There’s no reason you shouldn’t cook the food you like.
Why would you wait until you can get to a certain restaurant or order take out?
I say poo poo to that!
Go ahead and cook the food you like for pennies on the dollar!
Hey, and If you can, you should also start growing the food you like.
Surely last year has proven that you cannot always rely on being able to access the foods that you enjoy; so get into the habit of growing your own food–that way you’ll have your favorites right there in your own backyard!
In today’s video, I am cooking homemade pho, a Vietnamese dish, with ingredients that I have on hand.
Thanks to my garden, I’ll have more fresh vegetables to add to it next time–I am especially excited about adding my own home grown basil next time.
Daddy and I purchased the seeds for our patio garden back in late January/ Early February of this year.
We had planned to get started with this project much sooner.
But, life happened, and one day in mid February, out of nowhere, Daddy collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital.
As a result, he spent some time in the ICU.
But thank GOD, he was released ONE WEEK after his emergency admission date.
God was with him the entire time!
He was truly blessed and so were we!
We thank every doctor, nurse, assistant and therapist involved in his care.
Special thanks to my son and daughter who were with him when he collapsed.They took immediate—lifesaving action.
Remember, in an emergency, it is best to call 911 because they bring help; they are NOT just there for the ride!
They can make ALL the difference between living and dying!
Thank you to those first responders (Paramedics, EMTs and Firemen ) who arrived on the scene to care for my Dad.
Also, special thanks to the anonymous witness who called 911 seconds before my daughter did!
That said, after spending several weeks in physical and occupational therapy, Daddy is now recovered.
No doubt, we lost some time starting our gardening project, but his well-being was much more important to me.
AND NOW……
Enjoy the post and the video!
___________________
I think it was 2017 when I first revisited a recurring idea of setting up a patio garden.
Sadly, Covid-19 has recently come to town and highlighted, among other things, weaknesses in our food supply chain.
As a result, you can best believe that I am now moving this project to “on fire” status!
I’m dead serious!
Anyway, a critical piece to this garden project included having my daddy teach me how to set it up—mainly because that dude has a…
Mint
Jade
AND
Emerald
Green thumb mix!
His daddy taught him.
I’m a Georgia girl, so frankly, as far back as I can remember—and I am about 50 :), my dad, who is a native of Alabama, maintained a garden in our backyard.
He kept that practice up for years!
Later in life, maybe 15 years ago, he transitioned to apartment living, and continued gardening on a smaller scale.
Neighbors, who passed by his patio, would ask, “Hey man, how do you grow such beautiful greens?”
He’d just smile and offer some form of pleasant response and continue on with tending his “crops.”
And when the crops were ready to be harvested, mama made sure to cook them up just right!
Queen Diva Eva!
YAASSSS!
Now then,
Let me be frank, there is NO way in hell that my dad would consent to appearing on camera so I had to secretly record the action!
God knows if he reads this….that’s my ASS!
Oops!Did I say that?
Forgive me Daddy!
That said, I am going to post an audio of him supervising my steps toward establishing our little family garden along with a short video and some pictures.
Forever the conductor!
But he’s cool about it
Anyway…
Enough of my rambling.Check out the video.
LadyG loves YOU!
*** WARNING: This video contains strong Southern accents so may the peace of the Lord be with you if you are not used to it! A bit of translation is included 🙂
Comment on your experience with gardening, or if you’d like to leave a tip!
Check out Daddy’s railroad stories by going to category: “True Railroad Stories.”
*See pictures of one of his gardens in the first post I did about his gardening here!
My son says that when I’m about 90 years old he plans to sit me on his future back-porch, point to a bunch of trees and say, “Hey mama! Look at all that Germany back there! ”
He swears I won’t know the difference! LOL!!
Kids!
Anywhats….Have a great week my friends. I promise to keep you posted about the garden:)
Love, light and Sunday comfort to you!
LadyG
😘💋
PS: Ron Brown! I’m saving yet another plate for you Cuz! 💞
Stuffed Green Peppers topped with Mozzarella Cheese
Right after I posted this picture on Instagram, my brother, Tack, commented, “Looks like melted mozzarella clumps on top of whatever is underneath, LOL!”
Like that’s a bad thing.
I say bring on the cheese-albeit with a touch of hesitancy.
You see, milk products don’t seem to like me very much anymore.
