Tag: cooking

recipe: Dirty Gravy

by Midnight Demon, posted in blogging

Recipe Dirty Gravy

There are variants of this and you can add stuff as always, like onions to the ground beef

For the sauce:

3-4 Cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons of oil or enough to coat the bottom of the pan
1 tsp black pepper (more if you like)
1-3 leaves of fresh basil (okay if not available)
2 tbsp dried basil
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 cans of 28 oz crushed tomatoes (I like Pastene brand)
1 tsp sugar (optional)

In large saucepan, coat the bottom of pan with oil as you chop the garlic. When oil is heated, throw in garlic and brown. Once brown, pour in the cans of tomatoes, one at a time. Then have 1 and ½ can of water (2 full if want less thick sauce). Bring to boil, add herbs, sugar, and seasoning. Let boil for a full 5 minutes then bring to a simmer. Cook on low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally so bottom doesn’t burn.

Ground beef (usually I cook a pound and a half) with just ground black pepper. You can add salt if you like. Once sauce is at the hour and half mark, throw in cooked ground beef that has been drained. Then serve with pasta of your choice once sauce is done.

Win update and other things

by Midnight Demon, posted in Bipolar Disorder, blogging, chronic physical pain, depression, mood disorders

Win update and other things

My mother needed me to print off the email from Sears so she could have an itemized receipt of what she bought. I printed it out and when I got back on my bed, stupid thing popped up saying Windows 10 needed a security update and needed 8GB of space, minimum. Last time there was an update, I had to use my thumb drive to download and install it. This damn thing doesn’t give me the option and there is no way to minimize the fucker. I am not in the fucking mood to be dealing with this today. My pain is unreal because I made dinner for my mother, niece, and I tonight. Just one hour of cooking did me in. The cold rain and wind I am sure is not helping. Not that I felt great to begin with.

Last night, my leg was hurting so I massaged it. It felt really tight and swollen. Lovely! I meant to call my doc today but I woke up late because I didn’t sleep, again, through the night. Also didn’t help that I was a dumbbell and forgot to change the med reminder alarm to something other than 5 fucking AM. Scared the shit out of me! I will call on Monday, though I will doubt I will be able to see the twerp that is my PCP. I’ll probably see one of his associates.

I had my haircut done on Wednesday before I saw my psychiatrist. I woke up this morning and wanted to shave my head because it grew in and I wanted that close feel. I probably would have if my damn ankle wasn’t hurting so bad. It would have given me a reason to shower, though it has been more than a couple days since I have. I am getting bad at showering again. I can’t help it. It hurts to stand right now and I can’t shower sitting. Maybe if I had an enclosed shower stall or something. My previous house had one with a door. We have have a curtain and a some what high ceiling. Knowing me, I would get the water everywhere but on myself. Even when I am washing dishes, spoons especially, I get water every where. It’s like I take a bath along with the dishes. My mother tells me to move the head of the faucet inward but I forget or if I do, then water goes on the splash guard. I am terrible. Maybe tomorrow, if I wake up early (i.e., before 1 pm), I will take it first thing. I had wanted to make breakfast but it was past lunch when I got up. Oh well. Bacon is still going to be there tomorrow.

I wanted to write about CRPS for Rare Disease Awareness but I am having trouble with it. My brain is just not to focused. I’d have to research it a little more, even though I have it, I don’t have a typical presentation of it. I mostly just have pain that is unexplained, except when you look at my bone scans. That is what it took for me to finally get diagnosed as I have bone changes. Not everyone is that lucky. If I am up early tomorrow, I will try and write something for it. I think it is important to spread awareness about it.

Early morning wakening and other things

by Midnight Demon, posted in Bipolar Disorder, blogging, chronic physical pain, depression, mood disorders

Early morning wakening and other things

I woke up around 530 in pain, after falling asleep sometime after 1. I was not happy. I took some pain meds and contemplated staying up or going back to sleep. I opted to go back to sleep, but I set my alarm first as I had my grocery delivery today. Alarm went off but I didn’t want to get up. I finally did and managed to brush my teeth. Then I made some coffee while waiting. I am glad I got up because the delivery guy came like 20 minutes later. I showed him where to put the groceries and then after he put them there, I put the refrigerated stuff in the kitchen. I also got the frozen stuff as well. The stuff that didn’t need to be in the fridge, I just left until I was able to put them away. I told my mother I bought her tuna and she had a fit that I paid 50 cents more than another grocery store. You’re welcome!

