Brown Bag Lunch

I love tomato bisque and curry so when I stumbled on this in Real Simple March 2011 issue I was gamed to try:


Curried Tomato Bisque


www.realsimple.com
Total time 10 minutes


Serves 2


Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  


Add 1 chopped small onion, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt & 1 teaspoon black pepper & cook, stirring until soft.  3 to 5 minutes.


Add 1 teaspoon curry powder cook, continual stirring until fragrant about 30 seconds.


Add one 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes (with their juices) and 1/2 cup of water, bring to boil.


In a blender, puree until smooth.


Divide into 2 containers & refrigerate up to one day.
Top with Greek yogurt & fresh cilantro leaves if desire.


Cost $2.50 per serving.


I am planning on substituting fresh tomatoes instead of can or be sure to use no salt added tomatoes if using canned.

But in the Meantime...

The weather is gorgeous all last week in the low 70's.  Shall I dare think spring is around the corner?  Possible as we are going to have still another week of 70 weather.  I even got out and transferred some of my wildflowers which for some strange reason survived from neglect.  I did not think those seeds germinated let along grew in the dead of winter.  So I took it upon myself to separate them to give them room to flourish.

Even if winter returns, in the meantime enjoy this recipe from Sparkswww.sparkspeople.com

Chicken and Creamy Curry Wrap

1/2 chicken breast, cut into cubesIngredients

cooking spray
2 tbsp light sour cream
1 tbsp red curry powder
1/2 cup lettuce
3 slices of tomato
1 "fajita sized" wheat tortilla

Directions

Brown chicken with cooking spray in skillet. 
Combine sour cream and curry in small bowl. 
Warm up wheat tortilla for 20 seconds in microwave. 
Once chicken is browned and cooked thoroughly place in warm tortilla, top chicken with sour cream and curry mixture. 
Top with lettuce and tomato. 
Wrap up tortilla. 
Serve while warm.


Number of Servings: 1

Nutritional Info

• Fat: 8.2g
• Carbohydrates: 20.5g
• Calories: 287.2
• Protein: 32.7g

Good for What Ails ya!

My Mother had suggested this to me quite sometime ago.  She tells me still at age 95, that she "just takes a swig of it each day".  I cannot manage a swig au naturel but mixes it with some honey & go for it.  I had gotten out of the habit, but I know it did indeed work so I will start "swigging" again...

"Apple cider vinegar is a combination that many use when they're

trying to drop a few pounds. What you might not know is that this sweet

and sour combo is a remedy for many conditions of the body. A Dr.

D.C. Jarvis wrote in his book Folk Medicine that inhabitants of

Vermont were known to use apple cider vinegar for various ailments

of the body. Jarvis was among the first to strongly recommend a

dosage for relief of arthritis, to lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

Others believe it helps to destroy infections, assist in digestion,

maintain memory, and protect the mind from aging.

The wide-range effects of apple-cider vinegar can be attributed to

its abundance of nutrients. Complete with many vitamins and minerals,

complex carbohydrates and dietary fiber, it helps to attack those

bothersome conditions with its acidic kick.

You can make this magical remedy at home by crushing apples and

squeezing out the liquid. Sugar and yeast are then added to the

liquid to start the fermentation process. The first stage turns it

into alcohol but resist the temptation and continue the

fermentation until the acetic acid-forming bacteria converts the

alcohol into vinegar. If that's too much then just simply pick up

apple cider vinegar at your local health food store. Be weary,

however, of marketing companies that have mixed various other

ingredients that they allege are "all natural" when in fact they're

mixed with a ton of unhealthy unnatural chemicals that lack any

real influence on the effect of apple cider vinegar".

http://www.skrewtips.com/ebooks/#leaderboard

Gonnas be'GONE!

What I am writing about is not unusual for most of us when we make changes in our lives wanting to do things differently, see things differently and act accordingly.  It is part of a very flawed humanity, where people often in a need to level a playing field if they feel threatened or insecure, to diminish someone else worth when they see change. We do not have to look far to see that happening.

