MAMMOGRAM DANGERS & BARLEY SOUP Recipe

The days are dark when I wake up … stay pretty dark throughout the day … and the street lights are back on around Supper time.

8 AM

Winter is here.

I made the Barley Soup a day ago, so this morning I decided to get it in the freezer. Also, I have eaten enough pickles in December to allow sufficient room in the pickle jar to place some hard-boiled eggs in the jar to pickle. So, this morning I boiled a few eggs. While they were cooking, I decided to de-ice the upright freezer too. Yes - most days I am like a squirrel in traffic:

The melted ice water, left to sit to room temperature, will water my houseplants ;-)

I finally got to the soup after lunch ;-) I portioned the Barley Soup into individual servings and froze the baggied portions; I also shelled the cooled hard-boiled eggs and put them in the pickle jar to pickle ...

Opening the mail, I was not happy to see that I am already being pestered with unwanted and unneeded medical harassment from Lakeshore Clinic – I have an appointment there Tuesday afternoon because I cannot get an asthma inhaler unless I have a ‘personal physician’. If harassment continues, I may have to forgo the inhaler and wing my asthma condition as I have been doing.  I do not WANT a mammogram: I do NOT need a mammogram. If having medical attentions I do not want is a condition of the appointment, I will simply cancel. These harassing notifications is WHY I have avoided doctors for decades. I am not happy to be looking at this letter :-P

First off, IF the radiation used in X-Rays is so “low-energy”, WHY do the people administering the “low-energy” COVER THEM SELVES WITH PROTECTIVE APRONS? Why are they stepping inside protective rooms and outside ER cubicles to X-ray patients? Because radiation in any dosage is NOT SAFE – that is why! Mammogram testing HAS SHOWN IN A NUMBER OF CASES to cause adverse effects and reactions – including overdiagnosis’s of cancers which has led to unnecessary cancer treatments, unnecessary phycological stress fallout, excessive radiation exposure, and actual spread of cancerous cells.

I do not want – nor do I need a mammogram. And thinking about all the X-rays that were forced on Bob in his delicate condition, FOR MONTHS, pisses me off. They were unnecessary. The doctors should have let him come home to die, instead of exasperating the situation and making it worse. Bob didn't have cancer, but the barrage of radiation didn't help his condition any; the ordeal of his undergoing all those X-Rays just added more stress to an already stressful situation that made his condition worse because stress was the trigger that caused his medical condition! It was infuriating for me to watch them bring the X-ray machines into ER - set him up to be zapped ... and then step outside the cubicle as far as they could get ... and shoot him with radiation. I wanted to tear the rubber aprons off them and shove them into the room with my husband - if they were exposing him, then they should damned well be exposed too!

Shoving those painful memories to the back of my thoughts, and setting the unwanted letter aside, let’s focus on the health benefits of this barley soup :-)

I prefer using foods as medicinal hedges; rather than doctors. I like barley soup in the Winter time. And it’s good for my body too – barley is a grain that will not tear my insides up like other grains do. 

(https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/barley-benefits)

And the amount of paprika used in this recipe is also an aide to overall physical health.

(https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/8-amazing-paprika-benefits-from-healing-wounds-to-heart-health-1662725)

This is an excellent health conscious soup.

BARLEY SOUP Recipe

1 Tablespoon Oil * 1/2 pound lean Chuck Roast of Beef, cut into 1” cubes * 1 pound Beef Soup Bone * 1-1/2 quart cold Water * 2 Tablespoons Parsley * Salt to taste * 2 Tablespoons Paprika * 2 Peppercorns * 1-1/2 whole Allspice berry * 1/4 cup whole Barley * 1/2 cup Celery with leaves, chopped * 1/4 cup Onion, chopped * 1/2 cup Carrot, diced * 1 cup fresh Tomatoes, chopped

Put 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy 6-quart cooking pot with a lid. Place pot over medium heat and lightly brown beef cubes and soup bone. Add water and bring to a boil, skimming surface. Add parsley, salt, paprika, peppercorns, and allspice. Reduce heat to low – cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, check barley; and discard any foreign particles. Add to soup. Stir in celery, onion, and carrots. Cover, and simmer for 1 hour.

Add tomatoes to soup and continue to simmer 15 minutes longer. Remove soup bone. Serve.  Makes about 8 servings