… more good food, over & over.

November 10, 2023November 30, 2023 bgibson135

I used some of the Brazilian Starfish peppers (mildly hot) and Biquinho (mild) along with some onion on sauteed pork chops. I added some Agave Nectar & a little Equal and lime juice in cooking the pork chops.

NOTE [ 11/20/23 ]: I was in Raleigh a week or so ago and they still had some peppers in the stand at the State Farmers’ Market, but the season is winding down. I am choosing to not eat really hot peppers because they just don’t please me. Hotter is not better for me. Hot without flavor is useless.

Poblano and jalapeno peppers are my base flavors, and roasting them in the oven before adding them to salsa or soup is preferred. I like some peppers in my lentil soup, with spicy Andouille sausage.

I ate a bunch of corn on the cob, cooked in the microwave, this year. The new guy on Americas Test Kitchen shared a way to use the microwave to get rid of the corn silks. You cut off the stalk end of the corn, and leave on the silks end. You then cook for a couple of minutes. You can then remove the corn and squeeze on the silks end and this will begin to force the ear of corn out of its husk. But the surprise is that the silks will stay with the husk and you will end up with a clean ear of corn. *I cook my corn in the microwave for about 4 or 5 minutes, and this completely steams the corn and it is then ready for salt & margarine.

But, as much as I love corn on the cob, especially when it is sweet and flavorful, it is also high starch/sugar. I have been “good” for about 3 weeks, and have been watching what I am eating and recording it in My Food Diary on the My Fitness Pal website. I have managed to keep my weight a few pounds under 260, and my Bgl has been consistently in the good, but not lowest range. I’m not sure if it will be below 7.0 AC1, but it should be near 7, hopefully lower if I remain vigilant.

The photo above is from several years ago, but everything came together in season for a really good meal. The tomatoes had good flavor as did the corn and fried okra. I fried tomatillos, with onion and added vinegar and sweetener and that turned out flavorful also.

NOTE [ 11/28/23 ]: One of the problems with eating to suppress blood glucose spikes is that anything edible that is either sugar, or is starchy and turns into sugar easily & rapidly is to be avoided, or severely reduced. I love bread, the smell, the flavor, even the different textures and colors of it. But yes, bread is a starch that quickly turns into sugar.

I have chosen to not go completely without bread, although in the past, I can completely cut out eating bread, and did so both times that I lost 60 lbs. One of those times was when I was about 49 years old and then again about nine years later. The first time was before I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, so losing weight that time was super easy. I ate wisely, and managed to turn my body’s metabolism way up, and therefore could eat a bunch during each day, never hungry (maybe once) and still could lose 2 or 3 pounds a week, with very little exercise. I drank a bunch of water each of those days.

One thing I read was that you didn’t want to exercise too vigorously because that would threaten a high metabolism, because the body would begin to wonder where it’s next meal was coming from, and shut down the metabolism thereby wanting to store food as fat. The article suggested controlled breathing and walks that would cause the body to bring in more Oxygen, which encourages a higher metabolism.

Oh, and I ate vegetables from A through Z: avocado, asparagus, beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, beans, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, celery, cucumbers, eggplant, leeks, lettuce, okra, olives, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, rappini, spinach, and zucchini. The first 60 lbs. loss was easy, but by the second time, there were a bunch of veggies that now were off limits… beets, carrots, garden peas, potatoes, all turn to sugar quickly in the body.

Oh, once in the eating zone, with my metabolism going full tilt, and eating properly each day, I could even satisfy those extreme urges, every once in a while… not every day, but maybe every couple to three weeks, I could splurge on a “craving”. Say a large plate of pasta with delicious spaghetti sauce, or a whole quart of ice cream or maybe a couple of slices of pizza. My weight would go up maybe 2 or 3 pounds the next day, but then I would go right back into that proper eating pattern and by the end of the week I was still losing a couple of pounds. Now when your body is taking in a bunch of food, and processing it efficiently, and not storing fat it is more of a “life style” and not a “diet.” Diets don’t work long term because humans can’t maintain the extremes that most diets require. Eat nothing but eggs & water for a week. Sure, you might lose weight, but you can’t keeps those extremes up, so when you go back to your former eating patterns, yup, you start to gain weight again.

