**REVIEW** Farberware 50124 Classic Yosemite Stainless Steel Coffee Percolator

 I talked in a previous post about why I wanted to replace my Keurig. I still have the stupid thing, I've just moved it into the storage closet for now but maybe not for long. I can't count on it for a decent cup of coffee anymore. Oh well. I did get over 4 years' hard use out of the thing.

I have been saving 5 and 10 dollars at a time for a replacement for that Keurig. I just didn't want to spend as much again on another machine that I'll be replacing every few years. This time, I went cheaper - sort of. Keep reading.

What I have now is this:

Nice simple setup. 

I'm really happy with it. As I mentioned in that previous post, there are pros and cons - and some of the pros are personal. But let's talk about it.

The Pros:

It's a nice-looking appliance, beautiful really. I have always loved stainless steel for the kitchen. I also don't like plastic parts for certain items because I think that metal is more durable and sturdy. Farberware has always been dependable when our family has had their stuff in the past.

The percolator was around $24 with tax. Price was a big concern because, as you will read later, I might need to go bigger. So I didn't want to spend any more than I could deduct from groceries for the month without feeling deprived.

Anyway.

I mainly wanted something that, if it stops working in a year, I won't feel ripped off. There's nothing on this to stop working, really. It's metal, inside and out except for the handle and the knob on top. 

It's pretty easy to clean. I've been rinsing it out between uses and I can put every part into the dishwasher if I want. I plan to just do a soap and water wash once a week or so. I do hate that the inside top holds water so you have to shake the pot to get it all out.

Using this is simple. You can make coffee with or without a filter and not get a lot of "grime" in your brew. I spent a few bucks on filters specific to it but they haven't arrived yet. In the meantime, I've made coffee both with and without filters that I've cut to fit. I can't tell much difference, honestly. I did think that one design feature could be having a strainer built into the inside to cover/strain where the coffee exits to pour. ~shrug~ To be honest, I wish now that I hadn't bothered to order filters. They aren't necessary.

finally got the Breakfast Blend
right!

The aroma when brewing the coffee in the percolator is stronger and more delicious. My whole apartment smelled like fresh-perking coffee. I'm sure that it has a lot to do with the coffee I was using, but I have used the same coffee in the Keurig with a universal filter and the smell wasn't as alluring. 

I can see when the coffee is getting strong enough by watching the color as it perks. And there's so much about watching the percolating action that reminds me of days with my late mother. A big part of my decision to get a percolator was to do with memories of Mom and my youth.

The whole process is soothing and relaxing. Setting up the appliance with coffee and water, then bringing it to a boil, and watching it brew makes me feel calm and peaceful. I don't know why this is. Maybe because I have to stop long enough and take the time to make the coffee instead of just plugging in a pod?

My favorite thing about percolated coffee I think is the temperature. I love, love, love piping hot coffee. With the Keurig, the output is decently hot but not enough to stay that way once I add creamer from the fridge. When I added creamer to the percolated coffee, I still had the perfect sipping temp.

Now, let's talk about some of the hassles.

The Cons:

While going through the ritual of making coffee in a percolator is part of the appeal, it can also play the other way. If you are in any kind of a hurry, you better have a backup machine or some instant. I do have a really small 2-cup travel machine. It fits in the smallest part of my pantry and takes about 7 minutes to add coffee, water, and run a brew through.  That's my backup but the coffee it turns out is not that great. It's really old and has started clogging up a lot. It's something to do with the little plastic tubing that the hot water runs through. Maybe it's in cahoots with that Keurig? Whatever the case, I will not be replacing that when it dies out.

It takes a little practice to get measurements of coffee-to-water right for different roasts. My first cup was perfect. I used some of the Green Mountain Dark Magic that time and got the brew just right. When I first used the Green Mountain Breakfast Roast, things didn't go as well. Because I went with more grounds (because of the lighter roast), I let the coffee perk too long. I had a strangely weak but burned-tasting brew. Ugh. But I don't really like light roasts anyway so that won't happen much.

One benefit of the Keurig vs the percolator is the same as with the Instant Pot vs stovetop cooking. Heat and steam. The percolator fits best on one of the front burners of my stove, but the steam still fogs under the hood unless I turn the spout just the right way. And, of course, the steam warms the kitchen. This will be lovely in the winter months but it's already way too humid where I live. I can turn on the hood ventilator but that thing is noisy. So... oh well.

The biggest downside is the time this takes to brew. When I have the time, it's wonderful. When I am on the way out to appointments or not feeling well, it's... tedious. I don't ever want to have to buy a coffee on the go. 

But, really, that's about it for the negatives. And I think that the positives outweigh them. 

I can't tell you what a money saver this is. Not only is the machine inexpensive, but there is no need to buy filters. And whole bean or ground coffee by the bag is much more affordable than pods. I can adjust the amount of ground (or whole bean) coffee I am using to my needs. With Kcups, you have to use the whole pod - whether you want to make 6, 8, or 10 ounces (the settings on the K-classic Keurig I have). With a pod, you are adjusting water for strength and with the percolator, I am adjusting coffee or water. Also, I can mix coffee if I need to. I currently have some really super-dark roast coffee that I plan to even out with the too-light breakfast roast I have.

Well, not always

I know that there are coffee lovers who look down their noses at percolated coffee. They might think that coffee made in a French press or a pour-over system is better. That could be - if you are really into tasting every tiny atom of difference from coffee to coffee. Personally, I have had coffee done in a French press and I don't find much difference in the quality of the brew. My Polish relatives have made me coffee that they steep right in the cup and that was kind of tastier than mine. I think that perhaps I or the coffee I drink are, as the kids say, too 'basic'. After all, I don't even grind my own beans from pot to pot.  How common!

