Hodgepodge Catch-up

February 27, 2015

Hey, y’all. 🙂

First before I start with the hodgepodge…for any family members reading this…Mama B’s Dr visit last week was great. She doesn’t have a tumor or anything else scary. 🙂

And me? Well…I’m still alive.

Feeling better but still not 100%.

This week I did start cooking a little bit for the first time all month.

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That looks awful but it turned out quite delicious. 🙂 A pot of pressure cooked short ribs.

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Crushed pretzels / brownie batter / salted caramel.

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Layered.

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Swirled.

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Baked 350*.

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One tiny molten section in the middle. My fav. 🙂

This is a great idea for some salty / sweet / crunchy in one pan but for some reason about 25% of my pretzels were soggy while the rest of them were perfectly crisp. Have no idea why or how to fix it. It was all eaten though. 🙂

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Knowing me y’all probably think the brownies were my favorite food from this week but you’d be wrong. 🙂 This was my fav. Again the pic looks off (and I seriously need to get back into the habit of taking pics because I forgot to get ‘after’ pics) but I made up a batch of icebox dough and used part of it to make a hamburger / cheese stuffed roll. It was the best. 🙂 And now I’ll use the rest of the dough for pizza.

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Went out for Lent fish Friday. I had the grilled fish tacos. That’s a corn tortilla. Plus guac / salsa / sour cream.

Did y’all see this on Kelly & Michael this week? You put in your birth date and it tells you the number one song the week you were born and the week you were conceived.

Mine were Rod Stewart’s Maggie May (the week I was born…which I already knew) and Dawn’s Knock Three Times.

Sister B, I did yours and yours where Top of the World (the Carpenters) and Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly.

I think we can all agree I got the better songs. 😉

I did my whole family and Papa B’s birth song was Smoke Smoke Smoke that Cigarette. And for real I can imagine ’em all lighting up right there in hospital. Ick.

Oh and let’s see what else…

The most shocking thing this week?

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The movie theater in my little town is showing 50 Shades.

What?

This is a town where far too many people here are your typical Sunday mornin’ Christians. Ya know…church on Sunday mornin’…horrible people Mon – Sat. Racist / sexist / judgmental / homophobic / basically all your ists and ics. A good portion probably think the segregated 50’s was Shangri-La.

They didn’t even show The Help in this town.

Yeah, seriously. Too much like looking in a mirror.

But 50 Shades? Well let’s all head on out for a girls night. And then hop on a church pew in the morning and pass judgment on everybody else.

Me and Mama B wanna go covertly take pics of all the hypocrites. 😉

Too much? 😉

Don’t worry ists and ics. I’m not gonna turn this space into a small town The Dirty. But oh how some of you temp me.

Anyway that’s all for today.

Have a good weekend. See y’all soon. 🙂

I’ll leave y’all with my birth week song. Which I actually love love loved long before I ever knew it was my birth week song. Check yours out and see if you felt the same way about yours. 🙂

Hey, Y’all

February 9, 2015

Sorry I didn’t get a post up last week.

Last week was just plain hellacious. Mama B had a cat scan order for 2 months and getting that scheduled was a mess. Finally we were able to get it done last Thursday. She’s got another appointment next week so here’s hoping it goes better.

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I was so frustrated with all the nonsense…at one point I had to go sit out in the lobby…watch the fish and just breathe.

Let’s see…what else did I do last week?

Well …

I made some spicy wings.

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Made some crispy green beans…

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These were so easy and so good. I just seasoned some fresh green beans with salt / pepper and a tsp of spicy Macadamia oil. Then baked at 400* til they got crispy and a little charred.

I got a delivery…

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Y’all know that I gave up soy a long time ago. Until last month pretty much the only soy I ate was in the form of mayo and I’d even cut my consumption of that by about 70%. When I started Whole 30 eating I found Tessemea’s on the Whole 30 site. Most of their products are paleo / Whole 30 approved. There is zero soy in the mayo. AND it’s actually really good. All of their stuff is ‘clean’. The only downside I find with any of it is that you’re supposed to icebox the dressings / marinades and since they’re made with olive oil (the good tasting kind not extra virgin) they harden in the cold. You have to wait for them to soften or sit them in some warm water to speed it up. They say it doesn’t damage the product at all but still it’s annoying.

