Butternut Squash Soup

Last week when I was at the grocery store, I was drawn to the squash section. It showed the beginning signs of fall. The cool weather to come, the shorter days, and the coming of all things pumpkin. Starbucks has already jumped on the pumpkin train for the fall. For me however, the butternut squash was inspiring me. So I got one and it has sat in the fridge taunting me until yesterday when I got the umpft to get back into the kitchen. It was raining here and kind of gloomy so soup just seemed like the perfect idea. Went to my trusted allrecipes.com and looked at the top rated recipes they had to offer and many many reviews of what people had thought and done to change the recipe. Finally, I settled on the ingredients I was happy with. Here is the preview to how it turned out:

 

First, I started by roasting the butternut squash in the oven at 400° for an hour. I stabbed it a few times all over like you do to a potato and placed it on a baking sheet whole. Some people said half it but it's not necessary.  After an hour push a fork into it, if it goes smooth like butter, it's perfect! This picture isn't great but I wanted to show you that the skin just peels right off. Go ahead and peel it off and/or scoop out the meat. Discard the seeds and pulp.

  

Look how delicious and juicy it is! It should just scoop right out easily with a normal spoon.

Peel both an apple or 2 and a potato. The potato is going to give a creamy texture that allows you to use less cream cheese and lower the fat content. The apple is just to taste fabulous. Then chop them all up. Doesn't have to be perfect cubes, it's all going to get blended in the end.



Meanwhile, in a large stockpot, add 2 tbs of butter with the chopped medium onion and garlic. Cook on medium heat until the onion is translucent. It takes about 10 minutes. Then at the chicken stock and seasonings. If you want to make this a vegetarian dish you could use vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and dump in the squash, potato, and apples. You can stop there with the veggies and get a delicious soup but I wanted to add some more veggies that were going bad in the fridge so we added a carrot and about a cup of mushrooms.

Here is me geeking out in the kitchen. Got my new leg on!



Let that simmer, uncovered for about 30 minutes. Then it gets a little tricky. Put it in the blender or food processor with a stick of cream cheese. Use more cheese if you prefer. Then dump it back into the original pot. Put the heat on low and taste! Mine needed a little somethin' somethin' to round out the flavor and make it more complex. If it's just ehhh okay then chances are pretty high you won't want a whole bowl of it, let alone a second helping. So for me, I used a little trick I keep in my back pocket, I added about 2 tablespoons of sherry wine. This stuff is just for cooking because it is very potent! Taste and adjust as needed. Mine also needed more salt but I love salt. S doesn't like bacon (I know, it's really a crime, but what are you going to do?) so I didn't do this, but bacon would be good crumbled on top. If you like more of a sweet soup you could add some cinnamon and brown sugar. In an attempt to make the picture pretty we added "a dollop of Daisy" sour cream but it just sank into the soup...haha, oops. But it did taste really good.

We had a salad as our side and a nice crusty bread like a fresh French baguette.it.  We also had a nice dry white wine which cut the richness of the soup better than a red. After eating it S and I thought that it made a pretty good seafood bisque substitute. It is quite a but healthier than bisque (who needs all that heavy cream?) and would taste great with lobster, craw-fish, crab, or shrimp added in at the end. Who knew?!

Feels good to be back.

Butternut Squash Recipe:

1 med butternut squash

1 potato

1-2 apples (I used granny smith)

1 med onion chopped

2-3 garlic cloves minced

32 Oz. Chicken stock (1 boxed chicken stock)

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp nutmeg

(I did not, but some people said cayenne pepper added was a good twist)

1 8oz pkg cream cheese

2 tbs sherry wine



I have returned!

Hello there friends! I know it's been a while... ok let's be honest, it's been basically forever since I've posted. Well dry those tears and let's get back in the kitchen!

As many of you know, I under went massive surgery and that is why I have been gone. After the difficult decision to have an amputation of my right leg, I am so happy to inform you that I am back on my feet... or foot and a new foot replacement. Also, after much training, sweat, and tears I can walk without assistance! That is what allows me to get back in the kitchen. So let's get to it!