But...

Now, since I had saved up some Amazon credits to use, I also got an electric percolator. My goal is to use both machines for a time and decide whether or not to keep one or both. That will depend on money, Amazon credits, and some budget necessities. If I keep the electric percolator, I will be selling my Keurig to a neighbor who wants one no matter how it works. Poor thing... I have until mid-August to return the stovetop percolator. So... we will see what we will see. I really don't want to get rid of the stovetop percolator. I like it so much.

The one reason I have to maybe keep the electric percolator is that it doesn't raise the heat in the kitchen. That's a real consideration in the summer months. Even if I keep both machines, I'm still nowhere near what I paid for the one Keurig - even with an extra 3-year warranty. Yes, I have spent a lot of time thinking this all out. You have to plan and make all your pennies count when you don't have a lot of them! I've probably spent more time and research choosing a coffee pot than many people do when buying a washing machine. That's life.

In the meantime, I do have one brand of coffee that I can't brew in any of my machines - it's a mushroom coffee (yes, child, mushroom, and I will do a review). I only brew 6 ounces a day - which is the suggestion and the only amount I can afford to brew. For the mushroom coffee, I use a little single-serve filter thingie that I have in the cabinet. (By the way, that filter is the best thing ever for when you are visiting someone who either doesn't drink coffee or doesn't drink the kind you like. You can baggie up some of your  own grounds to stow in your luggage and have it when you want.) I will have to do a review on the mushroom coffee and maybe even the filter since I never got around to that.

Peace

--Free

Doing Coffee the Way Mama Did It

Why I'm mad at my Keurig

My Keurig ~sigh~ that freaking thing... it's been acting really crazy. It sometimes doesn't put out but about half the amount of coffee I select. It's supposed to brew 6, 8, or 10 ounces. I always select 10. I get about four and a half. And every time it brews, it takes a looong time to start. 

This started happening a few months ago and I read up on all the "fixes" for a sulking Keurig. I've burped it, let it rest for a few days between uses. I run vinegar or citric rinse through it about once every couple of months. The coffee I get from it is of unreliable strengths and flavor. I've taken really good care of that thing. But I'm kind of over it now.

The discounted 59-dollar price tag I paid at Walmart for my Keurig K-Classic when I moved here 4 years ago is not worth the aggravation. Plus, apparently, the price has gone up to around $90+. That's a nope from me.

What I've been using in the meantime

I went on an instant coffee binge. I love Aldi's store brand (which gets high marks) when I can't afford Nescafe. They are great but, really, they can't completely replace coffee coffee. Know what I mean? Thankfully though, I keep some around because I've been making a lot of messes trying to brew ground coffee without the Keurig.

I've used my favorite large tea strainers. These are useful but tedious and I can never get the measurements of coffee to water just right. I pulled out the old one-cup machine I'd packed away. It works but it's messy and, if you forget that it's still hot and try making another cup of coffee, it's dangerous. I am always forgetting and trying to add more water for a second cup too soon. The reservoir will shoot steam out with a horrific, heart-attack-inducing hiss.

A long while back, someone sent me a French press (like this one) to review. It's a beautiful piece of equipment but not for everyday use, in my opinion. I rarely even have the right grind of coffee around for it anyway.

What I wanted to replace the Keurig

Getting another Keurig would have been an option if I hadn't requested other things for my birthday. I don't want to be that greedy, needy sister and auntie. And I really am over the Keurig right now. Seriously. K cups are pricey, The machines take up a lot of counter space. There's a lot of cleaning and maintenance to keep the machines in top shape. Yeah, Keurig is done for me.

I wanted a Bunn. My mother used to have one. We got it for her. I can't remember what it cost but I think they were cheaper back then. The prices are kind of out of my range - even though I did find a cheaper one after some hunting. Besides, I don't want the kind Mom had. It used a glass decanter or carafe or whatever it's called. Mom loved hers because she drank gallons of coffee with her friends and the Bunn was always ready to spew out another 10 or so cups at a time.

Looks just like Mom's

When I looked at machines similar to Keurig, I thought they would probably have the same problems eventually. Besides, I didn't see any that I really liked in my price range.

What I wanted was something that would make good coffee. Something that didn't cost a lot to buy or maintain. Something that would look decent on the countertop. I knew I didn't need anything that made a lot of coffee but I was not down for another machine that uses pods. 

After the first day of looking, I gave up and continued using the instant coffee. In the meantime, I thought about the several partial bags of coffee in the freezer. People in my life know how I love coffee so I get a lot of it. Don't let them find bags on sale! I also still have some random pods around. When I woke up the next day and was about to make another cuppa instant, inspiration struck.

Why I settled on a percolator

Before I ever heard of Keurig and before my mother had a Bunn, coffee in our house was made using a percolating pot. Mom had a plain one that I remember from when I was really young, then Daddy or someone bought her a nice shiny one that plugged in. She used electric percolators from then until they went out of fashion.

I remembered watching the little plops of coffee hitting to glass at the top of the percolator. I remembered the smell of coffee that wafted all around the kitchen and living room first thing in the morning.

That was my answer. Percolators come in all price ranges. There is a lot of discussion among coffee snobs  , uh, connoisseurs about percolated coffee not having the flavor nuances... blah blah blah la-di-dah... I don't need to taste every molecule of the different flavors of a coffee. I need it good, strong, rich, and tasty. Period. And I'm too dang broke to even mumble about being a connoisseur. I can't stand weak coffee, bitter coffee, or artificially-flavored coffee. 

Anyway.

