Cancer reared its ugly head in our house in 2015. Like everyone that hears that dreaded word, it stopped me dead in my tracks. I found a lump in my neck and thought it was a swollen lymph node as I’d just had bronchitis. No worries, I’ll just go to the doctor and I’m sure he’ll give me another round of antibiotics. Well, no. This wasn’t a lymph node, it was my thyroid and he sent me out for an ultrasound. Thankfully I was able to get one the next day that showed my left lobe was a lot bigger than it was supposed to be. Um, yeah, I could have told them that with the sideways Adam’s apple staring at me in the mirror. Next up was a biopsy that was actually negative.
Time for an endocrinologist. Boy did I hit the jackpot with him. He spent a lot of time going over my medical history, performed another ultrasound to get more precise measurements and found my right lobe had some tiny nodules. He also discovered the tumor on my left lobe had gotten larger over the course of three weeks and had to come out. Whew, I wanted that thing gone, too. It was the first thing I saw in the mirror and I swear people were focusing on it when talking to me. I wanted it gone and gone today. My surgery was a few weeks later and we opted to remove the entire thyroid because of the nodules on the normal looking right lobe. Thank God we did.
Mark was scheduled to be in Alaska for my post op appointment and since we hadn’t heard any bad news in the first few days we went with the “no news is good news” theory. Away he went to Alaska and off I went to my appointment. Not the appointment I should have done alone. Not only was the left lobe cancerous, so was the right lobe. Always the overachiever, I couldn’t do just one cancer at a time, I had to get two. That was a long drive home. Time to get in battle mode.
The treatment for thyroid cancer is totally different from other cancers. Since the thyroid craves iodine, you starve your body of it then take a radioactive iodine pill which attract any remaining thyroid cells in your body and zap them. The low iodine diet (LID) for me was two weeks before treatment then the week of treatment until my whole body scan. The paperwork I was given said I could have all fruits, almost all vegetables, no dairy, no seafood or many meats and no commercially baked goods.
The ThyCa association is a good source of support and information if you, too are faced with thyroid cancer and I bought their LID cookbook. But I wanted more variety so off I went to Pinterest. No-salt Matzo crackers were allowed and they are very crunchy and I could use them as chips of sorts. I was searching for different kinds of salsa to eat with my new favorite “chip” and I found several. You can check out my Thyroid Cancer board on my Pinterest page. Since my treatment I found a Facebook page titled The LID Life Community run by several ladies that scour foods for banned ingredients making it much easier to have a wider variety of foods while on LID. You can even have Oreo cookies!
This is probably the easiest salsa to make in the RV as well. It takes maybe five minutes tops to put together. Next time you’re up for happy hour snacks, make this. It’s a sure-fire hit and you won’t be stuck inside the RV for a long time while everyone else is talking and laughing outside.
This corn salsa recipe was right up my alley. All items were approved and I used my iodine-free salt. It wasn’t a huge batch (although it is easily doubled for a crowd) and lasted a couple of days in the fridge. Added bonus; it was a snap to make.
First, rinse the corn in a colander. Rinse the cilantro, pat it dry and set aside to dry some more while you work on chopping.
The recipe calls for about 1/3 cup of chopped red onions. I was probably closer to 1/2 cup this time. It has onions and cilantro so Mark won’t touch it. No worries as it just means for me.
Next up are two medium-sized jalapenos. I love me some jalapenos but my lungs are another story. It’s strange, really. I cough up a storm when I cut them open. I open the window above the sink and try to work quickly but I cough like I’m having the worst asthma attack of my life. Once the seeds are out and down the drain, all is back to normal. Seriously strange. I must really like someone to go through all that while making salsa or anything with where I have to cut a jalapeno open. Can you hear me, Mark? Eat the salsa.
I’m not sure if this is the proper way to remove seeds from a jalapeno but this is how I do it. First I cut the top off, then I slice it in half lengthwise. I turn the water on and take a spoon to scoop out the insides while rinsing it under the water. Sometimes I’ll leave a few seeds, depending on who will be eating it.
Next up is to chop or tear a bunch of cilantro, about 3/4 cup worth. I have these super cool herb scissors that my super handsome Santa put in my stocking last year. He’s so nice. Anyhow, I cut up a lot of cilantro and dump it in the bowl with the corn, onion and jalapenos, salt and pepper.
Time to squeeze some limes. Super-squeeze two big limes then give it a really good stir. I put it in the fridge for a bit to let the flavors get to know each other. 1/2 hour is probably all you need.
It’s nice to be able to eat this with regular tortilla chips.
Try to keep yourself from grabbing a spoon and eating it all right here and now. It’s that good. The first time I made it one person literally pulled up a chair and ate the entire thing before anyone else had a chance. Lesson learned. If I make this while camping, I always double it.
Copycat Chip
otle Corn Salsa
Recipe Credit: How Sweet Eats
- 1 12-ounce bag of frozen sweet yellow corn, defrosted and drained
- 2 medium-sized jalapenos, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 red onion, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
- 3/4 cup fresh cilantro, torn or chopped
- Juice of 2 limes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix, mix, mix. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.