Roast Beast

Nothing is better than the Sunday roast. Unfortunately it took me years to figure out that I failed at roast beef. Two years ago I purchased a crock pot slow cooker, the kind with the removable crock. I had one of the crock pots that you had to get creative when it came to cleaning it, as the crock was permanently fixed to the heating business. I threw it away. Hated trying to clean it.
So got a nice new one and decided to try out a roast. Thanks to the slow cooker I am now a wizard with beef.

Any cut will do, I usually get what is cheapest and on sale. Salt and pepper the outside and brown all the sides in a skillet with vegetable oil.
Place browned meat into crock and add 2 cans french onion soup, 1 large carton of beef broth, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 large onion cut in large chunks. Cover, cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. You can also do 4 hours on high but the best is low and slow.
Once the meat is done gather it and place on platter, cover with foil to keep warm. I say gather because usually the meat falls apart at this point.
You can use a cup of the liquid left in the crock for gravy. You can strain it or not and place it in a small sauce pan. Heat liquid and in a separate cup or a small jar mix 2 heaping tablespoons of corn starch with cold water and stir. When liquid boils add corn starch and stir, it will thicken quickly so keep stirring. If it gets to thick add more liquid left over from roast.

( my camera doesn't do justice looks dry but it is not)

Ahh leftovers. In this economic time nothing gets discarded. Save the liquid and the meat separately and refrigerate over night. The next day shred enough beef for sandwiches about 1/2 cup per sandwich. Place in a pot with a small amount of the leftover liquid and bring to a boil. If you have a special desire for more or different season then add those to the pot. Once the meat is heated and softened then serve on buns with what ever side dishes or accoutrements you desire. I smear a small amount of mustard on my bun.

Soup time. Take the liquid and remove the globs of fat floating on top and discard. Place the liquid in a large pot. Chop up the remaining meat and place in pot. Add 1 can tomato sauce and one can each of whatever vegetables you like. Beans of all kinds, corn, peas, potatoes are good and hearty. If you want you can add fresh vegetables if you have them. Add whatever seasoning you desire. I usually add some salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, thyme, and a tablespoon of sugar. Cook covered for 15 minutes if the mixture is too thick add more beef broth or tomato sauce, you might need to add more seasoning to this. If too wet add a handful of macaroni, rice, or quinoa. You should wind up with a very tasty and hearty vegetable soup.

Side tracked

Sorry got really busy here trying to get information together for job hunting. I have been searching for my college transcripts and cannot find them. So I have been methodically tearing the house apart trying to find them.
I haven't found them yet.
I did find emails I printed out from a previous job where I am being berated for not going to work. At the time I was hemorrhaging and thought I was dying. Was waiting to see the doctor. Every time I stood up I felt like passing out. I should have quit that job then.
Found pictures of myself from happier times, skinnier times.
I saved some letters from my middle child. He ripped me apart in one for making his life miserable. I didn't hear from him for years then get a letter asking me for money. Sorry son it doesn't work that way. I will not be used.
I found my youngest son's report cards, academic tests, and other paperwork from his school years. It is a shame he never applied himself all his TAS tests and Stanford -Benet blew everybody out of the water. He almost had a perfect score on the ACT.
I have divorce degrees from poison people who waste oxygen on this earth. Death certificates from dead relatives. My fathers high school diploma.
I have a few more areas of paper to go through then I will be done. That $20 bill I found will probably go to obtaining another copy of my transcripts.
So back to digging.

Jungle Bread

I have a habit of changing recipes constantly. I use things I have on hand and so sometimes it comes out very different. This is one of those recipes that even if I change stuff up always taste the same.
1 1/2 c flour (I used 1 cup all purpose and 1/2 c whole wheat)
1 c quick cooking oats
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c flaked coconut
1/2 c toasted nuts ( I don't use these)
1 c mashed bananas
1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple with juice (for some reason I always wind up with a 20 oz can so it's 1 cup)
1/4 c vegetable oil 2 eggs

Stir first 9 ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix bananas, pineapple, oil and eggs; add all at once to dry ingredients and till all are moistened. Do not over stir. Pour in greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Cool and remove from pan.

GLAZE
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 T butter
1/2 tsp coconut or vanilla extract
1 to 2 tsp milk to desired consistency

Very dense and naturally sweet.

Alright

I was able to save several of my posts. This is what happens when you allow someone to pull your chain. Lesson learned, those you think are your friend are not. I learned that someone was a really shallow hateful person who was not my friend. I am not saying I am perfect. I did however say somethings that were not communicated properly. I am not an eloquent writer and the message was not as it should have been. I am sorry for that.
It is anew day and life is good.

A day with mom

My mother has been in a nursing home for a couple of years. She has an advanced case of Macular Degeneration, hard of hearing, and many psychiatric problems. She wound up in the nursing home because of frequent falls, inability to fix food for herself, mismanaging her meds, poor hygiene, and very poor decision-making.

She had been residing in an independent living apartment. It was a cute apartment that even I would live in. They had a schedule of activities that were geared for active older adults. The best thing was they provided 2 meals a day except weekends. Breakfast and lunch were served in a gracious dinning room. The chink in the chain was when mother got on the phone and had some nurse practitioner come to her apartment that was going to write her scraps for such things as Xanax and Ativan.

I had spent 6 months tapering her off the Xanax, yes it is addicting, along with several medications that she did not need. The only thing I could not remedy was the psych issues and her obsession.

Two years ago Christmas mother fell. One time while out with a very irresponsible aunt who never even reported to the nursing home she had fallen. She fell again while wearing a pair of shoes she was unfamiliar with and did not fit her feet. She was allowed to walk in her with these on and she fell breaking her hand.

