Autumn Asks: So What Happened to My Garden Plans?

I started the spring out wanting to plant a garden. We have a very expensive tomato and pepper habit at my house. And in Nebraska we managed to grow a few tomato plants...and they were fantastic.

So I looked at seed catalogs and tried to talk hubs into gardening. He was all for it as long as there were tomatoes. So I told him I needed him to build me a raised bed. I was pretty intimidated by the thought and so was he....so it looked like it was all going to fall through.

About that time I decided maybe I could do a few plants in pots on the patio and see how that went. I knew it would take some care with the Texas sun and heat. Pots tend to dry out pretty fast around here. Still, it was worth a shot. So, with the help of my mother, I acquired a couple of half barrels and pots from a house that was abandoned 6 months prior, due to the whole mortgage mess. Very frugal. And we stuck some tomatoes and such in the pots.

Also, while talking to a friend (who lives on a little bit of land, not in a neighborhood) she told me how she loves to plant a garden, but they lose it every year when they go on vacation so it never really does them much good. After putting our heads together, we decided we could work together. So, they doubled their garden size, and we both bought plants/seeds and started working together. With lots of help from her husband, who grew up on a farm. He laughs at us. Alot. Because we are CLUELESS.

Then, I showed hubs a plan for a simple raised bed garden that I found in one of my magazines...and he says lets do it. Really? Well, I didn't give him time to change his mind. We went down to Lowes and purchased what we needed and came home and did it.

So I went from being intimidated and giving up to patio plants, a raised bed and part of a real garden just up the road.

That's about how my life rolls.

To date we have eaten several things from these two places. In the big garden we harvested the baby bok choy first. LOVED this. Will grow this from now on. I think I'll only plant about 3 at a time about a week apart for as long as I can. This was good not only in stir fries but also in salads as a lettuce.
My patio cucumbers are GOOD. Wish I'd planted more of these. Hubs and I fight over them. They are a smaller veggie for growing in pots. Love these.
One of the patio tomatoes. We are very impatient to get our hands on the ripe stuff. It takes too long!!!!!
The raised bed. Cucumbers, peppers, tomato, squash, beets, lettuce. This poor guy has a story. We planted it and it was doing so great. But our yard had some brown spots. I asked if hubs had fertilized in the fall. No? Well, that was probably the problem. So he goes and buys fertilizer and proceeds to broadcast it with a hand broadcaster. About two days later my tomatoes and peppers start to die. So I ask hubs EXACTLY what was in that fertilizer and did any get into the beds. Needless to say the plants and soil on the far end were replaced and we now have new tomato plants...which stinks as I already had tomatoes on the others. Lesson learned.

My miniture roses must love all the company because they have doubled in size and are beautiful this year. I have yellow, red and pink. I have a new one that is called plum but I'm not sure he is going to make it.
The big garden. Corn, beans, beets, bok choy, squash, peppers and tomatoes. And they are taking off! I went out today to check to see if it needed any weeding and came home with....
...to go with the other bag of beans from yesterday.

So the garden is a sucess. But. For those things we covet the most (tomatoes and peppers) -- we will probably miss out on most of that because of the move. Doesn't that just figure?

I wonder how hard it is to garden in Ohio?

Autumn Asks: Have You Ever Done a Pantry Challenge?

Nope. Not me.

Yes, I'm nerdy. Yes, I'm frugal. But to date I have never done a pantry challenge.

If you check sites around the internets, you will see that it is usually a month you pick where you by the very basics only (like milk and what fresh veggies you need) and everything else you eat that month comes from your pantry. (This is also to get rid of the old stock so you can buy new.)

But then again. I guess I have done these....unintentionally....every time I move.

And here we go again. Sad thing is that I had just finally reached the point where I considered my pantry stocked. And we aren't even talking natural disaster or zombie attack stocked.

Having watched all the problems in the states this last winter and with the economy as it is, we are going to try to do a more stocked/3 month pantry....but thankfully I hadn't gotten there yet when we were handed orders.

Anyways....I'm wandering again.

So. We are trying to eat up all the food from the pantry. And I have a bigger pantry than I've ever had before (and will miss so very much) so there's a bit of food in there.

We've had some interesting and new meals this week to accomplish the emptying. Right now I'm working hard on finishing up a bag on coconut flour. I had only tried one thing with it so its a full bag. This weekend Songbird whipped up a batch of coconut flour brownies for a picnic/potluck we went to out at a friends place. And they were good. Keeper. And yesterday I stopped at a farmers roadside stand and picked up strawberries fresh picked from the field. So I found a recipe for coconut flour strawberry shortcakes to eat the strawberries on. Keeper again. Anybody else have coconut flour recipes (with no wheat products in it)? You see, 1/4 coconut flour is the equivalent of 1 cup of wheat flour...so it goes a long way. Help.

