Low-Carb (and gluten-free) Blueberry Muffin for One

by Jan Drexler

A few weeks ago, Missy shared a delicious recipe for Blueberry Muffins. So rich and fluffy!

In case you've overindulged on the "real" thing, I'm here today to help you with a diet version. I make this muffin much more often than the standard one. It's tasty, and doesn't pack on the carbs like a normal muffin.

I like very few blueberries in my muffin, but you
can overload yours if you want to!

I'm talking about a recipe I found in my Trim Healthy Mama cookbook. Because of copyright restrictions, I can't give you the entire recipe here, but you might want to look into purchasing the cookbook if you're interested in the Trim Healthy Mama plan.

And similar recipes can be found all over the place on cooking blogs, like Mrs. Criddle's Kitchen and My Montana Kitchen.

If you make this muffin the way the THM recipe specifies, it is dairy-free (using coconut oil instead of butter), gluten-free, and sugar-free.

It's also delicious! But don't expect a low-carb muffin to taste the same as Missy's version. The ingredients are too different. Good, but different.

The main ingredient I use in this muffin is the flour substitute. I use either Trim Healthy Mama's baking blend, or I make my own from a recipe I found on-line:

No-flour Baking Blend

1 cup oat fiber
3/4 c. coconut flour
1/2 cup golden flax meal
1/2 cup almond meal
1 Tablespoon Glucomannan or xanthan gum (a powder, in spite of its name)
2 Tablespoons collagen (I use Trim Healthy Mama's Integral Collagen)

*Glucomannan and Integral Collagen are both available from Amazon or from the Trim Healthy Mama online store.

I purchase the other ingredients at Sam's Club, or you can find them at most Walmarts and other grocery stores. If you can't find them there, try your local health food store.

Of course, you can make the muffins using only almond meal or coconut flour, but the baking blend gives my baked goods a more flour-like texture.

This recipe uses 1/4 cup of the baking blend for one muffin, so the batch of baking blend goes a long way.

What do you think? Would you try a muffin like this? Or maybe it is already your favorite stand-by. Let us know!

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

Jan's Veggie Salad for a Holiday Weekend Barbecue

I'm pretty sure I got the original idea for this salad from Ruthy - the recipe I had printed out had Ruthy's voice all the way through it! But I couldn't find the original in the Yankee-Belle archives, so you get my version...in my voice...without Ruthy chiming in anywhere.

Can that happen at the Cafe? Only if we all keep quiet and don't tell her about it!

It all started with an invitation to the Second Annual Brummer Family Barbecue.

Yes, the same Brummer family that our Seekervillager friend Megan belongs to!

A few people are invited to compete to make the best barbecue (South Dakota style!) around. In my humble opinion, Frank's brisket was the winner.

Of course, he has an unfair advantage, being a rancher and all! But Austin's brisket and Matt's pulled pork were hard to beat.

I should know. I sampled all three of them!

Anyway, the rest of us supplied side dishes like baked beans, mac and cheese, salads, and desserts.

There was a LOT to choose from! And yes, that guy in the hat is a real live cowboy. We have them out here. They aren't only characters in novels!

And isn't Megan's new kitchen beautiful? I love the color of the cabinets. :)

As I was thinking of what to bring, I thought of the number of people who were invited to this shin-dig who need to eat gluten-free. Celiac disease is real, and their need to eat special items is real. And all of us in this group of friends and family are learning how to cook so we can all share in the goodness.

Even the desserts! The cupcakes and brownies in the foreground are both gluten-free.

It's actually pretty easy to cook gluten-free. You just need to be aware of what cross-contamination means and how you can prevent it. For instance, when my daughter, Carrie, made the gluten-free cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, she opened a new jar of peanut butter. Otherwise there would be the danger of cross-contamination of possible bread crumbs (even invisible ones) lurking in the used jar.

I ended up pulling out Ruthy's recipe for No-Pasta Salad, and made my own versions - one with gluten and one without.

Jan's Veggie Salad, with and without Pasta

Start with veggies:

1 head cauliflower, chopped
1 large cucumber, chopped
1 cup thinly sliced purple cabbage
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

and add 1 1/2 cups crumbled Feta cheese

Make your salad dressing:

In a small bowl, mix together:

1 package Ranch salad dressing mix
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cream

Stir the dressing into the veggies until it's all mixed together.

Up until now, we have a fresh gluten-free salad. Put some of this salad in a separate bowl for your gluten-free friends and family.

