Cole Slaw Recipe and Two Other Hot Weather Recipes

 This is how I make it. I can barely type because this has been such a horrible day. Here goes. Do not expect measurements. Kim, I did this today for you.

shredded cabbage and carrots

big glop of Miracle Whip, about the size of two extra-large eggs

some yellow mustard about two tsps or what pleases you, more or less

sugar, maybe two tsps? more or less, Tommy likes this amount and I like less

1/4 or less of salt

two dashes of pepper from McCormick can

vinegar, 1 tsp of whatever type you like

I never make a dressing, just drop it all on top of cabbage/carrots, starting with mayo and ending with vinegar.

This is delicious when it is just made, so it does not have to sit to blend flavors like I see in some recipes.

I love red cabbage, but the slaw turns pink after it sits overnight. It appears to be spoiled to me. So, I try to buy the mix without red cabbage. Dole has lots of carrots, so I prefer that. 

The only reason I quit grating cabbage was because I injured my hand in my 40s and bought the mix after that. 

Another thing I do that does not affect taste. I put salt in first and then pepper so I know that if I see pepper, I have also salted. And, the vinegar is the last thing I put in so it is poured over the salt, pepper, and sugar. I think it blends better or maybe I am deluded. 

One more thing--dice a nice juicy tomato or more and put tomato and juice into the slaw and stir. I was grossed out when I saw slaw I had to eat with tomato in it, but it was delicious. I rarely do this, but it is good. I love to entertain and cook. However, it is hard on anyone. I really enjoy having prepared dishes. 

Two other things I serve. I hate both--sliced cantaloupe, not chunked, and just cantaloupe and a drained can of peas, cubes of cheese, grape tomatoes or diced, and MW or mayo. I don't/won't eat either cantaloupe or peas, but these are easy and colorful dishes for a table of things that call for a hot stove. I can make slaw, peas/cheese, and slice a cantaloupe in an hour. Or, I can make all three over the course of the day. The cheese might look unappetizing once it sits in mayo. But, oh well! Eat it! It's good for you!

If you use my recipe, let me know if you like it.

Tommy just arrived in a Lyft. I will explain tomorrow.

So sad that the submersible is lost along with five lives. 

I Read the Label

 I saw a Breyer's low-carb ice cream on sale and thought "this is for me." However, I hesitated, wondering what the magic ingredients could be. So, I searched and found the answer. I won't be buying this. Read for yourself.

Do I want to eat THIS? The ingredients almost turn me off icecream!

Today, we were going to two events in Cullman. The first was a box lunch to pick up at a church. The second was a lesson on cooking squash. Well, it was rainy and I was not well on Tuesday, so we skipped it. 

Tuesday night, I frantically searched for a bag because I was about to throw up. Well, I didn't, but kept retching for the next two hours. Ten minutes after the initial scare, I realized the other end was letting loose, too. I managed to get to the bathroom, retching all the way. Thankfully, the dry heaves never amounted to anything. Then, I had reflux for hours that involved retching more. Finally, at about 8 am, I could lie down and relax, sleeping until noon. That's still not much sleep. 

At 4 pm, we decided to go to the market here and get the Wednesday ads. Plus, The Pig gives 5% discount to seniors on Wednesday. That takes a bit of the sting out of the 10% plus cost at The Pig. Well, Tommy forgot to remind them he was over 60. 

At the market we got a small basket of blueberries, a basket of plums, 2 ears of corn, and five tomatoes and a peach lemonade drink. The total was $22.50. The tomatoes were huge and only $1 each! 

I sort of wanted some of their small squash, but I have two squash here along with the bag of squash and onions. We also have potatoes, but I wanted theirs, too. A gallon of blueberries was an eye-watering $35. lol...maybe not...definitely not buying. 

I may get out a pound of bacon and fry/bake it for blt. Yum, makes my mouth water. At any rate, I have six huge tomatoes to eat as Tommy eats very little tomato. 