With an electric percolator, you are gambling with parts giving out or having other problems.  They aren't made like back in the day - and what is? With the stove-top machines - like the first ones Mom had - your only worry is about leaving it on the burner too long.

I thought of the other pros and cons of electric vs stovetop.

A lot of the electric ones I saw had Keep Warm and Auto Shut Off functions. They came in all sizes, shapes, and colors.

The stove-top ones came in a lot of sizes but ran mostly around 4 up to 12 cups. And the prices were better.

I decided to try one that was nice-looking, a decent size for my needs, and that had a lot of good reviews. And that wouldn't lop money off my grocery budget. This is what I chose:

Did I make the right choice?

I like the look of this one. I also have liked and trusted the Farberware brand in the past. And this one has an 8-cup capacity that works well whether I am solo or have company over. Oh, and I made sure it was returnable - just in case I hated it. But I don't.

Percolating my first brew was so soothing. (I will review it in another post - there are pros and cons - but I'm happy with it.) There was something comforting about taking my time to make the coffee. Of course, I have a lot of happy memories tied to coffee and my mother, and my youth. They all flooded back and I wallowed in them while I enjoyed that first delicious cup. 

As I said, I will be doing a review of the particular machine I got but there are a lot of different ones out there. For anyone with the time to use one, it's worth taking a look at them. I am also going to be looking at an electric percolator. The funds I set aside to replace the Keurig might allow for that, depending on what I can find...

For too long, coffee has been another rush-rush addiction. With this percolator, I have gotten back to enjoying the process of making and drinking a good cup of coffee. I highly recommend taking time - at least every now and then - to get back to the basics.

Peace

--Free

**SIFO* Cleaning Cast Iron Cookware

 Since I don't have a large budget, it took me a while to collect some really decent cookware. At this point, I have 2 really good cast-iron skillets, a cast-iron Dutch oven with a skillet/lid, and one non-stick pan.

Dutch oven bottom not shown here

I love these items for my kitchen and they are going to have to last me the rest of my life. So... how to care for them was always the question. My non-stick pan is easy. I only use utensils that don't scratch the cooking surface; I never use it without pre-warming and at least lightly oiling; and I wash it out with very hot water, a bit of Dawn, and a soft rag. Done. (I've only had it since my birthday but, so far so good.) Now my cast-iron pans are a lot more dear to me but I have had slow progress getting them to into a well-seasoned state. As a matter of fact, I have even scratched the seasoning in the skillet to the Dutch oven...

It can be re-seasoned!

Up until recently, I had been doing what I observed my mother and other elders doing with their cast-iron items: keeping them seasoned with oil and cleaning with a lard and salt scrub. Simple enough. But where my mother's pans were almost mirror-shiny from what I remember, my pans are only very slowly getting to a well-seasoned point of slickness. I've had the skillets for 4 years and the oven for 2 years. I gave the older ones from my mom to her grandkids.

I had to wonder what I was doing wrong. I thought of guilt-tripping the grandkids into sending me back a couple of Mama's pans! Instead, I tried to find out how other people are for their cast-iron. And I found this dude (and he's a really Dude) - Cowboy Kent - who I believe has "The Method".

If you didn't watch the video, my man here basically heats the pan and runs hot water into it while rubbing out the mess with a soft rag. He steam cleans his cast iron, folks. And you should see his beautifully seasoned pans. If they were big enough, you could ice-skate across them.

The other thing he does (which my mother did) is to regularly season the pans. And by "regularly" I mean after every single use. He steams them and re-seasons them. Every time.

I've been wiping mine out after using and only cleaning and re-seasoning when I couldn't wipe out any messes. So I guess I've been unintentionally neglectful.

No skating across this pan!

Here's the other thing: my mother might have been steaming her pans. I don't know, when she was around, I didn't pay attention to how she made the magic that was her cooking. I just ate and burped and rubbed my belly with satisfaction. 

Anyway.

Of course, I immediately pulled out all my cast-iron and used The Method. My pans already look better than they had before. Thank you, Cowboy Kent!

In the comments, some people noted that they have different methods that work. I don't know about those. I do know that I have tried other methods and I think The Method is the one for me.

Right now, the pans I have are enough. I would like another non-stick pan in a slightly larger size. And Lord knows, I need some bakeware. My one cookie sheet is so cheap and rusted that I never use it without lining with parchment. I have a pie pan that is like a friend I once had: very cute but too shallow to be useful for much. I do have a couple of loaf pans. In short, I should not be complaining. I have way more than a lot of people do.

Cooking is the one thing I still enjoy and can do well. I might have to write down even my old recipes because I can't seem to remember but... Being in the kitchen, baking, cooking - even fixing a salad, calms me. It's like medicine for stress, depression, anger - it helps with everything. 

Now that I have The Method, I can't wait to maybe update the way my pans look in a year or so.

By the way, just for giggles, I went over to see the current price of my Dutch oven. I am so incredibly blessed to have caught it at the price I did!

This is what I paid
(with birthday money!)

And, oh my word! This is the price I just saw (July 18, 2021, as I am typing this!)

I got the oven/skillet set but I didn't get the assist handle holder. Since I saved $76.84 on the set, I am quite happy to live without a handle assist or get one for cheap.

Here's the thing: I did go back and study the transaction. The actual price at the time that I got it was $39.90 and I used the remainder of a birthday gift card for $26.42. The $16.12 I paid included a tax of a couple of dollars. Still, $92.96 is $53.06 more than the $39.90 price tag when I got mine.  I paid less for the set than just the oven costs now. When I was checking this old transaction, I noticed that my support for the product just ran out on the 7th of this month. It's a Lodge. My mother had her cast-iron (Lodge or otherwise) from before I was born. Some were from my grandma. I doubt I will break a cast-iron pan.