A proper eating pattern requires you to regulate your daily calorie intake, while satisfying your body’s needs for nutrition. You need a certain amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat each day. You need to regulate your salt and sugar intake. Water helps flush the system, getting rid of waste and some of the excess items you have taken in, but don’t need.

At one time I could eat about 2,200 calories a day and maintain my weight, but now it is down to around 1,900 calories a day. So, if you have ever religiously recorded your daily food intake with an eye to satisfying all the nutrients your body requires, you realize very quickly that there’s not a lot of “wiggle” room to what you can put into your mouth.

You have 3 meals a day, so that’s 21 meals a week. Now, you may also choose to eat three meals a day with two snacks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This might make more sense because you could eat less at each of the 3 meals, and the snacks would be providing your metabolism with a little “pick me up” during those normal low points. But still seven of those meals are breakfasts. That only leaves 14 main meals. You are probably not going to have steamed asparagus, broccoli, or cabbage for breakfast. Although, I made some delicious Seafood Chowder a few days ago. I made it early in the morning, and it tasted so good that I had a small bowl of it as my breakfast that morning. *I had some for one of my meals yesterday, and it was still very delicious. A little spicy, and served hot, very flavorful.

So for fourteen meals, I will probably want some protein at each of those meals. Beef, chicken, pork, lamb and maybe fish. A steak or a hamburger, baked chicken, or shredded chicken in a soup or as chicken salad, a pork chop, a round bone lamb chop, or tuna fish salad. So for the 14 main meals you are probably going to want to rotate those different sources of protein so that you don’t get bored with a hamburger at each meal. Now, you not only have to start watching what you eat, but what is going to happen to any leftovers. You have to limit what you put in your mouth, but you also have to reduce waste by not preparing too much of any one thing. You can’t prepare a large pot of spaghetti sauce that might last for 5 or 6 meals. For one, you don’t need all of the pasta that would go with that much sauce.

I like vegetable beef soup. I make a delicious vegetable soup, but have found that it is difficult to make less of it unless I find a way to store some of the veggies for future use. What? Well, many of the cans of vegetables that I use for this soup; corn, green beans, garden peas, diced tomatoes and even okra come in 15 oz. cans. If you dump five 15 oz. cans of these veggies into a pot, the pot begins to fill up quickly. And you are going to cut up some carrots & potatoes, add some ground beef and some chicken stock… and the pot is filled with delicious soup, but FILLED is an important word here. I know you could do it this way, but then you would have to store the extra soup in your freezer.

What I have chosen to do, after years of making too much and freezing it, and throwing away the frozen soup that never gets eaten, is to make less of it to begin with. How? Well, the 15 oz. cans of veggies are normally a better buy than the smaller 7.5 oz. cans. So only use half of each of the 15 oz. cans and freeze the rest. You can even save the extra veggies in a single Tupperware container. Find a way to label your frozen items by date & interred item. So you might have a container that has corn, garden peas, green beans, diced tomatoes & okra all waiting to be thawed for another batch of soup.

*Oh, and okra. I love the flavor of okra, and I do not have a problem with slimy okra… it is just another form of a veggie that I like the flavor of. I like fried okra. I like diced okra in vegetable soup or in my Seafood Chowder. I like pickled okra. I like those okra cooked under pressure at a low temperature that come out like a brittle, dry okra chip, but still in the shape of the original okra pod. These may be priced at $16 a pound, but each of them weighs so little that you can get a bunch for a reasonable price. In the past I would buy a can of okra, or a can of mixed okra, corn & tomatoes, to add to my soup, but last time I bought a bag of frozen, diced okra, and add the frozen okra directly into the pot. During the okra season, I prefer to dice fresh okra up and add them to my soup… or fry them, without batter on the stove top.

What I prefer is to cook fresh and not store a bunch of leftovers. If I could fix each item with just enough for two meals… the one I am about to eat and one more a couple of days later, that is what I would do.

