#TeamLeahBean 2019 5K...Completed.

Every September I look forward to a Facebook invitation to participate in the #TeamLeahBean 5K Run for Rett Syndrome.  I usually just barely make it to sign up for the "event" and buy the tee shirt before the deadline closes...but I think I have done it every year.  I might have missed the first one.

Well, October ends today.  This year I decided to try early in the month to see what I was up against here in the hot humidity.  That first time just about killed me.  My feet took several days to recover.  The actual mileage that day was 3.4 miles since I did not know mileage here in the complex.

To do the "real" walk (I never run.  Besides actually killing me, it would be so scary for the people who saw me try to run...!) I knew I had to do a little training.  Many days this month I have gone out and have walked from half a mile up to a little over 2 miles.  (Dear One has a 4.5 bike ride he does every day.)  I started keeping track of the mileage for the various routes I would walk so I would be sure to walk enough on the given day.

Today I did my real 5K walk...3.2 miles.  It has been over an hour since I got back and I feel really good.  Also virtuous!  I am so grateful to make this tiny sacrifice to help find a cure for this syndrome.  Leah is an amazing girl.  It would be wonderful if science could find a solution. 

This is me, moments after completing the walk.  You can tell that I was pretty hot and tired.  You will be surprised to know that the shirt fits much better this year...not so much the sausage look as in years past. I will hope for even better next year.  Or even a smaller shirt!

More Gelli Printing, Shared This Time!

This Gelli printing is really getting addicting and in such a great way.  I have only been using red, yellow, blue, and occasionally white.  Maybe I will get some other colors soon.

When my sister was here we had a great time, even though short, doing Gelli printing.  We used inexpensive cold press watercolor paper as well as 65-pound and 110-pound card stock.  They all worked well.



This is a print that my sister did not like and left with me. I love it.  It is really so interesting how paper, a little acrylic paint, and a rubber brayer can make a print you can just love. 

This particular print was made on watercolor paper.

Deck Garden Progress

The summer has been good and bad for the deck container garden.  Right now things are looking pretty good, except for the tomatoes.  The zucchini bit the dust a couple weeks ago.  The tomato does not seem like it will produce fruit.

Am not sure if this video will work but...here is the current garden situation.

We have had lots of basil for pesto plus spearmint to put in lemonade.  Really so delicious that way.

So the question is: why are the plants so happy now?  We have just had a week with LOTS of rain, and still warm temperatures.  I think this proves that I was not watering them enough...

Interesting Project!

My sister and I had a wonderful time together. We filled every possible moment while she and her husband were visiting.  She had come with some projects on her mind to do.  One of them involved the sewing machine.

One of her grandsons turned one year old this week.  He had been sitting in a car seat with a pink cover.  She wanted him to have a more boyish cover.  So...we made that new cover!  It turned out!!

We worked together planning, measuring, measuring and planning again, then at least one more time.  Finally we cut.  There were so many things to think about...but look at that cover!  It was constructed in two pieces.  Notice that the anchors are all pointing in the same direction.  

This project was somewhat taxing for the sewing machine but we did it!  Just like Dora the Explorer...we DID it!!  So exciting, and when she got home she found that it worked perfectly.

Probably the smartest thing about this was the jersey fabric she got to cover the seat.  Woven fabric would have been a serious nightmare.

We are both really happy with how this turned out.  Having said that, we are NOT going into business to make these.  This was a once-in-a-lifetime project.  Thank you very much.

Munchie Monday: Instant Pot Pumpkin Cheesecake

My sister sent me a link to a "Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake" which, if you used real sugar, sounded like it was worth a try.  So, early morning on the day she and her husband were to arrive for a visit I leaped out of bed (more or less!) and made the cheesecake.

Since I have misplaced the address I will just tell you what I did.  It actually worked.  What is more, it calls for only a very little pumpkin which I thought was ridiculous, or at least, I thought one would need much more pumpkin for a pumpkin flavored cheesecake.  I was wrong!  It was perfect.

Instant Pot Pumpkin Cheesecake

Crust
1/2 cup coconut flour (the original recipe called for almond flour but we did not have any on hand)
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Cheesecake
12 ounces room temperature cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
6 Tablespoons canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I made my own with cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg at room temperature

In a small bowl whisk together the crust ingredients except the melted butter.  When nicely mixed, stir in the butter and press into the bottom of a 7" springform pan. I used Fat Daddio's Round Cheesecake pans.  No, I don't get a commission but this is what I used.  Set crust aside.

In a stand or other mixer bowl put all the filling ingredients except the egg and beat until completely combined.  Add egg and mix until smooth.  Pour on top of the crust in the cheesecake pan and spread all the way to the edges.

Now comes the most important part:  Take a large sheet of aluminum foil, place the pan of cheesecake-to-be on top and snugly bring the foil up the pan.  Take a double sheet of kitchen paper towel and fold over the top of the pan.  Don't let the towel touch the cheesecake batter.  Fold the foil over the top then take ANOTHER sheet of foil and place it over the top of the pan and fold down firmly over the sides.  The idea is to have the pan completely covered so it is protected from water and steam.

