Healthy Choices 08/08/08

• 2 large cucumbers, peeled and diced
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
• 1 medium green pepper, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 bottle (8 ounces) fat-free Italian salad dressing
• Sugar substitute equivalent to 2 teaspoons sugar

Viny

Good morning Viny.  "Yawn",  stretch.......   Oh, please escuse me, but what a good morning this would have been to sleep-in.  Fall like weather and will only reach 72 today for a high.  No sleeping in for me today, though,  since I was gone all day yesterday, I have lots to do today and have to get an early start.  Good morning to everyone who will be here today too.

Vinny and Lusi, DH likes blood sausage too.  His family eats it, or used to,  and it's one of the things that he eats infrequently, but when he does buy it, which is only when we shop at specialty stores, he also cooks it for himself.  LOL  I think it's more a memory of years gone by than an actual taste for it because he doesn't go out of his way to look for it.  Can't wait to see your new landscaping, Viny.  Things are really getting finished around the new house now.  That must be a felief and also be very satisfying. 

Marti, thanks for the ideas about the frozen pie crust.  That sounds like it will work really well.  Removing it and spraying a glass dish and adding sugar is something I would have never thought to do, but will try with your peach pie recipe.  It's a lot easier than what I've been doing too.

Barb, that is a good idea about meeting with a few friends and being accountable to each other.  It has to be a committed group.   Years ago, we did it for a while and were pretty successful.  We shared recipes too and a few of us went to jazzercize together.  I used to love those classes.  That was a fun way to keep in shape.

Maureen, I always baked my pie crusts at a higher temperature too.  Maybe Marti's idea of baking at 350 would work.  I understood it was done at a higher temp to quick set it so that it wouldn't sink down into the dish.  It didn't work for me.  LOL  About the paper and the beads, I didn't read anywhere that they were only supposed to be in for the first ten minutes, but that makes  perfect sense now.  That's why mine got too hot and burned the bottom of the crust.

Oh, and thanks for correcting me on Leo's little saying to Lusi,  I was at the wrong end of the anatomy.   LOL

Barb, I did open your email on the Olympic foods.  Ugh!  Very interesting, and very unappetizing. LOL.  We will watch the opening ceremonies tonight and usually watch lots of the olympic events.  I know the trips are looking forward to seeing the swimmers and divers this year.  This will be their first year of watching the Olympics.  It should be fun talking about it with them. 

 yesterday they went on a tour of the school they will attend, this year,  and next week they go for half a day just to meet their teachers.  Things are certainly different now and I think much better.  First day was "cold turkey" for us and even for our kids.  I like the way they are introducing them to the new school year now.  Judy said with emails now, the kids all know, for the most part, which of their friends will be in the same class as they are.  They're already getting excited about going back to school.

Well, have to get moving.  Have a nice day and God bless. Jo Ann

Good Morning Viny & JoAnn.  I'm hoping when I stick my head out this morning we also have cooler weather, the cold front was moving in last night and lots of areas had bad storms.
Viny, get the rabbit cage secured before the fox and coyotes start checking it out.  I know you are going to enjoy having the tiller.  Joe had a large Sears that he used and I thought I could use it, and did a couple years, but he decided to sell it, now I have a small one that I can use in the yard.  With fall comng, you purchased it at a good time to do your yard.  I love picked beets too, and I always buy several quarts when we are in the Amish area.  They make them like my Mom.

JoAnn, you are so right about schools being so different now,  I think it is great that the teachers are introduced to the kids and they can check to see how many of their friends will be attending.
We always went in the first day to learn all this.  Our schools in this area start the 19th, some states in the SE started the first week in Aug.  Enjoy your cooler weather

Joe has a f-up with Arrhythmia doctors this morning.  I think this defribrilator is one that is checked via phone, and we'll learn how to do that,  the last one was checked every 90 days in the doctors office.  Today starts weeks of doctors for him. 

I hope Dody signs in and post today.   Until later....

Good morning. Viny, I remember eating blood sausage as a little kid when my grandmother took me to the German butcher in Chicago. I don’t think I would eat it now. I also love teawurst (sp?) and there is a Black Forest restaurant and deli near here where I bought it once. We also ate “cannibal sandwiches”, raw lean ground beef on buttered rye bread with raw onion and pepper on top; I would like to have one of those again. We sometimes go to German restaurant in Palatine that my dad says is like German home cooking.

JoAnn, you are in for a really cool day. I think we will in the low 80’s here.

Marti, my DH loves pickled beets too and I used to grow them and pickle them. Now I sometimes buy them at the grocery store for a treat for him. I don’t care for beets myself.

When I first read your post I thought the f was for the other f word! LOL

Got to go water the plants before work, amazing how fast the hanging ones dry out.

I haven’t read yesterday’s posts but is Dody coming back? I hope so.

Have a good day, Sue

Cucumber Tomato Relish     

½ c cider vinegar

2 T salad oil

2 T water

2 t sugar

1 ½ t celery salt

1 t mustard seed

1/8 t pepper.

