Morning Cup Of Coffee And Weather

Ah yes, I also got the pecan pie duty this year. We got an invite to the out-laws for turkey day, and when ever we go there, that is the requested bring along. Since it is also my favorite, I don't mind making a couple for the get together, and sometimes a small personal pie at the same time, in case there are no left overs. mmm mmm good!

 

Terri cooked our Turkey in her new Ninja Pressure Cooker with an Air Fryer option while camping at Silver Springs. She used the air fryer feature at the end of the cooking cycle for a crispy skin on the outside while keeping the inside moist. That is sage on top of the turkey breast.

 

Wow, a pressure cooker/air fryer...that's some serious camp cooking! Hope it tasted as good as it looks!!

 

There was speculation that Nov. '23 could be the first in recorded hx of no snowfall for that month in the Mpls area, but that fear was put to rest last night when about an inch covered the metro area....about a 1/4" here in the Mora area.

 

An inch of snow overnight and now another inch today and it’s still snowing.

 

I wonder if the difference is Brachs --- perhaps it was the brand difference.

I made the 'mistake' of finding a copycat recipe for Fanny May Caramels a couple of years ago. Soft, buttery, and sweet. Yum. My grandma always had a few of these stashed away when I was a kid. The recipe was not a terrible amount of work, yet too much for "ordinary" times.

The pies turned out magnificently this year I'll make a couple more for Christmas, and maybe some pumpkin desserts between now and next weekend, which is the beginning of advent.... the penitential season before Christmas, which has by and large been forgotten about.

Back to sweets, I stopped eating all sugar about a decade ago, and when I 'fell off the wagon' I realized that things just didn't taste as good, at least as good as I remembered. Of course, I used to like Bosco too

Its not just kraft camels....I can safely say most of the sweets I enjoyed as a kid have suffered, even the venerable Hershey bar seems waxy. It all began, probably, when the introduction of HFCS. It is still probably a good thing that I'm not too fond of the taste -- diabetes not only runs in our culture, but it gallops. Perhaps this is extending my life by a few years.

 

Those "personal Pies" of which you speak --- those ae about 10 inches right? This is a once or twice-a-year thing for me. Maybe 3. Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

I"ll pay for last weeks gluttony with a week of cravings; sometimes, you've just got to say "What the heck..." Back to one meal a day, no grains and sugar....here we go...back on the wagon.

We've not had any yet here. Some frosty mornings, but we're still hovign at overnight lows of 30. The pellet stove has been running for a couple days now. I'll probably turn the heat settings up in the coming days, we've got overnight lows in the 20s that should get here by later in the week then a little bounce.

I'm just not ready to put the camper up yet. This summer went by FAR too quickly.

 

No, if it's made at all, it is in a 3-4" ramekin type dish, or an aluminum pot pie tin at most. I too also make them usually once a year, or rarely twice, for a family get-together, and even more rarely a "personal pie", even though you wouldn't know it by looking at me (as you have).
I have been heavy most of my life, and have tried most diets out there, and rode the roller coaster of weight control way too many times. I'm convinced that the body has a set weight that it fights to maintain no matter what you do to change it. I decided to get off that roller coaster, and quit fighting myself about 15 years ago, and I have stayed withing about a 10 lb weight range ever since then. Usually on the high end during the fall/winter holidays, and on the low end as spring/summer activities start. I've accepted the fact that I'm never going to be Joe 6 pack, and am unwilling to beat myself up, or deny myself some of the simple pleasures in life trying to attain it. I do try to keep those pleasures balanced and within reason however.
I saw this philosophy, by an unknown author, written down a while back, and found it kind of refreshing and a little liberating.
"Life is short, and isn't meant to come to and end in a pretty, well preserved body, but rather skidding in sideways, totally used up, with a candy bar in one hand, and a bottle of wine in the other proclaiming "Yahoo! what a ride!"

 

I mostly agree. Some triggers cause me problems. You can eat yourself into a horrible state. I was 300 pounds and miserable because if choices I made -- too much pizza, pasta, pancakes, cinnamon rolls....hmmm....cinnamon...