My original intent at the start of this note was to make mention of a new cracker that I had recently purchased to take the place of the White Mountain Bread that I buy at Publix and love to eat. For the White Mountain Bread, I try to limit myself to just one slice a day, although I might do two slices. One for the egg salad that I have at breakfast, and maybe one for the pork chop & steamed cabbage I am having at dinner.

I was in Harris Teeter yesterday and wanted to find a cracker so that I could cut back on my bread intake. Price matters when I am in Harris Teeter, so unless it is a special item that only HT has, I can probably find the item cheaper elsewhere. Spices and fresh vegetables are two of the items that can usually be found cheaper elsewhere. But, HT does display their veggies exceptionally well. I found a small package of “Savory Rice Thins” by Sesmark (original flavor, rice snack crackers). They are made of rice and have sesame & soy and they do have a pleasant flavor. A serving of 16 crackers, each a little bigger than the diameter of a golf ball, provide a total of 130 calories. There are 3 servings in a pack for under $4.

The 130 calories may sound high, but compared to most of the other crackers (wheat) this is very reasonable. Four wheat crackers might be 130 calories.

I’ve recently wanted to add a different flavor to my steamed cabbage. I love steamed cabbage, and with just enough sweetener, and/or bacon fat, I could eat a bunch of steamed cabbage. So, the thought of adding a little Toasted Sesame Oil to my steamed cabbage came to me. I tried it, and it worked, and then I was reminded that shredded, steamed cabbage comes in many of the egg rolls I love to eat. But haven’t eaten many lately. So a little soy sauce, and some toasted sesame oil flavors steamed cabbage very well. And I am thinking, that these rice crackers flavored with sesame & soy would go well with the steamed cabbage, and the crispness of the cracker would provide a welcome texture also. *A few of these crackers would probably go well with my Seafood Chowder, or with my Greek salad and these would be in place of a whole slice of White Mountain Bread. Okay, if I chose to eat just 6 crackers for each meal, that would be eight servings (@49 calories for 6 crackers) per package. The White Mountain Bread (counted as whole wheat) is 91 calories per slice, so I would be saving 42 calories each time I ate these crackers instead of the bread. Oh, and on the package, these crackers appear to have 0 sugars, but 8% sodium, carbs are 9%.

[ 11/30/23 ]: I fixed some steamed cabbage earlier this afternoon, and I had enough to mentally divide the cabbage on the plate into three sections. I put some bacon fat on one section, some toasted sesame oil on another, and margarine on the other. I had already added some salt, pepper and a little Splenda to the cabbage. All three versions of steamed cabbage were delicious, and then I thought about what else to serve with this. Corned beef. I grew up eating corned beef about twice a year. It would always be fixed the same, in a pot on the stove-top in water, with onions & white potatoes. This was a delicious comfort food for a cold day.

But, I just googled regarding whether corned beef is okay for a diabetic, and the suggestion was not to eat it, or not to eat much of it, as it was high in salt content. So as I am writing, I think of the boneless pork chops that I bought this afternoon. There were seven small pork chops, less than a pound total, for less than $4. Yes, maybe a couple of these would go good with the cabbage. And yes, some green beans and white potatoes (not too much of the potato). And, some seasoned black-eyed peas and Vidalia onion! A perfectly flavored “comfort food” meal. [ END NOTE ]

Andouille, Shrimp & Lentil Chowder

March 25, 2023March 25, 2023 bgibson135

I bought a long link of Spicy Andouille Sausage at Sprouts today. For some reason, I started thinking of making a seafood chowder using lentils and not potatoes. I didn’t use tomatoes or half-n-half.

Andouille Sausage
Onion
Olive Oil
Bacon Fat
Carrots
Poblano Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Chipotle Pepper
Lentils (red, black, brown)
Shrimp
Thyme (Mediterranean)
Celery
Celery Seed
Garlic Powder
Onion Flake
S&P
Chicken Stock
Margarine
Cumin Seed

I’ve made Andouille & Lentil soup before. Kielbasa doesn’t work as well because it isn’t spicy. And adding hot peppers accents the Andouille. I thawed the shrimp in the microwave and added the juice and the shrimp once they were thawed. I would imagine that you could leave out the shrimp and this would still be a good soup… and yes, I have made this type of soup before.

