St. Baldrick's

A few months ago, Shannon had decided she was going to participate in St. Baldrick's.  St. Baldrick's is an organization dedicated to drawing attention to, fighting, researching, and eliminating childhood cancers.  The main way they do this is through their shaving events.  Because an organization with bald in the name OBVIOUSLY is going to have something to do with head shaving!

So over the past few months, Shannon worked to raise money for this cause.  When I did Undy 5k last year, she couldn't really participate, but she still helped to fundraise.  This time around, I had no problem with the head shaving...since losing the weight, I feel like I wouldn't look awkward with that look, and since there's a fairly good chance between the dandruff/seborrheic dermatitis and my curly hair that I'll be going bald by the time I hit middle age, might as well get a sneak peak now to get comfortable.  My biggest concern was that I just had a huge push of asking for money in November.  And with plans to do Undy 5k again, I figured it'd be best to save up my begging for that.  Shannon ended up raising over $700 for St. Baldrick's, not too shabby at all.

So, as a family, we went to the event at Martin's East.  I noticed on the way in, they did offer walk-in registration.  As we walked around, there was just a great sense of camraderie.  All the shavees are up on stage and they applaud everyone that gets up there.  There was a lot of events and activities for non-shavees too.  Silent auctions, Chinese auctions, face painting, hair coloring, hair braiding, carnival games, lottery games, food, beer.  But, watching everyone who went up on stage or signed up to do it, I felt like a chicken for not doing this.  I felt like, to do this, would be a badge of honor.  The child that Shannon did this in honor of, Sam, is a 2 year old fighting neuroblastoma.  BOTH Sam's parents did St. Baldrick's this year.  And Shannon was one of 13 women to sign up for the event (Far many more men sign up to do it).

So, I went back and asked about any open slots around Shannon's time.  And as it turned out, they had a cancellation about 30 minutes after.  So, for a 50 dollar donation, I had my spot.  And I was glad to see that both kids didn't freak out about us being bald, Noah got a HUGE kick out of it, and Darcy loves the feel of our heads.  The only problem I found after going down to the scalp...that dandruff/dermatitis stuff never went away, and so you can see ALL the sores and redness on my skin now.  I'll just have to keep working on it with my old shampoos and stuff.

Anyway, the real point of this post is to encourage anyone reading this to take the plunge and sign up.  It's just hair after all.  It grows back.  And it's such a good feeling, knowing that #1, the money you raise is going to make sure a kid doesn't have to be sitting in a hospital, doing chemotherapy when they should be playing on a playground, playing kickball, learning how to WALK! and #2, by going out and just showing people you are brave enough to go bald, you're raising awareness without even being loud, making signs, or asking for money.  There was no end to the amazing stories I saw there.  One girl walked up shortly before my turn, her sister was one of the storied children that St. Baldrick's helps...She is going to prom in a month, and on the spot, said if she could raise 1000, she'd get shaved right then and there and go to prom bald.  And about 10 minutes later, she had her turn in the barber's chair.  Or Team Scarlet, a team of probably more than 10, who raised over $48,000.  The team captain is the father of one of the children supported by St. Baldrick's  There were some less touching, more funny ones.  Like the Fire Chief and the Police Chief, who usually don't get along too well, getting shaved side by side.  Or a couple of the guys with real long hair doing Locks of Love along with St. Baldrick's, so they got their hair braided before it was chopped.

A picture of the two of us, after the event...

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try...: Pan-Fried Catfish (Repost)

I had this blogged about 7 months ago, but I've tweaked the recipe and I've actually had requests from people to post it, so why not?  I do have to give thanks and credit to my father-in-law, a former chef, who helped me figure out what was going wrong in my "technique" and recipe.  For awhile, the "shell" was flaking off during flipping of the fish and I ended up with pan-"half-fried" fish.  Also, my original recipe ended up being too bland.

Pan-Fried Catfish

1 lb catfish fillets
1 cup white cornmeal
0.25 cup white flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1.5 teaspoons Old Bay
0.5 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1.5 teaspoons Garlic Powder
1.5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
0.5 cup egg whites

1. Mix everything but the catfish and oil in a large bowl.  Toss well to make sure the spices are evenly mixed in the cornmeal and flour.
2. Pour the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper
3. In a bowl, pour the egg whites and add a "splash" of water to it
4. Using paper towels, pat dry the catfish fillets to remove any moisture
5. Run a fillet through the egg whites, drip dry it until the excess liquid mostly runs off, then roll the fillet in the cornmeal and flour mix.  Hand dust the fillet to make sure it gets entirely coated.
6. Repeat Step 5 with each fillet
7. Pour the oil into a large skillet and heat for 5 minutes on medium
8. Place each fillet in the skillet and cook for 5 minutes
9. Flip the fillets and cook on the other side for another 5 minutes
10. Continue flipping and cooking until the fillets are well cooked and starting to brown.  The cornmeal flour mixture should harden into a type of shell
11. When finished cooking, place the fillets in between two paper towels and pat dry the cookef fillets to remove oils

Per 4 oz fillet:

285 calories
15 g fat
15 carbs
23 g protein

Notes:

• The fat content on this is pretty high, but the majority of it comes from the fish oil, which is really good fat.  Worth it, in my opinion.  You could use a lower fat fish, but they're more bland also.  Catfish is by far my favorite.

I'm Not A Gourmet Cook, But I Try...: Crockpot Pulled Pork

Been awhile since I posted a recipe.  Been doing rotations of the same old standards for awhile, but I needed a crockpot meal and wanted to try a new one.  Now, we've done crockpot pulled pork before, but that was not on my diet.  In that one, I just put a pork loin in with 1 cup of BBQ sauce and a BUNCH of cola to immerse the pork loin.  Well, that "bunch of cola" obviously won't work on my diet, so I searched SparkRecipes and found a good one nutrition wise and sounded like it'd be straightforward.

The results were pretty good.  It's nothing special, but it does the trick.  And it was good enough that I found myself trying to snack on little pieces after dinner.  So, if you have tricks to make it even more flavorful, go ahead and spin it up.  But this is a nice healthier option for pulled pork.



Crockpot Pulled Pork BBQ


2 pounds pork loin

1 cup ketchup

2.5 tablespoons brown sugar

2.5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1.5 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

1 tablespoon horseradish mustard

pepper



1. Mix all ingredients except pork loin in a bowl

2. Place pork loin in the crockpot, then pour mixture over top

3. Cook on low 5-6 hours

4. Shred in the crockpot



Per about 1 cup of pork:

255 calories


4 grams fat


20 carbs


33 grams protein