Also, I have a bag of dried kidney beans I need to use up. Suggestions anyone? I don't even know why I have these as they are our least favorite due to their thick skin. Anybody know what I can do with these that does not include making chili?

Speaking of dried beans...anybody know what to do with split peas that does not include split pea soup??? I tried a google search and all I got was soup. Really?? Then why do these even grow?
And do you have any good lentil recipes?

Another thing that is stumping me is the vast amount of asian noodles I have. They range from rice sticks to bean threads....you know, pasta with no wheat. I can't make spaghetti sauce that many times so I need some help. Some good Chinese recipes would rock.

To those that are wondering why I don't just pack it....Do you know how much weight that racks up? We have a limit and with three kids we reach it without foodstuffs. Not an option. I don't want to turn around and have to pay an overage cost for food we could have eaten prior. Just doesn't make sense. (And is also why it takes me 2 1/2 years to restock to my satisfaction.

So here's my cry for help. We love trying new recipes -- but they need to NOT include strange or new ingredients that I would have to go buy. Maybe you know a really cool recipe site? Any suggestions are welcome!!

Autumn Asks: What's For Easter Dinner?

Just out of curiousity.

We are having burgers on the grill. Yumm.

When we were discussing the menu I mentioned that I just don't have a traditional Easter Feast as a memory. That's not saying we didn't have one - just saying that I did not grow up in a "Christian" home so there was no real importance on the Holiday in my memory banks...beyond getting my favorite candy(Robins Eggs).

DH and I discussed the Easter Ham.

And this is the one I am curious about.

So, way back in the old testament, God gave us dietary guidlelines.

These guidlelines were their instructions on how to eat to sanctify themselves for God. Hand-in-hand with the whole sacrifice thing.

In those guidlelines we are told not to eat pork. Well, we were given a list of things not to eat and pigs fell into those guides.

So how did Easter Sunday become such a huge ham eating holiday??

Yes, I know we aren't under the law and old testament instructions. We no longer need to do special things to sanctify ourselves -- its all covered by the blood of Jesus. I understand that.

But here's the thing. God gave us instructions on how to best take care of our bodies. After Christ we threw that out. Each generation gets farther and farther away from that model.

And look at us now.

Now I'm not saying we have to eat the way they had to in the old testament. It won't sanctify us and get us into heaven. And not eating that way won't keep us out of heaven. I'm not trying to make that kind of a point.

But it confuses me.

It's like the whole angel thing. All the angels in the Bible were male. All the ones we see/buy in our society are female.

Huh?

How did that happen?

Things that make me go hmmmmm on an Easter morning.

Autumn Asks: What Have You Said That You'd Never Have Believed Would Come Out Of Your Mouth??

How about:

Meet our new pets. The chickens.

Nope. Not kidding.

Actually, I haven't gone over the edge yet. There is a reasonable explanation.

See, I'm not supposed to eat regular eggs. I have to have free range, etc. The chickens that lay the regular eggs are fed a feed that is full of wheat and others stuffs I'm not supposed to have...so I was told to stay away from them and buy the other eggs. You know, the expensive ones.

Anyways. So I have a friend that has similar problems and girls with similar problems. They have a little bit of property and do not live smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood like we do. So, they raise their chickens for their eggs.

Mighty Mouse loves those chickens. And even more, she likes to hunt for the eggs. So my friend always left a few eggs ungathered so that Mighty Mouse could hunt them with her girls when we came over. Now that's a good friend.

But something killed all the chickens last winter so they had to start all over this spring. So my friend asked if she could pick MM up when she went to pick out the chicks so that MM could pick one out too. And of course Songbird wanted to go also. (Poor, poor city kids)

So, I offered to give the girls money to "buy" one each since they were picking up 4 more.

So, when we were finally able to get to the feed store before they were sold out (yes, apparently everyone wants to raise chickens this year....the feed stores sell out in a day!!). MM picked out a chicken for herself and her sister (who had a track meet and was bummed not to get to come). She paid for "her" chicks and they were packaged up.

Then, we delivered them to Mrs. B's chicken coop.

And I have two very happy children.

How sad is that????? LOL!!!!!

And no, they really aren't our chickens. The $2 for the chicks will in no way cover their care at Mrs. B's - but they give us their excess eggs so I thought it would be a good idea to pay for two of theirs. But don't tell my girls.

And its been good for laughs.

Songbird: I want to name my chicken.

Mom: Seriously??

