Friday, April 29, 2022

OMG!!!! Mind Blowing Advance in Laundry Technology

 I like laundry.  The only household chore I like.  For reals...well, canning to but for like the daily crap.


ANYWAY!!!!  

I knew about the energy efficient ventless European style washer/dryer combination units that use condensation tech for drying.

I knew about the portables.

The high efficiency machines (talking to YOU Jonny...stop putting SO MUCH DETERGENT in the high efficiency washer.  It clogs up the line and the drum and wrecks the machine.)


I did NOT know that they make a DRAWER washer UNDER the main washer, just for poopoo undies and yoga pants and fragile bras


Dude...a tiny washer under the mondo washer.  So much waste of resources making it and using it but I totes want one.  I won't ever have one due to the electricity and lack of need.  The drawer only does delicates and light loads so you end up with the big washer as the main one.  I have heavy dirty clothes so something exclusive to yoga pants and panties won't cut it.  If they ever add a heavy duty cycle to the wee drawer washer I might be on that. 

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Anti-Inflammatory April: The Final Count Down

 Getting close to the end and all is well.


The toe that has the stiffness and inflammation is coming along, but will need work for much longer.

The arthritis in the knee is OK most days, as opposed to annoying most days.


I think I've had 1/2 of a chocolate chip cookie in the last week as a bauble, otherwise, totally on track.

It is a decent way to eat.  I put some stevia herb, not the refined stuff, on the steamed squash I had with breakfast and it tastes sweet.  When I am on sugar/corn-syrup, it tastes bitter.  So the tastebuds must have adjusted.

I have a field trip at work tomorrow but I am bringing whole fruit, peanuts (low or no salt one hopes...will depend on availability) and sandwich fixings for people.   Also cookies and brownies because others will want them.   I can use the lettuce to make a wrap which should work fine.  The others can use the bread.

Remembering to bring stuff on field trips has been one minor issue.   Turns out a bag of salt-free peanuts and an apple are available almost anywhere you stop.  

I still have duck meat, but have been eating lots of eggs because the chickens are laying plenty.  And more gelatine.  Using up a bottle of pure cranberry juice, unsweetened, in the "jello" made with the organic free range gelatine.  Since I'm off sugar, it tastes fine.  Straight cranberry juice is too tart/bitter when I've just had super sweet stuff.

ALSO:  Loving home made popcorn over the wood stove in my little vintage popcorn popper.  It works over the butane burner as well.  1/8 or 1/4 cup of kernels popped in coconut oil is a decent dinner side or snack.  Organic popcorn of course.  Especially good with smoked paprika on it.

The maker is like this:

Apparently getting it for 2-3$ at thrift was a good deal.  It hadn't been used so is in better shape than the one in the picture.  And it makes nice popcorn, BUT...the oil spits out the screen top all over heck while popping so I hold a sheet of paper over it gently, trying not to burn my fingers, while shaking it etc.  It works.  Then the paper goes in the fire-starter scrap paper area after I use it to soak up any extra oil left in the popper.

I'd forgotten how good real, oil popped, popcorn was. I've been airpopping and dry-popping in the microwave.  Those are fine, but bland.   
Eating whole foods also means the calories in the popcorn and oil are not an issue.

This is boring, but it works.  And it is CHEAP to eat whole food.
The apple and peanuts snack on the road was $1.20 or so.  In a gas station one is pressed to get a candy bar for that.  I could have skipped it and not eaten, but figured finding things that work is also good.
So far this month I've eaten mostly pantry food and freebies from friends and a couple of meals out.  Grocery spend this month is currently 49$. 

With a work field trip tomorrow, lunch provided (I'm the shopper so I know I will have stuff that works), that's another meal filled in.   

Enough of this.  Back to work!!




Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Anti-Inflammatory Update 3: The Minor Sugar Intake

 Still sticking with the anti-inflammatory April as I define it.  No sugar, no refined carbs.  Bit of organic whole wheat flour, plenty of veggies, eggs, and whatnot.

