I always knew one day I would get older we all do and it is something that no one has ever found a way stop. Each day I look in the mirror and I can see signs of aging. I really hate the gray breaded look but my lovely wife say not to color it any more. I really need to color it before I head back to a college campus. But getting older is just a part of the life that we all live. I think that is why when we start to have grandchildren it gives a new outlook on life seeing a baby where we all started slowly grow to an adult over some years. But the clock keeps ticking and the lines of aging keep coming across our faces and bodies.
Now let’s talk about being overweight. I have fought my weight for years sometimes even beating it back. The other day I got off of the couch and my belly came off a few seconds later this is telling me I am getting way to heavy. It could be the beer which I have cut way back or the chips which I can’t put down or maybe even the love for food? What ever is causing this belly of mine to grow has to stop! I started once again today back on the treadmill and watching what I eat. Everyone always says never watch what you eat during the holidays. Well let me tell you my friends and you stuff those big meals down your throat it will be even harder to loss any of that weight. I don’t believe in New Years Resolutions because they just set you up to fell. No I believe in the old way of exercise and watching what you eat.
Today I weighed in at 230 lbs. There I said it. Out loud for the entire World to read. That is if you read this blog at all? My fast goal is to drop to 200. I am not sure how long this will take but I am hoping before Spring. I will track my progress with everyone here and share my ups and downs of weight loss. Stay tuned!
I have been drinking coffee for as long as I can remember. When I was very young I can remember sitting with my mom at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee with her. But I also remember it was more milk and sugar than coffee. These days I normally use Almond milk at home but when I get to work I just like it black. I think part of that reason is I don’t keep any Almond milk at work and there is normally no creamers around so black it is.
So where do you like to get your coffee from? are you a Start Bucks type of person or are you more of a McDonald’s kind of maybe some other little store on your way to work? We like 1/2 cafe at home and straight-up 100% caffeine at the office. Let me hear how and where you get your coffee fix?
I remember years ago when I was a young man hearing my mother say, “No one eats meat on Good Friday!” Even if you are not Catholic and you are a human Good Friday is a no meat day. I went to Wikipedia to get the correct definition of Good Friday.
Now if we read this definition of Good Friday it does not say that we should eat fish. It says we should fast, which as you know means we should not eat anything. Funny story of me getting ready to eat breakfast this morning. I pulled out some waffles from the freezer and grabbed the pack of bacon and placed them both on the table. My wife walks into the kitchen and says, “I hope you are not even thinking of eating that bacon today!” Seeing that we have the day off today I thought it was Saturday. She said, “No Sir, it is Good Friday.” Okay anyone can lose track of a day off. I put the bacon back into the fridge. My wife was raised Catholic and I was raised as a Protestant. But remember from above my mother always told us no one eats meat on Good Friday.
I am really glad that neither of them ever read Wikipedia and seeing that we should fast on Good Friday. Rather you do or don’t really do not matter to me. I just thought this would be an interesting post. I enjoy knowing history and where we have come from. I always say we can never move forward if we don’t understand where we came from.
I think Michael Jackson said it best with his song Man In The Mirror. If you want to make a change you have to first look at the man in the mirror, or women if you are female. As many of you know I am a long time ex-military man. When I was in basic training some years ago we were conditioned to get up early every day and work on our bodies first. Let’s face it without the body anything else you do will really not matter. I have to believe that most of us pray for our health and the health of others. Well back to Michael Jackson, this would be the man in the mirror.
Some years ago I started a regimented workout plan and lost a lot of weight. I was feeling great and making great strides in creating a better me. Then life hits! You lose a job or maybe a loved one? And you stop worrying about yourself and begin falling into some form of depression. So I stopped working out and just went into the surviving day to day life.
Well, new jobs can bring a lot of happiness to anyone. Life begins to look positive again. Then add to this, people believing in you and bringing you into their team makes a person feel even more secure in life.
So I cued up the song Man In The Mirror and began to look at myself in the mirror. What looked back at me was a middle-aged man who looked slightly overweight and really out of shape. So I knew I wanted to Make That Change.
I started setting my alarm for 3:30 AM. Remembering that I am a VET and I know that working out in the mornings always works best for me. I started hitting the treadmill every morning. At first, it was a half mile, then a mile and now I can get in two miles before hitting the shower and heading to work.
Now when I look into the mirror or step on a scale I can see that I am making that change. I would like to live until I am in my nineties or hell maybe even a hundred who knows? But I know one thing for sure. I will do my very best to never let anyone take me down again. I always want to take care of my family first then me. And life is to short for any of us to carry around another person on the legs that were given to carry only ourselves.
I wanted to share with you the reader how I make my homemade pasta sauce. A lot of people have been asking me for this recipe so I thought I would share it with pictures.
