Mysstwalker

Tonight's dinner - steamed rice with scallions and a drizzle of sesame oil, topped with spinach sauteed with garlic and bacon, and two six-minute soft boiled eggs.

And a pic of tonight's dinner, please excuse my lack of photo and plating skills. Daughter brought out some of the last Reed avocados with her when she flew out for Christmas. I knew there was a reason I loved that kid! Tonight's avocado weighed just under 18 ounces so fiance and i split one to eat with our salad. Butter lettuce, leftover ribeye sliced, eggs, tomatoes, shredded cheese, perfect after the heavy holiday foods.

Finally remembered to take a picture so here is last nights dinner, first time making ramen at home! Not the best picture, my phone isnt that great, but wow, I love homemade ramen now!

We sampled some of their beef sirloin tamales today, and they were really good, so some came home with us. I have had a gastric bypass, so very small stomach, so for me, going to Costco is like going out for lunch only free!

Costco Rotisserie Chicken Salad is like crack for me, I dont know why but it is just amazing. We finally renewed our membership since we got a price break from Tyson, so we are going tomorrow, first Costco trip in 3 years, I cant wait!!

I could never find a commercial bacon that we really liked, so i started curing and smoking my own. I can slice as thin or as thick as I want and flavor it how I want. I was already curing my own corned beef and smoking it for pastrami so not much of a sidetrip. The only commercial bacon I would buy is Burgers Smokehouse steak cut bacon. its not bad at all.

We tried it, could have done without the cheese but otherwise very tasty. DH works for Tyson who is the processor for making Arby's roast beef and other meats. Yesterday he brought home a 10 pound piece of Arby's roast beef that was already cooked. Hopefully Tyson will give employees some of that pork belly next month!

Bought them, tried them. I took one bite, started to chew, then sent it and the rest of the Twinkie to the trash can. These were the chocolate creme ones, they coat these in some kind of crispy crumb stuff. They tasted like they were going rancid and the texture was horrifying. Battered and deep fried Twinkies are awesome, these were sad, bad, and a waste of tastebuds.

My Aldis is less than a block away from Walmart, and it is always busy. I think ours is a tad smaller than where you went but its always sparkling clean and well-stocked. Especially on a day where I have had enough of people and hate to think of having to go to Walmart, I know I can go to Aldi's and have a nice calm shopping experience instead of being surrounded by a surplus of rude and stupid.

Then you actually arent that far from me, only about 95 miles! I live in a very small town called Hamilton, we just finally now have a population of over 300, we are getting to be a real metropolis here lol.

Well, it turned out to be a good day, but it was so incredibly hot and humid! I had shared a space with my best friend, we set up an L shaped table arrangement, she had her crochet items on one, then I had my food items set up on the other, and it was great because it was air-conditioned! I ended up selling everything, some people bought a dozen of each. The bierocks were filled with beef and cabbage and white cheddar. I came home with a little salsa and empty pans! I took some pictures when I was making them, and a couple at the event, but I didnt get pictures of the bierocks this time because it was just me and half the time I was covered with dough lol, but I shall post the ones that are halfway decent since a) I am using a sucky camera on a phone and b) when it comes to any kind of plating or taking food pictures, I can come nowhere near what I see on here, so bear with me! I have two of these 22 qt. pressure canners, I used them for the tamales yesterday, and I also use them for making the dozen or so different flavors of bacon jam that I take to farmers markets when the weather is cooler. Oh, and please excuse my horrendous stove, my sauce got a little too happy the day before and blurped red sauce everywhere. A quick shot of the salsa verde, thank goodness I saved a little bit at home for me! The pile grew as they came out of the pot lol Neatened up and ready to cover and hit the road. When I do these for an event, I do not make big ones. These sold for 1.50 each, and I set out the salsa verde, cilantro and cojita cheese crumbles so people could top them how they wanted. And of course, when I got hungry, tamales are on the menu lol. This is my entire lunch and I was stuffed after I ate it. I had a gastric bypass so quantities for me are small, but I make darn sure what I am eating is really good since there is only a small amount! Hi! Everytime I walked outside it made me want to run back inside! I would never have made it if we had not been indoors lol. What part of Kansas are you in? I was terrified the first time I went to use one. I got it up to pressure and it was bobbling along but when I went to look and check on it, I stayed by the doorway at first and kind of peered around the corner to make sure it was not sounding like it was going to explode first lol. When I make a small amount of tamales for me and Chris at home, I put 6 in a Ziploc steamer bag and cook them in the microwave for about 8 minutes, I cant tell the difference between the nuked ones and ones done in the pressure cooker!