But we're not done - we still have the pasta salad version!

Cut 1/2 pound hard salami* into 1/2 inch chunks (I got mine from the deli counter and had them slice it into two 1/2 inch slices.)
Cook 3 cups dry pasta until firm, but done (al dente). I used penne, but you can use whatever shape you want.

*I couldn't be sure that the salami from the deli was gluten-free, so I played it safe and only added it to the pasta version of the salad.

Mix the pasta and salami into the remaining veggies, and put it into another bowl for your non-gluten-free friends and family.

After enjoying our meal of barbecue and ALL the fixin's, we spent the rest of the evening on the deck, chatting with old and new friends.

The weather cooperated beautifully for games, visiting and wagon rides to visit the neighbor's horses.

And now we have to wait a whole year until the Third Annual Brummer Family Barbecue! I can hardly wait. :)

Meanwhile, what are your plans for the holiday weekend?

I'm spending today moving into my new office (once known as Carrie's bedroom)!

Here's what it looked like Sunday afternoon. Stay tuned for the final version!

I'm also getting ready for the release of Mattie's Pledge on September 20!!!!

When she feels the pull of both home and the horizon, which will she choose?

Mattie Schrock is no stranger to uprooting her life. Even as her father relocated her family from one Amish community to the next, she always managed to find a footing in their new homes. Now as the Schrock family plans to move west from Somerset County to a fledgling Amish settlement in Indiana, she looks forward to connecting with old friends who will be joining them from another Pennsylvania community—friends like Jacob Yoder, who has always held a special place in her heart.

Since Mattie last saw Jacob, they’ve both grown into different people with different dreams. Jacob yearns to settle down, but Mattie can’t help but dream of what may lie over the western horizon. When a handsome Englisher tempts her to leave the Amish behind to search for adventure in the West, will her pledge to Jacob be the anchor that holds her secure?

Tender, poignant, and gentle, Mattie’s Pledge offers you a glimpse into Amish life in the 1840s—and into the yearning heart of a character you’ll not soon forget.

Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.

Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com

Gluten Free, Carb Free "Bread" - I Can't Believe It's Not Bread! product review

Several years ago I wrote articles/lessons for an on-line community/magazine called "The Homemaker's Mentor." It was a great place for homemakers to come together and learn from each other - and it was also my first writing gig (thank you, Martha!).

The Homemaker who started it all is Martha Greene, of Marmee Dear & Company. Go ahead and check out her website, but hurry back here for the rest of the story.

A quick aside - Martha, Rebekah Wilson and I wrote a book together that is available on Amazon here.

Back to the main story!

Martha's daughter, Erica, has started her own homebased business, and what a business!

I'll let Erica tell you the story in her own words from her website:

Growing up, my mother always made delicious, fresh, homemade whole wheat bread. When I was diagnosed with gluten intolerance 17 years ago, I tried many gluten-free breads, but I always found them to be crumbly and heavy on my stomach. I like to eat clean, which means the fewer ingredients on the list, the better! When I began battling Candida, I restricted my diet to only lean protein and non-starchy veggies. Longing for something tasty in my diet, I began mixing up simple ingredients I had on hand in my kitchen. When my first "BUN" came out of the oven, I was blown away! Only 5 ingredients, simply stir & bake, and I found I had a soft, chewy, light "bread" that had 16 grams of protein and only 3 net carbs and was gluten-free, grain-free, high-fiber, yeast-free, sugar-free, low carb, Paleo & Candida friendly! I quickly discovered that my simple recipe was able to make not only a "BUN" but also "SLICED BREAD" and a "SUBMARINE BUN" complete with sesame seeds on top! And then found the basic recipe could even be made into an amazing PERSONAL PIZZA CRUST! As soon as my family and friends starting tasting my new concoction, they said, "WOW! I can't believe it's not bread!"

 

Since June 2011 I've been a single mommy to 4 littles, struggling to support my family. I am excited to launch this small business and share this special recipe with others who have intolerances to gluten, grains, dairy or even those who are simply looking for a delicious "bread" loaded with protein for a low-carb food lifestyle--Can't wait for you to try.....

                          "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BREAD!"

 

                      ~ Erica

I had to try Erica's bread, so I waited (a bit impatiently!) for her to put the product on the market.

This week, I received my first two mixes:

I made the "Just-Like-White" loaf to have with our supper that night...

The directions are super simple:

Empty the contents of the package into a small bowl - I used my favorite four cup mixing bowl.

