Homemade BBQ Sauce

In preparation of not being about to do a whole lot of cooking over the next few weeks, I finally got my big behind in gear and starting doing a little freezer cooking.  Yesterday evening after a whirlwind trip to the big Dawg city, I cooked about 4 pounds of ground critter in the crock pot (your choice…sometimes it’s deer, turkey or cow).   This time I drained it and then seasoned with my homemade taco seasoning and one can of chili tomatoes.

Two gallon size bags are now in the freezer holding about 1 ½ pounds of cooked taco meat each.  The rest is in a container in the fridge for tonight’s dinner.  Smart me!!  In discussing what else we would like this week, HC2 declared she wanted some BBQ meat.

This translates into a Boston butt (pork roast) in the crock pot, which I’d already told y’all about once before.  She was in luck as we had one in the big freezer.  It is now nearly done in the big crock pot.  Sadly, I am completely out of BBQ sauce.

This put me on a mission to find a 98% homemade sauce recipe.  I hunted around on pinterest but most sauces were ketchup based.    Fortunately, being born Baptist and liking to eat, I have a lot of church cookbooks.  I flipped through a few of these cookbooks and found one to serve as my “guide”.  I know this could be dangerous.

The base of this sauce is conned tomato sauce.  I wanted to make enough to use for our dinner and baste the roast.  I think I will have plenty since I nearly quadrupled the recipe.

 

1 large can of tomato sauce

1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup of vinegar
4 or 5 Tbsp. of brown spicy mustard
2 Tbsp. of dehydrated onion
1 Tbsp. of paprika
½ tsp. of garlic salt/seasoning
½ tsp. of cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt and dash of black pepper (maybe two)

Once the ingredients all “melted” including the brown mustard, I let it come to a gentle boil then reduce the heat.  It is not a thick sauce.  If you like it thicker, maybe add a little cornstarch or simmer longer.

This is a sweet n tangy sauce.  You can definitely taste the mustard and hint of garlic.  I would like it a bit hotter but don’t think that would go over too well with the kiddos.  Keep on tasting until you get it the way you want it.  For now, since I haven’t recycled an old ketchup bottle, I have poured it into an old cheese canister.

 

Preparing to go Low Carb/Kind of Gluten Free

The past couple of weeks, as suggestions by family and a few forum friends, I have been researching gluten and its effects on the autoimmune system.  Wow!!  Who knew? It has amazed me at how much I have learned not only about RAD, but about the whole spectrum of autoimmune diseases including celiac disease. 

There is a ton of information out there and I have read so much that my head hurts…pun intended my migraine friends.  I can’t recall all of the data, but the gist of it is today’s modified wheat is much higher in gluten than what our grand and great grandparents ate.  This could be leading to an increase in the many people whose bodies respond in a negative way to gluten.

And by gluten I don’t just mean white bread.  The stuff is everywhere…cookies, cream soup, gravy mixes.  It is truly difficult to comprehend how much gluten is in the foods we buy and consume each day.  I am very overwhelmed and have been for about a week.

It is difficult to determine where to start.  Weight watchers has been working for me until I went back on prednisone for a week.  I think it would be possible to low carb/less gluten using the weight watchers plan.  I’m still researching this part so I will get back with you on this.

I’ve read part of the blond chick from The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck's journey to a celiac diagnosis.  It is heartbreaking at how she suffered and amazing at how she has overcome its debilitating effects.  It does give me hope that through the right combination of meds, diet and exercise that I can recoup some former quality of my life.

My goal isn’t to run marathons or swim the English Channel.  I simply want to get back to a point of feeling well with enough energy to accomplish each day’s events.  So please bear with me as I start to eliminate all this wheat.  I’m pretty sure my family won’t enjoy this and it won’t be easy.  I’d certainly appreciate your prayers and support.

Furniture List for Craig’s List or Thrift Stores

Since I’ve given up on traditional furniture shopping, I’ve decided to post my list that I will be looking for online and at thrift stores in the next few months.

1. Dining room table with six chairs…need a really good sized table and would like a table big enough for 8 chairs. 

2. Sleeper sofa or sectional with a sleeper…gotta have extra room for Mimi and Poppy.  Although she claims the camper will be her “guest” house!

