Still Here

WOW! I guess I took a little break there! I am having such a hard time getting back into the blogging groove. Some might say I should just quit. But Y’all, I LOVE my blog! I really do have the desire to do it, but I have lost the bloggal mentality. I only remember a long time after that HEY, I should have posted about that! And then it seems like ancient history, and I am so behind, and so forget it. I tried to do that November thingy to get back into the habit of blogging regularly, and we all know how that worked out.

I need to just do it, come in here to our big computer and write down some thoughts or post some pictures. I am going to try folks. It’s been busy around here with our full house, but BSF is on summer hiatus, and I don’t have 7000 trips planned this summer, so fingers crossed, jumping in!

We have had The Sickness around here for the last several months, all were hit hard, all were hacking, and some are having a second go round 😦

The Dane and The Boy took the kids back to the pediatrician today and found out MoonPie has a double ear infection, and Little Dipper has the RSV virus. Well, that explains a lot. Hopefully they will be on the road to recovery right quick!

This is one of my favorite pictures of MoonPie recently, and it tells you a little about her mood lately.

Girlfriend’s had a short fuse these days and this makes me laugh out loud!

There have been some dicey moments with this little peanut too, but he has been sick and was busy growing some teeth, so we will let that slide 🙂

I have been trying to make progress eating keto, but things keep happening, like vacations, birthdays, weddings, lunch with friends, you know, LIFE. I am down 9 pounds from when I originally started, so I’m choosing to celebrate that. Here are two of my  favorite recipes of late. I took both with me down to Virginia to visit Mrs. Schmenkman for the 24th annual Memorial Day Extravaganza!! I think she was a fan. ❤ Here we are, celebrating 24 years of The Hootenanny, and over 30 years of friendship!!!

I’m not sure if I mentioned that I never really lost much weight until I added fat bombs to my diet. They have been great to help me get in the extra fat, in addition to helping me satisfy my raging sweet tooth. So WIN/WIN in my book. Schmenky used a little scoop to make little balls, but I just eat spoonfuls out of the container. No one eats it besides me, so don’t be alarmed! I probably have 1 to 4 spoonfuls a day, because some days the heart wants what the heart wants.

Now this is a great little recipe! I have made them many times and I just keep running out! MoonPie likes to share mine and even The Dane said she liked them, so that gives you an idea about their normal taste and texture. The first time I made them I did use the garlic powder, and they were good for a more savory, dinner type of biscuit, but I have not used it since.

I make them in a muffin tin and I saw somewhere that they have about 1.8 gram of carb each. I usually have 3, sliced with butter and my homemade Truvia jam for breakfast and it keeps me full for a good long time. Like today, I ate at about 11 and it’s now after 5 and I am not sniffing for food. Amazing!

Well, I have given it a shot today, and hopefully I will remember to come in here tomorrow!

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Cozy Place and Favorite Snack

Well, that blended together nicely! I got a smidgeon behind there but will have a combination post and be back on top of the game!

This has been my cozy place lately, and I am thankful for a comfy place to land. I have my morning cups of tea/chai, work on my 2 Bible studies, have chats with my People, and peruse the iPad in this spot. It is also a highly sought over place for the cats to nap. Sy likes it best right after I vacate, when it is still toasty, and the elder felines like to have a loooong afternoon nap there.

Capri P helped me pick the chair, and the nearby twin sister, out many years ago before we hosted a family reunion. We were in need of some sprucing and seating and she knew of a nice little place in Brighton that was family owned and run by Christians. We were happy to throw our business their way. Unfortunately these chairs were sprayed with some sort of Scotchguard that made them unusable by me for a couple of years. Seriously, could not sit in them or I got a headache! I didn’t smell them any other time, and no one else ever smelled them, but #hounddognose here, was a NO GO. At some point the smell faded and I decided I liked to use them, a lot!

My favorite snack at the moment is peanut butter pecan bars. A Keto snack, and a great way for me to get more fat into my day, which can be a problem for me on this way of eating. In fact I did not start losing weight until I ate more fat. I know! I can’t believe it either!

I found this a good recipe to use up an entire jar of natural peanut butter, which we despise. I know it’s supposed to be a way healthier option, and I get that, but for land sakes, put some SALT in it!!! Who on God’s green earth can abide peanut butter with no salt??? And since I am being transparent here, we are also not a fan of having to stir the oil back into the peanut butter. I don’t know about you but I am just not strong enough for all that nonsense. I felt like I was wrestling a bear. It was Rock.Hard. So there you have it, I will take my chances and be purchasing contraband peanut butter in the future.

