Feeding Fido Real Food - UPDATED!

It's odd but wonderful how, as a blogger, you can toss something into the ether that's fascinating to you at the moment, and then forget about it. I guess most of my posts are totally forgettable? But an April 2013 piece about feeding people food to dogs and cats somehow made its way through zillions of Internet info bits into the pervue of a guy named, ha ha, Guy Crites. 

Mr. Crites emailed me about that 2013 post, the only one I've ever written about the care and feeding of critters. He explained that he contacted me because he was researching safe/toxic people food for dogs, which was exactly my topic on that long-ago day. (Maybe he thought I knew something, but I didn't. Just telling a story.) He wrote:

If you’re open to suggestions, we just published an infographic; massive guide with over 200 people foods for dogs (dogfood.co/can-dogs-eat/). Hope you dig :)

I checked out his link and, yes, I dig. Seems to be a definitive guide re what's safe to feed canine pets and what's not. I didn't see any way he and his co-creator were selling anything other than ideas to help pet owners improve their pets' health. So here's the link, and if you have a pet, have a look.

Can Dogs Eat That? The Ultimate Guide

Back then....
Once upon a time, dogs were in my life. I love dogs. I did not know how to feed them. They got grain-based kibble and table scraps. And probably too much of what they're not supposed to eat.I regret not having known. My favorite dog, Buck, developed a bowel problem, likely diet-based, and I was clueless. I wish I would have had this feeding guide and had made his later years more comfortable.

Anyway, here's that long ago post, but if you don't have time to read it, but have a dog whose health you want to improve, at least click the link above. 

April 4, 2013

My buddy Jan Harding loves her dog like most people love their kids. Sadly, I can think of parents who don't seem to care for their kids as much as Jan cares for her best friend and companion of 10 years. Actually, I think that a lot of people like their dogs more than they do people in general and, in some cases, members of their own families.

 Jan with Tasha BEFORE she switched the dog to people food.Tasha was then fed typical dog fare:

 dry kibble loaded  with corn and soy. Grains. Just what dogs don't need.  

When it comes to feeding time, however, that care does not necessarily translate into the best food for Fido. Oh crap, what do I know about feeding dogs since I don't even have one? And when I did, I fed my various pets, as many dog owners do, occasional canned dog food, inexpensive kibble and table scraps. Not good—especially the table scraps since they often included fatty meat trimmings, chicken skin, leftover bread, or, gasp, Krusteaz pancakes. Yes, there was a time during years of steady weight gain (mine, not the dog's) when Krusteaz was a breakfast staple. 

But dogs are such good sports, usually, and so starving all the time, that they just wolf down whatever. 

They're dogs. Who cares?  But overfed or poorly fed pets can and do get fat and lethargic and sick, just as overfed or poorly fed humans do. That happened to Jan—the over-and-poorly fed part—and she gained weight and felt crappy before she got religion about diet and exercise and so on and she began to look and feel better.

But Tasha the dog? Still old and fat. Then Jan had an epiphany about her dog's diet. In an email, she wrote:

About six months ago I started Tasha The Dog on a real-food program, since 1) even the top-of-the-line dog kibbles are loaded with grains, 2) she loves real food (apples, pears, berries, and of course meat of any kind.) 

Dogs, being carnivorous (and cats even more so), I cook a huge turkey occasionally and make up a couple months' supply to freeze in  6-oz serving-size freezer bags. She gets one in the morning, along with half an apple or half a pear, maybe some berries. Of course she loves it. It's all gone in two minutes. In the evening she gets a hard-boiled egg and whatever fruit I have around. 

I think she is a kind of mini-petri dish study for me, but nothing like this has happened to me!  Probably because I still eat grains. But she is 10 yrs old, was too fat, could not jump into the pickup without an assist, and--most startling--had a white undercoat that shed constantly year-round, all over carpets and furniture. 

She now does not shed at all and has a luxurious coat. I think the undercoat will come off as soon as it starts to get hot, but she literally stopped shedding! 

She slimmed down to vet-prescribed weight, is energetic, and can jump into the back of the pick-up truck without an assist. 

So--I am a believer; dog likes real food as opposed to commercial food. Who knew? My personal coat is not so thick and glossy, and I am still about as fat as ever!  But then, nobody controls MY eating habits, which slop over regularly into French vanilla ice cream and Cheetos. Sigh.

It looks like Jan is onto something. Tasha's diet is just about identical to the ingredients in grain-free dog foods that cost around $85 for a 10-pound bag. Uhhhh, I don't sense that pet owners are reaching for credit cards, even though these 10 pounds arrive via free shipping!

But you might keep your eye on good prices for fresh turkey.

And if your dog itches a lot, has skin problems, bowel issues, or any other maladies, it wouldn't hurt to look check out the feeding guide linked earlier. 

Tasha AFTER her dietary change: slender, sleek, energetic.
Note the hair color change. (Sorry for the weirdness around the
haunches that appeared when I scanned a photo.)

Morels, asparagus and roasted red peppers

A spring treat: morels from the forest and fresh-from-the-garden asparagus.

