Wednesday, April 26, 2006

It's Been A Loooong and Busy Week So Far....

Short staffed, 2 therapists out, one with shoulder surgery and the other with wisdom teeth, or rather without wisdom teeth. I'm the only therapist able to do evals and I had a new student start this week, and he's really great, but any student in their first week slows you down so I've been putting in Rob's kind of 10 and 12 hour days. On a quick note before I conk out though...

I had another cute old lady this week. With my new student of course. Background, he's tall dark and handsome. He really is. Very nice guy, great student, and very good looking. My patient was 94ish, and in the hospital for an MI. (Myocardial Infarction. aka Heart Attack) When I was taking her mobility and home life history, she told me she lives in an apartment with her husband.

"I have a husband......He's old like me.....I have an old husband......I'm looking for a new one...... (Points to my student) He'll do!!!!"

How cute!!!! :)
That made our day.

And for all the fainting post-op knee and hip replacement patients I had today (I had to use 3 smelling salts) A great line from one of the nurses. How do you spell Relief? Trendelenberg!!!
Shop talk joke, I'll explain another time.

Nite Nite!!!

Monday, April 17, 2006

Surprisingly Good Passover Food

As I usually can't stand Pesach, here are some surprisingly good recipes I found. Some from friends, some from the good ole net and some from a great book entitled Matzah 101.

Some of the recipes, the ones form Matzah 101 actually, call for "prepared matzah" To do this, set out dry paper towels onto a surface, counter, table, etc. wet matzah under cool running water and lay flat side by sider onto the papertowels. Put sopping we papertowels over the wet matzahs. Wait 10-20 min until matzahs have the consistency of an al-dente noodle. remove the top layer of paper towels and let dry for another 15-30 min. Then you can use them in the recipes or store them in plastic wrap. I like to do 1 or 2 boxes at a time so I have the prepared matzahs all ready to go when I need them.

When you're ready for them just spread with softened butter or margarine and for a sweet recipe brush with a vanilla orange juice mixture and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. For a regular recipe sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, parsley, oregano, basil or anything else that strikes your fancy.


So here we go, Pesach Recipes!

Quinoa Pilaf (quinoa is a great grain with protein that's kosher for pesach! YAY!)

1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken soup(or 2 cups water & 2 tbsp chicken soup flavoring)
1 cup celery minced
8 oz mushrooms
1 medium onion chopped

Sautee onions, then add celery, then mushrooms.
In a medium bowl soak the quinoa in cold water for 5 minutes
Drain and rinse under cold running water
In a medium saucepan combine the soakes quinoa, vegetables, and soup and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes or until just tender
Drain, reserving the cooking liquid

Matzah Spring Rolls
YUMMY YUMMY!

12 prepared matzah
2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
3 Medium Onions grated
4 Stalks Celery finely sliced
4 Medium Carrots, peeled and grated
1 Small Cabbage, Grated
1 tbsp pepper
1 tsp salt
8 tbsp margarine

In a medium nonstick skillet, place oil over medium heat.
Saute, onions, celry, carrotsd, and cabbage for 5-10 min
Add pepper and sauté 2 more min
Cool and set aside

Cut prepared matzah into fourths
Lightly brush softened margarine on both sides of prepared matzah quarters.
Add one tbsp veggie mixture in lower center of matzah end and roll up firmly.
Place onto cookie sheet, seam side down.
Bake in preheated oven @ 400 Deg F. for 30-40 deg until golden.

Matzah Lasagna Spinach Rolls
These were AWESOME! No way could I tell it was matzah instead of noodles.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Preparation Time, 30 minutes
Yield 27

9 Prepared matzahs
4 Tbsp margarine
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
1 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped, or frozen and pressed

Trim top and bottom of prepared matzah as close to the edge by following the grain for a nice finish. Now, make strips by cutting the matzah into thirds, again following the grain, and set aside

Coat 2 11x7 baking dishes with no stick cooking spray. Drain and thaw out the spinach.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 3/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, all or the mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese and spinach and stir well.
Very lightly spread softened magarine on the softened margarine strips, then spread about 1 tbsp of the spinach mixture on each strip and roll up. Arrange cut side down and set aside.
1 1/2 cups chopped tomato, fresh or canned
4 cups tomato sauce
1 teaspoon each oregano and basil
1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, and onion powder
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
Fresh basil for garnish

The sauce does not need to be cooked separately. Mix above ingredients and spoon mixture over lasagna rolls. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, Uncover and top with the remaining parmesan cheese and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Garnish with fresh basil and serve with salad as a meal or appetizer.

Matzah NY Cheesecake.
Also amazing! My family loved this one, and they even loved the matzah crust. "better than the graham craker kind" Just beware, this one takes a lot of planning ahead, because it needs to cool a couple of times at loooong intervals.

