Last night was burger night. Whenever a nice cut of top sirloin goes on sale, I try to stock up for the freezer. I don't eat beef, but my boyfriend loves it. I have a horrible ailment where food gets stuck at the bottom of my esophagus and beef is the worst culprit. I've had that problem since I can remember as a kid, it's mostly due to stress but some foods make it worse. It's traumatic when it happens because one naturally thinks one is choking...but I always have to remind myself it's the esophagus, not the trachea...it will go down eventually...I've learned to adjust though, but my boyfriend really helps me through the panic. I made myself a chicken burger instead. Mmmmm...whenever we have "diner" style food, I always make milkshakes too, last night was strawberry :)
Have you ever bought something and completely doubted its quality? Last October I did with this meat grinder. It was on sale from $35 to $30 at one of those kitchen outlet stores. It was also on liquidation for 50% off, so I figured why not? It looked so cheap...I didn't think it would really grind meat very well. Oh my gosh was I wrong! I LOVE this thing!!! I haven't bought any ground meat, ground chicken or ground pork in nearly 6 months now. It's perfect. My last shopping day I bought a pork shoulder roast to grind up into sausage patties. This little miracle has a sausage attachment too, but I have no idea where to find casings...I'll have to do a little hunting.
This is my future Moon Garden, formerly my garden! I put everything in that tiny little space last summer because I wanted to fence it off so the dogs wouldn't get in.
Charlie found her way in anyway last fall. I'll have to do a better job of blocking it off because the Moon Flowers are toxic to animals and I don't want any curious pups eating those flowers. Plus it's right off the porch so I can enjoy seeing the blooms and colours at night from the comfort of my lounge chair. We are lucky that we have a lumber yard close by and they gave us all of these lattice boards that I turned into fences. Some of them were rotting, but we weeded out the good ones. I wonder if we'll be just as lucky this year.
It's pouring rain today, the dogs don't mind though. But I'm wondering where all this snow is going to go as it melts if the balmy weather continues! Hopefully not in our basement!
We had burgers today! What a great little meat grinder and what a bargain. Glad to see you're putting it to such good use.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear you have such a problem with certain kinds of foods, though. Chicken burger sounds like a really good substitute. :)
I wonder what it is about beef that causes you such a problem when other meat doesn't? Dumb question for me to ask when I'm sure you've had to try to analyze the problem to the nth degree.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of making shakes to serve with "burger night." I'm going to try to do that, too.
You have a beautiful green thumb, my friend! I just know you're going to be a big success with your gardening this year.
Hi Leigh, I still can't believe I got that little grinder for $15...it's one of the best buys I've ever made. After so many years, I've learned what foods go down easier and which ones to avoid, thank goodness for chicken! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Mama Pea :) Honestly...I've been to many doctors over the years, have had tests (like the dreaded gastroscopy, shudder...) and there is nothing physically wrong with me. I had a burnout many years ago and suffer post-traumatic stress, it finds its way everywhere but especially at the base of my esophagus. I've learned to avoid beef (why? no clue), sticky things like rice and some pastas, overly fried things and overly starchy things. As long as I exercise and do my relaxation exercises daily I'm usually okay. I never have fries on burger night! Shakes go down just fine :) And thank you, I hope my green thumb stays green this year!
ReplyDeleteStress can manifest itself in many, many physical ailments, that's for sure. But it can be managed by listening to our bodies and heeding what works and what doesn't work. Sounds like you've got things pretty well under control. My uncle had a condition where his esophagus kept closing up on him and he had to go have it "stretched" every few months. I remember it was a terribly painful procedure for him.
ReplyDeleteOn a brighter note, would you share your milkshake recipe, please?
Oh gosh your poor uncle!!! Yes, let's take a brighter note!! I'll post the recipe...I should be doing that shouldn't I? When I post food stuff that is!
ReplyDeleteYou certainly don't have to publish any or all of your recipes . . . but so many of us are from-scratch cooks that we're always looking for healthy foods to put on the table. You're gonna think I'm crazy, but seeing your layout of burgers and that milkshake made me go on Amazon where I found a set of six milkshake glasses (that look just like yours -- no worry, I'm not becoming a stalker) for a very reasonable price and ordered them! :o]
ReplyDeleteMama Pea, lol...stalk on! Those milkshake glasses are amazing. We got really lucky and found a box of 10 of them at a local flea market for $5.00. We also got sundae glasses too, I'll show you a picture in my next post. They just taste better in those milkshake glasses!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog. You can get sausage casings at Wal-Mart and Amazon. I love your recipes. I am allergic to the large protein in beef. I have found that ground turkey with steak seasoning on it has the same texture and flavor as beef. It makes a perfect substitute for beef. That is a great grinder you found!
ReplyDeleteHi MahliB :) Thanks for the suggestion, we buy from Amazon every 6 months or so when we have a good amount of "stuff" we need that we can't get in our neck of the woods. I found them and added those to my cart, I can't wait to make homemade sausages! I hope the sausage attachment works as well as the grinder. Interesting that you mention the large protein in beef. One thing that hurts my insides is the protein molecule in dairy, casein, I wonder if that's related to what makes the beef get stuck. I don't have an allergy, but if the casein is too present in some dairy products, I have a high intolerance. I've narrowed it down to only certain brands. I can have a cream product from Brand A, but if I touch one from Brand B - look out! I like the idea of the ground turkey and steak seasoning!
ReplyDeleteI love the little spot u picked out for your moon garden :) CHARLIE looks precious in it too ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks Nik :) I think you know the layout. If you face the front door, on the right I had the old garden, on the left there were some flowers from the past tenant. So with the Moon garden on the right, and the Bee/Butterfly garden on the left...it's going to be a nice summer on the porch! I hope everything blooms well :)
ReplyDeleteYes i remember the layout from last year. Its gonna be beautiful :)
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