Journal

2019 - Week 44 Cooking

While I took two days off this past week, it still has been quite stressful. After a PTO sale last week, I was able to pay off the last part of my medical stuff, and as I have met my out of pocket max for the year, there should be no surprises from my side anymore. Other then paying for it, things are going fine, I think. My next round of doctor appointments start soon to follow up on how things are going after the stents and drug changes. Beyond that we had quite the range of estimates for Máni getting his dentistry, I was quite worried since the money we had left was, in theory could cover most of it, but would completely strip the not full emergency fund. Luckily it was on the low end, and the procedure went well. 3 removed teeth later (and still on drugs) Máni seems to be doing a whole let better. So far it’s only canned soft food on the diet, but he does seem a bit more cheery and snugly.

So the other thing. A few weeks ago, I was renting a rug doctor, and figured without the cloth shelf thing, it should be able to stand upright. I was very gentle as I tested the rear hatchback, but apparently with the minimum amount of pressure, the large hatch back window glass shattered. I certainly felt stupid at the time, but ended up driving home with a fully open window and got everything mostly cleaned up. I had trunk tray in the back which certainly helped get the glass in the garbage (pick up tray, treat as funnel, into the bin). After calling a bunch of glass places on a early Saturday afternoon, I got a hold of one. I expected a lot of call backs on Monday, which I did not get. The one I worked with, said he’d get me a used glass from out of state, which was fine, but it would take a bit. It becomes very apparent how convent having two cars is, when you are really just limited to one. It made various appointment taking challenging and waiting sometimes a must (as times when things are done are often unpredictable). Eventually, after 17 days of waiting, I contacted a friend of mine’s brother in law at Sun Auto Glass (Ankeny). He provided a quote, and the next day (18) after asking for an update from the original vendor (still waiting for it to get from Kansas City to here?), I cancelled and told Sun to move forward. The next day, it was installed. After a bit of discussion, Shannon convinced me that it is what insurance is for, so I submitted the bill for reimbursement.

The positive thing here is that I didn’t dwell on it. I reacted in a fashion that was appropriate (upset, self blame), but didn’t drag that out into the following days, weeks or months. This would be my brains normal course of action, where it generally drags down my mood for the next quarter or two or three.

Remaining items we have are paying off my machine that I bought (since my bone spurs are preventing my walking, and I need cardio activity in my life), and an engine light causing problem with my car (I have a sensor, it’s not problematic problematic, just not exactly good). Then we should be back to normal expenses. It has been an expensive year.

2019 - Week 43 Cooking Results

Vietnamese-Style Baked Chicken Recipe

I was thinking about what to have as side for this, but when it came down to it, I couldn’t think of anything, so I figured, hey, start a bit early and make some fried rice and put this in there.. So I used the simple fried rice recipe a bit and chopped the chicken up and added it after (setting aside some to eat on its own). Quite good, quite good in fried rice. I’ll have to make this again.

Turmeric Chicken Stew

Quite a bit of turmeric in here. It was certainly warming on a chilly day. I was a bit sad that I didn’t get a chance to get leftovers the next day, but that was telling as they disappeared before I could have them.

Flat Bread with Black Beans and Avocado (based on this)

So the point here is to get more beans into my diet in a way where it is relatively simple to do so. The arepas themselves are probably not that hard to do, but it didn’t seem like something that I wanted to do on an easy cooking day.

All-American Cheeseburger Pasta (with Bison)

So in an effort have less animal fat in my diet, I took some lean(ish) Bison to replace the ground beef with. I had to make some adjustments, as it did not exude the amount of fat, that the beef would, so vegetable oil was the pathway forward. Everything went fine, until the end when I was adding cheese. I may have added it a bit too quickly. Not allowing the sauce to form as stated, That being said, it was still pretty good over all, and there wasn’t too much cheese stuck to the sides and utensil. Plenty of leftovers as well. I suspect something was lost in the lack of beef fat, as usually is the cost.

Burger (Impossible? or something like that)

Beyond burger. Eh…again they’re fine.

