What Did You Eat?

No "Old People" Candy, Please!

There was a moment on the old Roseanne show where she explained to one of her daughters why the dead walk around on Halloween night.  "It's for the candy," she explained.  Well, I wonder if the dead have candy preferences?  The children who've come to my door over the years certainly do.  The brands that I preferred as a child--Snickers, Milky Way, Tootsie Roll--are often termed "old people" candy.   I've actually had kids complain about or refuse the aforementioned brands.  Instead, they like candy that does special things.    Several years ago, I handed out Mentos and wondered why they caused trick or treaters to scream, "She's got Mentos!"   Later, I learned they put them in soda, causing mini gushers of foam to spew out of the can.  And I recently witnessed several children go berserk when they saw Pop Rocks at the grocery store. So, this year, I have candy the kids clamor for when they come here on Halloween, Pop Rocks and Eye Balls.  And I'll throw in some Snickers for their parents. There's also some cheap peanut butter kisses that act as a backup, for when I run out of the good stuff. We get hundreds of kids each year.

WCB: Are You Ready For Halloween?

This year I'm going to skip Trick or Treating. I'm going to kick back and watch Dancing With The Stars or some other horror show.   I told Mom she should tie off my arm and stick one of my syringes in my skin and let me go out like that.  But, she didn't see the humor in that. 

This is my second week on insulin and the shots don't hurt at all.  My pretty Vet is still testing my blood to see what dosage my insulin should be. 

Presto Pasta Night: Orecchiette With Radicchio, Feta Cheese, and Walnuts

My family moved to Illinois when I was 12 years old.  We lived in a sub-division called Buffalo Grove, a tiny place which gradually expanded into a huge entity.  We quickly became friends with a second generation Italian-American family across the street.  I loved spaghetti and meatballs, along with lasagna and ravioli, the only Italian food I recognized, so it was a treat to eat at their house.  One day my mother told me our new friends ate spaghetti in many different ways, even serving it mixed with peas.  I was flabbergasted.  Peas?  I couldn't imagine such a thing.  Of course, in time I came to love pasta combined with vegetables.  I still love tomato sauce, but I'm more likely to cook pasta with vegetables, a bit of cheese, herbs, and olive oil.  And I discovered that freshly shelled peas are marvelous tossed with good pasta and parmesan cheese.

WHB: Chicken And Tomatillo Stew (Cumin)

Tomatillos had me the first time I laid eyes on them.  Who can resist their appearance, with the papery covering on each one, like a gift ready to be unwrapped?  And once unwrapped, they add a delicious  tangy taste to sauces and stews.  As soon as I saw a pile of them at the grocery store, I decided to make this stew. The original recipe calls for pork loin, but I decided to use boneless chicken thighs that I had on hand instead.  The resulting stew was delicious and comforting, improving as it aged, so it's the type of dish that can be made a day ahead and will taste better.  It's low in fat, filling, and full of healthy veggies.  It also has cumin in it, one of my favorite spices. But, we'll call it an herb this week, to qualify for Weekend Herb Blogging, created by the fabulous Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen, but hosted this week by the very talented Pille at Nami Nami.  She will have a round-up of herby recipes posted on Monday, so don't forget to check out her site.

Presto Pasta Night: Recovering From The Most Dangerous Bread In The World

My last post on Tuesday featured Hi-Rise's Cornbread.  Little did I know that I would spend the following two days eating that infernal bread in as many ways as possible. I ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with as many snacks as possible.  I had tomato sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, toad in the hole, and lots and lots of toast, lavishly buttered.  I told myself to stop.  I couldn't. I gained 3 pounds.  Meanwhile, as I was engaged in this orgy of eating, Tanna, who also made the very same bread, was fighting her own battle with the cornbread. Please go to her site and see pictures of what she made with the bread.  It's remarkably similar to my own path of destruction, but she possesses more self control than me, since pausing to take a picture while I was in the process of inhaling a tomato sandwich never occurred to me. 

Finally, the bread was gone, and I immediately thought of making more.  But, I pulled myself together (after weighing myself), and decided it was time to get serious. I needed to make something filling, but low calorie.  And since Presto Pasta Night was looming, it should have a modest amount of pasta.

World Bread Day: Hi-Rise's Cornbread

I missed last year's World Bread Day hosted by the lovely Zorra at Kochtopf, so I was determined to take part this year.  And I wanted to use this as an opportunity to try out a new recipe.  One of my favorite books on bread is Artisan Baking Across America by Maggie Glazer.  It's full of wonderful breads, and even though the book occupies a place of honor in my bookcase, I've never made a single one.  One bread in the book that I've wanted to make is the Hi-Rise Bread Company's cornbread. A yeast bread with cornmeal and freshly cut corn kernels, it took me all day to produce two marvelous loaves of fragrant bread loaded with corn flavor.  The crust on the bread is so similar to the cornbread my family makes, I felt quite homesick as I ate it.  Because this is a yeast bread, it's lighter than traditional cornbread and makes great toast and sandwiches.

