On the Go Trail Mix

Good for the Body and the Budget......1/2 cup = 350 calories


Bran Cereal (Fiber)
Dried fruit such as raisins, cranberries, cherries (vitamins)
coconut flakes ( lowers bad cholesterel and raises good cholesterel)
walnuts ( Omega 3's)
chocolate chips (anti-oxidants & zinc)

Mix whatever you have, put in a plastic container, and off you go!

I Don't Feel Like Cooking Summer Bean Salad

1 tbsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil or vegtable oil
1 can of green beans
1 can black beans
1 can white beans or chick peas
1 can of whatever beans I have
1 can kernel corn
garic
sliced onions
dash of hot sauce (if you don't have, buy a big bottle and never run out)
1 can of tomatoes or chiles & tomatoes (drained)
salt & pepper
sliced green pepper or celery if you have it
Italian seasoning or basil or oregeno or dill or Mrs. Dash

Mix together and DONE! Serve alone with some bread or cottage cheese or salmon or leftover meat. (Did I really need to tell you to drain and rinse the beans & corn?)

Best Beef Stew and Quick!

The cloves, Worcestershire & Bay Leaf is what makes this........it's from my Mom's 1961 "The Pocket CookBook" with her own modifications:
ENGLISH BEEF STEW:
1-2 lbs beef sirloin tips or stewing beef
2 tbsp vegtable oil
4 medium carrots sliced
4 medium onions sliced
4-5 medium red potatoes sliced (don't need to peel, just wash)
1/1/2 cups hot water
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp ground cloves
1 bay leaf
1 Tbspn Butter
1 Tbspn Flour

Brown sirloin tips in vegtable oil. Add carrots, onions, potatoes, water, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper, cloves, bay leaf. Mash 1tbsp of flour with 1tbsp of soft butter to prevent lumps and add to stew for thick gravy. Simmer for about 45 min on medium heat or until potatoes are tender. No beef broth needed as the juices from this are incredibly spicy, warm and earthy. I like to take a slice of Italian bread with butter or a healthy spread of your choice and slam it into the gravy, lift it to my mouth, and let the juices dribble down my neck. Fish out the bay leaf and throw away.

LACE Training & Mind Melding

I'm caring for a relative with tinnitus (ringing of the ears) which I understand William Shatner, THE original Captain Kirk (1965) for those new Star Trek movie fans, suffers from... The new movie is awesome and has the original Spock Leonard Nimoy in it with Chris Pine as the young Captain Kirk.
Tinnitus partially explains Shatner's Zany behavior on the show Boston Legal. Tinnitus can be caused by hearing loss and usually fixed by hearing aids, but sometimes not, and the doctors don't always know what causes it.
Anyway, I digress.....my Mom suffers from it and we sufferered thru some bad doctors to get to this point, so for those of you that have this, please note: Miracle Ear has been a Godsend for us.....they are located at various Sears branches and keep up with the latest technology on hearing aids and rehabiliation.
Lately, Mom, even though she is wearing some very stylish custom fitted computer chipped hearing aids that have at least stopped the ringing in her ears, still hears at only a 30% level and needed some physical rehabiliaion called LACE TRAINING. Very simply, an online computer course designed to teach her how to hear again.
As tedious as I thought this was going to be for us, we have had some fun. Here some of the things said during the course, and this is what she heard:

Lace Statement:"Paul Revere helped organize and helped lead the American Revolution by riding his horse and ringing the bell."
What Mom heard:"In all my years, something, something, Revolution with house on the zell."

Lace statement:"The state of Georgia was originally populated by ex-convicts and rebels."
What Mom heard:"Georgia popped something on the bells"

Lace statement: "Canada would have become the 14th colony if the French had seceded."
What Mom heard:"Canada something something 14th fried seeds"

Even I had a hard time with the rapid speech and background noise. Mom wants to skip it this week and I sense that she can hear me laughing.

Diabetic Potato Salad

For those that suffer from diabetes or just trying to lose weight, this is a substitute for my favorite high glycemic white food: POTATOES. Can I ever give up the earthy, velvety , crunchy, boiled ( I don't care how you cook it, it survives) vegetable that brings up childhood memories of St. Patrick festivals and Polish cooking, and German fairs? Potatoes and banannas have high potassium levels which help keep blood pressure down. This may explain why I'm an anomaly to my doctor who says I have low blood pressure despite being overweight and one who pours salt on her food like snow in the middle of a Buffalo blizzard.

Maybe not, but here's a good attempt:

2 frozen bags of cauliflower
2-3 strips of precooked bacon warmed up in microwave or small frying pan
1/2 bag of frozen peas
1/2 cup parmesean cheese
1 large white onion sliced and diced
1/4 cup milk or soymilk
2 packets Splenda
dash of hot sauce
1/2 cup Duke's mayo ( a favorite down South with no sugar in it)
some dill or parsley for color if you have it

Blanch Cauliflower and frozen peas for 5-7 minutes in boiling water. Save 1/2 cup of hot water. Mix together the rest with saved water and salt & pepper to taste. Put in fridge. Open door 2-4 hours later. Pretend it's potato salad.

Fake Mashed Potatoes:
Frozen bag of cauliflower, boiled, food processed or mashed with milk, butter, garlic, salt and pepper until it looks and feels like my favorite side dish at Thanksgiving. The nice thing about this, if you used potatoes in a food processor, it would come out like glue, not so with cauliflower.