Day Eight

Yesterday was a much better day for NaNo writing. I managed to type 5200 words, which brings my grand total to 20,677. Phew! So six more days like that and I will make 50K. Of course, with Turkey Day coming up and all that requires, I do not think I will get another 5K-word day until next Monday. That will be cutting it way too close for comfort.

I just spent all morning at the car shop getting my van serviced and a small repair done. So no writing then, although I did get a lot of crocheting accomplished. I am working on an afghan for my niece Melanie, who is due with her second child any day now. So that was not wasted time, really. Just not writing time.

And then this afternoon is a trip to the grocery store. Oh goody. The grocery store two days before Thanksgiving. Brave, aren't I? Or just plain insane!

Home Sweet Home

Bill and I arrived home last night, road weary and glad to be back. It is an eight hour drive from Tallahassee to Fort Lauderdale and it does not seem to make much difference time-wise which route you take, Interstate or cross country from Tally to Ocala. At least the traffic was much less hectic yesterday than it was going down on Sunday, which was a good thing. I think our supper Wednesday night might have been loaded with MSG or something. I know I did not like my shrimp dinner and did not finish it, which is practically unheard of, me not finishing shrimp! But it just did not taste quite right and Bill said afterwards that his did not either. Whatever the cause, Thursday morning we both woke up with killer headaches and feeling very lethargic, like we were hung over (which we were not!). So that made for a very long drive home.

But the stay there in Fort Lauderdale (actually Pompano Beach) was very nice. I had a nice visit with a UL friend on Tuesday, Carol B. (Auntie Carol, for you ULers), and I took some cute pics of her granddaughter. Carol's whole family was very nice and it was great to be able to put faces to names.

Here are some pics from our hotel balcony:

The beach on Monday morning, around 9 a.m.

A sailboat I watched on Wednesday afternoon when I was taking a break from writing. I am thinking of making a series of several of these sailboat pics framed above our couch.

And does anyone know what these flowers might be? They were blooming in the pool / courtyard area. I think they might be a variety of hibiscus?

Whatever they are, they were very pretty to look at first thing in the morning while eating breakfast!

I Won!

Whoooeeeee! I won a blog contest! Amy held a blog contest for all her readers to celebrate her first full year of blogging. And I won one of her awards! I will be getting some Rhode Island chocolate (from The Chocolate Delicacy in East Greenwich, RI), Newport Coffee Traders coffee, and a Beachcombers Guide to the North Atlantic Seashore. Maybe I'll have to take a trip to New England beaches now! Well, not NOW, but sometime in the future. Thanks so much, Amy!!

Good Eats and other Food

I recently discovered the Food Network show Good Eats with Alton Brown. What a lot of fun that show is! I have watched about five episodes and learned a lot, even though I have been cooking for a long, long time. I did not know why russet potatoes work better for baking than red potatoes. Last night's episode was all about scallops. Now to go get some scallops and see if they will taste better than the last time I cooked them! I hope to convince the boys to watch a few episodes. Maybe it will get them excited about cooking.

Speaking of cooking, I tried a new recipe last night that turned out very well, California Cod. It is a Publix Apron's Simple Meals recipes. Bill was a bit apprehensive when I mentioned it was cod, which he remembered as not liking as a child. But we both liked this. The only thing I can see that I should do differently is peeling the lemons so that they are more edible. Try it and see what you think!

California Cod

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 4 cod fillets (1 1/2 lb: thawed, if needed)
• 3 tablespoons white wine (or white cooking wine)
• 1 teaspoon seafood seasoning
• 3 plum tomatoes (rinsed)
• 2 lemons (rinsed)
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Coat 13- x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange fish in baking dish (wash hands); drizzle wine over fish and sprinkle with seasoning.
2. Tomatoes and lemons can be peeled, but no necessary. Slice both very thinly; layer over top of fish, alternating and overlapping slices.
3. Sprinkle with cheeses and then oregano. Bake 11-14 minutes or internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F (or flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork). Use a meat thermometer to accurately ensure doneness. Serve.