2019 - Week 43 Cooking

Yesterday I took Freyja and Mani in for blood tests (a check on our upcoming expenses list). Freyja to see how she’s doing in her treatment of her hyperthyroidism, and Mani to make sure he’s good to have his dentistry later this week (tooth removal and general cleaning). I also paid off the last of my surgery bill (another check). Much to my delight, the insurance payment went through for all the doctor appointments and tests before the surgery (over $2k outstanding). So now I’m cleared of all the medical debt (only took a bit of wrangling and a bit of patience). We have the dentistry for Mani remaining, my exercise machine (actual bone spurs kind of not conducive to walking), and a couple of outstanding issues with my car (including my own dumbassery, and something that just needs to be fixed, but is not a dreadful problem). My car is to the point where the repair and challenges are to be balanced with the need to replace it. Maybe i should just look for something newer, but not new, to get started. Not now, but start looking in general. Anyways, more expensive year then expected, by quite a bit, but it looks like we’ll get through it all right (thanks to selling of banked PTO). It certainly has been stressful, but therapy and work helps me keep going pretty well (Been working from home for the last week (except Tuesday, when I went in to get a flu shot and went to therapy). Looks like it’ll continue this week (waiting for the part to fix the dumbassery problem I caused).

2019 - Week 42 Cooking Results

Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

Looked like a relatively simple recipe and it really was. The minor issue was that I had a heritage breed of acorn squash, which may have caused the need to bake a little bit longer. The squash was mildly undercooked, which kind of ruined the experience. I used green onion sausage from Crooked Gap, and the stuffing was pretty good. The next day I reheated the squash in the microwave and it was nice and seemed like it should be. I guess I learned a something new today.

Chicken over roasting vegetables

I didn’t feel like actually roasting all the vegetables, so I roasted the chicken with some spices and I cut it up and we had sandwiches. It was pretty good.

Lucky George Mutton v Lamb burgers

I tried to make these as closes as possible to each other. A bit of salt, trying to keep the lamb to the left through out, while cooking at the same temp. Shannon was able to pick the lamb from the mutton, I would call the lamb a bit more moist, and the mutton was a bit more…sheepy. As it stands I suspect you may need something a bit more meaty to tell the difference (like stew, maybe?). Anyways, nice dinner, good things.

Coconut-Apple-Ginger Dal

I took notes last time that said this was filling. This is still true. it is a little blandish, but a little sweet and a little savory.

Spinach, Black Bean, and Chipotle Quesadillas Recipe

This was super easy and I liked the way that this was all combined together (mixed before adding and crisping the tortillas. It will need to go into the “I’m feeling lazy” rotation.

2019 - Week 42 Cooking

I’ve decided to take a break from hosting thanksgiving this year. Uncle Jan (Shannon’s) graciously offered to take everyone out instead, which works out just as well, because it still brings everyone together. With the minor monetary pressures of my cardiac stuff, money stress from Mani having a tooth extraction and me being a god damn moron yesterday, I just don’t think I could balance all the stuff in my mind and thanksgiving at the same time. I’ll be back at it next year.

2019 - Week 41 Cooking Results

Spicy Carrot Sandwiches

Good as always. A nice quick choice for the week.

Buffalo Burgers (for real this time)

Little bit of salt, little bit of garlic and onion powder, and you have a flavorful lean meat to eat. Good things.

Taco Salad

I used ground chicken as a based, instead of the chorizo that I would normally use, and some spices to bring back that spicy flavor to it. It may take a few tries to get it about right, and the fat missing from the pork is a loss to the overall flavor to be sure. But it’s still quite the dish when it comes down to it, and probably not that great for me after adding all the add ons.

America’s cut chops (Crooked Gap) spiced and in flat bread

I took the chops and seared them, then took the time to cut the fat off from around the edges. It was sad to see the fat go, but a good trade off I suppose. I then cut the remaining meat into slices and we had them in flatbread with cherry tomatoes, onions and wild arugula.

Spiced Moroccan Vegetable Soup with Chickpeas, Cilantro, and Lemon

This was quite good. Building the flavor layers up then filling the the soup out with vegetables then adding some acid at the end. It took a bit of time, but was quite good and made for great leftovers as well.

Lemongrass Shrimp Soup with Spaghetti Squash

I had spaghetti squash and lemongrass from Blue Gate, some fresh ginger (test plot) from Grade A Gardens, and the rest came together quite well. I did make a few adaptations, skipping the shell part, roasting a spaghetti squash like I normally do (400, cut in half, rubbed in olive oil for about an hour). It built up pretty nice and had a nice flavor.

