The Autodidact

Merry Christmas and salutations from the Marinos, an ever expanding and changing family! In no particular order, things happened: We sent this guy to far off and far flung places. Lewis, Glasses and braces and she is still stunning. Edith. Glasses on and braces off! Jared. This fellow has learned how to cook. Nathanael. This lovely woman is saving lives in an ER. Deborah. Without my permission, this little girl is growing up way too quickly. Eleanor.  Moved out and eloped. Garret and Margaret. This guy, well, it would fill volumes. Jay. Salut!

Poking around in an interesting keto cook book, I stumbled across a lamb stew. I did tweak it quite a bit to suit my tastes and pantry supplies, so I do consider this my own. 1 large red onion, sliced or diced to suit you 2 T coconut oil 1-2 t crushed red pepper flakes 3 garlic cloves diced or run through the press 1 T freshly grated ginger root 1 T Chinese five spice (see recipe for homemade below) 2-2 1/2 pounds lamb cubes (I used leftover lamb roast, and I highly recommend it) 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes 4- 4 1/2 C chicken broth (have roast chicken the day before and boil the carcass to use in this!) 4-5 diced prunes 1/4 C fish sauce (I found some on Amazon, but an Asian store should have it) 1 T Miso (same as above) 1/4 C soy sauce 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped Salt to taste Saute the onions in the oil until shiny, add the pepper, cloves, ginger, and five spice. Cook on high for a minute, then add the lamb and stir. Lower temp to low. Add the tomatoes, prunes and br

Recently, I tried some expensive keto granola bars from Costco, and they were delicious. But at a buck 25 per bar, I felt a bit guilty. I looked at the ingredient list, and realizing I had all the ingredients in my pantry, I sought to recreate them. I looked at a few on line recipes (which were not very helpful) to get my bearings and came up with this recipe. I cooked them in small batches, playing with the fat and sweetener, but now that I found something as good as the store bought, I will double this recipe in the future. 1 1/4 cups of nuts (I used a combination of almond, pecans and walnuts, but use what you have on hand) 1/4 cup EACH: sunflower seeds flax seeds (I used whole, but I imagine ground would be OK too) pumpkin seeds (pepitos) or pistachios 1/2 cup shredded coconut (I use unsweetened, but use sweetened if that's what you have) 2T hemp hearts (soaked chia seeds would work too) 1/2 cup coconut oil (generous) 1/4 to 1/3 cup maple syr

This spring, we were delighted to have a nest-full of robins right off our little back door deck. Cuteness abounded. The kids watched and guarded against predators and I established a rapport with the mother, who, in time, let me get quite close to her and her babies with little or no fuss. Daily pictures showed the kids how quickly they were growing! We marveled at how they all fit in the nest, especially with their mother sitting on them at night.You can tell the birth order just by the above picture: The oldest is giving me the stink eye, the middle one is trying to get all the attention, and the youngest is chilled out. Then, almost two weeks later, they hopped out and the flying lessons began! And that was that. We grew to love that little family and we were a bit sad when they left. I had gotten used to greeting them each morning before my breakfast. But who  knows? Maybe one of them will return to raise a new generation of robins next sp