5th Retirement Anniversary - Food

One of the advantages of writing a personal retirement blog is the ability to look back on posts and reflect on the paths I have chosen that led me to where I am now and where I'd like to be in the next five years.  I am happy that I organized this blog in a way that allows me and the reader to see my goals' progress in the top ten categories of relevance to me.  Many of my posts cross into more than one category or "Label."  It is a good time for me  to look back from the first post in each category or "Label" and summarize the highlights to see the level of progress made in my first five years of retirement.  I can more clearly see a path ahead and adjust or make new goals.

I will write ten posts on this 5th Retirement Anniversary addressing each category or "Label." I can also see the stats and which posts have had the most public views.  At this time, my blog had 22,400 views.  That's about 100 views per week in 18 different countries around the world!  It is very rewarding to know that there is interest in what I have to say.  By helping myself I must be helping others with similar interests.  It is an incentive to continue.

Here are my brief summaries of the first five years of retirement and goal adjustments I want to make at this time.  If you want more information on a subject, please scroll down on the right side of the main page and click on the first months in 2011 where you will see where I'm coming from.      
My journey continues....

Food

Not much change in the subject of food.  It still remains a challenge for me and I won't repeat what I covered very thoroughly in the first post August 2011.  Please go back and read that post if you want to understand more about this issue.  It has been a rocky road (ummm...rocky road!) but I can say that today I am in a very good place.  My most recent diabetes medication, Trulicity, seems to be working well with very positive blood sugar numbers.  It does decrease appetite.  I need to stimulate all my senses to work up an appetite and make the right food choices every time.  It is a lot of work and sometimes wears me down.  When it does and I make the wrong choices, I suffer.  Again, keeping things simple works best most of the time.  Eating out where there are mostly wrong choices tempting me is still a challenge.  I have to weigh whether or not it is worth the extra work I must do to counter the not-so-good choices available.  It is hard to resist sweets and baked goods when they are readily available and look so good!  It does take a toll on my socializing when food is the main reason to get together.  

I am grateful that diabetes medications have improved so that once a week injection is available.  I'm on my third brand and hoping it will be the one to stay a long time.  With a chronic progressive disease that has no cure, one can only do the best you can and hope for as many wonderful, active years ahead to enjoy life.  My biggest challenge is not letting food rule my whole life but find a happy place where I can be properly nourished and maybe enjoy the choices I make.  I have had to learn to not spend as much time considering what other people want to eat when I have to be the one who cooks or attend a social meal.  My self-discipline is weak at times.  It is easier to let people fix their own meals or pay for my own when socializing so I am not tempted to having what others are having and make better choices for myself.  Food is more complicated than fun.

I will continue to post some of the recipes I find pleasure in fixing and eating.  I will continue to enjoy food shows on TV where I can see pleasures in preparing and eating foods but is not available to me.  I did get a beautiful new stove this year and am inspired to try cooking more.  I did have fun cooking a big Thanksgiving Dinner just for me and Keith with all our favorite fixings!  It is six days later as I write this and all the leftovers are finally gone.  I did limit my portions and the meds did their job.  So maybe I am progressing to the point of knowing what to eat and how much on special occasions.  Time will tell as will my next checkup.  I am hopeful that in the next five years, I will stay motivated to stay on track and make the right food choices enough of the time to stay in a healthy range.  I would love to find and share recipes that are good for everybody!

Community and Friends

Outdoor Activities

Family Time and Genealogy

Personal and Spiritual Growth

Entertainment

Health Issues and Exercise

Home and Landscape

Real Estate Issues

Financial Planning

Hoppin' John for New Year's Day

"Eat poor that day, eat rich the rest of the year. Rice for riches and peas for peace."
Southern saying on eating a dish of Hoppin' John on New Year's Day.
 
We have had Hoppin' John  every New Year's Day since we moved to Missouri in 1978.  We have prospered in Missouri and have no regrets.  Some say I'm just full of beans.  Well, it takes a special kind of bean, I say!

"History of Hoppin John: Hoppin' John is found in most states of the South, but it is mainly associated with the Carolinas. Gullah or Low Country cuisine reflects the cooking of the Carolinas, especially the Sea islands (a cluster of islands stretching along the coats of south Carolina and northern Georgia). Black-eyed peas, also called cow peas, are thought to have been introduced to America by African slaves who worked the rice plantations. Hoppin' John is a rich bean dish made of black-eyed peas simmered with spicy sausages, ham hocks, or fat pork, and rice.

There are many variations to traditional Hoppin' John. Some cook the black-eyed peas and rice in one pot, while others insist on simmering them separately. Some also like to add the collard greens in the pot. The favorite way to eat a Hoppin’ John meal is with collard greens and corn bread. Each item on the plate has symbolic meaning for the New Year. Black-eyed Peas represent “coins,” collard greens represent money or “green backs”, corn bread represents “gold,” and if tomatoes are added to Hoppin’ John it symbolizes "health".

It was the custom for children to gather in the dining room as the dish was brought forth and hop around the table before sitting down to eat.

A man named John came "a-hoppin" when his wife took the dish from the stove.

