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It was not one of my more successful days...........

Well, I tried yesterday. I really did. But tryin' ain't doin' as is testified to by my abandoned to do list. I ended up spending about 5 hours in bed yesterday afternoon and evening. I did finally get the kitchen cleaned up; that was about all I could manage. To add to my great joy with the up and down of the blood pressure stuff, I've had a headache that doesn't seem to want to give up. I finally got the vibrator out and ran it over my face, sneezed umpteen times, and it's been better since. Looks like this is something I'm going to have to add to my daily routine........

I had to throw some of the turkey and broth away. Made me sad, but I was just not feeling well enough to do much successfully. I knew it was too far gone to mess with any more and I knew I sure wasn't going to eat it! I was nauseated when I first laid down yesterday and I was nauseated over that turkey/quinoa/peas concoction I made. I don't think the food had anything to do with it; I couldn't stand the thought of turkey anything when I finally got up. I even ran a second batch of dishes through the dishwasher just to make sure everything was clean and no longer smelled of turkey. In fact if it had even been close to the turkey, it went in the trash. Bleck!

So, that, the kitchen clean up and still being here this morning were my two primary accomplishments for the day.

Today, I don't think I'll even bother making plans. I'll do what I can when I can, and you'll just have to trust me on that.

I do know that from somewhere I have to get some dogfood. It will be a very small sized bag. I am not going to wrestle a big bag into my cart, into the van, and then into the house. THAT is just not going to happen today. But I have to get 'em some dogfood before nightfall.

Big plans, eh? Yeah.

Out of curiosity, I went and looked up "potassium rich foods". Boy, there are some weird things there. In my mind, two of the most useless vegetables in the world have always been celery and iceberg lettuce. Oddly enough these have a fairly high potassium content. Of course, to get the amount of potassium on the chart, you have to eat a WHOLE HEAD of iceberg lettuce. Who the heck does that? But, here's a fun fact: 3 dates a day or 4 glasses of prune juice will give you the MDR. I'm not sure who could drink 4 glasses of prune juice a day and live to tell the story, but I guess maybe there are folks who can.

In the alternative, you could have 7 teaspoons of baking soda a day. Or 8 cups of white chocolate. Hey, I wouldn't mind the white chocolate, but can you imagine eating 8 cups of the stuff a day and still being able to get through a standard door? I can't. Anyway, I thought I'd give you a look at the chart just for grins and giggles and your own education on the subject. I found this at: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/potassium-rich-foods-list-of-foods-high-in-potassium.html

 

There is a variety of fruits and vegetables that have a rich potassium content and can be easily included in the daily diet. Meat and poultry products also serve as good sources for potassium. Given below is a list of foods high in potassium along with their potassium content.

VEGETABLES

Food Common Measure
(Weight in gm) K Content
in mg
Tomato products, canned, paste, without salt added 1 cup (262) 2657
Beet greens, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (144) 1309
Potato, baked, flesh and skin, without salt 1 potato (202) 1081
Spinach, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (180) 839
Lettuce, iceberg, raw 1 head (539) 760
Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, without salt 1 potato (146) 694
Jerusalem artichokes, raw 1 cup (150) 644
Parsnips, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (156) 573
Pumpkin, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (245) 564
Mushrooms, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (156) 555
Beets, cooked, boiled, drained 1 cup (170) 519
Potatoes, boiled, cooked in skin, flesh, without salt 1 potato (136) 515
Brussels sprouts, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (156) 495
Broccoli, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (156) 457
Cucumber, with peel, raw 1 large (301) 442
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average 1 cup (180) 427
Celery, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (150) 426
Corn, sweet, yellow, canned 1 cup (210) 391
Carrots, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (156) 367
Sweet potato, cooked, boiled, without skin 1 potato (156) 359
Peppers, sweet, red, raw 1 cup (149) 314
Kale, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (130) 296
Peppers, sweet, green, raw 1 cup (149) 261
Onions, raw 1 cup (160) 234
Cauliflower, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (124) 176
Cabbage, raw 1 cup (70) 119

