adventures in cooking ...

 Last Sunday I was experimenting with some recipes that I had pulled out of magazines.  I'm a firm believer that recipes are just basic guidelines and suggestions, and not always written in stone.  

Unless they are, of course, literally written in stone.

Months ago, I found a recipe for a savory waffle with cheese and bacon that can be used for making breakfast egg sandwiches but did not have a waffle maker.   When I was gifted one last week from someone who is moving would not be taking theirs, I no longer had an excuse to not make them.  Naturally, I put my own spin on them by using a diabetic-friendly waffle batter, rather than white flour.

Needless to say, they were quite good just by themselves, and I froze six of them to pop into the toaster oven for breakfast.

Next, I modified an orzo recipe I found.  The original recipe called for roasted cherry tomatoes, but I prefer sundried tomatoes and used those.  Because it also called for olive oil, I instead used the oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes with just a little bit of plain olive oil added to make up the quantity needed.  I substituted balsamic vinegar for red wine vinegar and fresh spinach for parsley.  I did toast over-toast the pine nuts ~ it was a learning moment ~ and added black olives to the recipe.  It called for grated Parmesan cheese, but I used shredded and added it to the entire bowl, rather than using it just as a serving topper.  As written, it was to be served warm as a main course or side (the pine nuts adding protein if served as the main course), but I also enjoyed it as a cold salad later in the week for lunch.

If you keep up with my bucket list there on the right, trying macaron cookies was added a few weeks ago.  I'd always wondered what they tasted like because they seem to require a certain skill to make them, and are difficult to find.  I found a company in Miami, FL that ships them so decided to check them off my list and ordered two dozen.

I was not disappointed.  They arrived with cold packs, fresh and very delicious.  I would say that they will last me a few weeks, but that would be a lie.  The remainder of the dozen below were shared with friends and are long gone.  The second dozen will be shared again this evening at a women's meeting at church.  As much as I would love to be greedy and selfish indulgent and eat them all by myself, I'm sure my doctor would argue that I don't need the sugar.  He'd be right of course.  

Darn it.

Healthwise, I'm holding my own.  I'm still waiting to get the liver biopsy done, instead of the Univ of VA, we are trying for WV Univ.  Both are teaching hospitals with excellent staff (I'm told) but a better chance of getting into WVU sooner.   Until it is done, I have to stay off of the meloxicam medication, and that has proven to be an exercise in breathing and mind-over-matter pain control.  I was unaware of how much my arthritis would hurt without it, and how much the medication helped.  I can't even say "on a good day" my pain level is XX because every day on a scale of zero to ten, I'm somewhere between 15-18.  I did get something temporary to help me sleep, but during the day I just have to suck it up buttercup.

I don't have much of an appetite, in spite of macarons and new recipes, so my weight continues to be a number I can't remember being before.  If it had been intentional, I'd be thrilled.  But it wasn't, so I'm not sure what to think.

Fall has begun here, with the leaves on trees slowing changing.  This morning was cold and foggy, and I actually had to turn the heat on for a while just to bring the house up to 66F.  Halloween is around the corner, and I've been told that I can expect between 50-100 candy-seeking monsters that night.  A big change from the 5-10 kids we would get in Wisconsin each year.  I'm planning on sitting outside to greet the little demons before they can ring the bell, tho I'm sure Charlie will be going crazy regardless.  At least by sitting outside, there will be less chance of him sneaking out the door and doing his own terrorizing.  I will be sure to get pictures to share.