Supplements

     This is something I really haven't gone into a lot before. Mostly just because I'm not a person who is super into them. I have been reading another blog lately and I have learned a lot about a few supplements. Also please note, I am not a Dr. nor am I any expert on this type of thing. Make sure to do your own research and only try things you feel safe trying, or talk to a Dr. before you try all of this.

     Grape Seed Extract: Studies are finding that it helps with inflammation. Something that pancreatitis is known to cause. The swelling can be very painful. Studies show that this helped 1 out of 3 patients. So is it flawless, no, but if it can help, why not give it a try. This process as a whole should be treated as such. You should always do what works best for you. You know your body best.

     Vitamin C: Okay we all know this is good for you, but did you know we (humans) are one of the few species in the world that don't naturally produce this? Pretty cool, but yet sadly it's something we now lack and should make up for it. The other perk, it too helps with inflammation. When paired with grape seed extract, it's found the two boost one another. However! Be warned, this combination may not pair well with hypertension. Again do what works for you. Try variant doses and track your progress. Even talk to a Dr. and see what they say about it.

     Curcumin: Now this one is new to me. I know very little about this so please do your own research on it as well. This is a component of the East Indian spice turmeric. Again I don't know too much, I personally am going to try just using turmeric a bit more in cooking, due to the fact that this is a bit hard for the body to break down. Also in some studies it's been known to cause vomiting and nauseous. This also increases bile flow. If you have gallstones or other problems, you might just want to skip this one all together.

   

Making a cook book

     With all the new trends with diets going on and with Calico being at  turning point in her diet I believe it's time for me to start on a new adventure. Over the next few months/years I am going to be working on a cookbook for her diet. My hopes is to give people with this same condition a chance at good food that won't hurt them. I want to show them how to bring flavor into a diet that's meant to be bland and boring. It's going to be a massive work with a lot of trial and error on my part, but it would be a blessing to some people I'm sure. Heck it would help me just get her diet on track.

     Some recipe structure basics I want to include are:
          Vegan
          Juice recipes
          Flavorful veggie dishes
          Meat's that are lean
          I want to touch on portion sizes as well.


     I plan on sharing these with you. Small parts of the book will be published for free, and as always I will post recipes here for free. I will at some point compile an entire book and that will be released. It will be a long process but I feel it needs to be done, now more than ever. Share your favorite below and I'll see if I can make a fat free version!  

Fall Time!

     It's that time of year again! Time to bake everything. The temperatures are finally cooling down so I can justify kicking the oven on all day. My personal favorite? Bread. Take a basic recipe and jazz it up. You can go so many different ways with this one.


1 packet of instant yeast.
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup milk (warmed)
Tablespoon of butter
Tablespoon of sugar
Flour (roughly 4 cups +)


     If you have a bread machine, good for you, toss it all in the machine and let her go. (I have no idea how these work, so use your best personal judgement) For anyone else, this is super easy so don't worry too much. Mix your yeast and sugar in a bowl with the warmed water and milk. Let that sit until it gets a bit foamy. The add in your butter. I normally add in my flour 1/2 cup at a time (this is why it is such a rough number!). Mix it thoroughly between each addition. Once the dough mostly stops sticking, get in there with your hands (or a bread hook on a stand mixer). Kneed and add flour until the dough stops sticking.

     When I am rising the dough, I make sure to get a shallow pan of water in my oven, preheat it, then shut if off while I make the dough. You want it warm, not hot or you will cook your bread too soon. Put it in a greased pan, let it rise one hour. After that kneed it a few times, then pop it back in. (reheat your oven if it's cold.) Wait another hour, your dough will double. Then turn the oven to about 350 and bake for about 45 minutes. You will know for sure your bread is done when it's golden, and when you tap it, it will sound hallow. Put some butter on that and it's amazing hot.

Extra things you can add into it:

Nuts and or fruit. Both bake wonderfully.
Cinnamon is another good addition to a nice hot loaf.
Get creative and try new things! Don't be scared to mess it up!

~Skadia, the break kneading panther.