Although if was in the 80s today, the humidity made it oppressive to be outdoors. Of course, I walked to the car and back only, I still felt it when I had to roll down the car window. Hot and dry is better. 

Tomorrow, the furniture repair guys are scheduled to repair my chair. I do hope this goes off well. You do know we have a four-hour window in which they may arrive. It will be just our luck to have to wait until someone comes at the bottom of the window. Hope not. We have no place to be or go, but when I cannot leave the house because I am waiting on a repairman, I always "need" to go somewhere. At least it is not like the 8-hour window that repair people gave us. Remember that time? My experience is even a definite time may or may not happen or happen even near the time. There are always their emergencies that take precedence. 

For dinner: Tommy had two pulled pork sandwiches with bbq sauce and a huge helping of slaw and salad. I had one pulled pork sandwich with bbq sauce and slaw on it and another helping of slaw, salad of Romaine and tomatoes.

Fruit--Today I had apple, banana, blueberries, and peach lemonade.

Do you get antsy when waiting on repairmen with a huge window instead of a set appointment?

Where are you getting fresh fruits and vegetables--farmer's market, CSA, your own yard? 

Did the ice cream label make you feel ill?  

Saturday, Sunday and Berry, Berry Confused

 Saturday was slow and neither exciting nor boring. I still feel unwell, so nothing much done...lol. I did not sleep well. It seemed I was awake all night, but did sleep some, just not soundly. 

We did go to Publix to buy milk for me and apples. Tommy went in. Then, we got his insulin at Walgreen's and left it in the car for four hours or more. And, it was 91F today, so  I think it is ruined. He says it is okay. 

When he handed me a copy of some medical report to read, I did and he has moderate hearing loss even though he says it is all me. I did not mention I saw that comment. There is a new hearing aid advertised for $99. I have commented about it several times. Finally, I asked him if he thought that would help. Well, he is not against it. 

Saturday night, I put some shaved steak in the cooking bag and non-salt seasoning. I cooked it an hour and he removed it from the stove and discovered I had cooked the pad that is under meat. I suppose the people who use these know some of us cook these and do not put anything in the pad that is deleterious to our health. 

While it was cooking in the oven, I made cole slaw. Tommy brought everything to me and I made it in my lap as usual. He was doing something in the kitchen. Most of the time, I don't ask. Well, he had gotten out two small freezer bags of corn I had cut off the cob. Dinner was delicious--shaved steak, coleslaw, corn cut off the cob and frozen. 

The cole slaw mix I bought was delicious because it was full of carrots. From now on I will buy Dole. I like slaw with carrots, tasty and healthful. Other brands never have many carrots! And, this was only $1 at the Memorial Day sale. 

One day this last week, I made the Dolly Parton brownies. I will not buy them again. I like fudgy brownies, but these seemed juicy inside. It was strange. 

Saturday, when we got out of the car, my impatien plant was drooping. When Tommy watered about 6:30, He put a pie pan under it to soak water. At bedtime he took the pan of water away. I read impatiens don't like wet feet. Hopefully, they will continue to thrive in the hot weather and sun against the bricks. Maybe it will do better on Sunday. 

Sunday, the impatiens was fine. Hopefully, we won't let it get so dry again. Tommy watered just after noon since I told him morning was the best time to water. Then, around 6 pm, it drizzled, sprinkled, rained softly and quit. I suppose everything is sufficiently hydrated. 

Of course, I took a nap and Tommy had his dinner of soup on his own. Today, I cleaned and trimmed the rest of the strawberries, and put a bit of sugar on the sliced strawberries, just a bit to macerate. I want to have some tomorrow on a sliver of angel food cake that Tommy has been eating on for two weeks. 

Two Bell peppers and one red are sliced in two bags--one for Tommy's salads and the other to cook with onions for him to eat. 

It seems peppers get lost in the freezer and then turn to icy bag of green stuff. So, I won't be freezing any peppers until the freezer can be emptied and organized. 

Tommy washed a load of my clothing and I hung them and folded the ones he dried. Laundry never ceases. I remember the days of three children and diapers for six years! 

