Avocados

I endorse 

https://avocado-farmer.com/

I emailed: Matt Nelson replied:  I hand pick them myself. 

I ordered some. I'll let you know how they are. I'm so excited!

After about a week the first one is ripe. Just a slight softens when gently squeeze

Thoughts about colonoscopy

I felt there wasn't enough info out there for our corn allergy folks.  I surfed for what I could find, but there was not enough specific information.  I was nervous for over a week about the procedure, and having to answer all the questions I was going to encounter from the health care professionals. At first I didn't want to deal with researching, but as the date neared I thought I better figure it out.  This  allergy is so frustrating, as I'm sure you already know if your have this corn allergy.  I find myself staying with the items I know I am ok with, because the work to find new safe things is difficult, frustrating, and exhausting.
By the way the doctors and nurses were very interested in my corn allergy.  They were informed before they came into my room, so as they came in several asked if I even ate out.  They were giving sympathy.  They just couldn't imagine.  They asked how did I find out?  Can I even buy anything from the grocery store?  One nurse said she had on going sinus infections.  I don't have sinus infections now that I eliminated corn from my diet, and my seasonal allergies are better.  I explained the bucket full syndrome.  Once you are having a reaction you are more sensitive to all allergens.  I have to say though the anesthesiologist was not friendly.  She declared she wasn't going to read through all the allergens listed on the medical form that contain corn.  To please her I told her I have not had anaphylaxis from corn yet that just Benadryl relieved my symptoms.  She said she had some Benadryl on hand.  I told her the allergy is usually to the preservatives.

Colonoscopy

For a colonoscopy you must clean your bowel!  This is the hard and most sucky part of the whole thing.  Everyone told me this!  It's true!  I live 10 minutes from the hospital.  We were gone exactly 2 hours, after 3 days of prep.  I've been home for 4 hours now and ready to relieve myself of the following information until next time.

Initially I was freaked out by the fact I had to have this procedure.  If  you are reading this because you now have to do it too, I'm deeply sorry.  I'm sure you'll be fine.  They told me so just as I was falling asleep. 

The appointment is made, and I did a bit of research on our corn allergy sites.  Corn allergy girl has a wonderful medical information sheet on her web site.  Print it out and take it with you when you pre-register and talk to the nurse.

Medical Form from Corn Allergy Girl

The nurse gave me instructions to follow a procedure of taking the following medications the day before the procedure.  When I got home I called my compounding pharmacy, and had them check the following medications.

Yes- Miralax

No on these
Magnesium Citrate
Dulcolax (Bisacodyl) Tablets
Su prep kit
Colyte
Gatorade, PowerAde, Propel - We already know we can't drink these.

The nurse then had me call the doctors nurse.  She said since I can only take the Miralax to start 3 days before the procedure by taking 1 cap full 3 times a day.  My procedure was Wednesday, so starting Sunday, and Monday I took 3 cap fulls a day.  I purchased the 17 gram size of Miralax.

The nurse was also concerned that I would be dehydrated, since I couldn't drink the sports drinks.  I looked up how to make sports drinks.  Easy lemon juice, orange juice, sugar, dash salt, and water.  Earlier this year I tried lemons that my uncle grew.  I was ok with them, therefore I tried Santa Cruz Organic Lemon Juice.  At least it could be 1 citrus I could use.  I was ok with it.  I have been avoiding trying it for 6 years.  I also make my own chicken and beef broth.  I had some bones in the freezer, so Monday I stewed them all day.

Since I read other comments on Delphi about other colonoscopy where they did liquid diet for 2 days, I decided to limit my food on Monday just to be sure I was cleaned out.  Monday I only took the Miralax 2 times.  I ate eggs, toast for breakfast, and applesauce for dinner on Monday.  My bowels were moving.  I was also taking in a lot of lemon aid with a dash of salt.  This part was great.  I was missing lemon aid.  I also drank chicken, and beef broth.

Tuesday clear fluids day - I drank over a gallon of lemon aid sometimes with a dash of salt, and beef broth all day.  I took a heaping teaspoon of Tri-salts just in case.  Its a calcium supplement that has the side effect of loosing my stools, since I couldn't take the dulcolax.  At 5 pm I mixed the Miralax 8.3 ounces (weight on small kitchen scale, you could guess 1/2 17 gram bottle) to 2 quarts lemon aid with the dash of salt.  Drink 1 quart a 1 cup at a time every 15 minutes.  Then drink the 2nd quart 8 pm 1 cup at a time every 15 minutes.  By 10 pm I was clear!  I still got up 3 or 4 times through the night.

I have to say I did get dehydrated.  It was hard for them to find a vein for my plain saline IV.
Perhaps I should have drank more water until the 2 am cut off??  Or maybe I didn't need that much Miralax.

Do get the corn allergy letter from Corn Allergy Girl.  Everyone was at attention and concerned about what they can use on me.  I am not as sensitive to paper products.  I told them that but at least it made them aware.  One nurse said she had on going sinus infections.  I told her when I got off corn I stopped having sinus infections.  They all had all sorts of questions.  And now that I think back they used only fabric products.  I remember she was using a towel instead of a padded plastic pad.