Peace

--Free

P.S.: I just remembered that I was using harsh things on my cast iron. I actually have one of those chain-mail things attached to silicone that I was using to get baked on stuff out of the pan. Ugh.

I Challenge You This

 This is a challenge that I was going to post only on my Christian blog but... I know that all kinds of people like a challenge. 

This is from a talk that Chuck Missler did and is regarding the genealogy of Jesus Christ. 

You have to create a fictional family tree to meet all the following requirements, screenshot by screenshot. I guess some people are much smarter than I and can actually get past the first couple of screens with not much trouble. 

Get ready, get set, and... GO!

Peace

--Free

**QUICK POST** Bilingual/Dual Language Reading & Learning

 What if you could start self-learning a language while doing something enjoyable - like reading?

That's what I was thinking the other day when I was grounded and sick in bed. I love reading and I really would like to learn at least a little bit of another language. However, my brain is slow (from age) and thick (from illness). So...

I landed first on this resource. I haven't checked it out at all yet, but I did bookmark a few novels and stories to start with. You can do your own search but in the meantime, here is my start list of books and resources:

• Holmes' "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (Spanish/English)
• Woolf's "The Mark on the Wall"  (Spanish/English)
• Alba Learning has bilingual books listed in various language combinations.
• Bilinuguis is where I found the Holmes book. The site shows as "not secure" in my browser so...
• Fluentu had more resources but these are my favorites to check out later:
• The Beelingua app for Android and iPhone
• This Weebly page - not secure in my browser
• This book of short stories.

I took a quick screenshot of one of the pages to show here:

This is exciting to me. The only time I have every learned even just single words in another language is when I could find a way to relate. I learned that Ouai is in French what Yeah is in English because of a hair product I sampled. Years ago, when I lived in England my best neighbor-friend was Welsh and she taught me a couple of mild swear words. I recently couldn't remember when I last had a mammogram but I haven't forgotten how to tell someone to kiss my behind in Welsh!

I really hope this helps someone who has been looking for such resources. Enjoy and spread the word.

Peace

-Free

**REVIEW** Shitake Mushroom seasoning

If you like savory flavoring, read on.

For anyone who's been paying attention, I've been on a bit of a middle-age get-healthier kick. Once I got past the first couple of weeks, it was easy to keep up my walking exercise and it hasn't been too hard to eat healthier. It's on my fasting days where I tend to stumble.

I knew from the beginning that fasting every other day was going to be easier for me than constantly cutting out a ton of calories. My fasting days aren't that bad - I try to never go above 600 calories - but I lose track sometimes of my coffee and tea intake. I cannot do a lot of no-sugar/no-creamer coffee or tea. So I can lose count on how much creamer I am using on a fasting day.

When I discovered mushroom seasoning, it solved a lot of my concerns:

• Salt intake from my various seasonings
• Dealing with bland foods (tofu, rice, veggies)
• Finding a broth I like for fasting days

Yeah, this one single bag of mushroom seasonings has been a lovely find.

I had to use Google's translation app to understand what was written on the bag. Much respect to my Chinese brothers and sisters. They know their complicated language and ours. I can only admire that.

Some buyers wondered what kind of 
mushrooms were used. So here ya go.

A longtime online acquaintance had once voiced their concern for my use of MSG (Umami seasoning). I let them know that I wasn't using it as much as I once had because of the very sharp flavor it imparts - and not because of the trending concerns. (Check my ** Note at the foot of this post.)

MSG seems to work best in conjunction with a bunch of other seasonings. Seasonings with their own salt, potassium, etcetera. Otherwise, as I mentioned, there can be a 'too sharp flavor to Umami. This same buddy mentioned to me that they instead of Umami like using mushroom seasoning in a lot of their dishes. That sounded interesting to me at the time, then I forgot about it. Until recently.

The mushroom seasoning didn't come back into my mind because I was thinking of food though. I was actually trying to find a broth that I liked. I wanted something to sip on during my fasting days. The store-bought stocks I found were way too "nothing" and the bouillon cubes and cartons of broth were either too bland or too salty. I couldn't find anything with the right kind of indefinable taste I was looking for. And then I remembered what that one person had said about mushroom seasoning. They had described it as "rich and savory-tasting". So I went looking around online.

I found a bunch of different kinds and brands. There are mushroom seasonings that come in powder and liquid form and in all kinds of price ranges from suspiciously low to are-you-kidding-me expensive. After I read a lot of reviews and some articles, I came up with two requirements for one I would try. It would have to be 1) affordable, and 2) of the shitake variety.

I'm not sure but I think that the online buddy had said something about shitake being their favorite flavor of mushroom seasoning. And a lot of reviews I read mentioned that shitake was "the best". At any rate, I finally found a bag that I could afford. I had to use translation apps to see if I was choosing something with shitake in it. Mainly, I was worried that I would waste even a small amount of my very limited budget on something that I might end up hating. ( I got this one the first time but have since found the same brand at a better price.)

And no worries. This Imperial Taste brand seasoning is amazing. It really is actually everything that I wanted the Umami to be. (I'm speaking in italics, so you know I'm excited!) The taste is very rich and savory while leaving none of that sharp, chemical-like taste in the back of my throat. As a broth, it's like sipping on the juice from a really good and smoky-flavored soup. As a seasoning on my foods, it adds all the flavor without being salty or "wrong" for almost any savory dish. 

This is what it looks like right out of the bag:

I grind some into a powder for 
sprinkling onto food.