You do not have to be famous, wealthy, beautiful, highly skilled, educated or intelligent or skinny for it to happen. Just shift a hair and see what happens...

I just for once, was curious as I've entered my 6th decade, to understand without wasting too much time or energy, into comprehend why people, especially when it comes to engaging into a healthier, fuller life, why it seems to make others uncomfortable.

In the last several months, I have released over 60 pounds doing it realistically, holistically & carefully.

I still in order to reach my goal, have another 30-50lbs to glow; but it shall be done.  I am now looking to incoporate light weights, take a dance class and other things over the next several months...


  I am not doing it to catch a man, that I was ashamed of myself before or that I want to be out of plus size clothes.  And I thought that my doing this was about me, for me.

It is...

I am not running a race.  I am not trying to compare myself to anyone else nor trying to prove anything to anyone.  I thought I was a pretty cool mama before I began...Competition has never been my forte', I dislike it intensely.

But since the appreciable weight is being noticed also come the what I call the "gonnas" who are always gonna do something but never do & then they have to find fault with you because I did, not going to.  I had to get to a place in myself to accomplish this and I will be doggone if I will let the gonnas stop me.

 I more then proud of myself that I've held my ground...

I've learned that the sun was going to rise as it did so beautifully yesterday & the rain will fall as it did today nourishing my organic garden, no matter what the gonnas said or did.

And I am not going to be any less then the sum of who I am no matter what the goonas, gonna do.

Someone commented to me today that some jealousy could be involved; that some took my ability to speak well, my (as he put it) formidable strength, that if some one comes to me "they better have their A game ready" that the sum of who I am might scare some.

And you know what? They better (have their A game ready).

I am more then pleased with myself that after a very long time and struggle, I've gotten to the point where I came to know no matter what you do, even if you laid down and whine (or not) be passive or not having a learned helplessness wringing you hands to and fro in essence saying "Please like me,please like, I am not threat to you". it will be of no avail.

Cause the gonnas are gonna get you no matter what. It is never about you.

I bring this up because as we all reach hard toward our goals, there will be one or two (or more) gonnas. Live long enough and a gonna could come & get ya. People do not like their world disrupted or patterns shifted. When you release what has weighed you down it WILL cause a paradigm shift in others apart from yourself.

And if one doesn't like it rather using the awesome energy to change themselves, will use extraordinary means & lengths to put you right back where they want you to be, whether it is healthy for you or not.

Or whether YOU want it or not. 


So what did I do?  I wrote this poem:



Anyway
 By iiammoon©11

They are gonna laugh anyway...

So I might as well go out and play…

With all the life & vigor I can display

For...

They are going to laugh anyway...

Roll their eyes…

Smirk...

Wave their hands to & fro

So... I might as well sing loudly…

That song no matter how off key

Because that song  is  for me...

'Cause...

They gonna laugh  anyway...

Since I can't seem "to act my age"

I might as well jump in, Jimmy Choo's  & all...

in a puddle as muddy & messy as it wants to be…

It will wash off once I finish...

After I had a ball.

Because they are gonna laugh anyway...

All Rights Reserved JHM ©1-30-11

Walk this Weigh~I am STILL Grinnin'

I am still grinning this morning albeit a wee bit sore as I took advantage of a beautiful day and a need to get my art shipped out for the show opening next week to walk to the post office.

Round trip it took me about 45minutes thereabouts as I was walking a tad bit slow to terst out the knees since I knew it was an increase in the distance in walking.

I had not been out in the last month because of the inclement weather which gave me plenty of excuses not to go although I did a lot of micro-walks inside my home.  Apparently it worked as apart from some minor soreness which indicated I gave my bosy a workout without over taxing it had me just a'smilin' this morning.

And I slept very well to boot!

