Category: cooking

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little temptations and the diet

hungry during a diet?
Hungry during a diet? That’s normal… but why do I always find interesting things to explore when I am dieting?? CLICK on picture for something fun!

 I have always found dieting a bit challenging, after all it doesn’t seem at all a very natural thing to do. However, I am sure the evolutionary psychologists might tell me that periods of feast and famine were very nature in the human experience and that I am only duplicating the experience of my ancestors. However, knowing why I do something doesn’t make it any easier.

Obiously the tempting Concord Grapes dangling over 12 feet of picnic tables and patios is only a slight irritation, but finding recipes new bagels designed to hold several times the goodies that a regular one might hold doesn’t make it any easier! CLICK on the picture above to see what I mean.

With Thanksgiving not all that long away, I am ready for something extravagant… maybe, another yummy Ostro-Turgoosen ducken bird!

😉

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quaker oats steel cut is great

quaker steel cut oats
My Quaker Steel Cut Oats Arrived! CLICK on picture for manufacturer's site

The last post I made on the subject of steel cut oats ran along the lines of  ‘I wonder if Quaker makes this?’ I checked it out and found that the best way for me to buy this was on-line. Our ancestors in San Luis Obispo are used to buying at a great distance. A hundred years or so, people here abouts would by everything from clothes to prefab homes via the Sears Catalogue of their day. We have some aspects of civilization, but most of us have to go on line. 😉

Anyway, I ordered my oatmeal and checked it out… perfect!  For guys like me who lived on this during my youth and young struggling times… it is a wonderful memory.

I hear they have it at Target out West… but that’s a ways for us!

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Do you celebrate birthdays or hold a month long celebration?

An old family favorite : Cantonese Sweet & Sour Pork — CLICK on the picture for a link to the recipe

Well, when you try to celebrate two birthdays together you need to have a dish that everyone loves. In our family, one of our favorites is Sweet and Sour Pork… and an apple pie! It may sound a bit unusual for someone to prefer an apple pie over the tradition birthday cake, but if that’s what the birthday girls want… that’s what they get!  Karla also started a fun tradition of having little celebrations of someone’s birthday ( hers in particular) all month long… it can be a little fun…. but challenging.

our apple pie
Not just any apple pie will do… See Canyon Apples, a special nutty cobler topping and our own sauce makes it wonderful.

O
h yes, we can’t forget presents and those little touches that make anyone smile.

‘Happy Birthday Laura and Mom.’

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are you sexy enough for your oatmeal?

too sexy for your oatmeal
I can just hear the song...

I grew up on oatmeal and mostly Quaker Oats… so naturally when I discovered the steel cut version from Ireland and certain small manufacturers in the Northwestern United States, I jumped at it! I like the steel cut version I find in some of the quasi-health food stores… in particular  Frontiers Market  here in San Luis obispo.

I couldn’t resist but check out Quaker Oats to see if they had a ‘steel cut’ version of their own… and right now I could only find it at Target in California so I bought 3 boxes — this is a ‘taste for me’ and they’ll ship it here. I’ll let you know what I think.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you how this sleigh ride began. My daughter Karen wrote a nice post about  ‘sexy oatmeal’… so I had to follow it up! Thanks Karen!