We had my wifes bloodwork done and we found out some very disturbing things, her blood pressure,
seriously high, blood sugar, way out of whack and cholesterol, off the charts. In six months she has lost 35 pounds, blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol are all at normal levels. No drugs just a very simple diet. I will post the diet along with her blood work results in a before and after post after the Holidays are over.
3 pack (0.32 per ounce)
4 pack (0.39 PER OUNCE)
Now back to the subject; the shelves are not only a display for products, they actually "talk!" The cost per sheet, cost per ounce. On numerous shopping trips the larger sizes were more expensive. Cereal, probably the number one culprit, toilet paper, and the juice aisle. I'm seeing it more and more. Be diligent, money is tight in this economy, taking a few extra minutes will help you save a lot of money over the long term. Remember check serving sizes per product. Example, I'm holding a jar of honey, under nutrition facts it reads, serving size 1 tablespoon (21 grams) Servings 33 per container. The total fat, sodium, total carbs, sugars and protien are based per serving not per jar, very important when choosing a low carb or low calorie diet. This jar of honey has 17 grams of carbs and 16 grams of sugar per serving. It also reads in very small print on the bottom, *Percent of Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Read labels, they "talk" too. How does old fashioned bread pudding sound? Recipe coming in my next blog. Please enjoy the original, "Snap, Crackle and Pop" video. When you poured the milk on the cereal, it made noise, thus snap, crackle, pop!
I remember when we had our first child, we wanted nothing but the best for her. My wife heard from one of her Hippie friends that fresh goat's milk was the way to go "man." Jackie, my wife said, "Far out! let's do this deed." She then became, I won't say obsessed with goats , but let's just say enamoured and focused on the thought of owning her own goats and her mission to becoming a goat farmer began.
Typical Goat Trailer
Soft Top
"Open Air" Goat Trailer
"I told you I could climb"
One day soon after the goat farmer idea was planted in her head, I was met with a beaming, newspaper holding wife. Now I will take a moment to impart a few words of wisdom to young married fathers. If you are met by your wife, who has just had a new baby and she is excited about an idea that will make her a better mother it does not matter if you have worked a 12 hour shift at a glass factory or if you work midnights. My advice to you is to smile, tell her at that moment that they are the best mother in the world and go with it or you will be very, very sorry. I grew up with many sisters and knew the look and even though I was horrified to the very depths of my soul, I smiled and said "Hi honey what did you find in the paper?" She proceeded to tell me that she found goats for sale and that they were only 50 miles away. She was so excited about starting her goat farm and doing the best for our daughter I couldn't resist her. A trait that after 43 years of marriage I still posses today. I promptly said "okay, let's go." I figured. How bad could it be? We live on a 10 acre farm. It is just a few goats. How hard could goats be? No problem. So off we went.
Pontiac "Goat Trailer"
After what seemed to be 11 hours and a million wrong turns, we finally found the place. 1969 was long before the days of GPS and cell phones, so trips could be daunting. Like many young people we decided we would set off on our goat trip without a trailer because of course magically we could find one once we arrived. At the goat farm, I was put on goat trailer location duty and my wife began the goat negotiations. After awhile I looked over and saw my wife talking to the goat farmer and she was crying. Now this goat farmer was ancient and in many ways had started to resemble his goats. I knew I had to intervene because this old man was standing in between my wife and her babies goat's milk. Quite honestly I was afraid for him. I rushed over to decipher the hysteria and it seems the ad in the paper said "Want Goats" and the ad didn't end in a question mark. Oh no, the goat farmer wanted goats and my wife drove here to get his goats. Knowing my wife she was not leaving here without goats. She was on a mission.