Asparagus season has arrived and with it, somewhere in the mystic Southern Oregon forest, morel mushrooms have pushed through the duff. I know because a kindly ex-neighbor delivered to us morels that he'd collected in a forest we can see from home, and we had them for dinner. Unfortunately, I have yet to observe firsthand morels in the forest.

Our garden served up the asparagus. The asparagus is easy. All you have to do is dig trenches one or two feet deep, plant the asparagus crowns, wait three years, and hello! If the slugs or asparagus beetles don't get them, you can go out there with your little cutter thing and harvest during the month of April.
We planted  crowns 20 years ago and others about 10 years ago. Despite the bugs and slugs, we enjoy a steady spring harvest. Did I envision 20 years ago that I'd be cutting spears in 2013? No. But when in your life can you foresee what will come of your actions so far in advance? Gardening provides a window on the future, and a hold on it. Too bad you have to BE in the future to believe it.

Morels? Different story. We've been skunked on a our recent morel hunts. But the day that our guy delivered the goods, we had a feast comprising fresh morels, just-picked asparagus, and roasted red peppers. Wow! A couple days later, with another asparagus harvest and no morels, I repeated this recipe but used portobello mushrooms, which weren't quite as delicious. But what can you do when the morels shrink and hide? Just run down to Costco and hunt for portobellos.
Recipe and photos follow.

Morel & Asparagus Stir Fry

Morel or other mushrooms, about a pound, rinsed and sliced
Fresh asparagus, about a pound, rinsed, woody stems removed, and sliced
Juice of half a fresh lemon
Roasted red peppers in a jar, about three whole, drained and cut into strips
2 Tbsp butter or olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Rinse the morels, drain and slice into rounds. Saute in oil or butter until all the moisture has been released. Remove to a glass bowl.
Saute the asparagus for a few minutes over medium-high heat. You want it crisp/tender. Squeeze the half lemon over it. Add the cooked mushrooms and the red peppers. Season with salt and pepper and stir. Serves two or three generously.

Fresh raw just-harvested  morels. These are large and in perfect condition. 

Rinse the mushrooms, slice, and saute in olive oil and/or butter. 

Cook until the liquid has evaporated.  

Morels, Zip. Flowers, Zenith.

We failed to find any morels, but spring wildflowers were in abundance.
These are shooting stars, prolific in Southern Oregon forests. 

A friend stopped by the house a couple days ago with—and I am not kidding—a five-gallon bucket overflowing with freshly harvested wild morel mushrooms that he found on the hillside visible from our home and just a few-minutes walk down the road and up the hill. 

I've been staring at and admiring that hillside for three decades and have tromped around up there many times. I just failed to see the terrain as a mushroom super mercado. The friend, who used to be our next-door neighbor, gave us a few morels for dinner** before heading home to process his windfall and add it to the 40 pounds of morels already in his freezer! (Yes, the exclamation point is warranted.) Mushroom envy clutched my throat, and also mushroom chagrin. How could we have lived here so long without taking advantage of this free-for-the-picking bonanza? We were about to find out.

PK and I headed for the forest armed with small knives to cut the mushrooms and mesh bags to carry them—big bags, as the vision of that five-gallon bucket still danced in our heads. Rather than our familiar hillside, we tackled an area, also visible from our garden, where we often hike for exercise and a "forest fix." It's a steep hillside on BLM land, and also an historic gold mining area. We poked around in the typical Southern Oregon mixed madrone, oak, pine, fir and manzanita forest for two hours. We did not see even one morel. Not one! 

Kicking around near a madrone tree, a favorite mushroom habitat supposedly, I called a sharp-eyed veteran morel hunter who I have witnessed spotting roadside mushrooms from a moving vehicle. What were we doing wrong? She confessed to many fruitless morel hunts, and reminded me that "hunting" is an operative word. You don't just go out there and expect easy pickings. Huh? Oh well. There was plenty to enjoy, and I can think of worse ways to spend two hours. Today, we are going to try the  hunting grounds of our former neighbor and hope that bastard didn't pick every last one.

The road has been closed to vehicles for years. It ends at an old mine.

Scarlet fritillaria growing and glowing trailside. 

PK looking for mushroom bulges beneath the madrones. Yes, the trees slant downhill. 

 

Manzanita bush in blossom.

A colorful stand of Indian Warrior, one of many wildflower displays we enjoyed on our fruitless mushroom hunt.

**Post about a yummy morel and asparagus stir fry is in the works. 

Kale Chips? EEEK! Potato Chips? YEAAA!

Kale chips and potato chips
attended a party together and made some friends.

It's hard to believe that some people are contemptuous of vegetables. They shove steamed broccoli or cooked peas around as if maggots were on their plates, and relatively unknown greens such as arugula or bok choy send them into vigorous uploading of meat and mashed potatoes.

But there's one vegetable that tops them all in the vile-to-veggie-haters category and that is kale. The evil kale, that we all should know by now is about the best thing we can eat to stave off inflammation and to boost immune systems. But even PK, who is a veggie lover and ardent gardener, can turn squeamish about kale. Any hint of "strong taste" and he's outta there. But he has another reason for being kale-adverse.

"Do you remember what it did to your BREATH?!" he asked. Rudely, very rudely, when I announced my intention to make kale chips again.