CALORIES (per 1/4 recipes) 180kcal; FAT 10g; CHOL 90mg; SODIUM 360mg; CARB 5g; FIBER 1g; PROTEIN 38g; VIT A 15%; VIT C 35%; CALC 25%; IRON 4%

Tip: If cod is not available, use another firm white fish like snapper or orange roughy.

If you have not seen the Publix Simple Meals cards, look for them the next time you are in the store. Publix highlights a different 30-minute meal each week. The recipe card includes a shopping list and needed items for a complete meal. This week's card included Baked Potatoes and Fresh Asparagus along with the California Cod. The menu cards assume that the reader knows next to nothing about cooking and so explains everything. And best of all, every ingredient that you would need to prepare the complete meal is all in one section of the store. I have tried a few recipes from different menu cards and usually they are very tasty. Tasty enough that I always check out the new week's card!

St. George Island

I think we celebrated our anniversary a week late. Yesterday we drove down the coast to Eastpointe and met a work acquaintance of Bill's for lunch at That Place on 98. It was a delicious lunch. We had Peel & Eat Shrimp for an appetizer. Bill had Oysters Rockefeller and a salad and I ordered a cup of Gumbo and their Greek Salad. Tallahassee and the coast here seems to have quite a Greek influence in it's food and the Greek Salad was scrumptious. I need to try the Greek peppers. They look like Jalapeno peppers, which are too hot for me. I didn't try them yesterday, but I will next time I order a Greek Salad. And while I'm not a big fan of oysters, the Oysters Rockefeller was very good.

After our lunch, Bill's acquaintance headed back to Pensacola and we went on to St. George Island to walk off all that food. It was a nice day, not too hot and a very strong breeze, strong enough that you needed to walk down where the sand was wet. The dry sand hurts when the wind whips it against your bare legs! Here's some pictures of the beach at St. George Island State Park.

Anniversary Update

So, did we do anything special for our anniversary? Yes and no. We got Chinese take-out for supper, not the cheap buffet places, but take-out from an expensive, sit-down restaurant, the Ming-Tree Chinese Restaurant on East Lafayette Street. That was where we went to eat our very first night in our apartment here. David likes it because they have lamb dishes. Spicy lamb dishes! Anyway, we brought our take-out home and watched the Daytona 400. What an ending to that race! Bill's brother was supposed to have been in the grandstands watching and it certainly would have been a good one to see live! But it was equally as nice watching it at home sitting next to my hubby of twenty-eight years.

Fourth of July

I meant this to go up on the 5th. Oh well, better late than never.

Here's the way to celebrate July 4th. Spend a couple of hours at the beach with your children and grandchild, walking, wading and swimming. Pick up some steamed crab legs, shrimp cocktail and cheesecake on the way home. Eat supper. And then enjoy your granddaughter's delight as she experiences her first firework. Priceless!

Smoke Alarm Test

Charles decided to test the smoke alarm system in our apartment last night. Not intentionally, mind you, but the end result was the same. They work very well. Guaranteed to wake you up from a dead sleep at 1:45 a.m. I promise!

It would seem that cooking hot dogs directly on the burners of an electric stove causes a lot of smoke! Can you imagine? Bill was dumbfounded that anyone would even try! But Charles assured us that you can cook them on the burners of a gas stove! Oh my. I think that maybe we need to invest in a small, electric hot dog grill!

Driver's Edge and stuff

David and Bill just left for Atlanta. David is signed up to participate in the Driver's Edge program tomorrow afternoon. They will spend the night near Macon and be back late tomorrow night. For those of you not familiar with Driver's Edge, it is a youth driver's education program founded and developed by a professional race car driver. Here's a quote from their website:

Young drivers are placed through this half day, four hour program at no cost, making the program accessible to young drivers from all economic backgrounds. With professional driving instructors at their side, the students … participate in customized behind the wheel driving exercises developed to address the most common driving situations that can lead to collision.

