*Sigh* - Taxes and Ants - They Never Disappear

DH laid down some ant traps yesterday in hopes of catching those micro ants that we had in the pantry. He put them into the pantry as well as into the yellow bathroom that is adjacent to the pantry - the one that Sharon uses when she's in town, and that I've taken over for my own over the past few years. I had seen a few of these micro ants in that bathroom before, and had made sure DH was aware of that. 

So, this is the pile of ants clustering around the one ant 
trap in the yellow bathroom. The small circle below is one 
of the small rubber bands for my braces and it measures 
1/4" (7mm) from edge of the circle to the other edge. So 
these ants are SMALL. They're hopefully taking the poison 
back into their nest. That's what the ant traps are supposed 
to accomplish because if they're inside the walls, I'm 
not deconstructing things to kill the suckers. 

When I got home from work, I checked out the ant traps in the bathroom. Two of them were pristine, but the third was "Disco Club Gone Wild". It was teeming with the crazy micro ants. DH thinks he knows where they are coming from, but I'm not sure we're going to be able to do much about that - it's an inside the walls thing caused by some plumbing fixes from a decade or two ago. Still, we're at least a bit more aware and on top of things now, and he'll tackle things again on Thursday. 

Tonight, right after DH gets home from the shop, we head 
over to our accountant for our personal income taxes. I hope 
I've got all of the paperwork together - I've spent the last week 
accumulating the various reports and printouts. I'll have to 
double-check my charitable contributions and make sure I haven't 
missed any of them. The monthlies usually aren't the problem, 
but I do occasional off-the-cuff donations now and again and 
have to make sure I've got those listed. Just one more thing to do 
on a busy day. 

On the other aide of ants is another annoyance - income taxes. We have an appointment with our accountant late this evening for our personal taxes. I think I've gathered everything we need - I'm pretty good at that. DH is responsible for his own reports on his investments, etc., but I gather all of the household stuff, my own financial things, and other banking materials. As we've gotten older and certain funds have been merged together, it's become a bit easier, but it's always a chore gathering the paperwork and making sure we have everything together. I'll be making sure during the day today, before I chat with Aearwen. 

I love cooking ribs in the slow cooker. Since 
DH and I use completely different Bar-B-Q 
sauces, I actually have a dam set up in the 
middle of the crock pot, and use a roasting 
bag to keep the two racks completely separated 
(and make for REALLY easy clean-up). I curl 
them into their sides, pour on the BBQ sauces, 
put on the lid, and cook them for six hours. 
They fall off the bone. So good (and so easy)! 

So it's a busy day today. I really need my time in the pool to decompress before diving into it. I have my first load of laundry already in the wash, and I need to survey the refrigerator at some point to figure out if I need to cook anything for the upcoming week. We're doing ribs again on Sunday - they were BOGO at the store so DH picked some up. At least that's an easy cook, and several days for eating. I'm off to the pool - need to work out some of this stress. Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Sometimes I'm Brain Dead - Time to Charge the Cell Phone

I was obviously brain dead (and probably very tired) last night when I went to bed. I forgot to plug in my phone for recharging, so when I awakened I had 12% charge. That's not going to cut it, so I'm charging now, and I'll meditate later in the day. It's inconvenient, and I love to meditate first thing in the morning, but I can't always have things the way I "want" them, sometimes I just have to go with the flow (and my own stupidity). 

I really hate it when I forget to plug my phone in 
overnight. I had 12% power when I awoke this 
morning - not enough for meditation and my other 
online tasks that I do first thing. So I'll push that 
all off until later today. It'll be a bit unexpected to 
meditate in mid-day, but it's not a bad thing - just 
messes with my schedule a bit. 

Isn't that the case every now and again? The best schedules, the best plans, and everything just hits the fan and needs a total re-do? Today is a bit of a re-do anyway - Aearwen has a conflict so we'll be missing our weekly chat later today, and I'm trying to think of some things to cook today - I'm usually pretty together on what to cook for my upcoming meals for a few days, but not today. I might take advantage of the fact that I'll meditate later in the day for a change, and look up some vegetable soup recipes. I really feel like a good soup. Yum! 

I'm in the mood for a nice vegetable soup for dinner, but I 
don't have a favorite recipe to use. So I downloaded and 
printed several that seemed good, I'm going to look them over, 
probably combine them, and end up with a nice variety of 
veggies from the store. I don't do some of the standards - no 
potatoes, corn or peas for me. But I do have a great love 
for veggies, so I'm sure I'll find ones that will cook up 
wonderfully. 

