More on Keto Emergency Food Storage

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

As the hysteria surrounding COVID-19 continues to impact the availability of food and hygiene/sanitation supplies, I’ve noticed a surge in visits to my blog.  Specifically, folks seem to be concerned about keto food storage in emergency situations. I’ve addressed this topic several times on the blog, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to reiterate some key ideas.

Before I share my preparedness strategies though, I want to take a minute to remind everyone to BREATHE! When our reactions are fear-based, we tend to make dumb decisions, and we tend to forget how to think logically.  Folks are worried about feeding their families, so they’re cleaning out stocks of foods they don’t even eat (or know how to prepare), and they’re buying enough toilet paper to last their family for years because they’re worried about supply issues.  If folks had thought and planned before reacting, I doubt we’d be seeing many of the problems that we’re seeing today.

With all that being said, if you’re still reading, you’re probably looking for some practical strategies for handling food issues during an emergency.  As I’ve said before, an emergency, perceived or otherwise, is no excuse to abandon your way of life because you haven’t planned ahead or you think it’s “too hard” or “too expensive” to stick with your health eating plan.  There are five people in my household who eat keto, and trust me, an emergency is the LAST place I want to find myself managing mental health issues, blood sugar issues, and inflammation issues simply because I hadn’t planned.  Times of stress are NOT the times when we want to lose it and give up.

Frankly, the majority of our preps rely on us sheltering in place.  Obviously, during a quarantine situation, this would be the most likely scenario, so I’ll dive deep into the strategies that we use to support our preparedness.

Copy-Canning

I’ve talked about this concept before in other posts, but if you’re new to the idea, it works like this.  After tracking, I have discovered that my family uses one can of mixed nuts every two weeks. If my goal is having four weeks worth of food storage, I buy two cans of nuts on this pay period, and I put one of the cans in my pantry.  Then, when the next pay period rolls around, I do the same thing. At the end of that second pay period, I now have four weeks worth of nuts in my pantry.

Pantry management is important with this strategy though because you don’t want to buy things that get buried and forgotten.  To avoid that, I rotate from my pantry so oversights don’t happen. Keeping with the mixed nuts example, on the third pay period (where I’ve already established my four-week supply of mixed nuts), I’ll simply take the oldest can of mixed nuts from my pantry and I’ll replace it with a fresh can from the store.

This strategy allows you to slowly accumulate a supply of foods that your family actually uses, and because pantry rotation is a habit that you’ve already established before you have to rely on it, you won’t fall victim to panic buys and wasted money and food.

And don’t forget.  Just because this technique is called “copy-canning” doesn’t mean you can’t use it with other foods.  I’ve used this technique to add depth to my chest freezer inventory as well as supplements, over-the-counter medications, toiletries, and household cleaning supplies.

Meal Prep

Most of us who’re keto use some form of meal prep.  In the context of emergency preparedness, however, I’m asking you to look at it in a slightly different way.  This winter, we had influenza in our house. We were all feeling varying degrees of awful, and there were times when I didn’t feel like eating, let alone cooking for my family.  In times like these, it’s nice to have extra servings of cooked meat, casseroles, soups, and the like that can be pulled from the freezer (or a canning jar) and reheated. Don’t plan on using every single morsel of food from your meal prep, and heavens, don’t throw away leftovers.  Put them in some sort of bag or container, label them, and put them back for a rainy day. It’s amazing how many meals you can put back without really trying!

As I mentioned above with the copy-canning though, it’s important to pay attention to the food that’s put back.  Every so often, eat one of those meals and replace it with something fresh. That way, you’re not relegated to eating food in an emergency that’s so old that it is unidentifiable.

Thinking outside the Box

If you’ve found yourself feeling woefully unprepared, you still have options.  The current state of affairs in my state has caused me to look at my preps and evaluate what I actually have on hand.  Right now, I’ve been stocking my preps with the foods that we typically eat, and I’ve been pulling from my preps with a more intentional plan to store the stuff that I’d prefer to rotate through — not just the stuff that I’d eat because I had no other choice.

