. . .outside of personal hygiene and dressing. I - 1. walked the dog 2. made the coffee 3. fed & watered the dog and cats 4. unloaded the dishwasher 5. started the laundry 6. posted this thread

PEPPER POPPER CAULIFLOWER I just made this up the last time I fixed cauliflower, combining ideas from different other dishes, and it turned out really good. The flavor reminded me of a yummy pepper popper which was a huge bonus because I am not overly fond of the taste of cauliflower. I apologize for not having exact amounts. I didn't measure or write down what I was doing. I'm approximating below. One head cauliflower - cut into florets and steam until done, about 10 minutes. press water out; I actually squeeze it in a clean dish towel so it ends up pretty smashed. Dice your favorite pepper (I used 2 multi-colored mini peppers, one red and one orange) and saute in a little oil or butter, along with onions if desired. Heat some butter (2 T) and heavy cream (1/2 cup) in a saucepan to hot but not boiling, add the peppers/onions. Season as desired. I used some salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, and cumin. Add cream cheese (4 oz) and stir until well combined. Mix into the cauliflower and enjoy! Leftovers reheat well.

I've been experimenting with recipes using cauliflower. I'll add my current favorite to this thread. I've had good luck with using full-fat plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream in recipes. I think they are fairly interchangeable. How have you cooked the cauliflower for this recipe? One comment said that they steamed it first and then baked it. I worry about making it too soft. It should still have some slight firmness to stand-in for potatoes, I think.

Yes! I've definitely used crushed pork rinds to coat chicken. It really develops a crisp coating, unlike when I've tried using almond flour. I don't use any other seasoning as the pork rinds are salty enough.

I haven't tried whole eggs. I wonder if the yolks would weigh down the dough and keep it from rising. Might end up denser and maybe more cake-like. Just guessing though. If you try it, please report back!

This recipe makes me think that my life has really been missing something! Looks perfect for my high-fat-low-carb diet and I bet you are right that it would be wonderful on the low carb bread roll. I'll have to look for the pimentos. I have everything else on hand.

LEMON CURD If you make the bread rolls recipe above, you end up with 3 egg yolks leftover. It is easy enough to fold these in to a bowl of scrambled eggs or other recipe but I'll sometimes use them in a recipe that specifically calls for extra yolks. If you are ok with the occasional use of artificial sweetener, the following is pretty good. 3 large eggs 3 large egg yolks 4T Truvia 1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh is great but I've been known to use bottled) 1 T lemon zest (I'll substitute 1/2 t. lemon extract if I don't have a fresh lemon) 6 T butter Whisk the eggs, yolks, and sweetener in a medium bowl. Add in lemon juice, zest/extract. Set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Don't allow the bowl to touch the water. Whisk constantly until it thickens (7 to 10 minutes). DO NOT WALK AWAY. It will thicken up very quickly once it starts. Remove from heat. Add the butter cut into pieces. Let sit for 1 minute and then mix until smooth. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and chill completely. You can eat the curd straight, top with whipped cream, make a lemon curd ice cream, or add meringue and bake for a pie. For the ice cream, simply add 1 and 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream and maybe a little more sweetener. Freeze in an ice cream maker.

Nice! I will have to try this. I'm very fond of making pizzas using large portabella mushrooms as the base but those can be pretty pricey. I'm not overly fond of the cauliflower or almond flour pizza bases that I've tried.

BREAD ROLLS This one is my favorite low carb bread recipe of all time as it has a texture that is very close to traditional bread, which seems to be where most low carb bread attempts fail miserably. I do like to warn folks that the TASTE is not as good as traditional bread so I always top it with something flavorful. If you haven't eaten regular bread in a long time, this will really fill the bill. I first found this recipe on the Diet Doctor website, here: https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/the-keto-bread My changes and tips include: 1. Leave out the salt. I think it ends up too salty otherwise. 2. Any vinegar will work. I usually use apple vinegar and I add it to the water before combining. 3. Large air pockets in the rolls is a common result. Minimize the amount of stirring you do. 4. These freeze GREAT. I store the whole batch in the freezer and just split them open and toast them. 5. The brand of psyllium fiber can really affect the result. I've had great luck with Konsyl Original Formula which I find at Walmart with the laxatives near the pharmacy. 6. I don't bother topping with the sesame seeds.

