Hey, buddies and fellow residence cooks!
That is my weekly publication (it is someday late), which incorporates 7 weeknight meals + 3 wholesome salads (for the week of September 2-8, 2024), and a quick life replace.
7 weeknight meals + 3 wholesome salads
DAY 1: Creamy Hen Pasta with Inexperienced Beans and Bacon
DAY 2: Mexican Avenue Corn and Shrimp (30 Minutes, One-Pan)
DAY 3: Greek Salmon Salad with Spinach, Tomatoes, Olives, Feta, and Lemon Balsamic Dressing
DAY 4: Pan-Seared Flank Steak with Creamy Solar-Dried Tomato and Spinach Orzo (30 Minutes, One-Pan)
DAY 5: Stuffed Spaghetti Squash with Broccoli, Sausage, and Cheddar Cheese
DAY 6: Hen with Apricots and Honey-Lime Sauce (30-Minute, One-Pan Meal). You should use peaches, nectarines, plums, or apples as an alternative of apricots. Or, soak dried apricots briefly in a pot of boiling water to plump them up, drain them nicely, and slice them up.
DAY 7: Ham Spaghetti Pasta with Spinach, Burrata Cheese, Crushed Pistachios, and Lemon Butter Sauce. It is an amazing recipe for lunch ham meat or any packaged sliced ham. It’s also possible to use contemporary Mozzarella cheese (tender balls or a sliced log) as an alternative of Burrata.
SALAD 1: Arugula Salad with Apples, Dried Cranberries, Pecans, and Balsamic Dressing
SALAD 2: Beet and Apple Salad with Blended Greens, Pecans, Blue Cheese, and home made Honey-Lemon Mustard Dressing. Good for roasted, boiled, marinated, or pickled beets!
SALAD 3: Strawberry Orange Salad with Spinach, Arugula, Toasted Sliced Almonds, and Feta Cheese
LIFE UPDATE
It has been a little bit of a busy week, and I have been in fixed catch-up mode, having to resolve many issues and deal with quite a few tedious duties and trivialities. On prime of that, I’ve had extra physician’s appointments within the final 30 days than I might like. I used to be unexpectedly identified with extreme anemia, so severe that it wants speedy consideration, and it can’t be placed on a again burner.
My July lab outcomes have been alarming, with practically all of my crimson blood cell metrics flagged with Excessive Alert notifications. For instance, my Ferritin 5 ng/mL (regular vary needs to be 15-150), Iron 12 ug/dL (regular vary needs to be 17-159), Iron Saturation 3% (regular vary needs to be 15-55%), Hemoglobin 7.7 g/dL (regular vary is 11.1 – 15.9). Anemia is usually categorized as gentle, reasonable, or extreme. Sadly, all my numbers fall into the “extreme” class, which explains why my physician stored persistently attempting to achieve me on the telephone within the final 3 weeks.
Residing at 9,000 ft, my crimson blood cell depend needs to be excessive (because it often has been), however proper now, I am working with the naked minimal. Actually, my crimson blood cell depend is presently a lot decrease than it needs to be, even for somebody at sea degree. My iron absorption is sort of nonexistent at 3% (in comparison with the conventional 50%), resulting in dangerously low hemoglobin ranges. This implies there’s hardly any oxygen being carried via my blood to my lungs, muscle mass, and different important organs. All of it is smart now—I have been persistently 20 minutes slower on my traditional hikes and could not push myself tougher with out practically passing out. This has been occurring for a 12 months and a half now. My preliminary intuition was to disregard all of this for some time with the hope that the anemia resolves itself by itself since I’ve a lot on my plate proper now and a lot to compensate for. However then I spotted that will be silly—it might really be life-threatening. So, I’ve began taking it critically by taking dietary supplements, consuming loads of crimson meat, and commonly incorporating hen liver, beets, Vitamin C into my food regimen to spice up my iron ranges.
Sadly, due to all that hecticness, I acquired thrown off my traditional routines, which I all the time discover irritating.
On a brighter observe, although I have been slowed down with many tedious duties and coping with my anemia that confirmed up out of nowhere, I am pleased to say I am lastly catching up. I’ve began filming new recipes and have already photographed 4 new superb recipes with crimson meat, with plans to do many extra this week. And, in fact, I’ve made positive to get exterior and hike 3 times every week—that all the time helps me keep grounded.
I want all people an amazing week crammed with scrumptious meals, enjoyable conversations on the dinner desk, good temper, vitality, and happiness. Be wholesome, and do a whole CBC blood take a look at at the very least yearly!
