Wintertime is officially upon us! Turn back your clocks and you’ve lost an hour.
I woke up this morning at the usual time, according to my iPhone, and slowly moved downstairs to prepare my daily full caffeine cup of coffee. Yes, I only have one fully caffeine-loaded cup of coffee a day. The rest of the coffee I drink is decaf coffee.
3 years ago, I would have smirked and rolled my eyes at the thought of decaf coffee, but after my heart failure three years ago I know the full effect of caffeine on my system.
Decaf coffee has come a long way in recent years, and the flavor is actually pretty good. Many brands carry some form of decaf coffee, but not many are great. My absolute favorite is JD (Just Decaf) from my brothers over at Black Rifle Coffee.
Anyway, I have started to enjoy a full kick of caffeine every morning as I wake up the kids for school. When you don’t get full-flavored caffeine coffee often, you suddenly appreciate it a hell of a lot more. Again, my favorite coffee brand is Black Rifle Coffee.
A curious ear
A couple of weeks ago, I visited my doctor for my annual check-up. Well, she wants to see me twice a year, to monitor my blood levels, especially sugar and cholesterol numbers.
During the visit, while listening to my breathing, she suddenly exclaimed “what is that thing on your ear?”
I honestly answered that I had no clue what she is referring to and it’s not like I can look on the backside of my ear without being some oddly shaped contortionist. Anyway, she wanted me to visit a dermatologist – just in case.
The dermatologist sliced a small piece off the ear and sent it for biopsy. Sure enough, it came back as skin cancer.
Great! My heart failure didn’t kill, and I made a full recovery. My cholesterol was dangerously high, but with the right diet and exercise I brought it down. My doctor threatened me with diabetes 2 as well, but my diet eliminated that threat too and dropped my numbers to normal levels. So, now my doctor wants me to attempt recovering from skin cancer!
Bring it on bitches! I’m ready to beat this shit too. In fairness, it is a mild version of skin cancer that is 100% recoverable. It does not grow or spread, and the dermatologist “just” wants to remove the infected area.
Still, it is cancer. I hate that word and virus. My father was taken by cancer in 2010, after a number of years of fighting it off. It scares me to think that I have cancer, but also confident that this will be a short-lived battle and cancer will perish. It’s all about a positive mental attitude.
More to come on my cancerous ear adventutre. Let’s move on from this depressing topic and talk about food instead.
Mini Viking’s favorites on the menu
My youngest Viking Berserker offspring took a surprising interest inmthe meal plan yesterday. S he asked if she could help, and had suddenly completed the entire week’s plan.
The only catch is, she wrote down all her favorite dishes. I was almost emotional but fought back the proud tear
For the past year, I have attempted to get my family involved in selecting what to eat, and my wish has been to get the kids to help cooking too.
I fear that they will leave the safety of dad’s kitchen one day, and not know how to boil an egg or cook a simple meal. It baffles me that schools have dropped home economics from the curriculum, as it is a basic skill to be able to cook.
My mum forced my sister and me to cook once in a while, teaching us responsibilities and essential skills in the kitchen. It was not viewed as women-only duty and had nothing to do with degrading women – just learn to cook!
She selected lunch and dinner options. It was awesome to see, and next, we’ll work on putting together the shopping list based on what she put on the menu.
Fire up the Traeger. Ready your Dutch oven. Go shopping, and let’s start cooking—another Sunday in the Kitchen with music on the magical Demerbox and wonderful aromas filling the room.
| Weekday | Snacks n’ Breakfasts | Lunch | Dinner |
| Monday | Grapes | Homemade pizza with spinach, tomato, and mozzarella | Lemon chicken with boiled BAsmati rice |
| Tuesday | Fruit Cups | Caesar salad with grilled chicken | Grilled chicken with mashed potatoes, grilled onions, and celery |
| Wednesday | Veggie sticks | Teriyaki fried noodles, with red pepper, ginger, and cucumber | Grilled salmon with asparagus and egg noodles pasta |
| Thursday | Veteran’s Day – no school | Smoked tomato soup with artisan baked country bread | |
| Friday | Milk chocolate sliders | Tuna salad sandwich, with lettuce and tomato slices | Pizza night – homemade personalized pizza feast |
One day, I might get so organized that I will link the meals below to my recipes. We can only live in hope!
Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is so much easier to make food in advance, although you need to invest several hours during the weekend to prepare the meals.
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