Call me Popeye...

Ok, I know I'm going to lose some of you on this one, but I love Spinach. Always have done. In bad IBS years it was not so easy for me to tolerate but I'm doing better with all that these days.

Even as a child, when my Mom would take me to the Hot Shoppes Cafeteria at Tyson's or Landover (a long gone chain for you young folk) I always asked if I could just get mashed potatoes with gravy and steamed spinach. She'd raise her eyebrows at my choices but she let me and I was in hog heaven. I'd usually get one of their scrummy white cloverleaf dinner rolls as well. What REAL foods did you love years ago that you may have left in the dust of memory? Can you try to rekindle what it is you liked about it in order to make something like that as a gift to yourself and your family now?

As an adult I discovered how yummy creamed spinach is and there was a brand I can't recall, that used to make quite good frozen creamed spinach. Seabrook? something like that. I think Birdseye made a similar thing. A couple years ago when Glenn and I went out to dinner at the Cottonwood Grille, I had a lovely cream of spinach soup there. With this in mind I went off to foodgawker and hunted away. I settled on a recipe by Mark Bittman from the New York times. Made as it was, I found it a bit thin, so I made a roux with butter and flour and added this, which made it more like I had in mind. To be fair, it's probably not an issue with the original recipe,I may have accidentally had thinner soup due to having to halve his recipe. Anyway it's good to know if you want it thicker you can make it so. I also might try it with some Parmesan cheese added.



This one is a keeper! And it made a great companion to the Bagel chips.
(Take two bagels, slice across so you are left with circles, sprinkle up to 1/4 cup of oil-I used olive and if you like sprinkle them with some garlic salt. Bake on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan at 300 until lightly brown, check every 5 mins so they don't burn, this made enough for soup and a snack the next day.)

Roasted Veggie Pasta

Even though I do not like Raw tomatoes, I do like this dish quite well using the tiny grape tomatoes. The one's I got at the co-op were a gorgeous assortment of 4 varieties including an almost purple heirloom tomato. I'd eaten this at my daughter's house and enjoyed it, even though I did let my 2 year old grandson eat many of the tomatoes off my plate. They get to a consistency I can appreciate and lose that raw taste. I leave out the basil of this recipe because for my taste, as Fabu as basil is, it can overpower. Here's the link to the recipe at Everyday Food, a favorite site and magazine... with pictures following.I have Rebecca to thank for my making this as I'd not likely have tried the recipe without her having fed it to me first.

Roasted Summer Vegetables with Pasta.

Veggie Before and After. Do watch them closely after the first 10 mins or so. I cooked them until there were some veggies blackening as it tastes best that way and I like my veggies softish. I also used more yellow squash and less zuchinni as the recipe calls for. The later is prettier I think but I don't fancy zuchinni as much as summer squash. You can really splash out and do what you want with this. In face I only made a half recipe and it was enough for the three of us for one meal.



This is a very satisfying and yet healthful dish. I ate mine as was, hubby wanted a lot of black pepper and some parmesan on his. To each his own!

No. 1 Carrot Soup attempt.

Well, it started out looking ok. Here I am playing Jenga with carrots. Who needs real toys?

The recipe calls for baby carrots from the store. I recently found out that baby carrots are just adult carrots cut by a machine into uniform shapes and I am not going to pay extra to have them lie to me (-: I cut my own carrots thank you very much, and I didn't ask them how old they were. They are organic at least.

The recipe also calls for two to three cans of chicken broth (easily subbed with veggie broth for the vegetarians amongst us) Well silly me, who is still unwell and has no business operating sharp, hot, heavy or electronic machinery much less my brain, grabbed two Swanson cans off the shelf, noting to self I need to stock up on the pacific organic at Costco, and proceeded to pour right on in. To my horror one of them wasn't chicken but beef. Call me OCD but I don't like to mix my food/meat families. The Chinese make Happy family and the Cajuns make Jambalaya but seriously, I think it's something that might have been addressed in Leviticus, I've just not found it yet!!!

