We now return....

.... to our regularly scheduled meals.

Yay!

Found a reasonably priced Sharp carousel (no inverter) at BJs yesterday.

Had warmed up Chinese food for supper.  Happy happy joy joy.

Five days in May....

... and counting!

Back in the mid/late '80s, I was writing up a storm and selling as a freelancer.  It took me a while to get that first sale and I was thrilled beyond belief.

I was living on my savings at that point, so every $ counted.  That first piece I sold was called "When the Zap loses its Zip", a humorous/sad tale of woe recounting when my microwave oven died.

It sold to the Cleveland Plain Dealer newpaper for its Sunday supplement magazine.  The $ from the sale almost paid for the repairs on the microwave!  (Back when there were more repair shops and folks used them!) LOL

So its with a sad and heavy heart I have to tell you that on May 1st, this year my current microwave died.  Sheesh.  And it was only 14 years old.  *sob*  So young, so young.

The whole tale is recounted on the "Household Adventures" sidebar blog.  Check it out.

Meanwhile, without a microwave, I'm eating a lot of .... this:

Thank goodness for the Forman grill and the 'fridge. I try not to fire up the stove unless I'm making a vat of something.

What is REALLY a pain these days is hot beverages and my morning oatmeal.  *sigh*

How about you?  Could YOU live without a microwave (or some other kitchen convenience)?  :-/

Oh yay! Hot weather - cool cukes.

To say that the cuke harvest is going well could be an understatement.  Click the pic for details.

Busy this week

I won't be on the air for a bit.  Hopefully very short.  Mom needs oral surgery and we are jumping through hoops right now just to get her fit for it.  She is 89 and ANY kind of surgery at this stage has more risks than, say, 20 years ago.

She needs to have an infected tooth removed.  Sounds simple?  Oh no, my friends.  Now dentists won't do anything to a tooth without the sign off of a medical doctor.  The medical doctor looks at blood work, sees something iffy (Mom's platelets are a tad below the range) and refers you to a hematologist.  Everyone has to have a look.  Meanwhile, Mom has an infected tooth and the associated pain forgodsake!!

Fortunately the antibiotics are helping, but this has dragged on for almost 2 weeks now!  Mom is confused.  It should be simple.  I'm angry.  It should be simple.  Bottom line, I want Mom to be in the best health possible so there is less risk of complications (like bleeding).

Finally, Friday, the medical doctor signed off.  When I went to call the oral surgeon on Friday .... gee ... they close early on Friday so no one was there.  *#(*@#!   I'll call first thing tomorrow to sched Mom's surgery.  And I'm trying VERY HARD to convince Mom to come stay with me for the 1st 48 hours after surgery.  I need to make sure that the gum socket clots and that it doesn't go dry.  And there will most likely be pain and swelling and she would ignore not believing it could be something important.  *sigh*

Anyway, all I can do right now is make sure she eats better than she does.  Here's a typical lunch she gets here.  Lots of deep leafy greens (for bone marrow to make platelets), and a grilled turkey meatloaf sandwich on whole grain bread.  Brightly colored fruit and vegetables (preferably raw) will help.  And - hey! - it's delicious!

Back soon.  Wish us luck.

P.S. I have updated a couple of the sidebar blogs.  Check 'em out.  Need access?  Email me:
Melissa.Majora  atATat   gmailGMAILgmail  dotDOTdot  comCOMcom  (use the BOLD info - rest is to confuse robots)

Hidden treasures....

.... on the sidebar pages.

These days all the action here at the Sanctuary is being posted on the sidebar pages.  Big things happening, people.  Check 'em out.

And, for Glenda ---

A typical mid-morning snack these days.  Yum.

Still sick - but an impending diagnosis?

Hi gang.  Yesterday I was at my lowest ebb in weeks.  I'd had NO sleep the night before and had to be at the hospital at 8:00am for an ACHT (adrenal) stimulation test.  This is the test I tried to do a couple weeks earlier but had a panic attack and the procedure was postponed.

Thankfully, my friend took me yesterday for the next try.  Good thing, after a long fast and no sleep, I was a drained to the bone.  Her help kept me calm enough for the test.  Then she took me to the endo clinic where I proceeded to break down again (it's impossible to contain my anxiety and emotions anymore, hard as I try).  Anyway the upshot of that was that they decided to do the blood draws for CELIAC testing right then in the office with other specimens delivered to the diagnostic center the next day.