She began her negotiating. Let me tell you, my wife is a skilled negotiator. She is charming, friendly and everyone loves her (ok must-she can be fiesty). She is a powerful little thing, especially when she makes her mind up about something. Truly the goat farmer did not have a chance. He, of course, agreed to let us buy a goat that was milking. There was a catch though. She had a goat buddy whose heart would break if they got separated. We had to take them both. So my wife the skilled negotiator not only succeeded in talking a goat farmer out of a goat he wanted to keep from people he wanted to buy goats from, but now he was offering her a second one as well. Oh and yes, still no goat trailer. My wife is beaming, I am sweating. The feeling of a whole cart of groceries and not knowing if the ATM card is going to work is washing over me. I confess and tell him the unfortunate truth all I had was $20, I can't afford to buy the second goat. My wife begins to tear up again. It is deathly quiet. He thinks for a minute, and he decides to give us the second goat absolutely FREE! My wife is elated.
Typical Goat Farmer
No grass as far
as the eye can see!
Absolute panic sets in. Dare I ask another favor of the man who never wanted to sell goats? I asked the goat farmer if he had a trailer so we could get them home. He said ever so clearly "no I don't." Now I did not mention this earlier but my wife and I are in a Pontiac 2 door coupe, not a pickup truck, a car. My wife smiles with a solution, always looking on the brighter side and says, "I think we can fit them in the back seat." OK there is a limit. I said, "they're not dogs. They're goats with horns and I really don't think they've ridden in a car before." She looked at me with that face I now know so well. The face that says, "we are not talking about this now." That face that states, "I need you to go with me on this." I have learned that going on the journey of her "creativity" instead of fighting her or forcing my own "realistic" ideals has brought more laughter, memories and color to my life than I could ever have imagined. I am glad I did not rob myself of that. Now back to the goats.
Well we never did get that goat trailer. Yes that's right we shoved those two goats, horns and all, into the back of our 2 door Pontiac Coupe. Within 5 minutes the inside of the car was a war zone. The windows were fogged up and every time we would stop at a light, the goats would release their frustration in the back seat. A resounding symphony of simultaneous excretions of which I had never smelled or heard before. We were trapped in that car for what seemed to be a lifetime with those goats. No hope of escape, no fresh air, people passing, pointing and laughing at what looked to be horrifically disfigured children, the ramming of the horns into the back of my seat, the gnashing of teeth, the horrible bleating screams! The goat's kicking and our stomachs hurting from the non-stop laughter of the lengths we will will go for our great ideas. To this day this was the longest 50 miles I have ever driven with my wife. It is the story I love to tell and it is one of the real memories I cherish of our many years together. I am sure you are wondering what happened to Jackie the goat farmer? Well she made it home with her goats, started the goat milking program and 2 weeks later heard raw cow's milk was a better way to go for babies. What the heck, no more goat's milk for our daughter, just fun lawn mowers. She asked me if a small cow could fit in the back seat? Enjoy the video! Remember, your Comments are always Welcomed!
Prep: 20 minutes, 6 hours in a crock pot, serves 8, $1.94 per serving.
1/4 cup of olive oil
3 onions,chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper,seeded and chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
The Bomb!
1 green bell pepper, seeded and minced
4 15 ounce cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
2 14.5 cans of fire roasted tomatoes
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
4 cups of butternut squash (about 2 lbs, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
salt and pepper
Step One
Warm Olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.Saute onions until tender (about 3 minutes) Add Garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add bell peppers and jalapenos and saute until tender, about 3 minutes longer.
Step Two
Transfer peppers, onions and garlic to a slow cooker. Stir in black beans, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin and oregano.
Arrange butternut squash on top and cook on low for 6 hours.
Step three
Season chili with salt and pepper.
Serve with sour cream. salsa, and any other topping you like.
Per serving, 276 calories, 8 grams of fat, (1 gram saturated fat) 0mg Chlo., 16 grams fiber, 11 grams protein,50 Grams carbs, 1,190 mg sodium.