BEANS AND LEGUMES

Food Common Measure
(Weight in gm) K Content
in mg
Soybeans, green, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt 1 cup (180) 970
Lima beans, large, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt 1 cup (188) 945
Soybeans, mature, cooked, boiled, without salt 1 cup (172) 886
Pinto beans, mature, cooked, boiled, without salt 1 cup (171) 746
Lentils, mature, cooked, boiled, without salt 1 cup (198) 731
Kidney beans, red, mature, cooked, boiled, without salt 1 cup (177) 713
Peas, split, mature, cooked, boiled, without salt 1 cup (196) 710
Navy beans, mature, cooked, boiled, without salt 1 cup (182) 708
Black beans, mature, cooked, boiled, without salt 1 cup (172) 611
Chickpeas, mature, cooked, boiled, without salt 1 cup (164) 477

FRUITS

Food Common Measure
(Weight in gm) K Content
in mg
Plantains, raw 1 medium (179) 893
Papayas, raw 1 papaya (304) 781
Plantains, cooked 1 cup (154) 716
Squash, winter, all varieties, cooked, baked, without salt 1 cup (205) 494
Cantaloupe, raw 1 cup (160) 427
Bananas, raw 1 banana (118) 422
Pears, Asian, raw 1 pear (275) 333
Oranges, raw, all commercial varieties 1 cup (180) 326
Peaches, raw 1 cup (170) 323
Mangoes, raw 1 mango (207) 323
Watermelon, raw 1 wedge (286) 320
Strawberries, raw 1 cup (166) 254
Blackberries, raw 1 cup (144) 233
Ugli fruit (Jamaican tangelo), raw 1 medium (244) 200
Avocados, raw, California 1 oz. (28.35) 144

DRY FRUITS AND NUTS

Food Common Measure
(Weight in gm) K Content
in mg
Dates, deglet noor 1 cup (178) 1168
Raisins, seedless 1 cup (145) 1086
Nuts, chestnuts, European, roasted 1 cup (143) 847
Apricots, dried, sulfured, uncooked 10 halves (35) 407
Coconut meat, dried (desiccated), sweetened, shredded 1 cup (93) 313
Prunes, uncooked 5 prunes (42) 307
Pistachio nuts, dry roasted, with salt added 1 oz. (28.35) 295
Almonds 1 oz. (28.35) 200

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Food Common Measure
(Weight in gm) K Content
in mg
Milk, canned, condensed, sweetened 1 cup (306) 1135
Yogurt, plain, skim milk, 13 grams protein per 8 ounce 8 oz. (227) 579
Yogurt, plain, low fat, 12 grams protein per 8 ounce 8 oz. (227) 531
Buttermilk, fluid, cultured, low-fat 1 cup (245) 370
Milk, fluid, 1% or 2 % fat, with added vitamin A 1 cup (244) 366
Yogurt, plain, whole milk, 8 grams protein per 8 ounce 8 oz. (224) 352
Milk, whole, 3.25% fat 1 cup (244) 349
Cheese, ricotta, whole milk 1 cup (246) 258
Cheese, cottage, low-fat, 2% fat 1 cup (226) 217

MEAT PRODUCTS

Food Common Measure
(Weight in gm) K Content
in mg
Halibut, Atlantic and Pacific, cooked, dry heat ½ fillet (159) 916
Rockfish, Pacific, mixed species, cooked, dry heat 1 fillet (149) 775
Haddock, cooked, dry heat 1 fillet (150) 599
Salmon, sockeye, cooked, dry heat ½ fillet (155) 581
Duck, meat only, cooked, roasted ½ duck (221) 557
Crab, blue, canned 1 cup (135) 505
Tuna, yellowfin, fresh, cooked, dry heat 3 oz. (85) 484
Cod, Pacific, cooked, dry heat 3 oz. (85) 439
Turkey, meat only, cooked, roasted 1 cup (140) 417
Ham, sliced, extra lean 2 slices (56.7) 368
Chicken, broilers or fryers, light meat, meat only, cooked, fried 3 oz. (84) 221