The last time I made kale chips was a few weeks back when we needed a party appetizer. I'd avoided making them before because I thought they'd be too much trouble and kale was not yet growing in the cold frame. But I kept running across recipes exclaiming the ease and deliciousness of kale chips, not to mention their superior nutritional value, so I purchased organic curly kale and started with what seemed a huge amount of torn leaves arranged on two cookie sheets.

Raw kale tossed with olive oil and seasoned salt on a parchment-paper
 lined baking sheet.

About 12  minutes later after baking in a 375 degree oven.

But after baking, I ended up with only a small bowl of green crispy things. They tasted great, even PK agreed, but I wasn't comfortable contributing such a paltry amount at a party for 20 people. What to do? Add potato chips!

Not ANY chip, of course, but Tim's Jalapeno Potato Chips. God, I love them. They are my junk food of choice. Just because I'm big into healthy eating and vegetables and low carbness doesn't mean I'm perfect and can't treat myself to a potato chip now and then. (Like maybe a few every day.) So combining them with the ultra virtuous kale chips is a perfect exercise in yin and yang, good and evil, and party pooper and party savor. (get it?)

When making the first batch, I did a fair amount of of kale-chip tasting, just to make sure they were edible, which made my tongue green and, apparently, my breath fetid, although that could have been because I seasoned the kale with garlic salt. PK did not appreciate my breath, but despite his crinkled up nose, the combo was a hit at the party.

Those who endeavor to eat "healthy" loved the kale chips, and even the people who say screw it when it comes to vegetables, took the plunge by trying a kale chip chased by a jalapeno chip, declared it all good, and came back for more.

So if you'd like to be a hit with a potluck appetizer, even with the kale-adverse group, try this. It's easy! Especially ripping open the potato chip package and dumping it in with the kale chips. I tried to go half and half. By the way, the kale chips disappeared first.

Kale Chips—with a little optional help from Tim 

1. Purchase, or harvest from your garden, one large bunch of kale. Rinse and dry, then remove and discard stems and inner ribs. 
2. Dump the kale into a large bowl and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Most recipes call for one tablespoon.
3. Season the kale carefully with salt* and, if you like, pepper. I included a squirt of Sriracha sauce to befriend Tim's chips. I also sprinkled in a little garlic powder.
4. Mix kale, oil, and seasonings with your hands until evenly coated. 
5. Spread in one layer on two cookie sheets. Parchment paper eases clean-up.
6. Bake in a 250* degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the chips are dry/crisp. Check after 15 minutes and rearrange chips and/or turn the cookies on oven racks. 
7. Remove chips from the pans and cool on racks.

Mixing with Tim's Jalapeno Potato Chips is optional, of course. But if you're headed to a party,.......Aim to please!
* Kale chip recipes abound, and flavored gourmet salts are popular seasonings, as are curry and pepper flakes. Season sparingly, remembering how that big pile of kale shrinks into a small pile. 
* I've seen recipes calling for higher temps and shorter baking times. I like the cooler oven as the danger of burning the chips is less. 

Spring's A Great Time for Quinoa Veggie Salad

I'm not much on grains in my low-carb life, but am fond of a bit of quinoa mixed 

with veggies  and fresh herbs in a lemony dressing.

I've pretty much given up most grains, but sometimes I crave the "tooth/mouth feel" of little bits of neutral crunch pepped up with citrus and garlic and lots of veggies and herbs. Quinoa is more virtuous than many grains as it's high protein and also loaded with fiber, iron and other nutrients. An ulterior motive for cooking up some quinoa is that we're headed soon to visit our son and daughter-in-law, who is about to pop our second grandchild. She's a vegetarian and I will be cooking. I need to practice! 

Spring is also a good time for a good mood. What with all the color and fragrance and soft, sweet air, and streams rushing with snow melt, and forsythia, cherry and plum trees blooming, and spinach and kale in the cold frame, it reminds us that life begins anew, without fail, every spring. We can count on it, and face it, there's not that much delight promised by the universe. Spring is a given and a gift.

When I die, I hope it will be in spring and my ashes can be troweled into a garden, which may result in tastier tomatoes and greener kale. When you reach a certain age, you are encouraged to fill out forms that inform your loved ones how you would like to be treated as you deteriorate and how you would like to be disposed of when the time comes. Garden, please, however ghoulish you may find that to be. And don't spend any money if you can help it.

Here's a quick, easy, delicious quinoa/veggie salad recipe followed by some recent garden pix.

Quinoa Spring Salad

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked (makes 2 cups cooked. directions below)
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds or roasted pine nuts
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (I used the last of the 2012 frozen corn.)
• 3 tbsp fresh mint leaves, chopped
• 3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (flat-leafed Italian preferred)
• 2 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
• thin slivers of spinach and/or kale, a generous handful
• 3 tbsp chopped onion, or 3 scallions, sliced
• 3 tbsp chopped sweet red or yellow sweet pepper
• two or three large whole spinach or kale leaves as a bed for the quinoa mixture
• juice of half a lemon
• balsamic vinegar to taste
• 4-5 tbsp olive oil
• 2 small cloves of mashed garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

Note: As with nearly every recipe I post, consider the ingredients as suggestions and use what you have. Don't run to the store for radishes! If you don't have fresh mint or parsley, try something else. Cilantro? Basil? Chives? Arugula? Or even dried herbs.Tinker with the dressing. I usually end up adding more lemon. We're going for tangy and tasty, not bland or sour. 

