At least I’m down to the nasal nastiness stage, and am due for a sore nose before this is done, I think. Jane is having a little flare-up with her tooth in the middle of it all, and she’s got a call in to her doc.
But I show signs of having a brain. I caught myself thinking yesterday. That was welcome. Even if I did put the razor side of the magfloat aquarium cleaner on the outside…
I’m glad you are in the wrapping up stages but please continue to rest and recover. This bug is particularly persistent and is just looking for a reason to grab you again. Don’t let it!
I’m preparing for our Thanksgiving dinner which will be on Friday this year. All morning we’ve had snow flurries which is nice but also the electricity is flickering which is not good. I need that electric oven and stove for the next 3 days! I’m baking today and will prepare much of the meal tomorrow. The rolls and mashed potatoes have to be last minute but I want to have almost everything else done along with the pots and pans. I’ll say Happy Thanksgiving now in case the power goes out or if I get confined to kitchen duty.
Agree with Nest. Please make sure both you and Jane are completely over this nasty before trying to push yourselves to do anything much more strenuous than cleaning litterboxes. You don’t want a relapse, especially if you are planning any holiday activities.
Our electricity is okay so far (touch wood), but after tonight I am probably going to be incommunicado for the next 24 hours or so while I get the Thanksgiving madness out of our system. I intend to get the stuffing ready and bake the cheesecake tonight, slam the bird into the oven around 9 tomorrow morning, then spend the rest of the morning doing the smaller prep jobs before guests arrive, like peeling potatoes and vacuuming. I make a vat of gravy using the crockpot, which also frees up stove burners, then turn around after dinner and plop the stripped turkey carcass into the newly emptied crockpot, add any remaining drippings and water, then let it simmer away. Voila! Turkey broth!
I think it is mac and cheese for us tonight, and spaghetti with chili/cheese/sour cream tomorrow—but I have pecan pie, and low-carb ice cream! SO we are going to be a wee bit bad…but we don’t diet, really, when we’re sick.
It was peanut butter for me tonight. I am getting better, I actually got into the pool this morning, even though the water was cold. Probably should have gone out to the YMCA for T-day dinner, but they asked the guests to bring a side dish, and I don’t have anything in the house to bring. Even though I know they wouldn’t mind, I am extremely embarrassed to show up with nothing in hand.
Had breakfast before I met up with my parents (today would have been my brother Pete’s 54th birthday), so they had a Mass said for him. Then they took me out for breakfast again, but I couldn’t eat. The stomach started to hurt again, so it was coffee only for me. I wish I knew what was wrong, so maybe I need to go see my doctor and have him take a look at me.
Joe, Take care of yourself… A dear family friend has just been diagnosed with Stage 4 stomach cancer and it is hitting all of our circle hard. Lost a co-worker on Wednesday as well. This holiday is really no fun!
So, so glad you’re feeling better! Supremely lousy to be sick on a holiday, even if you were planning on a quite one. Got the pumpkin pie out of the oven and have other goodies ready to go tor tomorrow. Realized I’ve now had my electric pressure cooler one year — how bizarre is it that I can’t wait to make turkey stock (40 minutes) and turkey soup with veggies and noodles?
I’d cooked fish last week, so yesterday I cooked a roast, intending it for today’s dinner. I also roasted sweet potatoes.
Then today, I opened the fridge and recalled I’d thawed hamburger and needed to cook it. So lunch today turned out to be a hamburger patty and veggies.
I threw in rice with the frozen veggies for prep, and should’ve boiled the rice beforehand. I gave the dish time to boil, then simmer, then time to sit with a lid, about twenty minutes. But no, the rice was not done. It will be tomorrow when I warm it. The veggies and rice were edible, just, er, crunchier than wanted! (LOL.) Why did I try such an elementary mistake? Probably from rice dinner mixes or hamburger helper and that sort of thing, where the rice must be pre-cooked, then dried. Silly me, thinking it would have enough time this way.
Anyway, aside from the rice, the meal was very good, and I’ll try the roast tonight.
Task tomorrow: Locate my (inherited) crock pot, get it out, and begin using it.
I hope everyone’s well soon. I haven’t got the crud and don’t want it!
About to sit down to watch something, not sure what yet.
Crock Pot Advice?
I thought I had my parents’ crock pot stored away, but no, it wasn’t in the two boxes where I’d thought it might be. So I’m looking to get one.
Does anyone have advice on brand or model? It looks like most are 6 quart. Some have the simple knob control, while some have a “programmable touch screen.” I don’t see a need for that, but is there? Crock-Pot, Hamilton Beach, and Proctor-Silex seem to be the brands on offer.
I won’t be purchasing until early to mid December. No desire to get run over in the Black Friday sales rush.
Well, Crock-Pot started the whole thing, and I’ve had one which worked well. But last year I got something I think is better. I got an electric pressure cooker [nice digital, won’t explode], which will also brown, steam and slow cook. Somethings I think are just better in the slow cooker, like chili. But if you’re tired and had a busy day, nothing bets the pressure cooker part of things. It will do soup in about 9 minutes [takes about 10 to get pressure up, so under 30 minutes]. QVC’s brand Cook’s Essentials is pretty nice. The had a 4 quart one for $68. It is much easier finding cookbooks for slow cookers, however, but you can get them for pressure cookers too. I really like mine and any very glad I got it. Took 40 minutes to make turkey stock the other night. http://www.qvc.com/CooksEssentials-4-qt.-Oval-Digital-Pressure-Cooker-Search-Results.product.K38143.html?sc=K38143-SRCH&cm_sp=VIEWPOSITION-_-5-_-K38143&catentryImage=http://images-p.qvc.com/is/image/k/43/k38143.001?$uslarge$
Look in the local secondhand shops and Sally Anns for crockpots. You shouldn’t be paying more than $10 for a used one, and often they are fine. I passed along my $5 crockpot to a friend, and picked up a 4.5 quart West Bend oval one from Amazon about a year ago, under $25. It fits a 4 pound roast or corned beef flat nicely with room for veggies, and has a simple dial: off, keep warm, low, and high. Low is for all-day cooking, and high I use to make gravy. I found out that the crockpot overflowed at some point when I was simmering the turkey leftovers, and I had a quarter cup of disgusting turkey grease festering at a low spot in the tile countertop.
I gave my old secondhand crockpot to a friend, and bought a 4.5 quart oval West Bend one from Amazon for $25 about a year ago. Most satisfactory, it holds a small roast or corned beef flat with room for veggies, and has a simple dial with 4 settings: off, keep warm, low, and high. Low is for all-day cooking, and high is for gravy making. I found out that when I was simmering the turkey leftovers for broth, it had overflowed at some point, and I had a quarter cup of festering turkey grease to mop off the countertop at the back. Eeeeww.
WordPress is eating my comments Grrr!
It’s my spam filter. I cleared both comments. It may be the links, though Ryanrick’s got through with no problem. Maybe it’s some weird server interface issue.
I’ve always used the original, which I think trademarked the Crock-pot name, and which are I think cheaper. The others call themselves ‘slow cookers’. But I think any one is good. Some are on sale during the holidays. Just, ideally, you should be able to lift out the ‘pot’ part, (ceramic) and the lid and put both in the dishwasher. And you need a ‘pot’ you can also find room for in your fridge shelves: otherwise you’re left wondering what to do with that pot of beans.