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees. Yield 16 DO AHEAD 14 hour recipe.

For the Crust,
4 prepared Matzah
3 tablespoons soften margarine
1/4 cup Orange Juice
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar and 1/8 tsp cinnamon combined
1/4 cup almonds, toasted and crushed.

Grease sidesd of a 10” springform pan with margarine and sprinkle with some of the cinnamon/sugar mixture and set aside.
Combine vanilla and OJ into a small spray bottle. Spray both sides of the prepared matzah. Set for ~1/2 hour,
Coat both sides of matzah with margarine and sprinkle both sides with sugar mixture.
Place all 4 matzahs in front of you so that they are arranged to form a square. Turn pan upside down over matzah,
Use a sharp knfe and cut around the pan, yielding wedges to form a circle.
Turn pan right side up and place wedges with points inside the center to form a matzah bottom.
Sprinkle the bottom of the crust with both toasted almonds and sugar and set aside.

For the Filling
4 cups softened cream cheese (8oz)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs beaten
1 pint Sour Cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon peel, grated

Combine softened cream cheese with the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy. Pour into the matzah crust and bake in a preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until firm. Cool in refrigerator for at least 4-6 hours or preferably overnight.
When the cake has cooled, prepare the topping by preheating the oven to 375 deg F
Mix with a spoon 2 cups sour cream, and 2 tsp vanilla and 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Cover the cold cake with sour cream mixture and bake for 35 minutes in preheated oven
Cool for 12 hours
Prepare Crème garnish
4.4 oz vanilla instant pudding mix (one small box)
3/4 cup milk, 1/2 pint whipping cream,2 tbsp (powdered) sugar

Prepare pudding as per directions except use only 3/4 sup of milk. Whip 1/2 pint of whipping cream add 2 tbsp sugar until fluffy. Add to pudding mixture and whip together until light and fluffy and spread or use pastry bag to garnish top of cheesecake. Top with thinly sliced strawberries.

Artichoke Fritatta
Another Yummy Yummy recipe, one that I eat all year round actually, it's the only matzah I eat outside of Pesach. I think I may have posted it before.

4 eggs
6 large squares of crumbled matzah (or 6 cups matzah farfel)
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
2 small jars of marinated artichoke hearts chopped
1 bunch chopped green onions
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of tobasco or Worcestershire sauce (if available)

Saute onions in oil from artichoke jars, remove when tender.
Mix all ingredients together until well blended.
Put into 8inch oiled pan
Bake @ 325 degrees F, preheated oven for 30-40 min
Cool
Cut into small squares.
May be made ahead and frozen.

Try some, we still have a few more days before it's all over!
If we can't have the real thing, i guess these are a pretty good substitute.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Stick A Kosher for Passover Fork in Me...

I'M DONE!

I now have the CLEANEST apartment in all of Stamford CT.
No More Chumetz, No more Chumetz..... I miss it already...
Passover... here I come!!!

Anyways, my apartment is beyond spotlessly clean, Rob and I went on a cleaning marathon the past 3 days cleaning and kashering, I cleaned like crazy, covered my kitchen in aluminum foil so that it looks like something out of a 1950's scifi movie, switched over my plates, Moved in the Matzah products and now the sun is setting, and WE'RE DONE!!! WHOO HOOO!
I enjoy the holiday of Passover and the seders, and the family time and the shul time and all that, but I HATE the prep. And not having bread and all other chametzy stuff all week isn't so great either. But, it's one weeek out of the year, and if the Israelites can pack up and leave so quickly for freedom, then I can eat matzah for a week to commemorate that.

All I have to do now is go food shopping for the produce and perishable stuff I didn't get earlier.

So Happy Passover everyone, Enjoy your seders and you shining clean homes. :)

Oh yeah, and here's a cute clip of my Rabbi and his family on the local TV station doing a spot about passover and charoset. YUMMY!!!

The video thing is on the top of the left column menu. "Traditional Seder Meal" Enjoy! And Chag V'Kasher Sameach!!!!

Monday, April 10, 2006

Colorful Cupcakes














These are the birthday cupcakes I made with the diet coke cake recipe in the previous post. YAY for cupcakes with LOTS of icing and of course FOOD COLORING!!! :)
AHHHH I'm going to MISS bread come Wednesday......

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Diet Coke Cake

This is the ONLY time I'll ever use cake mix. Otherwise I don't believe in it, I like to do things from scratch. But here ya go.

I know it sounds REALLY weird but this is it.
One box of cake mix. (I like the chocolate)
One can of diet coke. (10-12 oz)
Omit the water/eggs/oil.
Mix.
Bake as directed.

Calorie count? On the calorie thing on the box it lists 2 sets, one for just the mix and one for the mix baked with the other ingredients. If you use the diet soda all you need to look at is the mix only column.

And nobody will ever be able to tell that you used soda instead of oil and eggs.

