John Weiland

If the forecast is calling for continued warm days with an occasional frosty night, then we just leave tarps out in the garden and cover plants for those nights.  Kale/cabbage and chard are not protected, but the tarps help to extend the growing of tomatoes, peppers, squash, and eggplant.  I may try to look into basil and cilantro under grow lights this winter since they are more favored as fresh additions to meals.

John F Dean wrote:I have noticed that fatigue is becoming a big issue for me. ...............Any ideas on how to address this?

Just hopping in to say this is where I'm at as well.  Probably something to do with cardiac issues and aging, but I was noticing a bad interaction between fatigue and joint pain over the past year.  I would say as a measured and cautious recommendation to give nattokinase supplement a try or some cardiac support mix that includes nattokinase.  With my stroke history, clotting is more of an issue than bleeding....and these systemic cardiac mixes that reduce fibrin levels in the blood stream and at joints where inflammation can occur seem to be helping.  So fatigue and joint/muscle pain were really slowing down my work rate and a daily nattokinase as supplement to other prescribed meds have made a positive difference.  All recommended with additional consulation with your health care provider....Good luck!

My efforts in the kitchen can sometimes go quite well....and can just as often lead to culinary catastrophe.  In the jam and pickle department, it seems that one must get to the final stage of pickle-dom in order to really assess the results. This can mean a few weeks in the fridge or pantry before sampling the creation.  Because of this, I've resorted to the more lazy practice of canning into larger jars.  This is fine for our own eating habits, but when a batch has worked especially well, I'm wondering if others have tried sub-dividing a larger pickle/preserve batch into smaller, sterilize jars and just re-sealing with steam water bath?  This would minimize prolonged secondary heat treatment of the item while hopefully ensuring the transfer will yield an acceptably 'canned' product.  Thoughts and experiences? 

 Thanks!.....

Both parents, born in the 1930s, grew up on farms and ate food mostly prepped on site that their respective mothers provided, including bread.  But both parents left the farms behind, joined the full-time workforce, and ended up making do where they could.  Mom would still make cornbread and biscuits from scratch, but bread was mostly bought as frozen pre-mixed bread dough, later just bagged white or wheat from the mega-grocer.  We've almost come full circle now as my sister has gifted us with a fancy grain mill which I hope to try out when the weather gets cooler.

Above in this thread the Japanese dish natto was noted.  AFter introducing nattokinase as a supplement into my diet, I'm finding it may be doing wonders for my arthritis and general older age/post-stroke discomforts.  Does anyone here have a natto recipe they can recommend and a way to serve it in a meal?  Thanks!

Success!.....or at least closer.    Much thanks for suggestions here and I do think I will stick with the 'drizzle the oil' approach as opposed to the all-ingredients-added-at-once version.  I decided to rescue what I had already tried to make by taking a new jar and and using the immersion blender to blend one egg with a few teaspoons of lemon juice.  Then I used yesterday's failed attempt as the drizzle.  With the wand speed on low-medium, the slowly added drizzle finally began to thicken after a bit, but by the time I had used it up, the concoction was only a thicker version of runny.  So with the blender still churning, I began to slowly add more oil and it really began to thicken at that point.  The final consistency was pretty close to real mayo..... looking forward to trying it on sandwiches this evening.  With regards to oil, my wife did not want me wasting avocado oil on my practice runs so I used our more abundant expeller-pressed canola oil.  I've grown quite accustomed to that flavor and find that it does not overpower the desired mayo flavor.  Additionally, to give it more of an eggy kick, I use half the recommended table salt and supplement with himalyan black salt. A combination of white wine vinegar, lemon juice, and dijon mustard round out the recipe.

As always, excellent, diverse and helpful advice here .... much thanks!

Two quick questions on this thread:

1)   Stick blender approach did not work for me tonight...is it crucial to blend the non-oil ingredients before exposure to the oil?

2)  I'm wondering about the age of the egg. While I'm confident that the egg that I'm using is "good", it's possible that it can, on occasion, be several weeks old.  Does anyone one know if a freshly produced egg brings greater success to the mayo-making procedure?  Thanks.....

Eric Hanson wrote:

I hope that this clears up some confusion and adds to the overall discussion.

Eric

Clear and perfect, Eric.....Thank you!  

Timothy Norton wrote:If I walk by a package, I swear I put on 5 pounds.

I'll have them as a treat if I stumble on them.

Is this true if they are still on the grocery shelf and you look at them and then walk past as part of a recovery program? ...   Cuz if so, then I'm not dropping any pounds.....lol

True:  30+ years ago when wife was making the cross country trip to move to our new location, she made a gas-stop in some no-where's-ville along the way.  Opened the door of the Jeep Cherokee to continue on and was frantic that her quite small pet pot-bellied pig seemed to be missing.  Finally some movement and thrashing revealed piglet's location--wedged between the back of the front seat and the flattened seat-back from the rear.  You see, wife had place a package of Oreo's out of reach of said piglet by placing package on floor in front of rear seat.  Piglet saw its opportunity when wife went into gas station and made a deep dive for the sweet treats beckoning below. So wife had to grab piglet by rear legs and pull her up out of the hole....all while cookies and frosting and crumbs were dribbling out of piglets animated chompers.....  

Anne Miller wrote:

I also an a fan of hot dogs in a bun topped with chili and cheese .. Chili Cheese Dogs,

Although our household is mostly vegan these days, I've settled on a veggie dog that to me does a good enough job with taste and texture to satisfy the craving.  Chili Cheese Dogs were one reason for that craving and I still enjoy those today.  The corn chip enchilada casseroles have become staples as well, especially in the fall season when it provides a good reason to quickly dump tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, zucchini, spices, etc....you get the idea....into a large skillet to make the base, then pour it all over corn or tortilla chips and bake, with or without cheese.  Typing these lines....mouth watering already...