Directions

Cook the quinoa. Most recipes say to rinse it first to remove a bitter coating. I always do this, but my favorite daughter-in-law does not. She works full time at a high-powered job, reads incessantly, rises at 5 a.m. daily for exercise, has an adorable toddler who wants her attention, and does not suffer fools or fussy recipes. She says she's never tasted bitterness in her cooked quinoa and does not intend to rinse. So be it.

I have the extra 15 minutes. If rinsing, place the quinoa in a fine sieve and place it over a bowl or cooking pot so that you can cover the grain with warm water and swish it around. Let it soak for 15 minutes or up to a half hour. Drain the soaking water and pour fresh water over the quinoa before dumping the rinsed quinoa into a 2-quart cooking pot with a lid.

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Bring quinoa, water and salt to a boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and turn the heat down to simmer. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let it sit for five minutes with the lid on. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Cool.

Add all the veggies and the dressing and taste, taste, taste. Refrigerate to let flavors blend, or serve immediately. Spoon quinoa salad atop large spinach or kale leaves. We ate this with grilled salmon and served it with sliced lemon. Yum! 

Spinach and kale are going bonkers in the cold frame. 

Cold-frame spinach and kale got together with a 2012 storage onion and
discussed the dinner menu. They came up with quinoa salad. 

A parsley "bush" is mined regularly for salads. Sadly, it is a biennial
plant and will go to seed this summer

Spearmint is a blessing and a curse. It is invasive and I must rip it out
of the garden periodically, but it is available most of the year for
seasoning and, now through October, it provides abundant leaves
 for  making sun tea by the gallon. 

Savory Kale, Eggs, Prosciutto—Breakfast!

Eggs, proscuitto, kale, and serrano sauce on a corn tortilla. Yummm.

For  breakfast, most of my life, I ate oatmeal with skim milk, jam on so-called whole wheat toast, an occasional egg, or more likely, Cheerios, Wheaties, Bran Flakes, Corn Flakes and other extruded industrial  processed grain crap. I was on auto pilot.
In those long-ago days, Sunday mornings and special occasions demanded blueberry pancakes, French toast, bread-infested breakfast casseroles and the like. I slowly gained weight, of course, and at one unlovely point, contemplated size 16 jeans. That was shortly before launching into yet another low-fat diet in my yo-yo weight gain/loss life.

Then, about 10 years ago, low-carb became my mantra and breakfast became more problematic. I haven't eaten industrial cereal since 2003, and also gave up bread, for the most part. Without bread, or cereals, including oatmeal, one must be resourceful and forward-thinking, which I often don't feel like being at the crack of 9 a.m. (Retirement! Yeah!)

Now I have another little breakfast problem. I have been advised by a healthcare practitioner to banish dairy. The reason why "no dairy" and how a person is to deal with such deprivation, is fodder (ha ha) for another post, but the short answer is bone spurs.

On a recent morning, unable to enjoy my typical delicious yogurt-based breakfast with berries and low-carb granola,  I went on a hunting expedition in the Amana. Shoving around mouldering bits of this and that, I uncovered prosciutto with an expired pull date, a bunch of kale, and a little feta.

Note: Feta, a brined cheese made from sheep or goat milk, is allowed in seasoning-type amounts by some who promote a dairyless diet. I have grabbed on to this small pleasure until further notice. 

I also unearthed some corn tortillas, which are my major carb splurge, as well a jar of homemade serrano sauce and wonderful organic eggs produced by my wonderful yoga teacher's winsome hens.  She sells the eggs cheep cheep because she says the hens have a high entertainment value. It is good to have an entertained-by-hens yoga teacher.

The breakfast that transpired was beyond satisfactory and has been repeated numerous times. You don't need to be a carb avoider or a dairy swearer-off-er or a nutcase to relish this breakfast entree, which could also pass for lunch or dinner. It is delish and nutrish no matter your condish. 

Ingredients
one serving
2 eggs
2 slices of prosciutto, fat removed
Big handful of tender kale or spinach, torn
Feta or other cheese to taste
Serrano sauce. Sriracha chili sauce is a good substitute.
Corn or flour tortilla, small or medium sized
Olive oil for frying
Salt, pepper to taste

Directions - 10 minutes, start to finish

1. Fry the eggs in a little olive oil. Break the yolks. The eggs pictured are from the yoga teacher's hens, those happy and entertaining little bug and grass eaters who produce incredibly orange yolks. Turn the eggs, unless you prefer runny. Remove from the frying pan and set aside. 

2. Saute the kale or spinach and set aside with the eggs. 

3. Place the tortilla in the hot pan, and melt whatever cheese you prefer in whatever quantity makes your socks roll up and down. I currently avoid most cheese, but at the time  I was uninformed about the hazards of  dairy, and I used a little grated Swiss and some crumbled feta. If you don't want cheese, warm the tortilla in the pan anyway.

