Herniated Disks - Pushing Through the Pain

Flour, salt yeast and water.

Tuna melts

I tried my hand at baking bread for the first time since I injured my neck and back. I chose an easy artisan bread recipe. It was a tough task for me, but I didn't realize it until after I was well into the process. 

I also had some potatoes that needed to be used up, so I made a large batch of potato wedges. I put a meal together when the bread and the wedges were finished baking. I made a simple meal out of tuna melts, potato wedges and I threw a salad on the side. It was really good. Number One Husband was happy and full when all was said and done. 

I froze the excess potato wedges.

Once frozen, I bagged up the wedges and put them back into the freezer.

I started some lentil sprouts. 

I was past my limit when I finished. I will have to pace myself better. I have been resting for weeks just doing the bare minimum. I'm tired and have welcomed in the Sabbath with Number One Husband. I will use this time to rest and recover from over doing it. I hope everyone has a blessed weekend.

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Preparing For the Sabbath - Meal Preps

I really thought I was finished with cooking for the week except for baking bread. I realized that unless I wanted to use up a large portion of my freezer meals, I would need to prepare more foods for the Sabbath.

I defrosted some split chicken breast, started the bread and made plenty of side dishes. I made coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad to go with our BBQ chicken that I baked in the oven. Unfortunately, it was too windy outside to grill. I saved half of the breasts in hopes that Number One Husband could grill out on Sunday if the weather cooperates.

I finished up with cleaning the house after the food was prepared. I spent a bit of time yesterday cleaning before my girlfriend picked me up for an afternoon of thrift shopping. We had a good time and we both found a few items that we were looking for. 

Afterwards, we had a meal of homemade soup that she brought to share, and I made tostadas to round out the meal. All three of us were hungry and ready to eat. It was nice to have healthy foods ready to eat when we got home. All I had to do was heat everything up. The last time that I ate out with a friend, it was $70 bucks just for lunch for the two of us. So, meal prepping pays off especially when hungry. 

Delicious!

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Batch Cooking

My fridge is empty. I have a cheese, carrots, celery and condiments. I need to get to the store and pick up the basics. I only have ingredients on hand. It's time to catch up on batch cooking some freezer meals. I started with tamales. We were completely out. It's a two-day process for me. I prepare the homemade stock, meat and sauce on the first day. On the second day I put the tamales together and steam them.

39 Tamales

Next, I cooked a pot of brown beans and rice in my Saratoga Jacks thermal cooker. It is the first time that I have tried beans in the thermal cooker. I usually cook beans in my electric pressure cooker. Beans do not cook well at high altitudes, and they did not cook well in the thermal cooker. I reheated the beans and allowed them to continue cooking in the thermal cooker, but I had to finish them on the stove. 

I turned the beans into refried beans.

Perfect rice every time...

I decided that I would work on breakfast for my next task. I batch cooked high protein whole grain waffles and homemade chicken breakfast sausage.

A baker's dozen.

 

Breakfast sausage links - No casings

I needed to focus on main courses next. I started with Carne Guisada, a Mexican stew, that we really love. I will serve it with rice and beans or make burritos once I make tortillas. 

Delicious!

Other than baking bread, I am finished for this week. I will start up production again next week. We made it to the store and picked up fresh fruit and vegetables along with milk from the store. Iceberg lettuce was $2.57 a head. I wanted it for the tostadas I want to make with some of the refried beans I made. I will start some sprouts. I just cannot bring myself to pay these outrageous prices. If we all took a stand prices might drop. A new movement perhaps?

Soaking alfalfa seeds for sprouts.

Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Monthly Grocery Shopping Haul and Meal Preps...

We ventured into the city to pick up groceries and fill up on gas. There are no taxes on groceries in the city and gas is about .50 cents cheaper per gallon. After we filled up, we saw it for .86 cents cheaper than our local gas stations. 

We needed to buy meat this time before the prices rose again, so the best meat and the best prices are at Sam's Club, however, ground chuck is now $4.98 a pound if you buy the 10-pound roll. They were out of the fish that Number One Husband wanted to pick up, and no other club had it in stock. He settled for a tiny bag that was ridiculously priced from the Wal-Mart next door. 

We stocked up on some chicken thighs for making sausages. Sam's also carries uncured turkey bacon that we like, and they had it in-stock this time. It was the first time that I have seen it in nearly a year.  I probably should have picked up an extra package now that I think about it. You know what they say about hindsight...

We like peppered turkey bacon, so Number One Husband
added fresh ground pepper while the bacon was cooking.

We also purchased a small amount of produce, milk, cheese, corn husks, green chilies and batteries for $172.97. We spent $31.19 on three items at Wal-Mart, $45.96 on gas and $14.82 at In-N-Out. Going into the city is always an expensive proposition, however, we were able to purchase more for less, saved on gas and avoided paying taxes on our groceries. 

Number One Husband has been wanting to eat at In-N-Out, so we stopped by and grabbed a couple of burgers and fries. I am so glad that we did. It was good! I mean really good! 