To my dear friend in New Jersey, thank you! I received your check (and Pippin's Milk-Bone contribution) in yesterday's mail. Thank you SO much for helping me bring some joy into the heart of my trivet elder. I know she's so very grateful, and I can hardly wait until she feels good enough to come by and pick it up. I'm blessed with amazing friends, and have been doubly blessed to be able to share my friends' generosity with an elder. (I'll ignore the fact that I think myself as well as many of my on-line friends probably fit into that "elder" category - LOL.) 

I really hate it when I forget to charge my cell phone. It 
totally throws me off my schedule. I'll have the time 
today to deal with it, but I prefer to meditate and do a 
certain morning routine to get my day started, and without 
my phone, that's pushed off until later. I'm already at almost 
50% though, so it's powering up again quickly. 

I think I'm going to end this here, though. I have plenty of time to chat, but I want to see if I can find a good recipe for a hearty vegetable soup. I'm in a soup mood, but I want my protein to be on the side this time, instead of in the soup, and I don't feel like making my tomato and roasted pepper soup again since I had it within the past couple of weeks. So ... time to hunt up a new recipe - what fun! Have an excellent Wednesday and I'll be back tomorrow - hopefully with a charged phone and a more regular schedule. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Winter Is Still Having a Vacation - That's Just Fine With Me

It's a rather quick post today since I actually slept until my alarm went off at 3:00 am. Still, posts are important for me - they get my thoughts on track for the day to come. I'll have to see how Chickie is doing today - on Tuesday she was coughing so hard that I sent her home early. It's a sinus infection, but she's a miserable Chickie. She's taking appropriate drugs that her doctor prescribed, but those always take a day or more to really kick in. Hopefully she's feeling better today. 

It's time to get our numbers together for our taxes and 
set up appointments with our accountant. We have lots 
of questions for him this year, but Paul is always on his 
game - he's an excellent accountant. 

Because Chickie wasn't doing well on Tuesday, I told DH that he had to work in the front room yesterday so that she could contact him easily if she needed help for any reason (like a fit of coughing). He was good and did it, but grumbled that he wasn't able to "get bookwork done" from the front. But things seemed to go OK yesterday - I didn't get any panic texts at any rate. 

I want to do a honey/garlic chicken for my other pack 
of chicken breasts. I'll get those made tomorrow and 
put them into the freezer. I'll use the ingredient list from
recipe #1 and the cooking method of recipe #2. It 
should turn out excellent. 

I have an extra pack of chicken breasts and wanted to bake those yesterday after/before baking the usual method for our dinner. I found a nice idea - baked honey garlic ... yum! - and two different recipes that seemed quite do-able. On close inspection, I liked the version of #2 better, but the actual recipe of #1 - it was much more clear and concise. I think I'll have to combine them. I'll make that tomorrow because this pack of chicken MUST be made and put into the freezer ASAP. It might be vacuum sealed, but even sealed well, it needs to be cooked. 

I want to make #2, using the ingredient listing of 
#1. As you can tell from the photos, there's not a whole 
lot of difference between the two of them, but the 
process of #2 is much less labor intensive. Number 
1, however, actually has a list of ingredients. 

The thing that really bothered me about the recipes was ... #1 was excellent at listing all of the ingredients, followed by their step--by-step process. Number 2, did a crap job listing their ingredients, just passing over them in a paragraph instead of in a list. Ridiculous. Nowhere is there actual quantities of this or that ingredient. I've been cooking long enough that I can make an educated guess, but really! That's not a good recipe, even if I like the preparation instructions better than Number 1. 

Back to the pool for my last swim of the week. Hopefully 
the roads won't be icy, although there are bound to be patches 
of ice here and there since we're so close to freezing. 
Caution is the word. 

So, I'm heading off to the swimming pool for my final swim of the week. We're above freezing again, but if there's a freezing drizzle or light rain, the roads have the potential of being icy in spots. Care is the name of the game. Care and caution and a "Thank You" to the Weather Gods for giving me a nice, almost snow-free winter this year. It's been making me a VERY happy person. Have an excellent day, Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

It's the Last Week of the Year - Did You Have a Good Christmas?

Today the store begins it's 4-Day End of the Year Sale - our biggest sale of the year. All hands are on deck for this one - all three of us showing up to work each day. Will we be busy? It's hard to predict because a lot of it depends on weather, temperatures, holiday gifts that were given, etc. I'm sure we'll have a lot of our regulars over the next few days, but hopefully some newer people as well. I'd like to wrap the year up tightly with a good sales week, so please think lots of positive thoughts for us. 

Time for our Four-Day After Christmas Sale. Ir's always 
a rather exhausting time, but we really need the customers 
and the business, so I hope they will come in and take 
advantage of the savings. 

