Nearly The Same

Well, we hit 100 degrees yesterday afternoon at 3:46pm.  Really not a record I'm excited about!  The three of us were not in the backyard at 3:46pm but in the bedroom with the window air conditioner.  It was 72 this morning before 6am and the note on the weather page says "Today is forecast to be nearly the same temperature as yesterday."  Heavy sigh.  Must get things done before the sun really comes up over those mountains.

Here's is what made us bi-peds very happy:

Another winner from Barefeet in the Kitchen!!

{2 Ingredient} Coffee Milkshake Yield: 4 - 6 servings

6 cups (48 ounces) freshly brewed hot coffee
(1) 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

Stir the condensed milk into the hot coffee. Let the coffee sit until room temperature and then fill two ice trays with the sweetened coffee. Place the trays in the freezer until frozen solid. Pour the remaining coffee mixture into a jar and refrigerate until chilled.

For each milkshake, place 8 sweet coffee ice cubes and 1 cup of the coffee mixture in the blender. Blend until thick. Pour into a glass and serve. The coffee mixture will keep nicely in the refrigerator for several days.

The one where she goes on about HBEs, again.

I'm pretty sure there will be eye rolling going on when I announce once again that I have found the perfect recipe for hard boiled eggs.   Not only perfectly cooked but perfectly peeled.  It's a Serious Eats investigation on what works and here is what works for me, keeping in mind that I am at 5000 feet above sea level.

A pot of water brought to a boil.  Eggs straight from the refrigerator added to the boiling water.  After water returns to a vigorous boil, heat reduced to a low simmer.  Pan is covered and eggs are cooked for 20 minutes.  When time is up, eggs are plunged into a bowl with ice water and left for 15 minutes.  When time is up, refrigerate eggs until needed but if possible, at least an hour.

Crack and peel eggs and 90% of the time they will peel perfectly,

 

 And the yolks will be perfectly cooked too!

What we made with these hard boiled eggs was fabulous and came from my favorite food blogger.  Please visit Barefeet in the Kitchen.  She has great recipes!  My version of this recipe adds chopped chicken just because I had leftovers I wanted to use.  It worked perfectly. 

Ranch Potato Salad with Bacon and Eggs – Barefeet In the Kitchen

Yield: 4-5 servings

1 very large russet potato, about 1 lb, baked, peeled and diced small *

3 eggs, boiled, peeled and chopped
1 cooked chicken breast, diced (optional)

3 slices cooked bacon, chopped or sliced small

1 tablespoon reserved bacon grease

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried dill

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon dried chives

1 green onion, sliced very thinly

Combine the potatoes, eggs and bacon in a bowl and set aside. Whisk together the remaining ingredients, except for the green onion. Pour the dressing over the potato mixture and toss well to coat. Add the green onions and toss lightly. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve. Enjoy!

* about 1/2" in size so each bite is a great mix of potato and egg.

(Do not leave out the bacon grease.  It makes a difference.)

Post-op Visit

Min's Place

Yesterday we went for our first check-up after surgery.  Dr. Stephan (I'd like to call him Captain Marvel) was very pleased with her progress and gave us the go-ahead for "real" walks.  Two or three  15 minute walks a day.  Every few days we can add a little time if she can handle it and also some small inclines.  She is not to walk down those inclines however.

Given the heat, we waited until 9pm to give it a go.  The sidewalks need to cool off!  This first time was a little scary because around two blocks seemed like a very long way.  It seemed like she did okay and I am expecting to notice improvement as her muscles build back up.  Also, she will have four sessions of hydrotherapy that will help.

Wearing the Help 'em Up Harness

Her coat is growing back very nicely and amazingly fast.  I think, along with a super power cape, Dr. Stephan needs an award for his needling skills.

99 and Naan

When the weather prediction for the next day says "warmer" you can never be sure so I really thought we would hit 100 today.  It didn't happen.  It was still very hot.  Last night I made an emergency run for popsicles and from the box of 12, there are 2 left.  We drink gallons of water, too and the twenty pound bag of ice also purchased earlier yesterday, will be gone before we know it.

Dinner tonight was a perfect summer Sunday supper recipe from Athenos Cheese found here.

Feta, Chicken & Mango Tacos - lightly adapted from Athenos Cheese

    1  cup  shredded cooked chicken

    1/4  cup tomatillo salsa

    1/3 cup diced mango

    1/2 medium avocado, diced

    5 grape  tomatoes, diced

    4 naan from Costco (6 inch ovals), warmed

    2 oz. ATHENOS Traditional Crumbled Feta Cheese

Toss  chicken with salsa. Add mango, avocado tomatoes, and Feta and gently stir to combine.  Spoon mixture onto naan. Fold in half.  Enjoy.