Any such trauma to someone of advanced age will set him or her back. No matter how trivial a small adventure places them in a spin. Of course this resulted in a wound to the top of her hand and required wound care as well as a splint to her right hand.

Because of this injury she slowly just stopped getting out of bed or doing anything for herself. If you don't use it you loose it. She can no longer walk, sit up, has difficulty feeding herself and doing simple things for herself.

Well yesterday on my visit 2 young ladies had managed to talk her into getting up. It was also a day when I just happened to show up. I got to spend 2 hrs with my mom while she was up and out of the bed. I fed her lunch, combed her hair, and helped her brush her teeth. She spoke about stuff, other than her obsessions, and it was an enjoyable day. There haven't been too many of those for a while.

Diet time

Well I have sat on butt sort of since last summer and with all this inactivity I am packing on the pounds. So today I am going to go on a diet. So the plan of choice here is Weight Watchers. I have done this before and lost a few pounds and hopefully can do this again.

If I succeed I'll post picture when I get to my 10% goal.

So keep your fingers crossed. Oh and free gym membership would be nice.

Dog Breath

Yorkies get something called Stinky teeth. They require frequent cleaning from the vet that can be really expensive. In between times he still has the breath of a dragon. I have tried numerous commercial preparations for the stench and they don't work. So today I made my own dog breath biscuits.

2 cups whole-wheat flour or brown rice flour

1 egg

2/3 cup of milk

1/2-cup fresh mint

1/2-cup fresh parsley

1 cube beef bullion low sodium version melted in a small amount of water or use beef broth 1 or 2 T

Place parsley and mint leaves in food processor and pulse till chopped. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse till it forms a ball. Roll dough on floured surface to 1/2 inch or less cut in strips 1/2 inch to 3 or 4 inches long twist like you would a bread stick or use a cookie cutter. Place on greased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

Dog likes them and he smells better.

Life with Spunky part 2

So I would up with this little brown and black dog that I knew nothing about. I have never had a dog, had a cat my mother hated. When I got sick and had to go in hospital my mother gave my cat away. So we gathered up food, bowls, crate, collar and leash and off we went.

 Remember this is the son's dog he is supposed to crate train him and clean up after him. Yeah right. The dog never got trained and the clean up still goes on.

So stupid me thought maybe there was some other problem with the dogs training so I got a doggie door and installed it in the back door. That was fun sitting on the floor with a level and a power saw.

The thing with the doggie door was that at 2 AM he would go outside and barks at blowing leaves. Had to plug it up at night, which defeated some of the purpose.

My son was too much a softy to put the dog in his crate when he left so he shut him in his room. The dog tore up the carpet at the door and peed on it.

When our neighborhood changed abruptly and it was no longer a safe place to live then getting that carpet fixed turned into a hassle.

We moved and everything was fairly ok for a while except it turned out that Spunky wasn't the son's dog he was mine.

I could not sit down in a chair without getting a dog in my lap. He was up in my bed, followed me from room to room and showed separation anxiety whenever I would leave.

Then the opportunity of a lifetime, or so I thought, was a job traveling all over the country. By this time my son had moved for school purposes and I couldn't leave the dog alone all week. Spunky went to live with my son. Every weekend they would come home and since the dog was mad because I was gone he would pay me back. Pee on the floor, keep me awake, hog the bed, steal my food, and bark for no reason.

Three years of living in a hotel room and constantly being groped by TSA agents and I was time to live at home again.

I have to admit if he were not here I would have gone nuts. He is MY best buddy. I talk to him all the time and he cuddles no questions asked.

Just like me he has gotten a little slower, cannot jump like used to, sleeps a lot and has gas that would drop a horse, but he is my dog and I will love him forever.

Getting my Chocolate on

All right another recipe. This time it is for the best chocolate cake on this earth.

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup black coffee cooled

1-cup milk

1/2-cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla

Sift dry ingredients into large bowl add eggs and liquids stir till smooth. batter will be very thin. Pour into greased 13 x 9 pan bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes.

Allow to cool before icing cake.

I have tried several different icings. Some I make others are canned icing. Peanut butter, cream cheese, caramel, and pictured is mocha frosting. They are all great and a matter of personal preference.

Life with Spunky part 1

In 1999 I bought a dog for my son or I should say the dog bought us. I had promised my son, who at the time was 11, that when and if I ever bought a house I would get him a dog. That day came and we went off to purchase the dog.

First mistake was going to the pet store. Pet store puppies are usually puppy mill puppies that wind up having all kinds of hereditary problems and existing health problems from life at the puppy mill.

Before ever leaving the house we had done research on the type of dog that would best suit our needs. The plan was to purchase a bichon. They were supposed to be the smartest dogs, easily trained, and very loyal.

We walked into the store and immediately this little black ball with feet flew into my son's arms. The man working there apologized for the dog said he escaped while the cage was being cleaned and removed the dog. The worker placed back into a glass front cage that had a sign indicating the dog was a Yorkshire terrier and his price was $350. The bichon were in another cage with a price tag of $500. The Bichons had the luxury of having siblings to play with while the Yorkie stood alone, still relishing his short quick foray through the store.

The Bichons were cute but not that cute. There were of course other puppies, tussling about, barking and nipping each other. There was some sleeping so hard as to be oblivious of our presence.

As my son walked from one end or the glass wall to the next the little black Yorkie watched him. He walked to end on his right and stopped in front of the black dog. The dog’s tail was going crazy as the 2 stared at each other. My son then walked all the way to the left and returned to the black dog, which immediately started barking and jumping up and down. "I want that one".

Four dog books and a 2 month internet search for the perfect dog was just axed by a dog who escaped his handler and flew into the arms of a little boy.

To be continued....

OOPPs

Sorry had some technical difficulties. Will return when all sorted out.