Ang's Journal

I did an apheresis donation today. For the first time EVER (& I've been a blood donor for decades), I felt shaky & sick afterwards. I laid down with my feet elevated for about ten minutes & then went on my merry way. My blood pressure was a little low when I went in (112/62) but that's within my normal range. So I'm not sure what was different.

Friday I finished up my first field work trip of 2015 - two weeks on Arapahoe. It went fine - even less eventful than usual. We didn't even see any rattlesnakes. Shadeaux came with me again, since hotpantsgalore is still in New Orleans on a month-long work contract at Touro Hospital. I like having the little furball with me in Sterling - she's happy going to doggy day care all day, & she makes the hotel feel more homey in the evenings.

I was very happy to be back in Denver over the weekend. On Friday night, I met up with Bobo Bro & checked out his new condo. Saturday morning, I went to swim practice & then went out to brunch with the swim team. Saturday evening, reunited with Bobo Bro & went to the Rockies-Giants game at Coors Field. Sunday was a cold, rainy mess, so I stayed in all day & did food prep. I made fish tacos with an avocado/lime sauce that were delicious, & I refined a Whole30 version of the Kashi Mayan Harvest bake frozen dinner (removed grain, added shredded chicken). Of course, after a full day in the kitchen, my dishwasher stopped working. Still working on getting the landlord to fix that.

WHOLE30-FIED MAYAN BAKE HARVEST

Ingredients:

• 1 very ripe plantain (yellow and covered with black spots), peeled and cut into 2” pieces
• 1 chicken breast, washed and patted dry
• 1 cup bone broth or water
• 2 sweet potatoes, washed and diced into ½” cubes – enough to make about one layer on a 9"x 13" pan
• 1 bunch of kale, washed, de-stemmed, and chopped (frozen spinach works too)
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• 3 Tbsp. coconut oil (split)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 x 15 oz. can tomato puree (1 ⅞ cups)
• 1 Tbsp. ancho chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. Aleppo pepper
• ½ tsp. sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Toss sweet potato cubes in 1 Tbsp. of coconut oil and roast for 15 minutes on a baking tray.
3. Stir the potatoes and add the plantains, then roast for another 15 minutes.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp. of coconut oil in a lidded skillet to medium. Add the chicken breast and cook for about five minutes, until it is golden brown on one side. Add 1 cup of bone broth or water and flip the chicken over. Cover skillet with the lid and let the chicken simmer for 7-10 minutes, checking to make sure it is cooked all the way through. Save the broth or water.
5. Shred the chicken with forks.
6. Add another 1 Tbsp. of coconut oil to the skillet and sauté the onions and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the kale or spinach and continue sautéing until the greens are wilted.
7. Add the tomato puree, shredded chicken, ancho chili powder, paprika, and salt, and simmer for 10 minutes. Thin sauce with most or all of the saved bone broth or water.
8. When the sweet potatoes and plaintains are roasted and soft, remove them from the oven. Place the potatoes and plaintains in a 9x9” glass dish. Top the potatoes with the sauted onions/greens. Pour the shredded chicken and tomato sauce over everything and top with pumpkin seeds.
9. Return dish to oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serves 4.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/basketball/nba/philadelphia_76ers/5820624.htm

One of the strangest incongruities in my family is the fanatical devotion to the Philadelphia 76ers displayed by ( my mother. )

She calls them her "gang", & refers to Allen Iverson as "my little hoodlum". Anyway, when I called her last night, she was in a frenzy, watching the Sixers v. the Pistons in overtime playoff action. She was practically incoherent, screeching advice, groaning over AI's missed free throws at the end of regular play. Sad to say, the Pistons eventually won the game. She was so crushed. She just passed the phone to my father without any comment.