Just trying to stay cool

PSA

Public Service Announcement

The clean laundry...not.  I have had dirty streaks before after a load has been washed but nothing like this.  I thought it may have something to do with the pillow and the bulkiness of it.  I think that's right because I suspected it might have something to do with that black rubber gasket.

yuck!

I used many of these wipes around the two folded parts of that gasket.  Truly gross and certainly not healthy since it had a reddish tinge to it.

I don't suppose this is an issue with top loaders and I may never have discovered it except for the pillow washing.  At least now I know.  The sheets came totally clean in the re-wash.

Free At Last!!

That would be me that's free, not Min.  I could not find the pieces to connect the crate together and it's not like I would have tossed them out because I know exactly what they are for.  Last night just before drifting off to sleep, I realized FPS! I don't need the nuts and bolts for the crate, I can use zip ties (if I really do have them or can find them) or even thread wire through the holes.  Min is not Jack.  She will not be trying to bust out.

So I briefly looked in the garage for zip ties and didn't find any.  I happened upon a smallish binder ring that worked very nicely except there was just the one.  Ha!  I ended up using twist ties and they work just fine.

It took a bit of encouragement for Min to enter the crate but she wasn't afraid or panicked in the least.  I thought a good test would for me to get into the shower.  She knows that routine.  It worked fine but as I was finishing I heard a couple of little barks.  I think she was just letting me know she was in the crate and not totally willing.  I sat next to the crate for about 20 minutes, sorting through a box and would get up occasionally to add to the recycling bucket.  She was okay with that.  I saw my opportunity and said I'll be right back and I was out the door.

Gone an hour and eighteen minutes but I dropped books off at the library, got my hair cut, dropped off a box at DI, stopped at Many Lands to look for vinegar, went south to the Good Earth for barley and bulgar, then remembered just in time about the black ink and zoomed into Staples.  Pretty amazing trip actually and I was surprised to see the Store Closing sign at KMart.

Min was just fine when I got back.  What a good girl!

And why was I so determined to get out of the house today?  I ran out of cream cheese yesterday, the main delivery system for pills to Min.  It was the straw.  Peanut butter worked but entirely too messy.

I never did get cream cheese because last night I remembered a 16-oz. carton of plain yogurt in the fridge,

and made yogurt cheese overnight.  It has the same consistency as cream cheese but certainly not the same flavor.  Min likes it.

(One mistake with the crate.  I assembled it in the living room and because of the size of the thing, that's where it will be for the next few weeks.  It does not fit through any doorway in this house in its assembled state.  Sigh.)

Fresh Produce

Tuesday's are CSA day!  This bag is very large and because we are getting cabbage now, it's quite heavy too.  This week's bag had romaine, beets, Swiss chard, green onions, a very large head of cabbage, kohlrabi, two large bunches of kale, a couple of garlic heads, and a handful of herbs!  I share my bag with Janie and still it is a lot of green.  I have started blanching the kale and freezing it so I can still make green smoothies while the snow flies.

For the last couple of weeks our bag has had garlic scapes.   Amanda Soule, whose Soule Mama blog I read, has written about these and she is always quite excited when they have garlic in their garden.  The first thing I tried was sauteing them in a stir fry.  Meh.  I didn't find them as tender as I expected.  But yesterday....

Garlic Scape Pesto!!

Wow!  This is amazing.  The recipe is from Epicurious and found here. 

Pasta with Garlic-Scape Pesto – adapted from Epicurious, May 2012 by Ian Knauer

    10 large garlic scapes

    1/3 cup unsalted cashews

    1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan

    Kosher salt and black pepper

    1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

    ½ teaspoon lemon juice

    1 pound spaghetti

Make the pesto: Puree the garlic scapes, cashews, Parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper , and ½ teaspoon lemon juice in a food processor until very finely chopped. With the motor running, slowly pour the oil through the opening. Season the pesto with salt and pepper to taste. (The pesto keeps in the fridge, covered, for 1 week or frozen for a month.)

In a large pot of heavily salted boiling water, cook the spaghetti until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta-cooking water, then drain the pasta. Whisk together 2/3 cup of the pesto and the reserved pasta water then toss with the pasta. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve right away.

 

Fabulous.

(In the picture, the scapes, of course, are the odd looking curly greens in the front.  They are the stems and unopened flower buds of the garlic bulbs.)