Mix in two egg whites. Erica says to use fresh egg whites for the best results. Using packaged egg whites will work, but the texture of the bread will be different.

Stir the mix and egg whites together for about 40 strokes, until the mix resembles cake batter.

Pour the batter into an oven safe 2-cup size round or square baking dish, and bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes.

Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, right?

When the bread is done, it will be golden brown on both top and bottom and firm to the touch.

Let the bread cool slightly, then remove it from the dish. Erica says that when it's baked, the tightly wrapped "bread" keeps in the freezer for four weeks.

But our loaf didn't make it past supper.

So, how did it taste? Absolutely delicious!

The texture was light and airy - different from most "breads" made with almond meal. And the flavor was out of this world. I ate it fresh out of the oven with a bit of butter, but it would also be delicious toasted with a smear of jam :)

Now the rest of my family likes their normal bread products. They liked this bread, but don't want to change to it full-time. But since it fits right into my THM lifestyle, it's perfect for me. It's also perfect for anyone who is looking for a grain-free, gluten-free, yeast-free, sugar-free "bread."

The mixes are a bit pricey for daily use ($4.95 each), so I promptly ordered Erica's cookbook (e-book download) from her website, and a bag of the one item I can't buy at my local store, Heather's fiber. (By the way, Erica is also a Trim Healthy Mama affiliate, so look for the THM button on her website!)

As soon as the fiber arrives, I'll be set to make this quick, delicious bread to accompany any meal I want!

So, let's chat. What is your favorite "diet" food that makes you feel like you're "cheating" when you eat it?

And by the way, stay tuned for the next installment in the Great Sourdough Experiment!

Berries: For Brunch and for Books

I love berry season. As we approached Memorial Day, our local strawberry fields were starting to give out. Blueberries were coming in. And the grandkidlets and I took advantage as much as we could. 

I started thinking about some beloved books I read as a child involving berries of all kinds. I mention all the time one of the highlights of my life was picking blackberries on my maternal grandfather's farm. But I also picked huckleberries up in the mountains with my dad and his parents. Berries meant adventure. So, that's why I gravitated toward berry books.

First there was Blueberries for Sal which reminded me of my huckleberry adventures. It's considered a classic.

Here's where you can find a description and ordering on Amazon.

 

 
Then, when I was upper elementary age, there was Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski. This was a book that touched my heart as a child, made me want to read Grapes of Wrath when I was older.

And here's another classic with ordering and description info. 

Now I've read a lot of books in my lifetime and I don't remember all of the children's books I read. But I do remember these two every berry season.

Now that you've let me go down memory lane, here's your reward.  A little dish I whipped up for Memorial Day weekend and will make again for the Fourth of July.  Plenty of protein and low sugar so you can enjoy this brunch dish/dessert without guilt.

Patriotic Muffin-Style Quiche

1 cup Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix

2 whole eggs
2 egg whites
water
1 cup fresh blueberries

whipped goat cheese (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix one cup Pamela's baking mix with whole eggs and egg whites. Stir with a whisk, adding a small amount of water to keep the mixture from becoming stiff. Be sure to combine well but don't over mix.

3) Add blueberries, gently stirring until combined.

4) Pour into a greased glass pie plate.

5) Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn't burn and is done in the center.

6) Remove from oven and let cool on the counter for fifteen minutes. Cut into wedges.

7) Garnish with strawberries or additional blue or blackberries. The goat cheese adds additional protein and a great tangy taste to go with the berries. 

8) Store leftovers, if any, in refrigerator.

Do you have any berry picking adventures to tell? What is your favorite berry dish or book?

Spring Fevers

This is my youngest grandkidlet, Miss M, who loves to be helpful and share tasks like washing dishes and making Easter decor.

She also likes to share germs like the bug she got from her brother. After visiting Wednesday, she was laid low with a combo respiratory/stomach bug on Thursday. Guess who got the same bug on Saturday? But I wouldn't trade the hugs and kisses for anything.


Getting sick in the Spring is a bummer. When my middle sister and I were little, Ann was felled by the evil chicken pox. Being the oldest, I really gave her a hard time about her spots and her covered in calamine lotion look. One day, Mom was giving us a bath. She gave my back a long stare, called my Dad in to look at me. I knew what she was going to say so I preempted her with "I love dem chicken pox." The itching was miserable but missing out on a beautiful Spring was worse. At least, my sister was happy I got my just reward!

Back to now! Never have I been so glad to have a back up blog recipe. Because I sure don't want to eat, let alone cook right now.