Restaurant Review - Furious Spoon

What is Furious Spoon? Well you might be asking this right now, so how about a little background. Furious Spoon has two locations in Chicago, we were at the one in Logan Square. It's slogan is "Where Ramen meets Hip Hop" It's a ramen shop with what seemed like a full bar as well as other side dishes.

The atmosphere was different. All of the staff was very friendly. The lighting is very dim, so much so it gives almost a club or bar feel to the place. The seating is mostly outside, otherwise inside has heavy wooden bench seating. There was art all over the walls that gave the place a really neat feel to it. Not kid friendly. They play loud music hip hop with full language.

Now that I have you interested in maybe heading over there, let me give you all the juicy details about the menu. Their way of doing things is a little different than you would expect. It's a lot more fun. You place your order up front and they give you a number to go sit down where you like. From there they make your food fresh. The noodles are house made! Their selection is small, noodle bowls, rice bowls, and other sides. The toppings for your ramen however, is where the gold is. They have different varieties and then you can mix in anything else you want into your bowl to make it your own. Really nice for going with groups of people.

The meal we ate was generally simple, no crazy special orders. I tried to basic Vegetable bowl. My partner tried the Furious bowl with pork. My friends who dined with us had another pork bowl with bamboo shoots in it, and his wife had a chicken bowl. No sides, they also do not offer normal drinks. Free water or bar drinks are all they offer. That was kinda a let down.

Let's talk about staff now. They are a major part of the restaurant so lets give them their spot light. They were very friendly and were happy to help, but also they were not very much around. As an american I am used to staff checking up on me through the meal. They do not do this here and it can be a pain to flag someone down. Again, all very nice and asking for to-go cups they happily supplied them.

Now for the real thing on everyone's mind. Well how much is this going to cost? This is where you'll be happy. This place was very reasonable for Chicago, and for how much food you got. It wasn't a normal size bowl, I'd say around the 20 ounce size. Anyway, there was a lot of food. Mine and my partner's cost under $20 for the two of us. Not the best food we have had, but it was very good for the price. Heaven's know I have spent more at worse places.

My overall opinion for this visit was indifferent. The food was lack luster, but at a good price. The music was good and the atmosphere was neat. Go try it for yourself for sure, because we all have different tastes. If I do go back, I will happily try something else like one of their rice bowls and see how that is.

Rating:

Staff: 3/5 They were friendly but not very helpful overall.
Food and Presentation: 2/5 It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't good.
Ambiance and Decor: 5/5 Very different.
Quality of Service: 1/5 There really wasn't any service. They brought out the food when it was done and went right back to the kitchen. One of my friends waited almost 20 minutes for her food to even arive and not once did they say anything.
Favorite menu item: Vegetable Ramen
Kid Friendly: No
Vegetarian Friendly: No, I do not believe the broth is vegetarian friendly, but do call, they would know more.
Overall Rating: 3/5

Not overall excited about this place, but I would be willing to go again at some point.

Cooking for a Party

     Alright, summer is over and the holiday season is just around the corner. Trust me, it's going to come up a lot faster than any of us want it to. There will be family and friends, good stories and wonderful times. However, that also means there's going to be lots of dinners, and with so many people that can be hard.

     Not everyone is on a special diet, but I'm fairly sure most are to some extent. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. So when it comes to party food, it's always so hard to figure out just what to make. Here are a few tips and ideas I have compiled for you to start the season off right.

     Make a small something for everyone. Now by that I don't mean make everyone a small roast chicken for themselves. What I am getting at with this is simply make one dish that suits each group. For example. You generally have normal people who eat just about everything. So a basic ham dinner would do them just fine, or some pork chops or even a small roast. Then you worry about people who don't eat red meat, so have some bird or fish as another option. Vegetarians and vegans can prove to be harder, but just small steps taken will for sure make them feel more welcome.


A basic meal plan and what it costs. I'm going to plan this party for roughly ten people.

     Pork Chops: A family pack of 6-8 would do just fine. (remember not everyone's first choice will be a chop!) Roughly $10. More or less depending on your area.

     A Whole Chicken or a Turkey breast. Both can vary but you can normally find a whole "frying" chicken for about $5-$7. Here again, shred that all up and it will go quite a long ways.