4. Place prosciutto on the tortilla to heat, then add the cooked kale or spinach.

5. Arrange the fried eggs on top of everything and spread with serrano chili sauce, if you're lucky enough to have it, or use sriracha chili sauce. I like the tart, hot, tangy taste of both serrano and sriracha, but you could use a milder sauce to give it a little zip.

6. Fold that sucker in half and eat it with your hands. You will be glad you did!

Mining Freezer for Summer Goodness

Summer's berries about to star in a cobbler. These are fresh from the freezer, part of the 2012 garden harvest. 

Winter months are pay-off time for all the garden and kitchen grunt work that occurs August thru October. I whine about toiling to harvest and process food. But dang, it is so satisfying to thaw a quart of ratatouille, crack open a pint of salsa, or dump a frozen rectangle of marinara sauce into the spaghetti pot. We have a large pantry in an unheated porch to stash canned sauces and salsas and winter squash,  and the pump house protects potatoes from freezing.

An old refrigerator in the garage holds apples and onions, and its freezer, once loaded with berries, now keeps pork that was raised nearby. A small upright freezer in our back porch stores chard, kale, berries, corn, peppers, eggplant, green beans, tomatillos, whole Roma tomatoes, pesto, chili verde, walnuts, and chipotle cubes. Ditto the kitchen refrigerator/freezer. Whew. It was a lot of work, but winter meals are a breeze.

About to dive into berry cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Here's one of my favorites—a delectable melange of summer berries in a relatively low-carb cobbler. This recipe evolved from a berry concoction that used yellow cake mix as the topping. My low-carbing sister, Monette Johnson, ditched the cake mix and substituted oatmeal and a bit of flour. I tweaked further to include almond meal and oat flour. As you can tell, there's a lot of leeway with the topping! It always gets rave reviews. I make this when company is coming. In this case, son Chris, is due home today!

Just out of the oven. Looks like I baked it a bit  too long, but it still tasted great.

Mixed Berry Cobbler
For the fruit layer:
Four to five cups of berries, fresh or frozen: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries
One 3-ounce package of sugar-free JELL-O, raspberry
One cup of water

For the topping
3/4 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup oat flour
1/4 cup almond flour (or 1/2 cup almond flour and omit the oat flour)
1 1/4 cup old-fashioned oatmeal*
3/4 cup Splenda or equivalent non-sugar sweetner
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

*I've been meaning to eliminate all but a quarter cup of oats and instead mix an equivalent amount of almond and coconut flours with the butter and Splenda for a lower-carb count. If you try that, let me know, please, how it turned out.

Directions
Spread the berries in a 9X13 inch baking dish. Distribute the J-ello powder on the berries, then drizzle with water. Mix the butter, oats, flours, Splenda and walnuts. Sprinkle atop the berries.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve warm or cool with ice cream or half and half or unadorned.

Putting Wine in Its Place

Weekdays, wine glasses will be for purposes other than
chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon. *

I know this will come as a terrible shock to my wine-loving friends, and that includes almost all of them, but I'm putting wine in its place. Its place is on weekends and special occasions. It is not for every single day, as it has been for more years than I care to count. Why this sudden loss of sanity? Why the deprivation? The suppression of desire to swill wine while cooking dinner and eating it?

It's about a couple things. Weight is one. I've been seeing the same 3-4-pound-range on the scale for more than 10 years. Ten years ago is when a near-death experience and 9 days in intensive care led to a 15-pound weight loss.  I started to regain the weight (which I was ecstatic to have dumped), because I still believed in the erroneous low-fat-equals-weight-loss theory of dieting. Too many bowls of brown rice, dry baked potatoes, and boxes of fat-free Junior Mints later, I discovered low-carb nutrition. I committed to the lifestyle and yada yada yada. I lost the weight I'd regained and stabilized, with a few minor corrections through the years.

Now, I'd like to drop a jean size or two. But I detest dieting and don't want to give up anything. I already said goodbye to bread, pasta, rice, sugar, potatoes, bananas, wheat and most grains ten years ago. I'm NOT putting aside butter, cream, eggs, meat, berries, olive and coconut oils, mountains of kale, chard, spinach and broccoli, plus a little bit of chocolate at night. What else is there?

Wine.

Let's see. At 3-4 glasses of wine daily, I'm consuming around 15-20 carbs and between 300-600 calories, which adds up to as much as 140 carbs and 4,200 calories a week. Yikes.  I know, I count carbs, not calories. But still. I can't ignore these numbers. PK has suggested several times over the years that we test our shared wine habit with a period of abstinence.  Go ahead, I've always said. I wasn't ready to stare at the stove in the twilight without a glass of wine nearby. What changed my mind?

I'm not sure. Just a gradual dawning that I was indulging a daily habit that, despite claims to wine's health benefits, probably wasn't doing me any good. Plus the fact that the ugly A word kept bobbing  up. After all the years of routine wine-ing, could we really quit?

Yes, it appears, but on our terms. We've decided to drink only on weekends or special occasions, including vacations. So. A couple weeks ago, we put away the corkscrew and Sunday through Thursday did not imbibe. Come Sunday night, we were back on the wagon again for a second week, which included the 3-day MLK weekend, technically a special occasion. Come Monday, though, a return to alcohol-free living. It's been a lot easier than I thought.