But I’m taking my time with the break-up 😔
As for the stuffed green peppers, or “bell peppers” as we call them down South, I simply browned up some ground beef, added tomato sauce, seasonings, a smidgen of sugar then double-crammed that beefy goodness into four verdant par-boiled vegetable containers.
As you can see, I topped each pepper with a rather thin slice of mozzarella (I added a bit of grated parmesan prior to that).
So there little bro!
Clumps of mozzarella?
The nerve of that dude!
Anyway, here is a before and after:
Oh yeah, I had two extra slices of “mozz” so it turns out that I used 6 slices but who are you to judge me?
Whatevs!
This little “Fun with Mozzarella” endeavor started with the crab stuffed mushrooms from last week, and continued on with the peppers before concluding with the Portabella Mushroom Pizzas pictured below.
Ah…but all cheesy things must eventually come to an end so I decided to go to an old standby–Baked Chicken Florentine.
YAAASSS!
This sistah ain’t NEVER been to Florence, or any other part of Italy for that matter, but that didn’t stop me from piling spinach on top of some chicken and calling it Florentine!
LOL!
Florence, Georgia! Wherever that is!
Much respect and love to my Italian followers 💋
😎
Behold
What do you think about the peppers and pizza? Too much cheese? No pun intended! LOL!
Much love and light to you all
Lady G😘💋
Follow me on Instagram or simply check out my pictures- just click on the Instagram icon on the right panel 🙂 Let me know what you think!
So based on your advice, I decided to start cutting back on carbs.
In the interim, I will put on my stretch pants, walk and modify the remaining macronutrient proportions by cooking meals that are high in protein and moderately low in fat.
Oops…I almost forgot the water…I’ll be drinking lots and lots of water…(loaded with Crystal Light)
🙂
We’ll see what happens in due season.
Thanks for all of your advice guys!
Until we meet again, I bid you a Happy Wednesday!
Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram…just click the Instagram icon there on the right panel of this page…I’m not locked! LOL!
Here’s a video of my alter-alter ego, Big Thickem, having a bite of this crab situation!
YAAASSS!
AND…
My girl Sandra shared this picture of her specialty: Crab Fried Rice!
Pan seared pork chops seasoned with oregano, crushed red peppers and salt.
No words spoken!
Just a whole lot of lip smacking and finger licking!
All pretense aside!
At my house, when something tastes good, you’ll know it because we all become completely silent—well, with the exception of the aforementioned lip smacking and finger licking.
So, here’s how it went down:
So that was that!
Oh, by the way, one of my dear followers had the audacity to send Lady G this mess as a submission for “Real Good Food”:
The culprit’s first name starts with ‘D’ and rhymes with ‘arryl’
My Bestie’s Lunch: Jerk Chicken, black beans, rice and cabbage
Lady G ain’t the only one who knows how to throw down in the kitchen.
Today, I decided to share a pic of my girl, Gloria’s, lunch–which was actually leftovers from her Sunday Meal.
No, seriously, all of my closest friends are bigly into cooking real good food.
Don’t get me wrong, it is sometimes necessary to drop express meals via microwave.
However, my friends, who are all working mothers, believe strongly in the importance of cooking ‘from scratch’ as often as possible.
But there’s a trick to making that happen and here it is…
When you come home after a long day, be it from work or play, go straight to the kitchen and get started cooking. It also helps if you do some advanced prep work like washing and seasoning meats or cutting up vegetables.
Now, after you’ve gotten everything simmering, baking or whatever the case may be, THEN you can go take your shoes off and put on some comfortable clothes.
Of course, you don’t want to leave your food unattended for long or you’ll have bigger fish to fry (pun intended), so you must get back to the kitchen ASAP. Also make sure that children are always being supervised by an adult in the kitchen. If I am frying , searing or sautéing something, I do not leave it unattended.
Anyway, the ‘start cooking first’ trick works for me because I find that if I go straight to my bedroom and get too comfortable I will not feel much like cooking… and, at that point, a real good dinner quickly morphs into pizza, cereal or sandwiches.
NOT GOOD!
And so…
To sum it up, prepare as much as possible in advance and start cooking as soon as you walk in the door.
By the way, If you would like for me to share a picture of one of your real good meals, please shoot me an e-mail at: ladygflow1@gmail.com.
Be sure to put “Real Good Food” in the subject line and if it is real food that looks really good then I’ll highlight it here. Be sure and add a quick backstory about your selection 🙂