It is going to be a very long day and night, have to turn out 12 dozen tamales and 10 dozen bierocks. Somehow, I let someone talk me into selling them at our town event tomorrow. So, oven going all day, 2 pressure cookers, temp here is supposed to be up to 110 with the heat index, and I am out of coffee. This could be a very bad thing.....

I guess I am lucky, the two Aldis I shop at are awesome, clean, well stocked, big selection, and so far, I havent tried anything there that we havent liked. My daughter shops at one in California that opened in March and she drags her friends with her to show them how much she saves lol.

Yes, they are horrible. One of the largest of their bakeries is out here where I am, it smells fabulous in town, but the suzy qs suck

I love Nutella, but after gastric bypass, it doesnt love me except when my sugar is crashing, then its my buddy. I take a few tablespoons of Chocolate PB2 powder, mix in SF Hazelnut syrup and a bit of heavy cream, beat the devil out of it, and it is a pretty close cousin to Nutella. Of course, sometimes only the real thing will do and is worth feeling a bit wonky for awhile, so I utilize a spoon and a banana at that time lol.

I have such an addiction to these, making sure to take some to Vegas with me this weekend for Dirty Bacon Martinis lol.

I had my first one this past Saturday, was really good! Vanilla shake, hit of smokey sweet bacon to it. Lady at the register said I was the first one to order it at that store. One thing, the whipped cream on it makes it really rich, almost overwhelming. Second one I had, got it without whipped cream and it was cold baconey sweet perfection! They use the Torani Bacon flavored syrup in it.

Awesome blog! I am especially interested because you are giving me some wonderful food ideas. I had a gastric bypass 3.5 years ago and it is so easy to get bored with a protein-focused way of eating. But the hamster is running full-speed on the wheel in my head and I forsee some good stuff in the kitchen. I have to admit, I have a bit of pouch envy that it seems you can manage bread items fairly well *sigh* Keep it coming!

I had a gastric bypass so protein sources are huge for me. Greek yogurt mmmmmmm...22 grams of protein per cup, so it is a good option. I take a cup of the yogurt, mix in 2 T. of sugarfree cheesecake pudding mix, and just a touch of SF vanilla syrup, mix it all up and chill it. It thickens up and it is like eating the filling out of a cheesecake. I put fresh strawberries over it, or sugarfree fruit topping or SF caramel syrup and it is amazing.

Egg on toast...mmmmm. My favorite is a big runny egg on a piece of sourdough smeared with butter and a thin layer of olallieberry jam with the egg on top. Ok, I need to go make this NOW! lol

The KK we had here in Riverside closed down, and is now a bank. We still have one by Ontario Mills Mall, conveyor belt and everything, and it is an outstanding store. Still doing booming business, so hopefully it will stay around. I need my lemon-filled donuts!

Oh the Helms man....boy does that take me back! in later years, besides the bread items, they had a great selection of candies, always had to have the wax lips and the wax bottles lol.

I had my RNY in January 08, and now one year later I am down 210 pounds and I eat goooooddd lol. I still am on the Protein only way until I have lost 75% of my weight but I eat very good, have gone out to eat with no problems, I basically live like a carnivore to the extreme. You will have so many options and other versions of favorite foods that you WILL be able to eat, as the recipes on Susan Maria's site illustrate. Good luck on your surgery and contact me anytime if you need someone to talk to or some other tried and true recipes and links!

Ok now I am drooling lol. I think the bird is about 3 pounds. Im going to give the Keller method a try, it seems the simplest that has less chance of me screwing it up! Thanks for all the suggestions, will post my results on Wednesday heh.

Seeking help from all the cooks here that way surpass me in both imagination and skill heh. I am making a nice dinner for my grandmother, making a roast chicken for her. What is a totally delicious and successful recipe for an out of this world roast chicken that wont have me crying in a corner from the complexity of it? I also have some fresh green beans, and some small new red potatos to go with it. Help!! please!