Journal

2019 - Week 45 Cooking Results

I found it humorous. When buying meat for my sandwiches they didn’t have quite enough already cut for me, so I stated that I wouldn’t need as much because I should have leftovers once or twice. I ate leftovers every day.

We went to RI Friday night. The Apple dessert was fantastic. Well thought out, curious and pleasing to the palate.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili Recipe

I got a directive (non-medical) to put more beans in my diet, this works out pretty well. I adjusted it a bit more chipotle Chile (finished off what was leftover, 3 peppers), besides that I mostly stayed true to the recipe. It was quite good. The stout added a flavor that was kind of unexpected. When it gets mixed in with other liquid, it seems to loose something. Good things. I had this as leftovers.

Coconut Chicken Curry in a Hurry

It was a quick dish and certainly a way good way to use chicken. I had to start the rice first (it took longer to cook). Everything came together simply and it tasted good.

Spaghetti Squash Pasta

It was a quick dish and certainly a way good way to use chicken. I had to start the rice first (it took longer to cook). Everything came together simply and it tasted good.


Spaghetti Squash Pasta

This was the first meal I cooked after the dishwasher was fixed. The Drain hose was in a shape, were in some segments you could just bend it a little and it would break. I’m not sure what this was from, but it could have to do with the broken rinse agent dispenser, or that it’s older or whatever. Anyways, fixed!

This was using my standard “use half the meat” formula, and was still quite good. I had enough squash leftover it outlasted the sauce and I put the last of the black been and sweet potato chili over it (also good).

Red Pepper, Potato, and Peanut Sabzi

This was real easy, and pretty good. We treated it as a main, but I suppose it could’ve been part of wrap or a breakfast taco (as the intro apparently says). Either way, simple and good.

Smoky Pumpkin and Tomato Soup

This was a multi-staged affair, the hardest part was breaking down the pumpkin, and while I have done this in the past, sometimes in bulk, it’s still a chore. Though, unlike when you break down 5 in a row, my muscles didn’t cramp up or were even that strained. Which is a good thing. I started by roasting the pumpkin, then the pepitas and started to bring the soup together. I added a little more smoked paprika then the recipe asked for (as it only asked for paprika). All and all it was a nice Saturday cooking experience.

2019 - Week 44 Cooking Results

Cooking this week was challenging. While I don’t particularly mind loading the dishwasher, I don’t particularly like washing dishes by hand. We found out that the dishwasher was leaking (we thought in one place) so that prevented us from using it. So I figured I’ll get someone to come and fix it in a couple of days and it should be all good. I had a plumber come out to also repair the sink and he found multiple tears (including one huge one) in the drain hose. After a bit of work and a part order, he recommended getting an appliance repair person coming in (which they will next week). So instead of adding dishes, we’ve been getting a lot of take away food for home. After Thursday, however, I was forced to do dishes, as we were running low on spoons and little bowls (that we use to feed the cats). As we have enough plates to have a reasonably large guest list or multiple courses with fresh plates, we still had plenty of dishes to use. I ended up using multiple sinks worth of washing water and got through all the dishes after a few loads. The appliance repair guy should be here on Wednesday, and hopefully after that we should be good for a bit (if not, time to replace the dishwasher, I guess).

Easy Chicken Fajitas

I may have added a bit more chicken to this then required, and perhaps that’s why I added to add a bit more time to the cook time. All and all it seems like a good way to create that feel to the chicken, a bit of brining a bit of cornstarch to make the right texture. It made for a pretty quick meal

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Chili Recipe

Delayed

Cheese-Free Sweet Potato "Quesadillas" Recipe

This was quite nice. Baked the sweet potato until nice and soft (I’ll have to make sure I keep note of the baking time and temp as it is not the same as a potato) and then added it to the quesadilla. It was a nice combination and made for a filling meatless meal.

Indian Peanutty Noodles

I doubled the recipe and it made for a good meal with leftovers. I may have added more of the peanut chutney then asked for (as I had quite a bit left from last time). In fact I used the rest of it. It was quite filling after that.

Coconut Chicken Curry in a Hurry

Delayed

Spaghetti Squash Pasta

Delayed

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.