Posted on 07/01/2020 5:58:39 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
Ive been sick the last couple of weeks, and have had energy for the absolutely necessary and the nice distractions!
I thought Id share with you some of the things that have distracted me from my personal issues, and from the larger issues that most of us are facing.
I guess it isnt a surprise that Ive been drawn, for distraction, to people and places who arent really dealing with all the cr*p that many of us are. One of the websites Ive greatly enjoyed has been Whippoorwill Holler, offered by Mr. and Mrs. Brown in Northeast Arkansas.
Lately, Mrs. Brown has begun a series on very fresh, cold Summer salads, and will be posting more. (And she has a really wonderful old country-store-style kitchen, if you like that):
The Recipe:
Tomato, Cucumber, Onion Salad
4-5 medium cucumbers
1 onion
Bell peppers
Thyme, oregano, dill optional
3 tomatoes
1 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 t. Salt
1 t. Pepper
And how you do it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJRcsaw-GpM
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Another place that has intrigued and distracted me is Smith Island, Maryland - an isolated and endangered island in the Chesapeake Bay.
Mrs. Mary Ada Marshall and her husband Dwight have been longtime caretakers of the Smith Island way of life and here is a video of Mary Ada making the Maryland State Cake, Smith Island Cake. The cake isn't so much a recipe, as a construction and presentation; so you can use any recipe you like. As my Granny did, Mary Ada seems to prefer Duncan Hines (and if you try to make this as one big cake and cut it into tiny layers, YOU ARE CHEATING!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpY-a6M4nOE
(Mary Ada also makes prize-winning crabcakes. She doesn't give that recipe away, but if you hunt her down on the Internet, you can mail-order them :-)
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And finally, Animals! They can always distract us and remind us of what it means to simply LIVE, exuberantly, as creatures upon the Earth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bKwRW0l-Qk
-JT
Always peel your eggs pointy end first; that will capture that film that lines the inside of the egg, which is essential to peeling the egg successfully.
As far as dressing, I use about 2/3 real mayonnaise and 1/3 miracle whip, about a teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon celery seed, 2 tablespoons sweet relish, and 2 teaspoons cider vinegar, and salt and pepper. Oh, and yellow mustard, about 2 tablespoons for a 5 lb batch. I was raised in the north, and NEVER added mustard, but I live in the south, now, and potato salad without mustard is anathema around here.
I always thought it was the round end you should crack and peel from - that’s where the little depression or vacuum is under the shell (?)
No, it’s the pointy end.
Well, I’ll try it next time.
But I’m anxious to cook my next batch of deviled eggs in the Instant Pot - ‘they’ say that it makes the easiest-to-peel eggs ever.
I don’t have an instant pot, yet. I’m waiting for the prices to come down. I don’t have an air fryer, either, but I make homemade fries via the America’s Test Kitchen method of starting with cold oil, and as long as I thoroughly rinse my potato strips before I fry them, they come out really crispy and not greasy, even if I reuse oil and make a bunch instead of a single layer. Works best in a deep skillet, rather than a deep saucepan.
We’ve run out of space for ‘gadgets’, so haven’t tried the air-fryer. What is it really good for? (We’re not concerned about ‘low fat’, so I’ve wondered if it would be of use to us.)
Supposedly, it’s the low fat feature that sells it. Fried breaded chicken? So they claim, but I don’t see how.
Well, I guess I’ll pass. No room for it anyway :-)
We have a deep fryer, a ‘griddler’, Instant Pot and big Crock Pot - and a quesadilla maker. I’ll have to seriously divest before I buy anything else...
Grammy, I tried this recipe today, and am eating it now with a big loaf of garlic bread for ‘sopping up’.
It’s wonderful! I couldn’t find fresh basil, so bought that stuff in the tube - it measures equally for fresh, and worked out well.
Very nice, and Thanks!
I’m glad you like it! When you get gorgeous home grown tomatoes and have had enough tomato sammiches this hits the spot! I use the tube version of garlic and ginger, and keep them in the freezer. It only takes a minute to thaw when I need it, and they stay fresh longer. I will have to try the basil.