We had a very nice holiday and I hope all of you did as well. Christmas was quite low-key, and the day after started out with DH pulling more than three feet of snow off the roof - a long and miserable job. Not really a great way for him to spend his birthday. I assisted by shoveling the walks and the driveway, then driving to the local convenience store to purchase a newspaper since ours was MIA. *sigh* I tried out the recipe I was thinking about bringing to my niece's get-together on the 1st, and they were quite good and pretty easy to put together. But I may still change my mind and go into a different flavor profile. 

I've been trying out a Honey-glazed Harissa Meatball 
recipe for the family get-together. The meatballs are 
quite tasty, but the glaze didn't come together well, it 
broke and congealed poorly. So I'll try a different type 
of sauce instead. I don't have a lot of time to experiment, 
I need this ready to serve by January 1st. 

Today it's back to the YMCA and the swimming pool. Hallelujah. I have been a turtle over the past four days. I really need to get moving once again, get some activity going. I know I can't sit back for too long - it catches up with me and takes too long to get back into an exercise pattern. I'll be without a pedometer for a few days, however. I found my current pedometer in the washing machine after a load yesterday, and it didn't survive the process. So, I ordered another one and it should arrive late this week or early next. I have a pretty good idea of what I do for daily steps anyway. I should add a second one into my shopping cart. I seem to be destroying them about every six to eight months. So far I've dropped one onto a tile floor, and then drowned the second one. How will I destroy the third one? Decapitation? 

This will be my 3rd OZO pedometer in a year and 
a half. I dropped the first one, and the second one 
went through yesterday's laundry. I guess I shouldn't 
be trusted with a pedometer - LOL. At least I have 
a pretty good idea of what I do for steps, and not 
tracking exactly won't be a tragedy for a few days. 

I hope all of you had a lovely holiday week; that you were able to spend it with others if you desired, or on your own if you preferred. I hope that Santa Claus was generous and aware enough of your needs and wants to give you the perfect gifts. I just want to make it through the next four days, do my end-of-the year reports, and call this year DONE. That's my personal goal. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Braces, Soup and What To Do With My Nuts? (No, Not Mental ... Food Stuff-LOL)

My first full day with the braces went pretty well. It's a learning curve, and getting floss between some of my teeth is extremely difficult, especially the back molars where I have a real squeeze of space. Still, I'm working on things and getting better and more efficient at care every time I have to brush/floss. I have found that wearing dental wax on the front double-bracket of my lower teeth is all that I need for comfort, and I haven't needed any Tylenol yet, although it's available if I ever do. I've set up a mini-station at the shop for when I need to brush after my lunch Ogre Juice, so I'm set on that. 

I am using dental wax on the center two brackets 
of my lower jaw. The two brackets are quite 
close together and they rub against the inside of my 
bottom lip. It was becoming painful, so I tried the 
dental wax to cushion it a bit and it works well. 
That seems (so far) to be the only area that is 
really bothering me. Everything else is getting 
better with practice - flossing with the braces is 
an art of angles, tools and frustration, but I'm 
getting there. 

I'm still not able to really chew well. It's a comfort factor and a difference in the alignment of my teeth from what used to be to what it currently is. But, I still had my chicken for dinner over the past two days, just cut up extremely small and added into my Roasted Peppers and Tomato soup. I'll make some more soup today - maybe my squash soup - that was a lovely one. I also have to make more Ogre Juice today, so my blender will be getting another workout, but not as intensive as last Friday was. 

I think I'd like to make another batch of the 
Roasted Butternut Squash soup. It was quite 
lovely, and I adore soups as the weather grows 
colder. (They're also much easier to eat with 
the braces than anything else I can think of to 
cook.) I'll make more chili next week. 

I'm a bit bummed that nuts are off my table. I generally eat nuts regularly, a lovely mix of delicious goodness. But I can't eat them now - no crunchy items and that specifically includes nuts. So I'll need to figure out some other thing I can do with the nuts I already have in my container. I don't want them to just sit around for more than a year - they'll go stale and taste horrible. I suppose I can toss them into the food processor and grind them down, but then what should I use the ground nuts in? Any suggestions? I'd appreciate any you can come up with, I can always alter recipes to fit them into my WildFit lifestyle. 

I'm thinking about making some nut and/or seed 
milks from the open nuts I have available to 
me that I can't eat now. It's certainly an option, 
and I'm sure my blender is up to it. Here's one 
recipe I found that sounds feasible. 
https://jessie-may.com/posts/how-to-make-nut-seed-milks

I am moving a bit slowly today, though. Not for any real reason, just am. I'm a bit cold, but that's not really a great excuse. I did manage to motivate and get to the treadmill for my 2+ miles as usual, but I'm rather "bleh" today. Still, it's a "day off" and that's a very good thing. Our temps are falling down from our unseasonable hot prior few though, and I'm really NOT in the mood for a true cold autumn/winter quite yet. 

