They Loved My Soup

it is 10:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed.  it is now thanksgiving  in America.  I really miss it.  I wanted to do something tonight but I just couldn't get it together.  I worked until 6:30 this evening.  I came in at 11:00 a.m. to get the prep work done for the lunch.  I decided to make falafels.  I fried up about 5 eggplants.  the secret to a crispy eggplant slice is to salt them first and drain the liquid.  it does make a difference.  I made a large bowl of tahini paste.   the guys love this stuff. I then chopped up dozens of tomatoes and cucumbers and sliced up an industrial sized can of pickles and many onions.  I baked two trays of frozen French fries.  that's about 5 pounds of chips.  they took over two hours to finish.

I also made a vegetable soup with carrots, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, onions and zucchini squash.  I no longer throw tomatoes into everything. one of the guys can't deal with tomatoes.  I stopped making a red sauce with tomato paste for the pasta. I have been doing a lot of teriyaki sauce lately. one guy has gone non gluten so I try to make lentils or chickpeas each day.  another young man is a vegan so I try making eggless corn bread and cakes.  the secret is vinegar.  another young man has a nut allergy so I took home the peanut butter.  it is quite a balance to feed everyone.  we are up to 20 young men.  there doesn't seem to be many leftovers these days.  no one has complained of not getting enough food.  at least, no one has complained to me.

I went to the supermarket on Tuesday to buy ingredients to make a thanksgiving meal. my friend, who dog sits for me when I visit the kids in Jerusalem, is coming over for Shabbat.  I could only find ground turkey, necks and fillets.  I already put up a pot of turkey neck soup and made a turkey stew and a pot of rice.  I also made two slices of tuna.  I bought two nice size pieces of pumpkin to make a pie.   I baked one piece and put the other one in the soup.  well, guess what?  I have to go back to the supermarket tomorrow morning to buy another piece of pumpkin.  after draining the liquid out of the mashed pumpkin, I was left with only one cup of pumpkin.  the recipe calls for two cups. go know....

I am trying to make a low sugar and low carb pie this time. I have been sugar and mostly carb free for about two weeks.  I have been eating huge amounts of protein and a lot of veggies.  I really have to lose about 30 pounds or more.  the grandkids started calling me a fatso. my sciatic has gone down into my hip and I am nearly crippled.  I manage at work but when I sit, standing up is unbearable.  I stood for 71/2 hours today at work.  I don't know why it took me so long to finish up.  after lunch, I made an eggless chocolate cake. I was going to make turkey burgers for their supper but I just couldn't fry one more thing.  I made a tray of red lentils and one of rice.  I made a pot of turkey meatballs without tomato sauce.  I hope they liked it.

the washing up took over an hour.  I couldn't wait to get home.  luckily, I caught a cab home. I have a low carb recipe to make corn bread.  I am using coconut flour and oil and many eggs and only a third cup of corn meal.  I wonder if it will taste like corn bread.  I bought a bottle of stevia back in the summer.  it tastes disgusting.  I have ben drinking hot chocolate with cocoa powder and a dash of natural almond extract.  it really doesn't taste bad without the sugar.  I will attempt a pie crust using coconut flour tomorrow.  I hope it goes well.  my friend is bringing a chocolate pumpkin cake.

I don't want to get triggered into eating a lot of sugar again. I couldn't find frozen cranberries.  I bought dried cranberries to make a sauce.  I read about a drink called 'cape cod' with cranberry juice and vodka and that's what got me started on making thanksgiving.  I managed to buy ocean spray cranberry nectar but I will see if I can find the real juice in the supermarket. I also bought frozen string beans to make almandine and ready cooked beets.  we shall have a feast!

sideline-  that picture of me is already ten years ago when I was still active and healthy and pretty attractive.  it was from my son's engagement party.  it was before I had cervical cancer, and before they detected a brain tumor.  it was before I had grandchildren and before I got fat.  it was before I lost my mother and most of my savings.  it was before I entered a pretty bad depression and before I got temporary facial paralysis.