I got to see another side of my neighborhood on streets I had not seen to see the still ongoing construction & re-sparking of homes still in disrepair from Katrina and was happy.  Some homes are far more modest but nonetheless gratifying to see what is happening.

I so wished I had my camera.

I enjoyed the birds chirping the sun beaming and the pure injoyment in the physicality of what I was doing!

And then I saw as I neared my street, first seeing him from a distance, a man who is an amputee very slowly on crutches taking HIS walk.  He had as I saw when I came up on him, had his leg amputated to his knee & the other leg was twisted inward.

But there he was walking away, inch by inch, step by step with his crutches.

He turned to come back in the direction I was so apparently he lived from where I was coming from and I lived in the direction HE was coming from.  I just ginned and spoke.  He smiled and we kept on our way.

I am going to make it a point to travel that street again in case I see him and perhaps on a good day we can walk together even if it is just a block.  I have no desire to invade his privacy or see him as a special case because he is an amputee, but as one disabled to another, we are telling the world we are "other able".

Today is suppose to be yet another glorious day into the low 60's & I will get out around noon-ish to walk again.  I had a healthy breakfast, get back to work for a couple hours of art and then get that walk going. My aim is to consistently walk 5-6 days a week as part of my current goals.

Oh oh, does it seem like my mojo is starting to work?

If it is to be, it is up to me. Author Unknown

100 Calorie Cinnamon Pancakes!

100 Calorie Cinnamon Pancakes! 
I am not big on pancakes, but I am willing to try this one!

INGREDIENTS
Whole Wheat Flour, 1.25 cup
Baking Soda, 1 tsp
Splenda No Calorie Sweetener, 2 tbsp
Skim Milk, 1 cup
Eggbeaters, .5 cup
Vanilla extract, 1 tbsp
Cinnamon, 2 tbsp

DIRECTIONS
Mix flour, baking soda, and splenda in bowl. Mix milk, eggs, and vanilla in another bowl. Beat into dry mix roughly, so as to add more air to mix. Stir in cinnamon last. Serving size is 1/3 cup mix. Use PAM on skillet when cooking and sweeten with sugar free syrup and/or fruit!

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 8
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 92.6

• Total Fat: 0.4 g
• Cholesterol: 0.5 mg
• Sodium: 209.8 mg
• Total Carbs: 18.2 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g
• Protein: 5.2 g

Serving size is one pancake. If you use less than 1/3 of a cup batter (like 1/4, or 1/6) you can have two for 100 calories! Smaller, but more! :)

Number of Servings: 8

I am so Stuffed!

Spinach and Goat Cheese- Stuffed Baked Potatoes

FROM:  MEALS THAT HEAL
A healthy, yummy twist on stuffed potatoes. While spuds contain their own vitamin C and iron, spinach and cannelini beans offer even more nutrients. If you're not a fan of spinach, substitute broccoli florets for an extra dose of vitamin C.

Photo: Rodale Images

INGREDIENTS

Serves:   Prep: 30min Cook: 1hr 20min Total: 1hr 50min

• 4 large russet potatoes, pricked several times with a fork
• 4 ounces low-fat goat cheese
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons fat-free milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 can (14-19 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Place the potatoes directly on the oven rack and bake for 1 hour, or until soft when squeezed (wear an oven mitt).
3. Remove the potatoes from the oven and cut each lengthwise in half. Let stand until easily handled but still warm.
4. Scoop out the potato pulp into a large bowl, leaving a 1/4"-thick shell. Place the potato shells in a 13" x 9" baking pan.
5. With a potato masher, mash the pulp with the cheese, sour cream, oil, milk, salt, and pepper. Fold in the spinach, scallions, and beans. Spoon into the potato shells. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.

6. CALORIES	262.9 CAL
   FAT	6.5 G
   SATURATED FAT	3.2 G
   SODIUM	371.6 MG
   CARBOHYDRATES	42.3 G
   TOTAL SUGARS	2.1 G
   DIETARY FIBER	6.9 G
   PROTEIN	10.1 G