Seasoned Olive Oil Grilling Sauce

I just created a new conceptual recipe.  I was trying to think of a way that I could have something resembling barbecue sauce, while staying on Keto.  This recipe evolved rather quickly after that.
It has yet to be tested and the ingredient quantities may change, once I get the opportunity to test it.  Though that's unlikely to happen until this coming summer.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup 100% extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. Lawry's seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• liquid stevia to taste (optional) if using, be sure to heat long enough to steam off the water in it

No real instructions needed here.  Just measure and mix.  Then heat.  It may be desirable to heat these together in a small saucepan and then pour into a canning jar.  It can be put together in the jar and gently heated in the microwave if desired.  To prevent damaging the essential flavoring oils, avoid overheating this mixture.
USE CAUTION.  Avoid overheating the oil lest it should boil.  I've found that boiling oil can cause it to kind of explode.  And the microwave method gives no warning.
Serving Note:
Be sure to stir up the seasonings before apportioning a serving. Otherwise you may lose some of the flavor.  This recipe is intended to produce 16 1 tbsp servings. That is however only intended to season one serving of meat.
Calorie Distribution: 123 cal., .5 Carbs., 14.1g Fat, 0g Protein  (according to MFP).

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All Day Tea

This recipe is intended to allow individual choice of flavor. If you don't see a drink mix flavor that you prefer feel free to add your own, or leave it as just tea, with or without sweetener. And aside from the artificial flavorings from drink mixes, it is entirely herbal. No caffeine, no calories.

May be served cold or warmed.  To avoid damaging the flavoring, avoid overheating.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bag Bigelow Lemon Ginger herbal tea
• 1 bag Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime herbal tea
• Water, 59 fluid ounce (add more if desired)
• Great Value - Liquid No Calorie Stevia

Your choice of the following to taste;

• Crystal Light Strawberry Pineapple Refresh liquid
• MiO Orange Vanilla liquid
• Great Value Tropical - Peach Mango Passion Fruit
• Tang - Sugar Free Squirts
• Crystal Light - Blueberry Raspberry liquid
• other (personal favorites)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Steep both tea bags in 8 to 16 oz. of boiling water, for at least 10 minutes.  I usually let it steep until the water is cooled.
2. In a large container (at least 59 oz.) combine the remaining water and your choice of sweetener and drink mix(s).  Availability in your area may vary.
3. When the tea is done steeping, add it to the container of water and flavoring.  Top off as needed.

I use some version of this mixture every day.  The recipe is set at the listed volume only because of the bottle I use.  Although it may require the addition of more flavoring, it is perfectly acceptable to bump the fluid level to 64 oz., to allow it to be a complete compliment of 8 - 8 oz. cups of water per day.
I actually go with about 12 cups myself, due to my own personal health concerns.  And yes, that does mean that I add other beverages, above and beyond this.
I'd like to note that, although I do not have any documentation to support it, I have been given to understand that ginger and a sufficiency of fluid intake can aid in weight loss.  My results are slight, and I am monitoring my food intake as well, but I can say that the combination seems to be having a reductive affect on my weight.
My general opinion is that it can't hurt.
It is not without merit that I feel better when I drink enough each day.  It seems to even reduce the frequency of my migraines, which seem to be able to be triggered by nothing more than dehydration.
Please feel free to test it and draw your own conclusions.

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FLAME Inbound!

I don't know how I came by it, but I now have a Google news feed. It pokes at me several times a day, with news, gossip and so forth. I generally avoid the things that look like gossip. I just don't have the stomach for the stuff.

Today I decided to look at something, that could have been gossip, but wound up to be news. And not just news, but something I actually am rather passionate about!

Here's the link, so everyone can be on the same page with me;
Mila Kunis Expresses Her Objection to Pence's Policies in a Unique Way

[FLAME]
All I can think to say, at this time, is;  The Religious Right needs to get its collective Cranium out of its Rectum and stop trying to squash Women's Rights, as it relates to our own bodies and biological choices.
Just wait and see how they feel, when it's one of their daughters that needs the abortion!!!
Especially when *feigning shock* it's by some mixed-race "mongrel", that they wouldn't "let" her date in the first place.
[/FLAME]

My apologies to anyone who might have taken offense at the terms mixed-race or mongrel. That was not intended to offend anyone who might theoretically fit in those categories, per the religious right definition.
It makes me so very angry when these people presume that they can dictate to others. The flame was intended to illustrate my intense objections. The last thing I wish to do is offend anyone that might actually agree with me.
And for the record, I am a Liberal Democrat through and through!
Also, in case there's any clarification required, I fully support Mila Kunis, at least on this subject. I think it was a stroke of Brilliance, too send donations to Planned Parenthood in Pence's name.

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OMG! How is there any such thing as a non-person...

To my knowledge, the young woman in question here has committed no crime.

Everyone should see this story:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/11/03/justice_department_declares_war_on_aclu_attorneys_who_oppose_trump.html

Please read it for yourself. I only wish I knew how to make a difference here. My outrage knows no bounds, as it regards this sort of thing. Just another case of the "Religious Right" sticking its nose in someone else's personal business.

When REAL Life Gets In The Way

I probably have not already mentioned that I have a cat. She is not only my fur baby, but my anchor to the living world. She is also the sweetest most loving creature you could ever possibly hope to meet.

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Salome, on her favorite shop-rag bed.

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So, it should come as no shock when I say that I nearly fell apart when I found out she was not feeling well.

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To make a long story short, and to spare you all the medical details, she tolerated the trip to the vet quite well. Better even than I expected. The vet was very compassionate, even with regards to my extremely meager finances, and kept cost to about $60. Not really money I had to spend, but for my baby girl, if I have it, I will give it to save her.