Place the rack that came with your Instant Pot in the bottom of the inner liner bowl, put in the correct amount of water for your Instant Pot (1 -1 1/2 cups water) then carefully place your foil-wrapped pan on the rack.  Set the pot to cook on HIGH for 35 minutes.  When done LET RELEASE  COMPLETELY by natural release.  Carefully lift out the cheesecake pan, unwrap it, admire it, then let it sit on your counter until room temperature.  At this point it needs to be refrigerated for 4-6 hours or overnight.

Pumpkin Cheesecake still in Fat Daddio's cheesecake pan, but ready to eat!

When you dig in, you will enjoy it.

You can pour caramel sauce over the top if you either had some in your cupboard OR you successfully made some of your own.  You could also make whipped cream with cinnamon and pipe onto the top.  We did neither of these.  We just ate it naked.  It was fine.

NOTE:  I used our 8-quart Instant Pot.  Instead of using the trivet in the bottom of the pan I put the steamer basket in the Pot liner bowl and placed the cheesecake pan inside that.  In my IP, it worked.  It would not have worked in a 6-quart Instant Pot to do it that way.  It will be a little tricky to get the pan out...

Food Friday: Quick and Easy (?) Caramel Sauce

My sister and her husband are coming to visit this weekend.  I am so excited!  I made an Instant Pot Pumpkin Cheesecake early this morning. It is chilling in the refrigerator and it looks like it might be good.

Yesterday I saw a "quick and easy caramel sauce" that used the microwave and sweetened condensed milk so, as I had two cans of different brands of sweetened condensed milk to try for something or other, I decided to use one of them.

The video online said to put the sweetened condensed milk in a jar and cook for five minutes in the microwave. I thought I would avoid having it boil up and spew out over the top so I only had the jar half full.  This is the results:

The jar is virtually, empty with milk around the outside and with the turntable completely covered, as was under the turntable.  So I washed out the microwave.  My sister is coming, after all, and I do want the place to look nice.  The microwave was already in pretty good shape since Dear One keeps up with it.  Now it has been thoroughly cleaned.

It was a mystery to me why this happened so I looked at the can.  It was actually Condensed Milk Creamer, not Condensed Milk.  It was made with skim milk, sugar, palm oil, and other ingredients.  No wonder it was a disaster. It was not even a real thing!

So I tried again with the second can.  Which really was Sweetened Condensed Milk with only milk and sugar in it.  I had high hopes.  I also put this batch in a quart jar, just in case.

When it had been cooking for a little over four minutes I heard a snapping, crackling sound and rushed over to see what was up.

This is what was up:

Oh, no!  And no wonder the first batch flew up over the top of the pint jar it was in if this batch got up to the top of a quart jar.

Just in case it was not really spoiled/burned to a crisp, I scraped it out of the jar into a bowl.  It is a nasty mess, but it does not taste burned.  (Once I went to a potluck lunch when I was working at Dartmouth College.  Someone had brought a flan with the caramelized sugar really burned.  It was so sad because the flan was delicious until you took that first spoonful and tasted the burned sugar.)

So, I have learned a few things. Maybe.

1.  READ THE LABELS!!!  REALLY READ THE LABELS.  Success is much more likely if you start with the ingredients you are expecting.

2.  Don't trust what you see on the internet.  Especially if it is a short (30-second!) video with only a little text giving you the crux of the matter.  That crux is not really all you need to know.

3.  Don't imagine because one person's microwave takes five minutes to turn Sweetened Condensed Milk into creamy caramel sauce that your microwave will take the same amount of time.  If I had had a little more time I would have purchased yet a third can of the Eagle Brand this time and tried again. 

Instead of caramel sauce, I guess we will have whipped cream on the pumpkin cheesecake.  Unless I have some actually caramel sauce hidden in the cupboard...

Successful (Inside) Garden

Not too long ago I was watching a free video (all of them are free, actually) on Nutritionfacts.org.  In this video Dr. Greger was talking about broccoli.  He shared the science about how valuable broccoli is to our health.  He went on to show that though broccoli is important, broccoli sprouts are many many times more protective.

I am somewhat a sucker for the science. The possibility that something that is pretty easy to do and not terribly costly and is very health-promoting makes me want to take steps to enjoy that produce.

So, I found online the sprouting screens for wide-mouth canning jars.  We ordered a pound of organic broccoli seeds.  We started growing broccoli sprouts.  We are now using them in salads every day.  I think Dr. Greger just eats straight broccoli sprouts as his salad but we mix them into a green salad.  Probably with vinegar of some nature on them...!

This is what our indoor garden looks like today.

What we do:

 I "plant" 1 1/2 Tablespoons broccoli seeds in a wide-mouth quart canning jar every Thursday night and every Sunday night.  I add a couple of inches of water to the jars at night so the seeds will soak well then next morning I let the water all drain out of the jar through the screen in the cover.  I set the jars up so they can keep draining.  I rinse the seeds twice a day.

 The jar on the left has been harvested twice...i.e. I have pulled out sprouts for two different salads.

Tastes fine.  The possibility that this will help our arthritic joints and other chronic problems brought on by inflammation makes it an easy gardening project to do.  Also the most successful!