Answering questions!
I'm just gonna do a questions-from-the-comments roundup every now and again so I can stay reasonably caught up with answering questions. 😉
Green smoothies and fish (NOT combined)
After I shared this smoothie photo, reader Liesl messaged and said:
That green smoothie looks good! I'd love if you can share 1. How you make your smoothies and 2. Good ways to cook a fish fillet because I'm terrible at it!
I do have a post about my smoothie-making method! Click here to read it. And that smoothie in the photo is...banana, yogurt, spinach, and peaches.
Also, here's a post about my Vitamix. And here's one comparing the Ninja and the Vitamix.
As far as fish fillets go...let's see. Probably one of the best things I learned from all my ATK/Cook's Illustrated recipes is this: to improve almost anything you're cooking, get your pan nice and hot, add a little oil, and brown your food.
This one thing will improve your cooking so much!
To help my fish fillets brown, first, I make sure they are nice and dry. Pat 'em down with a paper towel!
Then I season them with whatever I'm using that day, and I let the seasoning sit for a few minutes while the pan heats.
Once the pan is nice and hot, I add a little fat of some sort and place the fish in the pan.
Fish cooks awfully fast, so I flip the fillets after a couple of minutes and cook them on the second side until they flake with a fork.
Nurse Residency Program
Someone asked for clarification on what this is, and I don't think I've properly explained it before.
Many hospitals require new grads to sign up for a year-long residency program. At my hospital, this entails working full-time hours and participating in residency classes.
There were multiple days of these classes right after we got hired, and once those were over, we went down to once a month.
We get paid to be there, and the monthly sessions cover a range of topics, like evidence-based practice, practical skills, time management, and more. We also have to do an evidence-based practice project, which we present during Nurses Week.
That's a group project, but luckily for me, I am in a two-person group with my study buddy (and now work buddy) Brittany. Yay!
For the curious: we are doing a project on how the overuse of external urinary catheters negatively impacts our patient mobility efforts. Basically, these are so simple to put on a patient, hospital staff members sometimes use them to avoid the work of mobilizing a patient to the bathroom.
And sometimes patients want them because mobilizing to the bathroom involves more work and more pain. But, if a patient is able to move, we are supposed to make them move! Even if it's just a bedpan or a bedside commode, it's better than sitting in the bed and passively having your pee sucked into a cannister.
Movement helps people get better.
Anyway, my residency program graduation is in early August, and I'll be thrilled to be done with it. One less thing on my plate!
Victoria said:
Would you share what your iron supplement is? My iron is low and I haven't been able to boost it. Hoping to avoid iron infusions.
Sure thing! This is obviously not medical advice from me to you, but my doctor recommended that I try SlowFe, which is a gentler iron supplement.
It releases over time, which is supposed to help reduce some of the unpleasant digestive side effects of iron supplements.
I went name-brand for my first package, but after that, I switched to the generic variety because it's much cheaper.