Songbird: Yep. I'm naming it Paco.

Mom: Aaahh. Paco, the chicken Taco.

Songbird: GASP!!! MOMMMMM! drama...drama...drama.......

Mom: Well. You really shouldn't name your food.

Songbird: Major drama.

Oh well, maybe it was traumatic for her....but I thought it was hilarious!!

Grosso Gourmeto

Sort of in keeping with my last post, I'm going to carry on the subject of foods.

Growing up, we mostly had inexpensive, healthy, home-cooked meals. As we got older, my sister and I helped out in the kitchen. We learned how to pick out vegetables and fruit at the grocery store with mom. We learned the basics. Knowing how to steam fresh veggies is only a success if you know how to pick out the best veggies available. Yellow broccoli is not going to taste as good as purple broccoli no matter what. Your dish can't be any better than the quality of the produce added.

Off topic. Re-directing.

Quite often my family would try new recipes. My dad cooked as much as my mom and he was usually a little more daring. Mostly this comes from having been in places like Thailand and other overseas locations. He would come back and teach us a new dish.

Mostly, I don't remember many flops. But there was this one time. Mom decided to do a gourmet, cold, black bean soup. She also made her famous banana pudding...but she cooked it in the microwave.

So my sister and I are looking at this cold soup. Hmmm. And its black. Hmmm. And then you put a big spoonful of sour cream in it and add some raw onions (ick) as garnish. Now, sour cream in cold soup does not mix in and become a creamy delight. Nope.

So we choked down a few spoonfuls. I don't think either of us made it through the whole bowl. But there was another all important rule that we were very careful to adhere to.

NO MAKING NOISES OR SAYING UGLY THINGS ABOUT FOOD. This was a very serious rule. You were allowed to say you did not like something. You were allowed to ask not to eat it. You must try it. And there were no rude words allowed. Yuck. Ewww. Gross. Disgusting. Ugh. Or any ugly faces either.

This was considered the height of rudeness and disrespect. The person sitting next to you might love this food -- and you have no business insulting them like that. And I admit that I have carried this rule over into my own household as an adult. Wasn't easy to train my husband either. But the kids were raised this way. The rule is explained to nieces and nephews and vistors alike. (But they don't have to try things at my house...only my kids do.)

Anyway, we got through the soup somehow. Sis and I are cutting our eyes at each other and making faces when mom is not looking. Dad is pretending not to see. Somehow, we make it to dessert time. LOVE mom's banana pudding. And we dig in and take big bites. Complete silence. We sit there and chew. And chew. Or at least we try to....but our tongues are stuck to the roof of our mouths.

Yes, I'm quite sure that my mother discovered the recipe for wall paper paste, made in the microwave. Thank goodness it was banana flavored or we might have broken all the rules.

At this point my mom starts cracking up. She did like the soup...but the dessert was rather too much. And she says we just don't know gourmet food. At which one of us (I can't remember which smart alec it was) returns with...."but we do know Grosso Gourmeto!!!"

This has become our family code word for "I'm not eating that!!!! No way! No how!!"

Luckily, we have not had many of those in our house over the last 22 years. Considering how often we try new recipes that is really rather good. I can only think of about 3 times we have actually left the table and went and got something to eat elsewhere.

The first time DH and I were newly weds. I tried this chicken casserole recipe. Don't remember what it was called but it had some cream of tomato and other soups in it. And it was cooked in the microwave. (You can already guess where this is going, can't you?)

It was disgusting!!!!!! The chicken was like rubber and it was just nasty. We shoved it aside after the first bite!! DH was very nice about it and put it up on the counter top to cool so we could ditch it, and took me out to eat. Sadly, when we returned home and I looked at the sparkling clean casserole bowl and thanked DH for cleaning up.... we realized the doberman had jumped up on the counter and eaten it all. YUCK!!!!!!!! And he didn't even get sick.

So, a piece of advice for those that are new to cooking. DO NOT COOK IN THE MICROWAVE. It's good as a reheater, or for bacon or baked potatoes. Otherwise, just don't do it!!!!! Plus there are studies out there how microwaving changes the structure of the foods and this might pose health risks. Google it if you are curious. Hasn't stopped me from using a microwave, but I don't use it as often for sure.

And back to the rule on not making faces or being rude.

Then came Mighty Mouse.

First, you cannot make her eat anything she doesn't want to. She will starve herself rather than put something in her mouth she doesn't want. We know for a fact she will last up to 2 1/2 days without food. Been there. Broken down after 2 1/2 days. Whoever said a kid will not starve themselves or go hungry over being made to eat something was WRONG. DEAD WRONG. There are kids out there that are strong willed enough to harm themselves over putting something they don't want in their mouth. And it has to be the one who doesn't weight enough to make it worth the threat of CPS being called after dropping 3 pounds and hitting failure to thrive weights. Not kidding. Boy have I been trained 100% in the opposite direction on thinking you CAN get kids to eat good food. How foolish of me.