Today, S and I were deciding what to have for lunch. We settled on a salad (trying to thin down the waistline) and a grilled cheese (so much for the waistline idea...). so here we are making a nice salad with spinach, kale, spring mix, cucumber, and avocado and decide to have some ranch dressing on it (ok the waistline is really not going to get smaller this way but I'm over it). We put the buttermilk in and the mayo in and... awesome. We have NO ranch packets! What is that quote?... "necessity is the mother of invention" by Plato. So, we prevailed by making our own ranch seasoning mix. Hidden Valley has been found! We combined a few recipes to create our own out of the seasonings we already had in the cupboard. It turned out pretty tasty! Even a little tangy which was delicious with the avocado. All of you who are recently married and have gotten those huge collections of spices in a spice rack, this is a perfect way to use it. You're welcome for making ranch available at anytime:

Dinkens' Ranch Mix
Makes about 1cup
1/2 c minced dried parsley flakes
2 tbs dried minced onion
1/2 tbs dried dill weed
1 tbs onion salt
1 tbs garlic salt
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp celery salt
2 tbs dried chives
Pepper to taste

Add 1 tbs of the ranch mix with 1 c mayo and 1 c buttermilk for ranch dressing!
Side note, I happen to like the chunkyish texture with the minced onion and chives but if you don't, blending the ingredients in a coffee grinder will give you a fine powdery texture. Here is the finished product in a jar... I now have ranch for 16 more times! Woohoo! I also notice that these little jars of ranch look like a great Christmas gift!! This recipe will also be added to my allrecipes.com profile!

Ginger Today

Well, I said that I would try to go in order telling you what has happened to me in my short 25 years of life. However, the last 10 years has been literally full of ups and downs. Even after cancer, my life has never gone back to normal. If anything, it has been at a constant state of hard for these long 10 years. 

I live in a daily state of pain that most would find debilitating if a "Freaky Friday" sort of occurrence would happen with a normal person and myself. Being that I live with this pain all the time, I have learned to deal and try to function normally. What is normal though?

In addition to the pain, the muscles in my leg do not work correctly. Mostly because I tore the Quad from the tendon and it was 2 years before doctors realized it as well as muscle that has started to turn into bone due to all the trauma it has sustained.  My bad leg pretty much only allows me to walk. I can not run, climb up or down stairs, ride a bike, wear any shoe that is not flat and stay on my foot easily (i.e. no flip flops or high heels) and pretty much anything other than walking in a straight line. I still have great difficulty lifting my leg and cannot straighten it out using only my muscles (like kicking). 

Finally in the knee department, the knee replacement is in a state of chronic infection. I have had multiple surgeries to try and get rid of it but the pesky thing just won't go away! (As if it were my only problem hahaha!)

Other than my leg problems I am in chronic kidney disease of stage 3 and have had an episode of acute kidney failure. I suffer from chronic anemia and hypertension.

Why am I telling you all of this? I assure you it is not to make you feel sorry for me or pity me. I have been doing this for 10 years and feel I have overcome many difficult obstacles despite my health problems. In an attempt to continue to live my life I went to school and got an Associates, Bachelors, and Masters degrees. I have worked jobs on and off while going to school but am severely limited in types of jobs I am able to take because of the stamina of my leg and functioning abilities. I have amazing friends and my family is the best I could have ever asked for. I feel that because of everything my family has gone through with my health problems, we are closer than any other family I have ever met. I honestly think if my mother had the funds to do so, she would by a huge chunk of land and build a compound of houses on it for each of us to live together forever. And honestly, that would be ok with me. Like I said, we are really really close. 

I've gotten off topic again. With the recent acute kidney failure I went through, I had to go off all of my antibiotics that fight the chronic infection in my knee and as you probably guessed, the infection got worse. I had another surgery to try and clean it out, yet again, and am taking IV antibiotics from home. But like before, it didn't work. If anything, it's made the pain worse lately. So much so I have been using a cane and wheelchair when I go out o the house. I was given 3 options to proceed: having a new knee replacement put in, an above the knee amputation, or a rotationplasty. This suddenly became one of the hardest decisions to make.... ever! I had never even heard of a rotationplasty. This is what has been going on in my life that has made me aloof and posting a lot less. 

