Darn Funny

I have a 92 year old friend and she is a riot most days.

Yesterday, she made a copy of an article that she reads to me (almost) daily.
She said she wanted to make sure I had a copy of this article because, "When I am gone I want you to laugh and think of me." Then she added, "I know you will be sad, but don't be too sad because I will be where I want to be. "

I was curious to know where she thought she would be so I playfully asked, "And where will your bucket be?" as I motioned up then down. She swatted at me and replied, "UP!"
"Just checking." I replied.

I hope you enjoy a taste of her humour! The original author is unknown.  This article was reprinted in the Record Courier, Gloria Prendergast's column. The original author is unknown.

1. Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
2. Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
3. Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
4. If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
5. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again it was probably worth it!
6. Never buy a car you can't push.
7. Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to
stand on.
8. The second mouse gets the cheese.
9. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
10. Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
11. Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
12. A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
13. We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some
have weird names, and all are different colours, but they all have to live in the same box.
14. Life is short. Enjoy it!

Fuel Up!

You wouldn't fuel your car with bad gas, so why do you fuel yourself with bad gas? Yea, I'm even funny in the morning.

Some days I feel like crap.

Then I think about what I ate or didn't eat that day or the day before. I don't know about you but my body will turn on me if I fuel it with bad gas. Believe me, if I eat fast food...I'll be sorry in an hour or so and regret it for the rest of the day and into the next. I can still function, I just have to put forth the extra effort and pray a bathroom is near. A little too much information? So sorry, but I'm sure a lot of you are in agreement with me and can relate.

If I eat processed, junk, fried or high sodium foods (just to name a few), my body hits the reject button. What's a girl to do? Well this girl has learned to comply and provide her body with the best fuel possible, which includes not over eating, eating only what my body needs, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and removing toxic things from every day living.

Eating only what my body needs? What does that mean? I find that if I eat unprocessed, organic, semi raw (except meat) foods my body is happy. Don't get me wrong, I love doughnuts and sweets, I just know I'll be sorry if I have more than just a rare bite.

I know that if I eat nitrite containing meats, aspartame or drink soda pop, I'll get a headache.
Listen to your body, fuel it properly. Don't go on a diet, change your diet. Eat healthy, and respect yourself and your environment. Do the same for your kids, teach them early to love and respect themselves and their body type.

School Starting...What's for Lunch?

School lunches, fan or not?

Do you let your little bundle of love flesh buy or pack his/her lunch?

If your child packs, what's he/she packing?

What's his favorite school lunch to buy?
What is the daily or average price of your school lunch?

Does your child eat lunch before or after recess?

Does your child eat breakfast?

Smoothie

Needed a smoothie booster!

1/2 c organic frozen strawberries
1 banana
1 heaping T of organic flax seed
1/4 c vanilla low fat yogurt
1/2 cup filtered h20

Blend on high till blended, drink.
I like to use frozen strawberries v. adding ice. Ice gives me a brain freeze, frozen strawberries add just the right amount of chill.

Berry Couscous

Meet my new BFF, a box of couscous.

If you can boil water, you can make couscous. Just chop and dice a few additional ingredients and add them to hot or cold couscous and wa-la! Then send it packing in your kid's lunch and your lunch too!

I buy Near East plain couscous and dress it up with whatever I have on hand. I let this couscous cool a bit in the freezer before I added wild organic blueberries, a stalk of celery, a green onion, parsley, basil, lemon pepper, and fresh ground pepper.

I like sauces, dressings on my food, always have. I'm not talking about a blob of gooey cheese, or an artery clogging mess, but something simple that compliments the dish. So to satisfy my palate I made a simple dressing of 1 T apple cider vinegar, 2 T wild flower honey, 1 tsp whole grain Dijon mustard. Taste your dressing or sauce before pouring it to make sure it is just right, then drizzled it on and stir. I also like my flavors to absorb and blend together, so I refrigerated this dish for at least an hour before I indulged. Couscous can be served hot or cold.

For lunch today I packed a few radicchio and bibb lettuce leaves, plus a side of berry couscous. Berry couscous lettuce leaf roll-ups.

Other Ideas
Couscous plus...:
1. Feta, diced tomatoes, cucumbers parsley, basil, pepper (good hot or cold)
2. Organic strawberries, orange slices, grated ginger, cinnamon, almonds (serve chilled)
3. Sliced grapes, feta, cranberries, parsley, cinnamon, pecans (serve chilled)
4. Cucumber, green onion, blueberry, parsley (chill it)

Drizzle a bit of low fat plain or vanilla yogurt over top, serve on lettuce leaves or just eat it already!