I'll post next week to let you know how it went and whether David found it to be worthwhile.

So what have I been up to this week? Mostly playing with Miss Munchkin. I drove up to Albany Wednesday morning and brought Kat and Miss Munchkin here for a few days. They were getting housebound. Not sure yet when I'll take them home: possibly either tomorrow (Saturday) or Monday. I could do it Sunday, but Sunday is race day and the four-hour round trip would cut into my race watching!

It appears like David is ready for Orientation on Tuesday at Tallahassee Community College He's spent quite a bit of time online and on the phone and visiting the college, trying to get all the needed paperwork submitted. He plans to take an English Composition class this summer and then begin full-time classes in the fall. We are hoping that this works out better than Evansville did last year.

Oh, and I found a great natural foods place yesterday. New Leaf Market.It has a deli, organic and local produce, and best of all, it's a co-op! I'll be joining after we get next month's paycheck!

There are also three different farmer's markets in the area, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The one on Monday is less than a mile from me! I hope to get there next week. Last Saturday we visited the one downtown and bought loads of fresh produce and some cut zinnias. It's so nice to have fresh flowers!

Life Is Good

Fresh sweet corn that tastes like actual corn. Tomatoes that smell and taste like tomatoes. And an afternoon walk on the beach. What more could one desire?!

Fast Food / Junk Food

Monday Charles and I watched the documentary "Super Size Me." (I love Netflix!) It was a good documentary and I would highly recommend it to everyone and anyone.

Here is the DVD blurb:

On the heels of recent lawsuits against McDonald's, director Morgan Spurlock takes a hilarious and often terrifying look at the effects of fast food on the human body. For one month, Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald's food, ordering everything on the menu at least once and "super-sizing" his order if asked. With obesity on the rise, Spurlock's film begs the question: Where does personal responsibility end and corporate responsibility begin?

We try to avoid fast food, as much for monetary reasons as for health reasons, but still we tend to eat out way too often. Last week as I helped Kat freshen up her old place for resale, I had fast food for lunch four days in a row. And I also bought some junk food (store bought granola bars and blueberry muffins that contain way too much refined sugars and flours) for snacks. I did have some healthy options. I drank only water and brought along cheese sticks and bananas. But still I ate way more fast food and junk food than I normally do. The result? Four pounds of weight gain in those four days.

I have been working hard to lose some extra pounds over the past several months, managing to lose ten pounds in seven months. That is just a little under 1.5 pounds per month. They say slow weight loss is healthier and you are likely to keep the weight off longer than if you lose it quickly, so I have been happy with that rate. Luckily, those four pounds gained last week are temporary ones; by yesterday I had only one left to see disappear. But it was eye opening how little time it takes to sabotage oneself. I could have just as easily packed salads or sandwiches to eat last week. Instead I took the quick and easy way out.

So, last night when we went out to dinner to celebrate Charles's 17th birthday, I remembered and ate sensibly. Broiled blackened salmon, steamed broccoli, brown rice and water. For dessert a slice of cheesecake with cherries (not cherry pie filling!). So this morning when I weighed myself, I was the same as yesterday. That's a good thing! By the end of this week that last pound should be gone and then I can begin April with a ten pound loss and begin working on the next ten! And maybe I will watch "Super Size Me" one more time before I send it back to Netflix. Fix it firmly in my mind how very bad fast food really is for my health!

Spring Break Over

Tomorrow we take David back to college, which means another long day of traveling. It is really an easy trip, with the only really heavy traffic going through Nashville. And even then, we are usually making the trek on either a Saturday or Sunday, so the traffic is not all that bad. But it is still a long drive. And with tomorrow being the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, that means we will lose an hour's sleep tonight. I love Daylight Savings Time and am very happy that it is starting earlier this year and lasting longer, but I hate losing that hour's sleep!

