Tag: Memoir

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Year in Review – 2023

But make it again and The Tiny Human may change her mind. ”I don’t like that!” which no parent has ever heard from their child.

Another year, another championship.

Our grand-donkey got painted for the 4th of July.

These people were aggressive and called my cell phone. I told them I’d be very happy to sell them a property I don’t own.

RIP.

Ski Chile ! (mountains all look the same to this Flatlander)

Future artist.

If you live in the US or Canada quit complaining.

YouTube put this suggestion at the top of my For You list of must watch videos.

AND I also get this in my feed:

But at least I’m not Cody.

I didn’t go to Maine.

A quiet anniversary dinner at home on New Year’s Eve.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

In with the new and out with the old.

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Trouble in Paradise,,,Confirmed

Two-thirds of those surveyed said they overindulge in food, nearly 45% said they take a break from exercise and more than half report feeling tired and have less time for themselves. Plus, a third admit they drink more alcohol during the holidays.

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “Survey finds Americans struggle to maintain healthy habits during the holiday season.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 December 2023 —https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/12/231204135305.htm

Trouble in Paradise (it’s Weight Gain Season again) confirmed.

BTW I’m hanging around 175 and SO FAR still hanging around 175.

Yeah!

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Trouble in Paradise (it’s Weight Gain Season again)

“Competition puts hurdles in front of you that you have to clear.” 

OKC Thunder coach Mark Daigneault

Here’s the same chart I posted from last year that is attributed to the New England Journal of Medicine. I could never find the original source article.

Take Home Lesson

“God speaks to us through signs. It is important to allow angels to act. When we see ourselves repeating our ordinary routine, we realize how much wealth surrounds our life. We understand each step, each attitude. We discover important things, and useless thoughts. At the end of a week – discipline is always fundamental – we are more conscious of our faults and distractions, but we also understand that, at times, there was no reason to act the way we did, that we followed our impulses, our intuition; and now we begin to understand this silent language which God uses in order to show us the true path. Call it intuition, signs, instinct, coincidence, any name will do – what matters is that through “conscious attention” we realize that we are often guided to the right decision. And this makes us stronger and more confident.”

Paulo Coelho

Happy Thanksgiving!

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New and Improved! Sour Cream Chicken Enchillada Casserole

Updated 11.05.13

The Boss:  “I’ll make the sauce.”

Me:    “Why?”

The Boss: “Because your sauce is too thin and the casserole gets too runny.”

Recipes change with time and repeated preparations.  But sometimes the changes you’ve made were not necessarily an improvement to the dish. Lesson learned. Time to update this family classic. You don’t want the original recipe.  Don’t use One Rotisserire Chicken, 50 Meals – #3 Sour Cream Chicken Enchillada Casserole. Make this one.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Casserole

  • 8 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
  • 4 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1/4 C butter
  • 2 T. flour
  • 3/4 C. sour cream
  • 1 3/4 C. chicken broth
  • 1 small can mild green chiles
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • Two rotisserie  chickens, meat taken off the bones, cubed (yes two chickens)
  • 18 yellow corn tortillas
  1. Saute onions in butter, add flour then broth.  Cook over medium heat until thickened.  Add chiles and sour cream and heat.  Be careful to not let the sauce boil.  Set aside.
  2. Butter  a 9 x 12 casserole dish.
  3. Layer three corn tortillas.  Cover generously with chicken.  Add jack cheese.  Sauce.  Repeat.
  4. The final layer of corn tortillas is covered with sauce only, no cheese yet.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes covered until bubbly.  Remove cover, add cheddar cheese to the top.  Return to the oven for 10 minutes to allow cheese to melt.
  6. After cheese has melted, remove from the oven and allow to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving.

This recipe started with a version from Delicioso! Cooking South Texas Style.  The original recipe from the cookbook has sour cream sauce quantities similar to the updated version and not the too thin, too runny, bad quantities I had been using. The original also called for a full pound of Monterrey Jack cheese, no cheddar. Uh, no. Also included were jalapenos which would be wicked good but by subbing mild green chilies you get a child friendly dish if you know what I mean and I think you do.

Tips – Cut up the chicken first and snack on those tiny tidbits of meat that you have to pick off the bones with your fingers.  Do not use pre-shredded cheese. Period.  Trust your significant other when she says your sauce is too thin and it makes the casserole too runny. Make some fresh Guacamole – Asian Inspired and Updated and serve with chips. Beans and rice for sides obviously. Don’t forget the beer.

The Two Chicken Change to the Recipe –

Two birds because all of the ones you find in the grocery stores (not Costco) are really small. We used to call them Cornish Hens. Seriously, pigeons are bigger than the rotisserie chickens nowadays.

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How To Reduce Your Risk of Developing DM2 (type 2 diabetes)

Photo by mali maeder on Pexels.com

Replacing one serving of red meat a day with a serving of plant-based protein sources like nuts or legumes decreased the risk of type 2 diabetes by 30%, and substituting a serving of red meat for dairy decreased the risk by 22%.