After visiting our favorite Irish pub earlier last week to avoid the crowds, ManO and I hunkered down on St. Paddy's Day. We always watch Waking Ned Devine.  It's tradition!

But we needed a meal to honor the Irish in both of us. We can trace our both our roots back, knowing immigration dates and villages ManO came from. So I thought of ingredients:

Potatoes:  The Potato Famine motivated our ancestors to move to the US. I'm not sure I would have been that brave.

Something Green:  Broccoli, one of my fave superfoods, was the perfect color for St. Patrick's Day.

Irish Cheese:  Oh, Dubliner, how I love thee.  Ignore the price! It was on sale for the holiday.

 

I quartered Yukon potatoes, tossed them in olive oil and roasted them for 35 minutes at 425.

Then I tossed in the broccoli to roast another seven minutes.

Then shredded Dubliner went over the veggies and back in the oven until melted.

To serve I topped with sour cream and a bit of bacon, because you know bacon makes everything better. But it was also a frugal meal, reminding us that meat was for the wealthy. 

Add a salad and it's a perfect light meal for early Spring.  

So are you suffering from one of the Spring fevers like allergies, viruses or March Madness? Do you think children are missing out getting the chicken pox vaccine rather than the real thing? How did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? And do you have the Irish in ya?

A House Divided: Mushroom Edition

I love mushrooms. I love them raw, sliced into spinach salads. I love making homemade mushroom soup to use in casseroles. I love them on pizza. ManO does not. And that "does not" is more than on his pizza.

Oh no! There is a mushroom on ManO's ham side of the pizza. Much bemoaning occurred!

Now pizza is an easy thing to compromise on. Each person gets their half to do with what they will. But other recipes are far more difficult.

I invited my friend Cathy over to celebrate her birthday and be a part of The Great Dining Room experiment. You know you have a good friend when you make her sit in the middle of a room torn apart. Nope, you can't see the chaos. I'm smart that way. But we haven't used the room in ten years and something had to be done. That's what this experiment got me. More on that next week.

 In ManO's childhood kitchen, the table's almost an antique.

Cathy also loves mushrooms. You might think I could fix something mushroom related no stress but I also planned serving ManO the same dish for dinner. I knew I wanted to fix zucchini lasagna You can find the DIY here.  But I really wanted to hide, I mean, layer the lasagna with mushrooms. But ManO is too smart for that.

That's when it hit me. Steak houses, at least the good ones, serve a sauteed mushroom side dish so customers can spoon the mushrooms over the steak. Why not do the same with lasagna?

Oh my goodness! Delish! Instructions below.

Thanks to Jan Drexler's quick cheesecake dessert , I revisited my gluten free cheesecake recipe  and experimented with both the crust and putting it in custard cups. I used my berry-sauce topped baked cheesecake because of the added protein. But if you want to make it no bake simply use organic confectioners sugar, cream cheese and whipped cream to thin and chill.  I could have easily done the crust with gluten-free chocolate cookies and corn syrup free homemade chocolate sauce and peanuts or pecans as a base with cane sugar caramel sauce.

The bottom line is we had a great lunch and I didn't have to cook ManO an entirely new dinner!

Easy Sauteed Mushrooms

1 pint washed and sliced mushrooms
1 or 2 tablespoons butter
1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil
minced garlic to taste (optional)

Melt butter with olive oil over medium heat.
Add minced garlic and stir. 
Saute until cooked but NOT limp.
Serve over veggies, meat or as a side.

So, what about you? Do you have a love or hate affair with mushrooms? Is there something you've given up because no one else in the house loves a particular food or ingredient?

My Favorite State, Part One.

Note:  My favorite state is our 50th in part because Man O, my dear hubby, works there on a semi-regular basis. Do I know how to pick 'em or what? In fact, we might have just been there and I'm now completely jetlagged. This blog post is a refreshed blog post from a while ago with added pictures. If you haven't read it before, yummy pancakes are at the end. If you have, it's still got some neat new pictures and I promise an entirely new Hawaii blog post coming next week. 

From the first time to Hawaii, I went along on one of ManO's business trips, I loved the people, the different beauty of each island, and the food. I wanted to see one of the most famous Japanese gardens outside of Japan that was supposedly in Hilo. I asked the concierge how to get there and he pointed and said, " Just walk all the way across our parking lot and you're there." WOW!  

 

I went to the Japanese garden all dawn, noon and dusk to catch the light and the shadows of all the statuary, ponds and bridges.