I will make about a 12-ounce cup (with half a tablespoon of the powder) twice a day on my fasting days. I do this to fight cravings for something tastier than water and more filling than coffee or tea. It turns out that half of my cravings are not even for food but for flavor. Just like almost all my other cravings can be satisfied with a drink of water.

When I use this seasoning on food - I started with rice and vegetables - the flavor goes further than does salt or my various other seasonings. I don't need to use as much of it because, again, the flavor is so very savory and 'deep tasting'. I like the taste so much that I started using it as the only seasoning for fish and tofu. Baked or fried tofu with this for flavor is just too yummy. And trust me, tofu needs all the flavor you can give it!

I waited to post about this because I was also ranting about the Umami before it lost its appeal. This mushroom seasoning is a keeper. If I ever stop using it for food (and I doubt I will), it will still be my favorite for making a broth. Let me tell you, there is nothing like a good hot cup of broth when you don't feel well (especially for nausea I deal with weekly) or when it is cold.

Now, the thing is, because only some of the printing on the bag is in English I had to screenshot the non-English parts.

I saw several brands of "mushroom seasoning" when I was looking. When I searched specifically for "shitake", the prices went up. I almost didn't get this one but I am glad I did. The translation shows that this is made of shitake powder and extract. So... yeah.

Peace

--Free

**NOTE - Look up the problematic origins of the concerns of MSG. #DoYourOwnResearch and #talkaboutfakenews.

Buyer's Remorse & Buyer's Joy

**I've been having a rough couple of days here and I have some appointments coming up. It might be a minute before I can post anything else. This is one of those posts I put together quickly just for days like this.**

I thought I would share some of the photos I send back and forth with a long-time G= pal. We keep in touch and are both just too silly. We both like to do our own Siskel & Ebert routine when we discover new stuff. Yeah, we are silly. And we really miss Google Plus. We've been doing this off and on for about a year and it's our quirky little way to kind of stay in touch. I will only share my photos because my buddy doesn't want theirs posted. I almost hate posting my own because we both use crappy webcams that don't produce the most flattering photos...

Chicory for my coffee when 
I'm out of Cafe Du Monde

This is better (and cheaper) than the G.M. pods

I wanted to try this SO badly and...
YUCK!

Not only was WTRMLN WTR hard to track down in my area (Target had it) but it was overpriced and badly flavored. If you are going to do watermelon water - and it is almost pure melon with a touch of lime, I think - then use tasty melons. When I eat an actual melon, there is nothing worse than getting one of the weak, watery, almost tasteless ones. There is a reason people study the choosing of a good melon. If this had been an actual melon, I would have returned it. I ended up dumping this out and using the bottle for a while as an apple juice container.

This was both pricey & subpar.
Big-time buyer's remorse...

If there is one purchase I regret more than WTRMLN WTR is this Blue Monkey sparkling juice. I don't care about the stereotype. I LOVE watermelon-flavored beverages. Aldi's has the absolute best one around but it doesn't ever stay around very long. As soon as it's available, it's sold out. It's under 4 bucks for 4 almost 9-ounce cans. And it's yummy-licious.  Which is why I wanted so badly to try the Blue Monkey juice. What a mistake that was. 

Now, this is a tasty sparkling beverage right here...

Accept no substitutes, people.
This is the Neo of beverages.

I think I have already reviewed or talked about the chocolate tea craze I'm on. JusTea makes my favorite. When I told my buddy about it, they ordered some in the cheaper, compostable package, then they order more in a tin. They are now more hooked on it than I am.

Sadly, I could not recommend this one from JusTea. It's a total Nope. For my taste, it's far too weak and I can't find any flavor notes. My friend is a real tea freak so they might try this small, cheaper bag. I think their palate is more sophisticated. Hah.

And we don't just talk about food or beverages. Mostly but not all the time. This is the latest thing I am sending. It's kind of overly floral and feminine for a guy, but the brand has them in other designs.

This is the cutest and most useful pocket-sized planner ever. And it's just around 5 bucks. I have to keep something like this around for doctor appointments and the notes I take there. I got this one because I splashed coffee on my old one that I got as a freebie from the pharmacy. It was very, very basic and pages were already falling out of it. This one has so many features that I still can't believe the cheap price. (**The seller of this product infuriated me. They offer a "free" pen but ONLY for a 5-star review. I didn't leave a review. I hate coercion.**)

Anyway. There you have it. Maybe I will start sharing these "shares" more often. I usually don't like showing photos of myself but, with age, I care so much less about stuff like that.

By the way, if anyone can recommend a juice as good as Aldi's, do run tell dat! LOL

Peace

--Free

Tofu Is NOT Just for Vegans (Part 2)

(Took me a minute to get back to this. It's been about 3 weeks since I started thinking of doing these tofu posts. I've had to go in and re-write and clean up some of this. Hope it's not too disjointed. My blog posting is always way out of step with my life. But here ya go.) 

Let me say this right now. I am not making fun of people who choose to go meat-free - for whatever reason.

But.

Not the first time it's been said, I'm sure

I'm not a vegetarian but I love fruits, vegetables, and some "plant-based" foods. I just don't like to exclude foods from my diet unless I just don't like them.

This is so true. 
Meat eaters can be mean too.

To my V brothers and sisters: You don't OWN healthy eating. Let's just all get along because you know what is NOT healthy: animosity.

Anyway. Moving on. 

Nope. I'm not finished with my rant yet.

Here's the thing: I am so tired of my vegetarian and vegan ( I hope they don't mind that I call them "vege-vegans") friends and acquaintances who either try to make me feel bad for eating meat or tend to get passive-aggressively proud of their choices. There are vege-vegans in my family. We don't have problems. When we share meals, there are options for all of us. My vegetarian niece has been amazing. She's giving me tips and pointers and offering to pay for specialties. I've got it though because tofu I can afford!