Made a Really Good Helping of Green Beans, Potatoes & Bacon.

March 3, 2023February 21, 2026 bgibson135

This was so simple, but ended up being really flavorful.

The can of green beans that I opened were whole, not cut or French Cut, green beans. Seemed thinner and not cut. I peeled one medium potato and then cut it up roughly. I used about three, half slices of bacon and then cut them into about six smaller sections. I used some Chicken Broth, S&P, and a little margarine. I may have used a small amount of bacon grease (from what I save after breakfast).

I stood over the stove, having heated up some of the green beans, potatoes & bacon, and I kept saying how good this tasted. *I am reminded of many years ago, probably the 1970s when I was working for Region “P” and was down in Queens Creek at a Senior’s meeting. They were having a pot luck lunch, and Essie Davis (not the Australian actress), who was a friend of my mother… they may have car pooled to/from work on board Camp Lejeune. Ms. Davis lived almost at the curve near a church, deep in Bear Creek. … Ms. Davis fixed a “mess” of green beans, potatoes & seasoned them with bacon. I remember enjoying the flavor of this dish so much that instead of having a desert, I had a second helping of the green beans. Delicious! And now what, about 50 years ago, I recall how good these beans were.

Ingredients

1 can green beans (do not drain)
8–12 small red potatoes (whole or halved)
3–6 oz seasoning meat (salt pork / bacon ends / ham hock pieces)
½ onion, chopped (you like onion anyway 🙂)
Black pepper
Optional: pinch garlic powder

Instant Pot Mini Version

Add in this order:

seasoning meat
onion
potatoes
1 cup water
can of green beans (with liquid) on top

Cook

High Pressure — 6 minutes

Natural release 10 minutes
Then quick release

I fixed this again yesterday. I didn’t have much Chicken Broth left, so used more water. I think I kept all other ingredients the same, and I paid attention to the doneness of the potatoes. They aren’t overdone… not too tender. I used cut green beans instead of the whole beans. But, the final product was not as delicious as the previous one. I added more salt… more margarine… more bacon grease… nope, just a little less flavorful than previously, but still very good flavors together.

Green beans are still one of the cheapest veggies you can buy at the grocers. And adding white potato, which will begin to soak up any other flavors… so adding bacon (not pre-cooked) to the broth just hits the spot.

Several weeks ago I tried chopping up fresh asparagus, steaming it, and then adding the asparagus to mashed potatoes. It was absolutely delicious! I made it several times, but surprising to me, it did not take long for me to not want this often. Or maybe I couldn’t figure out what other “sides” I wanted to have with this. *I did combine carrots & garden peas and cooked them in some Cary’s Sugar Free Maple Flavored Syrup, with some margarine. The sugar free syrup does not thicken up & burn like sugar or maybe honey would in a pan. It remains thin and watery, and the margarine provides a sheen to the carrots.

Haven’t made my Tomato Chutney in a while. But, did make my Cibatta Roll Pizzas at home. The home made pizza sauce is so easy to make. Only seven ingredients and I mix them up in a small glass jar. Tomato paste, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, white vinegar, olive oil and salt. I buy cheap, but good, sliced pepperoni at IGA… shredded mozzarella cheese, and the other two ingredients that I like are a little sweet bell pepper & some finely diced onion. I would like more bell pepper & onion, but the size of the Ciabatta rolls limits these. Bake in the oven first, and then a short time under HI Broil to crisp up the pepperoni. For me, this consistently satisfies my craving for pizza. The sauce is spot on for any good pizza sauce that I’ve had at a restaurant. And, the four small slices of bread fill me up, just enough.

