1 quart assorted Tomatoes (I like an heirloom variety, or whatever's handy in my garden)
1 cup sliced Olives (the Greek mix at Wegman's is great, or use kalamata, black and green olives)
1 cup crumbled Feta Cheese
1/4 cup Pine Nuts
1/2 Tbsp whole Coriander
1/2 Tbsp whole Cumin
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Chop tomatoes. If using grape or cherry tomatoes, cut them in half so dressing and spices can get inside. Drop in medium mixing bowl.
Slice olives, if they didn't come that way and add to tomatoes. Add cheese.
Gently toast pine nuts, coriander and cumin in a dry pan over medium heat until pine nuts are golden. Allow to cool and add to tomatoes.
Drizzle vinegar and olive oil into bowl and stir gently until mixture is even.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Friday, July 18, 2014
Buffalo Cauliflower Nuggets
I LOVE buffalo wings, but I hate to use them as a side dish, especially with a chicken entree. So, replacing the chicken with a veggie I love and WHAM! Awesome side.
Chop a small head of cauliflower into roughly bite sized pieces (or half the head if it's one of the GIANT ones from the grocery store. or Double the recipe. whatever.)
Batter:
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Cayenne (or ancho or chipotle)
1 1/3 cup water
Topping:
Your favorite wing sauce
Your favorite Blue Cheese or Ranch dressing.
(We like Frank's Red Hot's Wing Sauce and Ken's Steakhouse Chunky Blue Cheese.)
Preheat cooking oil in a frying pan.
Mix dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Stir in water 1/3 cup or so at a time.
Dip cauliflower in batter and drop gently in hot oil. Cook in batches, so the pieces don't stick together, until golden.
Drain on paper towels and top with wing sauce and dressing.
If you have a favorite hot sauce that's not a wing sauce, add melted butter to it in a roughly 50-50 mix to make a wing sauce out of it!
Chop a small head of cauliflower into roughly bite sized pieces (or half the head if it's one of the GIANT ones from the grocery store. or Double the recipe. whatever.)
Batter:
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Cayenne (or ancho or chipotle)
1 1/3 cup water
Topping:
Your favorite wing sauce
Your favorite Blue Cheese or Ranch dressing.
(We like Frank's Red Hot's Wing Sauce and Ken's Steakhouse Chunky Blue Cheese.)
Preheat cooking oil in a frying pan.
Mix dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Stir in water 1/3 cup or so at a time.
Dip cauliflower in batter and drop gently in hot oil. Cook in batches, so the pieces don't stick together, until golden.
Drain on paper towels and top with wing sauce and dressing.
If you have a favorite hot sauce that's not a wing sauce, add melted butter to it in a roughly 50-50 mix to make a wing sauce out of it!
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Blackened Chicken Seasoning
Super easy, super spicy.
Equal parts:
Fine Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Ground Cumin
Ground Cayenne
Garlic Powder
Mix thoroughly.
When making chicken:
Pound chicken breasts flat, about 3/4" - 1" thick. Cut into 2-3 pieces, depending on size of chicken piece. Coat chicken and cook in a small amount of oil over medium to high heat.
If you prefer a less spicy dinner, reduce cayenne or season chicken lightly rather than coating.
I used 1/2 Tbsp each and had enough to generously coat 2 large chicken breasts, with a tiny bit left over.
Equal parts:
Fine Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Ground Cumin
Ground Cayenne
Garlic Powder
Mix thoroughly.
When making chicken:
Pound chicken breasts flat, about 3/4" - 1" thick. Cut into 2-3 pieces, depending on size of chicken piece. Coat chicken and cook in a small amount of oil over medium to high heat.
If you prefer a less spicy dinner, reduce cayenne or season chicken lightly rather than coating.
I used 1/2 Tbsp each and had enough to generously coat 2 large chicken breasts, with a tiny bit left over.
Sorry, but this post is about my period.
So, I learned a very important lesson over the last year. Well, I've learned a few, but this one is one that everyone should know, women especially, but anyone who knows or cares about a woman might want to pay attention.
Late last spring, I had a very heavy period. Then another one. Having been pretty irregular my entire life (other than when I was on the pill) I was mostly just happy they were predictable. Then my periods got heavier and heavier. I was soaking the biggest tampons I could find in less than an hour. Sometime a few in a row, sometimes randomly.
Then my periods started getting longer. And I started getting really tired by the time they were done.