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Right now these are my two favs. I take about a 1/4 cup of the mayo and about 2 tbsp of the zesty southwest ranch and mix it together really well. Then put back in the icebox to let the flavors meld.

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Then I use it like a dipping sauce for beef and chicken…kind of like the dipping sauce at a steak house. Or even as a creamy dressing on a salad.

Oh and one last update…

I’m still attempting the sewing thang. It’s…interesting. 🙂

You know how we have all kinds of vanity sizing in store clothes? Well patterns don’t do that. So if you’re a size 10 in regular clothes you’re like an 18 or 20 in patterns. I didn’t know that so I have a bunch of wrong size patterns and wrong amounts of material. But it’s all just practice right now so it’s not that big a deal.

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Right now I’m working on the shorter dress on the left. I’m stuck now though because I don’t have an iron. I know. I’m gonna go get one tomorrow.

It really is a little comical. First I didn’t have the right color thread. Then I didn’t have a zipper. Directions, y’all. They’re there for a reason. 😉 As I was cutting out the pattern I did stop and wonder how may patterns my Mema cut out / sewed on that same table. Hopefully she’ll send me some mojo. 🙂

Besides the sizing issue with patterns…the other thing I’ve found frustrating is this pattern is clearly marked “see and sew” and “Yes it’s easy”. Uhmmm no. No. It’s not any of that. Mama B is an experienced seamstress. She even thought the directions were way too confusing for a novice. But anyway…I’m still giving it a go. Maybe someday soon I’ll have something to show for it. 🙂

Hope y’all are safe / warm and well. 🙂

30 Days Down and a New Hobby

January 31, 2015

Hey, y’all.

I made it 30 days. 🙂

No sugar. No grains. No Soy. 20 of the 30 days without dairy. It was hard but I did it and I’m going to keep going.

Just a reminder…I’m following Whole 30 ‘rules’.

They allow potatoes (white too) plus nuts. No sweeteners at all. My plan is to continue with this until Easter then reevaluate.

Let’s see…what else has happened since we last met…

Another pressure cooked pot of stew.

Mama B accidentally clicked the camera button as I was turning my head and caught this great picture of my hair color. I love it so much.

The first few grape plants of mine and Papa B’s future vino empire. 🙂

Homemade macadamia nut butter. Homemade nut butters don’t firm up like commercial butters because they don’t have any stabilizers. They’re way more delicious though. 🙂

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Salt encrusted baked potatoes and blackened Mahi.

And the star of this week…

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That’s right, y’all. At allegedly 40 something…I’ve decided to teach myself how to sew.

What? I know.

Meme, Mema and Mama B were all phenomenal seamstresses. Phenomenal.

Mema used to make our dolls clothes. Meme made gorgeous quilts. Mama B made most of our clothes until around Junior High.

How did all of that rub off me you ask? Not well. Back in the dark ages we had to take home ec in 8th grade and then again sometime in high school. I took mine my sophomore year. The cooking portion of the class = love. The sewing portion? Hate x a bazillion. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that my version of the shirt they made us sew looked worse than the shirt Denise sewed for Theo on Cosby. Of course Mama B saved it and I now have her on the hunt for it so I can take a pic.

Back then I hated everything about sewing. The rules. The need for perfect lines. The cutting…ironing. Just everything.

So right about now you must be wondering…if she hated it that much why did she just go buy a sewing machine?

Well if you followed the old blog you know I’ve been trying to find a new hobby ever since I had to stop baking / creating in the kitchen.

For some crazy reason I’ve decided that sewing is going to fill that void. I mean with all that sewing in my DNA I can’t completely suck, right? 🙂

I’ll write more about it as I get going but for now…

This is waiting for me. Wish me luck. 🙂

Hope y’all have a good weekend. If you’re partying for the Super Bowl be safe.