Also, in doing that, I’ve found that I have more food than I thought I did, and that helps to alleviate the bit of anxiety that we all feel when it comes to testing our preps.  Eat some of that stuff that you wouldn’t normally choose to eat so you can have more of the things that appeal to you now. For example, I had this phase where I loved meatballs.  I found a bunch on sale at Sam’s Club, so I bought them for a really great price and I put them in my freezer. I made a good dent in them, but eventually, I got tired of eating them.  I still have meatballs in my freezer, but I’d rather have that space filled with whole cuts of beef and pork. Now would be a perfect time to use up some of those meatballs and rotate in new food, and we won’t be unhappy about doing that.  It’s just not what we’ve preferred to do recently.

Lastly, I’ve considered fasting if there’s a true shortage of food.  Some folks may not realize that compared to eating inadequate food in a time of stress, eating no food is easier on the body and comes with some really great physical and mental health benefits.  Of course, you have to make sure that you have access to clean water and electrolytes, but that’s absolutely one of the strategies I would use to get through a rough time.

We have options, and as I said above, if we stop, breathe, and think, we’ll be OK.  Remember that what we do matters!

Related Links:

Posted in Blogs, Prepping | Tagged , , | Comments Off on More on Keto Emergency Food Storage

Keto on the Cheap: 27 Weeks & More Fasting

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

After 27 weeks of “keto on the cheap”, I’ve reached a new milestone.  I am amazed at how easy this journey has become, and I owe so much of my success to Dr. Rob Cywes, the #CarbAddictionDoc.  Of course I have ownership in my own choices, but I’m certain I wouldn’t be doing as well as I’m doing today without his thought-provoking videos and social media posts.

For those of you who’re interested, my 27-week weigh-in showed me a new milestone.  I weighed 219.6! I haven’t been in the 210s since December of 2013, and I didn’t celebrate that achievement at the time because I was suffering from impaired kidney function that I believe was caused by a diabetes medication.  Before that, I hadn’t been in the 210s since 2001 when I got pregnant with my oldest daughter.

My body fat scale measured my body fat at 48.7%, and while this might seem shocking to some, I’ve come a long way from my estimated body fat percentage of 60% last September.  Also, I find it interesting that in the time I’ve been measuring body composition with that scale, my muscle mass has gone up with no exercise whatsoever. I’ve always known that it works that way when folks follow a ketogenic eating plan, but it’s been interesting to see the number increase as pounds fall off my body.

Losing 39.8 pounds in just over six months is impressive to me.  What really blows my mind though is the fact that I’ve lost over 70 pounds from my all-time high weight back in 2017.  The differences are obvious, but I still feel like that fat lady, and I know I need to work on that.

As far as the budget management goes, I’ve used two strategies recently that have helped to improve the bottom line.  First, with the start of Lent, I set out to follow a pattern of fasting on the days that are prescribed by the Church.  As a result, I accidentally fell into my longest fast yet — just over five days — and I was amazed! I started out only intending to fast on Ash Wednesday.  I planned to eat on Thursday, and then I planned to fast again on the first Friday of Lent. After I made it through the first day though, I thought, “Well, it’ll probably be easier on me if I keep fasting since the first day of a fast is usually the hardest,”, and before I knew it, Sunday arrived and I still hadn’t eaten.

After talking with some of my friends, I decided that breaking my fast that evening just after the five-day mark made the most sense because I wanted to have plenty of time to feast before fasting again on the second Friday of Lent.  It turned out to be a smart plan.

I had also decided that I would eat as close to a carnivore diet as possible once I broke my fast, and as a result, believe it or not, my food costs went down.  Yes, I broke my fast with ribeye, but over the following days, I feasted on butter-poached burgers. This meant that I was eating for less than $3/day, and that works for me.

