Change of Plans

As usual my dinner plans and what we actually ate were somewhat different. I guess it is just what we do. Oh well! Everything in my life is subject to change each day anyway! I think following a plan completely is impossible for me.

This is what was planned:

1. Greek chicken, saffron rice, green beans

2. Grilled steak, baked potato (or cauliflower alternative) spring greens, asparagus

3. Lamb Kofta, rice pilaf (or caulirice pilaf) greek salad

4. Tuscan soup, salad, dinner rolls

5. Out to eat

6. Out to eat

7. Salad and sandwich

This is what we really ate:

Monday: We went out to eat more last week than we had planned and I had thawed chicken in the fridge that had to be used right away.

Greek chicken, saffron rice (or none) green beans, spring greens, keto toast or dinner rolls

Tuesday: I was not in the mood to cook and had made some pimento cheese Monday afternoon. The meal planned itself.

Tossed salad, pimento cheese sandwich

Wednesday: I had thawed the frozen ground lamb, but had no pine nuts so the planned entree had to change. It didn't matter, it was really delicious.

Greek lamb patty, rice pilaf (or none), tossed salad

Thursday: This was the night of one of those corporate events I generally avoid. However, dinner at a really fine restaurant cancelled any objection I might have had.  

Bottega's: Potato leek white truffle bisque, snapper with sugar snap peas, rice pilaf over a green pea puree, frozen lemon mousse on a spiced tulle cookie

Friday: Quick and easy was the name of the game Friday night.

Conecuh sausage with sautéed cabbage and onions

Saturday: We made plans to meet TheHub's brother, sister and SIL in Tuscaloosa for dinner.

Dillard's Chophouse: Surf and turf (TheHub ordered a filet, and I ordered red fish, then we split the entrees) wedge salad, asparagus

Sunday: Since we ate steak Saturday night, the plans for grilling a steak Sunday change.  We punted. Dinner was uninspiring but it worked and no one was left starving.

Bbq chicken (frozen cooked chicken with bbq sauce), leftover rice pilaf, pickled okra, biscuits

What is potentially up for this week:

1. Pancakes, sausage, baked apples

2. Steak, baked potato, tossed salad

3. Grilled tuna, rice pilaf, asparagus

4. Greek chicken, saffron rice, broccoli

5. Tossed salad, sandwich or soup

6. Cauliflower au gratin, tomato onion and cucumber salad, pickled okra

7. Take out

Have a good week staying on plan, going off plan, or within plan at all.

Joys for Week 8

 I am finding it is hard for me to post my weekly joys on Saturday. Generally The Hub and I spend it having a leisurely morning breakfast and talking about and making long and short term plans.  After that we get somewhat presentable and run a few out of the norm errands. It seems I get later and later publishing the joys.

Saturday: We woke and messed around the house for a bit before heading out shopping for some new duds for TheHub. We had some success and they should be altered and ready to wear by the end of the month. After clothes shopping we ran by a couple of other places. We needed to replace the hot pad I took to school my freshman year. Yes it has lived a long, long life and I am pretty sure I heard it singing "Don't Cry for me Argentina" when I finally bid it farewell. 

A take out dinner and Mrs.Maisel rounded out our night

Sunday: We have season tickets to the Birmingham Broadway Series. We have had them for so long and upgraded to better seats as they became available so that for the past 5 years we are dead center, 10 rows from the stage. Evan Hansen was playing when our city's Covid rates were sky high, and as much as I wanted to see it, I just could not see taking the risk just to see a play.  The positive test rates are under 10% now so we decided to join the world and see Cats. Of course we sat with our N95's on the entire time. 

It was so wonderful to be out doing something fun. So much so, that we were not ready to come home, and stopped at a small (almost empty) neighborhood joint for a sandwich for an early dinner.

We got home in time to see Son3's former roommate Toney Goins who has been cast as Phillip in the show Billions! Congratulations  Toney! Told you we were catching up with the series just to watch you!

