I was so glad they had so many healthy options, although the food was just so-so.
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Today I actually have a very yummy recipe to share! The past 6 months or so I’ve been experimenting and searching for some new dinner recipes that we could add to our rotation.
I’m always looking for recipes that are:
- Yummy
- Healthy
- Easy
- Kid Friendly-ish
I’m happy to say that I’ve found quite a few!! FYI, whenever I come across a good recipe, I always try to see if there is any way I can improve it. I compare other similar recipes, read reviews and then usually try to make it healthier and/or simpler.
I actually have a TON of recipes I want to share on here, so I will do my best to take some pictures and share them all as soon as I can!
BUT, today I want to share a yummy recipe for Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken! I love Indian food and this recipe is so darn good, full of clean ingredients and so easy!
Slow Cooker Indian Butter Chicken
Ingredients:
- 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cut into small chunks
- 1 small onion; diced
- 5 cloves garlic; minced
- 1 Tablespoon curry powder
- 1 Tablespoon Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried ginger
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional for a spicy kick!)
- 1 (14 oz) can lite coconut milk
- 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
- 1 ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
Directions:
- Spray Crock Pot with cooking spray
- Saute onion and garlic in a little olive oil until soft
- Put chicken chunks in bottom of Crock Pot
- Top with sautéed onions and garlic
- Put the spices and lite coconut milk on top of the chicken
- Spread the tomato paste evenly over the top
Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 6-8 hours (I find the texture of the sauce is better when I cook on low.)
Just before serving, mix the Greek yogurt into the Crock Pot and cook for a few minutes more to integrate.
Serve on top of rice, quinoa or veggies! Enjoy!
I love this recipe so much and hope you all enjoy it too! Have a great weekend!
Glad it went okay. The cath lab at Primary’s is fantastic! If you have to be in a children’s hospital that’s the one you want. I’m glad they got that fixed!
Thanks so much Angie! I always think of you guys when we’re there. I’ve loved Primary’s and am grateful we have it nearby. <3
This sounds so good! My husband went on a couple of business trips to India a while back and came back with a bunch of little boxes of different types of Masala, and ever since I’ve been really enjoying experimenting with Indian recipes. Here’s one that our family likes: https://www.skinnytaste.com/cauliflower-rice-chicken-biryani (we make it with rice instead of riced cauliflower, since not everyone here is as big a fan as cauliflower as I am).
Ooooo Beth, that recipe looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing. I really love the flavors of Indian food! YUM!