 A blend of native, Japanese, Chinese, Pacific Rim, and more, I never had trouble finding something to eat. Why? Much of the food was rice based or thickened with tapioca. But more importantly, people accommodated my needs with such grace.

No, this isn't where we stayed but seeing this ancient reconstruction of a Hawaiian village makes me want to stay in a hut on a beach some day.

When we visited Maui, we stayed at a gorgeous bed and breakfast, the Old Wailuku Inn, run by a native Hawaiian family.  The inn is considered the most truly Hawaiian bed and breakfast on Maui. Every room was decorated in colorful Hawaiian quilts (yes, quilting is big in Hawaii!) and local antiques and art.

This turtle bowl is from an artist on the island of Maui.  We found out her mother was from NC and was in the middle of a hurricane we were tracking back home. Small world connections.

I emailed ahead to share my allergies but figured I'd be eating scrambled eggs while everyone else ate the banana pancakes featured one morning. Yep, I am allergic to bananas along with wheat and corn. But the owner sat a plate down in front of me. Light, fluffy pancakes made with rice flour and topped with macadamia nuts and passion fruit! I almost fainted. I got to share the experience of slathering on coconut syrup and diving in like everyone else around the table. She didn’t take the easy way out but made the experience special for me. Mahalo, “thank you” in Hawaiian. I said it a lot that morning.

My "silver dollar" version with mango, on my Hawaiian apron showing the monarchs and hula festival that takes place in Hilo on the Big Island each year.

Here is the innkeeper’s recipe with the interesting touch of beating the egg white to peak and then adding for additional fluff.  Saturdays are made for shortcuts but this step really makes a difference!  Pamela's GF Baking and Pancake mix is a good alternative if you can't find rice flour.

Old Wailuku Inn Pancakes

1 cup rice flour (or other flour)

2 T sugar

1 T baking powder

    Sift all dry ingredients well before going on.

1 egg separated

    beat egg whites to peak

    beat yellow

1 T melted butter or margarine

1/8 t vanilla add to yellow of egg (optional)

1 cup water (make judgement as you mix)

¼ cup banana (optional)

Mix ingredients except egg whites.  Fold egg whites into mixture. Put two tablespoons of oil in skillet and cook in small batches on medium low heat.

Top with whatever tropical fruits and nuts you can get: macadamia nuts, coconut, pineapple, mango or banana slices. The fruit grows in almost every yard in Hawaii and can be found in most mainland grocery stores.

To make your own coconut syrup: Heat one can coconut milk (the real stuff) with one cup sugar until dissolved. Cool. Serve over pancakes.

Like I said above, we have been back more recently but we love this picture of our 30th anniversary celebration in Maui.

New Traditions

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. The gratitude for the blessings of the past year. The pumpkin pie. The food coma and football. Love it all.

My grandmother's crossstitch and my grandfather's turkey candy dish are always a part of my decorations.

My favorite dish growing up was my mother's stuffing, specifically the little brown crust peeking out from the turkey when it was done. She got up early to dice celery and onions and then bake cornbread in my grandma's skillet . We woke up with the smell calling us to the kitchen. The stuffing was a mixture of the cornbread, Pepperidge Farm croutons, the veggies and broth.

The hours we waited for it made it worth it.I always felt like I couldn't move after I ate it and slept a nap that rivaled any bear's hibernation. DEFINITELY Food Coma. Turns out that happened because I was ALLERGIC to the wheat and the cornbread. Weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Yup, its that bad. It's like I lost a connection to the family.

My granddaddy with my sister and my Nanny holding me at my grandfather's train yard. Nanny was a great cook. So many of the family traditional recipes are hers.

Oh the emotional, family ties to food. That's why folks with allergies really appreciate it when their loved ones try to make dishes they can eat. It's tough being a person that goes to family events with a whole list of "can't eat that" echoing in her mind. Especially when you are the only one affected.  So it is good to have a go-to list of dishes to take along because families can be afraid to cook for those with allergies or just not have the knowledge. New traditions don't have to be tasteless but...

I know, I know. Creating new traditions can be hard. It's risky. The dish won't taste exactly the same. You just may not like giving up the memories of the old for the reality of the new. But no pain, no gain.
 

Not sure how I feel about the new tradition of holiday blow-ups. But I know my grandkidlets love them.

Looking at Thanksgiving this year, I knew I would miss stuffing the most. So I set out to create a moist, delicious stuffing that was good and good for me.