Their meat isn't the boiled looking meat that you get at other fast-food chains. It actually has flavor. It is definitely real meat.100% ground chuck to be exact. I'm not a huge hamburger fan, but I must say that In-N-Out is my favorite burger joint. 

Their prices are still reasonable. My "animal style" fully loaded hamburger was $3.50. I usually give Number One Husband a portion of my burger, but not this time. I ate it all plus an order of fries. Their fries only have three ingredients. Potatoes, sunflower oil and salt. That's it! McDonalds fries have a whopping 19 ingredients. Why? 

I made about 31/2 pounds of breakfast sausage this week and made it into patties. I froze half of the patties uncooked and cooked the other half. I made breakfast sandwiches out of the cooked patties, and I froze half of them. 

I made breakfast rice from the meat drippings left after cooking the sausage. I will top the rice with milk gravy and serve it with turkey bacon and toast. Viola, another tasty breakfast made from very basic ingredients.

I'm planning on making tamales again on Sunday. I prepared the meat and the homemade chicken broth in advance. I used the bones from the chicken thighs that I saved after making sausage and veggie scraps that I accumulated in the freezer to make a rich broth. Preparing as much as possible in advance sure makes cooking time consuming foods a lot easier.

All our chores are done, and we are ready for the Sabbath to begin. So that's it for this week. I hope everyone has a blessed day of rest. Stay safe out there...

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

Souptember And More - Meal Preps

This week's Souptember soup is Mexican beef and rice soup. It is actually more like a thick hearty stew and is very tasty. 

Mexican Beef and Rice Soup

Tacos and Spanish Rice

I started with 10 pounds of ground chuck.

I pressed out 12 large hamburger patties for Number One Husband to grill. Until then, I froze them on trays and then I wrapped them individually and placed them back into the freezer. 

I froze three 1-pound bags of raw beef.

I cooked and bagged up the rest of the meat that was left after
cooking tacos and Mexican Beef and Rice soup. 

Tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and onions in a spiced vinegar dressing

We went to town today to pick up a few fresh groceries. It was a bit frustrating. The store was out of several items. Four items were mispriced. I had to have the supervisor over twice to fix the prices. It took forever. I found it interesting that the prices that were wrong were on the sale items. I was able to get a rain check on an out-of-stock sale item. Number One Husband actually came inside to check on me because it took so long. What a great man and husband. Thank you, Number One!

I feel like I have been sick since the beginning of February. I believe that my immune system has been compromised since I contracted shingles in February. I'm tired and I'm tired of being sick and in a weakened state.

We are still recovering from whatever we had. We are better but have not recovered completely. We are just now starting to get our appetite back. We are not very hungry at all, so cooking has been minimal for the past three weeks. 

I used to do a "Things I Like" at the end of each blog and I am not sure why I stopped. After watching a portion of the presidential debate, I would like to do a "Things I Hate" portion, but I will not. In fact, I will restart the "Things I like" portion of my blog again.

Things I Like - 

My protective loving husband

A non-election year

When it's not hunting season

Fan noise to put me to sleep

A fan blowing to cool me off

A breezy day

Cotton pajamas

Short sleeve t-shirts

Grapefruit and sandalwood body spray 

Tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and onions in a spiced vinegar dressing

Changing seasons

Falling back time change

Blogging

Shalom,

Mrs. Smith

 

Meal Preps - Finishing Touches

We were finally able to grill this morning before the wind started. I had big plans, that didn't work out, for meal prepping. However, it just took extra time. The food itself turned out beautifully. Number One Husband did all the grilling. He inherited his grilling skills from his dad. Here are the rest of the pictures. I will have a recipe up on the blog for Carrot Dogs aka Vegan Hotdogs soon. 

I sliced two chicken breasts for sandwiches.

These are the chicken thighs that were supposed to be turned into chicken sausage, but my grinder attachment bit the dust. It would have been 6-1lb packages. I used the sausage seasoning anyway and will make chicken biscuits for breakfast meals. Until then, I will just freeze the grilled thighs. 

Vegan Hot Dogs - Carrot Dogs. Really amazingly good! 

Homegrown basil micro-greens

I pureed them with olive oil and froze them into cubes for pesto.

I had six potatoes that needed to be used, so I made potato salad and two baked potatoes. I also made coleslaw from a head of cabbage that was in the same state as the potatoes that I didn't take a picture of. Number One Husband dipped into the potato salad, hence the missing helping. Potato salad is really good with a splash of Tabasco.

My bread dough grew and grew. It weighed 3.25 lbs. 

I made two loaves of bread and eight hamburger buns.

Soft and yummy!

Crusty sandwich loaves with a soft crumb.

I think that's it for my meal preps. It is so nice not to have to cook every day. I have been building up my freezer meals and sides for a couple of weeks now. I just make extra every time I cook, and I freeze it. These meals are perfect for busy days. I just add fresh fruits, salads and vegetables to round out the meals. 

Blessings,

Mrs. Smith