How can any vege-vegan go around claiming a product as exclusively theirs? God didn't give soybean products to only some of us. If you make a piece of bark taste as good as some beef jerky, I will break your fingers taking some!

You can't win with some folks

When I first began looking into using eating more vegetables and using tofu in place of pork, I did so for health reasons. Period. I mean, I love most animals but I don't worship them.

And, here's the real reason for my diet changes: I'm getting old. I can't lose weight like I used to be able to. And, okay, I also can't afford the meat products I used to buy. I live in the freaking food belt of America and have to make serious life choices before purchasing a pack of bacon. Ridiculous. Also, depending on the fruit or vegetable, the same budget issues come into play.

I started out mainly wanting to look at just experimenting with some alternatives. I knew I needed to cut back on the pork and cow but wanted to keep up on my protein. The first thing I did was to look for recipes and information. When looking for recipes, most times what I found was too much information about why someone can't stand eating meat. Or why they think that eating meat is cruel or terrible or selfish, etc. It was almost enough to make me go back to beef and find some new ways to cook chicken. 

I love to season and grill veggies to eat as a topping for
tofu, shrimp, or rice - or to smother a beef patty with!

Just trying to check out some meatless dishes was frustrating. I was almost craving a pork chop after scrolling through 10 minutes of one person's conversion-to-veganism story while just trying to get to their 4-line recipe. (It wasn't even that great.) I was thinking that I should be so diligent at spreading the Gospel of the Lord!

Anyway.

In spite of the common annoyances, I have compiled quite a few cooking videos and saved some decent-looking recipes that focus on meatless dishes I want to try. But again, I'm doing this for me - not the animals or the peer pressure.

All kidding aside. I respect people for doing what they think is healthiest for their life. If eating meat turns you off, that's fine. Just don't try to make the rest of us feel like it is a heaven or hell issue. Rant over.

Now. This is how I am doing.

To be totally honest, this whole being healthy kick is about to kill me! I am eating better and trying to exercise more. Sometimes that gets me into trouble. 

Here is a true story: The other week when I was being diligent about getting some exercise and was on one of my walks, my brain went on strike. Somehow, I totally lost my bearings and had a full-on anxiety attack trying to remember where I was and how to get back home. I spent maybe a whole 3 minutes fighting back tears and embarrassment before I remembered that I track my walks with a GPS app on my phone. I spent another minute trying to orient myself before I realized I was less than 3 blocks down the street from my building. On the positive side: I probably lost a full pound during my little freak-out. Now I make sure to look carefully around every now and then and take stock of where I am in relation to my home. Thankfully, the diet is going better than the exercise...

***UPDATE*** 

Don't get that tofu press I used. That thing broke about 2 days before the deadline to return it. The seller was adamant that their press doesn't break. Another customer (who had the same problem as I did) answered my question about fixing it. The seller wanted me to go through all kinds of hassle to return it. Amazon simply refunded my money. So do with that info what you will. Personally, I will be replacing this one with another one if I can't fix it.

Prior to my recent birthday, I asked for and got a tofu press. (I also got a non-stick skillet, some earbuds, and one of those weighted blankets that I will talk about in another post. Talk about a wonderful concept!!!) But back to the food thing...

As I mentioned in the previous post, tofu is fairly cheap. I don't know what it costs in different areas around the nation but I can get a 14-ounce pack of firm or extra firm for just under 2 dollars. Maybe that's due to the whole living surrounded by endless fields of soybeans?  and I can make 3 and possibly 4 meals from each pack. That's money, as the kids say. Literally. 

This is the tofu brand I get from Aldi's:

low cal, low sodium & potassium with decent iron content

The Noya tofu press I got made the top of someone's list of presses.

FYI: This press stopped working
after under a month...
no es bueno.

In addition to tofu, the other food I have finally found locally - just down the street in a tiny health food shop - and gave a try is canned and fresh jackfruit. I'm almost certain that coming from a Main Street shop in a tourist town, I won't able to afford it. As a backup, I located a couple of brands of the canned-in-water variety online that won't suffocate the life out of my grocery budget as long as I don't get carried away. That would put the budget on life support. Why the heck is it so expensive to eat healthily? If beef and pork were just a bit less expensive, I wouldn't bother... But I did bother and I will not be using jackfruit on a regular basis.

The little "eyes" put me off some

All prepped it looks a LOT 
like shredded meat

My finished sammich looks EXACTLY like a bbq meat 

Jackfruit makes a great substitute for the pork, chicken (or beef) in a bbq meat sandwich. However, it takes 10 years, 6 months, and forever to prep it. I had to drain it soak it, rinse it, boil it, cool it down, marinate it, and rest it - all that before I even go to the cooking it part.

Seasoned and cooked up in a pan with some sauces, jackfruit was pretty amazing. Again though, too much work for too little reward. Also, as good as it was, I couldn't deal with those gelatinous little pods of what looks like tiny eyes. Ugh! That grossed me out. If I hadn't had to spend all that time soaking, boiling, and resting it after cleaning out those nasty little things, I never would've bothered eating it. Still, like I said, too much work. I got enough usable fruit for maybe 4 sandwiches. I don't know. After I ate the first 2, I threw out the rest because I made the mistake of thinking about those little pod things again... I will just stick with the tofu, thank you very much.

As far as tofu goes, I have found that I don't have to look for a bunch of recipes. I can improvise. The stuff only tastes like whatever you want it to. I call it the chameleon of the dining table. I just add seasonings or sauce and I can pretty much to-faux up any dish. Just wait until I get my hands on some of the silken stuff to make pudding and pies with!