Monday: This was the day I could double dip the free items at The Pig. The canned chili went straight into my food pantry donation box, but the Dawn dishwashing liquid will come in handy.  To get the free items you have to spend an additional 10 dollars, and other than oyster crackers and radishes I really did not need anything. However, TheHub brought me a beautiful bouquet of roses for Valentine's Day. The roses were spent, but the greenery and baby's breath were still lovely. When I was at ThePig I noticed they had a dozen roses for 13 bucks, so I bought myself a little treat. I came home, removed the seriously wilted roses and arranged the new ones in their place. When TheHub was on his way home he called to see if I needed anything from Publix. He was planning to stop there and do the same thing. I either saved him a trip or ruined his planned recreational shopping. Your guess is as good as mine, but at least he did not have to stop in the rain. 

Tuesday: I had a stay at home day. Though it was not raining, the day was dreary and I had a boatload of laundry  and a book to keep me occupied.  

I had trouble falling asleep Tuesday night and the day was unseasonably warm. I was sitting in the den with the door to the screened porch opened mainly to just get a little fresh air in the house. At about 2:30 I was still awake when I heard the owls in the back of the house . I really do love listening to them when they are "talking" to each other.

Wednesday:  My ring doorbell rang for only the second time since we installed it (mid January). Then I heard someone unlocking the door, which did not surprise me. My sister has a key and she always lets herself in after ringing the bell, but this time is was DIL2 (who also has a key). I was so happy to see her. She does OT home visits and was in my neighborhood so she stopped by to kill a little time before her next scheduled visit. I love seeing her!

BTW Ring doorbells are weird!

Thursday: The day was pretty uneventful, but we had a great night. TheHub had been invited to an event hosted by their corporate banker. We thought it might be a small event and they would cordon off the mezzanine at the restaurant. Instead the bank had booked the entire place for the night, so we had a delicious meal seated at a table filled with flowing wine and conversation. Fun!!!

Friday: I had my morning coffee watching a pair of bluebirds gathering nesting materials and some purple finches battling over a female.

In the evening my SIL came to spend the night with us. We really did enjoy our night with her.

Now on to week 9

Look for your joys, no matter how small they are always out there!

May all your weeds be wildflowers!

Anne

 

Tuesday4

Annie@Tuesday 4 has once again asked 4 questions, this time calling it odds and ends. Come on and join in!

I thought since the first question was about gem stones a song by Saffire the Uppity Blues Women would be appropriate

1. Do you have a favorite gem stone?

I love sapphires and have a gorgeous sapphire ring that I never wear. When I was younger I loved jewelry but now I never wear gems other than my wedding ring. I suppose I will save the ring and pass it on to Pip at some time.

Why is it a favorite.

I had a sapphire jewelry a kid. It is my birthstone, but mainly I just loved the color blue.

2. Do you know and  understand the doctrines of your religious faith? I am Christian by faith and as anyone knows, the doctrines of Christianity are all over the place, from very liberal theology to painfully conservative narrow beliefs. 

I do know the disciplines of the Methodist church (My chosen denomination). I agree with some and disagree with some, but I figure I am never going to find perfection in organized religion. 

    If you are not religious, do you have a personal doctrine you believe and live? 

And even though I am religious I also have a personal doctrine that I heard years ago from one of our ministers that I try my best to live by: 

"It is a blessing to be a blessing."    

3. Do you have a favorite décor style... as in classical, traditional, modern, mid century, colonial, etc?

I like an eclectic look with a mix of styles. I like color and mixed patterns but I am not keen on florals. I also like to have things around me that amuse me. (The monkey butler in particular, or the giraffe applying lipstick while sitting in a stiletto )

If I ever had a house that was all one style (and if I could afford it) I would choose a mid century modern look, but that would also require a house that was a mid century modern design also. (Not at all how I live )

4. Are  there any books or movies you want to see this summer?

I have not been to the movies since December before Covid so I have no idea what is coming out. Mom was still alive and flu season had just begun here, and we decided to wait until after that so we would not accidentally carry flu to her. Little did we know then that the world would be changing in about the time we intended to resume going to the theater.

I am not a seasonal reader. I juggle books and read from the library selection of e-books. I can always find something to read, so I can wait until any new release becomes a little older.

This summer instead of concentrating on books and movies I just want to swim, cook outside, have people over, and see my family.