Oh and it DOES get worse my friends... at some point during the process of boiling said carrots in aforementioned perverse liquid, I went to lift the lid to check for doneness again and somehow, low and behold there was a paper towel boiling happily in the surface. Alls (sic) I can figure is that the hot steamy lid I set to the left of the stove somehow was set on a paper towel which clung surreptitiously to the inside of the lid and then fell in the pot. There was nothing in the recipe about adding a paper towel! And I don't think my mind is that lost yet. Now what to do. What was on said paper towel before it's immersion? It was likely the paper towel that Glenn uses over by the coffee grinder to wipe up grinds, but that he fails to throw away cause it still has some good wipes in it. (and it might make a tasty fiber addition to dinner?) Do I toss the whole effort, now done and ready to puree? I get on the phone to ask hubby what exactly the history of said towel is, he's in a pastoral meeting but I just can't go on without some type of towel provenance. He affirms that yes that's his coffee grinds towel, like that makes everything all better. I've had friends who have confessed to washing steaks that fell on the floor, so how bad could this be? It was boiled? Grant it the towel wasn't very attractive as it came out the saffrony color of curry, but I shall try to wipe this image from my mind if I decide to eat it. (The soup, not the towel.)

On a side note, I have spices in my Indian spice tin that I have failed to label. I am not sure if I have 1/4 tsp of cayenne or of chili powder in this soup. It also has 1.5 tablespoons of curry in it. See the big bottle of milk there? Well that is out because after tasting said powders with my finger on my tongue, I couldn't tell you what was what (I thought maybe I'd some how instinctually know which was which) what I can say it my tongue is still recovering.

Well, the soup is finished and I will tell you that if you are going to make a soup, regardless of the notoriety of the chef online, don't do as I do and just follow it without reading the comments. 9 out of 10 posters liked or loves this soup, but most all of them said too SPICY!!!! duh, there was part of me that did question 1.5 tablespoons of curry powder. So I have now added a scoop of brown sugar and I think as per the comments now read, I will add about a cup of half and half or cream to "cool it down" a bit. My missionary friend Laura (who I don't know in real life but like lots online!) told me she got a carrot soup in South Africa that was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the center. I think that sounds just like what this soup needs!

So for now, as I hold a tissue to my dripping nose (from the SPICE) I can recommend this soup for it's ease IF you have an immersion blender, and with some changes. Do not spice it as it calls for, start with half and work up, you can always add more spice to taste after pureeing. I also recommend you check your can labels before you add anything, and check under your pot lid each time you pick it up, you never know what might be hiding there.

It's not all bad news...

Well, the day ended on a better note. Glenn was out running a mission of mercy and called me on his way back home offering to pick up some type of carryout. I was only briefly tempted and then said no. Instead, I cooked the fresh green beans into a favorite dish of green beans with tomatoes, accompanied by two slices of fresh bread with butter. It was a much more satisfying dinner than anything he could have brought home. I'm glad I made the effort. (It's not pink looking like in the picture) It's a recipe I got off some Italians I used to know. It is a simple dish that lets the flavor of the veggies shine through, containing only Olive Oil, Garlic, Green Beans, Canned Tomatoes and salt. It should be even tastier tomorrow.

I think in light of the past day's set backs, I need to work at cooking a couple days ahead in the evening, so I am not caught short, with nothing simple when I feel the worst. I also want to figure out some kind of cold beverage other than water, which I drink lots of already. I'd like something without caffeine. If sugar is added I'd like it still to be healthier than soda. I'm thinking maybe some kind of iced green or white tea with a little sugar or honey? If anyone has something to suggest let me know.

Becca (my daughter) asked me why I felt I could give up chips, knowing how I enjoy them. I said, I didn't know, maybe I just got bored? Maybe I ate my life's maximum allowable total? I seriously feel like some bizarre switch has been thrown that took away my interest in them. Yes, I have prayed for some aid in this matter of eating well, and that could be it, but I expect I've prayed before and not come to this result.