Hunting down GF croutons:

I hunted Whole Foods for Gluten Free Stuffing. Unfortunately for me it has corn product in it. Fortunately for me, I found SmartGrains Croutons.

They also make a stuffing but the store didn't have it. If you can't find a gluten-free stuffing, you can make croutons out of gluten-free bread by cutting it into cubes and toasting at 350 for about 15 minutes, turn off the oven and then let them sit in the oven overnight to dry.

Mix approximately one package (or two cups homemade croutons) in one cup chicken or turkey broth. Stir until croutons are moistened. You may need to add more broth. Let sit while you move forward with the other ingredients.

Less bread.

 The aroma of sauteed veggies: 
   
So thankful, the smell of one diced onion and one diced bunch of celery in 2 tablespoons of butter is still the same. But I am also making it new by adding a cup of grated carrots for Vitamin A and color. Fifteen minutes until the onion is translucent.

More veggies.

Mixing it up:
 
Add a half teaspoon of salt and the same of sage (optional) into the veggies and stir. Then add the moistened croutons and veggies all together, making sure all the croutons are moistened.  NOTE: Do not overstir! You want the croutons to fall apart. You don't want them to disintegrate.

Getting that crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 45 - 60 minutes until the top is brown and the moist stuffing is baked through and not quite as moist. Top with foil if necessary to prevent burning.

Yummm. Even Man O loved it. And I picked off every crusty bit for me.

And yes, it tastes like stuffing. I couldn't have the cornbread but I love this recipe. For a once or twice a year celebration, the expense of the croutons is worth it.

So what have you had to give up as a holiday food tradition? Have you made new ones? Do you have family members with allergies? How does your family handle it?  

Time Management vs The Biological Imperatives

Hello, everybody!

 The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a quick dish that will save your heinie. All right, maybe not save your heinie exactly but it will nourish your heinie when you've got bigger problems than cooking.

 

 Sometimes we have stuff to do.

Sometimes that stuff take a really big chuck of our time.

Sometimes that time crunch means that our basic needs are pushed to the very bottom of the list. Which basic needs? Well...

 

"Biological imperatives are the needs of living organisms as required to perpetuate their existence. It is possible to define the following hierarchy of logical imperatives for a living organism: survival, territorialism, competition, reproduction, quality of life-seeking, and group forming. Living organisms that do not attempt to follow or do not succeed in satisfying these imperatives are described as maladaptive; those that do are adaptive." -Wikipedia


 HM, I don't wanna be a MALADAPTIVE!! I want to... eat. Survive. Thrive.

So, while I was working on editing this...

 

You can peek at it here!

 

And preparing for this one to go on a free day....

    OH MY GOSH! As I write this it's #2 on the Free Kindle List!!!! If you're not sure what that mean in numbers, it's approximately 27,000 downloads in 12 hours. That's a lot of readers.

 And there are six kids and a husband and errands and cleaning and bathing... OK, so those last two just get dropped off the to-do list right away, but there is still a family to feed. And we can't cheat and use McDonald's. Although I have done the 'Binner' deal where we eat waffles because everyone is happy and I get them off to bed so I can write some more.

So, conical cauliflower. No, that's not it's real name. It's just a weird cone shape and we call it that. Sounds... alliterative. CHOP CHOP. Remember, we're under a time crunch.

Red cabbage.

I have a thing against cabbage since that whole stint in Poland, but we've reached a sort of uneasy truce. Cabbage agrees not to be boiled and stink up the house and I agree to eat it.

Baby asparagus, fresh carrots.

Combine.

Admire nature's beauty.

Lay all the veggies on a pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper to taste.

375F for 15 minutes. Not too long. Edna is watching the timer. She doesn't enjoy limp veggies unless we're talking about carrot cake.

OK, I know it doesn't look really fancy, but this is brain food. And body food. And it will be a lot better for you than Mickey D's. When it has been consumed (with crusty French bread and some of that red pepper/green olive tapenade on the plate at the top), you'll be ready to jump back into the fray!!

Once more into the fray.

Into the last good fight I'll ever know. 

Live and die on this day. 

Live and die on this day.

 

 

 Don't freak out. I'm not planning on working myself to death. The poem is mostly about choosing battles. About when to jump and when to wait. So, I'm jumping!

My next project is another historical. Wish me luck. Historicals hurt my brain. But people like to read them so I think I'll write another. You can chalk it up to one of those biological imperatives. Maybe the territorial part, which we'll just call 'paying the mortgage'!

 Until next time, my dears!