Made some good spaghetti sauce the other day, but haven’t actually tried it on pasta yet. And, I decided to make only enough for two good helpings. I had a small amount of ground beef that might have gone bad in a few days, so that was my impetus for making spaghetti sauce. I had a half jar of Rao’s starter sauce in the fridge. I had a half can of diced tomatoes that were frozen. I cut up some sweet red bell pepper, and some onion. Think I added dried oregano, garlic powder, S&P and a little Equal sweetener. Turned out very well, although much more ground beef than usual.

Over the last six months there have been many changes to the foods that I have a desire to eat. I no longer like a hamburger with cheese. I put a slice of American Cheese on a burger recently and before I was through, I was asking myself if I could remove the melted cheese from the bread. I still love cheese. I like Swiss cheese toasted on bread and used to top French Onion Soup. *I use the cheap Beef Broth to make the onion soup, and I am thinking a better quality of broth would add to the finished flavor of the onion soup. *I also toast Swiss cheese on Rye bread when I am making my Pastrami Reubens (Rachels) at home.

Capricho de Cabra is one of my favorite soft cheeses, and it has remained relatively inexpensive. This goes well with Raspberry Jam and crackers. It is white, soft, crumbly and a little tart. I get this at Whole Foods in Raleigh.

I had some good Pepper Jack (maybe using jalapenos) that I bought at Wegman’s recently. I had also bought some smoked deli ham, and some Miami Onion rolls. Also bought a small jar of horseradish, and combined the horseradish with some sweetened yellow mustard. I use Equal and Agave Nectar to sweeten the yellow mustard. Currently love this horseradish/mustard combo, on deli sandwiches, hamburgers & hot dogs.

I like smoked Gouda and recently tried some “flowers” flavored cheese (don’t recall the name) that had a distinctively “earthy” flavor. I don’t think it was labelled as “Alp Blossom” cheese, but I had seen the name previously, and bought a small block at Sprouts.

Oh, forgot about the HT White American Cheese that I have gotten at Harris Teeter for sandwiches.

Apex, Publix & the State Farmer’s Market

September 2, 2022December 13, 2023 bgibson135

I had lunch at “Tacos Mexico” in Apex, NC. Their Lunch #3 included chips & salsa, a Chile Relleno, a Beef Enchilada, Spanish rice and refried beans. I drank water, but think that might be the 16 cents Surcharge on the bill. The basic salsa was bland, but had bits of onion and cilantro. I asked for hot sauce and some packets of sweetener. The waitress brought back the sweetener and two squeeze bottles, one with a green mild sauce, and one that she said was really hot. It was really hot so I just used a little and some sweetener to make my sweet hot salsa.

The Chili Relleno had a lightly breaded crust. They included a whole Poblano pepper that had been deep fried. There was a tomato sauce poured on top of the Poblano pepper. There was a slight “after taste” that I realized I would not like. Once was enough. The meal wasn’t unpleasant, but just a one time event.

I noted the customers, and most seemed to be Hispanic, in work clothing.

I turned on to Hunter Street and rode west. At some point, Hunter Street becomes Olive Chapel Road and after crossing the Toll Road, Publix is on the right.

There were several locations within the store that were in a familiar spot, but it wasn’t exactly like the Publix in Fayetteville. I found the Bread section, and they had some Ciabatta Rolls. The rolls were mislabeled as Ciabatta Loaf and was priced over $4. I asked the clerk about this and she re-labelled the bag as Ciabatta Rolls at a lower price. I checked for lamb and they didn’t have any Round Bone Chops.

Coming back through the Apex Historical Downtown District I noted several groups of both boys and girls that looked to be Middle or High School age, walking down the sidewalks.

I drove up US 1 and made it to the NC State Farmer’s Market. There were still a lot of colorful peppers for sale, and I bought some at two different vendors (one Lee’s Produce for sweet peppers).

The four types of peppers shown below were supposed to be sweet/not hot and they were. The far right were red Poblanos. On the left, the more orange pepper had the sweetest flavor. The long red peppers in the middle had little flavor.

I bought gas in Fuquay Varina.

There is a turn-off just above Bunn Level and there was one car ahead of me that knew all the short cuts until we got back on Ramsey Street.