The truth is that I needed to push the reset button on everyday drinking. I'm going to stick with it for a year and see what happens. In the meantime, we're spending a week in Mexico soon with a group of friends. It will be a special occasion, indeed, and I will raise a margarita to toast my new relationship with wine.

*Those lovely geraniums are growing in our living room!

Turning the Tables on Elderly Mom

Mom's handiwork.

See this? My MOM made it! In 1992! 

 I was flitting from table to table in the dining room at my mom's assisted living place, inviting residents to admire her handiwork, which they did. Politely. This is just a tiny piece of her work, I gushed. She was never without a project! 

I spoke as if the residents weren't facing the same issues of loss and diminishment. As if they all hadn't accomplished wonderful things and didn't have boatloads of great tales to tell and mementos to show and memories to share.

You can see at the bottom where she embroidered her initials and the date. I blathered on. She was YOUNG then. Only 76. 

Then I went to work on the staff. After the housekeeping director expressed the proper admiration, she said: You're very proud of your mother, aren't you?

I hooted. I've never thought of myself as being "proud of my mother." But it became clear at that moment, that yes, I am. Proud of my mother. I laughed at myself for boasting about her accomplishments.  Why laugh? Because this is what she used to do to me! Except I was painfully aware (as she isn't) and so embarrassed by all those incidents of what I knew to be overblown praise and admiration.

Now I'm getting her back. I guess it's OK that she's not really aware that I'm tearing around the dining room with her counted cross stitch Santa Claus practically grabbing innocent old people by the throat as if to say, Don't dismiss her! She's still in there! 

My mom is three weeks from turning 97. She is unable to hear or see much, and her hands long ago lost the dexterity for intricate handwork. She nods off a lot during the day, requires assistance for "tasks of daily living," uses a wheelchair, and recently was identified as someone who needs "plate guards" to keep her food from ending up in her lap.

It is difficult to watch, this mother who grows so old before my eyes and diminishes every day. But I'll tell you what I'm proud of, in addition to needlework she accomplished decades earlier: her continuing spark. She can't see, can't hear, and still she can't stand to miss anything.

The other day, I mentioned to her that bingo was scheduled for that afternoon. But as we both know, bingo (her favorite now that her brain/hands/eyes don't work well enough to play bridge), often doesn't occur because people fail to show up. Here's what she says about that: They complain there's nothing to do, but when there is something, they can't get out of their apartments. That's old people for you!

A recent photo of mom playing bingo, with the help of her friend.

Then I took her in to have her maddening ears cleaned. They were clogged with wax, stuffed back in there by those big almost useless hearing aids. In conversation, she'd forgotten something important we'd talked about last week—the death of a relative. When I reminded her she said, Not even all that ear wax can keep things in my head! See how smart she is? How funny?

 For about 12 years I wrote a weekly newspaper column, and one piece was devoted to the mother/daughter relationship. I couldn't help but think of it when I figured out the tables have turned. An excerpt from the old column follows.

But first, one more thing. I realize now that her unearned praise made me stronger. I didn't understand until much later that some mothers neglect to pile positive adjectives on their kids, or look at them with such admiration and love that the kid can just about get knocked over. In my teens, this was excruciating. Even into my 40s, as described below, her "pride" in me was embarrassing. But I think now I need to say, thanks mom, for believing I was more than OK .

Grants Pass Daily Courier, Second Thoughts column, early 1980s (excerpt)
Mother/daughter dynamic still sparkles, sparks

My mother and I were browsing in an antique store close to where I live. She'd come from South Dakota for a visit. The proprietress was minding her own business, or trying to, when my mother spoke up."This is your neighbor!" she said, referring to me. "You do know who she is, don't you?"

My father, Floyd, and mom, LaVone when they were about the age I am now.
She was still bragging up a storm about her "wonderful daughter." My father died in 2006 at 93.

"Mother!" I hissed, my face flooding with color. I knew what she was up to. She was going to brag about me to a stranger who could care less who I was. What's more, she was going to feel no remorse even though my discomfort was immediate and acute.

My mother seemed displeased that the antique store lady didn't know me.
"Well!" she said "This is Mary Korbulic. She writes for the Daily Courier!"

She delivered this information as if I was a Pulitzer Prize winner from the New York Times. She smirked and awaited a response, which she expected to be genuflection or an autograph request.
The woman smiled politely and said, "How nice. I think I have seen your name." She cast me a sympathetic look.

I am a middle-aged woman, but at that moment I squirmed like I did as a child when my mother launched into her bragging-about-nothing routine. When I was a senior in high school, she was still begging me to dance for company. That's right Dance For Company. I finally figured out how to get out of doing the "frug", if you can remember what that is.

When I brought home one A, mostly Bs and one C on my first college report card, she became the town crier. It was unsafe to go with her anywhere as she carried a copy of my grade report in her purse and would whip it out for anyone who made eye contact. She really did this.

"How nice," people would say.