All that to say that I am going to make this again, but I am going to alter it a bit. Will use salted, unnatural peanut butter, and I think I am going to omit the pecans. I cut these into squares and stored them in the freezer, which is generally not a problem for any low carb/keto treats, but the frozen pecans were a little cutting on my tongue and cheeks and since my pecans floated to the top of the bars, I found myself biting off the tops and eating the nuts separately so I could savor the yummy, velvety, peanutty goodness. Which gave me the inspiration to just forgo them altogether. I eat a handful of nuts a couple times a day already, so I am getting the nut quotient fulfilled. I may melt Lily’s sugar free chocolate chips and spread it on some for a Reeses peanut butter cup effect for those times when some chocolate would be friendly 🙂  But not on all! Because Mamaw can’t have chocolate in the evening, don’t like to do anything that could interfere with my tenuous, old lady sleep schedule!

So I am thankful for a cozy place to have a favorite yummy snack!

Making Jam

I wanted to make some sugar free jam last summer. The only sugar substitute my natural path doctor gives her seal of approval to is Truvia, so I looked online to find a recipe and found this one. I made raspberry and strawberry and it was SCRUMTRULESCENT!

 

Both flavors were good but I decided to make primarily raspberry, because it has always been my favorite!

I waited until raspberries were a dollar a pkg, then I set up shop. Got the jars out of the box in our coat closet and washed them up. Honey had used some to make pickles last year so some pickley lids needed to be swapped out!

The hardest thing this year was finding the pink box of  no sugar Sure Jell! Meijer did not have it every time I looked and I finally checked Kroger and  there it was! Bought several.

The girls requested we try some blackberry jam. We squashed those puppies with the potato masher.

Then the raspberries.

Stirred the Sure Jell, Truvia and water until boiling.

Added it to the fruit, poured it into the jars,

and WA-LAH!!!

Hopefully that lasts us until next summer when raspberries go back on sale 5 for $5!

The Week

Y’All!!! Abby started her new JOB! Oh yes she did! She went in to her orientation on Monday and then HR sent her right on over to her elementary school to get cracking!

She has helped out a second grade teacher every morning this week and she has already made some friends! And nothing says I love you better in 2nd grade than ART! I was loving the wheelchairs.

I am going to tell Mrs. Abby for the rest of her life that she is “spechil”! We even ran into one of her little students at Meijer yesterday! And Ab had just been telling me how naughty that same little girl had been that day! TRUE STORY!!!!!

Some priceless Snapchats. Honey’s impersonation our poor little Katie, RIP. He has it perfect, I have to give him credit.

I just had to post this of my Aunt Phyllis, I heart it SO bad! BUT DON’T TELL HER!!!!!!! She thought it was so funny!

This is the second batch of nuts I have roasted lately. Honey and I snack on nuts a lot and there is always concern that the nuts you buy have undesirable ingredients in there. The first were good, just a salty roasted combo. These are sweet and spicy.

Pretty good, but could be sweeter AND spicier. Will see what Honey thinks. I did put an extra squirt of liquid Stevia and it could have been a double squirt IMHO.

Mousey and I have discovered that Aldi has purty good chocolate! Someone was hormonal on our last trip.My faves are dark orange almond and dark chili. The dark 85% is alright, but I guess 85% is not my favorite cocoa/sugar ratio.Good prices at Aldi, I must say!!!

The Weekly Sy here. Our cuddle bunny is LOVING the cooler temperatures! He spent the entire evening inside my fleece last night. Here he is modeling his pretty tummy. It’s almost impossible not to bother him in this pose. Sweet stripes and giant bunny foot=bothering.

Have a fine weekend!

Way Back When-sday Hodgepodge

Hi Guys, Joyce is back! She has a LOT going on down her way and I thank her for the time she devotes to us in the blog world! If you would like to join the club, click the button below to head over to Joyce’s and link up.

1. What have you ‘fallen for’ recently?

I have recently fallen for a yummy, low carb fudge recipe I found on Pinterest! It is so good that it helps me to feel not quite as deprived since the natural doctor asked me to give up sugar! Even The Ab-Cat likes it and NO child of mine has ever enjoyed a low carb treat! Just knowing it is in the fridge gives me strength.
2. What’s something you’re ‘squirreling away‘ for later?