It is going well.  My owie toe is getting mobility back. I have no idea if it would have gotten better at this rate without the diet, but I had been working on it for 2 months before this and only made a little progress.  I COULD drop a log on the same toe on the other foot and start eating crap to see how long it takes that to get better, but I'm not going to.  

LOTS of potatoes this week because that is what I have and they are getting soft so have to eat it up. Also, carrots and onions.  I'm eating nearly an onion a day and lots of soups.  Soups are easy and tasty...NOT NEWS on that.  Mostly boiling the diced onion directly in the water rather than frying it, as noted before, because I do not want every thing I own to stink of fried onion.

I'll have garlic for next week if I run out of onions.

It is easier to keep salt intake low when one cooks for one's self.


And, as with previous food experiments, it is making more creative.  You can do lots of things with a potato.

As I run out of potatoes and the quinoa is getting low, I've started adding in a bit of whole wheat flour doing countertop dough, because I do not have a fridge.  I add dried yeast bought YEARS ago, that dry stuff cheap by the pound, to some whole wheat organic flour.  Then add water (no salt, keeping sodium low) and leave it at least over night.

When it came time to bake the first try at the dough, I greased up the tiny skillet (from thrift, obviously) formerly probably in a cookie kit gift thingy, and put the dough on it and stuck it inside the wood stove.  That worked great!  I spun it around after a while, because one side was toward the coals, then flipped it when the top was pretty brown.   It was good!  Bland because no salt so I will probably try putting herbs or spices in it eventually.  Or fermenting it longer.  I have vital wheat gluten to boost the protein etc and have used that a time or two.

Eggs...buttloads of eggs are being consumed.  4 today.  The hens are laying so free range pastured eggs are available to me.  And delicious.   Boiled, fried, scrambled.  Not poached or soft boiled because that is GROSS.  Also did some muffins at work in the toaster oven with a bit of that flour in some eggs with some olive oil and service berries stored in vinegar all winter.   Service berries have also gone in some gelatin, unflavored organic beef gelatin.

I'm out of lentils, garbanzos and peruana beans.  Down to split green peas and working on learning to cook those.  They are fine.  Will probably do a pea and quinoa pilaf next week when the taters have run out.  

Yes, I could buy more potatoes or whatever but I want to do a clear out on my stored food before the farmers markets start up in May.  

Eggs with the anti-inflammatory spice mix has been most breakfasts.  A few I just put in a lot of cocoa powder.  Also good!  2T of either of those with 2 eggs beaten in makes more or less a pancake whether fried or microwaved in a bowl.

As for new recipes...other than the woodstove firebox baked bread, nothing new and there only the location of the baking was new.

If I come up with a good way to make green peas, I will share.

That is all pretty boring!  But, it's going well.

So...the minor sugar intake.  Yesterday a long time friend and colleague defended her PhD Dissertation via zoom and in person, I was in person.  She had made cookies and zucchini or something bread.  I went with 2 reasonably sized cookies.  I meant to take one, but maybe muscle memory defeated me??

Anyway, less than 40 carbs/sugars and under 40 sods based on the recipe she seems to have used.  Very good.

I've run out of some teas (like that rooibos from Paris...sigh) which motivated me to use up the nettle and other herbal tea supply, or start on it.  The nettles are a diuretic so the first day drinking that I got extra steps in running to the turlet.  But my cankles looked great!

Even with a bit of sugar yesterday, I am not having cravings today which is good.  

I've also managed 2 lunches out without blowing it.  Going to a restaurant that specializes in locally sourced ingredients and has healthy salad and soup options, then skipping the bread (salty even if local and organic flour is used and I have the salt issue...thanks old age!)

Not bad over all.


 

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Anti-Inflammatory April Update 2: Cauliflower Stem Soup Recipe

 So, it's going really well.  Guts are sorting themselves out.  Arthritis less annoying, still there, I mean, it's not a miracle cure but I did a whole workout at the gym with weights this morning without thinking about my arthritic knee or my owie toe (pro tip--do NOT drop logs on the joint between your big toe and your foot and then ignore it because it doesn't bruise.  Damaged all the tendons/ligaments which froze up and now I'm like 3 months in to trying to get the mobility back to what it was.).  The toe mobility is coming along, I suspect the lower inflammation level is helping.  Maybe it is placebo effect and I don't care.