 Privately I admonished her, as I had countless times. It is good at any age to have at least one person who thinks everything you do is wonderful and you are the most clever person ever, not to mention the best looking, but could she please stop sharing her  opinion?

No, she said. She could not stop. "You might as well get used to it," she said, turning away. She did not stop, and I did not get used to it.

(Being a parent now of two fantastic, brilliant, daring, and gorgeous sons, plus the grandmother of the cutest, smartest, funniest grandson who ever toddled on the earth, I kinda get it now.)

Pain in the ass Turkey Soup and an Epiphany

A rich turkey broth with broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, and red bell peppers. 

Before writing this post, I searched my freezer for the carcass of one of our two Thanksgiving turkeys. Yes, TWO.  That's what happens when you're feeding 22 people for four days.

I was going to take a photo, but the freezer is way too full and somehow, the remaining carcass got buried. But I think you know what a turkey carcass looks like, plus all the bits and pieces that get left on the carving platter.

For the cook, a turkey carcass is not joy-inspiring. It means work. Worthwhile work, to be sure, but through the years, I know that making stock from a turkey carcass is a pain in the ass despite the lovely outcome. 

It's the outcome, of course, that keeps me coming back. Plus the fact that I am unable to throw a turkey carcass out. Who can toss all that great flavor into the trash?

Opening a box or (gasp!) a can of poultry broth doesn't even come close. If you have a turkey or chicken carcass, here's how to make a wonderful stock, which is the basis for all great soup. 

Turkey Stock Ingredients (same goes for chicken)

• Turkey carcass, stripped of most of its meat. Save the meat for casseroles, sandwiches, or to add to the soup.
• 1 large  onion or 2 medium onions, cut into quarters
• 5-6 celery stalks, cut into 4-inch pieces (More or less.)
• 5 or 6 cloves of smashed garlic
• 2 large carrots, cut into 3-inch pieces (Optional. Most stock recipes call for carrots, but why? They don't add flavor, that I  can tell. But they probably add vitamins. Carrots are carby, so if you use them to pump up nutrition in the stock, sieve them out in the end.) 
• Fresh or dried thyme, 3 sprigs. Optional.
• Fresh or dried oregano, a small fistful if fresh, a tablespoon if dry. Optional. 
• Fresh parsley, a handful. Optional.
• Leftover gravy. If you have it, use it all!
• Boxed chicken broth 
• Salt and pepper to taste

Stock Directions

1. Dump the turkey carcass into a large stock pot, breaking it up to fit. Add onions, celery, garlic, and carrots and herbs, if using.
2. Add boxed chicken broth, water, gravy, whatever you have. It isn't necessary to cover the carcass, but it should be at least half-way covered. Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered, for a couple hours. Stir occasionally so that all of the carcass gets boiled. The turkey meat should be coming off the bones and the veggies should be soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool, but not completely. 
3. Here comes the major pain in the ass part. Get another large pot or bowl, place colander or sieve over it, and dump the turkey carcass and cooked veggies in to drain.
4. Allow the liquid to drain into the second stockpot. That's the good stuff, the bona fide STOCK dribbling into that pot.
5. Allow the stock to cool so that the fat solidifies enough to spoon most of it off. 
6. In the meantime, you get to separate the meat from the carcass. Unless you want to just dispense with this step entirely. You already have the stock, which is the most important thing.

EPIPHANY! Dang. I never considered this! Until now! Next time, I may just strip the carcass super clean in the first place and not bother with this step. Because separating the bits and pieces of meat from the boiled bones and now-slimy veggies is such a pain. In yes, the ASS. Those boiled soft and slimy veggies do not make their way into the actual soup. Ok. I'm talking to myself now.
I will never again sift through a boiled turkey carcass to salvage bits and pieces of protein, even though I did it for 30 some years, and you can if you want. But not me. Wow, am I liberated or what? Old dog learning new tricks here! 

How is it that writing something down can make you realize the stupidity of doing what you've always done?!? I admit that not even the cat likes the boiled turkey. I am feeling SO liberated! Remove the meat from the boiled turkey carcass only if you're feeling particularly guilty about having too much food when so many in the world are starving. Otherwise, boil the carcass with the veggies and herbs, drain the stock, and say good riddance as you dump the bones and boiled veggies into the trash. Whooop!

Turkey Soup 

• 6-8 cups of turkey stock
• 2 cups of turkey meat (Approximate. Preferably not boiled)
• (1 hot Italian sausage cut into the soup is a flavor bonus) 
• 1 cup broccoli florets, cut into same-size pieces
• 1 cup cauliflower florets, cut into same-size pieces
• 1 cup dried or fresh mushrooms
• 1 large sweet red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, cut into strips
• smoked or regular salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• hot stuff (pepper flakes, garlic-chili sauce, serrano sauce) to taste

Soup Directions

1. Prepare stock (have fun!)
2. Set aside bite-sized pieces of turkey, preferably not boiled but those that were stripped from the carcass before the bird got boiled.
3. Slice raw or pre-cooked sausage into bite-sized pieces, if using
4. Cut up veggies into similar-sized pieces
5. Heat stock and add cut-up sausage. Bring to a boil for a few minutes. 
6. Add raw cut-up mushrooms or dried mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are rehydrated or soft. 
7. Add broccoli. Cook on medium for a couple minutes. 
8. Add cauliflower. Cook a few more minutes. 
9. Shortly before serving, add the turkey and peppers. You want the broccoli, cauliflower, and peppers to be tender but not limp. The broccoli should still be bright green. Adjust seasonings. I like smoked salt. 