Turns out, that it is a rare and extremely complex surgery in which they take the knee out and rotate (hence the rotation in the name) the foot backwards and put in onto your femur so that your ankle becomes your knee joint. It is really hard to picture so the best I can offer you is this informational video from the Mayo Clinic that helped me: Rotationplasty.

I talked to tons of people and did tons of research and finally decided to have the rotationplasty. You see, for the past 10 years I have neither been able to identify with those classified as healthy and able, nor have I been considered disabled or sick. I have been lost in this in between all alone. I can not function like the healthy and capable but a knee replacement is not seen in the eyes of most people as a disability. I can not tell you how many times I have been told "My grandma (or whoever) had a knee replacement and they can do everything they want. Have you tried physical therapy?" Don't you think I would have tried ANYTHING? People can be so weird. Anyway, once I decided that I expected it to take a long time to get everything finalized and dates chosen. I was getting antsy and wishing it would just hurry up and happen. Oops... sometimes you get what you ask for! 

Because of the infection, it is necessary to remove the artificial knee and put in a spacer that has tons of antibiotics on it and let is basically seep and kill and make the inside of my leg the most sanitary place in my body. That spacer is being put in Feb 27th and will stay in there for 8 weeks. While it is there I will not be able to walk on it so I will become a master in the art of crutches as well as not be able to bend the knee. After that 8 weeks I will drive to Tampa, FL at Moffitt Cancer Center and have the rotationplasty by one of the best doctors in the world. (I might be putting in my own bias about the doctor but only a little, he really is very innovative and world renowned). I will then proceed to stay in Florida for 3-4 months to make sure everything goes well and attaches correctly and you know... works. Hahaha. 

Well, the cat is out of the bag now. Everyone knows I will soon be an amputee. Very scary thought. Also exciting about all the things I will be able to do. But terrifying! Also, something I didn't expect, I'm even terrified of hitting the publish button on this post. Putting it out there for everyone to know and judge me for. Here goes everything....

Shredded Italian Beef

Ok everyone! Who is ready for the Super Bowl?! Pretty much all of the US is getting ready for big parties to watch the most watched programing of the year! Whether you watch the game, the commercials, or the half time show, everyone enjoys the food at the parties. Make your party a hit or be the hit at someone else's party by making this delicious meat to make sandwiches! It's called Italian beef around our house so that's what I'll still call it!

Start with about 8 lbs. of chuck roast and trim all the fat around the outsides like so: 

Then place the meat in the crock pot and cover with water. 

Then add the spices and turn on high for a couple hours, then low until meat falls apart. 

When the meat is done you will take the pieces out and use 2 forks to shred like this and remove the fat: 

The beef Should then look like this: 

Put it into a container that will also hold some of the juices left in the crock pot. They are so flavorful and when soaked up in the bread it is just delicious. 

Then enjoy! Put it on a small roll and enjoy! It's also a great dish for pot lucks or just when it's cold out side. If there are left overs, just pop them in the freezer until you want them again. 

As with most things, I like to enjoy my sandwich with a nice glass of red wine! As for the game... Go Ravens! A former room mate of mine and close friend was a huge fan. We lost her last year to the fight of colon caner at only 23 years old. Miss you Erinn!

History of Ginger- (3)

A lot of craziness has been going on in this funny little life of mine. I don't quite want to go out of order and explain what's going on right now without you knowing why it's happening.

So, I left off with 12 more rounds of chemo to happen.

I began 2 new types of chemo: Methotrexate and Cyclophosphamide.
I geared up and dove head first back into the world of chome and hospitals and sickness. As I said before, the first 4 rounds really weren't too bad. I could handle it. It had a system and a schedule and I was well half the time. I really felt like I couldn't complain too much.

