Today's Post Turned Into Veggies and Flowers - LOL

Huzzah, it's Friday. I have an appointment (so far) with my dentist, so I'll put off grocery shopping until after that appointment so that I don't have to worry about things staying frozen in the car. I could (and usually do) use my portable chillers that I always have in the back of Minnion, but it's not necessary today. I can easily shift schedules. I don't have anything I need to make except Ogre Juice for next week, and the veggies would wilt (slightly), even in the container. So I'll wait and deal with groceries afterward. 

I love fruit and vegetables, and try to have quite 
a bit of them every day. I have my Alkagizers, which 
are mainly vegetables, and I eat fruit with my breakfast 
and sometimes also with my lunch. I always have 
a salad with my dinner - have for decades. I love 
my veggies a lot. 

I was paying more attention to my peppers as I was making them on Wednesday. My check-out clerk, Polly, was telling me about male peppers having three lobes and female peppers having four. We saw that one of the peppers I was purchasing had five, so we figured that one was trans or bi-sexual. LOL It gave us a laugh, but then I looked it up when I went home because the whole thing seemed incorrect to me. Sure enough, the urban myth is exactly that - a total myth, and very inaccurate. The fruit of the pepper is neither male nor female, BUT the flowers of the pepper plant are both male and female, and it is that flower that leads to the fruit. Interested in more specific information and photos? Follow this link 

So the number of lobes is a myth, but there sure were a lot 
of photos claiming that the 3-lobe vs 4-lobs versions were 
male vs female, and that was one better for cooking. Such 
a bunch of BS! But an urban myth that has taken hold. 

My peppers from Wednesday's harvest dried up beautifully. Since today is an Ogre Juice making day, I'll pull out my new grinder and grind up the peppers while I'm busy in the kitchen. I don't need to cook anything - I have eight stuffed peppers already made and waiting to be eaten. I will get some bacon at the store and bake up the bacon, since I enjoy bacon on my salad every now and again, and I'm almost out of the last batch. All in all, it will be a more relaxed kitchen day, and that's just as well since it will be a shortened one due to the dental appointment. 

I usually bake my bacon - it's much easier and cleaner, 
and a no-muss, no-fuss way of getting the pound of 
bacon ready to use for my salads, etc. It's so simple, 
that I do wonder why I never did it in the past. Silly me! 
I won't pan fry bacon any more. 

It's getting colder quickly. DH spent most of yesterday planting bulbs in various places in the yard. Tulip and daffodils, mostly, with maybe an iris or two. He's been populating the new garden space he made last week, as well as some new areas in the lower yard that he dug up for early Spring flowers. I love seeing those early pops of color after a winter spent in shades of grey and white. 

I know he planted a dozen or so bi-colored tulip bulbs 
yesterday. I think the ones he planted were in pastel 
colors, but they'll be quite lovely in the early Spring when 
they start to grow and bloom. Hopefully they won't be 
eaten by our moles. 

So, I'm off to start my day. I hope your Friday is fantastic and I have every intention of being back here tomorrow. I'll let you know how my grinder works, if I get a chance to use it (and if I remember to comment on it). Slava Ukraini. 

Slightly Less Hectic, But A Cooking Dilemma To Figure Out

Today is a little bit less hectic ... a little. Yesterday's plan of getting to all three grocery stores before 10:00 am didn't work, but I had managed it by 11:00 am. I now have a refrigerator full of vegetables, new "ogre juice" containers in the freezer ready for upcoming days, and a freezer with bison and beef, ready to defrost and make. I'm leaving turkey tenderloins and shrimp in the refrigerator to cook on Friday. My shelf where I keep my greens is packed full once again, and my produce drawer is stuffed. A welcome change from Tuesday where I was scrabbling to find a green veggie other than that night's salad. 

One of the vegetable items I purchased at the Market 
yesterday was a Coleslaw mix. It was a 12 oz container 
of already shredded cabbages with a small amount of carrots. 
I also bought the same in a Broccoli slaw. I mixed them 
in with mayo yesterday and divided them into four 
portions. Lunch is served! I'll have to try to pick out 
the carrots as I come to them, carrots aren't "allowed" 
just yet, but there is just a very small amount of 
carrots in the mixes anyway. 

I'm in a bit of a dilemma though, and am reaching out to friends here and elsewhere. DH has asked me to make the St Louis Ribs we have in the freezer on Sunday. I'm perfectly fine with that - it's a easy make. I just defrost the ribs, marinade them overnight, and put them into the crockpot to cook along with some bar-b-que sauce. My problem? I'm going to have to separate out the ribs that I want for myself, and somehow manage to cook them separately. I love crock pot ribs - they turn out perfectly and they don't require a lot of babysitting. I don't think I can wrap my ribs in foil to keep them away from all the sugar and other items I don't want to eat. I assume I can oven roast my own portion? If you have a suggestion or recipe let me know. I'll do some internet searching and do a call-out on my WildFit board too. I have no intention of gaining back what I've lost. No, no, no, NO! 

