Friday, October 20, 2017

#WYFF - Optometrist, Meat, Bananas, Pizza and a Movie

Michael has been having trouble with his right eye.  Trouble as in it's blurry and he can barely see out of it. He also has dry and burning eyes, and sees double from time to time. The VA referred him to a clinic out here. They seem like a really great set up...number 1 in the valley. They documented he is having trouble, ran a bunch of tests, and couldn't figure out why he is having these symptoms. 

As we talked about it at dinner, I googled...."Vision problems and Parkinsons." Who knew? As PD symptoms progress many have trouble with vision. This could be from the meds or the disease itself. Symptoms include dry, burning eyes, blurry vision and double vision. The optometrist didn't think it had anything to do with PD when Michael mentioned it.....I'm not so sure. This is something we will discuss with the neurologist. 

What's a vegan doing with a mini-cart full of MEAT????๐Ÿ“๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ 

A couple of friends (Becky and Lynette)  mentioned Carrs has weekly sales on meat. I went online, signed up to receive their sales ads and checked it out. We don't do a lot of pork - but times are desperate. ๐Ÿฝ  I needed to buy pizza toppings, we stopped by Carrs on the way home from Michael's appointment. He stayed in the car with his very cool glasses, and I went to check out the Carrs meat department.

It was $5 Friday, y'all!!!! They had buy 1 get one FREE on several items, $5 for others....I got a beef roast at $2.99 lb and bought two, I bought one pork roast (one free), one pack of country ribs (one free), pork loins for $5, NY fancy steak usually $12.99 for $4.77 and a couple value packs of chicken.

I moved on to produce and got wonderful grapes for $1.77 a lb, AND scored a case of ripe bananas (40#) for $10.00 - .25 a lb. I also got the name to call and talk to about case discounts. She thought they would give me a discount.

Shopping at Carrs was the most PLEASANT shopping experience I've had so far up here. The employees were friendly, helpful and talkative. The shelves were well stocked. The customers were laid back and friendly - mostly elderly.  If I shop the deals and stay out of the middle it will be fine. LOL

I decided to puree some bananas for muffins and breads, left some whole for "healthy" desserts and smoothies, and chunked up some of the medium ripe ones that had bad spots to avoid. This leaves the .89 a lb bananas for eating. Stacia helped me process them. It will be a bit of time until either of us want to make anything with bananas. ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜œ๐Ÿ˜ฎ
We ended up with 6 gal bags of whole bananas, 8 or 9 quarts of puree, and one gal bag of chunks.

Earlier in the week, Izaak had given us pizza dough from the restaurant where he works. That made Friday night a breeze. We enjoyed our pizza.....and then watched 'Escape to Witch Mountain'...because we watched 'The Tooth Fairy' last week - we're on a Dwayne Johnson kick.

This will serve as our #WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) post - for more check the #WYFF tabs above.

Pittsburgh Pierogies

We first had breaded pierogies in Pittsburgh. The menu called them "Pittsburgh Pierogies."  I went in search of a recipe and now we call them that too. 

INGREDIENTS:
Pierogies (We use potato onion to avoid the cheese)
Panko Bread Crumbs
Nutritional Yeast (or Parmesan Cheese if you desire)
Garlic Salt or Powder
Onion Powder (opt)

You can a host of other optional spices and flavors.

DIRECTIONS: 
Prepare pierogies according to package directions.

While they are boiling, mix up crumbs, Nutritional Yeast, Garlic and Onion powder.  Just make as much as you think you'll need, adjust to your taste.

Preheat a skillet with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan for 1 - 2 minutes.

Drain pierogies and run them through the bread crumb mixture. The bits of water will make the crumbs stick.

Fry for a minute on each side in HOT oil until crisp and brown. Put on paper-towel lined plate.

Serve warm with Ranch, or ketchup, or BBQ sauce or mix balsamic vinaigrette with BBQ sauce.....you get the idea.