Last month at clinic they said that my protein level was low, but they weren't surprised since I'd been so sick with that awful strain of the flu. This month it was a little higher, but still below the desired level. WTF? The nutritionist asked if I skip meals (breakfast once in a while), and suggested I try protein bars.

I'm not real into what I consider "cheating" food. If you're going to eat tofu, be honest about it and eat tofu--don't eat tofu made to look like meat, which strikes me as hypocritical. You don't eat real meat, but you eat fake meat? Do you decry fur as evil but wear fake fur anyway?

Anyway, they kept trying to give me supplemental shakes in the hospital, but I wouldn't touch them. Protein bars are pretty much the same thing, but solid, as far as I'm concerned, but I picked one up at Meijer a couple of visits ago. It was chocolate and peanut butter, and was supposed to provide 30 grams of protein. (It also wasn't cheap).

I took it with me to work one morning and tried to eat it in the car on a morning when I was really starved, figuring it would help.

The bar was heavy and leaden and somewhat pasty in texture, with nowhere near enough flavour to make up for this failing. I managed two bites and threw the rest away.

I'm still a little mystified by the low protein levels... I'm one of the more carnivorous people I know. My typical workday breakfast, however, isn't real protein-filled--usually it's a bowl of cereal at work because I don't have time for anything more elaborate. Sure, I'd love to have an egg-based breakfast, but it's not very practical, and I'm not sure I could convince myself to get up any earlier just to make a different kind of breakfast.

And now it's time for my protein-ful Sunday lunch: a ham and cheese omelette.

So maybe I should have checked the bottom of the oven for leftover pizza toppings before cranking it up to 500°.

Also, we really need a screen on the back door.

So the first time using the baking stone and peel was not exactly a rousing success. I hope this burny smell goes away faster than the smell of burnt garlic.

Apparently I didn't use enough cornmeal on the peel--the pizza stuck like a mother. I had to use a flat spatula and work more cornmeal under it to free it. Then I apparently missed a spot because it partially stuck, a bunch of toppings fell on the stone, and the pizza ended up totally cockeyed.

And apparently you need to lower the temperature when baking on a stone; I did the usual 8 minutes at 500°F and burned the shit out of the bottom of the pizza.

The edges of the crust puffed nicely, though.

And thanks to slid cheese and spilled toppings one edge of the pizza stuck fast to the stone and I had to haul the whole mess out of the oven.

What we scraped off the bottom crust was delicious. We'll have to try the same recipe but improve the method after I clean off the stone and peel.

Charles got pictures. Will try to put them up this weekend.

Inspired by the pecan-crusted chicken at berek's wedding lunch, we made this recipe for it last night. It was my first time making bread crumbs (usually I'm lazy and use the canned kind), and maybe my teeny little food processor isn't quite as crappy as I thought--it made short work of the bread crumbs and chopped pecans. We had green beans and chicken-flavoured wild rice blend as a side, and it was very good.

I know I have seen cake yeast in the past, but I don't know where or when. Meijer doesn't have it, so I hit Harvest, which is a teeny little grungy grocery store that reminds me of the Shop N Save in Waldoboro from back in the day. They often have odd items the big stores don't have, but they don't have cake yeast. Maybe Trader Joe's or O'Malia's will have it. I e-mailed Red Star to see if they'll elaborate on the "RED STAR® Cake Yeast it is available in limited areas of IN, IL, MA, MI, MN, NJ, NH, OH and WI." on their website.

I did get an assload of dry yeast at Sam's though, since we've been using a ton of it lately.

Time to start knitting Charles' hat.

Blue laws are a pain in the ass.

Yesterday we did our weekend errands, which included a trip to Sam's Club and Fry's, since we had to go into Indy to pick up the newly-repaired camera. By the time we were done with all that, and had dinner at a buffet, and got home, I was pretty well done in. However, I decided I'd better check the Frangelico supply if I was intending to make a Frangelico cheesecake today, and lo and behold, we only had a quarter cup left. So, today being Sunday, we decided that rather than go to a liquor store just to buy more Frangelico, we might as well just go do the weekend shopping at Meijer and get it over with.

So we did our grocery shopping at 9:30 last night.

At first we couldn't find the Frangelico in amongst all the other flavory liqueurs. Then Charles spotted the solitary bottle left: way at the back of the top shelf. I stood on the lowest shelf for extra height, but my arms are too short, so Charles stretched and managed to grab the handy little cord at the bottle's waist and reel it in. Apparently some 7' guy was saving it for a late-night party or something.

According to this Ohio is now one of the states allowing liquor sales on Sunday. Why did we leave there again?

I have potato plants showing above the ground! I'm so excited! I first saw them yesterday when I got home--they weren't there the day before! I also have beans, corn, and possibly carrots showing. I need to get in and pull the obvious weeds, like the plants with the blue-purple chevrons on the leaves. I don't like weeding when the plants are still seedlings because sometimes I can't tell what's a plant and what's a weed.

Need to drop off the kitchen knives at Jo-Ann's today to get sharpened.

My hot dog roll pan (and pasta flour) arrived yesterday. Now I just need to get some potato flour or instant mashed potato flakes (so that's why the rolls are so soft compared to regular bread) and I can try making a batch. Again, I'm so excited!

Planning on also making a batch of whoopie pies (the recipe without Marshmallow Fluff) and a recipe of marykosher's spaghetti sauce this weekend.

If we're going down to Noblesville to go to Home Depot I might also stop at the little cemetery near the highway at exit 14 to have a look and maybe take some photos.

August is getting disturbingly close. I need to schedule my dental clearance exam.