Also I was told that I am NOT hypoglycemic. Yay!  In fact, they say I am like millions of other Americans - PRE- diabetic. Boo!   (I'll have to work on THAT!).   Also found out that my Hashimoto's count shows that my thyroid is leaning toward HYPERthyroidism right now, which would account for some of the symptoms.  Unfortunately (or fortunately - less drugs to rely on) the counts aren't bad enough to warrant  HRT replacement at this point.  That was the good of the visit.

The not-so-good was that I was once again pointed toward a therapist/ psychiatrist for the rampant anxiety and growing depression.  At that moment I thought - yeah, I could use some help getting a grip.

But then --- last night -- I read a book: "Jump Start Your Gluten-free Diet" by the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center.  (Free - downloadable - ibook; ebook; PDF)

Oh my gosh.  There.  In the book.  Where SO MANY of my symptoms, among them: weight loss, tingling/numbness in the legs, osteopenia, peripheral neuropathy, anemia (untested as yet) and - waaaait for it -  "Psychiatric disorders such as anxiety or depression."  There are other symptoms I have, but too indelicate to include here. *heh*

But, see!  I. AM. NOT. CRAZY.

Then, this morning - some GREAT NEWS!  The ACTH test results were in. Phone message:  "Miss ...., you DO NOT HAVE an ADRENAL insufficiency."  She said it twice.  Slowly.  (I deserved that attitude.  I've given the office so much grief.)   No adrenal fatigue.  No Addison's disease.  Hurray!

Add that good news to (an unprecedented) 8 hours of sleep last night and I'm feeling pretty good right now. 

Now a week for the latests tests to confirm something on this list: Celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, wheat allergy, or FODMAP sensitivity (fermentable 'saccharides).  I don't doubt but one of these will be the culprit, especially since I have Hashimoto's disease (the same autoimmune action that can cause Celiac's).

Spelt pancakes: fluffy, delicious and
now (most likely) forbidden!

Bottom line, I'm thinking therapy will do no good if this emotion is disease related.  But KNOWING what's CAUSING it WILL!  I won't be sitting and shaking and thinking the worse.  I'll KNOW it's a wave of emotion from poor nutrition absorption, etc.   Until the final diagnosis, however, I must continue to eat gluten every day to keep up the anti-body counts for the bloodwork, specimen tests and, ultimately, an endoscope exam.  Luckily, according to the book, I can get enough gluten daily from a single cracker or half a slice of wheat bread.  I don't have to be shoving down a stack of pancakes or bowls of Kashi (darn, I love that stuff).  The rest of my diet can be less damaging and I won't be so afraid of eating anymore.

I felt good enough to run errands all morning, then after lunch I watered all the veg in the garden and seedlings on the deck.  I'm winding down now.  No sense over-extending, especially since I could be down and out tomorrow just as soon as not.  Still, the KNOWLEDGE what might/must be happening will go a long way toward calming so many of my fears.

I'll keep you posted.  Meanwhile, I think a snack and a nap is in order - both well deserved at this point. :-D  Bless you all for your comments.  They're are so welcome and comforting.  *hugs*

======================
Friday morning update
======================

It didn't last long.  I'm back to feeling like total crap again.  Little sleep with night sweats.  I'm glad I blogged yesterday when I was feeling so hopeful.  You all deserved a positive entry.  And lord knows I deserved a good day to remember who I really am under all this sickness.

Dawn - and more than 1 wakeup call

Click pic for details

The sky was breathtaking this morning!

Red sky in morning
Sailor take warning....

Yep, winter storm Orko is bearing down on us later today, but all we're expecting here in NE Ohio is some mild temps and rain.  I can live with that.

Click pic for details

Meanwhile, more food adventures.  I must be the last person on the planet to taste an avocado.  Crazy, huh?  No more samo samo in my kitchen these days. LOL

As for something ELSE green...

Deep freezer

It was only -2F again this morning and it's only barely climbed into positive digits so far.  What a great time to defrost the basement freezer!

This is the best weather for defrosting.  Everything inside was loaded into carry bags (good grief that little freezer holds a lot of stuff!) and then hauled upstairs.  Originally I was going to stow everyone out on the deck, but then I saw that it was only 27F in the breezeway (and out of the wind) I decided to save myself a few steps and stashed everything there for the duration.