I spent most of today working on creating a list of all the math and science books that I sorted off the shelves on Thursday. All day, but I have only about 1/4 of them on the list. That means a lot more work next week before I am ready to post the list to any group. After I get the list made, then I have to go back through the list, looking up comparable books on e-bay and/or Amazon and see what the used price should be for each one.

This evening we met Kat and Miss Munchkin in Cullman for dinner. Steak! Yummy! Miss Munchkin ate a fair share of my green beans, along with some french fries and a small bit of cheesecake. She definitely prefers to feed herself now, although with only two teeth, you have to really watch what she tries to eat.

It was a nice dinner out, with all three of our children there. But every time the past few months that we have been able to all be together, I cannot help but wonder how long it will be before we are all able to be together again. Life is changing. David in college. Kat with a family. Us looking to move further south. So many changes. And no way of being able to look ahead to know whether they will be good changes or not. No guarantees in this life! Just sight your course and hope for smooth waters and good times ahead.

Time for bed … I am going to have to arise much too early for a Sunday morning!

Miss Munchkin's Birthday

I did not post an entry yesterday because it was Miss Munchkin's first birthday and I was very busy! I began crocheting a YoYo Bunny back in early January, but somehow, like usual, it came down to the wire and I spent five hours yesterday finishing it. And finish it I did, with time to spare (a whole half an hour!). It looks sort of cute, in a disturbing kind of way, but I am not sure how well it will hold together. If it falls apart, probably the yoyo's will be more fun to play with than the bunny!

Miss Munchkin had a small first birthday party, with just family there, grandparents and uncles and aunts. She loved the black cat that we had made at Wack-a-Bear or whatever that store is called. Most of all, though, she liked the balls that Uncle Charles picked out. They were one of the first gifts she opened and after that, she tried to bounce every other gift. If it did not bounce, then back she went to the balls!

And, of course, there was the obligatory chocolate cake with frosting! Mommy and Daddy just could not understand why both grandmothers thought that a little girl covered in cake and frosting was so cute! When we left, Miss Munchkin was headed for the bathtub for a thorough cleaning.

David's Home!

Guess who brought home every piece of clothing he owns, dirty!!! LOL!

David's last class was out by noon on Tuesday, so Bill picked him up after noon and they were home by about 9:30 last night. He is in dire need of a hair cut, his last one being in August before he left for college! And he made the statement that he had to do some laundry before he went to bed, as he had nothing clean left to wear. He brought home a huge laundry bag of dirty clothes and his backpack full of books. No pillows, nothing else. Good thing I have some extra blankets and pillows around.

I'm sorry I missed out on the trip, as Bill said that David talked non-stop for about the first three hours of the trip home, so I missed out on all the good stuff! Maybe he'll repeat some of it today.

We have two invites out for Thanksgiving Dinner, but David wants to stay home, so it looks like I need to buy a turkey today! Although David did say he'd just as soon have Bar-B-Que Potatoes from Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur. Wonder if they are open tomorrow?

Charles plans to "double-dip" tomorrow for Thanksgiving. He's been invited to go with his girl friend to both of her grandparent's houses for two Thanksgiving Dinners! And Kat is having her in-laws to her place, so it looks like we'll be a quiet threesome tomorrow. Suits me fine!

A Yummy Shrimp Recipe

Or tasty, as my cousin Linda would say! I tried this recipe over the weekend and both Bill and I loved it. Charles didn't try it, as he seemed to have forgotten that he liked shrimp when he took his girl friend out for her birthday last month!

Of course, I didn't follow the recipe exactly, so please note the modifications!

New Orleans Barbequed Shrimp
Submitted to allrecipes.com by Carl v. Tibbetts
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/new-orleans-barbequed-shrimp/detail.aspx?rss=7

2 servings
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 pound shrimp, heads off and unpeeled

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup zesty Italian dressing

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Wash shrimp and drain well.

3. Melt margarine/butter in a one quart casserole dish. Add salad dressing, lemon juice, black pepper and garlic powder.

4. Add shrimp to the casserole dish. Stir gently to cover the shrimp with the mixture. Cover and bake, stirring occasionally for 25 to 30 minutes or until shrimp are pink.