Options: As a low-carb person, I avoid lentils, rice, beans potatoes, pasta and so on. If you don't care about carbs, then add any of these, or other starchy ingredients, to the soup.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, chipotle or Sriracha chili sauce. 

Thanksgiving Leftovers-Time Spinning Reckless

This year our Thanksgiving group gathered near Squaw Valley at Lake Tahoe.
The weather was glorious, and we spent most of one day at this beach. Some even took a dip. 

Maybe this post title should be "Thanksgiving Afterglow" or "Thanksgiving Rocks" or something other than what "Thanksgiving Leftovers" connotes. True, I will soon get to an easy breezy super-good low-carb leftover turkey recipe.

But the big story, for me, is that the Thanksgiving celebration PK and I share annually with family, dear friends, and, always, a few newcomers, provides a lasting burst of energy and hope. Leftovers, so to speak. 

Leftovers, that unlike turkey, which disappears into soups, casseroles, sandwiches within a week, will continue forever. How could I ever forget this picture of grandson Noah "smiling" for the camera with his uncle Chris  trying to match his enthusiasm? And so many other great moments.

Here we are, recovered from Thanksgiving-feast comas and ready to play beach games. 

After five years, our cross-generational Thanksgiving group has grown to 20+, a number we hold steady as the desire to include others, and the reality that too many would complicate our accommodation requirements and the intimacy that's central to the whole deal, makes us curb our enthusiasm.

Renting a place to accommodate 20 -25 is a challenge. Having a great time with that number, however, is no problem. We long ago progressed beyond the one-day celebration and are now up to three to five days. Heavy feasting. Immoderate wine drinking. Tireless dancing. Animated conversation. Hiking. Spirited ping pong. A horseshoe-like game called washoes. And whatever outdoor activities the weather or terrain allows. All make for a colorful whirl of time spinning, reckless, on fast forward. 

This annual gathering, and also friendships and traditional celebrations that have gone before, remind me of what matters: honesty, friendships, old and new; family, whether blood-related or not; zest for life; traditions, both established and developing; flexibility; and maybe most important, recognizing that although the universe doesn't give a crap about you, your friends and family do.

And you care about them. Big time. What's more important than that? (Maybe zest for life, if you can manage that on your own.)

Here's a compilation of photos from this year's Thanksgiving celebration with credit to Steve Lambros and Laurie Gerloff (and me) with others from Lauren Frank, Gail Frank, Paula Stone, Chris Korbulic and Tom Landis.

The Goods

Here's that pretty dang good and super easy recipe for leftover turkey. Cooking is a shared responsibility at Thanksgiving, and PK and I were in charge of turkey this year. We brought two; one fresh, one smoked, around 19 pounds each. We ended up with mostly smoked turkey leftovers—a good thing! Because I used smoked turkey for this casserole, I didn't add any salt. If your turkey isn't brined or salty, you may need to add a little punch.
All ingredients are leftovers. I brought the artichoke/jalapeno dip and raw broccoli for appetizers that didn't get used. As usual, we had way too much food despite our pledge to go light. Ha! For a similar result, you could add YOUR leftovers and tie it all together with a pre-made sauce or dip, such as the artichoke jalapeno concoction. 

Turkey Snap - Broccoli, Artichoke/Jalapeno Turkey Casserole
Serves four. Bake in a 9X13 casserole at 350 for 30-35 minutes to bake. FIVE MINUTE prep.
Ingredients

• 2 (approximate) cups Costco's Stonemill Kitchen's artichoke jalapeno dip (1 carb for 2 TBSP), enough to cover the casserole bottom.
• Sliced cooked turkey, enough to cover the dip. Turkey may be smoked or roasted. I used smoked. HAM could be substituted.
• 2-3 cups raw broccoli florets, cut into bite-sized pieces. (Save time. Buy precut and trimmed in a bag.) 
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• Grated cheese, cheddar, Parmesan, or whatever you have on hand, enough to spread on top of the casserole.
• Salt and pepper to taste. Note: If you use smoked turkey or ham, additional salt could be overkill. 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Spread enough artichoke jalapeno dip in the bottom of the casserole dish to cover it with 1/4 to 1/3 inch.
3. Arrange sliced turkey or ham generously atop the dip. 
4. Mix remaining dip with the raw broccoli and diced onions. The mixture should be visibly covered with the dip, but not thickly. If the mixture seems too dry, and you ran out of the dip, add mayo. Too little is better than too much.
5. Spread the broccoli/dip mix atop the turkey slices.
6. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and uncover. Top with grated cheese and pop back into the oven for 5-7 minutes. Remove when cheese is melted, and let rest for a few minutes before serving.  

Note: The broccoli will still be al dente after 25 minutes. If you like broccoli more tender, give the covered casserole another 10 minutes in the oven before melting the cheese.