I'd love to start an ongoing thread where we can share our favorite low carb recipes. No policing so defining "low carb" is up to each individual. Everything from vegan to meat-based recipes are welcome. If your recipe is straight from another source, be sure to link or reference it. Many of my recipes start there but then are tweaked over time until they are my own.

Thanks. DD did decide to use Nicaragua as the where, based on the most Google references. She's just going to "wing" the rest. I can only guess that the intent of the exercise is to answer the questions using full sentences in Spanish. . .not necessarily a specific answer that the instructor is looking for.

Google links to a specific hotel by that name. Seems to mean something like "environmentally friendly shelter/hotel". DD is working on some Spanish homework and neither of us can figure out that in the world the instructor means by "where/why" the word is used. Any ideas? This was brought up in the last class period with the instructor and she just said "Oh, use Google."

DD18 needs to have 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed and we are trying to find the best time in her schedule, between final exams, dance practice/recital, college events, and planned travel. DH seems to think several weeks are needed as a plan for full recovery in case of any complications while the oral surgeon laughed and said a couple days would be fine as long as she wasn't planning international travel. Specifically, if she had the surgery (with sedation) on a Friday, are odds good that she will be up for 3 hours of dance practice by Monday evening?

I chuckled when I saw the title of this thread as I recently had to ask my DDs (ages 18 and 21) what some terms meant. I know better than to Google anything as things seen cannot be unseen. There are so many more terms now with lots of nuances beyond simply "straight" and "gay."

Hope springs eternal for easy fixes. Human nature.

I'm not familiar with H&R Block online but, if possible, I'd print out the new forms and scrutinize it line by line to find out how the refund increased from $400 to $2400 by reporting additional income. Either the first tax return form was wrong or the revised tax return is wrong. You could also try starting from scratch with a different program, like TurboTax, just to see what the final result is. You wouldn't submit it so it shouldn't cost you anything.

There needs to be a plan if none of the LAC and OOS schools come through (admitted & affordable). If that plan is not the in state public schools, I'd insist the student come up with an alternative before allowing them to not even apply.

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the alternative ideas and the cautionary advice to follow the given instructions to avoid any potential issues. We will probably do just that, even though it is a pain. The current mortgage holder does not have any physical locations near me, if anywhere. Thanks for all the congratulations on paying off the mortgage as well. We selected a house well under the amount the banks were telling us we could "afford," took a 15 year loan, and never traded up or took out equity loans.

Creamed spinach Riced or creamed cauliflower

Our mortgage has been sold to different companies several times during its term (a rant for another day). We have the monthly payments set up to automatically bank draft (pulled by the mortgage company, not pushed by the bank). Sometimes the payment amount varies slightly as the mortgage company adjusts the amount going into the escrow account for property taxes and insurance. This works well for us as it doesn't incur any extra fees and is high-convenience/low-effort. We are now within a few months of payoff. The mortgage company has sent us a couple rather confusing letters so DH called to find out what was going on. Essentially, they are requiring the final payoff payment to be sent by wire or by cashier's check with overnight delivery. Either of these would incur additional costs and inconvenience on our end, including taking time off work during banking hours. Can I insist that the final payment be by auto bank draft? From the letters that they send, they are very particular that the final payment be to the penny of what is owed on the day it is paid and that only they can make that calculation. Why not just pull the final payment amount automatically themselves then?! Any experience/knowledge within the hive to share? Thanks!

Dogs are social animals. The only ones I've known that were happy to spend significant time outside without their humans had a canine companion.

This sounds like us. Everything possible goes on Discover. I pay the balance every two weeks. Easy, simple, and cash back! Really seems to help our credit rating too. We actually once heard from a financial manager upon looking up our credit rating: "I didn't realize it went up that high." :lol:

I recently did that for DD18 and it is a surprisingly impressive number! Of course, there is no way to actually claim and receive all of them. If you want to try it, add up all the offered scholarships from all sources (DD's are from the state lottery and the schools she applied to, none of the outside scholarships came through). Be sure to multiply by the number of years the scholarship would be offered. DD's total is just over $70,000

Wow! Thank you, everyone. It is clear that we will have plenty to do -- great suggestions. I'm making notes and will look up the websites to discuss with DH. Is it too early to get excited? :hurray:

I just checked my records. I had a biopsy in each breast in 2016 at a stand-alone breast center that is associated with the near-by hospital. The total billed for the biopsies, not including the pathology fee, was $7500. My insurance cut that down to a $2,000 allowed amount. Was the $4 grand the total billed or after insurance discount?