Winner Winner, Something For Dinner

The thing about keto is you cook nearly everything from scratch to try to make foods as close to the taste of what you are used to eating as possible. Though most of it is pretty good, it is just not quite the same as whatever you ate prior to ketofying it. I guess it's true. Ain't nothing like the real thing! Like breads! Those keto breads are nowhere near the yeasty deliciousness of real bread!

This is what was planned for the week:

1. Grilled lamb chops, new potatoes (or cauliflower rice) asparagus,  rolls,  mixed greens

2. Greek chicken, saffron rice, carrots, tossed salad

3. Hamburger patty, green beans, saffron rice (or cauliflower rice), coleslaw

4. Vegetarian street taco salad

5. Tuscan Soup or Buffalo Chicken soup, coleslaw, rolls or keto cornbread

6. Out to eat

7. Salmon with lemon butter sauce, baked potato (or none) tossed salad, broccoli

And this is what we actually ate:

Monday: I tried very hard to make us a Valentine's Day meal that I knew TheHub loved. Occasionally I actually do try to do something nice!

Grilled lamb chops, new potatoes (or none) steamed asparagus, spring greens, keto cheesecake (fine but not really cheesecake)

Tuesday: This was my day to experiment. I love to cook and love to try new things, even if they are not something I am ultimately crazy about.

Vegetarian taco salad (so-so)

Wednesday: When I asked TheHub what he would like for the week he asked specifically for this meal. It is very easy to make and I was more than happy to oblige.

Hamburger patty, green beans, Saffron rice (or none), coleslaw

Thursday: TheHub had already told me he was having a meeting that was going to run late Thursday. When I know it in advance, I plan something that I can cook and let simmer until he gets home.

Buffalo chicken soup, toast

Friday:We had wanted to take Son2 and DIL2 out to eat for Valentine's the previous Saturday, but we just could not coordinate plans, so they met us Friday night instead. We went late and the crowd had virtually disappeared.

Out to eat at Seasons 52

Saturday: I went clothes shopping with TheHub. He has some difficulty with colors (and styles) so I am his eyes. Plus I can see where alterations are needed. On the way home we passed our favorite fast food place, which had been torn down and rebuilt only to find out it was open and serving. Since we had been out shopping we decided to just grab dinner there.

Take out Jack's chicken dinner

Sunday: We had an event to go to Sunday afternoon and decided we wanted to extend our fun a little longer. The Electric in Bluff Park is a great little sandwich shop/bar.

Pastrami Sandwiches (Not a bit keto, but delicious___oops)

This week I already know we will be eating out twice. 

One of the banks in town has invited TheHub and guest for dinner (I guess they leave it open ended so people can take their friend, spouse, mistress, business associate, pet monkey, whatever) TheHub asked if I wanted to go and I am not stupid enough to turn down a free meal at Bottega.

We are also meeting his brother, SIL, and his sister at a restaurant in Tuscaloosa for dinner Saturday night. I am unsure where it will be, but if I were gambling I would put my money on Evangeline's. It should be fun!

This is planned for this week but subject to change if I am just not feeling it:

1. Greek chicken, saffron rice, green beans

2. Grilled steak, baked potato (or cauliflower alternative) spring greens, asparagus

3. Lamb Kofta, rice pilaf (or caulirice pilaf) greek salad

4. Tuscan soup, salad, dinner rolls

5. Out to eat

6. Out to eat

7. Salad and sandwich

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all!

Small Joys for Week 7

Wow, can you believe we are beginning the eighth week of 2022 already.  These are the daily joys for the 7th week of the year. As has been my usual during this time of covid, they are mostly small joys. However, the new infection numbers are dropping rapidly and I have started living (a small) life outside of the house and the grocery store. Trust me though, I will be the one wearing a mask with access to my ever present hand sanitizer!

Saturday: Another drop dead gorgeous day in the 60's! TheHub went to the office until about noon so I was able to do some serious laundry and a few household chores before he came home just in time for us to watch the second half of the Alabama/Arkansas basketball game. Bama won but played badly and eked out a win (got lucky)

After the game it was late enough in the afternoon that the lunch crowd was mostly over, and we decided to ride to a different section of town to find a restaurant that looked interesting. We wound up in Cahaba Heights at The Pita Stop, a locally owned Mediterranean restaurant. The tables were spaced far apart, there was virtually no crowd, plus their food is  always delicious. Win! 