Back to the point --- I used keto to reverse that and get back to healthy weight....but after I attained that weight, I avoided the nasty stuff...but mostly stayed in a zone. I'll hover around 225, eating what most people wouldn't notice as a "highly unusual" diet.

I overdid it in the past few months, mostly eating the pain of ailing parents and job stress...now I have to pay that tax again, but once I do...I'll be back in the 225 range +/- 5 pounds or so.

The sad part is, at 6' 3" and 205 pounds....the "gubmint" still said I was overweight. I was a stick. Their numbers are untenable. One of those doctors told me the "only protein I should ever eat was boiled skinless chicken" Broiled I said? No -- boiled. I fired him on the spot.

Don't get me started on Statins and the statistics number manipulation they used to get 36%. (Association Between Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Reduction and Relative and Absolute Effects of Statin Treatment)

EDIT: A doctor explaining this study far better than I can.

 

Thanks Sweeney!
I'm a big guy too, working on getting it down.
I sent my new young PCP internist the links with a request to talk.
Being blond, squarehead, and old I need to hoard every brain cell I have left!
"Where did I leave my keys again?
Why did I come in this room?
Oh well ya sure you betcha"

 

Minus four as I sip my Folgers. The forecast was for three above but it’s always colder on Timms Hill.

D43D1E86-CAEB-452E-9FDD-A5E9784BD4AB by Tour 931 posted Nov 28, 2023 at 5:06 AM

 

If you suffer with brain fade -- look at keto. The "brain fog" lifts fairly quickly. Plus, lets face it, bacon & eggs every day isn't a bad thing I'm getting 'back on the wagon' --- it will be interesting to see how much of the memory issues I am dealing with now are "Caregiver Fatigue" versus "SAD --- Standard American Diet" related.

You just made me shiver sympathetically. We're sitting at about 15 with a very light dusting (just enough to see it on the shingles of our neighbors house) -- I'm wishing I could get some place warm. My inner dialog this morning sounds a lot like the late Jimmy Buffet's "Boat Drinks" -- So far, the freezer is safe.

This is the kind of day I wish I had a wooden paneled study, with a fireplace, and a big picture window looking out on a tree lined property, with a barn in the distance where I could read a book, watch a movie, and watch the horses in the pasture...

 

It’s 68 degrees in the house and I get to look out at the frozen tundra in comfort. I love it here being retired. Maybe if I had to venture out into it to go to work I might feel different.

 

I thought I would get a jump on it for next spring.

 

Know your keto journey My headaches, backaches, heartburn, and little 'aches' melt away in about two weeks once you start. It takes about a month, and you'll get a boost of energy and endurance. Skipping meals is trivial. Today, I still generally only eat once or twice a day. If I miss one of those, Its just 'slightly' uncomfortable. Never HANGRY.

I found a lot of keto alternatives...so I may not get chocolate cake (though there are some recipes that use non-grain flour, I just don't like them) but the occasional fat bomb takes the places of a candy bar, and my wife has perfected a lot of deserts.

I never felt like I was giving up anything....except headaches, backaches, heartburn, and little 'aches'.

BTW, my blood pressure went to 120/80 and my A1C dropped to well below 5.

We were keto nazi's for about 5 years....sadly its camping chow that makes it the 'hardest' --- S'mores and the pitch-in's are a huge challenge.

 

Just as a note on Cholesterol Numbers -- they are kind of made up. Dr. Adam Nally (Doc Muscles) and a number of podcasters have talked about HDL and LDL --- and your LDL is really the one that sort of matters...maybe. The HDL (g00d / Light Fluffly) will go up on keto. Its important to understand the ratios and functions.

The real shine on cholesterol has come about after Pharma became interested in statins --- which opens up a whole other can of worms, and demonstrated manipulation of study numbers. I'm not expert in the field --- I just tknow I"m convinced that just like the TV show "Whos line is it anyway?" --- "...where everything's made up and the points don't matter" ---- I REALLY want accountability on this issue.

Dr. Ken Berry (https://www.youtube.com/@KenDBerryMD) has gone deep into this topic several times, as as Dr. Nally (https://www.youtube.com/@DocMuscles) and many others.

Perhaps a thread of camping keto recipes is in order --- I'll have to bug Mrs. Sweeney to see if I can get her to share a few