Lamb Kofta

leaves from two sprigs of sage
1/4 cup pistachios
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 teasp ras el hanout seasoning
2 teasp zaatar seasoning (or 1 teasp sumac)
1/2 teasp sea salt
1 1/2 lbs ground lamb

Chop all ingredients except the lamb in a food processor.  Add lamb and process until combined and shape into elongated burgers.  Grill until medium rare (on skewers if you want, but they work fine without).  Serve with yogurt.

Paleo Chutney

2 lbs apples, peeled and chopped
1.5 lbs pears, peeled and chopped
1 cup cider (I used frozen cooked fresh figs in their liquid instead)
1 cup golden raisins
6 prunes, chopped (because that was how many I had)
1 cup cider vinegar
1 inch square of ginger root, or more, chopped fine
1 teasp salt

Cook apples, pears and cider until they soften some.  Add raisins, prunes, vinegar and ginger and cook until thick, stirring occasionally at first and more often as the water boils away.  This should be safe for boiling water bath canning because the vinegar provides enough acidity even though it doesn't have sugar.

Melanoma update

The healing from melanoma surgery on my upper arm went very smoothly--I had hardly any pain.  I went back to swimming a few days after two weeks on the advice of the lymphedema specialist, and I think my scar may have ended up a little more stretched out and raised than it otherwise would have been, but I didn't lose any range of motion in my shoulder, which is what I most cared about.  And I didn't use the scar sheets to minimize the scar because they didn't stay on as much as I move my arm. I had tightness and cording keep starting up in my arm for the first 6 weeks but I kept swimming and it went away.

Hearing that I had several long plane flights coming up, the lymphedema specialist (occupational therapist) ordered me a custom compression
 sleeve.  She warned me that lymphedema can develop when only one or two lymph nodes have been removed and often takes more than a year to appear.  I haven't worn the sleeve full time, but I wear it for 2-4 hours most days and for air travel.  She says she feels some fluid retention and I notice my arm sometimes feels strange (heavy maybe fits) so I want to be cautious.  I did see another lymphedema specialist (this one a physical therapist) who didn't think I had a problem at all, but she gave me the exercises I wanted to fight cording.

It doesn't feel over because at my 3 month appointment with the dermatologist he removed two moles, one of which came back atypical.  And that one was at the edge of the scar from the melanoma wide excision.  So I had a wider excision of that mole a few days ago. 

It was done by the dermatologist with local anesthesia only, so it wasn't a big deal.  But it is bigger than they had made it sound and hurts more than the first one did.  I think he may have cut more than expected in order to not leave tissue cut on both sides, but he didn't say anything.  My guess is that the surface stitches, which I didn't have the first time, make it hurt more.  They come out after 9 days.

 

It is not serious--there is still no evidence that the original melanoma has spread.  But it does make me worry, make me feel I can't count on my health.

 



Apple Souffle

two apples peeled and sliced
2 tblsp butter
2 tblsp maple syrup
5 egg whites
1/4 teasp cream of tartar
3 cups apple sauce (we used homemade)

Preheat oven to 450.  Cook sliced apples in butter in a deep straight sided saute pan until both sides are browned. Drizzle maple syrup over the apples.  Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until they form medium stiff peaks.  Fold applesauce gently into the egg whites.  Pour over the warm apple slices and place immediately in oven.  Cook at 450 for 15 minutes or until brown, then turn off the oven and leave souffle in the oven for at least another 20 minutes. 

Winter squash au gratin

3/4 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 large winter squash (3-4 lbs)
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon mace
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Toast pine nuts.  Melt butter and cook the onion until soft and beginning to brown. Add the garlic and then put aside in a bowl.  Deglaze the pan with the milk. Add cream, squash, and spices and simmer until squash is soft.   Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Preheat oven to 425.

Mix in onions and transfer to lightly greased baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 450 for 10 minutes.  If it is not browning on the top, turn on the broiler for a few minutes, watching carefully.  Sprinkle with the reserved pine nuts.

From James McNair's squash cookbook, with minor modifications.

strawberry rhubarb sauce for duck

2 cups duck stock (simmer neck, gizzards, half an onion and a stalk of celery while the duck is cooking)
1/4 cup white port or brandy
1 cup strawberries cut in half (or quarters if large)
1 cup cooked rhubarb with minimal sweetening
grated rind and juice of one lemon
1/4 cup cut up mint leaves

Combine stock, port, strawberries and rhubarb, bring to a boil, and simmer until strawberries are soft.  Stir in lemon rind and juice, then remove from the heat and stir in mint leaves.  Serve over roast duck.

Lymphedema prevention

As I feared, I have been caught up in the medical world.  I'm supposed to wear a lymphedema compression sleeve all day every day.  If I want a second opinion, Dawn Modzell at St Francis is recommended--864-255-1987