When I started my blog all those years ago, I promised that I would never give up.  In those years, I’ve had some sideways moves and some pretty big relapses. As Jack Spirko likes to say over at The Survival Podcast, what you do matters, and I’ve taken that concept entirely to heart.  Without the struggle, I wouldn’t have success, I wouldn’t learn, and I wouldn’t grow. With all that being said though, I really think this is the time that it’ll stick. This is the time that I’ll pass these milestones without looking back (except to encourage others.)  We have this in hand, folks! We can do this!

Posted in Blogs, Low-Carb, Keto & Paleo | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Keto on the Cheap: 27 Weeks & More Fasting

Keto on the Cheap: 23 Week Update

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

After 23 weeks of keto, changes are still happening, progress is still happening, inspiration is still happening, and I couldn’t be more grateful!

First, I’ll share my stats.  After 23 weeks of keto with #NOPE (no off-plan eating), I have lost 32.2 pounds.  My body fat percentage has gone from an estimated 60% to a measured 50.5%, and I’m still losing inches even when the scale is moving slowly.  As usual, I’m absolutely thrilled!

We’re still using all the strategies that I’ve covered in previous blog posts to keep costs down, and this is extremely important now that all five of us are eating keto at home.  My pattern of re-evaluating strategies did reveal something last week though. A couple dairy items that we use here frequently turned out to be significantly less expensive at Aldi, and I wasn’t aware of that because I hadn’t taken the simple step of asking my husband how much something cost.  This oversight meant that we were spending an additional $.88 per quart on heavy cream and an additional $.43 per quart on half & half. While this might not seem like a big deal, it adds up to about $160 worth of savings per year. That’s not insignificant.

Nothing much has changed in the day-to-day implementation of my journey, but I haven’t been thinking a lot lately about my long-term success.  In fact, it really struck me this morning as I was listening to one of my favorite podcasters talk about his keto journey. He’s lost about 45 pounds in six months, and he was talking about how he still had more weight to lose.  He was talking about how he was going to tighten everything back up again, start measuring and tracking EVERYTHING, and he expected the rest of his weight to come right off. As I was listening, I couldn’t help but think that he was looking at keto like a “diet”.  Follow the steps, count the things, restrict and suffer, and results shall be had. It’s not like that at all for me now though.

I have no idea how many times I’ve said stuff like, “Keto isn’t a diet.  It’s a way of life,”, and I really meant it each time I said it. It wasn’t until I was listening to Jack Spirko talk about his journey though that the true meaning of that statement really clicked with me.  For me, keto isn’t weight loss, diabetes reversal, or health gains. While all these things are a biproduct of eating a ketogenic diet, at it’s very heart, keto for me is sobriety. Keto means that I’m not ruled by an addiction that has the power to overtake or even end my life.  This means that I can’t think about in the context of “working the system” to get to the finish line that is my goal weight. I have to think about it from an addiction perspective, and I really think that’s why it’s so different for me this time.

Do I want to be thinner? Sure! Do I want to keep my diabetes in the past? I absolutely do! The fact is though, if I don’t actively manage my addiction to carbohydrates, none of that stuff matters because I’ll relapse and then I’ll be fighting that awful uphill battle that is painful and destructive, and I’ve been down that path too many times already.

If my long-term success is built on the goal of maintaining sobriety, I’m happy to accept slower progress that’s not the result of “working a diet”.  That may not be acceptable for some, but I’ve tried all the other things and they didn’t work long-term. This seems to be different, but of course, I won’t know until more time has passed.  I refuse to get cocky.

In the meantime, I continue to push along, learning and growing as I continue to heal.  And I hope that by sharing my journey, I can help folks in their own journeys. There’s nothing special about me.  I just made a choice and decided to stick with it. Anyone can do that, and the benefits help you build confidence to keep going.  What we do matters!

Posted in Blogs, Low-Carb, Keto & Paleo | Tagged , | Comments Off on Keto on the Cheap: 23 Week Update

Product Review: XHtang Ratchet Belt

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

I never imagined that a belt like the XHtang ratcheting belt from Amazon would be such a game-changer for me, but I’m absolutely in love!