And I learned the first lesson of this ordeal: Culturally, we're trained to dread our periods. Boys think it's gross and on the rare chance that you have a girl you can talk to about it, what response do you get? "Oh, I know! Mine's horrible too!"
This is not just unsupportive, it can be dangerous. It made me feel like maybe I was getting worried about nothing. So I bought more tampons and sucked it up.
And then in October, I had a few hours were I couldn't keep up with how heavy I was bleeding. The next day, I had a couple more hours like that. Then the next night and into midmorning, I went through something like 24 tampons and pads in about 14 hours. I bled on my pajamas, I trailed blood down the hall to the bathroom. I was so exhausted that I called off from work.
I felt like a total failure. 33 years old and my period was still getting the best of me. I called my doctor's office and the receptionist told me they couldn't fit me in for over a month. I voiced a concern and she said, "Oh, we all have heavy periods from time to time. Get some rest, you'll be fine." (See above)
My bleeding continued to get even worse, which I didn't think was even possible. I couldn't imagine where it was all coming from. Didn't they tell us over and over in health class in junior high and high that you can't bleed to death from your period? That you just shred the lining of your uterus and that's as much as you can bleed?
I called the doctor's office back and asked to talk to a nurse. I got my friend Ann's mom (YAY!) and she said she's talk to the doctor and call me back. In about 20 minutes she called me back and said "Honey, we can't fit you in today, you're going to have to go to the emergency room. What you've got happening isn't normal or healthy."
Dave and I hadn't been dating long and I didn't really think he'd want me to bother him at work, so I called my mom. She drove down and took me to the ER. When I finally got seen, I was waiting for the doctor to come in and give me what would turn out to be the first in an outrageous series of pelvic exams and I got up to pee and change my tampon, yet again.
While I was in the bathroom, I suddenly felt very dizzy and saw my lips go pale in the mirror. I sat down quickly on the floor, wearing nothing but a hospital (much to my mother's horror), because I was afraid I would faint. The doctor came in and her and my mom tried to left me onto my feet and I promptly blacked out.
They had to put me on a backboard to get me out of the narrow little bathroom doorway. They had to put my feet above my head to keep me conscious. I needed 6 liters of IV fluids to get my blood pressure high enough that I could lift my head. I found out I have a uterine fibroid as big as my pinky.
Until all was said and done, I ended up needing 2 units of blood and I spent 2 nights in the hospital, because of Acute Blood Loss Anemia. They gave me 9 doses of estrogen in 2 1/2 days to get the bleeding to stop. I could easily have died if I hadn't gotten to the hospital when I did. I could have passed out at home and fallen down the stairs. I could have had a car accident if I had decided to drive myself.
Over the last year, I have been on Provera, tried the Mirena IUD, and taken the Mini-Pill. I've been taking so much iron and vitamin C that I'm starting to suffer heartburn and nausea from it.
Provera didn't work at all.
The IUD didn't work because my continued heavy bleeding flushed it out of my body. (Which had to be verified with an xray and transvaginal ultrasound.)
We're still debating whether the Mini-Pill didn't work at all, or if it worked beautifully and my bleeding would have been even worse without it.
We've discussed a hysterectomy. At one point I was threatening to attempt my own with a spoon.
Dave had been unbelievably supportive through all of this. We've decided to go a more conservative route with my treatment and this past Monday, I had a hysteroscopy with the intention that my doctor would try to remove as much of my fibroid as possible.
He was unable to remove any of it, because it's completely embedded in the wall of my uterus. He scraped my lining and submitted it to pathology, where, thankfully, it came back normal. He's hopeful that this will solve the problem anyway, but at this point, we're waiting to see how it goes.
The moral of the story is this:
You know your body better than anybody. If something seems fightening or unusual, err on the side of caution and see your doctor. The worst thing that can happen is that nothing is wrong.
Especially in light of the upsetting decisions regarding women's health being made by many in our government, ladies, we need to take care of ourselves and each other. And boys, please don't tune us out if we're scared or worried because of our period. We know it's not your favorite subject, it's not ours either, but it's important that we can all discuss it like grown-ups.
Late last spring, I had a very heavy period. Then another one. Having been pretty irregular my entire life (other than when I was on the pill) I was mostly just happy they were predictable. Then my periods got heavier and heavier. I was soaking the biggest tampons I could find in less than an hour. Sometime a few in a row, sometimes randomly.