Never fear though. I have not gone completely plant-food crazy. I indulge in the occasional beef burger. It's cheaper to just grab one when I'm out than to bother buying a pack of ground beef since I won't use it up. Mostly though, my current diet consists of anything I can find on sale that doesn't pack on the pounds so fast:

• Shrimp (I got a $13 2-pound pack of jumbo-sized shrimp last week. Just 3 shrimp (shrimps?) cooked with some mixed veggies, onion, garlic, and maybe a little bit of Teriyaki sauce makes a pretty filling meal, believe it or not. I can't believe I was able to have shrimp for 3 meals in a row one week. (Oh, Alaska, how I miss your seafood!)
• Mixed veggies - they go with anything. Tofu, potatoes, rice, or just plain sauteed with some oil and seasonings.
• Collard greens, cabbage, spinach. I love my collards and it gives me a chance to sneak in a piece of smoked neckbone. I can whip up some hot water cornbread and make a mash of it with cabbage or greens and be perfectly happy. I call it "Country Mash".
• Potatoes. A throwback from childhood is to pan-smother some salted-and-peppered thin or thick-sliced potatoes with onions, garlic, and sweet peppers for a cheap, one-dish meal. And I love potatoes even though I can't eat them often. The one thing I don't do like Mama is to fix hoecakes to go with the potatoes. (Hoecake is a throwback dish from slavery. It's a basic flour, water, and salt dough made into patties that would, way back in the day, be placed on a hoe and cooked over an open fire. Mama would fry ours in a cast iron pan lightly coated with oil. We would eat them savory for dinner, with potatoes and gravy, or sweet for breakfast with butter and syrup. It's one of the original "struggle" meals. Talk about mothers "making a dollar out of fifteen cents!)
• Rice is a lazy-day meal. I can fix a pot of rice and eat some of it with salt and pepper and turmeric, some with sweet vanilla soymilk and fresh nutmeg, or some with those mixed veggies. Rice settles my stomach when I am nauseous and soothes me when I need comfort.
• Beans. Pinto beans are my favorite but I also like black, navy, red, chickpeas, and lentils. I like to roast canned chickpeas with some olive oil and a little salt to eat as a snack. It can get a little powdery after several mouthfuls but it's tasty stuff.
• Peanut butter on a thick nutty piece of whole-grain bread. I buy or make bread that is filled with all kinds of grains and nuts. Peanut butter slathered onto a single slice is my favorite snack these days. Also, peanut butter tastes great on bananas. Or just by the spoonful. I recently got some cheap (maybe too cheap?) almond butter and it's not as yummy as peanut butter, in my opinion.
• Grapes and melons are really the only fruit I love to eat by themselves. But I have to catch them on sale or they can be way too pricey.

(I wish I could eat fresh hot cornbread with cold buttermilk the way my dad loved it. I have never had buttermilk except cooked into cakes and bread. I don't think I could take the texture by itself.)

That's pretty much my food intake these days. I don't get bored with what I eat because I like to play with spices. Even though I try hard to be mindful of my sodium intake, there are just some spices, sauces, and seasonings that are must-haves:

• Salt, pepper, and cayenne
• Old Bay
• Turmeric
• Famous Daves Rib Seasoning (and the Chicken Seasoning)
• Cavender's Greek Seasoning (both regular and salt-free)
• Lawry's Seasoning Salt
• Barbeque sauce (I love Carolina style and honey flavored)
• Teriyaki, Soy, Sweet & Sour Asian sauces
• Worcestershire (if you need Grammarly to spell it, you probably shouldn't eat it!)
• Onion, garlic, paprika powders
• Liquid Smoke

I cannot tell you how much I love Liquid Smoke... And a good barbeque sauce. 

And a couple of other things I keep in the fridge that I make for myself: a jar of garlic and onion-infused olive oil. and a jar of garlic-infused water. 

Someone told me a while back about how to keep my cilantro and green onions around longer. The onions are actually growing back so... talk about a money saver. The cilantro is not something I can use a lot of at one time so it's nice that it has been holding up well for a couple of weeks.

With these staples, I can be a very happy and well-fed woman. I don't really miss the pork or the beef. Because I have cut back on these things, I don't buy those lovely Mama Cozzi take-and-bake pizzas on the regular like I used to. I don't like cheese "what-is-the-point" pizzas and for some reason, one of my doctors told me to be careful of eating too much cheese. This is why I don't keep anything but goat cheese around. Goat cheese and honey is amazing and goat cheese also goes really well with grapes and other fruits.

Oh! I almost forgot to talk about beverages. I am still trying to do the 64 ounces of water every day. Coffee is still my best friend but I find myself doing more tea now. I can drink tea sans cream better than I can the coffee. Also, I have a bunch of those flavored teas now: fruits, peppermint, lavender, and mint. I drink quite a bit of chocolate tea and cascara tea is good cold. I don't get as much from sparkling water as I used to. They make me crave something sweeter. 

Anyway. There you have it. I have gone vege-healthy while not going vege-vegan. I feel better most days. I'm not running marathons and I don't feel magically healed but I am less bloated. I do think that I sleep better. Or maybe that's because I'm exhausted from all lack of sugar and caffeine! 

Seriously though. I have nothing but respect for vegetarians who are trying to be healthy. Just please, no lectures about why everyone else in the world needs to follow your lead. 

Peace

--Free

P.S.:

I am serious about trying to do desserts with silken tofu. If and when I do, I will let you know how it went.