Why is the Kitchen Bouquet a "Super Secret". KB is used a lot in commercials to make the food look good. I like it because it seals the meat and gives a great "crisp" to the outside of the roast, and it also adds a wonderful flavor. On beef and pork it's fabulous. Makes an unbelievable "homemade" gravy. I'll have a future post on how to make outstanding homemade gravy.
"Super Secret"
This meal is very simple to make, so it won't be overwhelming even to all you newbies out there. The protein in this entree is a center cut pork roast. The one I have is a little over 3 pounds. The roast should be cut in 1/2. Save the other half for a boneless pork chop dinner. So you can already see some savings.
Center Cut Pork Loin
2nd. Best Cut
$2.00/ 3 pounds
5 Pound Bag/ 80 Ounces
$3.00
Let's do some math. Roast cost $2.89 Lb. x 3.39 Lb.s = $9.68 ~ 2 = $4.84 per meal ~ 3 = $1.61 Per person. This is based on a third of a pound per serving. Potatoes, 5 Lb. bag or 80 ounces. Cost = $3.00 or less than .04 per ounce. Serving 8 ounce x 3 = 24 ounces
Will be a little darker
with Kitchen Bouquet
24 ounces x .04 = .96 cents ~ 3 = .32 cents per serving. The potatoes will yield 4 meals. Enough with the numbers for now, let's cook this bad boy. Here's another bonus, the potatoes and the roast go in the oven at the same time. So far the entree is costing us a $1.93. per person. (I am a member of BJ's wholesale Club, and the prices shown are what I paid for the items). Preheat oven to 375 degrees, salt and pepper half the roast and coat with Kitchen Bouquet. Place fat side up in a roasting pan. Remember, it' s a little under two pounds, so after a half hour of cooking you need to check the internal temp. with a meat thermometer. When the temp. is between 150 and 160 degrees, take it out of the oven and cover with foil. The roast needs a nice rest, about 20 minutes, the potatoes may not be done yet, but guess what, you have time to prepare the rest of the meal. Did you ever wonder, how your Mom got everything to the table and everything was hot? This is how it's done. Saute the cabbage, 3" chunk off the front should be enough. Cost per pound .48 cents ~3 = .16 per person. One cabbage yields 3 meals.It keeps a good 10 days in the fridge. Total cost per meal per person $2.09 cents. All fresh, nutritious and number one, IT WAS EASY! You can use this formula in any meal planning, it even saves Gas. I didn't factor that in, so that can be your homework. What would this meal cost if you went to a restaurant? I hear you, if and when we go, it's always ice water with lemon. Next post, "What's for Dessert? Enjoy the video.
This video was made in Southgate Mi. just a few miles from Detroit. We were just on Fort St. last week on our way to my Father in laws house. a.k.a. Papa Jack. Detroit is what it is, but this is what is really going on there in the "Burbs" Nice people enjoying real life. This is the real Michigan. Enjoy the Video.
I'll be posting tid bits about our trip in the coming days, and believe it or not it's mostly positive and funny, except one incident. We were going through Ohio and we drove past a nuclear plant, and I asked my Grandson Corgan if he knew what it was and he said, "if it blows up we will all be killed!"
Detroit's problems began decades ago with corrupt mayors and crooked unions. I was in the UAW, though I did not choose to be, I had to be. I worked at the Fisher Body plant in Ypsilanti, Mi. Yes, this is a real place, just outside Ann Arbor. The attitude of the workers in the plant was pure hatred and disdain for the company. They would do anything they could to impede production, or stop the line. I really didn't get it. I asked one guy," if we get more cars out the door isn't that a good thing". He told me to shut up, if I knew what was good for me. That was forty something years ago, and what happened in Lansing is the work of "paid thugs". You ask where are the cops? Did you know that this type of union activity is not against the law? Google it! The car companies were Detroit and the Unions got anything they wanted or they went on strike and stopped production. The cars were crap but we all bought American back then. Now the #1 car company is Toyota.