Other combos... Vanilla cake mix with coke, lemon, orange, cream,
Spice mix with lemon I hear is good. Chocolate mix with coke, cream, cherry, root beer....
Mix combos as your heart desires.

I made these @ work and everyone LOVED them and didn't know they were "diet" until I told them. :) And them they didn't believe me.

So, there ya go. A nice cake recipe to get rid of all your chumetzy cake mix and soda before Passover starts. ENJOY!!!

Enjoy!

WHOO HOO!!

According to weddingchannel.com

There are only 200 days until I get married!

WHOO HOOO!!

:)

Monday, April 03, 2006

Thursday

Thusday was CRAZY!!! I knew it would be a bad day when I woke up and my radio station had changed. I woke up and instead of Kool 96.7 my local replacement Oldies station to CBS FM 101.1 (which sadly died unexpectedly about this tme last year, to be replaced with obnoxious JACK FM... EWUGH!!!!) I got The NEW 96.7 The Coast! NOOOOO!!!! I think that there are Oldies Station eating gnomes out there on the airwaves. NO FAIR! And with no notice! No mention, no goodbyes, no nothing! Just wake up one morning and the station is different! I don't understand why they don't give out warning, I mean they HAVE to know about it ahead of time don't they? Now I have to go searching for another station to like......

Anyways, I digress. Thursday. I should have turned over and gone back to sleep. But I didn't And at 7AM I got a call from a co-worker to "pre-warn" me that she was sick and calling out that day. OY!!!! We're already short staffed with a therapist out on disability from shoulder surgery! So I rush to get into work because I wanted to get a head start on the schedule... and I dropped a glass and it shatterd all over the kitchen floor. Luckily Rob was nice enough to help me clean it up so I wasn't late. I got to work to discover our per-diem help/replacement for our out on disability therapist called out too. ARRRGH!!! AND our consult sheet was so beyond lengthy, the ortho/neuro surgeons are killing me. 4 joint replacements and 2-3 back/neck surgeries a day... The floor is full and we're going nutso trying to keep up. So let's just say it was a BEYOND busy day.

And I'm a bit slower with my student. She's good but not good enough to be fully independently treating/evaluating patients w/o my standby. SOME patients she can see w/ me seeing another patient at the same time, but mostly she can't. But she's at that in between stage where she's almost independent but I don't want to be/can't be seeing another patient at the same time just in case she needs me. AND she's a student which means that she is, as all students are, slow. So I'm sitting @ the nurses station peeking in at her all the time thinking about how much there was to do and how little time we had.

Luckily our supervisor kicked in a hand a bit WHEW! But it was still a hectic day. I didn't leave until after 6. And I was exhausted from the caseload, the teaching and the nasty rude disgusting man I had had for a patient that week. I'm not going to go way way way into it because it will make me too angry, but I'll say this. The man had a lot of trouble moving, poor balance, poor gait, difficulty with stairs. He absolutely adamantly refused, insistent on going straight home instead of for the rehab he needed, and then continued to be a rude !@#$% refusing home therapy services and insisting that the doctor told him he could go to outpatient. This man was so into his own disgusting attitude he refused to listen to any feedback and assistance we offered him in regards to his safety for a discharge plan or even with suggestions on how to make his mobility easier for him. He was a lazy sack of poop who refused to perform any exercises, and told us no one told him he had to do exercises, walking, therapy, which is BS because he knew from before his ELECTIVE joint replacement surgery that he would need all that. I think he thought that the home to outpatient would be the easiest route, when in fact it's the hardest. He wouldn't listen to the case manager, any of the therapists, or the doctor, and unsafely went home. I don't know why he bothered to have the surgery if he was going to be such a huge excruciating pain in everyones behind. I have never met a patient who was so rude and disgusting to me. Well, if he comes back with a broken leg or a dislocated hip this week, we all know why. But, everything is completely documented and my behind is covered.
So, with more going into it that I wanted to, that just added to the stress of my day. OY OY OY!!!

When I finally could escape (ES-CAP-EEEEEE) from the hospital, I went home and went straight to sleep. And THAT was my Thursday last. The whole week was crazy but that was the worst of it. Hopefully this week will be less hectic at work, because Pesach cleaning is going to kill me @ home... Ahhh Pesach. Cleaning cleaning cleaning... At least I'll get a clean, or rather a spotlessly, amazingly, shiningly clean apartment out of it. :)

More later, time to get back to work.....

Cute Doggie Friends

The photographer did a great job of matching up the kids and dogs.


A friend is someone we turn to when our spirits need a lift

A friend is someone we treasure for our friendship is a gift.

A friend is someone who fills our lives with beauty, joy, and grace And makes the world we live in a better and happier place.

There is a miracle called friendship, that dwells in the heart. You do not know how it happens or when it gets it's start But you know the special lift it always brings.