BEVERAGES

Food Common Measure
(Weight in gm) K Content
in mg
Prune juice, canned 1 cup (256) 707
Carrot juice, canned 1 cup (236) 689
Vanilla thick shake 11 fl. oz. (313) 573
Tomato juice, canned, with salt added 1 cup (243) 556
Orange juice, raw 1 cup (248) 496
Grapefruit juice, white or pink, raw 1 cup (247) 400

OTHERS
Food Common Measure
(Weight in gm) K Content
in mg
Baking powder, low-sodium 1 tsp. (5) 505
Cream of tartar 1 tsp. (3) 495
White chocolate 1 cup (170) 486
Wheat flour, whole-grain 1 cup (120) 486
Rice, white, long-grain, parboiled, enriched, dry 1 cup (185) 346
Baking chocolate, squares 1 square (28.35) 235

Potassium is naturally found in fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy products. However, in special cases like athletes and people who are engaged in excessive physical activity, it is encouraged to consume electrolyte drinks and potassium supplements to compensate for the electrolytes lost through sweat.

Including a combination of any of the above-mentioned high-potassium foods can help you meet the daily potassium intake requirement of 4.7 gm. The ideal way is to prepare a personal diet plan that includes all the vital nutrients in the right amounts.

I haven't figured out what the number in parenthesis, near the end of each item means, but the last number is the amount of potassium in the given measure (1 cup, 1 tsp, 1 head of iceberg) of food specified. For example, 1 cup of canned prune juice yields 707 milligrams of potassium.

 

I wanted to note for you too that I have some sources that say the MDR for potassium is 3 grams while this says 4.5. Hey, come on now, that's just a couple more heads of iceberg lettuce, right?

 

Someday, when I have nothing better to do with my time, I am going to sit down and figure out how many 50 pound bags of food I'd have to eat to get every nutrient in sufficient quantity to achieve the MDR of everything measured. I'm thinking I'd need a squad of hefty young Marines to lug it all in each day. Like that's gonna happen........LOL.

 

So far, I'm doing okay. I think I will try to bathe and do a few things around here while the time is right. YOU be BLESSED today, and, PLEASE, keep me in prayer. God's got this; it's just a matter of time. But I'm not getting much done while the time passes........

 

 

Another Pinterest cooking experiment.........

So, a few weeks ago, I ran across a recipe for "old fashioned rice pudding" and pinned it. I am utterly shocked at how many times that recipe has been repinned. I mean, "old fashioned rice pudding" isn't new or "hot". But, given the interest in the recipe, I finally decided to give it a try.

It is really good. I was happy that it was not cloyingly sweet, which is how I remember rice pudding. I thought it had a bit more nutmeg than I would have preferred, but the combined smell of nutmeg and vanilla baking sure perfumed my kitchen!

Here are the ingredients: 1/3 cup uncooked rice, 4 cups milk (scalded), 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp nutmeg, 2 Tablespoons butter, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

The instructions go like this: put all of the ingredients into a flat baking dish and bake at 300 degrees for 1.5 hours or until pudding is thick and creamy, not dry. You are also supposed to stir, with a fork, every 15 minutes, scraping down the browned bits from around the edges and mixing them in as you go along.

I had some trouble with the recipe, and I am convinced it is due to the variation in oven temps. We were going nowhere fast. Nothing was getting browned and the "pudding" was more like soup and making no discernible progress. Well, finally at 1 hour and 15 minutes, I turned my oven up to 325. That seemed to be what was needed, although it took another half hour at the higher temperature before the pudding actually came to the consistency of pudding.

Anyway, I thought the final product was really tasty. And the texture was good. Somehow, I expected more browning, but that didn't happen. I just might be tempted to slip the baking dish under the broiler for a minute or two next time. And, yes, there WILL be a next time.

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be doing low carb. And mostly, I am. And, rice isn't low carb. However, you remember that I've decided I WILL eat what I own. I am not going to throw stuff away because it's not low carb. I had a 20# bag of Basmati rice. I did give a good bit to my DD months and months ago. Then I cleaned out the pantry and found more! So, yes, I have a WHOLE lot of rice. And, I'm going to eat it, though I will pick and choose my times to do so.