We have been able to keep Mighty Mouse from using ugly words. But that's because she never makes it that far. If you present her with something she thinks she won't like the gag reflex kicks in. She immediatley starts retching and gagging. Not a put-on! The real deal. And no amount of threats or punishment stops this relex of hers. So we spend the time trying to get her to cut it out...while tears are streaming down our face from the sheer comedy of the tears running down her face due to the force of the retching!!!! What a circus!!!

But this has been a good week. We had two new recipes that are keepers...unheard of in one week. Plus, the only retching this week was over an escaped green balloon on returning home from the grocery store. And that was the funniest yet. SCREAMMMM ..retch ...SCREAMMMMM ...retch, retch, retch ....SCCCCCRRREEAMMM.. retch ..fall to knees. And mom is trying to get her to stop, laughing her butt off and trying not to wet her pants because it is sooooo stupid!!! And the neighbors are standing in the yard staring and wondering why this child is screaming like I'm beating her. And I waited the next hour with my breath held wondering when the cops were going to show up. Not kidding. This little fit lasted an hour and a half.

Child needs a good dose of peas.

Autumn Asks: Have you ever wanted to do a family cookbook?

When my son was getting ready to graduate High School, he started asking me to write down his favorite recipes. I think his hand must have been broken. (Not.)

Anyway, his cousin, Miss Cell, was graduating also. Plus, he has two other cousins, Pinky and The Brain, that had graduated in the last few years also. The two boys have a mother that really cooks -- and I figured they had lots of recipes they would want from their mom.

So I started looking around for a company that printed family cookbooks. You always have people doing them for fund raisers, so I figured it would be easy. Not so. Most companies will only do large orders. I figured we would need 10-20 tops.

Finally, I ran across HeritageCookbook.com You can order as few as 4 books from this company!!

So I joined for the free trial month to try this site out. You send an email invite to all those that you want to contribute...and they type their recipes into the computer and its done. You can add a picture and a story or whatever. AND DID YOU CATCH THAT....THEY get to type in the recipe they are contributing??? Talk about cutting down on the work.

Disclaimer: I did most of the input, because otherwise most of our family wouldn't have contributed. So the theory of that is fabulous...but I make no promises your family will be compliant!

How it works: You pay a monthly fee to keep the site open for people to add. If you can get it done in a month...bonus!!! If not you will pay for each additional month you keep it available. I noticed that the price has doubled since I did this in 2006. Still reasonable in my mind as you can order as few as 4 books.

So you add your recipes. You can add dividers and decide how to divide the recipes up. You can add photos...black and white or color. You can design your own cover. You can have different kinds of bindings also.
Prices vary depending on what you add and whether you use color. I opted to do our cover, in black and white, and not put photos in the book. This kept our price down. The price of the books was VERY reasonable...but the shipping is steep since its a heavy box when you are done. We had 21 or 22 books and when I divided it all out it was about $21 per book, including the shipping. That is with 190 pages. So a 100 page book would have been about $10 a piece.

All three of my kids have one of these. And what is cool is that you can add a dedication/Introduction page also. And I can go back at a later date and get more if I want...the printer already has it on file so I just request the book.
This has become one of our most used cookbooks at home. I transferred all my hand written recipes into it. My copy is already wrinkled and stained. I love it. My son uses it. I hear one of cousins has been using it also (Hence a cry for help as the directions weren't clear enough. Whoops.).

We are already collecting recipes for the next go-around. Songbird and one of her cousins will be graduating in 4 years. I should have another book worth of recipes by that time. And maybe some of the other family members will participate now that they have seen what the final product looks like. And then again maybe not since half of them claim not to cook. Either way I look forward to our next family edition.

I have nothing but good things to say about the ease of use, delivery and the whole process. I highly recommend this company. If you have ever considered doing this - do it now!! You never know how much time we have left and what recipes will be gone forever if you don't get them down. I'm ever so thankful that I did our first edition while my father was still alive...many of his recipes are in our book!

Autumn Asks: Battled any little gods today?

How often do we hear that those things that we love the most are our gods? Those things that we spend the most time doing. Those things that we spend the most money on. Those things that we think of the most.

I hate hearing that most of the time. It makes you stop and take a look at yourself. I very rarely am happy with what I see.

Currently, I am trying to slay my most high god.

Coca-Cola.