NOTE [09/03/22]: Awoke after 2 am on Saturday and went to the bathroom. I looked over at the counter where my “empty” pill box should have been. There was none. No pill box, hmmm… I had gone to bed early (don’t remember exactly when) so, it wasn’t likely that I had taken the evening pills. Mild panic. I head to my living room and search under my “recently received” car title, and there is an empty space for one of the blue plastic daily containers… but the empty space is for THUR, and this is early Saturday morning. There nearby is the empty container for THURS. I haven’t taken any of my pills for Friday, and it is Saturday. I rush back to the bathroom and take the morning pills, with no idea at how to fit the FRI evening pills in before the SAT morning pills come due.

I don’t think I’ve ever forgotten a whole day before. I’ve been fairly religious about taking my pills, except I did forget my evening pills once. That is when I determined that you should go ahead and take the pills that you forgot.

I had felt “off” and when I got home, went to bed early. Some of the “offness” might have been because I hadn’t taken any daily medication. Now, early Saturday morning, I don’t think I ate anything for dinner either.

Bringing It Home.

August 12, 2022August 15, 2022 bgibson135

Thai Basil Chicken from Maguro’s in Southern Pines…

I have taken a few things with me when I am going to Maguro’s to have lunch, and I have since after my first visit only eaten “Thai Basil Chicken”.

Russ and Deborah took me there to celebrate my birthday and Russ had the Thai Basil Chicken. I had something else, which was “okay” but looking at Russ’ meal from across the table, I thought it looked especially tasty. At some point, Russ asked if there were hot peppers in the dish. I recall that both Deborah and I looked and I think we found what appeared to be a sliced Jalapeno. Now, I would guess that hot is not what Russ wanted.

I’m sure that Russ and Deborah had “cut out a swath of time” for me for my birthday celebration, but after lunch as we are standing in the Maguro’s parking lot talking, I realized that I had an upset stomach. My way of saying that I felt I needed to go to the bathroom. I told them I was going home and left my celebration early.

But, the next day I drove up to Southern Pines again to have lunch at Maguro’s, and to order the “Thai Basil Chicken” for myself. Making back to back trips to Southern Pines from Fayetteville would be highly unusual for me, but at this time, our gas prices had not started to rise drastically.

The Thai Basil Chicken was delicious! During the Pandemic, I would normally drive to Southern Pines on Thursdays and order the lunch special, which for sometime was still only $7 with water to drink.

The few things I took included:

— Hot Mustard which I would dip my egg roll (more like an egg roll instead of a spring roll) in and their sweet sauce. This mustard will take your breath away if you eat too much, and too much might just be a very little.

— Toasted Sesame Oil which I add to the fried rice. I had found that the flavor of the Toasted Sesame Oil was what “meant” fried rice to me. This does make the rice flavor better.

Many times I have eaten the entire meal at the restaurant, but a few times, I have brought a “doggy” box home with me. And, what I found is that adding extra peppers and onion to the left overs works well. I had some hot peppers including Habaneros, a poblano and some onion which I cooked up on the stove top. I added the peppers & onion to the left overs and microwaved for a couple of minutes. This worked excellently!

Andouille Lentil Soup

I knew that I wanted to make some lentil soup before I left for lunch in Southern Pines. I was going to look for some Andouille sausage at Fresh Market in Southern Pines. Not all sausages are the same, and I have had bland Andouille. But, I have also used Polska Kielbasa which was a failure. Not spicy.

I went into the Fresh Market and sauntered through apples, carrots, nuts and olives before making it to the meat counter in the back. You can only get to the meat counter from two directions, and I realized after walking along the counter that there was a “proper” direction, and there was a large sign for “the next customer”. I had not asked a butcher for assistance, and after finding the head of the line took my place behind an elderly couple that had just been called up to the counter by a butcher. I saw sausages and one of those was labelled ‘Andouille’. Another butcher, a black man, came to the counter and asked if I needed assistance. I asked him if the Andouille was spicy. He said he had not tried it personally and did not know. I asked if a pound of the Andouille was about two links. I ended up getting 3 links for a pound. The white butcher didn’t know if the Andouille was spicy, but knew that Andouille should be.