Guess what, that was in 1968, since then almost a million people have left Detroit proper, and about a 1000 families a month are leaving currently. Michigan used to depend entirely on the auto industry to run their economy, not so today. Detroit as a city is just about finished, the latest idea floating around is to make it into a "Zombie Land Theme Park" An added note, they added Casino gambling several years ago , with the usual promises, rebuild the city, improve education, blah,blah, blah. The real problem with Detroit is that all the taxpayers have left. The biggest Liberal City failure, ever is on its way to bankruptcy. This video is an example of what is happening in Greece. It's in the beginning stages here.
The City of Detroit, 1962
Play both videos at the same time
the effect is haunting.
The City of Detroit, 2014 Some homes can be purchased for less than a $100. but you have to live in them and take care of the property. This is a video of what's available. Copper plumbing, not included.
Where do I begin on this one? I guess first things first. We were fortunate enough to buy a 10 acre farm in Temperance Mi. about 40 miles from Detroit. It had a brand new 10 horse barn and a new house. Could we, should we? Yessss! Let's get a new truck. Why get a Ford, we had horse friends, let's call them Betty and Tom, and every time we went to visit them he would always complain about the "GM POS," I was driving. He worked for Ford, and always told me to move up, get a Ford, they make the number 1 truck in the world.
I knew someone that worked at a local Ford dealership in Monroe Mi. (pronounced Munro) the home of Lazy Boy, Monroe Shocks and Jim and Sue Barton.
Uncle Everetts Rig
So I went out and looked at some trucks. I told him we were going to have a camper on the truck. A side note, my father in law is a very giving person and he thought we were crazy for going into debt for a truck and camper. He said Uncle Everett has a pick up with the camper on it for $300. As you can see, "you get what you pay for" I told my father in law that we had to haul a horse trailer and Everett's rig couldn't handle it.
Back to the truck deal, I told the salesman what we wanted the truck for, figured out the GVW's, engine needs, towing ability, and the constant "Yeah, the truck we picked can do it all'
Then I got the usual "What can I do to get you into your new truck today?" The close was, "look, you're putting a camper on this "veeehicle"(that's how he said it) right? I said yes, he said forget the rear bumper, you can't use it anyway, hey, you save $400. bucks.
I think I had the truck for a week, everyone was happy, my wife, my kids even my Ford buddy.
That's not Rose
Rose and Razz Youth Equitation
Champion
EMAR
Rose, my wife Jackie's baby sister used to come out and ride the horses and sometimes stay on weekends. Sometimes we won some money betting on her, but most of time we lost. Just kidding, this was a typical weekend for Rose. Free horseback riding. Look what "free" horseback riding did for her! Remember the rear bumper I didn't have put on the truck? One day at work I was taking a break and happened to be looking at my new truck and noticed the whole right rear fender had vanished. I took a closer look and I thought, hit and run. Damage estimate $2500. The whole bed would have to be replaced. Then I noticed rust on the damage, this happened a while ago. I asked Jackie about it, she said, OMG, we wanted to get an ice cream at the corner store, we were in a hurry and something stopped us. It really sounded bad, but Rose got out and looked and said it was ok. What side did she look at, oh, my side. No damage, the whole passenger side vanished underneath itself and you saw no damage? It seems they rammed a cement sign protecting post at full speed in reverse! That's what the horrendous thud was.
I think that's a curtain
rod hanging off the back.
They were watching
"The Price is Right"
Moral of this story, always have a rear bumper on your car or truck. Make sure you don't waste any of a $2500. dollar ice cream. A few years later we got another new pick up and as you can see by the picture,
I got the most durable and expensive rear bumper that was available, but this time I really didn't need it. She found another way. I think that's a window curtain hanging off the back, no one was hurt but changes of underwear were in short order.
I promised music critiques, I love Karmen, watch her band guys, they love her too! It's about time, something fresh and happy! Enjoy the Video! Please comment, we would love to hear from you!