I have to have it every day. I never miss on purpose. But can I say the same thing about praying...or more importantly, quiet time in the Word?

I will leave the house to go buy one at the corner store. I will scrape change up from the couch cushions.

And the love affair begins with the first crack of the cap. You know that sound? That sound is like magic. It makes you feel better immediately. When I worked in a law office our boss kept a fridge full for us. The office was built in a big square with the conference room in the middle. We could all pretty much lean out our doors and get anyone's attention we needed. But the funny thing (or sad thing actually) was that first soda crack of the day. The first person would pop that top and then there would be a stampede for the pop cooler. It was like a bunch of drug addicts. Messed up.

Well, along with an online friend, I determined that now is finally the time to get serious and fight this false god. I've cleaned up a bunch of other areas and THINK I'm strong enough to listen the true God and get rid of this. I adopted Heathers deadline of the end of February.

The date keeps creeping closer.

How am I doing? Well, I'm drinking it every chance I get. Of course. But I'm still determine that it has to go. The end of February.

Do they have withdrawal drugs for this? I get the shakes just thinking about it. Sweat breaks out on my forehead.

I'm reading every bad thing I can get my hands on to help out. Like how they just came out with the results that high fructose corn syrup tests positive for mercury....as its a byproduct of the process of making HFCS. WHAT????? So along with the aluminum or plastic poison we injest from the container, now we know we are getting mercury too??

You'd think that would be enough to make me run away screaming.

Then there are all of the health effects...

1. Extra pounds....which leads to all kinds of possible disease.
2. Liver damage in the form of cirrhosis...the same risk that alcoholics face.
3. Tooth enamel decay. Even worse than eating hard candy.
4. Increased risk (15%) for kidney stones due to the high phosphoric acid.
5. Diabetes.
6. Heartburn and acid reflux
7. Osteoporosis - once again the phosphoric acid
8. High blood pressure.
9. Heart disease - due to metabolic syndrome
10. Impaired digestion from messing with the stomach acid levels.

So, its time. I mean, I'm working real hard on cleaning up the things I'm eating for the allergies and such. Shouldn't I get of the real poison too?

So, I'm going to do it. I am. And because my God is bigger than Coca-cola... I will succeed.

Right?

Frugal Eating - FAIL!

When I first started searching for frugal food blogs I was very excited. I was ready to roll up my sleeves and get to cookin' the good, healthy, cheap stuff. Let's go!!

And it never panned out. After six months, I give up.

It seems that it is impossible to eat cheaply with diet restrictions.

Can't have wheat? You're done. Add dairy to that...so very done. And I have to have the expensive eggs.

Now, I know you can eat wheat free. I know you can do without dairy. But you aren't going to do it very cheaply. At least not in my area. And to make matters worse, I don't actually have a disease...you know, like diabetes or celiac -- I have funky toxin issues that won't put me in the hospital. I just get sick and break out in hives on my face and body and blisters on my hands and feet. So when I get frustrated I just eat what we can afford and stay sick.

But I'm tired of being sick.

I can eat corn, potatoes and white rice (not brown..its an allergy thing). It's just too bad that the pasta's and other such subs made from this stuff are 4x the price. I bought a corn pasta the other day and it was over $3 -- I could buy 4 bags of regualr pasta for that!!!!

My other big dilemma is location. I have never lived in a city where groceries were a monopoly. Seriously, it's Walmart or HEB. Walmart has the worst produce I've seen for sale. HEB is high priced. And there aren't any food health stores either. There is a little corner in the Drug Emporium with stuff -- but talk about sticker shock. Yes, I definitely miss my Whole Foods, Wild Oats and a slew of other choices (Aldi's!!!) in Omaha. Of course I could drive an hour and a half either direction and find whatever my heart desires - but get real. Between the gas cost and the milage on the car it is just not worth it. We only make that trip when we run out of our favorite ethnic type foods (greek, mediteranian, chinese, indian) - since we don't have ethnic markets either (except a Mexican one that is not too bad at all).

I am going to try and grow a garden this year. I'm very intimidated by the whole process but I'm working towards it. If I can get my husband to help out with getting it started this will actually happen. This would help the vegetable prices I am paying. But, did I mention I've been on meds since I was 3 because I'm allergic to everything that grows??? It will still cost me.

I also suffer from a lack of recipes. Steamed veggies and meat every night is BORING. Most gluten free recipes call for ingredients I don't have and at the prices here, won't get. Lack of availablity here is also a problem for "exotic" ingredients.

I can't eat much soy so tofu is out. I do use it in a couple of dishes - but it is not a good sub for me. Has to do with thyroid problems I have and how soy makes it worse.