First brown your ground beef. I like to use 90/10. If you want to make a leaner sauce you could use ground turkey.
Set out your spices. Italian Seasoning, Garlic Powder, Season All.
Dice up fresh peppers and onions.
Use minced garlic. Unless you want to dice it up on your own, but this is easier.
Cover the beef with the diced peppers and onions and 2 table spoons of the minced garlic.
Mix all of the peppers, onions and garlic into the meat. Let it cook until all of them are tender.
Tomato sauce. Use 2 can for a pound of meat. Here I am using 3 cans here for 1 1/2 pounds.
Pour all of your sauce into and over the meat. Make sure all of the meat is browned.
Fold in the peppers, onions and garlic into the sauce. Turn your heat down to low.
Cover the top of the sauce once again with the Italian Seasoning. Mix it into the sauce.
This is the correct way your sauce should look. Let it cook down until it is hot through the sauce.
This sauce is easy to make and takes no time at all. It is 100% better then any jar sauce you will find in any store. When we make it we like to put some into freezer bags and freeze it for another evening of dinner.
One last note: When you are cooking your pasta add a little olive oil. This will prevent the pasta from sticking together.
If you try this and enjoy it please comment back. I really enjoy cooking and hope to bring more easy to make meals to all who read this blog.
Last nights dinner was a hit. Once you get your meat cooked. Use a fork and pull the meat apart, leaving all of the onions, peppers and garlic where it is. Don’t worry it all cooks down and your family won’t even know they are in the meat.
Put all of the meat into a bowl. When you are ready for you meal. Take a little meat out and toss it into a skillet over low heat. Pour in the A1 steak sauce and toss the meat around until warm. Sprinkle a little cheese of your choice over the meat, I covered the skillet until the cheese is melted.
Take the meat and melted goodness out of the skillet and place it onto a long bun. Once done it looks like a Cheese Steak.
If there is anything that I have found just as rewarding as technology or writing it is cooking. I enjoy coming up with dishes that makes my family wonder what I am up to. Normally they come out decent and sometimes even really great! Take my homemade pierogi’s! Or my homemade noodles which for the first time ever making them they turned out great.
Today I am working on a new dish that I am not sure of but I hope it turns out? Especially after my wife paid her hard earned cash on the roast. But I am not thinking roast. Anyway here is today’s recipe.
One Beef Roast about 2-4 pounds should work
6 cloves of garlic cut in half
Banana Peppers
1 large onion cut up to slices
Season Salt
One bottle Italian dressing
Little cooking wine
Water
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Take your roast and place it into a large baking pan.
Sprinkle your season salt onto the roast and rub it in.
Cut slits all over the roast and plug the holes with the garlic.
Toss all of your onions all over the roast.
Cover with a few Banana Peppers
Empty you bottle of Italian dress over and around the roast.
Pour a little cooking wine over the roast and the dressing.
Put enough water in the pan up to the sides on the roast. This is mainly to create a steaming effect.
Cover the baking pan with foil.
Turn your over on 350, we are going for the low and slow effect. Baking time will be until the meat falls apart.
My final plan is to break all of the roast up and place some onto a hoagie bun and sprinkle a little A1 onto the sandwich.______________________________________________________________________
I will serve this up with maybe some fries and a red wine for the drink.
I will let you know in my next post how it worked out and if the family likes it or not. I will also post some pictures so you can see the finished dish. ENJOY!
I don’t feel that many families cook at home anymore. I think it is just to easy for everyone to stop on the way home for work and grab some kind of fast food. But with that we are making American kids fat and obese.
There is a show on TV called Diners, Dives and Drive Inn’s that I really enjoy. When I watch this show I look for meals that will be something different for our family. In a recent episode I watched as a cook made Chicken Pies. These are little pot pies.
So I took some time and roasted a chicken and made the Chicken Pies. They turned out great and my family loved them.
What I am telling everyone reading this blog that sometime and cook for your family.
On our recent trip we ran into a great new taste to us called Hard Apple Cider. This is really just normal everyday Apple Cider with sugar added then yeast. You leave it brew in your brewing buckets just as you would beer to create the alcohol content. On the way home from our trip I stopped and bought all the ingredients I needed.
Once home I pulled out the brewing gear and sterilized it in preparation for the brew.
My new Hard Apple Cider is now brewing away in my basement. After about 3 weeks I will let you know how it turns out. I may even do a video on the taste testing.
When you travel try not to eat the normal fast food. We always try to find little out of the way places where we can enjoy local conversions and a good home cooked meal. Most of the time we find that the prices are close to what you would pay anywhere else.
This is one of those places. This is in Point Marion PA. Little hard to find but plug it into your GPS and you will be guided to the food of your dreams. Great food and better yet great owners. We almost felt like we were at home.
Here is a pictures of the outside of their building.