     Lasagna. This normally has meat in it, but it's very easy to replace the meat with spinach and make it the same way. Great for Vegetarians, or people looking for something a little lighter. Pasta and spinach are generally pretty cheep. $1.50 for pasta, another $2 for a large thing of spinach and then just add cheese and sauce. A whole pan could feed upwards of 12-15 people easily.

     Side salad with all the toppings on the side. Super simple, you can even buy bagged premade salad.Great for any other picky eaters and a wonderful side to most of the other dishes above.

So to feed those ten people, and have enough for plenty of leftovers, you are looking at roughly a $50 meal. That's not bad at all for the holiday season. Add in a few extra sides like potatoes or stuffing and it will go even farther.

     A great thing to do when inviting people is to ask if they have allergies or any other dietary needs. Even if you can't hit every need, you can have a small something for everyone.

~Skadia, the holiday prepping panther.

I might go Vegan?

More than likely not because let's face it, I love meat. But! I will say this video really had some good recipies at really nice prices! Check it out.

Top 5 Sites to Find Good Recipes

     If you are anything like me, you are ALWAYS looking for something new to try, even if you never make it. You are always looking. I get odd ideas in the middle of the night and some days I just don't feel like dragging out all of my cook books. There have of course been times when my partners will come out at 3 A.M. and find me on the living room floor surrounded by half a dozen open cook books, but not every time. Here are some of my personal favorite places to find some good recipes.


1. http://www.foodnetwork.com/

     Tried and true most of the things you will find on this one have been tested time and again. They might not have everything, but I'm sure something there will interest you.

2. http://allrecipes.com/

     A personal favorite because there are many review on most things, with some good advice about the recipe.

3. http://www.myrecipes.com/

     A database built from many magazines. Their category system is also pretty nice.

4. http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes

     With a super cool feature that lets you search by ingredient, this one can sure come in handy.

5. http://www.popsugar.com/Recipes

     This one is newer to me, however they do have some Paleo things, as well as some other interesting stuff.


     What are some sites you use most? Let me know, I'm always looking for new places to find good food.

Good Food Doesn't Always Have to be Made

     My main goal of this blog is to inform you about good food at good prices. How to cook things right and make yourself feel good. Today I'm going to continue that. I normally talk about home made meals. About how packaged food is normally a lesser option when it comes to your health. I'm going to talk today a little about some packaged food. For good deals as well.

     Find some gems in your local area. It can be something as extravagant as an entire Asian market place where most of the labels don't even have English on them. To something as simple as an Hispanic woman selling fresh tortillas and Elote out of a small cart in front of her house. Fine a place like that. Try it once, make sure it's good. I know some of you are going to be a little shy about the random cart, but trust me. Keep your eyes on it, see how many people go there. Normally things like that don't last long if they arn't good.

     I love when we go up to Chicago and adventure all around. You find little shops like that. In my area I never thought there would be so many. I was wrong. Recently a small Asian shop popped up between my best friends house and mine. They sent out coupons for a free gift on your first visit. What did we have to lose? I headed out there with an open mind, our current Asian section of grocery stores was never very impressive. Sure enough we walked in and it was a small mom and pop kind of shop. The man working there was super friendly and still had a full accent. We browsed around a bit and some of the prices were super low. Like it was kind of crazy low.

     I ended up buying some Chicken pot stickers and a bunch of other things. The pot stickers were only about $4. I didn't think there would be a lot in there. So the other day I was home alone and decided to cook some up. The directions were in both English and Other various languages. I pulled out a hand full, thinking that would be half of the package at least, only to look back in and see that I hardly touched it. There are so many stuffed into one bag.

     This is what I made and it turned out to be a meal fit for two, I couldn't even finish the last rice ball. The meal maybe cost me a dollar? If that? I haven't gotten back into the pot stickers, but now they are looking good again. I'm going to have to go steam some up now. 

     Tips:

          *For sticky rice, make sure to use short grain rice, and Rice Vinegar (you can see it in the picture above)

         * For the sauce I mixed, water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and some sugar together.

          

     Feel free to share some neat little local places you have with me, I'd love to hear about your adventures!