For those of you who aren’t aware, women’s clothes are usually designed stupidly.  Not all of our pants have belt loops, and when they do, they appear to be meant more for decoration than anything else.  It’s as if we’re supposed to wear belts that make us look cute without actually holding up our pants. This is a real problem.

Over the years, I’ve managed to pick pants that will accommodate a reasonable belt.  It isn’t always easy, but since a durable, functional belt is a must in my life, I’ve gone the extra mile.

In 2017, I started wearing a simple black belt that was meant for men, but it did its job.  It held up my pants and it supported items that a person might want to put on her belt. As I started losing weight though, I needed to purchase a smaller belt.  Fred had been using a ratcheting belt for a while, so he suggested that I give one a try. I expected it to be a fad, but I bought the belt and haven’t looked back since.

There are two reasons that I really love this belt.  First, as I’ve lost weight, it has been really easy to resize.  I simply remove the leather from the buckle, trim the requisite amount of leather off the buckle end, and put the belt back together.  No more getting every minute of wear out of a belt by adding new holes that have the belt wrapping halfway around your body because you don’t want to get a new one.

The second thing that I love about this belt is it’s adjustability.  Normal belts have holes every inch, so if you happen to need an in between size, you have to add another hole or deal with saggy pants.  The ratcheting belt can adjust to the quarter inch, so my pants stay put, even when I’m wearing a radio, a phone, or a gun.

As an added bonus, the manufacturer sells leather pieces without the buckle if you’re needing to replace that part of the belt.  Sometime in late 2018, one of my pets got ahold of my belt. She put some teeth marks in the leather, but I dealt with it. I decided that next time I needed to shorten the belt, I’d go ahead and treat myself to a new piece of leather that doesn’t have teeth marks in it.  And since I’ve now lost a total of 8” off my waist, I decided it was time to cut the old belt down and order a new piece of leather. I’ll keep the old one in case one of us needs it, but I was able to get the new piece of leather for about ⅔ the cost of the original belt, and I expect it to last for years!

If you’ve considered trying a ratcheting belt, I highly recommend this one.  It’s really well made for the price point, and the features have me thinking that I’ll never go back to a regular belt again if I have anything to say about it!

Posted in Blogs | Tagged | Comments Off on Product Review: XHtang Ratchet Belt

Etekcity Smart Body Fat Scale: A Blind User’s Perspective

Posted on January 17, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

A few months ago, I ran across the Etekcity Bluetooth Smart Body Fat Scale and I was intrigued.  Although I have a scale that is accessible to me as a blind person, I really liked the idea of a device that could sync with my phone and provide me with more than just my body weight.  The Etekcity scale seemed to be the right tool for the job, although I was reluctant because I wasn’t sure if the app would be accessible to me. Of course, the only way to find out was to purchase it, so after Christmas, I took the plunge and ordered it.  After all, I couldn’t argue with the price. (I paid less than $20 for the scale.)

I was so excited when the scale arrived, but since I’d never used it before, I had to wait for some sighted assistance to get started.  Luckily, my husband was happy to provide that over his lunch break.

My first impressions were good.  The scale has a simple design and it’s incredibly durable.  (Ask me how I know.) I did end up needing someone to orient me to the front of the scale since it wasn’t immediately recognizable by touch, but that wasn’t a big deal.

When it came time to set up the app though, things didn’t go as smoothly.  The scale requires the use of an app called VeSyncFit.  Ideally, you’re supposed to use the app to set up an account, pair it with the scale, and use it to start collecting data.  The app gives you access to biometrics like body fat percentage, bone mass, muscle mass, percentage of body water, and more.

Setup was far from ideal for me though.  Parts of the app are accessible on my Android phone running Google Talkback and Explore by Touch.  There are buttons that I can’t access at all though, and what’s more, there is detailed information available to sighted users that isn’t being read to me.  And lastly, if I want my scale connected to my Google Fit app, I’ll apparently have to turn off my accessibility so that a sighted user can do it because I can’t enable that feature at all while my accessibility setting are enabled.