Then my periods started getting longer. And I started getting really tired by the time they were done.
And I learned the first lesson of this ordeal: Culturally, we're trained to dread our periods. Boys think it's gross and on the rare chance that you have a girl you can talk to about it, what response do you get? "Oh, I know! Mine's horrible too!"
This is not just unsupportive, it can be dangerous. It made me feel like maybe I was getting worried about nothing. So I bought more tampons and sucked it up.
And then in October, I had a few hours were I couldn't keep up with how heavy I was bleeding. The next day, I had a couple more hours like that. Then the next night and into midmorning, I went through something like 24 tampons and pads in about 14 hours. I bled on my pajamas, I trailed blood down the hall to the bathroom. I was so exhausted that I called off from work.
I felt like a total failure. 33 years old and my period was still getting the best of me. I called my doctor's office and the receptionist told me they couldn't fit me in for over a month. I voiced a concern and she said, "Oh, we all have heavy periods from time to time. Get some rest, you'll be fine." (See above)
My bleeding continued to get even worse, which I didn't think was even possible. I couldn't imagine where it was all coming from. Didn't they tell us over and over in health class in junior high and high that you can't bleed to death from your period? That you just shred the lining of your uterus and that's as much as you can bleed?
I called the doctor's office back and asked to talk to a nurse. I got my friend Ann's mom (YAY!) and she said she's talk to the doctor and call me back. In about 20 minutes she called me back and said "Honey, we can't fit you in today, you're going to have to go to the emergency room. What you've got happening isn't normal or healthy."
Dave and I hadn't been dating long and I didn't really think he'd want me to bother him at work, so I called my mom. She drove down and took me to the ER. When I finally got seen, I was waiting for the doctor to come in and give me what would turn out to be the first in an outrageous series of pelvic exams and I got up to pee and change my tampon, yet again.
While I was in the bathroom, I suddenly felt very dizzy and saw my lips go pale in the mirror. I sat down quickly on the floor, wearing nothing but a hospital (much to my mother's horror), because I was afraid I would faint. The doctor came in and her and my mom tried to left me onto my feet and I promptly blacked out.
They had to put me on a backboard to get me out of the narrow little bathroom doorway. They had to put my feet above my head to keep me conscious. I needed 6 liters of IV fluids to get my blood pressure high enough that I could lift my head. I found out I have a uterine fibroid as big as my pinky.
Until all was said and done, I ended up needing 2 units of blood and I spent 2 nights in the hospital, because of Acute Blood Loss Anemia. They gave me 9 doses of estrogen in 2 1/2 days to get the bleeding to stop. I could easily have died if I hadn't gotten to the hospital when I did. I could have passed out at home and fallen down the stairs. I could have had a car accident if I had decided to drive myself.
Over the last year, I have been on Provera, tried the Mirena IUD, and taken the Mini-Pill. I've been taking so much iron and vitamin C that I'm starting to suffer heartburn and nausea from it.
Provera didn't work at all.
The IUD didn't work because my continued heavy bleeding flushed it out of my body. (Which had to be verified with an xray and transvaginal ultrasound.)
We're still debating whether the Mini-Pill didn't work at all, or if it worked beautifully and my bleeding would have been even worse without it.
We've discussed a hysterectomy. At one point I was threatening to attempt my own with a spoon.
Dave had been unbelievably supportive through all of this. We've decided to go a more conservative route with my treatment and this past Monday, I had a hysteroscopy with the intention that my doctor would try to remove as much of my fibroid as possible.
He was unable to remove any of it, because it's completely embedded in the wall of my uterus. He scraped my lining and submitted it to pathology, where, thankfully, it came back normal. He's hopeful that this will solve the problem anyway, but at this point, we're waiting to see how it goes.
The moral of the story is this:
- If your period seems unusual, or upsetting, see your doctor.
- If your doctor doesn't take you seriously, see another one.
- If your friend or family member tell you that her period is upsetting, don't turn it into a misery pissing contest. Listen, and recommend she see her doctor.
You know your body better than anybody. If something seems fightening or unusual, err on the side of caution and see your doctor. The worst thing that can happen is that nothing is wrong.
Especially in light of the upsetting decisions regarding women's health being made by many in our government, ladies, we need to take care of ourselves and each other. And boys, please don't tune us out if we're scared or worried because of our period. We know it's not your favorite subject, it's not ours either, but it's important that we can all discuss it like grown-ups.
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