Hobbies

Chad and I had an enlightening conversation last night. I learned that I don't have a hobby.

Chad enjoys pretty much any project that requires him to use his hands & engineering-analytically-inclined mind. I like to cook, read, bake bread, sweep the floors, swiffer the floors, clean up after the dogs, bathe the dogs, work in the yard, work out, organize things (especially alphabetically), do yoga, read food blogs, read food magazines, think about food, eat food & vacuum. I really enjoy using the vacuum!

Chad says those aren't hobbies, they are chores.

Here are some other activities I have tried in the past that I think fall into the hobby category: knitting, sewing, scrapbooking, random crafts............ I think it's been 5 minutes since I typed the word "crafts" & haven't been able to think of any other "hobby" activities that I have tried. So regarding the above activities, I find that I am not a creative person (I like math & science) and so I get annoyed quickly when I am not able to craft something original. It's too hard to think of something off the top of my head. I really need patterns & instructions, though often I start off without - and usually end up starting over multiple times. And then quit because I'm annoyed. I also find that if an activity involves me sitting mostly still - I get very antsy & must find another hobby to get to - like vacuuming. I think this is an inherited trait from my mom - she rarely sits down to watch TV/movie and when she does she has the newspaper, book or soduku to work on at the same time.

So with that said. I need help. I need a hobby. What should I do?

Anchovies

What's the deal with anchovies anyways?

Did anyone know that they can go from this:All crunchy, spiney, fishy, oily, boney....

To this mushy, salty, pastey, smooth mess... I'm still scratching my head & trying to figure out what just happened.


Then to this: creamy, salty, tangy goodness?!
Hello caesar salad dressing! And Hello Mr. Anchovy, this may be the beginning of a new relationship...

Essentials

I wouldn't try to cook dinner without my cutting board, 6" chef's knife, non-stick skillet & silicone spatula.

I wouldn't rock climb without rope, a harness, climbing shoes, carabiners, rock protection or quick draws & a helmet.

I wouldn't want to run without my favorite shorts (that have the built in panties!), my Asics, heart rate monitor & tunes to listen to.

So why do I think I can make it through day-to-day business without spending time with the Lord? Ugh. Sometimes I get busy & don't realize that I've missed time until the end of the day. Sometimes I blatantly choose not to do it. Either way. I find myself ill-equipped to handle situations, conversations & marriage with grace & a Godly attitude. Unable to spread the Kingdom. Or fight the lies that consistently flood my thoughts. Or rule in my dominion. This list could go on & on.

Basically, I am nothing; Jesus is everything. And I think no matter what my "reason" is for missing time with Jesus - it can all boil down to me thinking more highly of myself & not highly enough of the Lord. Because if I can truly learn to humble myself, I think it will be my greatest pleasure to feast on the Word & to be in his presence before anything else.

Psalm 105:3-4
Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord & his strength; seek his presence continually!

Spicy Stuffed Peppers

Whenever I make these, I always wonder why I don't make them more often. They are so tasty, a great way to hide veggies & very versatile - just throw in whatever you have on hand!

I forgot to take pictures while I was working, so you only get this one of the finished plate:
Makes 4 stuffed peppers
Per serving (1 pepper serving size)
Calories: 285
Fat: 13g
Carbs: 23g
Protein: 27g
Fiber: 2g
Sodium: 210mg

Ingredients:
2 TBS butter (or EVOO)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 chili in adobo (or more if you like spicy!), minced
1/2 cup sweet potato, shredded
1/2 cup OJ (sounds weird, but hang with me)
1 TBS worcestershire
1 TBS brown sugar
2 chicken breasts
1 c shredded cheese
4 peppers (I used poblano, but you could use bell, anaheim, cubanelle...anything big enough to stuff!)

Garnish with 2 TBS light sour cream (adds 40 calories, 2.5g fat, 2g protein and 25mg sodium) and 1/4 cup guacamole or avocado (adds 100 calories, 10g fat & 6g carbs)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F now if you are using poblanos. You will want to pre-cook them to get out some of the heat. I cut off the tops, de-seed & de-membrane them & stand them up in a casserole dish to bake for 15-20 minutes before stuffing later.

1. Brown the butter in a skillet over medium/high heat. Once brown, switch to medium heat and add the garlic, onion, chilies and sweet potato. Saute veggies for 3-5 minutes.

2. Once the veggies are tender add the orange juice, worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Stir until everything is combined. Then add chicken breasts and cook, covered, for about 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

3. Transferthe chicken breasts out of the pan and crank up the heat to reduce the sauce/veggies, 3-5 minutes more.

4. Meanwhile shred or chop the chicken into bite size. Once the sauce has reduced, return chicken to pan and stir around to coat.