DH was able to get his Covid booster shot yesterday, so he's happy once again. We had an appointment for him on Tuesday, but the drugstore called and cancelled it due to a shortage of personnel. So, I chose a different pharmacy for him and got him in early Thursday instead. He opted against getting his flu shot at the same time (I don't blame him for that decision at all), so he only had the one to deal with. At least he seems to be sleeping well right now - the previous two nights were restless and minimal sleep. Maybe his subconscious annoying him during his dreams - who knows? So ... I hope your Friday is fabulous. I'll be shopping and cooking for much of the day, and that's not all bad at all. I have every plan to be back with you tomorrow, so have an EXCELLENT day and Slava Ukraini. 

A Plethora Of Soups in a Very Late Post! Mea Culpa - I Messed Up!

 Shame on me. I was in a rush this morning, with an 8:30 appointment at my orthodontist to get one of the spacers replaced that had fallen out. My mind was 1000 miles away, and I completely got caught up in what I needed to get done today, and I didn't post. 

The roasted carrot soup recipe is creamy 
and wonderful. It does need a blender 
for the final step, so that's a necessity. 
If you want to look at the recipe, it here: 
https://cookieandkate.com/roasted-carrot-soup-recipe/

That's extremely rare for me. Usually it only happens when I'm on "vacation" - trade shows, seminars, trips out of town, etc. None of that applied. My brain just saw a rabbit hole and jumped down it, forgetting to poke back up into the real world once again. 

The roasted Butternut squash soup recipe makes 
an incredibly smooth, rich soup that's just 
amazingly good. This one really requires a 
blender of one type or another, and I was really 
glad I have a workhorse of a blender because 
it pushed it a bit. Here's the link if you're 
interested in this one. 
https://cookieandkate.com/roasted-butternut-squash-soup/

Good news, though. When they were able to see me at the orthodontist, she had no problem putting the rubber spacers between my teeth, and replaced the last metal spacer I had with one as well. So now I don't have any of the metal spacers at all, just the rubber ones that are much more comfortable and less intrusive. I felt so good about that, I grabbed my shopping list and headed to the grocery stores I had on my agenda. 

I also bought the ingredients to make this 
soup. I'll make it next week. It's called a 
Creamy Avocado Soup and it looked 
very tasty indeed. Here's the recipe if 
you're interested. 
https://www.theendlessmeal.com/avocado-soup/

Six non-dairy yogurts, lots of broth (Vegetable and Chicken) and a bunch of veggies later, after my second store, I was ready to start cooking. Originally I had planned on today being an Etsy day, but I needed food for my dinners, etc, since I would like to stay on a soft diet until the actual bands get installed on November 2nd. I had recipes and ingredients enough for four soups. I ended up making two today - a roasted carrots soup and a roasted Butternut squash soup. My blender got lots of work with both of them - the first "real" workout it's had since I purchased it. It performed like a dream. 

I can hardly wait to make this recipe. It's for a soup 
called "Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup" and it 
uses all natural ingredients. You broil the peppers, then 
add everything together in the blender. I'll use the 
"soup" setting for this one and it's going to be 
fantastic. Interested in this recipe? Here's the link. 
https://downshiftology.com/recipes/roasted-red-pepper-tomato-soup/

So I now have 4 portions of carrot soup and three of squash soup in my refrigerator. They're really different recipes, and both are wonderfully flavorful and really, really tasty. I'm already looking forward to my soup tonight. 

The last soup I got ingredients for is this one - it's 
called "Ten Ingredient Alkalizing Green Soup" and 
it starts with cooked green peal, then adds fresh 
spinach leaves, some celery and parsley, a bit of 
cilantro, some garlic and miso, a tablespoon of 
nutritional yeast, coconut cream and water. I have 
everything except the miso, but since I didn't get 
to this one today, I have time to look for that. I could 
always substitute soy sauce if needed. Interested 
in this recipe? Here's the link. 
https://www.punchfork.com/recipe/Ten-Ingredient-Alkalizing-Green-Soup-101-Cookbooks

So, as you can tell, I was quite busy this morning. For those of you who arise and expect to see a post from me, mea culpa. I totally messed up. But you're getting one now -  late. Thanks so much to Sam for asking if I was OK. I truly didn't even remember that I hadn't posted! Wow - silly me - LOL. Slava Ukraini and I'll be back tomorrow - I promise! 

The Ryder Cup Starts Friday and A Great Time-Saving Recipe For All of You

I had a rather busy first day of Autumn, starting out with a lot of computer work, moving in laundry - an all-day project, grocery shopping (two stores, two trips) and some housecleaning, and more computer work. Between everything else, I got kitchen work done, dinner managed, the house cleaned (somewhat) and things wrapped up for the rest of the week, and read a bit because a day doesn't go by without a few chapters of whatever book I'm reading under my belt. 

