Not cooking by the book and a recipe for grilled peaches

I alter recipes right and left. I’m not a careful measurer of certain ingredients. And if I make it a few times, I don’t even bother with digging the recipe out of my box.

In short…. I drive my husband crazy.

When Brad was going to grill steaks at home for Valentine’s Day, he looked up the exact seasoning and temperature to grill at. He did the same thing for pork chops, chicken burgers, brats, corn, etc. I get it. I understand the desire to find the steps for a guaranteed positive outcome. It’s not always the way I work though.

I wanted to grill peaches since a) they’re in season and b) I’ve heard they’re good  but never had them. I looked at several recipes to get ideas of how to season them and get specifics on heat/time. In my opinion, grilled peaches are a side and not a dessert so most of the recipes that included sugar, ice cream and honey got nixed. Here’s how we ended up doing the peaches (Brad is the griller… I just help):

Ingredients

• 2 peaches
• Balsamic vinegar
• Fresh pepper

The Auto Show, a Birthday Tradition

My husband is officially older than me for the next week and a half. We had a whirlwind couple of days in celebration.

On Friday, we unexpectedly received tickets to the Cleveland Auto Show preview night. So we got some Mexican food and margaritas (Did you know Friday was National Margarita Day?) with our friends before heading to the IX Center. We had a good time checking out the cars and I got to do the Jeep Experience.

Here’s Brad’s video from the 2012 Jeep Experience (it didn’t change much… just the years of the vehicles)

I also rode the IX Center Ferris wheel for the first (and last) time. The view of the airport at night is pretty cool, but the gondola-style seating freaked me out. We were up very high and there aren’t seat belts!

On Saturday (Brad’s actual birthday) the guys went back to the auto show to do the ride and drive events. They got to drive a Cadillac CTS-V, which was the main event as far as the guys were concerned. That evening we introduced my in-laws to the Great Lakes Brewing Company and their amazing food (and beer, but that’s a given).

We capped off a wonderful evening with birthday cheesecake.

–  –  –

When given my Pinterest board of recipes last year, Brad decided that he’d like the Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake. This year he requested it again and I’ve gotten the recipe tweaked to where I like it finally!

Rachel’s Coffee Bailey’s Cheesecake (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:

Thankful in November

There are a lot of people posting daily one thing that they are thankful for. I haven’t been one of them, seeing as it’s November 6th, I think I can catch up a little and spread some thanks once a week.

1. My husband. It’s a typical number one on the list, but for very good reason. I write about him a lot so you probably already have some idea why. I’m thankful for the past six years that he’s been in my life (even though he told me it was seven the other night) and I’m thankful for the future we have together.
2. Electricity. I’m thankful that we have this amazing thing to power our homes and lives. I’m especially thankful that we were able to keep ours throughout the storm and that many have had theirs restored. I hope that those still living without, have it back soon.
3. My kitties. It’s no secret I love animals, by Holmes and Watson really turn on the charm. They’ve shown many people already that not all cats are aloof and give affection to anyone who we welcome into our home.
   

   This picture would be better if he were actually sitting with a Sherlock Holmes novel

The Ones Who Love Us

The other night, Brad was meeting a friend after work, so I stopped at the grocery store on my way home to pick up a few things. My numbers blood sugars had been stellar all day, so when my Dexcom alerted me to a 70 mg/dL as soon as I pulled into the driveway I wasn’t worried because I was just going to fix quick dinner and be fine.

Between walking into the house and hanging up my coat, something snapped. There were so many things I had to do before I could eat. I put away the groceries, went down to the basement and emptied the dehumidifier, went upstairs and changes my clothes. Then I fed the cats, got the mail and came back into the kitchen to get a clean plate out of the dishwasher. I got distracted by the dishwasher needing emptied – then I felt hot.

Really, really hot. Finally a functioning brain cell told me to test my blood sugar.

It was 42. OmniPod wouldn’t even let me bolus for the 25 grams of carbs that my dinner had (I’m thankful that it won’t let me bolus with a bg below 50). I did two shots of juice for quick sugar and Brad arrived home to find me standing at the kitchen counter, shaking, sweating and inhaling a plate of nachos. I didn’t even speak, just showed him my Dexcom and kept eating.

When I was back in range, he painted me a picture of what he thought he’d have come home to if he’d been later. It wasn’t pretty. (And I won’t be sharing it with you.)

If my husband had been eating and showed me an electronic device in lieu of saying hello, I’d be pretty upset. We fall into a bit of a routine and I often forget that he’s not just a bystander, he’s actively involved and informed.

During diabetes awareness month, we try to shed a little light on living with diabetes, but those who love us are aware every day as well. Living with me (a person with diabetes) can be tough, stressful or downright annoying at times. Brad eats low carb with me often, forgoes having sweets around the house on a regular basis, handles fussy lows, accepts numbers in response to “How are you?” and will literally track me down if he is concerned and can’t reach me (yes, my husband has located me using Find My iPhone, no it’s not creepy. It’s sweet.)

I’m thankful for each and every person who loves someone with diabetes and takes an active role in supporting them.

Related Posts:

Sometimes I’m Amazed

Curb the Complaining

My Husband Spied on Me!

You’re Allowed to Have Bad Day

It seemed that a lot of my friends were having a rough go of it today. My heart goes out to you all for everything you’re dealing with today.

I recently heard someone say that they were taught that you’re allowed to have a bad day, but you’re not entitled to ruin anyone else’s. I really liked that. And it seemed that a lot of you, my dear friends, are dealing with the bad days that others are having.

Things are going pretty well at the moment, so I feel like sharing some sunshine (even though it’s a cloudy day in Cleveland).

Here are some things that are making me happy today and how they can help you be happy:

• Things are going well for the people that I love, my husband is happy, my mom is thriving, etc (being happy for others makes you happy)
  

  Helpful Kitty

• My kittens are adorable (it’s been proven that petting an animal reduces stress, let me know if you need to borrow a snuggly kitty)

Curb the complaining

It’s quite a Monday of a Tuesday today! (Monday needed a break this week too)

I love social media, but sometimes the people on it drive me insane! I got incredibly irritated the other day by various things being said online so instead of complaining about the complainers and annoyances, let’s talk about some things that I’m thankful for! (Seems like a theme sometimes)

• I’m thankful for the foundation that Brad and I built for our relationship before we got married. I’m not surprised by my role of wife and my husband is much, much more to me than just a new roommate.
• I’m thankful for the careful choices and responsible decisions that have lead me to this point in my life.
• I’m thankful that I woke up this morning and that I got at least a little sleep last night. I was woken up multiple times during the night by my Dexcom, I tested, I treated and returned to sleep on each occasion. I may not have had as many hours as I’d like, but waking up every day is a gift so why complain if my eyes are open?
• I’m thankful for my education and the ways that it serves me daily.
• I’m thankful for coffee, it’s warmth, taste and ability to transform this non-morning person into a pleasant human being on a daily basis. I’m also thankful for the woman in our office who makes the coffee and that it’s only on rare occasions that I fill in.
• I’m thankful for the generosity of others. We’re wrapping up our annual tool drive that benefits the Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. Each August, more people participate and each August, more donations are made. I spent part of my day planning the pick ups for the event and there’s quite a list! (Also: I’m thankful for online route planners!)

I’m thankful for many more things that are not on this list, but for now six will do. I’ve found that I can complain, vent, rant and stew over dumb stuff as much as I want and still somehow not feel much better. Shifting my focus to thankfulness has been one of the best ways to curb complaining, halt sarcastic remarks and avoid passive aggressive social media behavior.

What are you thankful for today?

Related Posts:

Thankful Thursday

A few reasons why life is good

Are you happy?

Friday Five

Bullets, bullets, bullets! Five things I’m thinking about this lovely Friday before a holiday weekend.

1. I have a secret… and I think I’ll come clean now. I drink my beloved coffee with holiday cream in it all year long! As fall approaches, I take comfort knowing that as my current stash runs low, I’ll be able to replenish it before it runs out.
2. I’m checking things off my list! I attended my first NFL game last night. It may have been preseason, but it still counts! I went to football games in high school and college (go Purple Raiders!) so now I’ve been to a Browns game.

Free Lunch!

There really such a thing as a free lunch…

I’m had an insulin-free lunch of leftover stuffed chicken breast and steamed asparagus.

Last night, inspiration struck and I modified this recipe significantly, mainly by forgoing bread crumbs and lime, cutting cheese and bacon amounts, and having it grilled by my own grill master.

Sometimes I’m Amazed

At the risk of sounding like a gushy, wide-eyed school girl, I feel like I should say this:

Sometimes I’m truly amazed by my husband.

I love my husband, he’s a wonderful, intelligent, confident, funny and kind man. He also has an amazing drive coupled with willpower like no other. I knew these things about him, but they’ve been coming to life with his desire to get our new home completely ready before we settle there.

Now we bought a move-in ready house, but with time left on our apartment lease we decided that we needed to at least paint the dining room (it was yellow, remember?). When we walked through the house, he said, “You know we should probably just paint the whole thing before we put stuff in it.” We also opted to replace the carpet that was faded in high-traffic areas and since the previous owners had a dog we decided to start fresh. So we ripped out all of the carpet. We finished painting and removing carpet last weekend. All of the old carpet had been put in the garage to be cut down and rolled for the trash service to take away. We also needed some miscellaneous plumbing work done.

Throughout the painting and tear out, Brad lifted the heavy things, painted the high things and kept plugging away at things showing amazing endurance.

He was off work yesterday to get things ready for tomorrow (Moving Day!). I got a text around lunch time, basically telling me that he was playing Xbox. I assumed he was taking a lunch break and relaxing a bit… he was trying to rile me up. Then he sent me this picture:

It’s a new month

It’s a new month and there’s a lot going on in August… so far though there’s not a whole lot of writing going on because I’m packing!

This is however a surprisingly huge month for me and it’s full of mixed emotions.

• Next week will be the first anniversary of my diabetes diagnosis as well as the first anniversary of losing my dad. There’s a lot of emotion mixed up in both of those milestones.

• There are also some awesome things happening in August though, like moving into our house and we just started looking into adopting a couple of rescue kittens that I’m awaiting a response from the organization.
• I see my endocrinologist this month, which means it’s time to head to the lab and get some panels drawn. I’m hoping to see the same a1c as before (it may sound like I’m aiming low, but I have a good number I want to maintain). The Dexcom has me on information overload right now and I’m seeing peaks and valleys that I didn’t before, I’m very interested in how those translate into my average. I’m also curious about some other numbers.
• My husband’s company is having a BBQ this weekend. It’s the first social event that families were invited to, so I’m looking forward to meeting some of his coworkers and getting the scoop on what he’s like at work.

That’s my month in a nutshell. What do you have happening in August?

Related Posts:

Bring it on 2012

What a weekend!

A few reasons why life is good