I don't defrost the freezer nearly often enough, maybe every 18 mos.  The freezer itself (a 30+ year-old JCPenney model - back when USA made heavy-duty, long-lasting appliances) works great and builds up very little ice, so I pretty much leave it alone and let it do its thing.

Anyway, once unloaded and the ice removed, it was no trouble to give the insides a good wipe with warm water and baking soda.  There.  Nice and clean and ready for reload.

 

Before reloading, I took a few moments and wrote up a list of items going back in.  Now no more guessing and/or fishing around for something down there.

The downside of this freezer is that there is no real easy access to anything on the bottom.  So I decided to actually sort the food (by items), leave them in the carry bags, and just lowered them into the freezer.  Now at least I can pull out the bags and fish through THEM instead of pushing through a lot of loose piles of stuff.

I ended up with nearly a full bag of some freezer-burned cooked meats (not much) and vegs from 2010/2011.  I don't mind about the veg - frozen veg make great starter for spring compost piles.

Bottom line - I'm good to go for another year or so. 

Say, do YOU have any tricks to help you find stuff in the freezer?

Taking a walk this winter

Dr. Oz will have Dr. William Davis on his show Monday, December 3, 2012.

Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on CBS.

and that

Modern wheat is a "perfect, chronic poison."

Today's wheat, he said, is responsible for a lot of diabetes, arthritis, high cholesterol and blood pressure, bowel problems, headaches, inflammation, overweight, lack of sleep, etc. etc.   Click HERE for an article.

=======

To that effect I've been reading up on wheat genetics, gluten varieties (not all created equal), alternative flours, medical articles, etc. and have come to my own conclusion.

I'm walking away from modern wheat.

And not just because of Davis's book Wheat Belly, but from my own experience.

I've gone carb-free on a couple of occasions (which, obviously meant  no wheat and, at that time, bread/pasta was my primary carb of choice) in the past and as I recall my cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar and blood pressure dropped (heck, plummeted!).  But I'd done the carb-free thing for weight loss and, since I got to where I wanted weight-wise, I brought back the carbs (including wheat).  After that, the weight has crept back up.  Same with the others for which I now take meds.

Well, gosh.  Guess I didn't learn the right lesson from the carb-free diet.  Oh well, better late than never.  I'm in my mid-60s and have a couple more decades left (I hope).  Still time to turn myself around and walk away from modern wheat.

I say walking because going cold turkey would only invite distress.  First off, it's hard to get away from modern wheat which is pervasive, like corn sugar.  Secondly, modern wheat is, apparently, addictive so no sense going straight into withdrawal.

No, my plan is to start finding ways to start replacing modern wheat in my diet.  Unlike some folks who are totally allergic to glutens, I am not, so I am free to seek out alternative grain/glutens to add to my diet as I subtract the bad wheat.

Winter is upon us and it's a great time to read, research further, and experiment in the kitchen.  My goal is to create modern wheat free items to replace:

Bread.  Not the normal sandwich slicing bread.  But something for dunking in soup, sopping up sauces, a platform for pizza.  Something probably in the flatbread area.

Pasta.  Even today's 'multi-grain' pasta are mostly wheat.  I will look for 'legacy' grain products: spelt or bulgar (older, unmodified wheats), etc.

Thickening.  I will not use wheat for thickening and will switch entirely to cornstarch and arrowroot.  Barley is also nice.

I found a good website (<= click) that lists a myriad of wheat-free and gluten-free flours.  I'll be visiting it regularly this winter as I  see what's what.

I'm also lucky that we have a natural foods store nearby so I'll be checking out their grains/flour selections.

Bottom line - watch my "Chef's Table"  blog (listed on top of right sidebar) for posts labeled "wheat-free" as I look for other grains, existing products  or create my own.  I have written up a baseline for myself.  Luckily I'd just had blood work on Nov 12  to check my liver enzymes (because I take a statin for cholesterol) so that will come in handy when I get the blood rechecked in 6 mos.  I'll also keep a "How am I feeling?" journal to monitor joint pain, sleep patterns, moods, appetite, energy, etc.

I'm expecting only good things in the end.  Feel like joining me for (even a brief) walk this winter? 