Y’all know I’m a huge football girl. But I’m an even bigger women’s issues activist. Given all the domestic abuse cases brought to light in the NFL …I just never could get into this season. I always try to leave my political views and modern day feminist opinions off the blog…and I won’t write much more than this…but today instead of leaving with a song I’m gonna leave y’all with this super bowl commercial. People faked all sorts of moral outrage in Sept and then just moved on once the season got going. Thank You, UltraViolet for not letting this go. 🙂

See y’all next week. 🙂

The Best Kitchen Tool ~ Ever :)

January 23, 2015

Hi, y’all. 🙂

Hope your week was good. For me it’s been a long one…full of horrible fire place smoke smell everywhere…2 days of interent problems and the horrible customer service that went along with it…plus some sort of sinus problem thrown in. I hope it’s just my body purging out toxins.

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Change ‘bread’ to ‘cheese’ and that’s the message I’m needing today.

I started out the month with the plan of doing a full Whole 30. I did that for 10 days and then added in cheese…still keeping to all the other Whole 30 rules.

Taking the cheese out and then adding it back showed me how much it really does affect me.

SO…I’m back to trying to live without it and really really not enjoying it. 🙁

But on I go. 🙂

Last time we met I was going out for the first time since all these changes. Obviously I survived. Mexican too. 🙂

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Taco salad. Since I can’t use commercial dressings I used guac and salsa to make a dressing. It was really good.

This is one of the best kitchen tool investments I’ve ever made…and y’all know I love me some kitchen tools. 😉

It’s the Instant Pot. An electric pressure cooker. It. Is. Amazing. I’ve done stews, several batches of short ribs, our Thanksgiving turkey breast and now some vegetables. 🙂

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Isn’t that gorgeous? My Meme would be so proud. 🙂

Green beans, red potatoes, and a ham hock. Remember I’m using Whole 30 rules for my jump into paleo…they allow potatoes.

I can’t recommend the Instant Pot enough. It makes meat so tender. The short ribs are the house fav so far. They’re so good they’re always gone before I even get a picture. 🙂

That’s all for today. Y’all have a good weekend. 🙂

Brrrrrr

January 10, 2015

Are y’all enjoying the cold?

It’s way cooler here than it usually is. And as much as I enjoy this standard ‘outfit’ of leggings / Uggs and long tunics…

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…winter, I’m gonna need to you to be packing up and moving on along pretty soon. I think you might have gotten a little lost but this is South East Texas. It’s time for you to go. 😉

I’m seriously trying to figure out how I can sue my town for allowing people to burn some horrid toxic wood this year. We didn’t really have that cold of a winter last year so I don’t know if these people are burning old wood that sat out in the elements all year or what but It.Is.Awful.

The only real cooking project I did this week was to make some ghee.

Butter melting.

Cooked til all the solids separated. Love love love the smell at this stage.

Strained.

Yum. Liquid Gold. 🙂

Let’s see…what else…

Those of you who know me might wanna sit down for these next pics 😉

This pic makes it look like all of that stuff is sitting on the counter. It’s in a glass bowl.

Taco salad. With some special ingredients I’ll write about later this week.

That’s right, y’all. Instead of drinking my greens. I’ve been eating them. 🙂 This is double good because it means that some of my celiac digestive problems have healed. 🙂 I couldn’t have eaten this a year and a half ago without being sick for days. Now? I had this for lunch twice this week. So happy.

For the last couple months I’ve been experimenting with Paleo style eating.

As part of my healing from within / holistic healing approach I’ve now jumped all the way in.

No grains, no sugar, no soy. But I am allowing dairy starting tomorrow. I did ten hard core ‘clean’ days but I have no intention of ever giving up cheese so I think it’s best to just incorporate it now for the start. I think I’m gonna call it Paleo with Dairy or pwd. 🙂 I know. There’s already a plan name for that but I like mine better. 😉

Anyway…so far so good. 🙂

I’m also trying out some new supplements but I wont write about those til I’ve taken them for at least a month.

That’s all for now.

Stay safe and warm. 🙂

Lupus

Hodgepodge Catch-up

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Hey, Y’all

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30 Days Down and a New Hobby

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The Best Kitchen Tool ~ Ever :)

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Brrrrrr

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