Also, not as itchy.  I have the driest skin on the planet according to a healthcare provider and it is often itchy.  Less so now.

I've made my own chocolate treats like mochas with dehydrated coconut milk powder, just coconut bits, home brewed coffee (drinking 1/2 as much as before...2 cups per day rather than 4), and cocoa powder.  No sweetener.  It's quite good.  So that helps with the skipping candy bars at the store even when on super sale.  I stocked up on cocoa powder just for this.

The chickens are laying well now so eating more eggs.  Some people find them inflammatory but I seem to do fine on them.

Eating a tiny bit of whole wheat organic flour.  About a cup a week cooked into things like chocolate service berry bannock made with no-sodium baking soda or no-sodium baking powder.  I have a bit of vanilla extract, organic real stuff, if I want to kick it up but so far haven't bothered.

Having banana eggs or just eggs and anti-inflammatory spice mix for breakfast most days.  

To support my good diet, I'm buying more produce, while keeping it frugal.   Last Saturday I had to be in town for a thing so I combined that with my grocery run and laundry duties to minimize trips.   

I got organic purple and green cauliflower heads, one each, for $1.50 each!  Since they each weighed over 1.5lbs, I hit my "Dollar a pound all year round" (that's a Jeff Yeager guideline for saving $$ on groceries...buy what is cheap and use it all).

I made a critical error when cooking up the first head, the green cauliflower.  I cut out the stem and leaves and put it in the chicken bucket (a pan that holds food scraps that the chickens can eat...then I add water and let it cook on the wood stove if that stove is going, because chickens don't eat raw onions).  OOPS!  I Don't keep that pan clean enough for human consumption of contents so...darn it!

I had forgotten that the stems are fine diced up small and put in soup or mashed potatoes or whatever!  Even fried up.  Same with the leaves and the ribs from the leaves!  It was like 1/2 the weight of the cauliflower.  

SO, yesterday I had the purple cauliflower florets for lunch with some boiled eggs and a dressing made from the dregs of fancy mustard, vinegar and olive oil.  It was good.  

I KEPT the stem and leaves in a bag and took them home.  Last night I diced them up into a pan.  There was about 1.5 cups of usable food.  The chickens just got those dry hard nubbins from where there were cuts/trims.  I added water, a chopped onion, a couple of carrots (saved the top bits to regrow the greens in little cups of water because that is fun and carrot tops are my go-to version of parsley), a 1/4 cup of dry green split peas.  This is my first attempt at cooking split peas. Seasonings: marjoram, thyme, fennel (the stuff I have the most of...that's how I chose)  We'll see at lunch today how it is.

Brought it to a boil and simmered it until I got sick of simmering it.  No, I did not fry the onion. I could have but then everything I own stinks of fried onion. It's in a jar in the work fridge.  Most of it.  There was like 3/4 of a cup of soup that would not fit in the jar so that's at the house (which was 34degs F when I lift this morning, basically the whole place is a fridge today) waiting to become tomato soup tonight.  I'll add more water and a can of (low sodium) tomato paste.  Again, tomatoes inflammatory to some but I do well on them.  That usually makes a decent tomato soup.  Pepper and vinegar can fix most crappy soups.

Lesson:  cook up the stems.  If you want, you can peel them.  The peel is usually the hard, fibrous, bitter part.  ALSO full of vitamins and whatnot.  I left it on this time.  Of course I wash my veg too.  If I don't care for the skin in this soup, I might leave it out next time.