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Now that we are home, she seems entirely unaffected. She's not even showing symptoms anymore. And unless she does, I'm not going to use the pain medication given to me by the vet. Why risk it?

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As for me; my nerves still feel extremely frayed (even raw). I'm still having difficulty doing even simple things (like getting my food). Even though I'm pretty sure she's fine now, I still feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not to mention, I'm still concerned there may be additional expenses to come.

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In the event that anyone would like to help, I'm including a link below. Every little bit helps. And anything would be appreciated. But for the record, if you are in a similar financial situation to myself, I would prefer not to further burden you.

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Help LilMischif

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It did occur to me, looking at the picture I posted of my baby girl, that I could actually offer a very small tip with this is story.

That sleeping box, she's sitting in, is extremely inexpensive to prepare. All you really need is a box, of a good size for your cat, and $5 or maybe as much as $15 worth of synthetic chenille type shop rags (I found them at Walmart, in the automotive section). I would recommend washing them, before you throw them into the box, for your cat to enjoy. They are also very easily washable. Do be sure to dry them with a softener sheet. Otherwise the static would become quite unmanageable. It might even prove painful for your beloved pet.

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My cat adores the shop rags. It gives her plenty of opportunity to dig and move the material around, for her comfort and even entertainment. And these rags are extremely cheap (about $5 for 10 conveniently sized rags). So if your cat gets fierce with them, even destroys them, they are inexpensive to replace. They're so cheap, you might even want to grab an extra package, to keep for use around the house.

A Tip for Making Calorie Reduction Easier

I recently had a doctor's appointment. My doctor told me that I need to cut back by over a hundred calories. So I made some small adjustments to all of my meals. Breakfast is usually my largest actual meal of my day. If you can see the picture below, you can see that it's bacon and eggs.
I used to have two strips of extra thick bacon and one egg. And I beat the egg into the bacon fat, in the pan. I believe I posted the very simple recipe some while ago.
The change I made to my breakfast is removing one slice of the bacon and replacing some of the fat with coconut oil and reserved bacon fat.  I used to just cut the bacon slice in half, which makes it fit better in my pan better.

By the way, I can honestly recommend the Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (I get mine from Sam's Club) over the Refined. It's your choice to use Organic or not. Mine is, though I don't have much of an option. I just find that the Extra Virgin adds a nice coconut flavor, without the texture of the "meat", that I personally can't deal with.
The trick I came up with is really quite simple. As soon as I take the bacon strips out of the pan, I cut each half into 4 more pieces (that's 8 total). Then I carefully arrange them back as they would have been if they were not cut. See the picture below for clarification.

 

I know it seems unbelievably simple, but there is some science behind it. The appearance of the larger strips, on the plate, lets your brain know there's more than just a little bit there. But when you go to eat, the little pieces make it more difficult for you to just scarfed down a whole piece of bacon, or even half of one, all at once. And if you cut similar-sized pieces from the egg, it gives you the impression that you're actually eating more food than you are. And it is super critical to take your time and enjoy your food. Obviously this doesn't just work for bacon and eggs. It can be adapted for just about any meal you might possibly want to prepare.

But don't just take my word for it. Give it a try yourself. I know it works for me. And I hope it does as much for you.
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A Cure for the Common Blah

As I have been on one low-carb diet or another for an extremely long time, I have found it necessary to find alternative ways to add flavor (especially the fruity kind) to my life.  One of the most efficient ways I found, so far, is direct application by squeeze bottle drink mixes.
They are not only great, as advertised, in water. They can work well in cooking and other applications. Some flavors work better than others when heat is applied. One thing I have found quite difficult, is finding flavors that will work with cream (as cream has a strong tendency to curdle with anything containing citric acid). 
I'm including a photo of a bunch of the flavors that I use and therefore recommend more highly than others you may find. Of course, your local store may have flavors I've never seen here in the Midwest.

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Oops! I noticed that the picture I took doesn't really portray the flavors very well so here's a list of the ones in the photo:

• Crystal Light Flavors;  Blackberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade, tropical coconut, mandarin orange (iced tea), strawberry pineapple refresh (caffeinated).
• Dasani Drops Flavors;  tropical coconut, pear acai, pink lemonade. Not included, due to being out; mixed berry.
• Generic Flavors;  peach mango passion fruit, pineapple coconut lime, raspberry black tea. Absent in photo;  orange blast.
• Mio Flavors;  sweet tea, acai berry storm (caffeinated), orange vanilla. Some of the generic flavors are also Mio in origin.
• And then, to round out the photo grouping, there's Tang.

For clarification, because it doesn't actually show in the photo, all of these flavors are sugar-free. A few do have a small carb footprint, but not so much that you need to avoid them entirely. Just be sure to read the labels prior to purchase.

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Some folks may have noticed that I posted, quite a while ago, regarding an unusual observation. For your convenience, I will recap it here. My earlier observation was that any drink mixes, containing propylene glycol, are no longer palatable since I've been on keto. And I began noticing this after maybe a few weeks. They may still be viable flavor options if you're only on the Atkins diet. I however have no intention of returning to using them. After all, propylene glycol is a purely synthetic sweetener.

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Because I know almost nobody, who just starts reading my blog, is going to read back just for S&G, I think it's probably prudent to go ahead and repeat myself here. None of my recommendations are paid for. Nor do I publicly endorse any particular company or product, for a fee. The only income I may possibly achieve, from these recommendations, is that which you give freely in appreciation.

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If you do appreciate the information I'm providing, please feel free to use the following link:

Thank LilMischif

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