3. Two full size loft beds…yes my beloved and a friend will build these.  We also need two desks, two chests and one large mirror for the “prettiest” child.  Her words, not mine. For the first time the two teens will be sharing a room. Extra prayers for me!

4. We are debating the benefits of a bunk bed/trundle bed or raised bed with storage for one child.  She can’t make up her mind other than she wants pink, purple and zebra!!  Won’t that be bright!

5. Of course, a big concern is a washer and dryer.  Ours are pushing 8 years old.  They have been a great set and have done tons of laundry.  I found a local place that sells last year models and reconditioned sets for a great price.  I’m budgeting for a “like” new set of uprights.  I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for a red set.  I also want an upright freezer. 

Per Mr. Germ-phobic, I will break down and budget for all new mattresses.  I thought my idea of blow up mattresses was excellent…no way the kids could hide stuff under their beds.  Looks like I’m getting vetoed on that as well.

There are a few kitchen things we will pack, but it’s not going to be an all-out packing marathon. The girls and I are looking forward to plundering the excellent thrift stores in and around Athens.  We are blessed to have my Mother’s retirement camper to stay in while we assemble our furniture.  It is certainly making the move less stressful for me. 

Lava Cake

So simple, but oh so yummy.  I first had this at a Pampered chef party.  I didn’t actually go to the party, but I was able to enjoy the leftovers in the company break room.  By far, for those of us with chocolate addiction issues…or those who take horrific meds like prednisone every day, this is a quick easy way to get a fix.

The ingredients are basic and simple:  One box of your choice of chocolate cake mix plus ingredients to mix it up and once can of chocolate frosting.  Please folks…don’t all rush to Harvey’s or Wal-Mart right now…y’all cause a traffic jam!

Mix up the cake according to the directions.  Pour into a greased or sprayed ceramic or stone baking dish.  Dot the mix with the can of frosting.  Cook in microwave for 12-14 minutes. 

Important Note: Watch your microwave and try to use a dish that will spin.  If you bake ware is too large to spin, then take out the dish and rotate it half way through the cook time.  My microwave cooks “hot”.  So my cake was done after about 12 minutes.

I baked my lava cake in my PC beautiful red stoneware baking dish.  I’d had it for several years and NOT ever used it.  Shame on me.  After a wash with hot water, it was baptized by chocolate lava.  And boy was it awesome with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

The best part of this dessert, not only is it easy it’s so quick!!  I can see this being a big hit during the summer for cookouts.  It would also be easy for camping since I used a whisk to mix and not an electric mixer.  The only thing that could have made this better would have been a sprinkle of some toasted pecans!!

We Will Just Sit on the Floor

Our impending move is almost here.  I suddenly realized, duh…we must have some additional furniture.  Our plans are to be back and forth between both houses.  When we are home, we will still need beds, pots and pans and something to sit on.

So Mimi, Maddie and I went to Albany to look around.  My original game plan was to find some of the basics used on Craig’s list; table, sofa, dressers, etc. My husband, the nicey nice germ-phobic, went all “yuck” on me.  I’m like OK, I’ll go look at new stuff.   Besides, most of what we have is old or hand me downs.  It would be wonderful to have brand spanking new “adult” furniture.

Or so I thought. Boy did I get my feelings hurt.  Since when did the price of furniture nearly double? Mattresses, most especially, have gone up since we last purchased one new nearly 7 years ago.  And for the record, I have great taste.  Or at least the price tags that I had the nerve to flip over said I had great taste.

I’ve never been a dress to impress, drive to impress or “house” to impress type of person.  I am more of a good quality, long lasting purchaser.  I’ve never bought much into any type of trendy stuff.  My style has definitely evolved into sturdy stable Southern Living without all the flowers. By the time we had hit the fourth furniture store, my “style” had reverted back to garage sale and I was ready to go home.

I had a list, and really just wanted to get an idea of how much new stuff cost as opposed to used.  However, between the wallet shock and my joints screaming in pain, I think returning to plan A is our best option.  So it’s back to Craig’s list perusing for high quality furnishing from those trendy folks that like to redo.  Not only will that help me stick to my “budget”, my knees will love me for it too!