Our menu planning is not very frugal either. We do plan every week. But, when you have a husband that had food withheld when he was growing up and remembers being hungry all the time...you end up with an ultra-controlling eater. He does check what we have before he starts deciding what he is going to eat(menu planning is a family affair). But if he wants something, that's it, that's what we are having. Because he can. It's his house. It's his money. He can eat what he wants. (And he is more than happy to cook these things ladies, he's not making me do it if I don't want to.) Now, I do get to throw some meals in there also and can try to balance it out a little. But, if he's been gone and returns home...he always changes the menu to eat those things he didn't get while he was gone - and marches right off to the store to get what he needs. Messes everything up.

So, we have a budget of $125 per week which is mostly spent on fresh fruit and veggie and meat. That's a little under the average for a family of 4 (occasionally 5). And I still think its way too high. Food budget has always been the thing I excelled at saving money on pre-diagnoses.

And just to add insult to injury, now it comes out that high fructose corn syrup is full of mercury. One of my issues. And here I was thinking it was probably fillings in my teeth. So now, the love of my life, Coca-Cola, is also poisoning me.

I just don't know if its worth going on. Bury me now. The funeral should be very affordable after what the family will be saving by not having to feed me.

The Sandwiches and a Friend update

My web friend Suzie commented yesterday that she was more interested in my sandwiches than Albania. Probably a good thing since I can expand on the sandwiches part of the post...but used up everything I know about Albania.

If you have never read anything by Suzie, you should check her out over at Up the Hill Backwards. Today she filled us all in on Beer Pong. Yep. Everyone should know about this.

Anyways! Here is the sandwich recipe just for you Suzie. I took a recipe I found somewhere and messed with it to make it our own. I'm always looking for new recipes because when the family has graduations, I try to get everyone to contribute to a family recipe book to have made and send the newbies off to college with. This way they take those favorite food recipes with them. Our first edition was a huge success (We had 2 newly graduated and 2 college age when we did them for the first time.) Our next one will be when Songbird and her cousin are Seniors...about 4 1/2 years. Since I used up all my good stuff in the first edition, I now am on a 4 year quest for new favorites.

Hot Tuna Rolls

2 cans tuna
2 eggs, hard boiled, chopped
2/3 c. diced celery
1 tsp celery seed (which I used because I forgot the celery)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp. grated onion (I like it really fine)
1/2 tsp salt
Dash Lemon Pepper (if you have it)
White pepper to taste (black pepper is fine)
2 tsp lemon juice
4 Sandwich rolls (think subs) - uncut


Mix filling well. Cut a slit into one side of each sandwich roll. Pull out some of the bread middle to make a hollow space to put filling. Add filling to each sandwich but do not overfill. Wrap each roll in foil. Bake in 350 oven of 20-30 minutes.



This is fast. Notice there is no mayo or salad dressing in the filling. Since I use these as a picnic food I would not put any in to keep it safe. If the filling is looking a little dry to you, just add more cheese...it will melt and make it not too dry. I put the sandwiches (still wrapped in foil) in a soft-sided, insulated lunch sack that my son used to use. The sandwiches were still warm over an hour later when we sat down to eat. They were really good and DH has requested they be written in "the book".

If anyone else has any good picnic type recipes please share. We like to meet daddy after work in town sometimes and need a portable dinner on those nights. I've run out of ideas.


On to different subjects...

I noticed today that my friend blogroll was very out of date. See, I got turned on to google reader and do all my blog reading through it now. Since that time I have new favorites and have new friends blogs added that never made it to my blog page. Today I fixed that.

I was horrified to find that I did not have Amy or Rose or Barb on there! Shame on me!! Also, I have new internet favorites that were missing. So, that's all updated. Check it out if you are bored and want to look in on someone new.

And now Mighty Mouse and I need to go get ready to spend some time with a Crazy Lady and her birthday boy~

Autumn asks: Whats for dinner?

We emptied the freezer and are out of the planned meals we had. With having to pay off a bill for Bones and pay his half also on registration/tuition, grocery money is, well, more than a little low. So it was one of those...uuuhhhh, what can we have for dinner? Luckily the pantry came to the rescue, even though it is almost bare.

I fixed up a pot of mixed bean soup that I had the beans for. I added what veggies I could scrape up out of the fridge and the leftover pork chops from last night. Turned out really good. Also had some barley to throw in it. Too bad it wasn't a cold night...

Since soup is rarely something that is hearty enough for DH, I also made a batch of Green Chile and Cheese bread. I tweaked a normal recipe for the bread machine and let it go. Turned out great! I had 2 pieces -- so much for not eating any wheat.

