For the health of it

I know how difficult it is to break habits, and especially so in the area of food. If you, like me, are in a rut full of the fresh fruits and vegetables that are now in season, here's some help! We love the summer sun, but its a challenge to get needed calories in your summer squash, amazing fruits, fresh salads, and refreshing Gazpacho. I've come up with some creative ways to help fortify your summer fare, which hopefully you'll like for more reasons than just the added available energy. It may take your taste buds a day or two to get used to the added salt, fats, and sugars, but it WILL come, if you give it a chance:

Rhubarb pie

Strawberries dipped in milk chocolate

Lemon meringue pie with a garnish of mint and a slice of lemon

Green bean casserole

Carrots with a mayo-based ranch dip

Broccoli florets with melted Velveeta cheese

Blueberry crepes with a healthy helping of real whipped cream

Banana bread

Not so slim, and not so fast

There's only one reason I am glad my high school reunion is over. I'll be Slim-Fast free for the next 4 1/2 years, until its time to start getting ready for the next one.

Taking care of myself

I eat this not because I'm addicted to chocolate or anything (pity the fool!) but I do it because its good for me. Its good for my skin, energy and a healthy heart.

I've heard too many vitamins can be a bad thing, so I try to just keep it to 4-5 Dove bars a day, with Diet Coke as a chaser.

Making Yogurt

I decided to try making my own yogurt this morning since the prices have gone up so much. Well, really since I thought it would be fun. Because, truthfully, the $2 per quart I am saving by making my own yogurt, is CERTAINLY being spent on other "unnecessary" items. If I had to choose between yogurt and Diet Pepsi, chocolate, or shoes, I think we all know what I wouldn't be choosing.

• I heated 1 gallon of milk with 1 packet of Knox unflavored gelatine to 185 degrees
• While that was heating, I put a jar of boiling water in a cooler to warm it up
  
• When the milk reached 185 degrees, I took it off the stove and set the pan into a sink full of cold water
• When the temperature decreased to 120 degrees, I added 1 cup Dannon plain yogurt and stirred it well.
• I then put the milk mixture into 3 plastic containers and put them into the styrofoam cooler with a new jar of boiling water to keep the temperature at around 110 degrees.
• I let it sit for 8 hours.
• Tastes just like store bought! (I sound like a hick!)(I AM a hick!- I just made my own yogurt)
  

A Sad Story about Fungus with a Happy Ending

Since our boys are in wrestling at the elementary school, skin things get spread around. In December, our oldest son came home from a meet with small red rash near his mouth which I quickly diagnosed as seborrhoeic dermatitis (thinking I was quite clever). I started treating it with hydrocortizone cream, which is to skin rashes that Carmex is to chapped lips, and a vacuum cleaner is to dirt on the floor. This didn't work, so I started applying Lamisil cream which is used to treat jock itch that just happened to be lying around the house? That didn't work. I think it was here that I realized maybe all skin fungi aren't the same, so can't be treated the same. When the two other boys got little spots near their mouths, I realized I needed to try something else. It has been 3 months since the first sighting at this point, because it takes me SO LONG to apply knowledge. Finally, because I am 'self-smart' (thank you Mindi), I looked up skin fungus on the c-o-m-p-u-t-e-r, and learned some very interesting information, which I am going to share with you right now. There are 5 common types of skin fungus:

• Athlete's foot (not likely, since it needs hot, moist conditions, such as a shoe)
  
• Jock itch (tried to treat it as this, but didn't go away)
  
• Ringworm (we had ruled this out because the rash was not in a ring)
  
• Candidiasis (AHA! Can occur at the corners of mouth, among other places!)
  
• Tinea Versicolor (ruled this out since it was not causing the skin to change color)

So then I treated the rash with ointment used to treat yeast infections (another form of Candidiasis), and the spots were gone overnight. The moral of the story is to accurately diagnose the fungus, then treat. In order to help you, I've made up a little memory tool (mnemonic device):

Oh Athlete's foot, please leave me be
you make my toes itch, so red and flak-y

You too, Jock Itch, only its not my toes
that itch so bad, and not my knees and not my nose

Ringworm, you drive me crazy going round and round the way you do
I never knew you weren't REALLY a worm, but a fungus you are too!

You're a brownish-red, itchy patch,Candidiasis, and you have a funny name.
Whether you're under my arms, near my mouth, or beneath my breasts - you're still the same.

You are best of all our fungal friends, Tinea Versicolor
You don't itch as bad, but make patches of skin dark or lighter. (c) sm

The Day the Kefir Died

If you've never heard of Kefir, I'm not going to judge you. You're probably going to be okay. I have dabbled in it, but never regularly. And today, after keeping these kefir grains alive for a year, I fear they are dead. I left them in the refrigerator too long without changing their milk (which is to kefir what Guinness is to the Irish, and the umbilical cord is to the fetus). We called 911, but there was no reviving them. They are just little white squishy shells of their former self. I keep telling myself "It's okay, it's not your fault (but it is), they're in a better place", but its not helping. I think I am just going to have to grieve.

Hungry Girl, Part 2

Today, as I plod along with my 20 year class reunion staring me in the face, I got hungry. There wasn't any sugar in the house (by design) except marshmallows. There wasn't any cereal in the house except Kashi. So I put my brain matter to good use, and decided to mix the two together for an AWESOME snack of 270 calories and 12 beautiful grams of fiber. There's a reason why those two people on the box look so happy! Here's what I did: Melt 4 marshmallows in the microwave in a toxic plastic bowl for 30 seconds, then add 1 cup Kashi cereal and stir. Seriously though, if you aren't desperate for a somewhat reasonable sweet snack with high fiber and lowER calories, I wouldn't recommend this.

F-1 Onion Rings

I know many of you have been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for my honest opinion of hungry-girl.com (tips & tricks for hungry chicks), and most specifically, their recipe for onion rings. AS SOON as I saw this recipe, I marched my cotton candy Mammoth Crocs over to the refrigerator to gather ingredients. "I love onion rings," I thought, "and what better way to tide my appetite over than with slices of onion dipped in egg, and rolled in ground up Fiber One cereal?" As it turned out, they were as bad as they sound. Please do not leave nasty comments for me, as I am not forcing you to try this at home.