Chicken Soup is Good for the Soul, and a Cold

Soup and Grilled Sandwiches...coming soon!
Nothing like roasted, toasted fresh summer veggies on the perfect bread, and maybe cheese, or egg or fish or meat or ....it's endless and all fabulous. Fab-delicious to be exact!

Fresh Berry and Red Haven Peach Pie

A little Happy Birthday pie with a generous dollop of fresh whipped cream!

Fresh Berry and Red Haven Peach Pie
You can make your favorite crust or use a frozen prepared crust
1 small container of Discoll's red raspberries
1 small container of Discoll's blackberries
1 small container of Discoll's blueberries
3 Red Haven Peaches (I bought my fresh peaches from Beckwith Orchards Cider Mill, Ohio)
2 T white sugar
1.5 T brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 dash of cinnamon
1.5 tsp corn starch
1 T sugar to sprinkle on crust

Wash berries and place in a bowl. Wash, remove peel, pit and slice peaches into 8ths and place in bowl with berries. Add sugars, vanilla, cinnamon and corn starch; stir. Place prepared crust into pie pan and add fruit. Fold down edges. Dampen top of folded edges with water and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until crust is golden brown.

I baked this pie at 325 F convection for 25-30 minutes.

Fresh Whipped Cream
1 pint ultra-pasteurized Heavy Whipping Cream
1 -2 T white sugar

Whip on medium speed until set. Chill. Use generously!

Share with family and friends!

Roasted Chicken

I forgot to take a picture of the roasted chicken before we started carving. Not to make excuses, but I'm going to, kind of. We were starving and the the roasted chicken looked and smelled delicious. So needless to say, the roasted chicken held up it's end of the bargain by tasting delicious. My sister and I held up our end of the bargain by stuffing our faces!

Now I bet your thinking, where did she get that bird, I want one!?

My dear friend Colleen and her husband Les (and clan of six) gave me this (dead, phew) bird after a fun filled weekend at their place in Indiana. The bird was frozen in a block of ice and took three days to thaw. I could have starved before it thawed, but I didn't because they gave me other yum yum goodies for the ride home. Let's just say I ate a bag of Dove chocolates minus four, in the first two hours of driving. I won't admit to anything more, but I wish the scale read less. So their frozen gift became my birthday dinner, and boy was it tasty!

Prepping the bird was a piece of cake! I was feeling lazy and didn't want to go to the market, so I opened the refrigerator door for the 100th time that day and opted to use the ingredients I had on hand. I'm so smart and resourceful. After I dressed the chicken I realized I needed a side dish, you know, the perfect shoes to go with the dressed bird. I decided to go with fresh from the field sweet corn.

Tie on your apron and start shucking. Shuck corn and place in a 9 x 13" plan with 1-2" of water, cover with foil. I added the corn during the last half hour of roasting the chicken. Heaven.

Roasted Chicken
1 thawed fresh chicken from a dear friend (not certain of the weight of this chicken. 10lbs?)
1 lemon, sliced
salt/pepper/seasoning
3 sprigs of parsley
2 medium size leaves of basil
1 small sprig of Greek oregano
5 carrots, washed and cut into 2" chunks
5-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and whole
3 stalks of celery, washed and cut into 2" chunks
8 red new potatoes, halved
1-2 T butter, melted or at least soft


Preheat oven to 350F bake or 300 convection.

Rinse the inside and out, remove any pinfeathers and pat dry. Place chicken in a baking dish or roasting pan. Salt (1/4 tsp) and pepper (3-4 cranks) the cavity. Place 3 cloves of whole in the cavity. Slice one lemon and squeeze the juice into the cavity and then stuff the lemon quarters into the cavity, along with 1 sprig of parsley.

Wash and prepare all the vegetables. Arrange vegetable around bird in roasting pan. Brush the outside of the chicken with melted butter, salt and pepper taste. I also generously seasoned the outside of the chicken with a lemon pepper too. Sprinkle chopped herbs on top of chicken and/or under skin. It's now ready for the oven.

I cooked this chicken for 1 hr at 300 F convection, reduced the heat to 250F convection and cooked for 1 hr, then 30 minutes at 300F convection. I had to turn the heat down because I had to run an errand and did not want the chicken to overcook while I was away. When done, the juices should run clear and the minimum internal temperature should be 165F for 15 seconds. Cover the chicken with foil and let rest for 15 - 20 minutes after removing from the oven and before carving.

Thanks Les, Colleen and family! XXOO