An obscure South Carolina custom was inviting a guest to eat by saying, "Hop in, John"

The dish goes back at least as far as 1841, when, according to tradition, it was hawked in the streets of Charleston, South Carolina by a crippled black man who was know as Hoppin' John.

Southern Superstitions about Hoppin' John:

This African-American dish is traditionally a high point of New Year's Day, when a shiny dime is often buried among the black-eyed peas before serving.

Whoever gets the coin in his or her portion is assured good luck throughout the year. For maximum good luck in the new year, the first thing that should be eaten on New year's Day is Hoppin' John. At the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, many southern families toast each other with Champagne and a bowl of Hoppin' John. If it is served with collard greens you might, or might not, get rich during the coming year.

If you eat leftover Hoppin' John the day after New Year's Day, then the name changes to Skippin' Jenny since one is demonstrating their determination of frugality. Eating a bowl of Skippin' Jenny is believed to even better your chances for a prosperous New Year!" 

Source: Beyond Black-Eyed Pease: New Year's good-luck foods, by Mick Bann, Dec. 26,2008, Austin Chonicle.

"There is also another tradition in some parts of the South that you should count the number of peas in your serving to predict the amount of luck or wealth you will have for the coming year. If you leave three (3) peas on your plate when you are finished eating, then you New Year ahead will be filled with luck, good fortune, and romance."
Source: Wikipedia - Hoppin' John.


For 2016, I believe I have made the best dish so far and want to share my recipe:

Beti's Hoppin' John

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked black-eyed peas

2 cups cooked rice

2 cups broth, approximately

1 red onion, chopped

1 pound bacon, cut into small pieces

1 pound sausage

hot sauce and red pepper flakes, to taste

1. Cook the bacon pieces until crisp, remove from pan onto paper towels to drain fat.  Leave most fat in pan.

2.  Cook sausage in the bacon fat until brown, then add chopped onion.  Cover and cook on low without stirring for 10 minutes.  

3.  Completely drain away all fat.  Keep sausage and onion in pan.

4.  Add rice and black-eyed peas; thoroughly mix.

5.  Add broth to desired consistency.  Season with hot sauce and red pepper flakes.  Simmer for 30 minutes.

6.  Stir in bacon pieces just before serving.

Traditionally served with cornbread and cooked greens.  The type of ingredients and sides may vary.  Here are what I have found to be the best:

Black-eyed peas from cans, drained and rinsed.

Wild, black rice and Spanish rice; half and half mix.

Broth is from a smoked turkey we cooked at Christmas.

Bacon is low-sodium.

Sausage is Jimmy Dean's Natural.

Sides are whatever I have leftover and bread is whatever is on hand or I will make some fresh cornbread.  That is part of the frugality.  This dish is good using any version of the main ingredients of rice, black-eyed peas, and pork which most southerners always have on hand. How you put it together makes it your own.  Just like your prosperity...it is what you make it.

Enjoy and have a prosperous New Year!

Beti's Borscht

This has been one of the good seasons for gardening as there has been ample rain!  With the additional produce comes opportunities to try new recipes.  We like beets.  They keep a long time in the refrigerator uncooked.  We like them cooked then chopped and put on cookie sheets to freeze and then store in quart bags.  We can then have beets available year-round to add to dishes and salads or just heat and eat as a side.  It is mid-July and I have all I need for the year in the freezer and we've had plenty to eat in our favorite dishes and salads.  So now it is time to try making something different…soup!

I looked at many recipes; most of which seemed heavy and more like a winter soup.  I wanted something light for summer so I looked at some ingredients that I found would combine well with beets and have no fat.  I added a small fresh cucumber and butter sandwich which really satisfied.  Some recipes suggested that borscht can be eaten cold too.  I just might try that tomorrow!

Ingredients for Beti's Borsch

4 medium beets

Coarse salt & freshly ground pepper

1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms

½ cup hot water

4 cups vegetable stock

1/3 cup chopped celery leaves

4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, set 2 tablespoons aside

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

1 teaspoon sugar

1 lemon, freshly squeezed

½ cup plain no-fat Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place cleaned beets in foil lined roaster.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Hint:  Good time to add any extra beets to roast and save for other recipes that call for cooked beets.  Cover with lid or foil.  Roast for about 1 hour or until fork tender.  Let stand until cool enough to handle.  Peel and coarsely grate; set aside.

2.    Soak mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes.

3.    In medium stockpot, combine stock, beets, mushrooms with liquid, celery leaves, 2 tablespoons cilantro, garlic, sugar, a large pinch of salt, and a large pinch of pepper.  Bring to boil then reduce to simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

4.    Put about 1 cup at a time into blender to puree removing to another saucepan or heat resistant bowl after each.  Mixture is hot so remove cap of blender and use paper towel to cover with hand when blending.  After all is pureed, put back into first stockpot and back on stove to simmer.

5.    In a small bowl, combine yogurt and flour stirring until blended with no lumps.  Whisk in about ½ cup of the pureed mixture.  Add into main stockpot cooking until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.

6.    Serve with pinch of cilantro on top.  Optional:  Use fresh chopped dill instead of cilantro on top.