I wasn't aware that the Ryder Cup had been around since 
the late 1920's. It is played every two years, and alternates 
between Europe and the US. This time it's in my neighboring 
state of Wisconsin (so you may see some of the trees starting 
to turn colors in the background). It's a team competition 
in a sports that is singularly individual competition at all other 
times. It's a bit confusing, but DH loves it. 

DH asked me to work for him on Friday. He wants to see the first day of the Ryder Cup, his favorite golf tournament. The Ryder Cup has always confused me a bit - it's not like the usual golf tournament I'm used to seeing, but he loves it - that whole team competition thing enthralls him. So, since he asked nicely, I agreed, and I'll be working for the next three days. That meant I needed to do what I had planned for Friday's tasks yesterday, which was part of my "rather busy day". LOL 

I'm very grateful that my doctor declared my skin issues 
to NOT be any food allergy. I still want to find out 
what things I'm allergic to now, just to be on the safe 
side, but I don't have to toss tomatoes out of my diet. 
I'm thrilled - my life without salsa or ripe tomatoes 
on my salads would be poorer. 

The Prednisone and prescription gunk for my skin are starting to work. I'm on Day 3 of 10, so there's still quite a long way to go, but I'm hopeful that this will, indeed, get my crazy skin back under control. I have my appointment with the allergy department on the 13th for my skin tests, and I'm curious about what I might be allergic to - whether things have changed since I was a child, or if I'm still sensitive to the same triggers. I am relieved, however, that the skin issues I'm dealing with are not food related. I don't have to watch tomatoes with the same baleful eye any more. 

I was desperate - I didn't want to throw away 
a perfectly good squash, but I'll have no oven 
until December. I found the perfect recipe on 
"CookTheStory" via a search on Google, 
tried it in the afternoon, and had a perfectly 
cooked squash from my microwave in less 
than 15 minutes! It takes me longer than 
that, with an interruption to turn the pieces 
over, in the regular oven. I'll be using the 
microwave for my squash from now on! 

OH!!! Something to share with all of you. I had purchased a Butternut squash shortly before my oven died. I normally roast my squash, and I love having it on my evening salads or with dinner. It sat around for a few weeks, but I was resigned to tossing it into the trash yesterday until I thought "Maybe there's another way to cook this, so that I won't have to waste it." I turned to my trusty ever-present seer named Google and asked about ways to cook Butternut squash and it had a lovely microwave solution that takes four minutes per pound in the microwave. The secret is to punch through the skin deeply with a paring knife, making lots of cuts up and down the entire squash. This allows the steam build-up to escape. I punched a lot of slits up and down on all sides, put it on a microwave-safe plate and set my timer for 14 minutes. I pulled it out at about 12 minutes done because it was actually dripping juices, and set it aside to cool. When it was cooler, I grabbed my trusty Y-slicer, sliced off the rind from most of the body, then cut it into cubes. It was PERFECT! Easy, peasy. My favorite way to cook. I'll be doing my squash this way in future. 

This tree is from last year's photos of my 
neighborhood. Taken on October 7th. I have 
this kind of beauty to look forward to over 
the next few weeks. It's what makes winter 
tolerable for me. I love living up here because 
it's a beautiful state, but winter isn't my 
favorite time of year. Fortunately it's 
heralded by the stunning beauty of Autumn. 

On that very domestic note, I'm out of here for the day. While driving around yesterday, I noticed the trees are turning into their beautiful colors - we're so fortunate up here in the Midwest US - we get glorious colors for our trees. The height of our colors is usually October 11th, and I'm hoping to get a bit of time between now and then to take some photos to share with all of you. It's the colors that make the greys of winter bearable to me. Winter is bracketed by the reds and oranges of Autumn and the brilliant yellow-greens of Spring. I can't go far without color - I could never have made it in a land of ice and snow, I would have gone crazy. Have a wonderful day and I'll be back tomorrow. 

Blending and Cooking - I Can Blend, But I Can't Cook Very Well

I spent from 5:00 am until 5:45 am in the kitchen, doors closed and blender blending. I had asked DH if he was bothered by the sound of the blender at all when I ran it in the early mornings. I always make sure the doors to the kitchen are closed, and he sleeps upstairs and is hard of hearing, but I don't want to awaken him at a ridiculous hour of the morning. Just because I'm an early bird doesn't require him to be one. (That's fortunate, because he's a night owl and I most CERTAINLY am not - LOL.) 

My Ninja Professional blender is one purchase 
I made that I do not regret. It's been getting 
a workout and it's blending like a champ. 
I'm certainly getting my money's worth - LOL. 