Blessed RELIEF

Albeit only temporary.

Yesterday it only got to 71.  Today it is (right now) 72 on my deck.   The wind is straight from the north (thanks, Canada!)  - a brisk wind at a consistent 15-20 mph.  And no humidity to speak of (only 33%).

Any curtains, blinds or shades have been pushed aside and the windows thrown wide.

It's not just that the house is cool, but there is a decided WIND blowing through the rooms and it feels WONDERFUL.

Yesterday I used the cool weather to give the 'fridge a serious cleanout.  Then, because I didn't have to worry about heat build up, I baked a lovely Irish soda bread.  I also mixed up a batch of ciabatta bread batter and set it aside to rise for the required 18 hours.

Today I spent the morning trouble-shooting some household stuff at Mom's.  But after that I've been playing on the deck, potting up lots of geraniums.  That done, I baked the ciabatta loafs.  They turned out perfect!

Not to stop the train, I also boiled up a pound of tri-color rotini for a future pasta salad and have put 1.5 pounds of dry garbanzos to soak so I can simmer them early evening.  I'm looking forward to chick pea salad and some home-made humus.

As a finale, I'll drag out the propane grill, fire it up and char  a 6-pound bag of chicken breasts  for future sandwiches, salads, and wraps.  

Pasta, beans, bread, chicken - lots of food.  But no prob - the 'fridge is nearly empty since the clean up.  Plenty of room for some fresh fixin's.

Tomorrow returns to our regularly scheduled heat wave, with high 80s, then 90s for the weekend.  *pant*  That's why I'm cooking up a storm now because I just REFUSE to heat up the kitchen when outside temps are too much like oven temps.

Meanwhile, I'm putting the range through its paces while the cool temps and spanking breeze persists.  Hmmm, wonder if I should throw a couple of veg quiches together.  Oh yeah, look.  I found the eggs....

Ahhhhhh.

Chilly? Nay. Downright COLD!

It only got to 49 yesterday and rained on and off.  Today is the same.  Dark, windy, showers.  And it's even colder to boot!  Tomorrow is looking like more of the same. :-(

Well, if it's so darned chilly outside....

I'll just have to CHILI up the place inside.  Here's what's simmering on the stove right now.  The first hot, savory batch of the season.  Ole.

===== Later that same day

Since I had 10# of ground turkey and only used 2.5# in the chili and it's still cold and wet outside, I went from the stovetop to the oven.  You can never have enough Italian meatballs on hand.  Ciao.

Hmm.  Still have 5# of turkey left.  What next?

===== Even later

Okay, who didn't see this coming? LOL

Pink rink

We're still under snowpack and it has dipped below zero for the past 2 nights.  Yesterday it only got up to 12 but today we may hit 20.  Needless to say, MELT is not in the vocabulary yet.

But at least the rosy glow of this morning's frosty dawn made the ice rink I call driveway all pretty in pink.  Looking at it is waaaay safer than actually walking on it.  yiiiiiii!

I thought I'd try something different for lunch yesterday.  I mean, just how much soup can a gal make?  So instead of grabbing a pot, I snared a skillet and whipped up a nice ham, kale & veggie frittata.   Hmmmm.  Gooood.

I must admit I'm finally getting restless!  I'm tired of eating(!) and moving snow around (*woof*).  Enough is enough, for crying out loud.  *heavy sigh*  Well, at least Igor and I can go hide out down in the basement.  There's always something going on down there these days. Go seeds!

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(Use links on top of sidebar to view my other garden pages.)

Bright brittle cold

It's almost too bright outside to see.  I have to peer through half-closed eyelids to prevent snow blindness.  At least when I squint I can almost not see the dark bones of ice-ravaged trees that litter the landscape after the storm.  So, instead of dead stuff, here's a pic of something bright and green and growing.

I turn my gaze away from the false and frigid sunshine (down to 0 tonight and for the next couple of days), prepare a newly-discovered ooey-gooey comfort sandwich (grilled PBJ), and retreat to the green glow of the basement where a lot besides lettuce is lush.  

Come downstairs and visit the (shhhhhh) secret basement plant lab!

Igor and I have been very very busy, haven't we, Igor?  *munch*

Woohahaha.

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(Use links on top of sidebar to view my other garden pages.)