5. Serve the shrimp hot on a large platter and place the sauce in individual bowls so that you can easily 'dunk' bread in the sauce!

My modifications:

I peeled the shrimp first. Takes longer, but much easier to do before it's cooked and much less messy while eating!

I added four filets of flounder, partially thawed and broken up into smaller pieces.

I increased the recipe by 1/2 to accommodate the additional fish pieces.

Next time I will probably add slightly less butter, as it was very buttery! But very yummy!

Vacation Trip - Part Two

We (Bill & I) spent four nights (Sunday through Wednesday) at the hunting lodge where the 50th Anniversary Party was held. The hunting theme was a bit overdone for my taste, but then I'm not a mighty hunter! We removed some of the pelts from the walls, as their tails dangled down the back of your head when you sat down in certain chairs. One of the young children said we put earrings on the deer. One wall had the front end of a bear sticking out one side and the back end sticking out the other side!

The 50th Anniversary Party began at three on Monday, the 9th and went on until long after dark! Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially the guests of honor.

Tuesday Charles had the bright idea that we should all walk up (and back down) the glen at Watkins Glen. It's 1.5 miles each way, with over 800 steps going up, depending upon the path you take. It was a nice day for such a trek, not too hot, partly sunny, not raining. And October is definitely the perfect month as far as the color of the leaves. Surprisingly, I wasn't as sore afterwards as I was afraid I might be. Miss Munchkin had the right idea, though, riding in mom's sling!

Wednesday we just hung around, taking more pictures, gathering up squash, apples and cider, and doing a little reminiscing along the back roads of our youth. The area has changed so much in the last thirty-five years. Someone told me that Yates County is now the second most Mennonite-populated county in the nation, right behind Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Amazing when you consider the first Mennonite family moved to Yates County around 1970!

Busy Days

Has it really been a week since I last posted here? Wow! I've been so busy with office duties and running kids here and there. My desk is a lot cleaner! And the bills are all current! So some things have been accomplished! Unfortunately, updating my website was not included in that list of accomplishments. That was July's agenda, but somehow here it is the 25th and I've not even begun. And boy, do I have a lot of updates.

Yesterday Charles met with Dr. Debra Gilliam from Alternative Medicine Associates. She seemed pretty sure she would be able to help Charles and I sure hope so! It was an expensive visit and none of it covered by our medical insurance. He now has several supplements and homeopathic remedies to take over the next 12 weeks, along with some dietary changes to make. And then on October 16 he return to see if all this has helped any. She also suggested that Charles keep a food diary, but I don't see that happening! The most difficult dietary change is no gluten, no wheat. I bought some oat flour and some spelt flour, both of which the naturopath suggested would be better for Charles than wheat.

David has his college physical tomorrow. Which reminds me, I still need to double check with the college that a letter from his doctor will be all that is needed for a medical waiver on the tetanus shot. My mom wrote me last week to tell me that she had suffered from an allergic reaction to a tetanus shot about fifteen years ago and her doctor told her then not to ever have another tetanus shot or it might be fatal. She thought she had told me that before, but mentioned it again after reading my blog entry about Charles' latest "episode." I sure don’t' remember hearing about that before, but I'm glad to know it now. Perhaps it will provide added incentive for the doctor tomorrow to provide that medical waiver.

The kittens are getting cuter every day! Today the one's here in my office finally got brave enough to escape from their box, or at least I discovered one of them out this morning when I came in to check my e-mail. I think it's just about time to move them outside, as I do not want to have a litter box in here. The other kittens in the living room just have their eyes open, but I may have to find another spot for them. The mama kitty seems to be disrupting the wires back there that are hooked to the TV and receiver and our TV reception has been disappearing. Somewhere there's a cord loose!

Well, time to wake up some boys and begin working on the website updates. People are e-mailing me asking me when I'm going to make the changes that they sent me weeks ago!