So this morning I grabbed my produce bin with the washed veggies from Wednesday and my blender and started making my next set of Alkagizers. Alkagizer is a term used by WildFit for a vegetable smoothie that we all drink to keep our nutrition levels up and get our vitamins and minerals. Right now we're drinking 2-3 of these a day, so I go through a lot of veggies. I don't mind the drinks, and the blending when the veggies are already clean is pretty fast, but when I buy my vegetables on Wednesdays, it usually takes between two and two-and-a-half hours to get everything cleaned up, bundled in paper toweling, and split between the current blender load and my produce bin. Very time consuming and rather messy. 

I purchased this Rubbermaid Produce Saver 
set at Target several weeks ago. It's been 
fantastic. When I clean and pack my veggies 
in the bin, they stay wonderfully crisp until 
I need them a few days later. Much better than 
having them sit out on the shelf (since my 
produce drawer in the fridge is filled 
with my daily salads, etc). 

Today's mix was somewhat normal - half a cucumber, green bell pepper and jalepeno pepper, celery stalks, collard greens, mustard greens, kale, endive and radicchio, an avocado, some fresh ginger, water, oil and Himalayan Pink salt. I have four filled containers in my fridge cooling down now. The blender, blades and lid have been washed, dried and returned to their place, and the leftover veggies (which I will need to supplement later today) have been re-wrapped and returned to the produce bin. I'm set until Sunday, but I will need to repeat the process on Sunday. Maybe that's why I'm not that fond of cooking. It seems rather like the "Neverending Story" - eat, sleep, play, repeat ... 

I'm not a good cook. I cook to eat, but not for 
enjoyment. I'm cooking more under WildFit than 
I have for more than 20 years. Although I enjoy 
aspects of it, I'm never going to be in love 
with cooking. 

I might enjoy cooking more if I was a good cook, and there are some things that I can cook extremely well. But in the main, I'm a so-so cook - I can make edible things, I can follow a recipe, but I don't have that instinctive understanding of spices and flavors, what goes together, and how to combine them. Oh well, the good cooks in the world need people like me to eat their food and appreciate their skills. 

I can follow a recipe, but mine usually turn out in one 
of those four categories. It's not for lack of 
trying, just no real talent because I don't really care 
what I eat, as long as I'm not hungry. 

On that note, I'm out of here. It's a busy day ahead and I'd better get moving. Have a wonderful and happy day and please, stay safe, be kind and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

A Bagel, A Bagel, My Kingdom for a Bagel - LOL

I haven't had any grain products or bread items for more than six weeks now, and I miss them, in some ways. I've never been a big bread eater, but there are times when a piece of bread or a bagel ... ooooh yeah! A bagel with schmeer and stuff - cream cheese and onion with lox, or just a berry spread and a blueberry bagel. Total yum!! But, as I said, I've had no grain for more than six weeks now. 

OK, mine did NOT look this good, but maybe my 
next batch will be better. I will have a much better 
idea of how to make it and getting it into the baking 
tray without as much mess. I have never piped 
before, and the instructions said to pipe. I'll 
get better. But mine were tasty, and that's what 
really counts. 

A friend on WildFit posted mini-bagels and a link to the recipe she used and I looked at the recipe and said to myself, "Self ... I want to make these!" So yesterday being my grocery store day, I hunted for the ingredients to make these little mini-bagels that weren't really a bagel, but that would suit me quite well. The base is creamed macadamia nuts - a cup of them in the food processor. To that was added several other ingredients including what was supposed to be a cup of coconut butter. 

Coconut oil is easy to find, and I have some 
in my pantry. Coconut butter is much more 
difficult. I'm hoping I can find some at 
Whole Foods. I tried Trader Joe's but they 
didn't have any, even if the website for 
Nutiva claimed they did. My local grocer 
at least had the Red Palm Shortening which 
is a coconut product, but I think the "butter" 
would be a bit better in the recipe. 

Coconut butter turned into an impossible product to find. In fact, it was so difficult that I finally settled for an alternative - Red Palm Shortening. I think Whole Foods might have the real coconut butter, and I'll check that out on Friday, but I used the shortening in the recipe this time and they turned out OK - rather yummy in fact. 

They may not look like much, but they were amazingly 
tasty and totally hit the spot. I used a donuts baking 
sheet (Silicone) that I bought at Target for under $16, 
and I'll be making this again - the second time WITH 
the coconut butter (ideally). 

As a plus, I had purchased a pound of grass-fed free-range cattle ground beef, so I took that, split it into eight small patties and fried them up. Two patties and two "bagels" made for a lovely lunch. I'm looking forward to taking a couple of "bagels" to the shop with me for today's lunch. It's funny how just one small thing can brighten a day. 

