Gardening: We have germination!

Yesterday there was nothing in my pots of soil...today I have baby plants. Looks like the zucchini and tomatoes have sprouted! No green beans yet.

Gardening: New season

Yesterday, I took down my old crop of plants (except the lemon bush). I started my first spring planting in Florida. It is also the first time I planted all of my plants from seed. 

I didn't have enough to buy new soil for my containers, so I just mixed up the current soil and am hoping there are enough nutrients in it still to let them thrive.

I planted:

1-beefsteak tomato (first time)

1-super sweet cherry tomato

2-green beans

3-zucchinis (first time)

I hope they grow well. It is always amazing to me to see the miracle of plants growing. Thinking that nothing is happening and then one day a green plant rises from the soil! Amazing!

Cooking: Crescent Roll Uses

I love raw prepackaged crescent rolls as a quick add on to a meal. I tend to buy them when they are on a really good sale. I have heard that they freeze well while still in the package, but I have not tried that yet. 

I have not made crescent roll dough myself, but it is on the list to start experimenting with.

Since I buy three at a time most of the time, I tend to have these cans rolling around my refrigerator most of the time. So I have begun experimenting with these for other uses other than the usual basket of crescent rolls. 

One of my first experiments was cinnamon rolls. Just melt some butter and brush on the flat rolls. Sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on them and then roll up as you would a normal crescent roll. I have found that I don't see too much of a taste difference if I leave out the butter, so I usually skip it.

Another experiment has been to make turnovers. All you need is a can of pie filling of your choice (I love cherry, but raspberry or apple would work fine. Whatever the family likes). I find that rolling the rolls out a bit is a good idea. When I roll them out, I find spraying a bit of cooking oil on the surface and the rolling pin helps keeping it from sticking. Put some pie filling in the middle and fold over and lightly pinch the sides so the insides stay inside. I have not tried to make my own filling on these because I had pie filling in the cupboard gathering dust and decided this would put it to good use. But some real fruit mixed with a bit of sugar or sweetener would probably work. Just avoid too much liquid. For a topping, I have tried the simple powdered sugar and milk (even some vanilla) to make a frosting. To me, it tastes like some chemical was mixed in. Tried two different packages of powdered sugar, same taste. I love glazed doughnuts, so not sure what is wrong. If you use icing/frosting/glaze, put it on top of the turnovers after they are golden brown out of the oven. What I have found is if I sprinkle some granulated sugar on the top before putting them in the oven, they come out amazing! Just the right sweetness.

As a main course or party snack, wrapping hot dogs with crescent rolls are awesome. I first learned this with a childhood friend. Her dad used to make these and they were amazing. Blew my child mind! They actually cut a wedge out of the hot dog and then stuck half of a stick of string cheese in the wedge. Then rolled them in crescent rolls and baked them. Boom! On a recent trip to Indiana, my grandma had been introduced to this by my little cousin. They call them "Bones". Whatever you call them, they are amazing, fast snacks or meals for the family.

Having foods in the refrigerator or cupboard that has multiple functions is a great economic idea. Saves time and money.

Cooking: Sausage Roll Up

So far, I have not tried making pizza dough myself. I will adventure into that very soon. For now, I want to share a use for the raw prepackaged pizza dough.

My mom used to make a sausage roll up and I have continued to make it as one of my family's go-to dinners. Not sure where the recipe came from, it just arrived in our life one day. This recipe can be used as a breakfast or dinner. We generally use it as a dinner. Quick, easy, three ingredients! 

Ingredients:

1 package raw pizza dough

1 pound breakfast sausage

1 pound motzorella cheese

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2) Brown one package of breakfast sausage. Then grind it through the food processor to get it to a fine crumble. 

3) Then on a baking sheet, roll out the pizza dough until it fills most of the baking sheet. 

4) Sprinkle on the sausage and spread out so it is an even layer on the pizza dough. 

5) Sprinkle one pound of motzorella cheese as an even layer on top of the sausage layer. 

6) Start to roll the dough carefully along the long side of the dough. Keep rolling until it is completely rolled up (so the inside will resemble a cinnamon roll when cut). Make sure the final seam is positioned under the roll. 

7) Take the ends and tuck the top flap of the roll up under the bottom so the layers are fully enveloped in the dough. Repeat on the other side.  

8) Bake until golden brown, about 15-17 minutes.

Cut and serve. Not exactly the prettiest meal, but filling and good.

Medical: Eczema

Recently, I have had a massive eczema flare up. I thought it would be good to go through some basics of preventing and treating eczema (things I should have paid attention to before the problem became so bad). 

There are many factors that can cause an eczema flare up. Allergies, stress, dry skin, and recent illnesses or surgeries are just a few things that came cause flare ups. 

My first flare up 8 years ago was due to a surgery. The surgery was unavoidable, however I did not manage the flare up until it was unbearable; bleeding from the pores kind of unbearable. In my defense, I didn't know about eczema at the time. Ended up going to a dermatologist and got a steriod shot.

My second flare up was due to a severe allergy response 3 years ago. I had just moved to Florida and the allergies from Indiana that I took allergy shots for were completely different from the allergies in Florida. I have heard from several doctors that when you move to a drastically different environment, it can take your body up to a year to adjust. That first year was a constant running nose and headache. Eventually, my body rebelled with an eczema flare up. So I was given steriods in pill form and a daily allergy medicine.

This latest flare up was due to a short bout of dry, cold-ish weather here in Florida. My lips got really dry even after nightly lip balm treatments. Right after that, the normal Florida warmth returned. I didn't think much about it until the patches of eczema showed back up. Within a week, the rash covered half of my body. I knew what was happening this time and tried to treat the flare up before it got worse with hydrocortisone cream. It continued to spread. I even tried a bleach bath (putting a half cup of bleach in a full bath and soaking in it for 10 minutes. Then rinse off). It still spread. I ended up at the dermatologist's office again and was given a heavy steriod cream. 

In all of these instances, there were indications of a problem that I ignored. That tends to be something I have done a lot in my past. Other things always seem more important to deal with than a little  itch, a liitle pain, a little anything. The body tries to give us warning signs before there is a more serious problem on our hands. Our job is to take care of our body. This is something I am continually learning and something that becomes very clear in times of feeling miserable and knowing it might have been prevented. 

Simple solutions, such as taking allergy medicine, putting on some moisturizer, paying attention, could have prevented some issues later.

This is not just about eczema, it is about our need to start slowing down and pay attention to our health before some bigger issues creep up on us. Sometimes we need a wake up call to make changes in our lives. Sometimes it is the new year, with the yearly resolutions that never seem to stick. Maybe it is an illness that could have been prevented or at least treated before it got worse. Maybe it is watching a loved one ignore issues for a long time and then they come home with a life altering diagnoses. Whatever it is, why do we need these things to enact a change? Why can't we listen to the whispers of our body before it must scream at us to pay attention. 

Getting back to basics needs to start with us. Our inner voice. We need to stop letting the outside world, and all of its stuff, speak louder than our inner voice.