[Mike Nolan]

Pork is underutilized nearly as much as it is misunderstood. Aside from bacon and ham, I probably only cook pork 3 or 4 times a year.

I used to buy the Smithfield smoked pork chops and cook them on the outdoor grill, where they only take a few minutes, but they're really high in sodium and when I started cutting back on sodium (per doctor) that was one of the things that got dropped from the menu.

They're fairly keto-friendly, though. There also seems to be a consensus among those on keto that increasing electrolytes is a key to avoiding the 'keto flu', and that usually includes going well over the recommended levels on salt. I may work them back into the repertoire, they're a fast meal prep. (I like them with applesauce, though, and applesauce is NOT very keto-friendly, but if I limit it to a tablespoon or two, it shouldn't break the carb bank.)

[Mike Nolan]

cantaloupe and salami here, I also had a salami and tomato sandwich

[Mike Nolan]

The oven-baked chicken thighs were good enough that Diane actually ate the breading/skin, which is unusual for her.

There was sage in the mix of herbs and spices I used, but I think it made the breading taste more like a stuffing. Not a bad taste, just not a 'fried chicken' taste. Next time I'll leave it out. A simple salt-and-pepper blend is worth trying, too.

The rest of the dredge blend was: salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, ginger, celery salt, dry mustard. Diane thought the chicken needed salt, I'm not sure adding more to the dredge would have helped.

I didn't have quite enough of the KA keto flour mix and didn't want to open another bag yet, so I added some oat fiber. Not sure that was worth repeating, though.

The dip had egg, diluted cream (instead of milk) and paprika. That seemed to work well. I need to practice my breading technique a bit, though.

[Mike Nolan]

A number of Italian Heirloom and Amish Paste set in the cool spell a few weeks ago, today I picked 5 Amish Paste, and had one on my salad. The Italian Heirlooms are a day or two away.

I may have enough smaller tomatoes (3 or 4 different varieties) ripening to do another batch of tomato sauce on Sunday or Monday. I can do up to about 10 pounds at a time in my 8 quart induction-ready stock pot. I'm freezing a lot of it in small batches (4-8 ounces) which is the right amount for a pizza or other dishes that need just a little tomato in them, and I'll probably freeze some larger batches for things like spaghetti or lasagna.

[Mike Nolan]

We had salami and tomato sandwiches tonight.

I'm planning to do oven baked chicken thighs (bone in, skin on) on Friday, using the King Arthur Keto Flour for breading.

[Mike Nolan]

Made my weekly run to Aldi today, eggs were up from $2.59 a dozen to $3.29 a dozen today.

[Mike Nolan]

Yes, they make 2-3 cubic foot upright freezers, most seem to be around 27-33 inches high, 18 inches wide and 20 inches deep. Check the big box stores (Lowes, Home Depot, WalMart) near you, might have to order them for pickup in a week or so.

Ideally it should be garage-ready, or maybe that's more of an issue with refrigerators.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a second small batch of tomato sauce yesterday, using 6 pounds of tomatoes.

[Mike Nolan]

Diane had a crown replaced today, so she had soup. I had a salad with some of the eye of round as the protein.

I was doing some maintenance on another computer late this afternoon and accidentally turned this one off. Sorry about that.

[Mike Nolan]

I think we're having tomato and salami sandwiches tonight.

I'm probably making a small batch of tomato sauce, too, maybe half the size of the one I did over the weekend. Not looking like I'm going to get a huge tomato crop, mostly smaller varieties. Time to switch varieties for 2025.

I wonder how well this tomato produces:

https://www.burpee.com/tomato-supersauce-hybrid-prod003154.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PLA_NB_PMax_Tomatoes&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8rW2BhAgEiwAoRO5rDlKGHE69qWwegKjQC3Hq5gvW_t6zh5jBV8HIDOfEHfTKYLbKLKjhBoCLq0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Mike Nolan]

If Whole Foods is getting rid of the bakery equipment in their stores, where are their bakery products being made these days?

[Mike Nolan]

We had the 2nd half of Saturday's pizza tonight. Reheated well.

[Mike Nolan]

I ran across a thin crust pizza recipe that has you roll the dough out, then you cover it and let it rest for 12-18 hours. Haven't tried it yet because it's a regular wheat dough so it isn't compatible with our keto diet, but I might try that with the 2nd half of the King Arthur Keto Pizza Mix that I made on Saturday. They suggested rolling it out on parchment and cooking it on a pizza stone or baking steel, but when I tried rolling it out on parchment it kept shrinking and the parchment kind of crumpled with it. So if I try that, it will be on a sheet pan, not on parchment. Might have to put something under it as a dry lubricant. Normally I would use corn meal, but that might impact the carb count too much. I may ask about that on the King Arthur site.

[Mike Nolan]

In some states (FL) it is illegal to even touch a gopher tortoise.

[Mike Nolan]

Thanks. I don't need a certified one, but the $30-$40 ones on Amazon nearly all have lots of negative reviews about arriving broken or breaking easily.

Guess I'm stuck with the 10ml cylinder for now. Actually, just putting some in the cylinder and trying to dump it out seems close enough, if more than half of it stays in the bottom, it's probably thick enough.

[Author]

Posts