In Pain but Grateful

Such an odd combination.

I have a been diagnosed with couple of ailments.  Hidradenitis suppurativa, Lyme disease & Costochondritis. They all suck individually, together they suck monkey balls.  The Hidradenitis causes boils and tunnels under your skin.  Lyme just attacks fucking everything and then Costochondritis makes you feel like you're having a heart attack.  Should probably add in the bulging discs in my neck as well as a recent discovery of a mild Chiari Malformation. 

Lovely, right?  

For the most part, I'm ok.  I can work & play and drive and be a single mom. I make dinner I clean the house (kids help) I garden, I spend time with my boyfriend, I do what needs to be done.  But every day there is either a headache or my ribs hurt or I'm walking funny because a new "alien" is trying to rear it's ugly self either in my bikini line (yeah like I'll ever wear a bikini) or under my arm and then it's goodbye tank tops. And every once in a while I just wake up exhausted and spend the day on the couch.  Thankfully I work from home and it's not an issue for work, but it is an issue for me.

I hide a lot.  Only if the pain is really bad do I say anything.  Otherwise it's pop a few ibuprofen and do what I need to do. I don't really have a choice. I have a life to live.

I really didn't start this post to whine, but more to just get it out.  It's my blog, right?  Some of the thoughts rattling around my skull about all of this focuses on my diet.  Why did I feel so great last summer to spend most of the fall and winter feeling miserable. 

Other than the addition of my amazing boyfriend, who did not cause any of this, the only other change was my diet.  I went back to eating carbs and sugar. 

Often I say I need to cut out the carbs to lose weight, but this isn't about losing weight.  This is about getting better.  I need to change my entire mindset.  I need to not give in, I need to be stronger in my resolve. 

So here is my game plan.  I need to treat carbs & sugar like I do mushrooms or wine.  I need to treat them like I'm allergic to them.  If you think about it, I am.  But instead of breaking out in hives or a rash, I break out in pain.  I'd like to stop causing myself pain.  

I rode my bike Monday for the first time since the fall. I did 2 miles. Last summer I was doing 14 to 15 miles a few times a week. I'd like to get back there. 

Baked Potato Salad

This recipe is adapted from something I found on allrecipes.

Do you want to take something to a BBQ this summer that just WOWS everyone?  Then this is it. 

It's basically a stuffed baked potato but in potato salad form. 

Ready?  This is going to be my attempt at walking you through making it like the food bloggers do, LOL.

Ingredients

Potatoes

Bacon

Onions

Mayo

Sour Cream

Salt, Pepper, Onion Power, Garlic Powder, Chives

and a ton of Cheese.

How much of each?  I'll get to that.

For today's batch, I used a 5lb bag of potatoes.  I did not peel them, I just washed & cubed.  You can peel them if wish, I like the peels.  (all photos are unedited, I'm being lazy, sorry)

 Here is the tricky part.  You want to just get them soft-ish.  Not mashed potato soft.  So your time may vary. I ended up boiling them for about 9 minutes once it came to a boil.  Your time may vary.  You want to get a tiny bit of resistance when you stick a fork in them.  Don't forget to add salt to the water.  This is VERY important. I probably added a tablespoon or more of kosher salt (the big pieces)

Before I go any further I need to add this disclaimer.  

This is in no way healthy.  

It is one of those dishes that you make occasionally.  Trust me on this.

Next,  a pound of bacon.  

I cut it up before I cook it, TJSD (The Jersey Shore Dad) cooks it then breaks it up.  It's up to you. 

I love my cast iron skillet.  It weighs a ton but it cooks bacon so nicely.  I got it from TJSD's late grandmother years ago when she stopped using them because they're so heavy. 

Om Nom.

When it's done, don't dump out the fat, we're going to use that in a second.  Just take a slotted spoon and move the bacon pieces to a paper towel or two.

I can not stress enough that you can NOT substitute Bacos. 

Never, ever. 

The onions are optional, but I like them so I used about a half a large onion today  You want to make them soft but not burny if you can. I cooked them in the bacon grease.

By now the potatoes are done. I drained them and rinsed out the pot with cold water so I could use it to mix everything up.  It's eventually going to go into foil tray. 

Confession time, I don't measure. Seriously, I just add stuff until it looks right. But for you guys I'm going to guess at a teaspoon of salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders.  Then about a tablespoon of chives. 

We're going to taste it eventually so you can add more if you need to. 

Toss in the bacon & onions.

Time for my favorite part, the CHEESE!  I love cheese. 