BWI...Go Ahead, Write Me a Ticket

I am guilty...for blogging while sick.  Wonder if that ticket is more than a tail light ticket? Hmmmm. I rightly don't know.  I do know that whatever bug/infection I came down with Sunday night is kicking my behind.  And that is the joy of RAD...

I felt great Sunday afternoon.  Watched part of the rain soaked Talladega race, rested from a busy Saturday and had lunch with the family.  But by the time the race restarted I could tell something was a little off.  No I don't mean the darkness in Talladega...although I will hopefully get a racing post up sometime this week over at backroads blog.

It started off as a headache and quickly went down hill.  I've run low grade fever for 2 plus days.  The fun part:  I can't tell if I have a sinus infections, something viral or just having one of those yucky RAD days.

But it doesn't really matter what the underlying cause.  What matters right now is that my kitchen is a wreck, the laundry needs rolling over and I need to make a trip to the school to see my "guidance" counselor Mrs. Grace about my middle child.  Plus Scott has errands that need running.  So I am up, sipping coffee and trying to chase away this mental fog with caffeine and ibuprofen.

My brain says get to moving and my body is saying "Nope, I wanna go back to bed."  Unfortunately for these old creaky joints, the brain is probably gonna win this one. 

Today's Doctor Visit

Confused, Annoyed and Frustrated

Granted most folks don’t enjoy going to the doctor.  I came very close to canceling this appointment as I had a list of other things that I could have done.  Talladega, 8^th grade community service project, laundry…well you get my drift, just about anything beats a trip to a medical professional!

Since appointments are hard to reschedule with my doctor I decided to go ahead, spend the $20 bucks on gas and create another medical bill. This was my first visit since starting the biologic cimzia.  And since I hadn’t been on any type of DMARD for about four months, I’ve noticed a good bit of inflammation and pain in several (or most) of my large joints.

My current doctor is really young, like maybe 12.  Not really, but isn’t it weird when you finally start to get older than the doctors?  I wanted to ask for his driver’s license or school ID.  He is very thorough and seems to at least take more interest in my overall well-being than the previous doctor.

However, when I went through my current state of RAD…severe pain in knees, hips, lower back, shoulders and wrist, his response kind of put me off.  He said that the resulting pain was not from the RAD inflammation but due to osteo damage.  Duh…what?  I was a bit confused.  He said if I had insurance, he would send me for physical therapy and maybe injections in the knees.  I was thinking more like can’t you do some X-rays and check for damage first?

Apparently I haven’t been exercising enough either.  I have orders to walk 10 minutes a day. EVERYDAY.  And, he said not to sit for more than 15-20 minutes at a time, which isn’t a problem unless you are driving somewhere.  Maybe he and my hubby are conspiring against me to get all that laundry caught up.

He also recommended that I start water aerobics/swimming when possible.  I will definitely be joining the swim place as soon as we get relocated.  Aleve for pain, prednisone as needed and continue the cimzia to give it more time to work on the RAD.

All of this cost $88 bucks and two hours of my time.  Maybe I am just being an impatient patient.  But I want to feel better. NOW.  RIGHT NOW.  Is that so wrong?????

Yes, this is a whiny post…hoping my fellow RAD rheumies can give me some advice and my well friends will hunt me down and gently kick me in the rear!

UPDATE: Homemade Laundry Detergent

Or How to Make $108 Per Hour

Just made the 2nd batch...again it took much longer to assemble my antique food processor than to mix it all together.  I am staying with the same "recipe" for right now.  The clothes appear to be clean and smell fine, so I'm not going to change anything up.

The 2nd best news:  I still have enough washing soda and borax for at least two more makings, effectively reducing the cost per batch to really cheap.  I originally bought the washing soda, borax and two bars of soap from Walmart.

The washing soda was about $3.50, borax $5.00 plus each bar of soap was $.94. I will have four makings out of this for a total cost of about $3 per batch.  That is 12 weeks of laundry or $4 per month vs my normal expenditure of $13 per on detergent alone. 

So even though I'm only saving $9 per month, that equals $108 per year.  At five minutes for batch, that is one hour per year of my time.  I only wished that I made $108 per hour back in my working days.