Afterward we ate we stopped at Cookie Fix and bought a couple of small boxes of cookies to drop off to two of our friends who are recuperating from surgeries. Then it was home to finish the season of Yellowstone! Yes! We are done until next season and I don't have to think about the ranch anymore!

Sunday: What a difference a day makes! I woke to sun, gorgeous skies, wind, and 29 degree temps. It was not a flip flop kind of day even though when you just looked through the windows it was beautiful.

TheHub had a few errands to run and was gone so long I was really getting worried about him, when he walked in carrying a beautiful bouquet of roses. Wow and I though he was just running out to get him some buns for the Super Bowl meal.

I had been trying to be a good grandmother. Pip is now a Brownie Scout and had called me asking if I wanted to buy Girl Scout cookies. Of course I did, even though it meant ordering them to be shipped, and paying shipping charges. They were delivered Sunday in a gigantic box. Now what am I going to do with the eleventy zillion boxes of cookies on my dining room table and no room in the freezer?

Monday: This was the day when I can double dip at The Pig and get  their weekly free item along with their Monday only free special. I was fortunate to see Kenny, my new acquaintance, who was greeting everyone with a huge howdy and smile. 

After shopping I ran a small gift to a friend, then I delivered my Valentine's Day gift to My Beloved Sister and BIL.

For dinner TheHub and I exchanged cards and I did make him one of his favorite meals, though he did man the grill!

Tuesday: My sister and I headed to the bank to work out a few final details settling my parents estate. As usual there were a couple of snafu's and we were in the bank for about 2 hours. I have no idea why having an odd maiden name, spelling it over and over, mentioning how it is always misspelled, and still having it misspelled on legal documents can happen twice in the same meeting is possible. Glad that is over! And extremely glad that we can laugh about screw ups that happen.

Wednesday: The day was gorgeous, warm, sunny and I should have been working in the yard instead of sitting on the porch reading!

I had watched 3 seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and had told TheHub I thought he would enjoy it. Of course he could not be bothered watching it when it began, but decided he wanted to see it now. So I am rewatching it with him. It is amazing how much I had forgotten,

Thursday: What a difference one day can make. The temperatures were still unseasonably warm, but the rains were coming, followed by thunderstorms, with high winds, and tornado warnings. They did not hit around me but were on the ground about 20 miles east of here. I am not sure if a tree or a house a little behind mine got his by lightening, but something did. After the storm had passed I went outside to see what/if tree branches had fallen and could smell wood burning, then when TheHub came home he said there was a fire engine outside of the house where the explosion sound came from. I hope it was just a tree!

Friday: Another huge weather difference. It was in the 70's on Thursday and 24 Friday night! We met Son2 and DIL2 at Seasons 52 for dinner. It was actually our Valentine's celebration with them since they had plans the prior weekend. We do enjoy our time with them!

So go find your joys, however small. They are always out there if you just look for them!

May all your weeds be wildflowers,

Anne

Vegetarian Taco "Meat" Alternative

 I recently saw a recipe for a vegan filling for tacos. I wish I had saved the site and I would share it here, but I didn't. It was a couple of weeks ago and I am sorry but I am just not willing to look through that much computer history to find it. I had remembered the main ingredients and how things were processed, but not the actual measurements or what the "real" ingredient list was, so this is my attempt to recreate what I remembered. To be honest with you, except for the nutritional yeast, this is what I use to season ground beef for tacos. The amounts are all estimates because I do not really measure seasonings, but I am pretty decent when it comes to eyeballing ingredient measurements.

1/2 head cauliflower, separated into small pieces 

1 cup raw walnuts 

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon powdered coriander

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

lime juice (about 1/2 lime)

couple of dashes of hot sauce

Put the cauliflower pieces a food processor and grind until you have a fine (almost powdered) raw cauliflower mixture. Add the nuts, stopping to scrape the side of the container and keep processing until the mixture feels pasty.  Add all of the seasonings and blend through. 

