My parents are visiting today so I have planned on “falling off the wagon” with pizza and breadsticks for dinner. What was not planned were the several donuts, hershey’s nuggets, and bagel I’ve had at work. I’m about to give up dairy, so my rationalization for a huge carb day is that I’m going to be even more restricted in my eating soon so why not splurge.
DISCLAIMER Do not try this at home, my body is a professional at maintaining even with splurges like this.
I had a unplanned off the wagon day on Tuesday, my body did not do well. I had severe bathroom trips and a lot of cramping and headache. I can’t handle it.
Chicken at Perkins restaurant, with grilled crimini mushrooms & asparagus, minus the rice, plus bacon, butter & avocado oil. 
My grandmother was born in the 1890s when everyone did everything themselves (there was no local grocery store or Walmart/Target, etc). She sewed her own casings and washed them after every use. She used muslin fabric. She made LONG tubes with the fabric. She ground her own meat with the spices, attached the casings to the end of the grinder (hand crancked) and allowed it to fill the casing–then she would twist the casing at the right length for each one, and keep going filling, twisting, filling, twisting, until they were finished. She would hang them in her root cellar for a bit to cure before removing them/using them. She re-washed the casings and repeated as often as needed. She made larger casing (diameters) and smaller for summer sausage, hot dogs, brats, all the way down to breakfast sausage sized links.
Homemade anchor wings and celery, blue cheese. They came out very good. My daughter scarfed them down.
What an awesome story! Thank you for sharing it. I’m wondering where your grandmother was located? I’m totally into the sewing thing. I’ve sewn bags from cotton muslin for hanging cheeses…I’m just wondering, did she use a cotton muslin (which would have been cheaper in the states), or did she sew her casings out of linen, which would have been far more expensive if she was on this side of the pond.
It is pretty long ago. I think she died in the 80s. But I remember them being thick, only it is hard to know, as I believe some fat clung to them, despite the washing in between uses. To the best of my memory, they felt like that waxy (which is why I’m thinking fat stuck to the casings) oil cloth that people used to use for table cloths and other things which needed to be water proof. Hard to know where she purchased it–as she was born in Europe and moved to the states during WWI.
We do, sometimes 
I’m from the South but moved to CA many years ago. Hehe. Okay we don’t still sit on the porch with a shotgun unless trying to get rid of these darn ground squirrels. And I have both beef and pork fat in jars in my fridge. I don’t drink sweet tea but I did when I was young.
My version of Caponata.
Veg/Vegan keto friendly if you serve it minus these delicious lamb chops and cheese 
Hotel Breakfast Bar that actually had some nice protein choices! Even real butter. Low-fat Philly was a disappointment, however. Small victories …
They are a different sauce than buffalo and my family prefers it to traditional buffalo. I could go either way. Here is where they (and buffalo wings) originated:
https://www.anchorbar.com/history
I didn’t nail the recipe but my husband said I came close 
Slow cooked beef ribs (all day in oven with salt/pepper/cinnamon/paprika/ancho flakes and whole dried ancho granda, mulato & chipotle peppers)
Then cut off bone and sliced up, dice up the now soft peppers and mix in, back under grill to crisp up and serve with guacamole and Creme freshe on Cos lettuce wraps.
Oh I know I just like to tease, I actually had to return steaks from mine today cause they went off early somehow 
wasn’t happy about it
This week I am making Italian sausage, sans the sugar, and grinding my own 17 lbs of pork shoulder from Costco. I also found out how to grind my own mix of hamburger meat (2 lbs chuck, 1.5 lbs sirloin) too. If you have a kitchen aid mixer, you can get the meat grinder attachment for about $30. I’m also going to make breakfast sausage. I’m freezing most because it’s a lot of meat, but it will be nice to have Italian sausage at about $2/lb instead of $5.99/lb as I was paying. Plus, I can customize the seasonings.
Where do you get it for $30? I’ve not been able to find any attachments for under $90.