Tofu Is NOT Just for Vegans (Part 1)

 Let me start by saying this: I can eat the moo out of some cow and, until a few years ago, believed in the rooter-to-the-tooter method of pork consumption. The reasons I've started eating tofu are:

1.  I got tired of finding ways to cut back on calories,
2. Chicken can be pricey, ground beef gets boring, and pork is just not nice to my body, and
3. I actually like the taste of tofu.
4. And I believe it can actually be a good thing.

Years ago, I tried tofu for the first time. It was slices of well-seasoned, braised tofu that tasted like pork. My best friend's sister brought it home from an Asian take-out for me to try. Talk about delicious. After that, I bought some tofu as a lark. I scrambled it up and my auntie and I ate it with - get this - bacon! Yes, we did. It was our idea of a fun breakfast. And, it wasn't bad. A little spongey but not bad. My aunt who was a true old-fashioned chitlin'-eating, steak-loving, Texan liked that tofu dish so much that she began fixing it on the odd occasion. She liked the way it tasted - soggy-spongey texture and all.

But for me, I was over it.

More recently, but still a long while back, my vegetarian niece turned me on to jackfruit. She had some strips of it done up as barbeque and it was also a delicious thing to try. However, jackfruit was not cheap in Alaska nor is it easy to find where I now live.

found at NoraCooks.Com

At the time that I am writing this, it is my 60th birthday. I feel blessed to be here but I want to make this sarcoidosis mad and live a little longer than it wants me to. I am walking when I can and trying to lose some weight and eat better. That's where the tofu comes in.

I have made tofu burgers and that went much better than I expected. I accidentally did some things right and the tofu patties were nicely seasoned and crispy. When I threw some ketchup, mayo, tomatoes, and onions on the bread, I really didn't taste bland tofu. It was very burger-like.

My method for prepping the tofu - and, trust me, prepping the tofu is the key to it all - was to casually toss the packages of extra firm tofu into the freezer. Not because I knew what I was doing but because I wasn't ready to do anything with it yet. 

That tofu was in the freezer for a few weeks before I got around to using it. I wanted a burger but was out of ground beef. I didn't want to spend money outside of my regularly budgeted grocery plan. But I really, really wanted a burger.

I put the frozen tofu in the fridge to thaw whole I looked up "how to cook tofu". I learned from one site that the best way to prep extra firm tofu is to freeze it once or twice, then thaw and drain it really well.

I didn't want to re-freeze the tofu because I was impatient. So, moving right along. Where freezing tofu was simple, draining it takes time and the patience of Job. 

This is where I learned about something called a "tofu press". 

Oh boy.

I don't have a tofu press and, based on quickie research, I will need to take out a loan for that at a later time. In the meantime, I got a general idea and came up with my own method. I took the container that the tofu came in, cut slits in the hard plastic, and turned it upside down in one of my large faux Tupperware containers that has a lid. I put the tofu on top of the slits, sat the Tupperware lid on top of the tofu, and rested some cans of soup on top of that.

Slowly the water was draining from the block of tofu. I can't believe how much liquid came out of that thing. Finally, when I thought the tofu was drained, I wrapped it in paper towels and did the whole cans-on-top thing again. And again. And one more 'gin, as Katt Williams says. 

The tofu shrunk down to almost half the original thickness. Crazy. And it felt different - very rough and still kind of spongy.

I was able to slice the tofu into patties. Then I marinated those in a mix of low sodium soy, Worcestershire sauce, garlic water, and turmeric.

Then I realized I couldn't find the Panko breadcrumbs I swore I had. I ended up using some Hooter's Wild Wings breading powder that I really don't remember buying but that was in my freezer for safekeeping.

Okay.

I mixed up an egg and some heavy cream to dip the tofu in before coating the slices in the breading powder. That's when I realized that one of the slices still had quite a bit of liquid in it. Oh well.

Using a little oil as possible, I fried the tofu to a deep brown, drained them really well on paper towels over some newspaper. 

Not pretty but pretty tasty

And, ta-da! I had the tastiest non-meat burger ever. I ate two before I realized that I was racking up bread calories. I ate a third tofu patty, no bread, condiments, or veggies needed. The tofu tasted only like what I had used for the marinade.

I have 2 patties left in the fridge and I guess I can heat and eat those another day.

Now that I know how tasty tofu can be, I have collected some video recipes for "tofu chicken pieces", "tofu cheesecake", and "tofu barbeque". Yum.

Here's the best thing: tofu only costs around $1.50 to $2.00 a pack. I can make a lot of cubed barbecue tofu from a single pack. And another good thing is that the extra firm tofu I tried is only 320 calories for the entire package. I made 5 patties so that was 64 calories each. See? The bread really was the calorie culprit! But I didn't have regular buns so I used the better-for-me Health Nut sliced bread. Win-win.

The only thing I don't like about tofu is when I look up recipes and have to get all the commentary about why people are vegetarians. It's as if people sharing these recipes think you have to belong to PETA to like tofu. And I really hate when they vegan-ize an entire recipe. I am ignoring all the dates and carob in the cheesecake recipe I saw. All I need to know is how to make the tofu into a batter. It should do very nicely with the good old graham cracker crust and whipped cream topping I will use!

So, to sum up the changes I've made to my life in the past couple of months:

• Trying to get out and walk in the fresh and mostly-COVID-free air
• Drinking more chocolate and tea in place of coffee with all it's fattening enhancements, and
• Working hard to replace red meat and pork in my diet.

I joked to my best friend that I am going to get a t-shirt for walking that says "Walking it off" because I have been cooking my butt off. The saying should be "cooking your butt ON" because it sure adds pounds.

Who knows if all this will help make me feel better but at least I am putting up a fight.

Next time, I'll address "tofu-vangelism" and vegan vigilantes.

Peace

--Free