Today, I had Greek yogurt with a bit of honey for lunch and steamed cauliflower with cheese sauce for dinner. That is a pretty low carb day! So, I figured today would be an okay day to make "old fashioned rise pudding" and even eat some. I'm glad I did.

Today was upload day for a new kit at ACOT. The back to school kit is now in the store. For a while there, I was pretty busy. I had uploads going, I was being messaged on Facebook, AND I had a phone call in the middle of it. I used to pride myself on my ability to "multi-task", but these days I find it better to tackle fewer things at a time.

Well, I'm not going to hang around. I've spent a lot of the day deleting e-mails and doing backups and I still have a LOT of both to do. See ya on the flip side.

 

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Eating myself into oblivion........

Today I decided to throw together a one pot thing I used to make way back when I was first married. Somehow, over the years, this recipe faded from my memory. But, when I was making that onepot cabbage-roll-less stuff (recipe is linked up below), I remembered this. I've been wanting to make it again ever since.

It is definitely NOT fancy. But, if you're doing a low carb lifestyle, you'll love it. I have a hunch you could cook some pasta (maybe elbow maccaroni) separately and mix in with this if you really want the carbs or if you feel you need to extend it.

I used a large onion, about 1 1/4 pound of Italian sausage (I opted for the mild) and one head of cabbage.

First, I removed the sausage from the casing and dumped it all in the bottom of a 5 quart dutch oven. I started it browning while I chopped the onion. I dumped the chopped onion in next. I then chopped up the cabbage and dumped it into the same pot. Of course, I used my spatula to break up the sausage into bite-sized pieces and stirred this mixture from time to time as I was chopping. Once the cabbage was in the pot, I added about 4 cups of water. I think you could also use chicken broth, but I'd probably go with unsalted.......

I added some garlic powder. I didn't measure it, just added what looked right. I'd guess less than a teaspoon. And about the same amount of dried red peppers. I put the lid on the pot and let it cook for about 15 minutes. Then I served it up in a bowl and garnished it with some parmesan cheese.

Salt is not my friend. So, I am pretty conservative with it. You could certainly add some salt and pepper to taste, but there's salt in the sausage, so taste it first!

I would guess this made about 2.5 quarts. The 5 quart dutch oven was about half full before I pulled my serving out.

I am happy to say that the sausage did not render much fat at all. That surprised me a bit. When you're doing low carb, you don't really worry about fat, but still....... Less fat is less calories, n'cest pas?

Anyway for an inexpensive meal, this works. If you eat carbs, you couldn't beat serving this with some nice fresh Italian bread and butter--nice way to soak up the very tasty juice. This is also the kind of thing that will taste even more flavorful tomorrow so leftovers are good!

I haven't exactly been my most productive so far today, but not a total slouch either. I have dealt with a lot of unwanted e-mail. I did some general kitchen clean up. I also decided to clean out the top shelf of the fridge. I cleaned the rest of the fridge a couple of weeks ago, but I knew there were some science projects on the top shelf I definitely needed to get to. And I went back to dusting, giving that once-I-was-lost-but-now-I'm-found mini blind another going over. Still not "clean" but cleaner..... And, I washed a load of dark clothes which means I'm pretty well caught up on washing.

It is so darned hot in here. I have been trying to survive with the thermostat set at 78. But, the thermostat is in the hallway, away from windows, etc. This room is the farthest from the a/c unit and is traditionally the hottest in the house, particularly in the afternoons. It is living up to tradition today! I hate to think I'm going to have to lower the thermostat to survive. When it's 106 outside, lowering the thermostat even 1 degree can be costly. But, I just might have to do that to survive!

I'm gonna refugee to the east end of the house. Later.....

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Onward

Well, finally, last night I had to give in and put the back brace on.  However, I did manage to do some laundry last night and will go throw another load in the washer as soon as I finish here.  And, I did finish up some tax returns and got them printed, assembled, checked and ready to go last night, so not too bad a showing, considering.