I could eat cheese all day long.  You can see the bag says this is a Mexican Style Blend. I get this from Costco.  No idea how much was left in the bag but it was originally a 24 ounce bag.  Sprinkle some on.

 Then add more. If you want to save a little for the top, that's good. I have more so I used what was in the bag.  

And Mix it up!

We now venture back into the "I don't measure part" but I can tell you that i use 1 part Mayo to 3 parts Sour Cream.  Try 1/4 cup mayo & 3/4s cup of Sour Cream and go from there (again depending on how many lbs of potatoes you use)

And Mix it all up!

I tasted it and OMG I remember why I only make this occasionally (insert Homer Simpson drool sounds)

Transferred it to the foil tray (it's going to a party - plus we have enough dishes to wash already)

And, you guessed it, top it off with more cheese. 

Dramatic Shot

If you have the time, bake it for 20 minutes at 350 to meld everything together.  But it's not necessary.  It's good hot or cold/room temp. 

And there you have it. Baked Potato salad that will WOW everyone who tries it.  They will invite you to parties JUST because you make this for them.  They might even offer up their first born child for it, but don't take this deal, it's a trap! LOL

Speaking of deals, if I leave some in the pan for TJSD to taste, he'll do the dishes for me :) 

Enjoy!

Tastefully Simple Saturday!

Ok so I made that up.  But I really like Tastefully Simple products. I don't sell it, and don't want to, but I am having an online party.

An online party is like a party in the home, but you can stay at your own home!

I seriously hate having selling parties at my house because all the people who say they're going to come, don't and you end up with like 3 people.

And plus it's still a tough economy.

I figure by booking an online party I can also reach my friends that want to order stuff and don't live nearby too.

If you want to order without any hassles, here is the link.

My Online Tastefully Simple Party

My Consultant Sara is pretty awesome too, so if you are in NJ and want to book a party at home, her email address is at the top of the order page.

Thanks!

Eggies, a moms review!

So you've seen the commercial for these things and heard the promises 

"Just Crack, Cook & Twist"

Deviled Eggs without the hassle of peeling!

I was BESIDE myself wanting to try these, but at $10 for 6 plus $7.99 for shipping and handling, I decided to wait until they came out in the stores.  

Today at BB&B I found them (ok husband found them)!  So with my 20% off coupon, I got 6 of them for like $8.

I only got 1 box, which turned out to be a good thing since I only had 5 eggs!

(not sure why this picture is sideways, it didn't upload that way)

Just a little artistic shot.  BTW I was being lazy and grabbed my old point & shoot camera.  I let the kids use it and it doesn't always focus right.  This one came out pretty cool

Ok back to the story.  Directions say to oil them (or use cooking spray), put the top & bottom together and put the coupler (ring thing) around to hold them together. Then open the top, and crack the eggs in to the Eggie.  Easy enough, or so I thought.

Even though the directions say it will hold extra large eggs, what it does not tell you is that the Extra Large yolks have trouble fitting through the opening. 

So it got a little messy. (well a lot messy)

 This is how they looked before cooking
(see the picture on the wall to the left?  It's my Live Laugh Love 5x7's that I have for sale in my shop)

Good thing I only had 5 eggs, because 6 Eggies would not fit in my 3Qt pot.

OK the directions say to fill the pot with water so the Eggies float, bring to a boil & boil for 15 minutes.

 On the stove they go!

 Ut oh, something is leaking. 

 Oh well, I'm not stopping now!

 15 minutes later

Cooled and sitting on the counter.  What I don't have a picture of is the one that was filled with water.  Obviously it was the one that made the pot look like the clothes washer on that episode of The Brady Bunch.  Like I said, the camera I was using doesn't always focus right and well the pictures didn't come out.  So here are 4 of them.

Time to take them apart & see the results!  First you take the little tops off and then unscrew the ring & take the Eggies apart.

The directions say to squeeze until the eggs come out.  I had my husband do it so I could take pictures. 

 Even though I oiled the inside of the Eggies like the directions said, it did take a while to get the eggs out. He was shaking the crap out of them!

HA HA!  Success!  Got the first one out.

All of the eggs. They don't look like the do in the commercial.
Even the texture is a bit off. 

But they taste fine and worked for egg salad. 

Clean up reminded me of washing baby bottles.  The directions say they're dishwasher safe, but they're feather light and I knew they would end up melted at the bottom of the dishwasher.

All in all I give them 3 stars out of 5.

I will try again when I have more eggs.  

I have learned:

Oil them well (maybe use bacon grease?)

Snap them shut tight

put a LOT of water in the pan

not expect to make deviled eggs out of them!