We also had two banana's going bad so I found a recipe in my "to-try" folder for banana and coconut cake. I put it in a bundt pan and the other half in a bread pan. We followed-up dinner with the bread pan portion and I'll take the bundt to a cookout we are going to tomorrow.

So for having nothing to eat, we sure ate good tonight. Don't know why I was in such a cooky mood. But when you are down to being creative it always required much more real cooking anyways.

The only drawback is that my built-in dish washer is spending the night at a friends house.

I do so hate any kind of clean up in the kitchen.

Drats.

Autumn Asks: Hatch Green Chile Anyone??

Now you get to learn about a strange ritual I brought to my marriage.

My mother's father was career army, but settled in New Mexico. He was originally from Texas and my grandmother was also (or maybe it was New Mexico, can't remember). Anyways, they loved Tex/Mex food. The good stuff...not Taco Bell or whatever. So, my mother grew up with a love of this same food, and passed the love on to my father (who was also career army and stationed at White Sands, where they met). So all growing up, all over the states and such, I remember my parents making trips to the farms in New Mexico for green chile about Labor Day. It didn't happen every year - like when we were in Germany - but it is a childhood memory I have.


So I grew up, and not having learned my lesson, married Air Force. Now I have carried the green chile ritual to even more places. I remember the commissary in Iceland getting a batch, which I snatched up and spent an entire day roasting and freezing. We lived in apartments and no one could figure out what that smell was and where it was coming from. Also, living in Nebraska, I would call the Ruiz farm in New Mexico and they would ship me 40 pounds. I'd then spend 2 days roasting, peeling and freezing. It is a labor of love.

My parents have moved on to Arkansas now, and we are back in Texas. Our local grocery store gets Hatch Chile so my parents are on their way over to put up 5 cases. Saved a two day trip to New Mexico!

I picked up our chile yesterday and have begun the process. Uh, the hot is HOT this year...DH is bringing me home a mask to wear so I don't burn any deeper into my sinus'. I found gloves also as my hands were on fire all night...and taking out my contacts was not a pleasant experience.

At the store I was asked by several people what I do with that chile? Everyone was interested as they roast it for you there and the smell is heavenly. My answer: Green Chile Dip (the bestest), green chile cucumbers, green chile stew, green chile salsa, green chile and cheddar bread, green enchalada's, added to eggs, hamburgers and sandwiches and several other mexican dishes. I love it. I even made up my own creation of a green chile sandwich - just add chile and sour cream to so thick bread and eat it!

So the process looks like this:

Buy Your chile:












If your store has a roaster - have them do it!! It saves hours and hours! If not, take it home and roast it yourself. This means getting out cookie sheets (I have specific ones just for this because they get black and ugly) and putting a single layer of chile on it. Have the broiler on and put the rack all the way to the top and stick the pan underneath it. You want to burn the skin so it turns black and bubbles. Then take the chile out and turn it. Repeat until you have burned the surface the best you can.
















When the chile it cool enough to handle, peel and seed. Pull out the veins the seeds are on also as they contain lots of heat. We are more about the chile flavor than the heat around here.

















Now you can cook with the chile or put them in freezer bags to freeze. Not a hard job...but very time consuming when you buy 40 pounds!

And the first use of this batch? Green Chile dip! Man was it good. Bones, my mom and I pretty much wiped it out!

4-5 green chile
large sour cream
dried or fresh onion, finely grated, 1-2 tbs
garlic salt, to taste
white or black pepper, to taste
Worchestershire sauce, to taste (1-3 tsp)
Vinegar, to taste ( we use a combination of spicy and rice)

Cut up chile, add all ingredients and chill for an hour to let flavors blend.

THE BEST. Tastes just as good with pretzels as with chips (thanks Christie).

Autumn asks: Have you ever given up on doctors??

Some people know I'm not big on pills and doctors. Yet I love Chiropractors and natural health type careers. I do like working in the medical fields...but after many years I began working for a medical malpractice attorney instead. Hmmmm...I'll let you draw whatever conclusions you may.

Everyone that knows me is familiar with the fact that I suffer from outrageous allergies. It keeps getting worse. Not only that, I have reactions to things I eat...yet nothing food shows up on allergy testing. Of course they give me an epi-pen to carry because my tongue and throat swells up and its a dash for the ER. But the tests are negative. Whaaa?

This year things got so bad I was feeling 80 years old. I was taking 3 different meds to try and control the allergies and my hands and feet and face were swelling up (can you say killing your liver with meds??) and I just hated every day. And yes, I've tried shots, but won't bore you with the horrid experience that I would like to forget forever, not rehash.