~Skadia, the steaming panther

Restaurant Review - Olive Garden

     Today I went out with my mother. We did some shopping, got me some new work clothes, and after a day of fun she was kind enough to treat me to dinner. Olive Garden used to be one of our go to mother daughter kind of places. My dad didn't care too much for it, so it was a special thing for us. Today we decided to check it out and after not going for a while here is my current opinion on the place.

     What is Olive Garden? Well you might be asking this right now, so how about a little background. They used to be a fairly classy restaurant that specialized in "Italian" food, much like how Panda Express is Chinese. They stretch across the United States and possibly elsewhere but location is not my cup of tea. (That's for sure peppermint.) The one I want to talk about is the one that is in Northwest Indiana. It is right off the highway and right in the middle of tons of shopping. It was a Monday at around 8 pm and while the parking lot was very small, there were plenty of space and a very short wait time. While there is no real dress code, it seemed like just about anything went. Including a child in just a diaper and overalls.

     The atmosphere was decent, it was fairly slow so it wasn't too busy. All of the staff was very friendly. The decoration around the place looked like an outdated Greek local joint that wouldn't actually be Greek food.

      The menu was very lack luster for me. They had one that had the current promotion on it (buy one take one) and then a second promotion one stuffed inside the menu. Most of their choices were various forms of pasta, meat, and sauce. Their dessert menu had more variety! I didn't really see anything for diets or vegans, I also really didn't look too hard, so maybe call a head of time to see. They also had an impressive wine menu.

     I will say this to begin with, I was personally not happy with the food. The soup (chicken dumpling) came out room temperature at best. The main meal itself was just bland. My mother got Alfredo and I got ravioli. Neither were memorable.

     Now I am going to take just a moment to talk about the staff. They were very kind, but very slow as well. For our order our soup got to the table before our drinks were even there. My mom throughout the meal asked for a few refills and it took quite some time for our waitress to get around to it. Now I can understand if the place is busy, but there were 7 tables in our section and only 4 were filled. Like I said, super nice and friendly, but slow.

     Now for the real thing on everyone's mind. Well how much is this going to cost? Well we went there for the buy one take one special. Buy one meal there, get a second to head home with you. Each came with soup or salad. The final total was about $35 total, for two people and 4 full meals. So not bad at all. If the special wasn't running, most plates run about $12-$15 each. Add drink, and tip. Normally we don't walk out of there without spending at least $50 for two people.

My overall opinion for this visit was indifferent. For the price and the deal it was worth it, even though the food didn't sit very well with me personally. For any other day, I don't think I would be going back any time soon. Not at the fault of the staff either. Just poor food quality. I don't mind spending money, but I at least want it well spent.

Rating:

Staff: 5/5 Super friendly!
Food and Presentation: 2/5 (we didn't die from it)
Ambiance and Decor: 3/5
Quality of Service: 4/5
Favorite menu item: Chicken Dumpling soup
Kid Friendly: They had coloring books and crayons.
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes.
Overall Rating: 3/5

Simple Summer Lunch

     With temperatures high some days near 100F, and my little hobbit hole doesn't have central air, lighting the oven on days like that, are just too much, cooking in general on those days are way to much. Here are a few of my favorite simple meals, with no heat required.

     Fruit! Normally summer time is when melons are in season and at their lowest prices. Watermelon is one of my all time favorite snacks/meals. You can even freeze it and use it in picnic baskets as added "cold packs".

     Sandwiches!  Another cool favorite. Lunch meat, cheese, chicken salad, even good old peanut butter and jelly. Bread is normally the cheep part of it but you can sometimes find some good sales. Also watch for store brands, they normally have individual serving packs for under a dollar each and you can make about two sandwiches out of one.

     Salad. Not the most exciting, but it's cheap. A head of lettuce normally is under a dollar and just add dressing. You don't need everything on it, but feel free to if you have things on hand! The other perk about salad is that it's filling. Some grocery stores even now have salad bars where you can buy it by the pound and they have just about most toppings.

     Now this last one takes a little bit of heat, but make a big batch one evening and you'll have them on hand. Egg salad. Slap that on some toast and it's a good quick meal filled with protein.

