Tuesday, October 12, 2010

1/2 SICK DAY

Still could not put in a full day of work. I worked from home but spent so much time hacking and coughing it makes me wonder if my co-workers will want me around tomorrow.

My voice sounds like a growling bear so I am sure that my customers on the phone won't know if I am a man or a woman.

Anyway...as I sit here my homemade granola is baking in a slow oven. As this is an experimental batch I am keeping it small:

4 C oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup coconut
1/4 cup raisins
1/8 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey

In a wok I heated the oil and honey with a pinch of salt and stirred until they were mixed. I turned off the heat and mixed the rest of the ingredients and stirred well. I preheated the oven to 300 degrees and placed the wok in the oven. I set the timer for 15 minutes and then stir well. I repeat this last step until it looks toasted (update with photo of granola cooling)



I got a call from the doctor today and was told I have a severely low Vitamin D level...so low they are putting me on 50000 ul of vitamin D a week for 3 months. I also have a very low potasium level. So I have to eat raisins and bananas and I started an ultra multivitamin today.

So the homemade granola is a step toward the potasium level going up...served with skim milk and 1/4 sliced banana each morning and it should be quite filling.

While the cereal is baking, I am separating my garlic cloves getting ready to plant them.



As the saying goes: a clove a day keeps the cold away

I started a bottle of grape soda. I am excited to see if this one is as good as the ginger ale.



I also put about 1/2 pound of pinto beans in to soak. Tomorrow I will put them in the crock pot to slow cook all day. when I come home I will make a pot of chili for dinner. The left overs will go into jars and get canned. I will be using some of my newly purchased garlic as well as the peppers from the plant I moved to the front porch. Both plants are thriving and producing lots of peppers even though I yanked them out of the grown (not too gently).





I am grilling chicken breasts on the grill.



And I am making baked potatos in the pressure cooker. Dinner should be yummy tonight.

4 comments:

Faith said...

Wow, you really are sick. I'm so sorry. I hope you get better very soon!

I had not made my own granola in many, many years. Recently I tried it twice, no recipe, and both times the batches burned - not black, but that overly-toasted dark brown that no longer tastes good.

I kept the heat low, and stirred, but still burned. Maybe it's the ingredients I used or did not use.

I have a lot of trouble with irregular heartbeat. It can get pretty bad sometimes. Most of it is remedied by adding in potassium and magnesium to my diet. The two best sources are dried (not fresh, drying them increases the content) apricots and bananas. I can literally make the arrhythmia go away inside of a day by eating them. So the natural source is a good one.

I'm preparing to bring in my peppers from the garden this or next week. I harvested 300 dollars worth of bell peppers yesterday. Doing a lot of slicing and freezing last night and today.

I'm really surprised you have low D levels. You love to be outdoors and you're in a southern, sunny climate. I try to be outside with bare skin as much as possible. The difference I feel in myself is incredible.

Great post. :o)

~Faith

Tracy Bruring said...

300 in peppers??? wow that is very cool. I am excited for you. I didn't get many bells this year; only jalapenos and banana peppers did well here. I have an irregular heart also and take meds for it. But maybe if I ate healthier I wouldn't need them?

On the granola you may have needed a little more oil to coat and protect the ingredients? I ate this for breakfast this morning and it was amazing! I am so excited it makes me look forward to breakfast.

I was wondering how dried bananas taste...not the kind at the store soaked in sugar and oil but made at home kind. I will try it with a couple of the ones from the store and if they turn out good i will start buying up the overripe ones at the store.

thank you faith!

Faith said...

Yup. We priced them at the store after picking. The red ones are 1.98, and the green ones 1.10. Can you believe it?

I did not want to use oil. So I'm guessing that was the problem with the granola. LOL So much for making it up as I go along. I better use a recipe.

Homemade dried bananas - I never dry them til crisp. Not sure if they'd come out the same - seems a strange texture that doesn't really happen at home. I wonder if those chips are actually freeze dried, giving them that airy, crunchy texture. The home dried ones are sweet and chewy. Yummy!

You can't go wrong buying up those old bananas at the store. I love to do that and dry them right away. They never last around here. 6 bunches are gone inside of a few days. LOL

~Faith

Anonymous said...

Vitamin D deficiency is apparently the hot button thing these days in women - nearly every woman who has blood work done is told to start taking vitamin D supplements.

Still catching up, but can't wait to find out how the grape soda turns out! (And if it's good, I want the recipe :-))