So I finally said ENOUGH. I found a doctor (Chiropractor) that deals in nutrition and supplements and decided I would give it a try for the summer if they thought they could help me (like what doctor will say they can't when money is involved?).

So, after testing here's what I ended up with:

Allergies to: Brown rice (not white, I don't get that)
Spelt
White refined sugar (OMG! Say it isn't so!!!)
Brown Sugar
Cane sugar (can I cry now?)
American Cheese
Pasteurized Milk
Commercial Eggs (not organic...it has to do with what the chickens eat)

The Milk we already know I was intolerant to. I can clear out the house with toxic fumes after eating ice cream or a shake. The rest was news. I was glad to see wheat was clear -- I've actually been tested for celiac 3 different times by different doctors because of all my symptoms/sicknesses.

Then there was the toxicity testing I was positive for:

Aluminum (yes, we are talking soda cans also)
Acetate/tones (no clue)
Chlorine
Heavy Chemicals
Preservatives (the allergist knew this but don't have testing for it - hence the epi-pen)

Add to all of this a overgrowth of yeast in my gut. That one surprised me as I have never had any kind of thrush or yeast infections.

Fun stuff. So the answer is an altered diet and supplements. To begin with its supposed to be only filtered water, vegetables and fresh meats (nuts and beans also). No dairy. No sugars or artificials (which I try to avoid anyways). No soda. No soda. Did I say no soda??? I'm dying here. Let me add here that I do not stick to the water thing, I must have cups of hot tea when cravings are plaguing me. I don't even like water so this is a must.

The first week I was sick as a dog. This always happens when I clean up my diet. But on about the 7th day I opened my eyes in the morning and the first thought in my head was "I feel good". No eye gunk. No stuffy head. No body aches. Hmmmmm. And I was losing weight without that even being a focus.

The next 3 weeks were great. I felt wonderful/normal. By the end of that time I was feeling so good I was wondering why I was torturing myself with such a restricted diet. I'm fine. And there followed a week of a soda about every day...although my eating was still along the prescribed lines. What happened? I got sick. Could not shake the headaches. Eye gunk. Allergy meds stopped working. Oh, and I did have cheddar cheese on my chef salads (about 6 that week) because I forgot to tell them to hold it.

At the doctors appointment, before confession, after he started testing reflexes, I was asked "WHAT did you do???" Ok, now I remember why I'm doing this. I confessed most (but not all those sodas) my sins. The doctor also told me to give up the allergy meds and let him handle it from now on. My response? "Are you kidding??" He told me to trust him. My response? "I've heard that for 40 years." But I accepted my 3 new supplements to handle the allergies and the reoccurence of yeast (thanks to the cheese and soda sugars) and here I am. Three days into it I am not dying from allergies. The first day I was fine. The second day my nose ran just a little bit before one dose. Today I'm fine.

It will be interesting to see what the end of summer brings. I can tell you that I am sick of the restrictive eating. I want rice with my stir-fry (although eating it over cauliflower really is not bad). I want to be able to use honey in my tea (the only allowable sugar for me per allergies). I want FRUIT! It's sweet and would be very helpful! So if you are a praying person, add me to your prayers that I can make it through my days without grabbing a soda. (On Songbirds birthday week I was sneaking frosting when nobody was looking - just for the sugar high!). And that I can maintain on our vacation at the end of July!

Autumn asks: Are you taking advantage of your local Farmer's Market this summer?

Blackberries. Tomatoes. Yellow squash. Green Beans. Those where my finds this morning.

In our area we don't have much to choose from when it comes to Farmers Markets or fruit and vegetable stands. This has been very disappointing to me. Our only Market is from 7am-1pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Up until today I have only made it in time to see almost everything gone...except the turnips. Not that there is anything wrong with turnips, its just not what I had in mind when I drove all the way to town.

This week I got smart. I have a weekly doctor appointment for nutrition/allergy issues. I now make that appointment for 8am on Tuesday. Today I went to the FM after my appointment and they really do have food! But at 8:30am they were already out of black-eyed peas and some other goodies I would have loved to get my hands on. Next week I will stop before my appointment instead.

With current food prices what they are, take advantage of your locally grown produce - its about the same price! It is not picked green like our supermarket veggies. This means more nutrients! And you are supporting local farmers. And face it, it tastes SO much better than the supermarket food. In our area we don't even have a Wild Oates or Whole Foods so it makes it that much better. Set the clock and get up and go!!

On that note...if any of you have great fresh veggie recipes (that don't add dairy or boxed foods or sugars of any kind) please pass them on. I can only eat meat and veggies right now and I could use some new recipes to change things up a bit!