Two weeks ago, as we swung through the park, I saw flowers that I was sure were blackberries. Well, we did this for three or four days. Finally, Tommy said we have flowers just like that on the table. Hmm, do blueberry blossoms look like blackberry blossoms. I wondered and checked the blueberry flowers. Then, the flowers fell off in the park. I kept watching for the blueberries to form since I have seen those before many times. 

I was confused as to why the blueberries were so gnarly looking. Yet, they never changed, just grew a bit larger. 

Finally, today, Tommy came inside after watering and told me I had blackberries! What??? I did not buy blackberries! He told me I bought two bushes. Oh, yeah. I forgot. So, now I do have blackberries. 

Immediately, I made plans to protect them from the birds. I do have a plastic snake outside and one in here. Plus, I will get bird netting. If I cannot find that, I will buy tulle to protect them. It is just thing thing and comes in wide bolts. 

All this time, I thought I had only blueberries on the table. I do look at them, but since they are close, I suppose I read the tags on them and saw only the "berries" part of the word. The bushes are small, and there are not many berries, just a handful. 

Hopefully, I feel better this next week as I really need a new mattress. Everyday, I plan to go find one and just have no energy. 

Tomorrow, I need to cook squash and onions with garlic butter. Of course, I will like it but Tommy will love it. I also need to cook a box of sliced mushrooms for me since he won't touch those. I may put the last of the jar of spaghetti sauce over those. Yum. 

[Edit--I came home and was ill when we shopped. I rarely even look at the plants up close. So, my confusion about what plants I bought is due to being ill and neglect of the plants. Tommy did not want one of the plants I bought, yet the woman left it in our cart. So, who knows? Do you have blueberries or blackberries?]

Food Talk Today

 Last night, Tommy ate all the leftover cole slaw. I sort of questioned him since I thought he would share it. He insisted there was only a tablespoon, not enough to divide. Well, I thought I remembered more slaw, enough for two good helpings. I mulled this over, wondering how I could forget us mostly finishing if off. There was plenty other food for me to eat, but I was concerned about how I could forget it since I emptied it into a container for the refrigerator. So, I got no slaw.

This morning he came rolling in and showed me a container identical to the one he emptied last night. "Look, there is more slaw. I ate old slaw. I thought it was a bit mushy." I assured him the slaw was not old enough to harm him. Thankfully, he told me. My memory was true! Does anyone ever tell you something you are sure is not true, but the person manages to make you doubt yourself?

If there were the least bit of malice, it would be gaslighting. But, he just dug around and pulled out older slaw and thought it was the slaw I told him would be for our dinner.  

This afternoon, I bought $2 of blackberries, just a tiny container. I put them into a small cereal bowl, mashed them with a tiny bit of sugar, poured a little milk over them and devoured them.  They are bogo at Publix--$2. I may go back, get two boxes and make blackberry jam. Tommy will say he does not like it, then eat it all...lol. He told me he hated orange marmalade and is eating all of it, not that I care. He always does that--reject food and then eat it. I am amused. Okay, I asked. He does like blackberry jam. 

I waste lots of banana, pounds each week. Most bananas are larger than I should have. I do try to buy smaller ones. When they are just right, yellow or spotted but not too soft, I can cut one in half, put Glad Wrap over the end and eat the other half the next day. However, once it gets to a certain ripeness and I cut it in half, it is all downhill for the banana. For a year, I froze the extra banana. However, two years later I threw out almost all the banana because I am not baking banana bread and was storing too much banana in the freezer. 

Tommy hates bananas with a passion, so no sharing with him. He is not even fond of banana bread. The best I can do is put the mashed banana in brownies. But, I am not making brownies, either. I just have to have my banana every day.  Any other ideas besides feeding to the birds? But, then the pigeons will come! 

I talked just now to my friend who has a dog, offering her the bananas. Are bananas poisonous for dogs to eat? She hates bananas as much as Tommy, so she has never thought about feeding the dog banana. 