My groceries, being INGREDIENTS and PRODUCE was cheap!  I threw in some probiotics which were on a rare 20% off sale and might encourage the guts to improve.  My Dr. (jesus I'm old...I still BLOG and I quote my Dr...) approves of them.  Also stocked up on the powdered coconut milk.  It was on the same 20% off sale and I don't tend to binge use it if I stock up.  Unlike nuts and dried fruit...I don't dare have a back stock of nuts, nut butter or dried fruit because apparently that is my kryptonite.  I just eat the entire stock way to fast and throw my guts out of whack.  

Groceries, for 2 weeks plus some restocking, was about 27$.  That is being used with my pantry staples like the flour, cocoa, coffee, tea, and fresh eggs.  I spend about an hour in the evening making something for the next few days lunches if need be.  That keeps me from spending that evening sitting in a chair spiraling down a youtube rat hole.  And of course it saves me running to the store for something for those lunches which happened now and then before.  

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

7$ Challenge for 9 Meals from "Jan from NYC Saves Money"

This 7$ Challenge for 9 Meals is from a youtuber I follow:  Jan from NYC Saves Money

Click that link to watch the vid for more background if you like.   Or, forge ahead.

Here are prices from a local grocery store I can walk to..saving fuel costs.  The local store is on a reservation and does not charge the state sales tax of 6% (yes, even on basic food we pay state sales tax).

1 bulb garlic:    0.89

3 loose carrots:   0.89

3 d'anjou pears   1.13

1lb margarine    0.99

5lb whole wheat flour  1.99

1 doz med eggs  1.09


Total: $6.91


It might be a boring 9 meals...but it will work!  Jan assumes 3 meals per day so we will go with that.

And it will be floury.  Yes, a smaller amount of flour would make room for more veg or a bag of lentils, but 1lb isn't enough calories (and this is cheap calories) assuming1850cals per day which is about what I eat.   Also, the 5lbs for 1.99 is a short term deal.  The 1lb and 2lb bags of flour cost OVER 2$!!!

I went with eggs over dry beans or lentils.  Partly because the eggs allow me to make noodles and pancakes better than beans or lentils do.  More versatile.  But I am saving that 9cents left over, and there will be at least 1/2 the flour left.  The margarine comes up 1T short from what is required below so that day will be 70 calories down, but my average will be fine.  


Step 1: put 1/2c flour in a jar with some no-chlorine room temp water and put a cloth over the top.  Hope for some fermentation over the next couple of day.  Help it by putting it in a warm spot.  If it ferments by the 3rd day, use it for bread on the next round of 3 day cooking for more variety beyond the pancakes and tortillas below.

220 calories to be consumed eventually...

Breakfast every day: 1/2C flour, 1 egg with the white beaten up as leavening, the yolk just stirred into the flour with a bit of water.  Fold in the whites.  Fry up in margarine like bad pancakes.  Serve with 1/2 the pear sliced up and more margarine to make sure there are enough calories.  Tap water to drink.  4T marg total used.

220+63+210+48 = 541 calories

Lunch every day: 2 eggs fried or scrambled with 1/6 of the garlic in 3T margarine on a tortillas(made with 1/2 C flour and 2T melted margarine) with 1/2 the carrot shredded up.  Tap water.

126+220+350+14=710

Supper every day:  Make egg drop soup with 1T margarine, 1/2 carrot, 1/6 of the garlic, and an egg.  Make tortillas with 1/2C flour, 1T melted margarine and water.  Fry those up in a dry skillet and spread with 2T margarine to get the calories up. And the other half of the pear.  Tap water.

220+63+280+13+12+48 = 635

1886 calories X 2  = 3772

1816 for the 3rd day added to that is 5588total calories consumed.

That is an average of 1862.67 calories per day.  Very close to my needs.  

Yes, bit shy on vitamins, protein and flavor.  I will have used less than 1/3 of the flour.  Hopefully that sourdough started in step 1 worked. If I skipped the flour on the next trip, I would have $1.99 to spend on something other than flour.  And that 9cents left over would of course be saved in the grocery budget so $7.07 to spend.

Free things I can add to that to increase the vitamins include:

Pine needle or spruce needle tea from trees I know are not sprayed with chemicals.  Vitamin C is in that.  