2019 - Week 41 Cooking

I graduated from cardiac rehab (effectively nurse supervised exercise) this past Friday, which effectively removes the restrictions I have had on me. Because of all this, I removed the delay of finding a solution to regular exercise. I do enjoy my bike thing, but unlike a walk where even if it is repetitive, it’s changing for my eyes (shadow changes as the sun rises, noticing something else in a tree). At the cardiac rehab, they’d normally play a health related video then Jeopardy, which between that and what I was listening to (music, podcasts or audio book) was enough to keep my brain distracted from 50 or so minutes of cardiac exercise. I’ll have to figure something to do at home, but I’m finding a new nice balance.

I still struggle with food choices. I’m eating less of things I shouldn’t, but break down from time to time (yesterday was a prime example of a problematic day). It’s not like I don’t make good choices, it’s that I seem to miss the not good ones to much.

2019 - Week 40 Cooking Results

Spaghetti Squash & pork sauce

Tis the season! The other half of the pork sausage from last week and tomato sauce. Good things. While you wait for the squash to bake, you get extra time to let the sauce and flavors condense a bit to make a richer experience overall.

Shrimp Scampi

Picture looked good, description sounded nice, but when I read the the recipe, I was like, that is a lot of butter. So I mid-week vetoed it. The day I was thinking about cooking it, I was a bit tired, so I took a pass and swapped out for something easier. I did make a note to swap out the butter for olive oil, but I suspect that it would’ve kind of ruined it. So maybe that’s for the better.

Fresh Pepper Kung Pao Chicken

I thought I had some rice left, and I did, but it had gone a bit off, so when I went to serve this we had it by itself. I also didn’t the peanuts like I intended. I think my combination of having the stove top a little hotter then they intended (I think my stove top runs hot compared to a normal stove top) and not a non-stick pan (more oil), let this to be a bit extra on the char. That being said it was still good, I’ll have to make it again after I replace my fading non-stick pan.

Panko-Crusted Salmon with Dill & Lemon

This was simple, easy to do, and the only dish I thought I could get away with using the fresh dill I got from Wabi Sabi farm. It was easy to do and we split the salmon between us.

Buffalo Burgers

The Hy-Vee app had a coupon for Happy Little Plants. Seeing it at the store I figured it would be a good choice. I should’ve read the label at the store since it has quite a bit of salt in it. After doing a bit of googling, it seems like it makes sense as it is made by Hormel. I do appreciate them branching out, but the flavor is kind of single note. I prefer other meat substitute products.

2019 - Week 39 Cooking Results

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa Recipe

I added chicken that I had previously sous vide to warm up near the end. It didn’t need it per se, but still was a nice addition. I ate the salad cold over the next couple of days. It has a nice fresh flavor even though I used a combination of fresh and canned.

Pasta, with half as much pork sausage (sigh)

An old standby. You do notice that it is quite a bit less meaty. But you make adaptations by adding more spice that doesn’t come from the meat. It is missing that bit of fat though. Still made for good leftovers.

Chicken Topped Salad with sungold tomatoes

You put a little effort in, you get a bit back. Arugula from Grade A. Salads are so much better with really fresh greens.

Arroz con Pollo (modified)

I know that Shannon does not like the flavors that capers impart (and they’re expensive) so I skipped that. I also forgot to add the peas. I also didn’t have any medium grain rice in the house. So I had to add more liquid (water, didn’t want to make it any saltier). Even with those modifications, it still turned out pretty good

As a note, after making another cut to salt in my diet, eating an olive…heavenly.

Bison Burgers

Going in the same way that I treated ground goat. Add spices and season to make up for the lack of fat, by not adding more fat. I may have added a bit too much roasted garlic powder, but even so, it was pretty nice. Since the CostCo pack comes in 20 oz package, I again, split it and put half of it back in the freezer. It should come as a surprise to no-one that I don’t actually need that extra half of a meat package. I suppose my desire to feel full (not just satisfied) probably plays a bit into this. It is good to know, that I don’t actually need it. I need to buy some bison from the local producer at the Iowa Food Coop, they sell there bison sticks down at the farmer’s market, but not the meat itself.