After the procedure the doctor said he took out a small polyp that was sent for testing, and told me that my bowel was very clean.  :-) 

Good luck!  let me know your experience or if this helped you.

Clay Toothpaste

I started using this clay toothpaste recipe  in 2015. I double the recipe and don't use stevia. I find generic bentonite clay on Amazon.  Store in glass 1/2 pint jar.  

http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2012/10/homemade-clay-toothpaste.html

Gyeran-Bbang (Egg Bread)

Based on the following recipe:

http://seonkyounglongest.com/korean-egg-bread-gyeran-bbang-korean-street-food-recipe/

I made my own Sour Dough Egg Bread

1st had to go buy a Jumbo muffin tin

Butter muffin tin

Preheat oven 400

Mix together 

1 cup sour dough

1/2 cup daisy sour cream

1 cup flour King Arthur Organic Whole White Wheat

1/2 tsp salt Real

2 Tb sugar or honey Tyler's

Water to consistency of pancake batter

Add

2 Tb melted butter Kerrygold

1 tsp baking soda Arm & Hammer

Add a couple Tb spoons batter in the bottom of the buttered tins. Add egg. Add more batter. I added fried sweet onion and cheese. Bake. 20-25 minutes

I think the batter should have been thicker. 

Garden Row Covers

I was asked about my garden row covers.  

6 ft rebar cut in half to slip 6' 1/4 pvc onto.

Purchased Amazon

 83"x25' Agribon AG-19 Floating Row Crop Cover / Frost Blanket / Garden Fabric Plant Cover

Snap Clamp 1/2 Inch X 4 Inches Wide For 1/2 PVC Pipe White 10 per Bag

The fabric tore to easy. I'm looking for more of a nylon screen type. 

Applegate is now Hormel

I had given up on Applegate hot dogs 2 years ago.  I just kept getting reactions.  Just found out they sold out to Hormel!  No wonder!

Sacramento Airport

Made it!  Heading back to TN. Sacramento Airport Terminal. 

I felt weird taking a picture, but I was excited!!!  There was a bottle filler at the drinking fountain!!! I take the lid off my stainless steel bottle through security. This time I didn't have to ask a concessionaire to fill it.  Yeah for Sac Airport!!

Air Travel

I'm sitting at Magee Tyson.  I made it through security.  Security had to check my bag to make sure it's just food.  I'm a train wreck after planning, cooking, and packing for over half the day yesterday!  

I brought an empty bottle and asked a concessionaire to fill it with water.  The first concessionaire told me she would after she helped the other people that were standing there still contiplating what they wanted.  I went to another concessionaire who was much more understanding!  Really people just walk in my shoes for one day!!   

Carr's Table Water Crackers OUT!!!

Carr's Table Water Crackers are now fortified!!!   Dang it!!!  Can't eat them any more!!

Breaded Okra and/or freeze for later

Chop okra 1/4-1/2" slices

Salt okra

Coat with flour (King Arthur White Wheat)

Wet in egg beaten with water

Coat with Millet flour(Arrowhead Mills)

Fry (grape seed oil)

Enjoy 

Freeze for later

Freeze on cookie sheet. Place in quart size (Ziplock) freezer bags. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes or until heated and brown

We enjoy reheating in spring.  

(Products I use)

Sourdough Zucchini Pancakes

Wonderful way to use extra summer zucchini 

1 cup sourdough 

1 egg

2 cups King Arthur whole white wheat flour

1 cup cottage cheese 4% Daisy

1 zucchini shredded 

1/2-1cup sugar

1/3-1/2cup grapeola 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1-2 teaspoon cinnamon 

Water

Mix all ingredients adding water until it's pancake consistency. 

 I make a big quantity of pancakes and freeze.  I take a couple out each day and place in sandwich bag to take with me.  

Growing Food 2015

Growing food!! Started the garden in February/March it's paying! 12 quarts broccoli in the freezer! Peas, asparagus, lettuce, beets, spinach, blueberries, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, onion and garlic. What else is growing? Carrots, 5 kinds of peppers, green beans, limas, Swiss chard, spaghetti, butternut, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, lemon cucumber, sweet potato, tomato, potatoes

Sourdough

I have tried sourdough several times in my life, but now I truly get it!  Yeah!  I am no longer using yeast or cream of tartar.  Cream of tartar has been giving me reactions.

I started with bread.  Everyone makes sourdough bread.  Its one of the first items you think of.  Then there is biscuits, pancakes and then a whole array of items.  I have tried English muffins, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, and the other morning I woke up thinking coffee cake.  I surfed the web and found an apple coffee cake recipe.   I also sprinkled some frozen blueberries on top before adding the streusel.  I made apple blueberry coffee cake!  Yum!

