It's been a week of lots of odds and ends late harvesting. Can't believe I am still harvesting cucumbers in late September !! The bell peppers aren't real big, but there are lots of them. I froze about 6 quarts of pepper slices, and ate those cukes with gusto ! lol
Dried most of the apples, and left a dozen in the bowl for eating for now. Yum !
Finished up the sweet potato harvest yesterday for a grand total of about 5 bushel of them yummers. They are really good this year...
We harvested butternuts (about 2.5 dozen nice ones) and about 50 # of potatoes. I picked anise hyssop to dry for tea. Dried and froze about 20 pounds of wild persimmons. Dried a peck of peaches and some plums. Busy busy !!
We are still eating kale and chard, tomatoes and carrots out of the garden. Gonna leave those carrots in for a little while longer. It's cooling down in these parts, but mostly staying pleasant. This morning was a chilly 45 degrees though and the leaves are starting to fall. I might pick green tomatoes and pickle some...we'll see. I didn't think I would like them, but ate some last night that a friend made and they were pretty good.
Just to show off, here's a picture of my brand new shelving in the big pantry that my son put up for me. Blessings galore !! These make it lots easier to see what I've got in that pantry than those big deep dark shelves did. I'm using those shelves now for things like gallons of vinegar, etc.
The bottom shelf is full of gallon jars of dried stuff...herbs, fruits and veggies, rice, beans, flours...you know. Those sturdy vinegar jug boxes made the perfect repurposed stacking system for some of them.
He insists on screeching when no one (ME) is paying attention to him and he knows I'm in the next room. This morning it is driving me crazy. CRAZY.
Wednesday and Thursday are Phase 2 of the Fast Metabolism Diet. They are the very worst 2 days of the week. These 2 days, you are allowed No fats, NO grains,NO fruits, NO nuts, ....arrrgghhhhh. I feel really lousy both of these days. I'm suspecting that it's because it shocks my blood sugar after all the fruit on the other days of the week. I. DON'T. LIKE. IT. I felt bad enough yesterday, but it was tolerable. This morning, I woke up Cranky. And now I'm moving into mean. My head hurts. I have no energy. I am always slightly constipated on these days. I want to go back to bed. YUCK !! I just broke the rule and ate a bowl of watermelon cubes with salt. I feel better already (for a minute). Everyone on this diet complains about these 2 days, except the old Atkins diehards. It's too much protein for my system, I think. I have heard all kinds of reasons (detox stage,, blood sugar) for the change in how you feel. This is the phase that unlocks the fat and builds muscle. But I feel like crying. This is the worst day since I started this thing back in July.
The good news : We are eating much better and both of us are feeling better. We are both eating less. I have lost 18 pounds in 2 months. We are eating lots of good food, are never hungry and I am getting into the swing of the food rules. I'm not giving up, although next week I may adjust my Wed-Thurs food to maybe include some grains or something. Oatmeal for breakfast, or quinoa. Something that is not meat.
This is a 3 bean turkey chili that I've made several times. Very yummy and satisfying, especially with the weather doing flip flops into autumn and back again.
This is a typical lunch salad--yum !!
This is a batch of the home made jerky I've made several times now. Turkey the first time--a LOT of work, because I just couldn't bring myself to pay 7 dollars for a pound of turkey breast fillet.. Instead, I found whole turkey breast for 1.59/lb and cut it off the bone and sliced it up and marinated it. The next time I made it, I decided to try chicken breast. I can often find that for about 1.89/lb and I stock up my freezer then. It was DELICIOUS!!! I made some beef jerky at the same time, but wasn't crazy about that, so the dogs got most of it for treats. lol THEY loved it. Might have been the cut I used...might have just been my imagination. Anyway, I have another 4 pounds of chicken breast slices marinating in the jerky sauce right now. In about 4 hours it will go into the dehydrator. I make it myself because of the cost and because I can't find any that isn't loaded with chemicals, including sodium nitrate. Anyway, jerky is a great snack. So I make it.
I made a batch of oat flour blueberry muffins last week that were exceptionally good. Tomorrow I am making a recipe for pumpkin/almond flour muffins that sound really good and give me something to do with all my pumpkin. It really hasn't been hard at all to stay away from the wheat...
We are eating lots of our old favorites--faijtas (sprouted Ezekiel grain tortillas), fish (salmon, sole and halibut) with lots of veggies and rice (brown or wild rice), Vegetable stir fry with shrimp over quinoa, pork chops or tenderloin, with apples and onions or sauerkraut. Spaghetti with brown rice pastas. Lentil soups. Hamburgers now and then, with sweet potato fries (oven baked). Big salads with grilled chicken breast, asparagus spears, beets, and loads of other phase appropriate vegetables. Egg and a slice of Sprouted grain bread, with fresh sliced tomato and red onion on it. Oatmeal with nuts and berries. All kinds of juicing going on too.
So. That's my update and whining session for today. I finally covered up the bird, so it's quieted him down some. I'm ready to let him have his freedom. lol It would be different if he was singing--but he just screeches. And I have a splitting headache...Maybe I'll lay down for a short nap in a bit...that would probably help. I just took my anti-inflammatory for my foot, so maybe that will help alleviate the headache too.
I am going back to the gym. Called yesterday to check on my membership and to see if they still have the water arthritis class. I was going to go today, but I feel too crappy. I still may go later in the afternoon and sit in the jacuzzi... I am excited to get back into an exercise routine, no matter how slow I may go or how little I can do at first. It's taken me long enough...
Later, taters !