     What are some of your favorite summer meals or snacks? I'd love to hear for you all.

~Skadia, the melting panther.

Breakfast on a Budget

     Hey everyone, I talked about something serious in my last blog on how healthy food isn't as expensive as most people think. (Click here if you missed it! ) Today I want to show you how that shopping list transfers into daily life and meals. I did use a few items that I already had on hand, but only things you generally do, things like salt, pepper, egg. Anyway, on to some good breakfast!

     This is one super simple dish, it only takes a few ingredients and can be altered to suit your own taste very easily. So if you don't like onions, swap them out for mushrooms! See, that simple. Here is what I used personally. (I also added some Havarti cheese, but that's not healthy so I cheated and added it after the pic was taken.)

This is all I had, one egg, about a tablespoon of "chopped" up raw spinach a teaspoon of alfalfa sprouts, and a little bit of green onion (I also added some dried minced onions as well). This was for me a decent portion and while I'm not stuffed, I was full from it. However, if you want a little bit more, add a banana as a side. (Remember we got those too yesterday and they are normally fairly cheep.)

All I did was beat the egg with just salt and pepper. No added water or milk, just the egg by itself. You won't want this to be super fluffy like scrambled eggs, think more of an omelette. In fact this is inspired by a Japanese omelette.

     Get your pan warmed up, I normally set mine at about medium heat, maybe a bit higher. Make sure not to go too high because we will not be flipping this, so the egg will only cook on one side. If you are using two eggs or more you might have to do this in batches. Takes a bit more time and skill, but isn't too hard. Just repeat the process by laying the prior egg roll up at the end you start rolling the cooking one. (This will make a bit more sense in a moment! I promise!)  So go a head and put your beaten egg in your pan and add your "mix in's" on top of the egg. Don't mix it or mess with the egg! Just let it cook.

     As you can see to the left how it's almost like when a pancake is ready to flip. That's when it's done. Make sure you swirl the pan a bit. If you like your eggs a bit on the runny side, they can jiggle, if not, you want it to be pretty firm. It will continue to cook slightly after you roll it, but not much, so be sure not to overcook it!

     Now that your egg is all cooked, start rolling it! I find that a rubber spatula works best for this because it has enough flex to not break the egg. But just gently roll up the egg, below you can see how it looks with all that filling inside. If some spills out, that's okay, you can just toss it on top of the roll.

     That's it! You're ready to have a healthy breakfast. The cost of this total was only pennies. (one egg roughly $.17, the spinach maybe .05 worth, and the sprouts maybe .03) Not bad at all. Like I said this would be roughly one serving. You don't need to add meat because the egg and sprouts are a good source for protein but you can if you want. Even adding a banana to this wouldn't add much. (.49/pound you can have a whole pound of bananas and still not go over a dollar!) 

~Skadia, the money saving breakfast eating panther

Healthy Food isn't cheep! (prices you haven't seen yet)

Do I have your attention? Tired of spending too much at the grocery store? Of course you are, everyone seems to be now a days. Recently I was scrolling through facebook and I seen a post.... it angered me.

Wow. Just wow. Whoever posted this isn't the brightest, or they refuse to think outside the box. So just for my own entertainment I went out grocery shopping (well the fridge needed restocking too, but this sounded more fun.) and shopped for what I thought was healthy and would make me a few meals. Maybe not a full weeks worth, but more than one or two. 

I did stick to some personal rules, the post didn't buy meat, I didn't plan on buying any to begin with so that made it easier. My other stipulation was that it all needed to be healthy. Now I'm not saying top of the line organic, but no junk food on this run. Here is what I found out. 

I spent a TOTAL of $31.41 (thirty one dollars and forty one cents) So I am about at the same price for my food. However, I didn't buy just food either. I got some shampoo on that same bill, ($6) and a lint roller ($2). So that for food only drops my total down to about $23. So now I'm already $10 a head. But what did I get for so little money you ask? Because of course if $30+ only got those few items what could I even hope to get. Right? Oh so wrong.

