Dana's blog

Around Easter I wrote about an egg casserole I'd invented that allowed for infinite variation. Well, my local Kroger put eggs on sale for 99c/dozen recently, and I bought... well, a lot of eggs. A whole lot of eggs. (I have two refrigerators and two deep freezes. I can work a loss-leader sale like nobody's business.) As a result, I've been making egg casseroles, and I came up with a new version last night. Loved it! This would be great for breakfast, lunch or supper, and it could be your ace in the hole if you have vegetarians coming over.

Spinach-Mushroom Casserole

Gosh, I love cherries. Talk about Nature’s Candy –– cherries couldn’t be sweeter or more delicious. I have a vivid memory of a summer afternoon in my youth, when I ate a whole pint of cherries while walking home from the grocery store. Even my pug, Nick, loves cherries! (And really, it’s hard to think of a more charming diversion than feeding cherries to a pug.)

It's not bad enough that my loved ones keep getting sick and dying. Now I've been diagnosed with Lyme disease. Pleh.

Fortunately, I was diagnosed within a week of contracting it. I was one of the lucky ones who actually knew she'd been bitten by a tick, so when I found swollen glands in my neck and developed a sore throat and low fever, I had an idea what was going on. Headed to the local walk-in clinic (my regular doc had gone home for the day,) where the nice doctor looked under my hair, where I'd found the tick, and sure enough, there was the characteristic rash.

Had some stuff in the house to use up, so I made a really great new salad. I'm calling it

Sun-Dried Tomato and Turkey Club Salad

3 slices bacon
1/2 head cauliflower
3 scallions
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (I used oil-packed, but I bet the dry pack would work fine)
4 ounces sliced turkey breast
1/3 cup mayo, regular or light (I used light)

Lay your bacon on a microwave bacon rack or in a glass pie plate, and stick it in the microwave on high. Mine takes about 3-3 1/2 minutes to cook crisp.

Long-time readers know that I'm not a big fan of soy. I avoid processed soy products like soy milk, soy cheese, soy "meat," and even soy protein powder. But I do use soy beans occasionally, mostly in chili and soups. I like beans in these things, and using soy beans to replace some or all of other sorts of beans saves a lot of carbs. I have often used Eden brand canned black soy beans, and have listed them in many recipes. But canned soy beans cost more than a dollar per can, while dry, raw soy beans run just over a dollar per pound, which cooks up to the equivalent of several cans.

Kali the ferret died today, curled up in her own bed with her life-long pal Crunchy. She was incredibly old for a ferret, about 10 years old -- had she been a person, she'd have been getting birthday cards from Willard Scott for a long time now.

In her prime, Kali was both the tiniest ferret I ever knew - just a pound-and-a-half - and the fiercest. She loved to play with our big dog Jed, running up, nipping at his heels, then skittering just out of reach and chittering at him.

I miss her already.

Now poor Crunchy is an old ferret without her pal. We'll have to give her even more love and attention.

Bleah. This sucks

Since it's Memorial Day Weekend, a column on summer libations seemed in order. Have a great holiday weekend, all my US readers! Have a great weekend anyway, everyone else!

Cookout season is in full swing, and if you’’re like me, it makes you want to throw a party! A sunny day, a bunch of friends, something sizzling on the grill, a killer salad or two, tunes on the boom box, a Frisbee to toss –– what could be better?

But wait –– I forgot something! For most of us, a party also includes festive libations. What are you going to drink at your summer bash?

Well... shoot. (That ellipses is where I was taking a deep breath and reminding myself not to swear.)

In the past week I've twice spent a good half-hour, forty five minutes composing a blog post, only to hit the wrong key or combination of keys ('cause I'm used to composing in Word Perfect) and dumped my post. I cannot begin to tell you how frustrated and angry this has made me. But I promise -- PROMISE! -- I will post before I go camping for the Memorial Day weekend.

Thirteen years ago today the Webmaster (who was not yet the Webmaster) became That Nice Boy I Married. So I'm trying to come up with something for a romantic candlelit supper. If I devise anything brilliant, I'll let you know.

Did a great new thing with chicken last night! I'm calling it

Parmesan Deviled Chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
3-4 pounds cut-up chicken, skin on, bone in (I used legs and thighs)
1/4 cup spicy brown or Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons dry white wine
3/4 cup grated Parmesan (the cheap stuff in the green shaker)
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the garlic and olive oil and let 'em sit while you cut your chicken into serving pieces if it needs it -- I cut the legs off the thighs.

I'm having a meet-the-candidate event for a local candidate for judge this afternoon. This, of course, means I have to have party food. Thought you might be interested in what I'm serving, though not all of it is low carb. I've invited somewhere around 100 people (not expecting anywhere near all of them, of course!,) so I can't hardly expect them all to be low carb. And this being a college town, I can count on there being a bunch of vegetarians in the crowd. So I'm serving:

* Hummus and pita -- cheap, easy, good for any vegans in the crowd, and a lot of people like it.

?It’s spring! You know what that means – perfect baby stalks of asparagus are in your grocery store, excruciatingly fresh, and for once, reasonably priced!

Asparagus hollers “Springtime!” – while it murmurs “Luxury and elegance.” It’s delicious, quick and easy to prepare, and takes to all sorts of easy variations. And, I’m pleased to tell you, asparagus is also one of the very lowest carb vegetables. A half-pound of asparagus – a fabulously generous serving – contains only 5 grams of carbohydrate, of which 2 grams are fiber,

Just recently it seems that I've seen a lot of people opining that it's silly, useless, just plain wrong, or even unhealthy to make major, permanent changes in the way we eat. We need a little junk food, they say. It's unhealthy to deny yourself the occasional donut or Coke. Food is about more than nutrition! It's about family and culture. To eat completely differently than we were brought up to is just wrong, somehow.

No, I haven't made Shepherd's Pie again, because I haven't roasted another leg of lamb yet. But I saw this article today:Row over shepherd's pie ends in court

Geez. What do you think these lunatics would do if they knew I made mine with pureed cauliflower?

I mentioned my breathing exercises in the "How Have I Been Doing" entry, and got some queries. So here's the lowdown: