Here’s a tree that’s doing well despite the lack of rain. It was here when we arrived–almost two decades ago. It looks like and grows like a maple, the leaves turning bright yellow in fall, with roots above the ground and lots of suckers needing to be cut.
We’re promised rain later today, and the radar shows us covered in green. Fingers crossed.
I recently sought an alternative healthcare solution for intractable high blood pressure that wasn’t responding to mainstream medical intervention. At least, it hadn’t yet. Since March.
And as I’d rather do just about anything than lie in an emergency room bed with an IV in my arm, why not give alternative a try?
I came away from my first visit to the ‘integrative medicine’ professional with an armload of supplements and a specific recommendation to follow a ‘plant-based Paleo’ eating plan.
Now I haven’t been asleep for the past 50 years, so yes, I’ve heard of Paleo and even plant-based Paleo. In fact, about four years ago, I gave a popular doctor’s version a go and ended up sicker than I’d ever felt before. I have some concerns about the Paleo eating plan logic, mostly having to do with what cave-people might really have been eating. Maybe not coconut oil. Or coconut flour. Or coconut sugar. All of which seem to be okay Paleo foods.
Anyway. I was given a specific book recommendation and obediently downloaded it to my Kindle.
Paleo breakfasts frustrate me. Bacon or sausage and eggs? Really? I mean, I know the ban on fat has been lifted. But that particular breakfast just seems a bit–well–fat saturated. As I flipped through the pages of the recommended book (no, I’m not saying which book) the first recipe that caught my eye was one for breakfast. Zucchini pancakes. Huh. I like pancakes.
It called for:
Basically, a latke (potato pancake) made with zucchini. The kicker was to fry it (yes, FRY) in an inch of coconut oil. But okay, I’m game.
OMG. So nasty. Greasy, oily, uncooked eggs, crunchy zucchini. Yes, of course, I didn’t cook them long enough, but any longer in the pan and the outside would’ve burned to a crisp. So hmm… What would I do differently?
Based on my latke cooking experience, which granted is minimal, I’d substitute 1 cup of zucchini for 1 cup of sweet potato–still Paleo approved–use only 1 egg and increase to 3 TBSP coconut flour. Although I wonder if einkorn flour is okay Paleo–I’ll have to do some research–and fry it in a small amount of olive oil and butter mixed together.
Or better yet, I’ll find some Paleo friendly toast.
Oh and yes, I’m just as sick on this plant-based Paleo as I was last time.
But not to worry–look in next Saturday for more adventures with other people’s recipes.
Last month’s daylily. Something pretty to look at while I recover from a medical concern. Returning Sunday with a fun food post.
We woke to rainy skies this morning, more drizzle than rain. And after a day of promise, the rain gauge shows one-eighth inch. The lawn is still brown, the trees are losing their leaves, but we have storm clouds riding the skies.
Late blooming daylily after a thorough watering. We’re about a foot low on rain, although we’re promised rain on Monday. Or Tuesday, really. Maybe Wednesday…
We’ve had such bad luck with gardening this year. April was too cold. June was too hot. And it’s been plain too dry. We’ve gone from moderate to severe drought, although lots of folks west and north of us have had enough rain to keep going.
It was supposed to rain today. It did. At least, the south windows had a few sprinkles.
Watching our lettuces and Cole crops fail, our cucumbers flower sans fruit, our tomatoes turn black, our eggplant surrender to bugs … Need I continue?
Instead of giving everything over to weeds, we covered each garden bed with black trash bags, held down with bricks. No, we didn’t buy the bricks. We’ve been carrying these around since 2000 when we brought them with us from the Overland Park house. As you can see, they’ve come in handy.
The trash bags will keep the weeds from sprouting and, with the beds covered long enough, may even retard weed germination for the next gardening season. If the drought continues, we’ll just leave things covered.
If the drought continues … let’s hope this isn’t a sign of climate change. We could have floods as easily if the pendulum swing is wild enough. And which is worse?
I don’t often talk about cooking or baking. I can follow a recipe and that’s about it. But I love watching cooking shows, and every so often, I get inspired. Like seeing someone make a breakfast sandwich in 45 minutes, including scratch, two ingredient- bagels.
Two-ingredient bagels? Really?
Having grown-up on the east coast, I was used to eating ‘real’ bagels. Then I moved to Omaha, NE, ending up in Louisburg, KS. I don’t know how they make bagels out here, or whether they’ve ever tasted real one. The best tasting are huge, fluffy donut-shaped bread things. But they’re not bagels.
Real bagels are made with yeast. I tried to make a real bagel once. Lots of steps. Proofing, boiling, baking. Mine came out rubbery.
But the two-ingredient bagel? It’s simple. According to Weight Watchers, mix 1 cup of
fat-free Greek yogurt with 1 cup of self-rising flour. The recipe I ended up using called for 1 ¾ self-rising flour and 1 cup of full fat Greek yogurt.
Mix the two ingredients until a dough forms, then knead briefly. Divide into four equal pieces. Roll each piece into a log-like shape, then squeeze the two ends together. I brushed the resulting four bagels with beaten egg and baked for 25 minutes in a
350 Fahrenheit oven.
I know. Mine don’t look much like bagels. In fact, they’re messy and not at all consistent. I’m no baker. But believe it or not, these had the same chewy consistency as a real, NY bagel. Go figure… Better yet, go try to make one.
The photo was taken 23 years ago, the day Jim and I officially joined forces. Like it was yesterday except that cameras are much better now. And that hat. Luckily, I had those humungous glasses to keep the hat from covering my eyes. Jim looks good, though. And the handsome young man behind us is son Gordon.