More Than One Red Meat Serving A Week Can Increase Diabetes Risk — https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/10/19/more-than-one-red-meat-serving-a-week-can-increase-diabetes-risk-study-finds/

The Forbes article has links to other research studies on meat consumption and health.

Link to the Harvard press release — Red meat consumption associated with increased type 2 diabetes risk — https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/red-meat-consumption-associated-with-increased-type-2-diabetes-risk/

The study featured in the articles above was published on Thursday, October 19, in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

My Personal Opinion

If you eat meat, eat less. If you don’t eat meat, consider the occasional meal with meat for its nutritional benefits. My diet is approximately 75% meat-free, I do not have diabetes.

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What to Eat if You Are Prediabetic (hint, low carbs)

One of the most studied diets for reversing diabetes and prediabetes is a low carbohydrate diet² that’s personalized to your carb tolerance. People with a high carb tolerance might be able to eat a carbohydrate-heavy diet and keep their blood sugar in a normal range, but someone with prediabetes and a low carb tolerance may experience chronic blood sugar spikes and struggle with fatigue, weight gain, and more. 

Prediabetes Diet: What to Eat, and What to Avoid — https://www.virtahealth.com/blog/prediabetes-diet

I need to be better with the list of foods to avoid.

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New Security System!

The other day a salesperson was doing door to door in the neighborhood selling wifi enabled security systems. He was unsuccessful with me but per his list of neighbors who recently signed up I could tell he was a very good salesperson.

This young man managed to scare the crap out of me with his stories of break-ins, theft, and medical emergencies. I started thinking, do I need a new security system? After some serious thought weighing the pros and cons I decided it would be good to have a better security system.

Meet my new security system.

They will rip your face off if you try to steal my guitars.

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Saturday 07.22.22 – The Day I Remembered This is a Food Blog

“So what are you going to do when I’m in Colorado?”

“Work.”

“So what are you going to do on the weekend?”

(silence…)

There are people who have to have to make plans and have plans for every day. There are people who don’t plan and see what the day brings. I am one of the second type of people. It’s Saturday and despite having a list of chores and errands I didn’t “plan” on doing much of anything at all. But I did manage to complete a few things off my list which made the entire day a guilt-free experience.

serendipity (noun) from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
  • The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.
  • An instance of making such a discovery.

One errand I absolutely needed done was getting gas for my Non-Green Non-EV. On the way home I stopped in a Pakistani/Indian restaurant and grocery store in Edmond Oklahoma. I’ve lived in this town for nearly 20 years and only learned today that Edmond has a Pakistani/Indian restaurant and grocery store. Of course I had to explore and see what I could find. I was motivated to see if I could locate some replacement spices and herbs because one of the other things on my list was to clean out the spice rack. There were just a few that expired.

  • Cayenne – August 2017
  • Dill – July 2010
  • Coriander – December 2016
  • Curry powder – February 2019
  • Ground mustard – no date
  • Ground ginger – no date
  • Sesame seeds – January 2018

No I’m not embarrassed. I’m mortified. The rack looks better now that I’ve tossed 7 or 8 containers.

At the Pakistani/Indian restaurant and grocery store I chose not to replace any of discards from the list. I simply don’t use these spices enough to justify buying replacements just to have sitting around for another 10 years or more before getting tossed out from lack of use. But here’s my haul from the Pakistani/Indian restaurant and grocery store:

Tomato paste from Turkey. Five bucks for 25 ounces.

Mild red chili powder. This is not the chili powder blend in the store but just ground chili from India. I almost bought the hot version but chickened out at the last moment.

Roti from Canada. Yes, Canada.

Photo by ZNu2019s Food&NatureArt on Pexels.com

I bought a single samosa for a snack. But I neglected to snap a picture before I ate it so here’s a stock photo. I did get some of the red sauce and it’s spicy hot.

Morning stretches followed by a morning walk. Drank coffee. Read a book. Cooked a pot of chickpeas. Wrote a journal entry. Cleaned the shower and scrubbed a toilet (totally guilt-free after knocking these two things off my list). Got gas in my Non-Green Non-EV. Cleaned out my spice rack. Found a Pakistani/Indian restaurant and grocery store in of all places Edmond Oklahoma and bought some awesome tomato paste, ground chili and roti.

5:00 PM. Drinking a beer. It’s been a good day. Hopefully there’s a World Cup soccer game on the tube tonight.

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Drink More Water

Keep an eye on how often you pee—pale urine, six to seven times a day, or every two to three hours, is good. You want it to be “basically like a Chablis, a Riesling, Pinot Grigio, or champagne-colored,” John Higgins, a sports cardiologist at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, in Houston, told me. “If you notice the urine is getting darker, like a Chardonnay- or Sauvignon Blanc–type of thing, that generally means you are dehydrated.”


Are You Sure You’re Not Thirsty? — https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/07/the-dos-and-donts-of-hydrating-in-a-heat-wave/674704/
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