I have squirreled away some of our kids toys for our future grandchildren. Books, legos, trains, American Girl and other dolls and paraphernalia, kitchen, dishes and play food, favorite stuffed friends and other stuff. There will be a lot to do over at Paisan and Grandma’s place!
3. How do you like your apples? Sweet? Tart? Crisp? Cooked? Apples are one of the superfoods for fall…how often do you eat an apple either plain or as part of a favorite recipe? What’s your favorite variety?

Cooked apples remind me of my Mom, she made yummy ones! As far as just eating an apple? Just can’t be mushy or have a tough, bitter skin. My favorites are Honeycrisp but I like Fuji, Granny Smith, and Golden too. Apple pie is worthy but I rarely make one.

4. According to Fodor’s the ten best fall foliage trips in the US of A are-Aspen Colorado, The Catskills New York, The Berkshires Massachusetts, Columbia River Gorge Oregon, Green Mountain Byway Vermont, Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway New Mexico, Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, Upper Peninsula Michigan, Lake of the Ozarks Missouri, and Glacier National Park Montana. Which would you most like to visit this fall and why?

You don’t have to go all the way to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to see beautiful fall foliage!!! The Mitten can certainly hold its own there!!! Our state motto is “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.”. The whole of Michigan is glorious in the fall.

Of the places mentioned I will choose The Smokey Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Honey has a hankering to live down that way, it would be nice to go on a scouting mission 🙂

5. The topic of legalizing marijuana was raised in the most recent televised political debate so let’s wade in too. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form. Four states have legalize marijuana for recreational use. Your thoughts?

I am not a fan of legalizing marijuana for recreational use. I am wondering if the states who have already done so are having fall out. The potential for abuse is high, and the studies have shown that it is not good for the brains of young people.  I know there are those who compare it to alcohol and don’t see the difference, but I have seen what addiction to a substance can do to an individual and a family.

I would not have a problem legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. There are plenty of prescription drugs that try and relieve the same symptoms, and some of them are far worse for you and more addicting.  It is an interesting subject to explore.

I saw all three of Sanjay Gupta’s specials called Weed on CNN. The fact that they can increase or decrease certain levels of THC and CBD to help with particular symptoms is a medical marvel. This ain’t your 70s hippie pot!

6. Are you okay to watch a movie already in progress or do you need to always see it from the beginning? How about jumping into a TV series somewhere in the middle? Is that okay?

 I would prefer to get in on the beginning, but I have come in late and enjoyed a program. Friday Night Lights is a perfect example. I think we finally jumped on that bandwagon in season 4 of 5. We did go back and catch up in the off season though!

7. Thursday (September 24) is National Punctuation Day. What rule of punctuation trips you up most often? What rule of punctuation, when broken by someone else, bugs you the most?

I know this is a huge problem for some folks, I am not one of them. I use punctuation to the best of my ability and I am most likely unaware if I have used it incorrectly. I try not to get all up in others punctuation either. I can overlook a lot if I like the writing.
8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Here is the Way Back part of the post.

I ran across this sweet picture of a 3 year old Mousey recently.  She has it ALL going on here! Every girl needs a crown. And mittens. And 101 Dalmatian panties. And your sparkly shoes! You GO Girl!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Low Carb Pancakes!

I was trying to do the post about our visit with The Canadians, but yahoo is being a hater today and I cannot retrieve the pictures I need.

So let’s talk about pancakes!

The low carb lifestyle, that I try to adhere to, is always most problematic when it comes to bread type things and dessert. Because I am a big fan of bread type things and dessert. It is always a good day when you find a lower carbed recipe for something familiar and loved.

A couple weeks ago I had such a day! A gal named Hailey sat next to me at our BSF leaders meeting. We happened to be having a fellowship that day so we ate lunch together too. She said she had forgotten her lunch that morning and had gone out to her car to scavenge the leftovers from her 2 young daughters on the go–in the car breakfasts.

One of the things she had were what she called crepes, or pancakes, made with cottage cheese and eggs. I am familiar with this combination from another recipe, but had never considered making pancakes! I asked her if I could have the recipe and she rattled it off on the spot!

She said whole wheat flour but I was out so I used a combination of mostly coconut flour and a little white. I don’t see why you couldn’t go totally low carb and use fine almond meal. I added the flax meal because I try and add that where ever I can.

Everything in the blender.

These are the most real looking and normal textured pancakes I have ever tried in all of my low carbing experience! The batch made about 16 typical sized pancakes, so pretty good for a 1/2 cup of some type of flour, and you could probably monkey with it and reduce the amount further.

Definitely a keeper!

Give them a whirl and tell me what you think!