I have long noted that my "taste" changed when I lived in Scotland. I went off sweets almost completely. No chocolate, no desserts. I thought at the time that it was because the "sweets" in the UK seemed so excessively sweet, over the top sugary, toffee-ish sweetness. A physical therapist friend suggested it could be my physical change because of exercise and weight lifting. Has anyone else noted that at various seasons of their life, particularly related to menopausal changes, that they have gone from prefering sweet to salty or starchy?


I've often thought it was the excerise and local oversweetness in the Uk combined but perhaps also a change in hormones? Given that chocolate affects neurotransmitters and brain chemistry, perhaps it was a change of " mind" literally. They say some people "self medicate" with chocolate because it boosts seritonin. Who knows, maybe in Scotland my seritonin was boosted by the walking and fresh air?


Now it's a few hours since Becca asked and I think I've figured out in part why I wanted to do something different with my eating and cooking, I think it's because I'm so unable to "fix" what ails me with the fatigue and long periods etc, that this is one small thing I CAN do, it's about the only thing I can do, that and pray and use my down (as in laying down/sitting down) time as best I can. Being like this causes one to see energy like tokens one gets to spend, and when they are gone, they are gone, and they don't get replenished quickly. Spending decisions have to be made. At least with eating well, and effort for cooking, it's not energy out only, but also, hopefully, energy and future health IN.


I don't know how long the decreased desire for salty treats will last, though I suspect that chip loving is something that "feeds" itself...ie the more you eat the more you want. So perhaps just not having them here for weak moments (like I had during the night and early am) will do the trick. I know that when I feel really cruddy, and when I wake up feeling that way, especially from a nap or a restless night, I want crunchy salty goodness. Oh, just saying that makes me go weak in the knees. I may need a healthy substitute. (Maybe some of those frozen coconut pops at the co-op?) though that doesn't sub for salty, but it might work if I wake with annoying allergies or itchiness or sinus. Idea's always welcome. Still trying to figure out the perfect breakfast treat for with coffee. Meanwhile I should make some of Becca's fabu granola. She uses Ina Garten's recipe. It's not quite the texture or experience I'm looking for, I'm wanting something like a breakfast cookie (-: but not as hard as a biscotti, or a small danishy thing. Haven't ruled out the rugelach, just haven't gotten out to buy ingredients. I like the fact Rugelach is highly versatile ie I can do apricot or nut or chocolate chip etc.

On another front...Is it just me or when you buy potatoes in the bags vs loose, do they seem to go bad much quicker than the one's you pick individually? The price is like half or better of the loose but if they are wasted or rot it's not a value for us. (In our case we don't eat them that fast anyway so the singles are probably best but I'd like to know if anyone else has noticed this)

I know the picture will put normal folk off wanting to make the green beans above, but I'll put the recipe here just in case.

Susan and Rebecca's Italian Green Beans

1lb or 2 of fresh green beans boiled or steamed
28 oz can of whole tomatoes, crushed or pureed in food processor
1/4 tsp salt.
olive oil
1 clove of garlic, sliced

As many fresh green beans as you want to eat. I'd say I bought about a pound but have bought as few as three or four handfuls. It's up to you.

Pour a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan, not enough to cover, just a hand size circle.
slice a garlic clove and saute it in the oil being careful not to burn or brown, it goes quickly. If it burns start over, it will flavor your oil badly.

Add to that one 28 oz can of whole tomatoes which you have run through a food processor or broken tiny by hand or cut with a pastry blender or what have you. You don't want big chunks.
Add in 1/4 tsp salt.

Saute these together on simmer for about 20-30 mins, until the liquid starts to condense out.

Meanwhile boil water or get your veggie steamer out, and cook the green beans until they are tender (I like mine pretty soft but not squishy, about the texture of pasta) After your sauce has cooked down some, and your green beans are cooked to your desire, drain green beans and toss them into the tomato sauce. Heat together to coat. Serve with nice crunchy bread for dipping.
More flavorful the second day. If you find the tomatoes bitter or green beans to be less than great tasting (cause they turned out to be not such great fresh beans) you can add just a tsp or so of sugar to balance the flavor, but don't overdo.