I am going to make the egg pudding this week. I have 2 grands who are incredibly picky eaters (obviously not raised by me) and this may be a way to get some protein in them. The little one seems to have sworn off meat altogether.
The basil is the only tube-herb that I’ve used, but I’ve seen no difference in taste from fresh basil.
I tried the hard boiled egg chocolate pudding recipe from Maria’s cookbook. Thank you for posting a link back to her site. It sounded too weird to work, but as you said, it did work and was like a fluffy chocolate pudding... no eggy flavor at all. I’ll feed it to my granddaughter as breakfast protein pudding. She won’t even know she is having 2 eggs for breakfast. Brillliant!
I’m glad it “worked” for you ..... it’s like a miracle that the eggy taste goes away. It’s great for kids & old people to get their protein in a most pleasant, easy-to-eat way.
Okie dokie - in reference to springform pans in the Instant Pot ......
I made another “egg loaf” ... lined the springform pan with parchment paper (using a method I saw in a video) & then used aluminum foil around the outside to hold any leaks. I cracked my eggs (10) in a bowl & didn’t pour them into the springform pan (already in IP) until I was ready to put on the lid/turn on the pot.
In the comments of the egg loaf recipe, adding foil to the outside increases cooking time by one minute. Well, my eggs were still totally uncooked in the middle - I ended up doing a total of 10 minutes & 9 minutes natural pressure release the first time, 15 minutes the 2nd time.
The next thing is that I could have peeled hard boiled eggs in the time it took me to get all the cooked egg white out of all the ‘nooks & crannies’ on my springform pan. I am NOT doing that again (cheesecake ... different story, maybe). SO, as of 3 mintues ago, I ordered a regular 7” cake pan, an “official IP” cake pan, to use for future egg loafs. The “loaf” doesn’t have to be in one piece coming out of the pan since I’m chopping it up anyway, but I think with parchment paper in the bottom & some oil (I use avocado) on the sides, it will come out well enough.
I have a low-carb cheesecake recipe for Instant Pot; I’m going to try it this week, and I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Great! I look forward to hearing about it. My brother has gone low carb back in November .... not fat at all, but is down 24 lbs (he’s evidently lost visceral fat). He’s got a heart situation he’s trying to rectify & low carb is good for getting lower triglycerides, higher HDL. Anyway, he was “whining” this weekend about having a hankering for cheesecake. He’d invited me over for steak & jalapeno poppers so I owe him .... a surprise low carb cheesecake would make him happy!
A ketogenic diet typically limits carbs to 2050 grams per day. While this may seem challenging, many nutritious foods can easily fit into this way of eating.
Here are 16 healthy foods to eat on a ketogenic diet.
1. Seafood
Fish and shellfish are very keto-friendly foods. Salmon and other fish are rich in B vitamins, potassium and selenium, yet virtually carb-free (4).
However, the carbs in different types of shellfish vary. For instance, while shrimp and most crabs contain no carbs, other types of shellfish do (5).
While these shellfish can still be included on a ketogenic diet, it’s important to account for these carbs when you’re trying to stay within a narrow range.
Here are the carb counts for 3.5-ounce (100-gram) servings of some popular types of shellfish (6, 7, 8, 9, 10):
Clams: 5 grams
Mussels: 7 grams
Octopus: 4 grams
Oysters: 4 grams
Squid: 3 grams
Salmon, sardines, mackerel and other fatty fish are very high in omega-3 fats, which have been found to lower insulin levels and increase insulin sensitivity in overweight and obese people (11).
In addition, frequent fish intake has been linked to a decreased risk of disease and improved mental health (12
Aim to consume at least two servings of seafood weekly.
SUMMARY:
Many types of seafood are carb-free or very low in carbs. Fish and shellfish are also good sources of vitamins, minerals and omega-3s.
My husband tells me that women can tolerate a slightly higher carb count on a keto diet than men, and still lose weight - but right now he can’t recall why, or where he picked that idea up.
I think you just have to check your ketones with test strips, to figure out your limit.
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