5. Transfer chicken mixture to a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for 30-45 minutes until cool (if you are in a rush you can probably skip this step, but I think it makes it easier to stir in the cheese without it getting all melty & clumpy. You could also make this ahead & stop here.)

6. If you didn't pre-cook your peppers earlier, pre-heat oven to 350F now.

7. When the chicken is cool, stir in shredded cheese.

8. Stuff the peppers with chicken & cheese mixture.

9. Cover with foil & bake in the oven for about 30-45 minutes. In the last 5 minutes, remove the foil, sprinkle a little shredded cheese over the peppers and once they are ooey, gooey melty – they are ready to eat!

I spooned some slow cooked black beans into a shallow bowl and garnished with sour cream & guacamole.

I've made these a couple of times, but never done a nutrient analysis until today. Now that I see how much fat is in the recipe, I will definitely try using less & switching to a healthier fat next time - 1 TBS EVOO will probably do the trick! Hope you enjoy!!

Hippy or Healthy?

Today, I did something kind of out of character for me. I went to a health food store. I know that sounds weird to say since I'm a dietitian & pretty into the healthy stuff. In school & working at a hospital we focused on the science - hard facts. Herbal supplements & the like were really only mentioned in that some can be harmful & they aren't regulated by the FDA (so basically what's on the label is not necessarily what's in the product). So with that foundation I learned modern, western ways to treat patients. (Granted, as I learned more at work I came to understand that there are some vitamins/minerals that have huge rolls in wound healing & the like. But dosing those vitamins/minerals at a therapeutic level also came with lots of scientific studies for back up.)

I think a shift has been a long time coming though. I don't like taking pills. When my ulcerative colitis was diagnosed & active a couple of years ago & I was taking 12+ pills everyday for that, I kept thinking - there has got to be another way to deal with this. Diet modification can be helpful, but I was having a really hard time identifying my triggers because sometimes foods didn't bother me but the next time I ate them they did. And stress reduction can also help. But I wasn't about to give up my new job at Parkland, no matter how stressed out I was. So I kept taking the pills.

Then one morning late last year I woke up & couldn't move my neck. I'd been having upper back/neck pain for months & attributed it to sleeping wrong. The doctor on base took xrays & gave me a pain killer & muscle relaxer. I was in tears in the exam room & he said there was nothing wrong. I think he gave me the drugs out of pity for how pathetic I was. I took them for a couple of days - I was desperate for relief! Meanwhile, Chad was researching a chiropractor for me to try out. He went to the chiro as a kid & had good results. I had always been really skeptical about chiropractors or any other types of alternative medicine for that matter. But like I said, I was desperate. (And after a couple of months, my neck feels so much better!)

Next it was the NetiPot. Chad has had allergy/congestion something for a while & the doctors keep giving him nasal spray & allergy medicine that doesn't really seem to help. He feels the same way about having to take medicine every day. My mom has used a Neti for a while & encouraged us to give it a whirl. She even let me watch her do it - something that my dad is not allowed to see. Then I found out my brother-in-law uses one too. And my sister-in-law's (Chad's sisters) are bold enough to snort warm saline water straight out of their hands. I tried & gagged. So we got a Neti around Christmas. After a couple of near-drowning-experiences I noticed that my nasal junk was slightly less offensive. Chad uses the Neti on occasion - I'm trying to work us both up to two flushes a day (BID is what we would tell patients in the hospital if we wanted them to do something that often).

So here we are today. The health store day. Chad was looking pretty puny yesterday (he slept most of the day) but had to start back to school today. The weather here is cold & rainy & seeing how he spends most of most days outside, I thought I needed to try something to help get us/keep us both well. At the chiropractor's office one day, I saw an add for astralagus & andrographis - both herbs said to be useful in fighting congestion/cold symptoms. I did a little poking around & didn't find anything concrete about benefits but also didn't find anything about it being harmful. So I was ready to give it a try. I found andrographis at the store - $15.00 for 30 pills (I think these were also at least to be taken twice a day - BID for those of you paying attention :). That much wouldn't even last us a month. And I wasn't ready to dole out $15 on an herb I wasn't sure was going to work. So I struck up a conversation with one of the worker ladies & she went into much detail about her own sinus care routine. I didn't need to know all that! Anyways, I ended up walking out of there with some colloidal silver - something I had only vaguely heard of, not researched & not thought to try out. I hate making impulsive purchases. I also snagged some essential oils (eucalyptus, peppermint & tea tree) to try to whip up something soothing/helpful for our weary sinuses.