WHB Anniversary: Potato Fritters With Sweet Pepper Relish (Cilantro)

Well, here it is--the second anniversary of Weekend Herb Blogging at Kalyn's Kitchen!  My, how it has grown since Kalyn first started it.   She's done a splendid job, and it's been so much fun to see how this event, and her blog, has evolved in such a short period of time.  I wanted to make something special for the celebration, and spent several days looking at my favorite cookbooks and magazines. This year Kalyn suggested we do something with an herb and at least one vegetable, a Double Delish recipe.  Finally, it came down to Deborah Madison's recipe for Potato Fritters and Sweet Pepper Relish. It was the perfect way for me to celebrate WHB, as I haven't had potatoes in quite a while, and my Irish genes were suffering. The recipe also includes my favorite herb, cilantro, as well as quite a few vegetables.  The fritters contain scallions and the confetti cut relish is full of sweet yellow and red peppers.  I think this fulfills the Double Delish requirement, it was certainly delicious.

WCB: Can You Believe This?

Mom went to a place called the pharmacy and brought back two boxes with my name on them.  I love gifts, but they don't look like any gift I would ever want.  Mom says it's the "gift of life".  And it was expensive, since I'm not allowed on her medical insurance.  What's up with that???    I think the big box has strange sticks with needles on the end.  I gather that they will be plunged into my body twice a day, and some kind of diabetes medicine will be squirted into my body.  I heard mom talking to my pretty Vet, and on Monday something big is going down at the Vet Clinic.  I think they are going to stick those needle thingies into me  and take blood samples all day long!!!!!!! 

Well, to take my mind off of all this, I'm hosting WCB this week.  If you want to take part, just leave a link to your site in the comments. Or, you can e-mail your link to me at upsiefan (AT) yahoo (DOT) com.  Please mention our blog in your post and link it to your blog, pretty please.   Mom is really busy right now (she got more squirrels and is going loco, if you ask me), so she is going to add the links from people taking part in WCB as she gets them, and in between feeding the squirrels.

Don't forget to join Kashim and Othello at the Bad Kitty Cat Festival Of Chaos, Carnival of the Cats, and the Friday Ark.  

Without further ado, here are this week's participants:

Presto Pasta Night: Spaghetti With Arugula And Goat Cheese

I should have called this Memory Loss pasta.  Alzheimer's runs in my family, and once you have that hanging over your head, even minor memory lapses can give you pause.  This recipe should have included mushrooms and Italian parsley, but I forgot to take my grocery list when I went shopping.  That left me trying to jump start the recipe in my mind as I perused the produce section at the store.  I intended to include beautiful wild mushrooms in the dish, but walked right past them.  Cheetos always yell "Buy me dummy," when I walk past them, but the shy mushrooms said nary a word.  As a result, this is a very simple recipe, just pasta, garlic, arugula, and goat cheese.  Fortunately, that's all you need to have a delicious meal.  I'll make this with the mushrooms someday, but it was fine this way.  I was fortunate to receive a huge bag of organic baby arugula from my friend Nancy, and I always love the peppery taste it gives to  pasta.  The goat cheese added its own creamy tang, so the pasta was full of flavor.  And this is a fairly low fat dish, with the dark greens the nutrition experts want us to eat.

WHB: Spinach And Feta Cheese Yeast Bread (With Nutmeg)

I thought of calling this Popeye's Bread.  I'm assuming that most people watched some Popeye cartoons when they were younger, rejoicing when he gained spectacular strength to defeat his enemies after eating canned spinach.  I ate canned spinach once, dreadful slimy stuff, so it's clear that Popeye was no foodie.  This bread is loaded with lots of spinach and feta cheese, so if you like those flavors, this is the bread for you.  Dense and filling, a little goes a long way.  I enjoyed it immensely, and used it to make a sandwich with the dwindling tomatoes from my garden.

There's a small amount of nutmeg in the bread, so I think it qualifies for Weekend Herb Blogging, which was created by the amazing Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen.  Nutmeg is actually a spice, but Kalyn is flexible on these matters.  You may have noticed that mace and nutmeg have similar flavors, with good reason.  Mace is a lacey web covering the nutmeg seed, which grows into an evergreen tree found in Asia and Australia.

By the way, next week is the start of the two year anniversary for WHB. So, don't be left out of the big event.  Go to Kalyn's site and learn how to take part. But, this week the lovely Haalo at Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once is hosting WHB. She always has gorgeous pictures on her site, so check them out.