I’m still thrilled to have the scale.  The hardware is great, but the app that’s required to get access to the biometric data is NOT a good fit for blind users.  Yes, I got a profile set up, and yes, I’m using the app to collect biometrics, but I suspect I’m missing 50% of the app’s features due to lack of accessibility.

Since the price point of the scale was amazing, I suppose I shouldn’t complain.  After all, the app does add some functionality to the scale that I couldn’t get with my old talking scale.  My hope is that the app developers will improve the app though because tools like this are amazing assets to those of us who’re blind and visually impaired, and I doubt it’d take much from a development perspective to fix the current issues present in the app.

In the meantime, I’m going to continue to use my new scale to collect data about my body composition as I continue on my path to better health.

Posted in Blogs | Tagged , | Comments Off on Etekcity Smart Body Fat Scale: A Blind User’s Perspective

Blind Lady Anecdotes: Growling Guide Dog

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

In 2017, I went to Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, Michigan to train with my third guide dog, Denver.  I was so excited because I hadn’t had a guide dog since 2007, and it was a hard road to get me approved for training that third time around.

The school had changed so much since I was last there in 2002.  The building was different, and the training was entirely different.  Those first few days before I met Denver seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, our trainer was headed into my room with My amazing new partner.

Like people, dogs are all different, so it didn’t surprise me at all when I met Denver and started to get ot know his personality.  He was a little shy at first, but it wasn’t long before he warmed right up to me. Immediately, he reminded me of an old man who’d been stuck in a young dog’s body.  There was just something about him that said that he was wise beyond his years.

That afternoon, I think we took our first walk together, and we spent some more time bonding.  Before I knew it though, it was time for dinner. Unlike others in my class, I’d been through this before.  I knew that the first meal with all those people and all those dogs in the dining room was going to be interesting for sure.  While I’d never seen anything crazy happen with those well trained dogs, I knew it was bound to be noisy at the very least.

Finding our place at the table went without incident, and we all started to eat our supper.  I don’t remember what we were talking about, but I stopped dead in my tracks because I heard a sound.  I thought it sounded like growling, so I kept listening. There it was again! It was definitely growling.  And the second time, I actually recognized that it was Denver because he had his chin resting on my foot and I felt it through my shoe.

“My dog is growling,”, I said to the group.  Everyone else seemed confused. They were trying to figure out if I had lost my mind.  “There! Did you hear that? He’s GROWLING!”

Immediately, our trainer jumped up and went around to the side of the table where nobody was seated.  She picked up the table cloth so she could see Denver, and then she started laughing.

I was so confused because I didn’t think a growling guide dog was anything to laugh about.  Maybe he was giving another dog stink eye under the table or maybe he felt threatened. I didn’t know what had triggered the behavior, but I was certain he was growling and now my trainer was laughing.

“Sarah, he’s snoring,”, she told me as she continued to laugh.

“Snoring?”

“Yep.  He’s sound asleep on your foot and he’s snoring.” Boy did I feel like a dummy, but I’m certain I’ll always laugh about that day because it really was pretty funny!

Posted in Blogs | Tagged | Comments Off on Blind Lady Anecdotes: Growling Guide Dog

Keto French Toast Chaffle Sandwich

Posted on January 12, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

chaffle sandwich on a plate sitting in front of a waffle makerMy family loves breakfast sandwiches, so I developed this recipe to approximate the same flavors that you get with fast food breakfast sandwiches.  These chaffle sandwiches are much more filling than their counterparts made with grain and sugar, and they’re easy to eat with one hand if you need breakfast on the go.

Here’s how you make the chaffles.

Ingredients

  • 6 eggs
  • 1 T cinnamon
  • ½ c almond flour
  • ½ c powdered erythritol
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 1 t vanilla extract
  • 3 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer instructions.
  2. In a medium bowl, beat eggs.  Then add almond flour, erythritol, cinnamon, vanilla, and baking powder.  Stir until combined. Add the mozzarella cheese and stir until thoroughly mixed.
  3. Spray waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray (if desired).  Use a measuring cup to place a scant ¼ cup of batter into each section of a 4-slice waffle maker and cook to desired doneness.

