Pain, Pain, Go Away!

It's almost Christmas. Are you sick of sweets yet? Then you might like a hot, rich, savory pie on a cold winter's day. Savory pies are more common in England than America, but the pumpkin (a North American vegetable) and the buffalo ranch dip (a combination of American sauces--hot sauce that originated in Buffalo, New York and creamy ranch salad dressing) make this an American dish, made by an American who's had it up to here with pumpkin spice everything.  Ingredients Savory low-carb pie crust, cooked and cooled (I made the almond crust variation on the hazelnut crust recipe from 500 Low-Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender , page 436) 1 small pie pumpkin 3 eggs 1/2 cup Primal Kitchen Buffalo Ranch dip (it's medium heat) Directions Stab the pumpkin a few times at the top, through to the center. Bake it at 350F for one hour or until it gives when you touch it. Let cool. Cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and stringy bits and discard. Scoop out the flesh and mash or chop

Coupon savings: pennies or Benjamins? Photo from Unsplash .   When you think of coupons, do you still imagine cutting out 25-cent coupons for canned goods or junk food from a newspaper? These days, you can get coupons online or in the mail and save a lot more than spare change. I'm not an affiliate for any of the stores mentioned here.  CVS With an Extra Care card (it's free of charge), you can go to cvs.com  and virtually clip coupons or get them printed out on your receipt. They also mailed me a coupon for 30% off my entire regular-price order--and I made a CVS haul with it. I stocked up cleaning supplies, toilet paper, toothpaste, drinks, coffee, and even avocado oil. The coupon was worth $55. Totally worth the three seconds it took to cut out. Credit Card Rewards The trick to using credit card rewards is to buy only what you'd buy anyway and then pay the balance . Banking online, autopay and reminders on your calendar make this easy. My credit card gives me 2% cash back

Have your groceries delivered During the pandemic, I had groceries delivered whenever I had a cold. Back then, delivery time slots filled up fast and there were a few odd substitutions because of shortages, but those problems are pretty much gone. When I use Instacart now, I can get groceries the same day and I'm happy with items (like produce) that the shoppers pick.  Whole Foods now delivers groceries  even if you aren't a Prime member.   Instacart delivers from Kroger, Wal-Mart, Target, some regional grocery stores, and a long list of hardware stores, dollar stores, drug stores, etc. I don't recommend meal services, though--the kind where someone delivers a recipe and just enough ingredients for one meal. You still have to cook, you still have to clean, and you still have to shop for coffee and eggs.  Use a Food Processor I used to be a prep cook at a restaurant, so I'm pretty fast at chopping, shredding and slicing ingredients. Even so, I use a food processor to pr

  Link:  https://youtube.com/shorts/7D4hkpGK9Ww?si=M4x_DJI3-3vkErPT

When you have steak, salad, fermented apple/cranberry treat and keto brownies for Thanksgiving, your pants aren't uncomfortable later...unless you've been losing weight and they're starting to fall off. After several months of lifting weights a couple of times a week, I've had to start wearing a belt and cinch it two or three notches to keep some of my pants on. My other pants are just wearing out.  Lettuce and arugula in my garden in late November--can you believe it? So I made a rare Black Friday shopping trip this year. I couldn't just order my old pants in smaller size since my shape had changed--my waist got smaller but my hips stayed about the same. A nearby Ross didn't have any jeans that fit; everything at the Salvation Army store had more wear than what I was wearing. A young woman who seemed to be having a conversation with herself followed me around the racks. I left and headed for the outlet mall in Edinburgh 36 miles away.  If the crowds there were

Since I've resumed regular workouts, I thought I'd try a different electrolyte mix called Electrolyte Stix . Mike Mutzel over at High Intensity Health (no affiliation) sells an electrolyte mix with calcium, salt (Redmond's Real Salt from Utah), magnesium malate, potassium citrate, creatine, and taurine. There's no junky ingredients and even though lemon-lime was the only flavor available when I first bought a box, I liked the taste. I usually hate lemon-lime.  Image from Myoxcience.com . The good: When I have a packet of it mixed with a glass of water during workouts, I feel good. I don't end up feeling tired or off, or having a pounding heart. When I feel that way, it's often from a lack of electrolytes (especially salt or potassium). I've also built up a noticeable amount of muscle over the past few months without overly strenuous workouts; maybe the creatine helped. The bad: If I have this every day, my face swells up, which I found out is from too much

My best fermentation recipe yet! Perfect for fall. Ingredients 4 small apples, peeled and shredded 1 cup chopped raw cranberries (a food processor with an S blade works well) 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced 4 T brown sugar 1/4 cup maple syrup* Filtered water Your choice of sugar-loving probiotics (I used Biotiquest Ideal Immunity) Special equipment Canning funnel Quart jar and lid  Fermentation weight (optional) Fermentation device (I use a heating pad in an insulated grocery bag) Combine the apples, cranberries, celery, maple syrup and brown sugar in a bowl and mix. Put the canning funnel on the jar and spoon in the mixture. Add enough water to cover the ingredients. Put in the probiotics, opening the capsules if applicable. With a clean spoon or knife, push the probiotics into the jar and move the ingredients around to bring air bubbles to the surface. Put the fermentation weight in the jar if using. Put the lid on loosely (or use a fermentation lid).  Ferment until the mixture is no l