Combine above ingredients.  Set aside.

4 large tomatoes, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced

1 small red onion, sliced

Place vegetables in a serving bowl; pour dressing over all.  Chill and serve.

Good morning everyone.  Waiting for painter and tile man...then surely I'll be through!

I quickly copied and posted that recipe before I forgot viny...should work right along with your garden and quite similar to the one you posted.  This is DGD's favorite salad.  And yes, I did receive your check and Marti's.....have them in my wallet for next time I'm close to the bank.  Thank you!

Well....we were at 102º again yesterday.  Had some big thunder boomers last night but no precipitation (grinning and thinking of Barb's Heather precipitating!!) until this morning...and it's just a light sprinkle.  Just a tease and not enough to do anything but make it muggy.  However it IS only 79 right now.

Today is finish the laundry and do some major straightening up as my friend Sally will be here tonight for a couple of days.  I may not be on line for the next couple of days due to her visit...but I'm sure thinking about you all.

Yesteday's meals...

B..2 muffins with butter, coffee

L..Pad Thai with chicken, Thai tea

D..one muffin, iced coffee

Not so very good and not starting out any better today!  But at least I'm writing it down and can see how deficient I am.  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!

Darn dryer is buzzing and it's all hang up clothes so I can't ignore it.  I'll be back a bit later after I get some things accomplished.  Y'all make it a great day!

vammie

HI everyone.

It's much cooler today.  We had a thunder and lightening storm last night and just enough rain to refresh things.

Viny, you keep your blood food to yourself.  Sounds totally disgusting to me.

Speaking of German, we ate at Hometown Buffet the other day and they had German Cabbage.  I love cabbage so took some of it.  I took one bite and decided it must be Mexican Cabbage.  Boy, was it spicy !! I didn't expect German food to be hot.

Maureen, no wonder you are able to keep your weight down.  You must spend most of the day working in your yard. 

Marti, good for you keeping up with the walking.  I am doing Fair on my workouts.  I am trying to do them every day but this week I've had early appts. and you know how it is if you don't do them first thing in the morning.

Verna, your recipe sounds good.  There are sure a lot of good sounding recipes in the new TOH.  One I want to try, which I can't eat but DH and the kids can, is Mac and Cheese with broc. and caul. 

Ok gang, I'm going to get off here and get ready to go to the Dr.   I hate facing the scales.  I tell her it's no wonder my BP is always up when I go there.  The first thing they do is give me the little cup to fill and put me on the scales. 

I'll be back later, with a prescription for Lipitor, I'm sure. 

That's what you take isn't it Viny? 

Hi everyone,

Was zipping around the house, blasting my old Neil Diamond CD's, the new one is on the quiet side and I need high energy music to clean by, when I made a smash landing right down the sunroom steps.  Luckily there are only three, but it was a hard fall on my hands, elbow, and knees.  Ouch!  The pain was terrible,  I can't even use my knees to kneel down on normally and landing on them felt like, well on a scale of one to ten, a ten plus.  I laid there for a while till my head stopped spinning and finally called Frank, who helped me up, did his assessment and then said,  would I please stop laying around on the floor, listening to music and get busy cleaning!. That's my hubby!  LOL  I expect a lot of pampering for the rest of the day to make up for that comment!!!  LOL   I can laugh about it now, knowing that I didn't break anything, but I'm becomming more stiff and more sore by the minute.  I'm alternating ice packs between my wrist ankle and both knees.  This started out to be a pretty productive day, too.  Well, I was almost finished cleaning when I fell.  I already had the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen finished and was about to do the sunroom.  That can wait a few days along with the rest of the house.

Marti, I hope they can monitor Joe's defib by phone, now.  That would be convenient and they could get back to you right away if anything needed to be adjusted.  Good luck to Joe with all of the apmts coming up next week. Will still be keeping him in my prayers.

Sue, long ago, my Mom and Dad used to eat raw ground steak with seasonings and fresh onion in it.  There is a name for that,  and I can't remember it.  They ate it with crackers.  My sister and I weren't allowed to eat it because we were "too young".  I guess they knew what they were doing because they never got sick from it.  Of course, I think the beef was probably not contaminated in those days like it can be now. I've heard of liverwurstk, which was another of their favorites, but I don't know what teawurst is. 

Vammie, it's a wonder you haven't melted away by now with those high temperatures still hanging around.  Wish we could send you some of our cool air today.  Yours and Viny's salads sound so good and refreshing.  This is my favorite time of the year for that kind of salad, when the vegetables are right from the garden.  We make a plain tomato salad by chopping up tomatoes and seasoning them with garlic powder, (you can use fresh), salt, black pepper and fresh, copped basil leaves with a little EVOO drizzled over it, then tossed and left at room temperature for at least one hour to blend the flavors.  It's another one of DH's favorites and he especially loves to eat it with French or Italian bread dipped in it.  I sometimes add cubes of mozzarella cheese and sliced onion.  That's the way I like it best.

