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February!

Snow Birds

 

Our welcome to February here in Wyoming includes a day this week with a forecast high of -3. I’m not going to lie. Negative 3 is cold. But truthfully it’s not terribly bad unless the wind is blowing too. If the wind is blowing then it is a good day to stay inside by the fire. My wonderful husband makes takes care of all of the outside chores on those super cold days.  He makes sure to dress for the occasion. His super cold day attire is usually something like this; long johns (top and bottom), sweats over the long johns, long sleeved t-shirt, jeans, a sweatshirt with a hood, insulated bibs then a heavy jacket. He also wears a hat with a face mask made out of some kind of weird material that is supposed to be extra warm but is also very thin. The hood from the sweat shirt then gets tied on and a stocking hat goes on top. He also wears snow boots (even if there is not snow on the ground) and wool socks. He’s often said that one of the things he doesn’t like about our cold winters is the effort and time it takes to get dressed to go outside.  On super cold days Christopher and I also dress warm even though we are mostly inside. Long johns and sweaters are the norm for us during the winter.

I saw the surgeon last week for my hand. I was quite happy when he told me he doesn’t think I’ll need surgery. He did show me the MRI and point out the problem areas. The bone (commonly called the snuff box) that was originally thought to be broke looks fine and he can’t say for sure it was actually broken. But he said that the cast was still necessary since I badly bruised two bones in the same area and they are harder to heal than an actual break. I also tore the ligament on the pinky side and tore the cartilage in the same area. He said that it’s going to still be a long road to recovery and I should expect another three plus months before it is better. He also started me on some treatments in the physical therapy department. For the next six weeks I’m doing some kind of mild shock thing and stretching exercises. After that I’ll likely move on to 6 weeks or so of strengthening exercises. He also put me in a different type of splint. The one I had was a little bulkier than he felt I needed (he did say to hold on to it just in case he needs to do surgery). I’m totally happy about being out of that splint (see a picture of it here) but really wish I would have saw him before I got it since it was 500 bucks! The new splint — only $25. Oh well.

I still can’t handle a knife very well or do all of the kitchen things. Joe is still being my sous chef and helping out with meals. Unfortunately the ‘big game’ yesterday messed up our Sunday afternoon cooking session so I’m relying on very simple meals this week. I am still grain-free and mostly doing the Whole30 plan. I did have white potatoes and white rice a couple of times over the last couple of weeks. I don’t think they bothered me. Yesterday I attempted to have nachos with everyone else and that was a mistake. Originally I thought I’d just have  taco salad but gave into the temptation and payed for it with a miserable stomach all night and still a little bit today. I have to face reality that at least for now I really do need to stick with avoiding certain foods. My husband has commented several times over the last few weeks that he’s noticed I seem to feel better. I don’t complain of stomach problems and I’m not getting headaches like I was.  I have to admit there are a few foods that I’m missing from my diet including beans and lentils. I never thought I would miss those but I do.

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This week’s menu includes something interesting that I had lurking in my freezer– tongue. I’ve made tongue tacos several times in the past and we liked them. I do have to say that I don’t particularly enjoy the cooking of the tongue. It is kind of icky. But if you can get past that part the taste is great. Very much like a roast but more flavor. I found a recipe that cooks it in the crock pot that I’ll use this time and then we’ll use that meat as a topping for salad greens and do up something like a taco salad.  Joe put a couple of chicken carcasses in the crock pot so we can have broth for the week. These carcasses are ones we cut the meat off of (see this post) but still have a bit of meat on them so after cooking that remaining meat gets picked off and I’ll use it in a casserole on Thursday.

Menu

Sunday – Game Day Nachos

Monday – Chicken drumsticks (I’m going to make something like this but without the additional meats), rice, sauteed greens

Tuesday – Spicy Tongue Salad, whole onions cooked in broth

Wednesday – Indian Style Antelope (using this recipe as a guide subbing antelope steaks for the chicken), spaghetti squash, sauteed greens

Thursday – Chicken and butternut squash casserole, sides to be determined

Friday – Cauliflower Calm Chowder, sides to be determined

Saturday – Moroccan Beef Stew (but probably made with antelope or venison and I won’t be adding the dried fruit)

 

What’s on your menu?

 

Menu Week of January 12 Real Food for Less Money

 

 

Shared at Menu Plan Monday

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