Let's talk a lil' Food

I'm bored of writing and thinking about the same old things - side-effects, chemo treatments, hair styles, and so on. I feel like that's been hashed a few times too many. I'm not promising I won't talk about it all again in the future, but for the moment, I'm done with that. Instead, this entry I want to turn towards the foods that I've been enjoying, mostly from the good habits of my friends who have taken my diet much more seriously than I intended! LOL It's been a great transition to eating mostly vegetarian though.

Laura has been very good about making sure that we eat a ton of kale. Our garden is overflowing with kale and she makes sure that it doesn't go to waste...much waste, anyway. I have made some kale chips, which are nothing like potato chips except that they're crispy vegetables, but they were still pretty tasty. Laura has made several indian dishes, a egg and potato kale breakfast treat, a potato, kale, and sausage hash, and some Italian wedding soup creation - some with sausage and some without.

Brian doesn't like mushrooms or olives, but I can't be vegetarian without trying out a few of these yummy veggies here and there. I bought some big colossal green garlic-stuffed olives along with some marcona almonds fried in rosemeary and some goat cheese and ok-mok crackers. Yum! Had to have a little red wine with those snacks - how could one not? I also made a mushroom casserole from the 101cookbooks website with this recipe here: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/mushroom-casserole-recipe.html


I tried making some of my own vegetarian bean burgers in order to freeze and have on hand while Brian is busy grilling up all the pork that we just got from our 1/2 a slab of pig, but they turned out a little mooshy. Apparently, you need to fry them after making them, THEN freeze them, then recook them when you're ready. Oops. Well, that's a learning curve. They're still tasty moosh at least.

I also realized that beans is going to be a very important part of getting my protein and staying full while on this diet. I cooked up a bunch of pinto beans we had lying around, but instead of refrying them with bacon grease (yum!), I tried out coconut oil, which gave them a Caribbean flair.

Speaking of which, I think some fish tacos might be in order soon. Now that we have caribbean beans in the house, why not go the whole mile and do up some shrimp or fish tacos? One of the hardest parts of this diet has been to find fresh seafood (I'm not fully vegetarian.) One of my main goals has been to not eat fish and meat from the supermarket because you just don't know what's been done to that stuff. You'd think that living fairly close to the Pacific Ocean (it's only an hour away really) that we'd see a lot more fresh seafood, but apparently the marketplace must be difficult for fisherman to realize inland.

I took a page out of Laura's repertoire and stole the idea for making some sauerkraut. Sauerkraut has never really been a like of mine, until the last year or two. We have a ton of cabbage in the garden, so I figured why not try it out? I just shred up the cabbage in the food processor, added salt and kneaded it all together. The bruising, cutting of the cabbage mixed with the salt, drew out quite a bit of moisture from the cabbage giving it a watery bath to sit in. I had to add a little salt water to make sure it was fully covered so no bacteria grows on it, but now it just sits out on the counter (covered) and we can eat it in a week, or two, or three, depending on how sweet or sour we want it to be. Pretty simple stuff! So I've been considering making a faux Reuben for dinner soon. Tempeh for me, and corned beef for Brian and anyone else who may be visiting. Yum!

Laura and I also made a trip out to the Mossyrock Blueberry Festival, which was fairly small and uncrowded due to a little rain, but we managed to come away with quite a bit of fruit - blueberries, nectarines, and peaches. Right now, we're working on some nectarine sorbet. This morning we had a blueberry coffee cake. Last night we had a blueberry buckle. AND, our apple trees are starting to produce! So two nights ago, we had apple streudel. We've been working hard to making desserts out of fruit to help hold off my sweet tooth. It has been insatiable!

So, that's some of the latest in the land of eating for Rachael and Brian. Christine has also been a great help in figuring out some good eats, and I also appreciate the recipes that many of you have sent on. Oh yeah, I tried marinating and BBQing some beets the other day, but that effort was met with not exactly favorable results from both Brian and me. Well, we'll keep trying on the beet front to make something a little more appetizing.

Otherwise, health is OK for the moment. I tire easily. I haven't been sleeping well. My feet are numb and tingley. I am careful to stay away from crowds of people and those who are sick. But I feel OK and have been happy to have time to myself for some mental processing of all that has happened for the last few months. I continue to feel happy and lucky about my lot in life and the amazing people who are reading this and supporting me through this all. You guys are amazing. Thank you!