The sweet potato sprouts are still here. I must plant them before they die. I did put them back in water tonight, so they will survive, hopefully.

Tonight, we had chicken, hot dog, slaw, and zucchini. Tommy had a baked thigh, slaw, and zucchini. I  had the last hotdog, a bit of breast, slaw, and zucchini. Today, I had about a cup or less of blackberries and half a banana, not together. He had grapes. 

Cooking All Day. . .

Okay, not all day. Tommy, who can never stay awake for 30 more minutes at night after midnight managed to stay awake and alert until 3 am for a movie he wanted to see--White Heat. It was good and had James Cagney. But, it was after 7 am before I finally went to sleep...ugh.

I awoke at 11:30 am and thought about cooking. Since I am supposed to wait an hour to eat after I take a pill, I waited. I was famished and had to eat. Then, I discovered I had no bananas!

About 1 pm I gave Tommy a pound of Navy Beans to sort. Well, I asked him. I usually do it over the sink with water in about five minutes or less. He took over an hour. I said nothing because I don't care.

In the meantime, I washed so many dishes and at 6 pm am not done. I can only wash a couple of pieces and then must sit.

When he finished sorting the peas, I brought him 3 pounds of potatoes to peel. That took over an hour, too. He barely skims off the skin and leaves many little black dots on the skin. You may eat those; I want them gone. So, I redid them and put them in the kitchen. He did do the hard part--peeling. Navy Beans are in the crockpot.

I could not find the package of beef ribs I thought were in the refrigerator. He looked and found them still in the freezer. sigh  Potatoes and beef ribs are in the oven, salted and peppered. I have no onions and forgot bell peppers and celery.

Then, I had him slice  the head of cabbage. His hands do not bother him. Plus, all I can find is my paring knife. I asked him to peel off the outside leaves first and came in to find him just peeling the whole thing...lol. Then, I had to show him how to slice it.  I will put ham in the cabbage or in the peas, not sure.   I had put water in the crockpot before I put the peas in. When I checked the beans, there was NO water. Thankfully, I caught it in time.  I don't smell scorched beans, so hopefully all is well.

I made coleslaw since I now had a clean bowl to mix it.

All the vegetables will last for at least three days after I freeze some of the one pound of cooked beans. The meat will be gone by Friday.

We have an outing planned for Saturday, so I want to cook chicken for sandwiches. I will put out chicken to thaw today.  Soooo . . .

ham
ribs
coleslaw
cabbage
Navy beans
potatoes

Jackie Clay said coleslaw can be frozen. I will try that. Also at least two helpings of the beans will go into the freezer for later.

This is more cooking I can usually do in one day. I think I am so sleepy and bone-tired I have lost all feeling. Plus, I have washed soooo many dishes.

I managed  to knock a small Corelle bowl off the counter and it shattered into so many pieces with 4 large pieces that I can find.. Okay, I cannot get rid of italics. There is no broom here, so Tommy is going to vacuum it. Is it gone? Yes, it is.

I have no idea why I have no onions or bananas! Me tired? Definitely.  I went yesterday out to the store especially to get Navy Beans. Then, we looked in the huge garbage bag of cans from the food bank and found two pounds of Navy Beans. We will have them later.

When I was reading the Birmingham newspaper and saw a new Jazz Festival in town. I was absorbed in wondering if we could get in with our problems walking. Usually, we have to walk so far I cannot make it. I pondered this, giving up going but really wanting to go. THEN, I read on and Anne in the Kitchen's son's name was in the paper. At this point all I know is he is one of two people's names. I am not sure if he is first person playing, joining the venue or one of the person's in charge. I don't even remember the venue. Now, I really want to go.

It's 7 pm and dinner will be done about 8 pm.  Maybe I can get some dishes washed that I used. I  went in and I had forgotten to turn on the oven. So, I had a bite of cabbage. I love cooked cabbage. I love everything in the list of what I cooked. I should have prepared the two pounds of carrots.

Mmmm...we had beef ribs, potatoes, and cabbage for dinner.