I had a 3 quart pot, and put a couple of links of the Andouille in the bottom and cut the casings from end to end. I tried to scrape the meat from the casings. I then added some red & brown lentils, some chopped onion and some chicken broth, S&P, and garlic powder. At some point I added some Poblano, and hot peppers, including a Habanero.

I was finishing off my Maguro’s Thai Basil Chicken as I was cooking the Andouille Lentil soup. But, I was tasting the soup broth, and it was obvious that it was spicy hot. The Andouille was ground chunkily (which is how it should be) and had good flavor, although I honestly cannot say if this Andouille was spicy because of the overpowering heat from the hot peppers I had added. But, this was really good soup, especially because it was spicy hot, and had good meat flavor!

So, I am sitting on the toilet the next morning, and it comes to me that my stomach feels like someone had punched it. It is slightly sore, and I smile thinking that the cause of it was all the spicy, hot peppers I had eaten the day before.

After lunch, I drove over to Ken Chappell’s fruit stand near Candor. This is a regular practice during peach season. Peaches & apples are the main produce, but they also have okra, tomatoes, cantaloupe & watermelons in season.

I bought a watermelon ($7 maybe $5), three small tomatoes, some Gala apples (small & hard) and a small bag of peaches (Flame Prince). I drove back to the Fresh Market.

I drove over to the Mitchell’s after I had bought the Andouille. No one was home, no cars in front, and no one answered the door bell. I left a few apples & peaches on the table under the patio.

I drove back to Fayetteville. I left the watermelon in the car, but brought the rest of my purchases & the left-over Thai Basil Chicken inside.

Not sure how soon afterwards that I went to bed, but I awoke about 8:45 pm. I started wandering through the apartment. I see that I left the left over Thai Basil Chicken in the little white plastic box, on the table, not the refrigerator. And also on the table was the package of Andouille Sausage, unrefrigerated. I got the bag of peppers out of the refrigerator, grabbed an onion, and started chopping dividing it out by eye, some in the Andouille Lentil soup pot, and some in a small fry pan (for the left overs).

Just before I got home, I stopped at the Food Lion. I bought a bag of carrots (for the lentil soup), a few Gala apples (for fried apples), a sweet bell pepper, roasted cashews, and supposedly “Sweet Bites” tomatoes. I was surprised to see the Sweet Bites, because they haven’t been available for over a year (maybe longer). But see my concern, because although the “Sweet Bites” package has returned, the small tomatoes inside are not the same variety (or flavor) as previously sold under this name by Sunset Company.

ADDENDUM [ 08/12/22 ]: Boy! I just had another helping of the Andouille Lentil soup I made last night, and there is just one more helping left in the fridge. This soup turned out to be really good, and addictive. It is so spicy hot, and the Andouille sausage has enough distinctive flavor (although I still can’t judge whether it is spicy, hot, or not), and the Poblano peppers offer their distinctive, earthy flavor and the carrots provide a cooling effect. I like lentil soup and have made several versions of it in the past. But, they are not always winners. I remember adding Texas Pete hot sauce to it in the past. I think that I had forgotten which type of sausage to use, and Polska Kielbasa doesn’t work here. *So, I would add this version of Andouille Lentil soup to my three other favorites, Curried Apple, Tarragon Leek, or Avocado Chipotle soup.

I currently think that they would be ordered in this order, as to my favorite:

Curried Apple (hot or cold)
Andouille Lentil (hot liquid, and spicy hot)
Tarragon Leek (hot or cold)
Avocado Chipotle (hot)

Peppers @ the State Farmers’ Market in Raleigh.

July 22, 2022July 25, 2022 bgibson135

The Big List of Hot Peppers

I can’t tell which pepper this is, but I did buy it at this vendor’s site. I looked at the large green stem, and the knobby shape of the red fruit and nothing seems to show in the variety photos.

I only bought one Peter Pepper. It was a light green color. I did not think that it had too much heat.