Well, when I started the new drugs, I could start complaining. Things went from "you have cancer" to "you don't have cancer anymore but we are making sure there isn't anything left" but chemo doesn't just effect the cancer. It is poison to the whole body. During all this time I'm sick as a dog, have terrible mouth sores, no more white blood cells so I wasn't allowed to go to school or in public very much, on crutches or in therapy, and have the stamina of a narcoleptic.

My kidneys started failing. They were pretty beat up by the first drugs but the second set really threw them over the edge. My nephrologist (kidney doctor) changed up the Cyclophosphamide to Iphosfamide to help save them. I currently live in a state of stage 4 kidney disease and this past August I had a spout of acute kidney failure. (That means they fail but come back. Just an episode... don't worry, no dialysis or anything came from that)

I was not allowed to walk on my new knee for 3 months to allow the bone to grow around the metal to keep it stable. I was supposed to be doing physical therapy every day to help build the muscle but when you are that sick, getting out of bed to work out just doesn't seem like a good idea! I could kick myself now for not doing it because maybe things would be different now and maybe my knee would have worked for the last ten years. Fact of the matter is though, that I didn't do any of that.  And as any good teenage girl is, I was stubborn. If you told me to do something that made me not want to do it. I think it was more of a control thing. I had no control over any part of my life at that point but boy could I say no to doing therapy! young girls, if you read this.... it doesn't help anyone. And you get mad at yourself years later that you were so dumb. Get over it and do whatever you are supposed to be doing.

Woops! Stepping off the soap box. Got a little carried away there. Where was I? Oh yes, how horrible my life was! By June I was starting to have to push back chemo dates because my blood counts would not get high enough in time. You see, before you can have poison injected into you, you must have enough blood to stay alive. I had transfusions pretty much every other week. Basically, you go sit in a room in the clinic and watch a movie with 19873502 blankets on while you get the ice cold blood transfused. I will say, you feel great after having one! But man is it cold! And the cold is in your blood stream so its a cold you can't escape from. Weird feeling. I'm full of other people's blood! One time, there wasn't enough blood in the bank to give me so I had to be admitted to the hospital to make sure I didn't get sick or anything and they would try to get more blood for me. Little tip- if you have you family and friends go donate blood, you don't get that blood. Really, it doesn't matter if they do or don't because it doesn't move you higher on the list either! You still get no blood! And I am a universal donor type of blood, not universal receiver so they are always short on my type of blood. Whew, I sound like a Cullen with all this blood talk.

Anyway, if you don't have good blood counts they can't give you the chemo. It was taking me longer and longer to get to those levels. First, it was just a couple of days, then it started to become weeks. With the first types of chemo I had 2 weeks of being healthy every time before I had to go back and get poisoned. The big thing to remember is, when you aren't getting you levels up, as soon as you do and are able to get more chemo, you go. You don't get any healthy buffer time. That's when you start wearing down mentally.

As you can imagine I was just drained. Mind, body, and now spirit. I started to feel like I was loosing the will to fight. It was so hard to make myself eat or go to therapy or just try to get well. I started thinking, "I can't do this anymore." Once you start thinking that, you can't stop. It just gets harder. I never said it out loud with any authority. I would jokingly say things like "I'm so over this" or "I cannn't dooooo thiiiiis" but no one took me seriously. In my house, what the doctor says is golden. My dad is a doctor and my mom a nurse and we trusted our doctors with my life (literally HAHAHA) so if he said 12 rounds and I was on 7, I had 5 more to go and that was that.

We got to Houston for my 8th round, 2 weeks later than was planned because I had been sick. As my nurse started to access my port (basically it is an IV that it permanent around the area of your collar bone and they can access it with a long needle so you don't have to have IV's in your arm all the time) I started making my half joking-half serious comments about not wanting to do this anymore expecting one of the many responses I got at home: a roll of the eyes, an overly excited "only 4 more after this!",  a large sigh and a stern "Devon", a "I know, but you have to,"or my favorite: and angry "Do you want to die?"

 To my surprise, my nurse actually took me seriously!

