I had to make a change in meal plans today because of the rain. We were SUPPOSED to be having smoked pork ribs. Instead I decided to cook my ham today instead of tomorrow. But I didn't want to have the same sides today and tomorrow so I just made a few deviled eggs and opened a can of green beans and a can of sliced new potatoes. Make a simple cream sauce with a handful of cheese stirred in for the potatoes and we had a quite good meal for having to change our plans. Tomorrow we'll have ham again with a different selection of sides since it's supposed to rain again. Guess the ribs will just have to stay in the freezer until next week.

BTW, Fitzy asked about my dishes. They came from Wal-Mart a few years ago. Service for 4 for about $20. I loved them so I bought 2 sets. David HATES them. LOL! But I lived for years with his plain white with a blue rim. About 4 different sets all about the same. So he can live with my bright cheerful ones for a few years. :-)

On a gardening note. There won't be one this year. :-(You see the spot where that pile of wood is? THAT'S where the new garden was supposed to go. And it still looks like that so not likely to happen this year. Especially since it's rained every freakin weekend all winter/spring!And this is the old garden. It hasn't been planted in 2 years and the last time was just as my back was starting to give me problems so it was allowed to go to pot and hasn't been cleaned up since. So nothing going to get planted there this spring either.

And you know what? That's okay. I'll just spend this year getting the old garden cleaned out and set up for planting this fall. It's not as convenient to the house and means I'll have to use a 4wheeler to get back and forth as I'm not able to walk that far at a time. And it's on the other side of the creek that runs thru our property so it's harder for David to get to it to help me. But he's said if I'll get it laid out where he can get between the beds he'll just toss his wheelchair in the trailer and haul it over there behind his 4wheeler. So I will be setting this up in raised beds. Probably with cinder block sides so the planting area will be 32" wide by 12' long. I have room for 8 of those beds in my 40'X40' fenced in lot with 4 foot between each bed and 5 to 6 feet all the way around the outside. This will give David plenty of room to maneuver between the beds. And to answer another question asked by QuiltFitzy. (Who is probably the only reader of this blog. LOL!) I do have the Square Foot Gardening book by Mel Bartholomew. I have the original that I've had for years and recently purchased the updated version. I will be following his methods pretty much exactly with a few changes. Instead of filling my beds with only Mels Mix I'll also be blending in some good rich, black dirt I have a huge pile of on the back of the property next to the creek bank. When this lot was originally cleared about 20 years ago everything was pushed to the back of the property and burned. What didn't burn was left to rot. For the past 20 years. Which left a HUGE pile of the best dirt you could possible use for planting. I'll never in my lifetime be able to use it all. I've dug into it almost every year for the past 9 years and you can't even tell a shovelfull has been taken out of it. When I need dirt I just mow the end of the pile, run the tiller thru a small spot to loosen it up and dig out what I need.

So this will be my exercise program this year. Getting the garden cleaned out and ready to plant this fall. If I just do 20 to 30 minutes a day I should easily be able to get it done in plenty of time. I plan to post pictures of the whole process here so feel free to skip them if it bores you silly. :-)

Yes, QuiltingFitzy, I do still eat. LOL!

And to prove it here's a sampling of last weeks meals.
First up is baked fish with a side of sauteed onions/bell peppers/zucchini. For this all I do is saute the veggies in a bit of butter until about half-done. Melt a little butter in an ovenproof pan. Put fish fillets in pan turning to coat all sides with a bit of the butter. Salt and pepper to taste. Surround with the sauteed veggies and bake for about 10 minutes until fish is light and flaky. Any kind of fish will do. This happens to be catfish but I've used whiting, salmon, maui-maui, and flounder. Some are more "fishy" tasting than others but they're all good.

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifDORgEKV8fYOF7Dsoz6vF6LPcZw8wwACEG0wgq2SLTwli4Vs2FONp-p7mItw-38yuEfWxsFMBrBqj8oRARGdudKIQ0EqqONdsUJg2mhvHjaM9I1jNiS_xqiVoZHMtdgPelof1bk2B-8s/s1600-h/Apr07+011.jpg">Next we have broiled pork chops, corn and broccoli. No recipes here. Salt and pepper the chops and throw them under the broiler. Turn when about half done. Boil broccoli in a little water until tender. Drain and toss in a pat of butter. Open a can of corn. Drain. Heat in the microwave with a bit of tad of butter. Simple meal but yum, yum! (PS, best part about THIS meal. David cooked it. LOL!)

Now here we have one of my FAVORITE meals. Hamburger casserole aka "clean out the refrigerator casserole". Brown some hamburger. When almost done add chopped onions and bell peppers and let them cook in the drippings as the hamburger finished cooking. Drain well and return to skillet. Add a can of tomatoes, a can of mushrooms (unless you have fresh, then I toss them in along with the onions), a can of tomato sauce, some kind of vegetable (this time it was diced zucchini and a bit of broccoli and corn left from the night before), and a handful of raw macaroni. If you have another type of leftover pasta or rice you can use that, just don't add it until everything else is pretty much done. Oh and add whatever seasoning you like. I usually add a bit of dried italian seasoning. But if I have fresh basil and parsley I like to use them instead. OR if you want an mexican flavor to it you could add a bit cumin and cilantro. Let it simmer until the veggies and pasta are done. Add a handfull of grated cheese (and here's where you'd add the already cooked pasta or rice) and cook about 5 more minutes until the cheese is melted. I LOVE this stuff! And except for the pasta there's nothing in it that's not on my diet. So I've started cooking the pasta on the side and adding it to David's half after I've taken mine out of the pot. So what you're seeing here is actually David's plate, not mine. I do miss the pasta cause I like the texture it adds to the dish but it's still yummy without.

And that brings us to the final meal for this week. Pot roast with a side of green beans. Just a good chuck roast cooked with potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions. Salt and pepper everything, add a packet of onion soup mix and about a cup of water and bake at 350 for 2 to 3 hours depending on how big your roast is. Open a can of green beans and heat in the microwave with a bit of bacon grease. This is always good for at least 2 meals since there are only the 2 of us. And if it's a very big roast it will also yeild enough meat for a bit of stroganoff for another night. But no stroganoff recipe this time as this was a very small roast and barely made the first planned-over meal.

So, see. I do still eat. And will try to be better about blogging my meals more often. It really does help me stay on focus if I know I have to fess up to what I've been eating. And I've lost a total of 9 lbs and have lowered my AM blood sugar numbers by 20-30 points in the past couple weeks. I've started adding a bit of exercise. Not much but ANYTHING is better than I've had for the past couple years. I've been doing yard work for 20 to 30 minutes a day. Which reminds me I really do need to get off this computer and get out there in the fresh air and sunshine. :-) See you again tonight when I promise there will be content that doesn't focus on food.