I hope your day today is lovely, filled with only good things. I urge you to look for the the small things that will make you happier - the sound of a fountain, the song of a bird, the curl of a leaf, or the laughter of a child. All these things and more are gifts we all too often take for granted. Today, take a moment to breathe deeply and appreciate these amazing gifts for your day. Please be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Exploring Mississippi Market and a New Recipe Success

I had a delightful time yesterday, shopping at Mississippi Market Co-op before heading to my local grocer for a few more items. The Market was very well stocked, their prices were excellent, and they had the Psyllium Husks and the Flax Seed Meal I was looking for. I also picked up a nice piece of tuna for my dinner on Friday, lots of veggies, and two packages of a new jerky that seemed worth trying. I actually ended up doing the majority of my shopping at the Market, instead of my local. I'll go there again, but probably not weekly since there's a big difference between one mile away and 12 miles away. 

I was very pleased with the selection and the prices at 
Mississippi Market Co-op. I ended up with a bunch 
of produce, all organic, for not much more than I would 
have spent at my local grocer. Since both businesses 
are locally owned and operated, I'm fine shopping with 
either store. No national conglomerates here - just smaller 
firms trying to make it in a competitive marketplace. 

I did drive by Whole Foods on my way from the Market, spotted where the turn-in is for ramp parking, but I was already set on groceries and wanted to get them home and into the refrigerator ASAP, so I didn't bother stopping in. I've been wanting some bison meat for a meal, though, and Whole Foods is most likely to have some. The meat department at the Market was quite disappointing, and my local grocer seems to only have bison as a ground meat product. 

I will shop here again. The neighborhood is a borderline 
neighborhood - not toney rich people in the suburbs, but 
not ghetto either. Just a bit of worn down older 
neighborhood trying to upscale slowly. I was very 
comfortable here and liked the atmosphere of the store 
a lot. 

After my usual three loads of laundry and all of that grocery shopping, I was exhausted. But I wanted to cook something, so I took out some sheet pans and toasted the mixed nuts I had cracked open over the past two weeks. It's a lovely mix of walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds and Brazil nuts, but they all were raw and really needed the fresh taste and depth of flavor that toasting can do. A quick run through oil with a bit of sea salt, a few minutes in the oven, and viola! Now they're quite tasty. 

I made my own Flaxseed Wraps yesterday afternoon. Mine 
weren't as beautiful as the photo, but for a first attempt, 
they actually weren't bad. They taste amazing! I'm really 
looking forward to eating them for my lunches. 

The only recipe I made yesterday (except for my usual baking of chicken breasts for Wednesday night dinner) was the Flaxseed "Flatbread". I prefer to call it a Flaxseed Tortilla - tortillas are totally in my vernacular, whereas flatbread isn't, but whatever I call it, it's really tasty. I'll be filling one or two of these for my lunch today with lettuce and other veggies, and maybe some shredded chicken with natural mayonnaise. Yummy! 

Although I'm not 100% happy with the "Alkagizer Prime" (no 
fruits to sweeten it up), I'm being a good girl and having 
1-2 of these every day. It's giving me the vitamins and 
nutrients that I need while on WildFit. I think I'm a 
permanent fan of the mild version which adds fruits to 
the blend, but the Prime is a bit harsher to the taste. 

I blended my "Ogre Juice" for today and tomorrow at 3:15 am this morning - I was running early for a change since I awakened at 2:30 am, so had plenty of time to get the blender going in the kitchen after my morning meditation. With the kitchen and the bedroom doors closed, I doubt DH could have heard anything at all, and by 4:00 am I was done, my "juice" was in containers, and the blender was washed, dried and put away. On that note, I'm out of here. I hope all of you have a splendid day and I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully with a bit more sleep!). Please be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. 

Recipes Pulled Me Down the Rabbit Hole

I'm really late today, but since it's my day off, I'm not really under a tight time schedule. I have a good excuse - I jumped down the rabbit hole of some recipes. I need some breakfast and lunch recipes that are on-program for WildFit and that won't be ridiculously difficult for me to make. That means things I can make with eggs and/or chicken for the protein, and non-grain "breads" along with veggies. A friend posted a recipe for Turkey Breakfast Sausage yesterday and I'm totally going to make it. I also want to look at an uncured kielbasa recommended by my fellow program participant who happens to be a professional chef. 

The key right now is making things that usually use grain, 
without using grain products. Flax seeds are allowable, and 
when ground into a meal, can make a lovely and very 
sturdy and flexible "tortilla" for a lunch wrap. I need 
to figure out something good for my breakfast and lunch 
meals because I'm not eating super well right now. 
Something like this will be very helpful. 

I started looking for wrap recipes, wanting a tortilla-like wrapper. I found a lovely flax seed wrap and a psyllium flatbread, along with seed crackers. I want to check out ingredients today and cook/bake on Friday. I also want to check out our of our more "holistic" grocery stores which has been on my "want to do " list for a while. The weather is nice, but today will be cold, so being indoors shopping won't be a bad idea. I can buy the majority of what I need at my local grocer, but I need to pick up a prescription from my pharmacy which gets me half-way to Mississippi Market, so I might as well drop by there "on the way" LOL. 