Barb, good luck at your doctor apmt.  Maybe Lpitor will be the answer for you. I think you;re right about our BP going up after they weigh us.  They should give us some time to do a little deep breathing and settle down after such a shock.  LOL  Well at least for me it is.   

Okay, time to ice myself again.  Back later.  Jo Ann 

Good Morning!   Yeah, I’m early today.  What a neat morning – 71 degrees and showering.   I started to walk and felt a few sprinkles, so finally decided to head home.   I’m glad I did now, but this isn’t good since I still have to finish.   Maybe it will be bearable before lunch.   We are going to get some tickets for the pond tour tomorrow and Sunday.   It’s fun – you visit people’s homes that want to display their ponds.   We did this with Don and Shirley about 5 yrs ago and had such a good time.   But here is DH sounding exactly like Paul – “and we can go out to lunch in the middle of our touring”.   What do you do?   I am doing ok on weight loss, but I could be making huge strides if I didn’t eat out so much.

Yes, Viny, get those hutches reinforced ASAP.   Especially on the bottoms – the coyotes bite the fur of the bunnies’ feet on the bottom and even sometimes the rabbits die of heart failure due to the trauma.   If you have nesting boxes, they can hide in them.   I didn’t know you had coyotes – those were our biggest problem.   They got some chickens that were in a pen without a top and the chain linking was 9 ft tall.   One night they killed them and I didn’t pick them up and then the next night they came back and took them away.   BTW, your chocolate cake and milk makes me hungry for chocolate cake.   I don’t think these menus are supposed to do that.   Thanks for salad recipes from you and Verna.

Jo Ann, you reminded me of the good ‘ole days when I used to go to the gym with a friend.   Our 2 girls were only 3 at the time and I still remember them in the babysitting area watching us.   I’m glad you asked about that pie crust – we both learned something.

Amazing for the trips to be excited to return to school – must be a good time in their lives.

Marti, hope this is the beginning of Joe feeling well.   Good that those doctors keep tabs on him.

Sue, you really would like to have a cannibal sandwich again????   Doesn’t sound good to me.     Around here, I notice how many people give up on the hanging plants – it has to be time-consuming watering them.   I don’t bother because of the dryness and heat.

Verna, enjoy your time with Sally.   Your menu cracked me up for yesterday – not much there, huh?   I’m still journaling, but never get around to putting them on here.

Barb, I’ve concluded the yard work is the big difference in what I don’t do in the winter.   Here I’m losing now and don’t in the winter.   So guess I need to make some changes.   But I am not losing fast enough to get rid of winter gain.   If you get the prescription, I guess it’s meant to be.   That makes me more relaxed anymore when I go to the doctor – I used to fight it and worried so about high BP, high cholesterol, weight gain and whatever else I could worry about.   Now I don’t and my BP was down this last time.

Think it’s stopped sprinkling but that doesn’t help my lawn fertilizing.   With such a messy house, I can surely figure something to do.   Bye for now…..

Verna & Viny, thanks for the recipes,  This looks so good, I'm thinking of fixing it this afternoon for tonight's meal, I don't have cucumbers, but I do have zucchini, wonder how they would be?

Joe's appt. went well, no episodes since he left the hospital and they told us the doctor had not used the company that malfunctioned,  since his had to replaced.  Makes me like the doctor a little more, at least he knows that company has a problem, but I wonder how many doctors across the country are still using these devices. 

Barb, I hope you don't come home with the Lipitor, but if that chol. is still high, I'm sure you will come home with something. I'm thinking about you and hope you get a good report

I forgot to post my meu for yesterday, and today's is shot already, Joe, like Pau & *** wanted to eat out for lunch today.  I only ate a BBQ sandwich so maybe that wasn't too bad
B. SBB cereal, 1% milk,1/2cup, banana & peach
L. tomato sandwich/wwbread,lite mayo,   plum
S. grilled chicken breast, baked potato with s.cream, cantaloupe. 12 oz. tea sweetened with splender
water,  I did get enough water and fruit, but sure missing in the veggies, and I'm already lacking in today's veggies.
Walked 6.95 miles yesterday, but today's will be bad because I didn't get to walk before the appt, that's not an exceptable excuse, so I'll push to get an hour in today

Verna, did you have enough money for the flowers?  Or do we owe you more?

I just got a call that my cousin Terry commited suicide, please pray for his soul, thanks.

Sue, I am so very sorry for your loss.  Prayers already said for Terry's soul and for his family.  May you be comforted by your precious memories.

Hugs to you! ((((Sue))))

vammie

Oh Sue...I am so sorry for your loss.  Prayers said for Terry's soul and for his family.  May you be comforted by your precious memories of happy times spent together.

((((Sue))))

vammie

Sue,  I'm so sorry for your loss, prayers for all of your family