I will also say that I did my shopping at Meijer, not Walmart or even Aldi so there is room to even save more. I did get some cups of noodles so those might not be considered healthy, but they are surely better than that McDonalds meal. So I'll even exclude those from this pile. 

What I got and how much it was:

Bananas (4 or roughly 1.25 pounds) for $.63 (sixty three cents)
A bundle of green onions for $.79 (seventy nine cents)

Just shy of a pound of Carrots for $.65 (sixty five cents)

Some cut up watermelon roughly one serving. $1.22

Just over a pound of sweet potatoes (2) for about $1.56

A package of Alfalfa Sprouts for $1.99

2 normal white potatoes for $1.34
A package of egg roll wrappers $2.69

3 Bell peppers (the green because they were on sale) for a dollar each, $3 total

One Zucchini Squash for $.58 (fifty eight cents)

A serving of snow peas (roughly 1/4 pound) $.69 (sixty nine cents)

A bag of baby spinach for $1.67

And last but not least an extra large bottle of coffee creamer, not the most healthy thing so I will remove it from my final numbers.

Total spent on healthy food: $16.81 

So I spent about half the same money, and got three full bags of food. Don't tell me this isn't affordable. I can roughly get about 4-5 meals out of this just by adding something cheep like rice or pasta. Again that's pennies per serving. This doesn't have to be hard, not at all. Just watch what is on sale. That normally means it is in season and the prices are low, and the produce is ripe!

~Skadia, the money saving panther.

Crispy Chicken and Basil Lemon Pasta

     So again my wife was in and out of the hospital some more. They finally have her diagnosed, her pancreas is actually calcifying. Sounds scary, and it is. So now more than ever her diet is more important than ever. Looks like you guys will be getting lots more tasty recipes.

     Today we are going over to my Mom's to do some laundry and visit for the day. The hard part is now not many people know how to cook for her. So, I did everyone the favor and made her some food to take with.


     Crispy Chicken: I took a single chicken breast and cut it up raw into bite sized pieces. I made an egg wash and soaked them in it while I heated the pan and made the breading. Cook them for just a few minutes until chicken is done through and the outside crispy.

     Egg Wash: 1 Egg, table spoon milk, and a teaspoon lemon juice. (If you use buttermilk, omit the lemon juice)
 
     Breading: Teaspoon salt, teaspoon pepper, teaspoon minced onion (powder will work as well) and a dash of cumin. I also crushed up about a handful (maybe 1/4 cup) of almonds but you can use any nut you prefer, pecans work great in this one! Add 2 tablespoons of flour and a half cup of bread crumbs. This will make a bit more than you need for the one breast so double at will, and add in any other flavors you like.

   
     Basil Lemon Pasta: Spaghetti noodles cook up real quick and make this super simple and cheep! I cooked up a serving and set it aside to cool. I tossed some onions and bell peppers in a pan and cooked until they were tender. Tossed those on the pasta to cool. Wilted some spinach in garlic and lemon juice. (wilting- high heat and cooked for just a few moments until the levees look "not raw") I put those on the "cooling" pile. The in the pan added a bit more garlic, basil, butter, lemon juice and a touch of corn starch. I then put all the "cooling" ingredients into the sauce and mixed it well.

     Sauce: A good heaping tablespoon of basil. Teaspoon of lemon juice. Teaspoon of garlic. 2 Tablespoons of butter. The small bit of cornstarch helps thicken it up just a bit, but be careful too much will make it a paste. If that does happen, don't worry. add some more butter and lemon juice until it thins down.


     The chicken is so tender and crispy, I'm snacking on some of the leftovers now. The pasta is light and full of flavor. Give it a try and put your own twist on it. I'd love to hear what you do!

~Skadia, the crispy chicken queen Panther.

Freezing and buying in bulk

     I'm pretty sure one small blog post will not cover all of this, but I wanted to touch on it a little sense it is Memorial Day weekend. There will be lots of cook outs and plenty of sales to stock up on some things.