Now this is where it gets a little sketchy. I set the oven to 350 because I use it a my default temp for almost everything. I should have set it  to 325. 

Cover the bottom of a jelly roll pan with parchment. Put the mixture in the center of the pan, cover with another sheet of parchment and press or roll it to cover the pan.  Cook it about 15 -20 minutes then turn it over. I should've had another pan ready with parchment and transferred it to a separate pan because the parchment in the bottom of the pan I was using was damp and I think a dry sheet would have helped. Don't worry about breakage since the entire mixture is going to be broken apart anyway. Cook it another 15 or so minutes until it is nicely browned and somewhat dry. Crumble into pieces. Turn off the oven and out the pan back in for a few minutes to dry it out a little more. You want it to be approximately the consistency of cooked beef.

Now construct your taco salad however you want or put it in taco shells or tortillas. I did mine as a salad with green onions, tomatoes, avocado slices, cheese and sour cream. (I did not have dairy free alternatives on hand and was not buying them for this ) But you do you.

For me this was an experiment, and one I will most likely not do again, only because I am not a vegetarian .The flavor profile was very similar to traditional taco meat, but I found the mouth feel different. There are some really good meat alternatives out now that mimic the "feel" of beef very well, but they are very pricey. If you wanted something on the cheaper side, this works fairly well. That being said, I had about 3 pounds of walnut pieces hanging out in the freezer. If you had to buy the nuts just to make this the price might be close to the same as purchasing a meat alternative. 

Dunno! The jury is still out with this one!

Tuesday

Today is Tuesday Four time where Annie poses 4 questions. Today it is all about our earlier lives.

1. What was life like for you as a child of elementary school age? interests? 

I went to an elementary school in our neighborhood which was loaded with kids. We all walked to school in the mornings and walked home together in the afternoon. On my street alone there were about 20 kids our ages, so we never lacked for playmates. After school everyone had a snack then met outdoors for games. In the summertime it was sweltering so our play was usually something in the shade, but summer nights were glorious. Everyone would eat dinner then meet at the lamp post for whatever game was going to be the big neighborhood game of the evening. We played a lot of Capture the Flag, Kick the Can, Hide and Go Seek and Freeze Tag.

2. Moving along to the teen years would you mind sharing some of the same things with us? 

We moved to a different house when I was a pre-teen and our neighborhood changed. There were still some kids in the neighborhood, but we were not good friends with many of them. But that was the time when school and after school activities start becoming more important than hanging out with the neighborhood kids. 

What were you interested in? 

As a teen, like most girls I was interested in boys, also books, and my social life with friends.

I was a pretty good student and did not have to study a lot to make good grades, so I didn't!

My first two years of high school were at a huge school. Our suburban town then established its own school system and I went there my last two years. It was essentially a splinter school from the overcrowded large school I went to my freshman and sophomore years, with no real difference because it had the same people I had known all along, just a smaller school.

3. Would you share your college or young working years with us?  

I met TheHub when I was a freshman at Alabama. We married the following fall and lived in married student housing. I think for both of us, our interests were just finding out where and what our futures would be. We had a lot of friends that we hung around with, until we had an unexpected change our lives

We had only been married 11 months when our first son was born, so we shifted rather quickly from a fun loving newlywed couple to parents, and then everything became about the baby. 

After TheHub graduated, we moved to a different city, lived in apartments for a couple of years, changed cities again, bought a house, and had another son. And it was off to the races!

4. And lately... what are the topics occupying your mind right now?  

My family, the pandemic, threat of war, divided nation, inflation. . . name your poison!

How have things changed in your life in the not too distant past. 

To start with, I lost both of my parents, our remaining two single sons were married, my knee and TheHub's back do not work like they once did, the pandemic caused a complete shift in our normal activity, TheHub did not retire, and it looks like he will work until they cart him out in a pine box, we sold my parents house, my sister and I tighter than ever  

Are you okay with the changes?

It does not matter if I am Ok with the changes or not. The only constant in life is change which is going to happen whether I want it to or not! Plus, some of the changes have been fabulous!

So come on and play along. I always love to hear your experiences!