T- Tuesday

 

 Hi Everyone!

 Today is Tuesday and that means a day with Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

I've been doing a lot of cooking this week. The first meal I made was Chili Rellenos.  However, I did not get any photos of them. Which kind of saddens me because they were the best I've ever made. Next time.

 

I purchased some boneless pork at a reduced priced and decided to make sausage out of it. 

It's so easy to make.  Much healthier for you and if you buy the pork on sale a lot less expensive. 

Simply cut the pork into cubes.

 

put into food processor

 

and chop it up

 

Looks good

 

but it needs seasoning

 

I fried a small piece

 

to see how it cooks up

 

and tastes. It's a bit different than store bought but so good. 

 

I did add some lard to it and wrapped for the freezer. 

  

I made stuffed meat rolls.

The one in the middle is just a round loaf of bread.  

 

I started with browning onions and orange bell pepper with ground beef and my homemade sausage. Removed it from the pan and set it aside. 

 

I chopped up two potatoes and 2 carrots. In the food processor.

 

then fried them up. 

 

After this had a good browning I added the meat in and made sure it was well seasoned.  

 

 You can use canned biscuits but I made my homemade pizza dough. I didn't get photos, but you simply roll it out into squares and fill them with the meat mixture. Pinch the edges together. At this point you can give it all and egg wash. 

Bake at 380°F or 193°C for about 15 to 18 minutes.  

 

Yesterday I got the makings ready for manicotti or lasagna. 

I made my sauce with half of the meat mixture, (not with the carrots and potato) I used for the meat rolls, and my home canned sauce.

 

Cheese for the filling.

 

Mix all three together and season.

 

Place in a bowl, cover and put into the fridge. It's easier to work with cold. 

 

Here it is the next day. I had some left over manicotti and large egg shells. I'm just going to use them both. 
 boil them up until they are not quite done. Cool them off, pat them dry and set in the fridge.

 

I warmed up the sauce and placed a small amount on the bottom of the baking dish.

Then I started filling the pasta. 

 

Once that was done I poured the rest of the sauce over the filled pasta.

 

The left over cheese mixture dots the top. I will bake this at 400°F 240°C until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Maybe 20 minutes.  

 

This is very cheesy.

 

One needs something sweet after all that richness. I ground cinnamon and chocolate graham crackers and made a crust.

 

Then I filled it with vanilla and chocolate sugar free pudding. 

It was topped with sugar free whipping cream. 

 

With all of this food my drink for the day is 

Have a great Tuesday.

 Nicole

 

T Tuesday

 Hi Everyone!

 

It's Tuesday ( actually I'm writing this on Monday) and I'm joining Elizabeth and Bleubeard for T-Tuesday. 

I was going to get photos outside today but it is storming something wicked out. My driveway is flooded, the wind is gusting at 30mph, so we are watching the fence, and it's cold. I had to turn on a heater. 

 

Today you get AI images and a cookies that really suck. 😁
 

First the AI. I made these last night. As I mentioned before, NightCafe change some of the rules for non paying customers. It does take longer to receive your image. Also they removed style selection, so we only get to use models. However, I'm finding that my images are better. More detailed and better reaction to my descriptions.

 

A week or so ago I asked for well wishes for Mr. M. As hard as we try to keep him in good health his body is just not cooperating. His renal blood work came back with all great results. Then, his AIC came back and he is now type 2 diabetic. In addition that same day his cardiologist informed us that Mr. M. now has AFib. This is all do to CKD. We are OK and over the shock of it all. Have you ever tried to create a kidney friendly, diabetic, heart healthy diet? It's impossible! Some things overlap but what's good for kidney is not good for the other two things. 

 We don't see the dietitian until August. 

In the mean time, we are just going to live life. Stop worrying about every little thing we eat or drink. 

With that said, I decided to make diabetic cookies. YUUUUKKKK. This recipe is horrible. I will make up my own recipes like I do for kidney friendly.

These are spice cookies made with splenda. First splenda does not mix will with no salt butter. The dough was heavy and I knew before I ever baked them that they would not taste great. 

They don't! 

Mr. M. said they were just dry. Uhhh I think he would eat anything I put in front of him. LOL I tossed them.

Later, I gave him some fresh cantaloupe. 

OK for heart and diabetes but I have to portion it for CKD. 

 

My drink for today is hot water. This will warm me up. 

That's it for now. 

Have a great day everyone!

 Nicole 

Saturday this n that not all lupus

 Hi Everyone!

This is kind of long, sit back and enjoy. It's not all about lupus. 

 

On top of all that lupus does to the body the one that really upset me was my voice changing. 

When my Mom, Nan and Sister were still alive. 

I hadn't seen my mom and Nan for about a year. My sister and I walked into our mom's house and surprised them. Nan lived with mom and was almost blind by this time. She was 101 years old. I walked into the living and said, "Surprise, Hi Nanny!" She looked up and the first thing out of her mouth was, "Your voice has changed." I really didn't notice it until she said that. I used to have a strong deep voice. Over the years even Mr. M. has noticed that my voice is higher, not as heafty and at times breathy. Yeah, thanks lupus. 

Lupus can affect a person's voice by impacting the vocal cords and diminishing speech and voice quality. 

The condition can lead to several voice related symptoms including hoarseness, difficulty speaking, vocal fatigue and the breathy speech. All this can be caused by joint issues in the throat, acid reflux or 

tissue damage. I have some tissue damage.

 

Now wanna see some fun photos?

Mr. M. and I (bit the gas bullet) and drove over to Charleston, Or. It's about 55 miles away. Nothing is close to where I live. Charleston is the only place that sells marina supplies. Mr. M. wants to work on the little boat he made back in 2009. It needs some painting and a few repairs. So off to the "boat" store. OMFG!!!!! The prices were out of reason. Mr. M. didn't want to buy it but I told him I had a gift card and to just do it. 

He never spends money on himself. 

After that we drove over to the marina. I got some photos.

If you know me at all you know I really dislike living by all of the water that surrounds my area. With that said, I love boats. Little boats, big boats, huge ships. Your won't catch me ON ONE of them but I like seeing them. 

  

I walked down to the dock

 

To see if this place had any fish for sale. 

Two guys were just unloading their catch for the day and allowed me to take a photo. Rock and Lingcod. They had several of these containers of fish.

 Wherever there is fish there are harbor seals.

 

This is the fishery. Boy did it smell bad. 

All of these fish are made of wood and attached to the building.

 

On the way out of Charleston we got stopped by road work. "shocker" However, I was able to get somewhat of a shot of this geodome house. The photo doesn't show it but this place is huge.

A month or so ago Mr. M. and I had to drive to Coos Bay to get some items at Harbor Freight and of course I had to go into the Ross store. As we were leaving we noticed several huge animal art pieces in the parking lot. These are all made of garbage from the ocean.

 

 

I've been in salad mode. I have never been one to put dressing on my salad. I want to taste all the elements that make the salad. This is from last week with chicken. Tonight I made a taco salad but forgot to take a photo.

 

Nothing like a salad sandwich. LOL

To end this long post. My garden lupine is finally blooming. 

Because I can't stand not to grow some kind of food. I planted some radishes about 4 days ago. This container is already coming up. 

I try not to make long posts but I hope you stayed to the end and enjoyed it.

Have a great Saturday

Nicole.