Notes: This recipe makes approximately 12 mini waffles in my Bella four-slice waffle maker.  I make them in batches and then refrigerate them to use for sandwich building throughout the week.  Rumor has it that they can be frozen as well, but they don’t last that long at my house.

To make the breakfast sandwiches, I cook eggs in silicone egg rings.  I add shredded cheese to the eggs as they cook so I don’t have to fuss with cheese slices, although that’s a matter of personal preference.

While the eggs are cooking, I heat pre-cooked sausage patties in the microwave.

To build the sandwiches, I put a chaffle on a microwave-safe plate, and I drizzle it with sugar free Davinci Gourmet pancake syrup.  Then I add the cheesy egg, a sausage patty, and a second chaffle.  I pop the sandwich in the microwave for about 30 seconds to heat everything through, and that’s all there is to it!

This coming week, I’m going to try batch-cooking the eggs as well so I can assemble sandwiches ahead of time.  That way, I can heat a batch of sandwiches in the air fryer and I’ll be a little more efficient at getting folks out the door.  I don’t mind cooking for them, but I could definitely be more efficient on school mornings.

Related Links:

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Keto French Toast Chaffle Sandwich

Keto Recipe Review: Carlshead Pizza Crust

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

pizza slices on a plateIn an effort to keep my family on track with low-carb/keto, I decided to try a pizza dough recipe that I’d never made before.  A girl can only hear so many rave reviews about a pizza crust before trying it, so that’s what I did. I made “Carlshead pizza”, and it was a hit!

As most of you know, I’ve been following a ketogenic way of eating off and on for over 20 years.  In that time, I’ve made pizza toppings on a plate, I’ve made pizza on a zucchini crust, I’ve made pizza on a cream cheese crust, and I’ve purchased pizza on a cauliflower crust (made by Real Good Foods.) Some of these attempts worked better than others.  Some of these options tasted better than others. Some of these options were more like real pizza than others. In the end though, I never found something that called “pizza” to me, and since some of these options were a real pain in the butt to make, I had almost given up on finding something that would behave like real pizza.

Fast forward to December of 2019 when I was binge-listening to all the episodes of the 2 Keto Dudes podcast.  I heard one of the gentlemen mention “fathead pizza”, and it occurred to me that I’d never made that before.  I had just assumed that it would be more of the same disappointing stuff that I’d experienced in the past.  After listening to more episodes though, I was intrigued, and I decided to try Carl’s version that’s egg-free.

My entire family was stunned the first time I made the pizza.  We made something that I had missed from my childhood — a barbecue pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms — and of course it had LOTS of cheese!

Our first attempt made a pretty small pizza.  The “dudes” had claimed that it would make a 12” pizza, but between my son and me, we were struggling to get it up to 10”.  It was still delicious though.

After a couple more attempts where I sturggled to form the crust, I decided to go back to the original recipe that calls for an egg.  I figured that it probably wouldn’t add anything in the way of flavor but I hoped it would make the crust easier to shape. Sure enough, the egg did the trick! I was able to easily shape the dough with my hands (which is important for someone who can’t see), and I ended up with a pizza that fed four of us and allowed for “cold pizza” leftovers the next day.  Winner, winner, pizza dinner!

I’m still really grateful to Carl Franklin for his invention.  Had it not been for him, I never would have discovered a pizza crust that tastes and performs more like pizza than any other keto option I’ve ever had.  And now that I can shape the crust without cussing and hating life, I feel like it’s a huge win for our entire family. While eating pizza toppings is good, having a piece of pizza that you can actually pick up and eat with your hands is something that I haven’t experienced too much.  I mean, I can pick up the Real Good Foods pizzas, but the crust tastes gritty and “off” to me.