Got home from spin this afternoon -- excited to try out my new remedies. I positioned myself on bed with my head hanging back over the edge - just like the TMI lady told me to do & dropped a couple drops of the silver in each nostril. Nothing happened at first. Then my forehead started burning! I felt like I had slurped the entirety of an Olympic sized pool through my nose. My eyes started watering & I sat up in hopes of the silver running out my nose to make the burning stop. To be fair, the TMI lady did warn me - but I didn't think it could be that bad! However, the pain was worth it because there was definitely an ease to breathing I haven't felt in a while.

Once I could see again I hopped online & started looking for info about colloidal silver. Lots of mixed reports. Apparently it was really popular around the turn of the century & used as a "cure all". I repeatedly saw info about it's antibacterial/antimicrobial properties. That's good right - get in there & burn up whatever gunk is lurking in my sinuses. But then I started seeing the side effects - like argyria (when your skin, hair, nails & gums can turn a blue-grey color!! Which is irreversible, by the way). There were also some comments about kidney damage & seizures. All these were said to happen with excessive use over months & years. So I don't think that the 4 drops today are going to turn my skin blue, but I am going to be stingy in using it in the future. I like my skin the color it is now!

The essential oils were a hit though! I mixed up what I thought smelled good & sinus-opening in a small bowl & took them into the shower with me. Once the hot water hit them - they became very aromatic - sticking my nose close to the bowl for a few nice deep breaths was 1) sinus clearing and 2) relaxing. Will definitely be exploring other applications for these oils, like compresses or massage. I can't wait to mix up some shower oils for Chad to try tonight!

This has turned into a hideously long post - thanks for sticking out - if you made it this far! I think am definitely more open to other alternative type treatments now. What do you think? Do you stick with a doctor or experiment with other remedies? If so, any suggestions for me? What have you tried & liked/found relief? What have been some things you tried but wish you didn't? Lay it on me!

Observations on Grocery Shopping at the Commissary

So we shop on base for groceries at the Commissary. The groceries are cheaper, there's not tax & the selection of produce/products is just as good there as anywhere else I've found. Except for The Fresh Market in Destin, which I'm not allowed to go to without supervision from Chad. And it's across the bridge which has a toll - so it really doesn't make sense to drive down just for groceries...that's what I say to convince myself.

Now there are all kinds of people that shop at the commissary. Yesterday, while in line to check out, a youngish lady pulls up behind me with her toddler in the seat & the rest of the cart filled to the max. She spots her husband coming down the isle & yells "Honey we need SPAM!" I didn't know anyone ate SPAM outside of the Hawaiian Islands.

My favorite are the vets & their wives. I don't know if it's because I'm a dietitian & absolutely love food & grocery shopping or if it's because I'm just being nosy, but I LOVE peeking into people's grocery carts (and maybe passing judgment in some cases...I won't lie!) and seeing what they are stocking up on.

This week's find: a sweet old man & his cute old wife had a roll of toilet paper, soda...I don't really remember the other stuff because I was so taken with what they were stockpiling. They had 6 (SIX!!) boxes of Oscar Mayer Ready to Serve Bacon. Now I have nothing against bacon at all - we Hogue's love our bacon! But there is something not right about taking already cooked bacon out of the box, ready to eat after briefly heating it in the microwave. Which gets me to thinking...how is this really any different than cooking your bacon in the microwave (which I don't condone but have been known to do when in a pinch)? Maybe because I have the luxury of time (being a stay-at-home-wife does have its perks!) so I like to do things the long way...like soaking black beans in a pot instead of opening a can. And how long does it really take to cook bacon in a pan?! Anyways - maybe I'm crazy & maybe Mr Mayer is on to something with that bacon in a box.

Another find from a week or two ago (and possibly my favorite yet). Wait, let me preface this statement with a quick explanation. Every so often, the commissary piles stuff into huge grocery carts & marks the price way down. WAAAY down. Usually batteries, ground beef, mouthwash...cereal... (another story for another time). Anyways, a couple of weeks ago I was strolling by the frozen food/bread isle & saw a woman going crazy. Filling her arms with jars of Marshmallow Creme. She had at least 5. I have never had a need for 1 jar of mallow fluff. What is she going to do with 5?! I was so tempted to ask, but she was in the zone & I didn't want to get between this lady & her jars of sugar.

I think most grocery stores have their crazy shoppers. But for some reason, there is a higher than average number of these people at the commissary. It's like they come out of hiding for one week to stock up for a winter hibernation.

Or maybe I've just got a limited palate?