Some of you friends and family know what's going on with me lately, and some don't so I'm going to do a little 'nutshell' version for you. I went to a neurologist because I've had this annoying twitch thing going on since the last few months of pregnancy with Timothy. They ran a whole battery of tests and didn't find out what's causing the twitch, but it turns out that I've had a (VERY MINOR) stroke at some point in the past, I have a small hole in my heart (a congenital defect, but they're checking it out just the same), high cholesterol, a high anion gap (whatever that is), sleep apnea, and possibly arsenic poisening. You know, if you take a car to a mechanic and he pokes around enough he's bound to find something wrong with it. I'm just sayin'. Anyway, I had a thing this last Sunday and I'm going for another CT scan because my neurologist thinks it was a TIA (like a mini warning stroke without the long term effects) but he wants to make sure it's nothing more serious. I guess I'm in the same boat as Bill "We're toast." Really, I'm fine, no worries.
Now, for some fun stuff.
Timothy, Ryan and I went up to Lewiston to visit Gram & Gramp Stellmon for a week. It was so great. Timothy still smiles when he hears Gram's voice over the phone and Ryan is such a little monster but he and Gram had so much fun having raspberry wars all week. I took a LOT of pictures and video so I just loaded them onto my picasa album. Here's the link to all the pictures from our trip up there. I'm going to load the video sometime, but you know me.
So-obviously-I'm trying to be even more careful of what I eat lately. Jon's sure that a low-fat, low to no sugar, only whole grains, low sodium diet can NOT include edible food, but I'm going to at least try. I got a leg up from my parents and Jay who gave us a huge amount of fresh caught Alaskan Salmon to add to the menu. Yay Dad. At Jon's parents the other day everyone else had burgers and I had a MorningStar Farms® Chipotle Black Bean Burger. I know what you're thinking:" Bean burger?!?" or "Mindy ate something with chipotle?!?!" Actually, it was pretty good. It had some spice, but with the bun, some lettuce and a tomato it wasn't too spicy. I also have a recipe of sorts that I tried the other night and loved. It's a black bean salsa thing. I'm not going to give exact amounts for the salt and spices, just add them to your liking. Really, all the ingredient amounts are negotiable. I just gave amounts to get you started. I know that the banana sounds like a weird ingredient, but trust me on this one okay. I had it once served over tilapia that I had just broiled with a little olive oil and kosher salt and I had it the next day in a whole wheat tortilla with some leftover grilled chicken. Delish both times. I'm also posting a lovely pork loin roast recipe that Jon made for me all by himself the other day because he's so wonderful. I just copied the recipe from the word file he'd saved it in, so I don't know where he originally got it from. For the recipes....
Black bean and banana salsa
1 c black beans
a half a firm banana (still has a little green showing), diced
a handful of diced cilantro
1/4 c or so of diced red onion
1/2 granny smith apple, cored and diced
some kosher salt
some chili powder
some cumin
1 lime
Mix everything but the lime together. Zest the lime then squeeze the juice into the mixture. Let it sit while you prep your meat or whatever you're going to eat it with.
Stuffed Pork Loin
Makes: 12 servings
Ingredients
• 3 ounces fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped dried tart cherries
• 3/4 cup cooked wild rice
• 3/4 teaspoon dried sage, crushed
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1 1/2-pound boneless pork center loin roast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried sage, ground
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme, ground
• 1/2 cup apricot jam
• 3 tablespoons water
Directions
In a large skillet, cook spinach in hot oil until wilted. In a medium bowl combine cooked spinach, dried cherries, wild rice, 3/4 teaspoon sage, pecans, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; set aside.
Preheat oven to 325¿¿F. Trim excess fat from pork. To pinwheel the pork loin, start cutting lengthwise 1/2 inch under the fat cap on the roast. As you cut the roast, gently rotate the roast at the same time. This will allow the roast to "unroll" as you cut it. When the roast is completely cut, it should be a rectangular piece of meat between 1/2 and 1 inch thick.
Sprinkle cut surface of meat with 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon sage, and the thyme. Spread spinach mixture over cut side. Roll up the loin tightly to resemble the initial roast. Tie securely with twine.
Place the roast on a rack in a roasting pan; insert a meat thermometer into thickest part. Roast in preheated oven for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours, or until oven thermometer registers 140°F.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt apricot jam and water together.
Remove roast from oven and brush on about half of the apricot jam. Return to oven and continue cooking 10 to 15 minutes or until thermometer registers 150°F. Remove from oven; brush with remaining apricot mixture. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes in a warm place before carving. The temperature of the meat after standing should be 160F
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