I drank my coffee and was getting hungry but didn’t feel like cooking. I remembered I bought some breakfast burritos so I got one out. The preferred method was the oven, but screw that. I microwaved it. It was okay. It had beans in it with eggs and Canadian bacon. I think cheese was in there too, but I couldn’t taste it. I wanted to have some pie that I bought but thought it was too early for that. All my ingredients for the casserole came. I plan on making it around 3 today. My mother said she doesn’t want it. I figured. She doesn’t like chili. I hope I am not going to eat the entire 9×13 pan by myself. That will just suck. I plan on giving some to my brother in law but not sure if his system is up from things spicy as he is getting over a stomach bug. I’m not sure my youngest sister will eat it. I know my youngest niece won’t even look at it.

I came back to my room and my damn foot went berserk. It was time to take another dose of pain meds so I took it. I don’t plan on getting up until it’s time to make the casserole. I am tired from running all over the house, putting things away. I didn’t realize I bought so much soda. It will last though because I don’t drink it every day. I still have my orange mango from Nantucket Nectars. I bought them last month and I think I just drank one. I bought 7Up, my favorite soda ever. I haven’t had it in so long. Only certain stores sell it so it’s hard to find a 20 oz bottle. I bought a 12 pk of 12 oz cans.

The casserole came out okay. I don’t think I will make it again. I don’t know why I bought cheddar cheese and sour cream. I didn’t use it when I had a piece. I was kind of full with just half a scoop. It was fun making it though my ankle and foot didn’t like it. My back is bothering me too. I lugged a quarter case of water up to my room and think I took my hip out in the process. I am so tired now. I want to nap but am afraid that if I do, I will be up all night. I could be up all night anyway if I stay up.

I listened to like 4 innings of the game before cooking. They were losing 3-1 when I left. I thought they would comeback and they didn’t. They had their first loss today at 6-1. There is a second game but it is only on TV. I am upset over this as I want to listen to it. I like listening to it better than watching. I had some baseball fix. The starting pitchers only pitch 1 or 2 innings before changing. I never noticed that before, but then I never really paid much attention to Spring Training. I usually just pay attention when the season officially starts but I need baseball in my life right now. It’s like a drug to me and I was jonesing pretty bad the off season.

Good day in a long time

by Midnight Demon, posted in Bipolar Disorder, blogging, chronic physical pain, depression, mood disorders

Good day in a long time

I had a low pain day. I timed the bus ride to the Square right and got my Starbucks. Then made my way to the commuter rail with just enough time to buy my ticket for the train and wait for my friend. I brought two bags with me as one just wasn’t enough. It turned out okay. We got to my friend’s town around 1400. We waited a while to get settled and then around 1500 or so, I went to work. My friend was out of oil so we had to wait till his wife came home. Luckily she thought of appetizers because it would take a couple hours for the sauce to cook.

We watched Popeye while the gravy was cooking. It was with Robin Williams. I had forgotten most of the other characters in the cartoon as it has been ages since I last watched it. I kept on going back and forth to the kitchen to stir the gravy and eat appetizers. I didn’t have lunch so was kind of hungry. By 1745, everything was ready. My friends loved the sauce and meatballs and raviolis. This was the first time I made them and the raviolis came out perfect. We had dessert afterwards.

Then we watched my favorite movie of all time, Money Pit. I knew it word for word, almost. I must have watched it a million times with my childhood friend. It was our favorite movie. It still cracks me up to this day. After the movie, my friend’s husband took us home. There was a lot of construction and changes in the Boston area where my friend lived. It didn’t help that there was a game at the Boston Garden so cars were leaving the parking lots. It was a nightmare. Then I took the wrong road going to my house as they had changed things. I should have known better but we turned around and went the right way.

My pain is still kind of low though throughout the cooking and stuff, I had to rest in between. While we were eating it really flared up and I knew there was no way for me to go home via public transportation. I had a really good time with my friends. We laughed and had fun. The kids loved my gifts. I was glad. It was the first time in a long time I felt good. I kept up with my pain meds and wore my compression brace until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I just hope my pain doesn’t get worse as the night progresses. Right now my foot is angry but that is okay. It was a long day of wearing socks so I think it just got irritated with them on. Luckily, I didn’t have to wear my boot. I had brought it just in case. I really came prepared and I think that helped to relax me so I didn’t have to worry about a flare. It really helped to focus on having a conversation with my friends and focusing on the cooking or watching a movie.

Now I just hope I can sleep before the pain awakens.