I'm going to be able to put a nice dry rub 
onto all of the ribs, but I can't go near the 
bar-b-que sauce - too much sugar and other 
things I don't want to be eating right now. 
It's a problem for me to solve, for sure. 

I loved getting back to Mississippi Market yesterday, and I decided to actually join the co-op this time. The fee wasn't bad - less than $100 for the year. I get a discount on my purchases, but more than that, I support a wonderful neighborhood business that donates monthly to a variety of excellent causes and foundations. I'm quite happy about my decision. It's another good way to help people in my city improve their lives in many ways. 

The produce aisle at Mississippi Market is extensive and 
quite impressive. I do have to shop both at the Market 
and my neighborhood grocer to get all of the greens I 
want, but I love the selection here, the veggies are really 
fresh and beautiful, and their cremini mushrooms are 
outstanding. I end up with a nice bag's worth every time. 

So, I'm out of here. I have an introductory Masterclass at 8:00 am, and a second one at noon. I doubt I'll be able to see both of them without interruptions, but it was the only time I had available for scheduling them. The first one will probably mostly be OK, but that second one, in the middle of the day will be difficult. Still, I'll get what information I can from them. On that note, I'm out of here. Time for some wonderful eggs and then heading out the door. I hope your Thursday is fabulous and I'll be back tomorrow and as always, please be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. 

We're Moving Into Spring and A Rolled Rib Roast

I had been thinking we have been in Fall (Autumn) in the WildFit program up to this point, and I was correct. I made an assumption that we would move into Winter with the upcoming week, but I was mistaken. I love how they can throw unexpected curves at us, but I'm actually pretty pleased. Instead of the bleakness and survival aspects of  Winter, we're actually moving into Spring. It's still going to reduce a lot of what we had been eating, because things are only starting to regrow in Spring, but it's going to be a LOT better than Winter would have been. 

It's really hard to determine what would be 
appropriate foods for the season since 
today's grocery stores get produce from 
throughout the world all year around. 
I'm quite sure that foods in Florida in 
Spring would have been far different 
than foods in Minnesota at the same 
time of year. 

Actually, the explanation for why no Winter was interesting. Winter was a time of great hardship - not many growing plants, so not much to harvest and not much for animals to eat either, so getting meat was also constricted. Winter was a time of starvation, and could be used as a time of fasting under the program, but we're not doing those yet (if at all). He has mentioned fasts and intermittent fasts before, but won't actually discuss them in any detail until later in the program. Nonetheless, as we enter Week 6 of 13 on Monday, I'll have to eliminate all of the fruit I have in the house. I just bought a new bag of Peelz Mandarin oranges on Wednesday. I guess I'll have to use quite a few of them in a fruit smoothie or two. With my almond milk and some other veggie additions, it should actually be pretty tasty and will allow me to eliminate the oranges from my house by Sunday night. 

I just picked up a five-pound bag of 
Peelz Mandarin oranges on Wednesday. 
I guess I'll have to make them into some 
smoothies for the next couple of days to 
get them eaten before Monday. 

We're also switching to a non-fruit version of our veggie smoothies for the next few weeks. I have four smoothies with fruit already made up, so I'll be drinking two on Saturday, one today and one Sunday. That will allow me to make non-fruit versions for the next few days on Sunday. There's something wonderful about feeding all of these veggies into my Ninja blender and letting it roar. It's awesome at taking all these components and making something I love to drink from it. 

I love my Ninja blender. I've been using it several 
times a week and really pushing it's ability to 
make liquids from solids. I've been very impressed 
with the motor, and when I make liquids to the 
very top of the capacity, I get enough for four 
days of smoothies. 

DH had given me a mandate on Wednesday. To present him with a menu for Sunday that might, maybe, return some of the now-nonexistent joy back to his Sundays. He's REALLY unhappy about my nutrition program, apparently thinks it's ruining his life. His bad mood is certainly ruining MY life. But, I told him Beef with garlic roasted green beans and honey roasted carrots. He decided on a rolled rib roast (basically, a prime rib without the bones). I'll be shopping today and will see what the butcher has to offer. I'd prefer to buy the prime rib, have the butcher cut the bones off, then package the bones with the rolled rib roast so that I can have them supporting the meat while cooking. But I'll see what's available. 

I've always done Prime Ribs before, not without the bones. 
This will be a new experiment, but I'm looking forward 
to roasting it and to eating it. 

So, on that note, I'm out of here. I've got a Zoom call this afternoon and lots of things to do for the rest of the day. My "extra" day off hasn't been an open span of time yet! Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. As always, please be kind, stay safe and wear your mask.