So all over the web you can find sourdough starter recipes.  It is very simple, just don't fret.  Its harder to start a new starter in the winter when its colder, it didn't want to ferment or bubble.  I am using King Arthur organic white whole wheat flour and water.  A couple years ago I created a starter using organic grapes from the farmers market.  I killed the starter by leaving it on the counter to mold.  Yikes.  This time my starter didn't want to start, so after a few days I added a 1/4 teaspoon of Red Star Yeast.  I am now in business.  The biggest thing to remember is to put the left over in the fridge, so it doesn't mold.

Several starter recipes say when you are starting your starter to dump part out and add more flour.  I do not do this, however it does make my sourdough stronger (more sour).  Here's a link to a good web site on sourdough and starter.  http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=usingastarter

The bread recipe I use:  http://pinchmysalt.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread/
Coffee Cake just add about a cup of fruit if desired http://germanfood.about.com/od/bakingindex/r/sourdough_coffeecake.htm
Dinner Rolls I put mine in a buttered cake pan.  http://www.culturesforhealth.com/sourdough-dinner-roll-recipe/
English Muffins I used only King Arthur White Wheat Flour.  I chose this recipe because it didn't have added yeast like the other recipes I found.  If using sourdough why add more yeast?
http://nourishingjoy.com/sourdough-english-muffins/


Sourdough biscuits
1 cup sourdough
1/3 cup oil
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
bake 350 10-15 minutes

Sourdough Pancakes
2 cups sourdough
1//2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda

Powder Egg Omlete

My chickens have slowed down production.  I'm getting 1-2 a day from 6 hens. We got 2 new barred rock hens this year. They should start laying any day.  I've used my powder eggs. 1 TB to 2 TB water.  Made scrambled eggs yesterday with onion and bell pepper.  My garden has produced well this year.  All my produce is home grown.  Today I made an oven Omlete. Oiled pan with grape seed oil lined with homemade bread slices. Added chopped onion, bell pepper, yellow squash, salt, pepper. 6 TB powder eggs soaked in 3/4 water 15 mins and blended in mini processor. I needed to add additional water up to total 1 1/4 cups water to soak the bread. Baked 380 30 mins or until it's dry.  Added slices of Danamark Danish Havarti Cheese put back in oven for a few minutes to melt. 

Breakfast and Lunch

Tomorrow breakfast and lunch. I'll heat the frozen buckwheat pancakes and blueberries. Top with cottage cheese and 2 hard boiled eggs on the side.  Lunch will be reheated frozen meatloaf and toasted homemade bread.  I pre-toast my bread and put in a sandwich bag the night before. I don't seal in fully until the next morning so the steam escapes. 

I pre-cook big batches of buckwheat pancakes.  Pre-package my lunch the night before.  Breakfast is usually pancakes and cottage cheese or egg sandwiches, sometimes with some dubliner. Lunch is something I made the night before, or something I had extra and froze.  I've been having sliced cucumbers with my lunch this week but I'm out for tomorrow and I'm tired. It's Thursday.  I have zucchini in the fridge but just can't do it.  :-). Cheers!

I'm showing the pancakes frozen invthe background. The cottage cheese and blueberries from my bushes. I also freeze the berries on cookies sheets. Place them in a ziplock and use the same. 

Green Bean Harvest

My husband was dissatisfied with the pole beans we grew last year, so he's planted 3 - 25 foot rows this year. 

There's weeds!  You do what u can do, when u work too. Plus we have had excessive rain the year. 

Here's last weekends harvest, and there will more this coming weekend. 

Blanched and froze 5 pints snap beans and 4 pints french cut beans

Here's how I french cut beans. You can find this rotary cutter or a hand cutter on Amazon. 

Canned 16 pints

My tall pressure canner holds 16 pints. 

Blueberry's and Pancakes!

3 years later I finally got blueberries from my 4 bushes!  My dh put some wonderful cages around the so I could have all of the blueberries to myself!  Now I need to be more proactive about fertilizing them!

     

       Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes 

Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes with honey! 

Dehydrator Buckwheat Flakes

Diane on FB shared this with me. http://mitochondrialdepletionsyndrome.blogspot.com/2013/02/cold-cereal-flakes-buckwheatcoconut-and.html?m=1

 

Of course I had to alter the recipe for myself. 

3/4 cup buckwheat flour

3/4 cup King Arthur unbleached white wheat flour

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup apple sauce

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup Lakewood organic apple juice

Diane said the thinner you spread the better 

the flake so I thinned the batter a bit more 

with the apple juice. Spread in 5 fruit leather 

trays.  Cooking on highest heat.  I'll post the 

results later.  

Bread

I'm making bread with King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour. (Can be corntaminated). Oster bread maker.
Recipe:
1 1/2 water
2 heaping Daisy Sour Cream
2 Tb sugar
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour
1/2 cup ground flax seed
Make a well add 1 pkg envelope red star yeast

Set bread maker on dough. (Today I also set it to be finish after I got home). After the dough cycle give it another 30 minutes or so to re-rise. Gently pressb stop once to stop the dough cycle. Choose the bake cycle and press start. Beautiful baked bread!

If u accidentally restart the dough cycle. I've done this several times! Let the machine mix back into a round for a few minutes or model manually. Stop the dough cycle. Let the bread rise and then choose the bake cycle.