Flyer's diary

[overlandflyer]

by the way, in total i wound up with ~26 cups of stock. i knew it was a lot for that 9 qt pot, so after about 5 hours i ladled out 8 cups, topped up the pot with hot water and let it go another 3 hours. so that first 8 cups was a lot thicker (it gets more gelatinous the richer it is), but i'm sure the rest will be better than your average OTS box of stock.

and i also miscalculated on the amount of soup this will make. on the average only about 1/2 to 2/3 the soup mix by volume is the stock, so i should be able to make nearly twice the amount i originally predicted. feel free to calculate a $/ bowl... there's enough information to ball-park it. i treat bowls of these sort of soups as the major part of a meal so my portions are on the large side. the bags say 6-8 bowls... i usually get 3-4 out of them.

above everything else, it's nice to have control of what's going in... or rather, what's not...?

 

[overlandflyer]

i let my car sit too many days in the damp cool weather and discovered a near-dead battery this morning. i have a charger in my garage so i pulled the battery out of my trunk (yes, they put it in the trunk for some reason) and brought it into the garage to give it some juice. walking by the scale, though. i couldn't resist... but no picture because I WAS HOLDING A 47 lb BATTERY...! 214.5 lbs on the scale... in the summer of 2018, that was a good day...

 

[overlandflyer]

classic kitchen blunder today... all ready to ladle out some good old basic chicken noodle soup when it occurred to me...
I FORGOT TO ADD THE CHICKEN...!

 

[overlandflyer]

help... i'm running out of home projects!
had a little smile yesterday, though... upgrading my dryer vent, i found a new use for duct tape.


who'da thunk...!

 

[Llama]

Uses for dict tape are limitless. That´s just a law of nature.

 

[overlandflyer]

a brief encounter...

ok...my Pelican Brief encounter, may have been a stretch... but com'on... using duct tape on an actual air duct??

wow...tough room...

 

[overlandflyer]

latest news....



i heard a news story this morning about how prisons are getting infected. the comment that stuck with me was their reluctance to separate inmates because they termed being isolated... solitary confinement... as cruel punishment.

HELLO...???

i'm going to the beach tomorrow and i'll be carrying a 2-pack that i'll drink at the beach.
i'll keep my distance,
i'll behave... but like Eric Burdon said...

 

[overlandflyer]

i've been trying to change around a bad habit i've picked up... that is trying to convince myself that 12/12 intermittent fasting is ok. it's not. i have been getting about 90% through my day ok, but too often i have been giving in to a mid-night (not the same as midnight) small meal... maybe a bowl of soup or an apple w/ almond butter or a few seed crackers w/ cheese... not a lot, and not junk, but it totally destroys my fasting window cutting the first 3-4 hour off. the next downside is when i get up. the worst hunger i have is usually about 8 hours past the end of my eating window. if i quit eating in the late afternoon, it moves those critical hours into a time i am asleep. days i have been late-night cheating, the mornings have been much more difficult. i can see where after a while this could easily start a cascading failure.

it's going to take a bit of determination, but that's nothing new...


*a slight caveat ... finally warm enough to make the switch from sweats to shorts... maybe a one lb instant loss for the rest of the summer.

 

[overlandflyer]

i didn't like the consistancy of the ground beef i saw last time i was at the local market and it was $5+/ lb as i recall, so i decided to dust off the old food processor...


and scored some nice looking tri-tip that should work out just fine...



looking forward to burning some calories making dinner...

 

[aiminglow]

Interesting observations about the 12/12 fasting regime - good for you, fine-tuning IF to fit your needs exactly.

 

[overlandflyer]

dinner was really light... a bowl of Chicken Tortilla soup and i steamed up some carrots and peas...



but then one of those light bulbs went off over my head... i just ground up 3 lbs of beef...



i have more carrots & peas... all i need to pick up are a few potatoes and i have all the makings of a Shepherd's Pie. been a while since i made one. there will some good aromas in the kitchen tomorrow.

 

[overlandflyer]

... i'm going to the beach tomorrow and i'll be carrying a 2-pack that i'll drink at the beach. ...

just to be clear, i wasn't part of the pack of idiots who closely gathered just up the coast from me yesterday... what a bunch of morons. sure i was probably defying the stay at home advice, and i certainly broke the no drinking at the beach law, but there was no problem staying 10-20 feet away from anyone if you were just cool about it.

 

[overlandflyer]

4 days now of getting back to real intermittent fasting and feeling much better in the mornings...



going to cheat on the Shepherd's Pie... found some packs of pre-IF smashed potatoes that aren't getting any fresher. this will add 16g of sugar, but i'm sure i'll get at least 10-12 servings out of the size i'm going to be making.



yes, it does say, Best Before Nov/ Dec 2018, ... i'll see how that goes.

 

[overlandflyer]

i put off the ShepPie in order to get some other stuff out of the fridge, but i did quickly whip up some chili with the ground beef i just made to check on that consistency. wow... so much better than the store ground beef, probably less than 10% fat, cheaper and as a bonus, i know exactly what went in. my hand grinder has been a useful tool i've had since i picked it up at a swap meet while in college. if you're looking for one, i'd definitely recommend one like this...



everything comes apart and it cleans up in about a minute... just stick it in a warm oven to dry it off completely and i use a smidgen of veg oil on the moving parts before storing it away. and of course...



it was made in the U.S.A. ... when good cast iron was still made here.

 

[overlandflyer]

if anyone knows of a way to waste less apple, i'd like to see it...

 

[overlandflyer]

i had to laugh as a commercial i heard this morning for one of those food delivery services...

"Tired of cooking at home...?"

holy cow... do people really eat out that much?
one month and they're ready to give up...?

 

[overlandflyer]

getting back to true intermittent fasting, i knew i should be doing better with only those 2 beers a few days ago and no bagels now for six and three weeks respectively...

 

[overlandflyer]

finally got around to the Shepherd's Pie.
before the potato layer and after baking... essentially just browning the potatoes...



a bit less than traditional... i had a few mushrooms that were on their last useful day.
rosemary came off the patio, but i've got to get some thyme growing again.

mmmmmmmmmm....


i'll probably cut up half and freeze it for a couple easy, future microwave meals.

 

[aiminglow]

That's a good-looking shepherd's pie - and the scales look pretty good too!

 

[alligatorob]

Hey Flyer, I know you have talked about but can you tell me how you decided what your goal weight or weight range should be? I think you are there in the 160s, is that true? If so how did you know that was the right place to be?