We ordered our furniture on May 5th and only got it last week, September 11th to be exact. That was when we were in the midst of the wildfire smoke so our furniture came, they put it on the deck and we never even went out there because of the smoke. All we could do was look at it from out the window. So disappointing after waiting so long!
Supposedly, anything that is ordered is taking a very long time due to covid, except Amazon, of course. Amazon just continues to save the day, don't they? Thank goodness because I've been using them so much since covid which is why they are thriving. I admit, it's because of me! The other bummer about that wildfire smoke was that it took away our last few days of enjoying summer. I really wanted those last few days to enjoy the outside warm temperatures. The last thing we did was have a barbecue over at Nick and Sachiyo's house on Saturday last week, which was actually very smoky, but we needed to babysit the kids while Sachiyo got her driver's license since they made the appointment clear back in July! It was such an ordeal to get her license because it had expired from when they lived here before so she had to make an appointment on the phone which had a wait time of around 40 minutes. Covid has really taught us to deal with inconveniences and to have much patience. Nick and Sachiyo still to not have their stuff from Japan yet - talk about patience. They are still using stuff we've given them to borrow and stuff that they've ordered like a new espresso machine and a Japanese barbecue. Last week, they made Yakitori on their new barbecue. This was probably our last summer barbecue of the season since the smoke lasted so long.
Hana and I made her favorite apple hand pies that we've made several times together.
I just use my apple pie recipe but I cut the pie crust into rectangles and form them like Pop Tarts. They are so much easier for the kids to eat than a piece of pie and they LOVE them. Notice Hana kept the whole plate in front of her!
We had a couple visitors during our barbecue that were very special.
There are a lot of deer in their neighborhood since they live in a very wooded area in a golf community. Their bird feeder is low to the ground and the deer have discovered it. We saw deer eating their bushes when we were over there setting up their house before they arrived. At the time, I thought the deer knew that house was vacant but really, I don't think these deer are very shy around people because they are all over the place.
Anyway, I think that will be our last barbecue for awhile and now we are into soup season. This is a recipe from Hannah Freese, RD with whom I've joined her wt loss group called The Freese Method. She has an online group where she does nutrition counseling to heal your broken metabolism. I know my metabolism has been broken for YEARS, since about 2003 when I started getting nodules on my thyroid. I had two surgeries on my thyroid, one that I wrote about here. I feel like I've never been the same so her program made sense to me and I started it last week. My sister in Colorado did her program and lost 17 pounds in 12 weeks. She actually goes to Hannah's husband for her internal medicine doctor in Colorado so that's how I heard about her. Then I found out my other sister in Washington, DC joined the group last week so I joined, too. We have a zoom meeting every Tuesday with Hannah to talk about how its' going and I'm so excited to do it. Hannah does a great job educating us on physiology and how metabolism works. She also has wonderful menus and so far I've eaten five days worth and even Bruce loves the dinner recipes. She gave me permission to put any of her recipes on my blog so this is the first one I'm posting. So far, I'm doing the first two weeks where I'm eating foods to stop the damage to my metabolism. The biggest culprit is SUGAR. Duh! I mean, this isn't anything I don't know but I can't get myself to do it. With menus provided to me and lots of support by her (and my sisters), I'm motivated to do it. She allows dark chocolate so that's the only sugar I've eaten for the past five days and it seems to satisfy me just fine. She also allows some fruit but mainly the plan avoids all processed foods (except dark chocolate). So, no bread, pasta, rice, crackers, etc. and lots of veggies, eggs, meats, quinoa, beans, coconut milk, chia seeds, oatmeal, avocados, etc. All the recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner have been delicious and I have no complaints and Bruce also likes them even though he does not need to lose weight. The recipes are pretty simple, just lots of slicing and dicing of veggies and I spent a lot less at the grocery store when I went last week to stock up for my first week on her diet. In five days, I've eaten two heads of cauliflower, three avocados, a lot of eggs which I like, thank goodness, and cups and cups of spinach and kale. LOL I'm hoping my metabolism loves this because I'm feeling awfully healthy! I'll keep you posted on my progress but in the meantime, enjoy this yummy, healthy, metabolism-healing soup we had tonight.
Makes 6 servings (serving size is 2 cups of soup)
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion (diced)
2 stalks celery (diced)
2 carrots (medium, peeled and diced)
4 garlic (cloves, minced)
1 head cauliflower (chopped into florets)
4 cups kale leaves (chopped)
6 cups organic vegetable broth
2-1/4 cups dry red lentils (cooked per package instructions)
sea salt and black pepper (to taste)
1. Heat oil in a large pot. Add the onions, celery, and carrots. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until veggies are softened.
2. Add garlic and cook for 2-3 more minutes.
3. Add the cauliflower, kale, and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Let simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Stir in the cooked lentil and season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
5. Divide between bowls. Enjoy!
Notes: Refrigerate in a covered container up to 4 days. Freeze up to 6 months.
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