Magic Mountain

Magic mountain? Yes you heard right. This is the name of a weird but tasty funky dish. Be warned, it is carb-tastic. This is a dish that my parents used to make when they were first married because it was easy, cheap, and filling. They had it at a restaurant that may or may not exist still in Iowa, I have no idea. (personally I think it was a munchie attack snack for those who were toking up! I mean come one... look at the name! AND the ingredients! Regardless... still a fun and tasty dish)

You only need a few ingredients: 

1 bag of french fries (whatever kind you like)
1 box of Texas toast
1 lb of ground beef
1 block of Velveeta
Milk
Worcestershire sauce
Onion salt

Bake the toast and the french fries according to the packages. 
Brown the beef and season with the sauce and salt to the taste you like. It should be pretty flavorful. 
Melt the cheese in a saucepan with milk to make it more of a sauce to drizzle over the top. 

Finally, just assemble!
Toast, then meat, then french fries, then cheese.... EAT! 
Quite a tasty and quick dinner but you WILL need a side of vegetables! Peas, salad, Brussels sprouts, whatever floats your boat! 

In other news, posts will be slowing down and possibly stopping for a while as I will be undergoing 2 major surgeries over the next 6 months. I will try to at least make a post once a week and keep everyone updated on everything via the Facebook page.

Reuben The Delicious

The Reuben sandwich is one of my personal favorites. I think it stems from my love of Sauerkraut and all things vinegary or pickley. Don't fret if you have never had Sauerkraut or if you are nervous about trying it. I'll explain it more later in the post. If you are unfamiliar with the sandwich, it is pastrami or corned beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and dressing grilled on rye bread. 

As with many great foods, sandwiches seems even more so, the origin is a little iffy. About 3-4 different places claim that they invented the Reuben sandwich so we really don't know exactly where it came from. We do know it was created sometime in the 1920's though. 

About any deli can make this for you and probably keeps it on the menu just like they would a club sandwich. You can change it up too. Some people make fish (grouper in particular), roast turkey, or pastrami instead of the roast beef. Bread can be changed, cheese, dressing. I have even heard of people nixing the Sauerkraut! Ridiculous as it sounds, I know, they put Cole slaw instead! I have yet to try that variation.

I use Pastrami because I like the strong flavor and lean cut. Swiss cheese because it's one of my favorites. Well that's not really fair to say because all cheese is my favorite cheese. Hahaha. 

So fist butter one side of a slice of Rye bread and put it in a skillet on medium high heat. (if you have a George Foreman or pastrami maker you can just make the sandwich and grill it that way but I don't have one so I'm going to do it in the skillet) Basically think of it like making a grilled cheese with extra stuff on it. Add a slice of cheese to let it melt while the bread is also toasting in the pan. 

I like to have a separate pan going as well and heat up the Sauerkraut in it so it's nice and warm. I think it helps bring out the flavor as well.

Curious about Sauerkraut? Well it literally translates to mean "sour cabbage" and is a type of canned cabbage. It does have a distinct and sour flavor so if you like pickles and other veggies that have been pickled, you will most undoubtedly like this too. It actually has a good amount of vitamin C in it. If you do not eat acidic food often though, do not over do it because it could upset your stomach with the high acidity and low pH. It has also been suggested to have cancer fighting compounds but who really knows what fights cancer. Before we had frozen foods Sauerkraut was widely used in Russia and other countries as a winter food that had good vitamin and mineral content. I know, most people associate it with Germany but it was first made 2,000 years ago in China(well, something very close to what we eat now, not exactly the same) and is most widely used now in Russia, France, and the United States.

Add as much pastrami, corned beef, turkey, or whatever meat you are using that you want to eat now and top with warm Sauerkraut.I don't pile mine high with meat but a lot of restaurants do!

Spread some Thousand Island dressing on one side of the other piece of bread and the other with butter and place it dressing side down onto the sandwich. Flip the sandwich and let the other piece of bread brown and crisp up. Take off the heat, slice, and serve! It was very tasty and as could be expected of me, I had a side of more Sauerkraut Hahaha!