The day after the day after …

So, what did we do to celebrate our anniversary? About the same as usual, went out to dinner. Neither Bill nor I felt very energetic yesterday. I'm not sure if it was the weather or just Saturday or jet lag from the short week following the July 4th holiday. In any case, I didn't feel like a movie and neither of us really even had any clear idea of where we wanted to eat. We did agree that neither of us wanted seafood. All I could think about on Friday was seafood, but by Saturday it was about the last thing I wanted to eat. David was no help. I asked him where we should go and his only comment was, "where there's take-out," presumably to bring food home to him! So we went to the local steakhouse, had a nice rib-eye and stuffed mushrooms, and came home and watched a Disney movie on TV until it was time to go pick up Charles from karate. Do we know how to live it up or what?!

I did make some nice muffins yesterday. Honey Peach Muffins. Almost as tasty as peach pie and probably a lot better for us. Of course, I modified it just a wee bit. Here's the original recipe from Pillsbury's Fast and Healthy Magazine, "good-for-you muffins!" article:

Honey Peach Muffins

• 3/4 cup Pillsbury BEST All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup reduced-calorie margarine, softened
• 1 (8-oz.) container low-fat peach yogurt
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped drained canned peaches in light syrup.

1. Heat oven to 375. Spray bottoms only of 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
3. In medium bowl, combine margarine, honey and yogurt; beat at low speed until well blended. Add egg white; beat well. Add to flour mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently stir in peaches. Spoon batter evenly into sprayed muffin cups.
4. Bake at 375 for 17 to 23 minutes or until tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove from pan. Serve warm. 12 muffins. Okay, now for my recipe. It's for double the amount, 24 muffins (if I'm going to heat my oven up this time of year, it's going to be for more than 12 muffins!):

• 1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup organic unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 (8 oz.) container organic peach yogurt
• 8 oz. organic plain yogurt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup fresh peaches, peeled, and coarsely chopped
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)
• other fruits as desired, such as dried cherries, fresh cherries, raisins, etc.

I use coconut oil for the muffin cups, coating the whole cup, not just the bottom. I don't use a blender to mix, using a wire whisk and wooden spoon instead (uses more calories on my part!). Otherwise, follow above directions.

I made twenty-four muffins yesterday afternoon and there were only ten left this morning when Bill and I got up. We each had two yesterday, so Charles and David ate five each yesterday. I've got some fresh cherries that need using up today, so I think I'll pit them and add them to the next batch of muffins. And I also have a lot of zucchini that needs using. I tried a zucchini muffin recipe last week that I found online, but wasn't extremely happy with it. If anyone has a favorite zucchini muffin recipe, I'd sure appreciate receiving a copy of it!

Miss Munchkin - Almost 4 months!

Miss Munchkin visited with us last week and again yesterday. She's trying to figure out this crawling thing to the point of having rug burns on her knees. But she hasn't quite got the hand action going yet for crawling, just the bottom leg action. Funny to watch her scoot herself across the floor, but rather frustrating for her and she begins to voice her frustration before very long.

Miss Munchkin has discovered that she can actually grab things with her own hands and now find her mouth when she wants. So nothing is safe anymore!

Yesterday she had her second solid food, Grandma's homemade applesauce. I wish I had gotten a picture of that! Her daddy had fed her a finger scoop of spaghetti sauce the previous night, thinking that would show her that she really didn't want his plateful of food. Was he mistaken! She wanted more!

Here's a pic from last week, June 30. She'll be 4 months on July 7th, our 27th anniversary! She's 20 pounds now ... I think her mother is not feeding her well enough!

You'll notice that Miss Munchkin does not wear any plastic pants (or wraps, as they call them these days) nor is she using safety pins with her cloth diapers. Kat has been practicing EC (Elimination Communication) for about two months now. It's working very well. When at home or here at Grandma's, she might wet one or two diapers all day long and rarely does Kat have to change a stinky diaper. Both Kat and I have learned Miss Munchkin's cues and habits pretty well. If she's not teething and not hungry, it seems like the only time she gets upset and cries is when she has to go potty or when she has wet her diapers (she hates, hates, hates being in wet diapers).

