advice corner

1. Do not get kidney stones.

Well, that's pretty much all the advice I have right now, but it's valuable, peeps. After two ER visits, two nights in the hospital, and a surgery, I can say with certainty and some authority that kidney stones are a drag. And, they said that it was the size of a freckle. It's unbelievable what a freckle with bad intentions can do to a body.

I am very lucky to have Barbara to nurse me and play Scrabble endlessly. (thanks, baby).

I got home from the hospital on Friday late morning, and am definitely feeling better, but it's relative 'cause I still feel pretty darn cruddy. Also, all the medicine than I'm taking has it's own set of issues. Let's just say that there's some irregularity happening, and leave it at that.

Well, one more thing about the irregularity, but only because it ties into a recipe. I shuffled downstairs this morning determined to try to deal with it from a dietary angle. I made some buckwheat waffles with flax seeds and blueberries. I adapted it from this recipe that was adapted from a recipe in The Pancake Handbook (I just requested that from the library), but here's what I did:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup golden roasted flax seeds, ground coarsely
1 egg, separated
1 cup 0% Fage greek yogurt
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup blueberries (I used some I had frozen from this past summer)

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. In a smaller bowl mix up the egg yolk, yogurt, water and butter. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients all at once and stir just to blend. Like usual, whip the egg white with a hand mixer or a whisk until soft peaks form, then fold the whites gently into the batter.

If using a waffle iron, let it heat up first, then portion out about 1/2 to 3/4 cup batter into the iron. Liberally sprinkle the blueberries (I used them frozen, straight from the freezer). Close it, and wait for it to stop steaming. The waffle should become slightly browned and crisp. Serve with warm maple syrup.


Fun fact that I learned from the Dinner With Kirsten blog: buckwheat is an herb, not a grain, and is a cousin of rhubarb. Crazy!

I have been trying to do some baking each weekend, but I don't think that will happen today. But, I am trying to score some sourdough starter, so hopefully I'll have a post about that soon. I've never made a sourdough bread, but I'm excited to try it. Last weekend I made some basic whole wheat bread from a recipe in the The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole Grain Breadmaking book. Barbara made some potato-leek soup to go along with it. The bread was good, but not that exciting. The soup was souper!