The Bean & Seed

Drinking Beans & Planting Seeds

A blog about food, health, and disc golf!

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  • Fast Food Substitution – Fried Chicken Sandwich w/Pickles & Fries

    I went too big on the chicken sandwich… I have to admit that right up front!

    So, last week I mentioned starting a new feature that focuses on creating substitution meals for fast food favorites. The idea is to save some money, yes, but more importantly, to create healthier alternatives at home. My goal for this week is to come up with something that can be a substitute for Chick-fil-A (CFA). Any family member or former coworker of mine knows that I had quite the big Chick-fil-A obsession there for a while, but I’ve definitely slowed down over the last few years as I’ve tried to get my blood pressure and migraines under control. That said, I still love a chicken sandwich with pickles and know this is a great meal for my easy refrigerator pickle recipe!

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  • Easy Refrigerator Pickles

    My finished refrigerator pickles.

    I’ve been making a lot of refrigerator pickles lately and want to share the easy recipe I’ve settled on. These are great to have on hand to eat on their own, or to add to burgers, chicken, or grilled cheese sandwiches. The goal of this recipe is to let Mary and I have all the pickles we want without all of the sodium and sugar found in the varieties sold at the grocery store. In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing some fast food replacement ideas that will feature these pickles as a primary topping. With that said, my refrigerator pickles are intended to have some character and bite to them as a focal point of my sandwiches rather than an afterthought.

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  • 30-Day Physical Therapy Challenge & Car Accident Insights

    Can I use these tools to get my hand and arm healthier?

    Back in 2019, Mary and I were involved in a head on collision where our car was totaled. Mary was mostly unscathed, but I suffered an injury to my left arm and have never fully recovered. Over the next 30 days, I am challenging myself to remedy this the best that I can before seeking additional professional help. At the time of the injury, I went through 6 months of physical therapy. My intention is to pull out all of my old equipment from therapy and to recreate the regimen I was on at the time of the injury. Now, all of that said, there were a few life lessons that came from this experience that I’d like to share.

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  • 7 Years of Pain

    There is always hope.

    My earliest memory is one of pain radiating from the back of my skull through my left eye. I do not remember crying out, but I know my dad came to my aid with a warm washcloth to place on the back of my head. In my mind’s eye, the scene plays out from above my bed at a height of 15-20 feet. After this experience in my childhood, I do not recall having this same pain again until I was a teenager. I came to call them headaches, because what else would they be? I had one about every 6 months, so nothing to really worry about. I would simply warm a washcloth and sleep them off. This lasted for nearly 20 years. In 2015, I had an episode that went on for two weeks and I became completely debilitated.

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  • Easy Beef & Macaroni

    My finished beef & macaroni.

    As mentioned in my prior post, “Turning Cravings into Kitchen Staples”, I’d like to follow up with another easy recipe that uses Hunt’s Basil, Garlic & Oregano Diced Tomatoes as its central flavor. The goal of this beef & macaroni recipe is to be quick, easy, low in sodium, and to replace the microwavable meals that inspired it with a healthier and more hearty alternative. You’ll find this to be a juicy and tangy treat!

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  • The Best Dental Advice

    I’m someone who has struggled to floss on a regular basis for their entire adult life. Mostly, I’ve flossed exclusively when there has been food stuck in my teeth. I’ve made other concerted efforts, but they always fizzle out after a couple of weeks. That was until I received the best dental advice I’ve ever been given from a new dental hygienist.

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  • Easy Vegetable Soup

    My finished vegetable soup shown with and without Club Crackers. These are a good pairing for the buttery flavor they add.

    As mentioned in my previous post, “Turning Cravings into Kitchen Staples”, I’d like to start off my Easy Recipe series by sharing the first soup recipe I came up with on my own. The goal of this soup is to be affordable, hearty, and low in sodium. Most importantly, it is super easy to make. As with any soup, refrigerating and allowing it to marry makes it especially good for subsequent meals.

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  • Turn Cravings into Kitchen Staples

    Tomatoes. What used to seem like an odd craving has now become an obvious kitchen staple that addresses some of my primary health concerns.

    While I soon plan to launch an ongoing easy recipe series, I want to first talk about staple foods and kitchen staples. I’m making a distinction here because there are staple foods for the population as a whole, and kitchen staples, which would be those ingredients you enjoy and use all the time. Staple foods, by definition, are the building blocks of a population’s nutrient intake and include foods such as rice, grains, and potatoes. Kitchen staples are your personal go to ingredients that you return to time and again as a solid start to a number of different meals. While you should keep a stock of both staple foods and kitchen staples, it’s your kitchen staples that will give you flavor and allow you to experiment and grow as a cook. It’s the kitchen staples that will become your signature flavors and the tools you can use to meet your specific dietary needs.

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  • Happy Disc Golf Day!

    Klines Run Disc Golf Course in Wrightsville, PA.

    The first Saturday in August is National Disc Golf Day; that’s today! It was just about a year ago that Mary and I first started getting into the sport and it has quickly become our go to activity. A couple of the purposes of this blog are to promote physical and mental well being and I want to encourage you to find an outdoor activity that you enjoy and get out there! It doesn’t have to be running or some strenuous exercise. Just getting out and being in nature can do so much good for us! Even if you start simple by finding a bench on which you can soak up the sun and breathe in some fresh air, or maybe you go for a short walk, I think you’ll find that you feel better about life. I’m keeping this one short and sweet because it’s time to hit the course, but you’ll probably be hearing more from me about disc golf in the future!

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  • Bargaining with Yourself

    In my last post I talked about making “Conscious Decisions”. The concept here is going through our decision-making process and doing what makes sense rather than falling into habit or simply doing what is expected of us. Today I want to extend this further into bargaining with yourself. I’m tying these two concepts together because I think making a conscious decision can frequently require some type of bargaining. The simple act of buying a car requires you to make an informed decision on the model and then you’re required to bargain with yourself about how to make the payments. In order to have a new car you will likely have to give up spending money that could have been used for other things. A bargain must be struck; one thing has to be sacrificed for another.

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