White Bean & Chicken Chili

May 24, 2022August 10, 2025 bgibson135

The basic ingredients came to about $7.50. I added a clove of garlic ( large chop ), dried basil, S&P, a little Splenda, some Agave Nectar and a little lime juice. *Just a little Splenda and Agave give this chili a slightly sweet taste, and the chipotle peppers, chipotle powder, red pepper flakes, and cayenne give it a good heat. I would add some chopped jalapenos (red or green) for extra flavor and I did add some chopped yellow bell pepper.

I’ve tried something like this before, but it did not turn out well. This did satisfy! It was a little sweet, with some heat (about 3 chipotle peppers) and large chunks of Vidalia onion.

I tried this a second time, but instead of using canned white chunk chicken, I bought a whole baked chicken (original flavor) and shredded some of the white meat and added it to the chili mixture. This worked great!

I had some Mission Corn Chips left, and they went well with this chili. I see that avocado, cilantro, sour cream and Mexican cheese are suggested toppings for this. *The second time, I added a bunch of cilantro to the chili during cooking. I ate an avocado with the chili, and this was good.

I was in the Compare Grocery the other day and saw some red jalapenos (marked that way on the price card). I only got about 4 of these and took them to the checkout along with the other items I was purchasing. The girl rang up these as “Thai Red Chilis”. I think the price was about a dollar more per pound than the sign had said for the red jalapenos, so I said to her that these weren’t Thai Red Chilis but Red Jalapenos. She stopped and showed the clerk at the next register, and whatever was said, she still rang them up as Thai Red Chilis. It could be that both clerks were referencing the wrong code number, or maybe the grocer had labelled this item incorrectly in the system. But, I told her I didn’t want to purchase them and she set them aside.

Seems that the Red Cayenne Peppers are slightly different in curvature and a little bend at the end of the pepper, but Thai Red and Red Jalapenos are distinctly different.

NOTE [05/30/22]: The oven-roasted chicken was a great idea for this, but at about $7.35 for the whole baked chicken, this is a great deal. I had a couple of drum sticks, and a bunch of white breast meat that could be shredded for the chili, and/or for a sandwich, etc. I was sort of surprised at how cheap the whole baked chicken was this time. I think the price had gone up (several months ago) and was over $8.

NOTE [ 12/16/23 ]: The can of Bush’s White Chili Beans now costs about $1.98 at Walmart, previously $1.76. I did go to Compare Foods again and bought some green Jalapenos, Poblanos and some red peppers (not sure if they were red Jalapenos or some other variety. I had a small can of diced Green Chilis. I don’t see if I added some chopped onion before, but, I did this time. I used sweet onion but that is just because I have an overstocked abundance of the sweet onions. Added some cayenne pepper, some whole Cumin seeds, some dry Cilantro & dry Parsley. Did add the bit of Splenda & Agave Nectar.

Funny, was just reading above and the same thing happened again at Compare Foods. The girl at the register rang up a red pepper, but it was a couple of dollars more than what the sign had said. I had already taken a picture of the red peppers & listed price and I ended up getting these cheaper, maybe even a dollar cheaper than had been advertised on the signage.

I was fixing some Chipotle, Chicken & Avocado Soup for lunch and had thawed about three raw chicken strips. I fried the chicken in some bacon fat, and then shredded it all using about a third of it in the lunch soup. The rest I put in the small pot that I had used for the soup, with the white chili beans and other ingredients (dicing the various raw chili peppers). I’ve got the chili in the pot, on the stove-top, and cooking on low heat.

Even though I didn’t use a roasted chicken from Publix, the whole roasted chicken for about $8 from Publix is a great deal. The two drumsticks are each a good meal, and the breast meat from each side is another couple of meals, and what is left over is enough for 3 more portions… maybe for a chicken salad (with sweet bell peppers, onion, mayo and some diced celery), or a chicken salad with Romaine lettuce, Kalamata olives, Pepperoncini peppers & a dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, sweetener and dried Italian herbs. This is reminiscent of a Greek Salad, with which I currently have become enamored.