Dandelion leaves, clover leaves, plantain leaves, and other wild edibles in areas I know are not sprayed with chemicals can be gathered.  These go in soup, scrambled eggs, or raw as a salad or added to the lunch wraps.   They can also be fried up with garlic as a side dish.


The next trip to the store, assuming the same sale flyer is in effect,  would add a pound of lentils, 1.09

Take out the 1.99 for the flour, and the total comes to $6.01

99cents savings!  Added to the 9cents from before, I have $1.08 for the next trip, and with lentils in my soup, or mashed as a spread on the tortillas, I have more protein and more options.  I would cut the added calories from the margarine amounts, saving some of that for the next round.  With the sour dough starter probably going, I can make bread/pancakes without adding oil to the batter/dough.  Of course the "waste" starter from cutting in half and refeeding would be fried up as pancakes or used to coat carrot slices as fritters, or some of those delicious wild greens mixed in for fritters (actually...that sounds good in general, might try it).

With an extra 1.08 the next 3 days would have $8.08 available to spend.  Buy the same again, because 1/3 of the flour is still there.  By the end of THOSE 3 days, would have $2.07 left (8.08-6.01).  I would get another 5lbs of flour as a stock up, and the usual list minus the margarine, leaving 99cents.  By now I would be super sick of the pears and carrots and garlic but what are you going to do?  They are reliably cheap and flour is cheaper than potatoes...the other super cheap veg.  Onions are an option but generally though you get more weight, the calorie content is low and the flavor/serving per $1 is less than a bulb of garlic.  

Once I had 3$, I would hit the discount bins and maybe get those bruised bananas or a bag of onions or if it was spring and I owned a bucket of dirt or more, a pack or two of radish seeds.  You can grow those in a couple of weeks to the point you can harvest greens.  3-6 weeks and you have radishes.  12 weeks and you have more seeds.  

Also...I look for carrots, even bagged and trimmed ones sometimes work...with a bit of top or full tops.  Carrot tops are basically parsley so can be used fresh as a green/herb and dried as an herb for later.  Nutritious!

And I save and toast, or plant, the seeds from squash and melons.    Don't forget that dry beans, peas, lentils can be sprouted as long as they are whole beans/peas/lentils not split.  

Finally, the lack of flavor here is difficult.  Another option for seeds is herbs.  Pretty easy to grow indoors and they are nutritious and make these meals less boring as well as being encouraging because you take control of a tiny bit of your life.



NOTES:

While playing this headgame with myself, I have noticed that I couldn't come up with a personally applicable scenario where I had only 7$ for food for 3 days, no stocked items, my chickens/eggs were gone/not available, no friend was offering help before I even asked, no family member would just make sure I had food, or all the catchable wildlife and edible plants on my property were gone.  HOLY PRIVILEGE BATMAN!!!!  Being middle aged, female, cysgender, white, educated, and connected to a community of people who trust me and give a crap, having living family I am in touch with, being reasonably healthy and having a job!   Jeez. Then there is owning land outright, which is due to the above,   My mind boggled at how much I have and how little others doe.  

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Anti-Inflammatory April Update 1, with Banana Eggs Recipes

 Yes, "recipes," but that's for the end (is that a teaser or a spoiler?)


It is going well.  I even passed up a brownie yesterday!  The maker declared that his brownies were the best and I made assumptions about scratch cooking with top notch ingredients.   Turns out it was a mix but he put half the mix in the pan, then a layer of chocolate candy bars, then more batter.   So, it would have been delicious but SUPER inflammatory. 

When I got home, I made a chocolate thing...I don't know what it would be.  3T organic whole wheat flour, 1 T vital wheat gluten for a protein boost and to use it up, 1 large egg and 1 airfart egg (a tiny egg with only white in it, no yolk, laid by a hen who is just getting started with the egg laying), some no-sodium baking soda (which is incidentally a calcium source...nice), 2 T service berries that had stored in vinegar, and 1 or 2 T of the vinegar off the berries, and 1 T cocoa powder.   The soda and vinegar of course make it rise more cake like.  Especially now that I have the hang of using the no sodium baking soda.  The vinegar/soda ratio is different than with regular soda.  ANYWAY, mixed it up, quite thick like drop biscuit, almost a dough.   Heated up coconut oil in the skillet on the wee stove and bake/fried it with the flame on super low and the lid on the pan but cracked to let the moisture out.  About 7-8 min per side and I had a nice cake-y treat that was not sweet, bit tangy with the berries that go well with the bitter cocoa.   