The Mississippi Market Co-op is one of St Paul's oldest 
and most successful co-ops. It's at Selby/Dale in St 
Paul, just north of Grand Avenue. It's easy to get to 
and parking is MUCH easier than it is at my local 
Whole Foods store. I've been wanting to check them 
out - haven't been there for years. I'm looking forward 
to visiting them today. 

Between all of the grocery shopping is the usual grouping of tasks for my Wednesday - mainly consisting of laundry. But I Have Dryer! And that makes everything much easier all around. With a functional dryer I can easily do other things around the house as needed while the laundry tumbles around. Far different from being stuck at the laundromat for an hour or more while I dried and folded up all of my wash loads. Going to the laundromat took approximately two hours out of the middle of my day. 

My closest Whole Foods Market is also on Selby, but 
a bit farther west at Selby and Snelling. I have NO 
idea where to park to be able to shop here. It's nice having 
a good market within 15 minutes of home, but if I can't 
park easily, it takes some of the joy away. I'll drive by on 
my way home from Mississippi Market, before I pick 
up my prescription. It might be easier to park than I've 
thought, so I'll take a closer look. 

So, all in all, I'm looking forward to my day, even if I am posting this a bit later than usual. I'm going to wrap this up and head up for a 2-egg omelette with some nice spices. I'm not very fond of eggs, but I like them sometimes and haven't really had any for more than a year, so eating some this week has been a nice change. Have an excellent day, and please be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

I Have a Dryer and Thoughts About Food

We have dryer! The repairperson was scheduled to show up between 6:30 am and 9:30 am, but actually arrived shortly before 8:30 am. By the time 9:15 am rolled around, the dryer was back together, he was backing out of the driveway, and DH was hurrying out the door to get to work on time. I had a different repair guy this time, and I liked him a lot. Not really a talker, but very efficient and answered my questions without hesitation. I did four loads of laundry after he left, and used my dryer, and every load was perfectly dry. I'm elated. No more laundromat! DH gives the repair 90 days. I wrote the date on my calendar - I think it will last far longer than that. 

I was busy cracking walnuts and pecans while 
chatting with Aearwen yesterday afternoon. I got 
a good portion done by the time we signed off 
for the week. 

I was so busy with laundry and grocery shopping/cooking that I didn't even get a chance to settle in front of a computer until after 2:00 pm. I was still getting up all the time to rescue clothes from the dryer or do the next project in the kitchen, but at least I had a chance to catch up with different people during the afternoon. I had my weekly phone convo with Aearwen (delightful as always) while I was cracking walnuts and pecans to make a mixed nut arrangement of my own choice. I had purchased some hazelnuts, Brazil nuts and almonds at the store, and wanted to crack some walnuts and pecans to add to them. Then I'll shell some pistachios, and my personalized nut mix will be complete. I love nuts, but the commercial mixes just aren't the nuts I want. 

Have you ever seen cashew nuts in the wild? This 
is what they look like on the tree. The nut itself 
is protected by a toxic shell. Here's a short video 
that tells you all about cashews. 

Speaking of nuts, I'm trying to wean myself away from one of my absolute favorite nuts - cashews. I already eat very few almonds because they are water guzzlers and not an environmentally friendly nut tree, but I was totally unaware of the human toll that harvesting cashews requires. Although cashews have been a favorite of mine for more than 50 years, I'm knocking them out of my diet because I can't support forced labor or poisoning people who process these nuts for our consumption. 

I'm thinking a roast beef for Sunday might be perfect. 

DH told me yesterday that I've "ruined" his Sundays and I'd better present him with menu choices for this Sunday. I think he's out of line, but I'll give him a single choice - roast beef with honey roasted carrots and roasted green beans with slivered almonds (I already have the almonds on hand from a few months ago). Will this "menu" work for him? I have no idea. 

If we move into winter, it's going to knock a lot of veggies 
and fruits out of our selections. We'll be using sweet 
potatoes, kale, beets and other root crops for our salads. 
Here's a nice looking kale salad. Kale isn't one of 
my absolute favorites, but I can deal with it knowing the 
season will move into Spring soon. 

I'm fairly sure WildFit will be moving into a winter season starting next week which will blast our massive fruit intakes down considerably and push our bodies to start burning fat as a fuel instead of burning sugar. I know weeks six and seven are always thought of as the hardest weeks by anyone who has gone through the program, so I'm really looking forward to finding out what changes will go into effect on Monday. On that note, I'm out of here. Have an excellent day and please be kind, stay safe and please wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow.