December 12 2019

Recipe: Salmon Patties

Normally, I don’t actually eat seafood. I certainly don’t eat it in the whole form as served up in restaurants. The only way I eat seafood is if it is tuna packed in water in a can or salmon packed in a foil pouch. I used to eat salmon from a can, but now that kid number 2 has left home and is not willing to come over just to get the bones and skin out of canned salmon, I prefer to buy it in pouches. Yes, it IS more expensive, but I am worth it and besides, we just don’t eat it very often maybe three or four times a year.

Now I know the gourmet chefs in the group are going to judge this as not the right way to make salmon patties, but don’t judge, please. This is the way my mother always made them when I was growing up and it is one of only two ways that seafood of any kind enters my body. It probably is the way it is because we grew up eating what was cheap.

Here is my mother’s original recipe:

Salmon Patties
1 #303 can Salmon (Alaska Red Sockeye)
1/3 cup Open Pit Original BBQ Sauce
1 large Egg
¼ lb Saltine Crackers

Drain juice and remove backbone from salmon.  Mix all ingredients together, and form into patties.  Brown patties in a little oil in skillet.  Makes about 9 (3 inch) patties.  Refrigerate leftovers.  These are very good cold too. (An Eva Perkins Lauerman Original Recipe)

 

Here is the revised recipe using pouches instead of cans. I also figured out all the nutritional info using the MyFitnessPal app.

Salmon Patties
Chicken of the Sea – Chuck Style Pink Salmon Skinless Boneless, 4 pouches (5 oz drained ea.)
Open Pit – Original BBQ Sauce, 2/3 cup (34g)
Saltine Crackers – ½ lb.=2 tubes (150 crackers (15g) ea.)
Egg, Large – 2 large egg (50g)

Mix all ingredients together, and form into patties.  Brown patties in a little oil in skillet.  Makes about 9 (3 inch) patties.  Refrigerate leftovers.  These are very good cold too.

Nutrition Info makes 15 patties total 3 patties/serving:
376 calories, 9.3g total fat, 1.8g sat. fat, 2g polyunsat. Fat, 0g monounsat. Fat, 126.4mg cholesterol, 1204.8mg sodium, 0mg potassium, 43.7g total carbs, 0g dietary fiber, 9.6g sugars, 27.4g protein, 2.4% vitamin A, 0% vitamin C, 5.1% calcium, 23.6% iron.

If you decide to give either of these recipes a try, and they are both basically the same really, please let me know if you enjoyed them in the comments below. If you have a recipe that is better that you think I should try, please feel free to also leave that in the comments or email it to me. Maybe I will give it a try.

Interesting fact, WordPress tells me this is my 300th post on this particular blog. Where has the time gone? It has been almost 3 years since I took the plunge and bought the domain name. What do you think? Should I renew the domain name and keep blogging?

Category: Family, Recipes | Comments Off on Recipe: Salmon Patties
December 5 2019

My 7th NaNoWriMo – Did I Win?

Every November for the last six years, I would tell myself I CAN win NaNoWriMo this year, I know I can because I have done it before. What always takes me by surprise is how different each of my seven, consecutive NaNoWriMo wins has been. This year was a real struggle. I was working at the same company as last year, but this year, the job I have is almost completely in front of a computer screen for eight to ten hours a day with only a few walks down the hall to the ladies room as a break from the screens and to stretch the kinks out from sitting so long. I work through lunch. The last thing I want to do after working all day staring at a computer screen, or in this case three screens, is go home or anywhere really and do more of the same. So this year was difficult in a different way than it ever has been before. I did not end up writing at work at all.

This year was different in another way, because, as I mentioned in my update post a month ago, I was sharing my current word count every day that I was at work in a very public way. It helped to motivate me to try to stay on par with my word count, just knowing others would be checking in on my progress. A few are still asking me if I really wrote 50,000 words last month. Yes, I did, how could I not? Today, Danny asked if I wrote 50,000 unique words, and I admitted that there are some words that show up more than once in the entirety of what I wrote, like a and the for instance. I think it amazes him, and I understand completely. It still amazes me too.

So in case you are wondering, the top graph shows how far above or below par or goal I was each day and the bottom chart shows how much or how little I wrote on each day. I finished the challenge on November 29th, and did not write at all on the 30th. There was no point since they took away the badge for writing all 30 days this year. I was over it and so ready to be done writing by then.

If, like me, you are a chart nerd and want to see the stats from my previous years, you can see my 2017 results and my 2013 to 2016 comparisons. There is even an entire category devoted to NaNoWriMo because it has made such a huge difference in my life. The thing that impressed me the most after seeing the newly revised NaNoWriMo.org website was the total number of words I have written for the various events I have participated in since November 1, 2013. (See below, 422,170 words!)

That words written total doesn’t count all the blog posts I have written and shared, including the guest blog post from August 21, 2017 on the NaNoWriMo Blog, I was especially excited to be asked to guest write for them. I had no idea back then that I would someday see that I had accomplished so much writing in just seven years. I still tell myself when I am faced with doing seemingly impossible things, that I can do impossible things and I continue to do impossible things. I am a writer. I push myself to do what most would consider crazy and impossible every November, I write at least 50,000 words. Someday, I might convince myself to actually edit them and get them out in the world, but not this year. That is future Karen’s project.

I learned that I can still do it, that I am a winner, that it isn’t always fun, but I am always glad I have done it and pushed myself to get the words in my head down in the computer file. Will I always write in November for NaNoWriMo? Always is a huge commitment. Right now I must say that continue the streak that is now seven years long is hugely motivating. This year I learned that I can still get my words down mostly at home and that ten to fifteen minute word sprints can be very productive. I am so happy to have gotten so many of my childhood memories down to edit later. Will YOU be writing with me next November? Don’t you just love the theme this year? It is gorgeous! Happy 20th year of NaNoWriMo, may it continue indefinitely!

Category: Goals, NaNoWriMo, Writing | 1 Comment on My 7th NaNoWriMo – Did I Win?
November 28 2019

Review: Bountiful Kit

I found a new thing to try on a recent trip to Kroger in late September. It was just $3.79 regularly and on this particular day, they had a sale for fifty cents off. The salad reminds me a lot of the Taco Bell Power Bowl and the bowls at Chipotle Mexican Grill, but this version is much cheaper. Also. this version has no meat unless you add it yourself, not super filling as it is bagged, but would be good for a lunch. To be fair, this was delicious and I would buy them again, but I would likely wait for an even better sale price to do so.

This is what the contents look like when you pour them out of the bag.

This is with all the contents combined and ready to eat.

This is the salad kit as it looks when you buy it.

 

Category: Review | 1 Comment on Review: Bountiful Kit
November 14 2019

Recipe: Sweet & Sour Pork (or Chicken)

My hubby has been requesting this meal every time I ask what have you been hungry for at menu planning time each weekend for the longest time. So finally, we got the things we needed and made it. A double batch and it tasted so good we ate most of it the first night. I don’t make it often because of all the slicing and dicing it requires. I wish I could claim it was my own recipe but it is just one I found on the side of a can of pineapple decades ago and just had to try. It became a keeper after the first time we made it. It was more fun to make this time because for once, I didn’t have to cut everything up myself. In fact, Hubby was super helpful and peeled all the carrots in the bag, cut up the pork and handled the garlic. I highly recommend finding a helpful partner to cook with.

Here is what it looked like in the pot after we had already taken some out.

I decided to dish it up in these pretty Corelle bowls so I could take a photo to share with all of you.

Dole Sweet & Sour Pork or Chicken
(From the back of a can of Dole Brand Pineapple Chunks)
1 lb. Chicken or Pork
1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
1 medium Onion
1 clove Garlic, pressed
2 Carrots, sliced
1 medium Green Pepper, seeded, chunked or diced
1 (15oz.) can Pineapple Chunks, undrained
¼ cup White Vinegar
3 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp. Catsup
3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp. Cornstarch
1 tsp. Ground Ginger

Cut meat into ½ inch pieces. Brown in oil. Reduce heat to low, add onion and garlic. Cover, cook 10 minutes. Add carrots and green pepper. Combine remaining ingredients. Stir into skillet. Cover, simmer 10 minutes longer. Serve over rice. (Serves 4) This recipe can easily be doubled. This is a big hit with those who love Chinese food.

I had a packet of microwavable rice in the closet, so in just 90 seconds I had cooked rice that I stirred right into the pot. If you decide to try this recipe, please let me know what you think in the comments below. I would personally like to thank Dole for providing this recipe all those years ago, it has been a great addition to our lives.

Category: Money Saving, Recipes | Comments Off on Recipe: Sweet & Sour Pork (or Chicken)
November 7 2019

NaNoWriMo – One Week In

I wasn’t sure how this attempt at NaNoWriMo would go because this is the first year when I have spent all day every day at work in front of the computer screen. The job I was doing this time last year, while at the same company was slightly more active and included things to get me out of my seat like scanning applications and logging them into spreadsheets. I have noticed I tend to spend less time in front of my computer now that I have in the last few years. I tend to spend more of my computer screen time at home watching NetFlix than doing things like writing.
So, how have things gone for my this first week of NaNo?

I don’t think I really mentioned to anyone at work that I was doing NaNo last year, if I made any reference to it, it was most likely a reference to writing because it was November, and not having anyone inquire further. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share that part of my life or not, but THIS year I made a word count tracking sheet that I could slip into a sheet protector and affix via magnets to my workspace for all to see since I am in a fairly well traveled area of the office. I still hadn’t decided if I would actually use the sign, but wanted to be ready just in case. About a week after I made the sign, a friend came to work with us and on her first day introducing herself, she just put it out there that she was looking forward to NaNoWriMo. Wow! Since I was next with my intro, I threw caution to the wind and told the team, that I too would again be writing 50,000 words in the month of November as I had for the previous six years. So, decision made, and I must admit I am kind of happy about it. I will be sharing my progress during the work week for all to see and if they get close enough, the sign tells them what my goal word count SHOULD be so they can hold me accountable.

I have been doing well this last week keeping up with my word counts though almost never getting the actual goal of 1,667 words written. I started out the week with a few hundred words buffer and as of yesterday had used up most of those. I have been updating my word count tracker each day at work and a couple of people have actually commented that they noticed it had changed. It seems to be generally well received but nobody has decided to jump in feet first and actually join in the writing fun.

Before the month started, I was trying to brainstorm some ways I could squeeze in my word counts without losing too much sleep. Here are the three ideas I came up with:

  • Get to work early to pound out some words?
  • Take an hour and type during “lunch”?
  • Outline what I am doing…

As it turns out I have yet to take my old Surface Pro 2 (which is smaller and much less cumbersome to carry back and forth on a daily basis) to work to write first thing in the morning until about eight when I am supposed to start working. I thought that might be a great idea, but it likely will not actually happen.

I actually work straight through the day at my desk and just eat bits of my “lunch” throughout the day without actually taking a lunch break, so this did not happen this year either, though I did use this trick a few times last year with decent success.

I did not exactly outline, but I did make a list of scene ideas to help me, should I get stuck with no idea what to write as the month progresses.

So, I guess one could say things are going well so far after only seven days. I’m not taking anything for granted yet, there is plenty of month left for things to go south, but I am still confident that I can do it again after six consecutive wins.

How is your NaNo going? Do you have any secrets to success that you can share with us? How are you enjoying the newly designed NaNoWriMo.org website?

If you would like a copy of the letter-sized, printable version of the sign I created to track my word count at work, like the little version shown above, just email me and ask (it would also be appreciated if you would sign up for my mailing list by subscribing for updates above).

Category: NaNoWriMo, Writing | 1 Comment on NaNoWriMo – One Week In