My neighbor is storing her berries in vinegar as well and really likes them.  It's fun when I can share a tip with someone who has 24 years on me and has shared some killer offgrid tips with me!   


So, clearly less inflamed as well.  My arthritic knee is less painful.  No more mobile yet, but less painful is good.

My left big toe (yes Mom, I had to double check the left/right issue...thanks for the dyslexia!) seized up a few months back after I dropped an 8lb log on it and the corner of the end of the log hit the main joint where it joins the foot.  I've been fighting this since January with warming it up and stretching per my Dr's orders. The tendons/ligaments all stiffened up and got inflamed from the blow.  Dang it.   Apparently this takes time to get the mobility back.  My fingers and toes are overly mobile, bending back to 90degs, so going from frozen flat to full mobility is a slow process.  With avoiding sugar/salt/processed food it is less sore and slightly more mobile.  I think I'm between 45 and 60 degs now.  Better.

I'm prepping meals and trying to make sure I have food ready at work so I don't get caught hungry and I also realize that I am not going to starve if I miss a lunch.

A commenter asked about the Banana Eggs in the pervious post.  I think I've done the recipe before but since I am making them specifically anti-inflammatory this month more than most, I will share the recipes (skillet and microwave style).

I keep a pint jar of my anti-inflammatory spice mix on hand at home and at the office and use it almost daily.

Current mix: 1 1/2C turmeric, 1 C cinnamon, 1/2C cloves, 1/2C nutmeg  (usually only 1C turmeric but I had more of that than cinnamon when I mixed this batch up).  I buy the spices in bulk at ethnic stores, a food co-op or the back end of  TJ max type stores.  I keep an eye out and grab it when any one of them hits about 5$/lb or less.   


Anti-Inflammatory Banana Eggs in a Skillet

1 T anti-inflammatory spice mix

1 banana, over ripe is good, over ripe and frozen then thawed while still whole and peel on is easiest.

2 eggs

1T oil

Mix up the banana and the spices.  If the banana is frozen and thawed it is already super mushy and easy to nearly liquify.  Mix slowly as the turmeric stains everything if it puffs out of the bowl.

Add the 2 eggs and mix until the whites aren't identifiable anymore.  If you are picky, beat them well before you throw the eggs into the banana bowl but I don't want to bother dirtying 2 bowls.  I also mix with the fork I will eat with.

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet.  Once spit or water dances in the oil, put in the mix, turn the heat to medium. Wash the fork.

When it will slide around the pan while you shake it and maintain its shape and the top is set, flip it.

Once that side is cooked, eat it.   It is good with berries on it or just plain.  Eat right out of the skillet if you don't want to dirty a plate.


Anti-Inflammatory Banana Eggs in the Microwave.

Find a microwave safe bowl about cereal/soup size.  Too deep and the middle takes forever to cook.

1 T anti-inflammatory spice mix

1 banana, over ripe is good, over ripe and frozen then thawed while still whole and peel on is easiest.

2 eggs

Mix up the spice and the banana.  Mix in the eggs.  Mix them a bit more than you think.

Cook in the microwave for 1 minute.  Mix again.   Put back in the microwave and cook for 30sec to 1 min.  My microwave at work takes 2 min total, but it is low power.  Check it often the first few times.

Yes, the spice mix is a tad bitter.  Cinnamon sweetens it up and if I have been of sugary stuff for a while, it tastes just complex.  Not bitter or sweet.

If you are up for it, a bit of fresh cracked black pepper on the final product is supposed to kick up the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric but I generally forget that.