     I full on support buying things in bulk when they come on a good sale or within a "buy price". Corn for 10/$1, why wouldn't I stock up! You will never find it at those prices again (unless maybe late harvest season). Corn on the cob also freezes pretty well. Do it if it's something your family enjoys. Even if it only lasts the summer, it will sure save some money. Now a days, a dollar is a dollar, they add up. Heck even if it was just one dollar a week for the summer you would have about $10! More than enough for a package of "extra meat".

     Another few things that normally go on sales around this time of the year are hamburger and hot dog buns, ground beef, hot dogs and condiments. Things like condiments can last generally a good while. Most for at least a year shelf life. Stock up on enough to get you through until next year and I'm sure you can save a good amount.

     Meat doesn't last quiet as long, even when frozen, but again those dollars save up pretty fast in the current economic times. Personally, I like to buy in bulk and get home and repackage all of my stuff into portion sized packages. It might take some extra time but it sure cuts out some stress. Dinner for two, take out one package, for six no problem take out three.

     Buns don't normally last quite as long either, but guess what, they can be frozen as well! Just make sure to get what moisture out of the bag and double bag them before freezing. (Put the bread in it's original bag into another bag, I generally use the bags it comes home in for this!) They thaw out just fine and I've never had it taste any different. This is also a good tip for if you have a discount bakery near you.

     Make sure to watch those sale papers and get some good deals this summer!

~Skadia, the corn hogging panther

Calico's wishlist

     Real quick sense she will be getting out of the hospital soon, she's been making a list of food she's been craving. So I might as well get you guys all excited for what's to come! I'm going to post a bunch of things she wants here and if you want to see it done, make sure you comment and tell me. I might even do some youtube videos for some of them.

• Spaghetti - This simple meal was a take on one that my mother made when I was little. Basic pasta and a red sauce that has both savory and sweet notes accented with fresh herbs. 
• Creeps -  A netted pancake like creep that's filled with a fruit and cream filling, smothered with more fruit on top. 
• Ramen - Not your everyday packaged stuff. I use the noodles for added speed to the meal. I fill it with chicken, and veggies and a rich broth.
• Loaded Mashed Potatoes - A low fat version of the original. Turkey bacon, lowfat cheese and lowfat evaporated milk make this just as good as the original but a lot healthier. 
• Nutella pancakes - Thick and fluffy pancakes topped with the famous hazelnut spread all over it and a bit of fresh fruit to brighten it up.

     That's just the start of what I'll be doing after she gets home. Like I said, let me know what you are excited to see!

Breakfast, is the hardest meal of my day

     Most people say breakfast is the most important meal. I'm one of those people. It's a useful weight loss tool. Get up and jump start your metabolism. It gives you energy to get you moving. This however, is the hardest meal of the day for me. Not because I don't like breakfast food. In fact just the opposite, I love it. I'll happily eat it for dinner or lunch or just have some turkey bacon for a snack. But I just can't bring myself to make and/or eat first thing in the morning.

     I've tried everything from just some fruit, or a yogurt. I just can't even get in a habit like that. Some days I can do it, but not as often as I should. I tried making myself smoothies for breakfast, something I can sip on. Well sense the move I have no idea where any of our travel mugs are. Soooo I can't even take them with. I'm also really good for leaving drinks laying around the house. My wife can attest to half finished can's of soda (when we have them in the house).

     So the real question is how to break this habit that I have had for years. It started when I was in high school. I chose sleep over breakfast. I've not found a solution yet. However, I do have an idea on how to start.

     Coffee!

     The most important thing about my morning (day even) is my cup (or 3) of coffee. I get up and make a pot before I do anything else. My hope is to find things that pair well with coffee, like scones or muffins. Even a cookie might be better than nothing at all to just get me going. Something just a little sweet to offset that bitter coffee.

     Make sure though if you try something like this you don't eat the same thing every day. It will get boring and you will give it up. We are creatures of habit, it's how we work.

     What foods make your morning great? Leave me a comment so we can work on a list of awesome "get going" breakfast foods.

~Skadia, the coffee loving panther.

Back and cooking again!

After many more medical issues with my wife, life seems to finally be falling back into place. That means I can get back into blogging. I can get back into making food and working with things I loved doing again.

I'm going to be getting a lot more recipes and even more food pics as well. Also more meal deals and what not.