This morning, I'm a bit sore.  I'll keep an eye on that and if it gets worse, it'll be back to the back brace again.  But, all in all, I'm mobile and that's good news.  Now I can begin to try to pull this place back together.

I would love to run the vacuum cleaner, but I'm afraid the push-pull action would not be too good.  So, that will wait one more day.  I do intend to wash the entry way floor.  There's nasty spilled coffee there........  And, it looks like I'm going to need to dust the tables in the living room again.  It's only been 4 days, but you can write your name in the dust so I need to get on that job.  Joe did finally change out the intake filter, I think, so that should help the dust problem for a few days.  I'd like to dust the bedroom, but that is not likely.  Joe will be asleep in there and by the time he gets up I'll have to start getting ready for work.  I usually make sure I go in on Thursdays to have payroll ready for Friday.  However, I stupidly scheduled myself into a full afternoon for Thursday so unless I want to go in really late or really early, I have to go today. 

Yesterday was another day of computer woes.  At 5:01AM something hit the puter and locked her up.  Probably someone's automatic upload to update software.  Anyway, it took me until after 11:30AM to get it up and going.  Six hours lost........  I even had to do a system restore--twice--to get it going.  That was really scary.  In theory it restored from an earlier point in time.  There was some danger I would lose programs.  I figured if I lost anything it would be Backblaze which I am trying out for off site backup instead of Mozy.  That was the last program I installed.  Oddly enough, it was Norton that I had to re-install as well as one of my printers.  And people wonder why I'm so paranoid and want off-site backup......

So far, I'm liking Backblaze.  It really does run seamlessly in the background.  I've had it running now for 8 or 9 days and not once have I had to fight it for control of my computer.  Unfortunately, I think it is slower than Mozy.  It looks as though it's going to take a LONG time to complete the initial backup.  That leaves the computer "exposed" and I'm not really thrilled with that.  So, I'm doing my manual backups to my spare EHD religiously.  Got to try to keep the bases covered.

So Jennifer sent me a link to a fresh produce site.  She bought in and really liked what she got.  Apparently you don't get a lot of choice, just whatever is in season.  But it's fresh, not picked before its prime and shipped across country.  It costs $15 each time and each time you get 6 pounds of fresh veggies and 6 pounds of fruit.  I'm still on the fence about it.  I think I can match or better the price by buying at Sunflower market.  Of course, I doubt the items would be as fresh.  I've got to think about it a bit more.  Jennifer was very happy with what she got and forwarded some other positive comments to me as well.  They seem to have the same deal in Washington state, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona so I'll post the link for anyone who might be interested.  http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/  Jennifer got blueberries with her last purchase which are very high on the list of favorites for Atticus.  Unfortunately, Dakota, their dog, got into the blueberries and then threw up on their carpet....  I always knew there was a reason why I love having a door between my kitchen and the rest of the house.  With three large dogs, I can just imagine the size of the messes they'd make if they got access to the room where the food is stored!  

So, have you been following the controversy between Israel and the US?  Apparently we are very unhappy that Israel has decided to build 1600 apartments homes in an area of Jerusalem that is not even in contention with the Palestinians.  To quote Gary Bauer, who just happened to be in Jerusalem at the same time as our "esteemed" Vice President:  ""What we're seeing here is that Iran is building nuclear weapons and the administration has infinite patience. Israel tries to build homes for its citizens, and the Obama administration goes ballistic."  What else can we expect from a President who ignores the National Day of Prayer, but kicks his shoes off and kneels in prayer with the Muslims.  After all, America is "not a Christian nation", right?  Nor is it a country founded on Judeo-Christian values, I suppose.  I think it's just grand that we've decided to tell Israel how to handle things when our own consular employees are being shot up after attending a children's birthday party just south of the border.  And to think, this same President who wants to tell Israel what it can and can't do in its own territory named violence on the Mexican border a "top priority".  UmHmmm.  After all only 13 people were killed the other week in tourist-y Acapulco, 4 of them beheaded......  Top priority, my ass.....

Well, I need to get off my soapbox and get on with my day.  Hope yours is good!