I’m sure we’ll experiment with a myriad of topping options.  It’s been a while since I’ve made a fajita pizza, so I’m thinking one of those is in order.  For now though, the BBQ pepperoni pizzas are pretty special, and I can make them quicker than I can make pizzas with a bread dough, so there’s something to be said for that too.  I’m a happy girl for sure!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Keto Recipe Review: Carlshead Pizza Crust

Blind Lady Anecdotes: Driver’s Ed

Posted on January 7, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

When it comes to being legally blind, I’ve never taken myself too seriously.  I’ve found that humor is a great way to help folks through their discomfort when it comes to interacting with me.  There was one time in my life though where someone was all too eager to support me, and a situation that I thought would have been utterly hilarious turned out to be a major let-down.

When I was a junior in high school, I attended the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities.  Since only juniors and seniors attend, this was my first time working with a lot of folks who’d never worked with a blind person before, so I thought I was going to be funny.  I planned an elaborate joke that was supposed to make everyone laugh. It didn’t quite turn out that way though.

Step one in the prank involved my academic advisor.  I went to him and asked to add driver’s ed to my schedule.  He seemed pretty confused, but I explained my plan to him. “I want to take this drop/add slip to Dr. Lambert and ask him to order books for me.  First, I’ll ask him if he can get the books in Braille, and then I’ll change my mind and ask for books on tape so I can listen to them while I drive.”

My advisor got a good chuckle out of the whole thing and he sent me on my way with a drop/add slip for driver’s ed.

I went over the plan in my head as I walked to office of the gentleman who helped me with accessibility issues.  I was going to walk into his office, hand him the slip from my advisor, and say, “I was hoping you could order some books for me.  I’d like them in Braille.” Then, after pausing dramatically, I was going to say, “Or wait a minute! I’d rather have them on tape so I can listen to them while I drive.” And then we were all supposed to get a good laugh.  But sadly, that isn’t what happened.

I walked into Dr. Lambert’s office and asked to speak with him.  Fortunately, he was there and came right out to talk with me. I handed him the slip, and executed the first part of my plan, asking him to order the books in Braille.  Before I could add the part about getting the books on tape, he eagerly agreed to order the books for me.

Wait a minute! This wasn’t how this was supposed to go.  He was supposed to understand that I wasn’t serious, and we were all supposed to laugh.  His willingness to help ruined my prank! Determined to get a laugh though, I asked about books on tape.  God bless him, he still didn’t understand that I was just joking.

After an awkward pause, I finally explained my plan — that I was trying to play a prank — and then he finally laughed.  Rarely had I felt as defeated as I felt just then, but fortunately for me, I’m pretty sure that all the folks who were involved in said prank still remember it all these years later.  In fact, one of the staff member’s dreamed up an idea to get Purdue to help develop a self-driving car to help in the endeavor. Oddly enough, something that was science fiction back in the early ‘90s is science reality less than 30 years later.

Posted in Blogs | Tagged | Comments Off on Blind Lady Anecdotes: Driver’s Ed

Baked Chicken Tenders (Low-Carb/Keto)

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Sarah Wittekind

keto chicken tenders on a plateThis recipe is based on other folks’ suggestions to “bread” chicken with crushed pork rinds.  My family absolutely loves them, and they’re even good cold.

Ingredients:

  • 4lb (approx.) chicken breast tenderloin pieces
  • 3oz spicy pork rinds
  • 1oz parmesan cheese (in the green can)
  • 2T ranch seasoning powder

Procedure:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degress Fahrenheit.  Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil.
  2. Place pork rinds, parmesan cheese, and ranch powder in a food processor.  Process into a fine powder and place in a shallow dish.
  3. Roll chicken tenders in “breading” and place on the prepared baking sheet.
  4. Bake chicken tenders in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Carefully turn tenders and bake for another 15 minutes.

Notes: The first time I made these, I made the mistake of seasoning the chicken before rolling it in the “breading” mixture.  It was entirely too salty. I’ve also made these by dipping the chicken in beaten egg before tossing it in the “breading”, and it didn’t make a difference in the taste.  It was, however, a lot messier.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Baked Chicken Tenders (Low-Carb/Keto)