I have to admit I was skeptical at first when Kat mentioned she wanted to try EC. But it really does work! Here's are some links if you want to learn more about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication

http://www.natural-wisdom.com/

http://www.goddessunplugged.com/articles/diapers.htm

Banana Snack Muffins

Last week I finally got my oven fixed! I've been without a workable oven for over two years. The very first item I baked last week was chocolate chip cookies, much to my children's delight.

I've been trying to find ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our diets, especially for my boys. Muffins are a good way of doing this, so I have been looking for some good muffin recipes. Yesterday I found a little booklet in my cookbook shelf. I'd forgotten about this recipe, which I used to make way back when!

Banana Snack Muffins From Pillsbury Fast And Healthy Magazine, Volume 7, No. 2.

Prep Time: 15 minutes (Ready in 40 minutes)

• 3/4 cup Pillsbury BEST All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Pillsbury BEST Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
• 3/4 cup mashed banana (about 1 large)
• 1 (8-ox.) container low-fat vanilla yogurt
• 2 egg whites
• Topping
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 375. Spray bottoms only of 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt; mix well.
3. In medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and margarine; beat at low speed until well blended. Add banana, yogurt and egg whites; beat well. Add to flour mixture. With spoon, stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon batter evenly into sprayed muffin cups.
4. In small bowl, combine all topping ingredients; mix well. Sprinkle evenly over batter in pan.
5. Bake at 375 for 20 - 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove from pan. Cool slightly. Serve warm.

12 muffins Nutritional information for 1 muffin 150 calories 35 calories from fat

Okay, now for my notes about the recipe:

1. I use applesauce rather than butter
2. I use whole eggs rather than just the whites, so only 1 egg
3. Instead of 1/2 cup sugar, I generally use less, like 1/2 that amount
4. They work well in foil cups, but will stick terribly to the paper muffin cups.
5. The topping is good, but I leave it off and instead ...
6. Add pecans, walnuts, frozen blueberries, raisin, etc.
7. Flavored yogurt works fine, as does sour creme or a mixture of the two.

And it's even not too bad without the bananas! I totally forgot to add the bananas to yesterday's batch. They still were eaten up by today, so got the chance to try again!

Shopping

God, I hate grocery shopping! Let me list some of reasons why I hate shopping for groceries:

1. Prices. You can't even buy a decent loaf of bread anymore for under $2.00.
2. Meat. After living on the farm and raising our own meat, I always feel like I'm gambling when I buy meat. And the prices! It used to be I could buy something fairly decent and edible for under $2 a pound. Not anymore! Who can afford $8 a pound steak?!
3. Sales. Again, I feel like I'm gambling whenever I pick up something on sale. The last time I bought frozen fish on sale it was all dried out and tasted terrible. I had to feed it to the cats.
4. Choices. Too many of them! The cereal aisle alone is like buying a new car. A new make and model out every time your turn around.
5. Coupons. I never find coupons for the items I prefer to purchase. And the coupons I do find are for items full of corn syrup. Which brings me to my next reason…
6. Corn Syrup! It's in everything! Everywhere! It takes two and three times as long to shop just because you have to look at every item's ingredient list.
7. And just when you find a brand or item you like, the store quits carrying it.

But, it was payday, so grocery shopping was the item of the day. Let's see … I spent $175. Think that will last us very long? I'll guarantee we'll be out of yogurt, bread and juice within three days!

And, as if grocery shopping wasn't going to be painful enough, what do I do but decide I'll pop into the clothing store next door first and see if I can find a new top. Hah! Who was I kidding?! Nothing like trying on clothes to make one think they should buy less food! Hey! Maybe I just found a good way to save on the grocery bill! Somehow, though, I don't think my teens will approve of my economy. They seem to like to eat. What's up with that, anyway?!