Truffles/Cake Pops

I looked at some recipes on Pinterest for truffles, and modified them a bit to make 4 different kinds of truffles to take as a birhtday treat to work: thin mint, oreo, oatmeal cream pie, and peanut butter pretzel. They were a hit, and gone within less than 1 hour.

Thin Mint:
2 boxes Keebler cookies (thin mint knock offs), crushed finely
6 oz cream cheese (low fat is fine)

Oreo:
1 box Oreos, crushed finely
8 oz cream cheese (low fat is fine)

Oatmeal Cream Pies:
2 boxes Oatmeal Cream Pies
2 oz cream cheese (low fat is fine)

Peanut Butter Pretzel:
2 cups pretzels, crushed coarsely
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon salt

For each truffle, make small balls (about one inch). I used a cookie scoop, and then rolled. Put these on parchment paper and let them chill until they are pretty hard on the outside. This is especially important for the peanut butter ones.

Melt whatever kind of chocolate chips you want to dip the truffles in, a bag of chocolate chips will need about 2 tablespoons of shortening. I use the microwave, stirring every 45 seconds, power 80%.

Then dip the truffles and place on wax paper to chill. You can also drizzle with another kind of melted chocolate and top with cookie bits or pretzel bits for extra decoration.

I keep them in the refridgerator until serving, because there is cream cheese in the recipe.

Steak Topped Shrimp Tempura Sushi Rolls

I love making sushi at home! It usually ends up taking a lot longer than I plan, so one day I decided to streamline it.

I bought sushi rice from a local restaurant, and found frozen tempura shrimp at WalMart (and have since also used popcorn shrimp). I usually make a few kinds of rolls, usually a mixture of crab, avocado, cucumber, green onion, and shrimp. My favorite, though, is a shrimp tempura roll topped with steak.

Ingredients:
lean thick steak
frozen fried shrimp
avocado (sliced)
cucumber (cut into matchstick size pieces)
rice
sushi paper
mayo
sriracha sauce
rice wine
sugar
soy sauce
green onions (for garnish)

Cook steak to medium rare and let rest, and cook shrimp according to box directions.

Bring 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup rice wine, and 1/3 cup sugar to a boil, and let it reduce down until thick. This will be one of your sauces.

Mix 1/3 cup mayo with a few tablespoons of sriracha sauce (adjust according to how spicy you like things) and a teaspoon of sugar.

Place rice onto sushi paper and flip down onto a rolling mat covered with cling wrap. You can get a sushi rolling mat at most grocery stores now, or an asian market, or order online.

Add the shrimp and veggies, and roll the sushi up (I'd suggest a youtube video if you're not sure of the process).

Then thinly slice the steak and place it on top. Cut the sushi into pieces.

Top with both sauces, and garnish with green onion.

In the picture it is the roll all the way to the right.

Gall Bladder Attacks, Chest Pains, Remedies, and Removal

**If you read scary things about gall bladder removal, remember that people posting on health forums most likely had terrible experiences, and people with good experiences just don't take the time to post about it. I read online and was almost too scared to have the surgery, but I was completely fine!

For the past 3 or 4 years, if I ate a particularly large amount of greasy food in one meal or for a few days, or drank carbonated alcohol, I would get some chest pain that would usually go away by the next morning. I never really noticed a pattern until it happened and refused to go away.

One night after eating a huge helping of chinese black pepper chicken followed by a big bowl of frozen yogurt, all washed down with a few Mike's Hard Lemonades I woke up in terrible pain.

The pain felt like I had huge pressure in my chest, I really thought it was a heart attack, but I am 26 so that was not likely. I was sweating and had chills, and no position was comfortable. The only thing that made me feel slightly better was walking around the neighborhood in the dark, blanket wrapped around me. As soon as I stopped walking, the pain got worse again. I felt this way for about a week, and was not able to eat much. I would feel significantly worse after eating. One afternoon, the pain just stopped. I was in the middle of moving, so it was a relief to be able to feel better! I chalked it up to being extremely stressed with house sales and purchases.

A week later, the pain came back. I was so disheartened, so decided to go to the Dr. My Dr. couldn't get me in within a reasonable amount of time so I went to 'urgent care' where I was sent on my way with some acid reflux pills, and was told to have a gall bladder scan. I didn't end up going because I felt better within a few days. This went on and off for 2 months when finally I was unable to eat anything without the terrible pains that lasted anywhere from 2 hours to 16 hours. My Dr. finally saw me, and also suggested the gall bladder scan. So off I went. It turned out I had a lot of gall stones, and had my gall bladder removed 2 days later. I was lucky they got me in quickly, since I wasn't able to eat anything.

If you suspect you're having gall bladder issues, I would suggest the following foods that are easy on your gall bladder and don't produce much gas (which causes the tightness in your chest):
white rice
plain chicken
white bread toast w/ jelly
jello (not sugar free)
fat free pudding
greek yogurt
california roll sushi
baked potatoes or mashed potatoes
chamomile tea w/ honey
baked fish (not breaded)
applesauce
berries
low fat broth based soup
shrimp
fruit smoothies

stay away from:
sugar free things
chewing gum
carbonated beverages
caffeine
dairy
fat
fiber
red meat
eggs
coffee
brocolli/cauliflower

When in the midst of an attack (mine was severe chest pain, mostly under my rib cage, radiating to my back on the right side):
Try taking a hot shower
Drink hot chamomile tea with plenty of honey
Take deep breaths
Try laying on your left side
Take either tylenol or a NSAID
Try Gas-X, sometimes it helps the chest pain
Use a heating pad

When the attack stops, try to fall asleep quickly on your left side.

Surgery:
My experience went really well. I had it done outpatient, so went in the morning, and was home in the afternoon. I had some pretty bad pain in my shoulder, but the heating pad helped that. That night, I was able to eat a normal dinner with salad, bread, shrimp, a bite of steak, rice, and mashed potatoes (Texas Roadhouse).
I was able to move around and do things within a few days (Christmas), and by a week after, I was feeling pretty close to normal. When coughing or sneezing, place your hands in the area where your gall bladder was. When this area moves with a cough/sneeze, it can be very painful.

My only hang up, after a week I did a lot of laughing, and played the Wii. If the area where your gall bladder was is hurting when you're laughing, quit laughing. After that night, I was in pain for several days and even had to go back on the pain medication.

I read online that alcohol can cause issues afterward, but I have tried a few glasses and been ok. I would just suggest trying things slowly :)

Again, most things I read online were worst case scenarios, and probably only 1% of people actually go through what those people did.

Crunchy Baked Asparagus

Yesterday I set out to make a tasty dinner that you might get at a nicer restaurant with only things in my refridgerator. I wanted to try something new with asparagus so decided I wanted to bread it, but also wanted it to be healthy. I decided to bake it, but feared it might not get crunchy. It did though, and I will be using the recipe often, and probably with other veggies like green beans.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare 3 dipping stations. I used bread loaf pans, but plates would also work.

Station 1: flour with salt and pepper.
Station 2: milk, hot sauce (optional), smoked paprika, garlic powder. You could use any seasonings you'd like.
Station 3: panko bread crumbs

Trim off the bottom part of the asparagus. To tell how far to trim, bend one piece and see where it naturally breaks. Trim that amount for all, this will keep them from being stringy.

Dip the asparagus in the milk mixture, then flour, then milk, then panko.

Place on a cookie sheet with Pam cooking spray.

Cook for about 20 minutes, until the panko is turning a bit more brown.

I made a dipping sauce with mayo and balsamic vinegar. Ketchup or ranch dressing would also be good. Or a mayo wasabi dipping sauce!