If you read the comments, you will see a friend told me I can buy samosa wrappers locally. I was thinking about them after I had blogged yesterday, I think it would be a good thing to make a batch with different fillings and then freeze them so that you could take out one or two of each flavour at a time. Buying wrappers would certainly make it easier if not as authentic. However, not being the best pastry maker in the world, that is probably the way I would go.
I nearly forgot to mention, went to Barrie's Asparagus farm yesterday and
he had strawberries for sale. I bought some and last night we had a feast of berries and cream for dessert, delicious. They were pretty sweet but still needed sugar/Splenda added. This is another thing we have lost, really sweet berries. When I was a young woman in the UK we never needed to add sweetening to strawberries or raspberries. How sad.
Diane Sawyer of GMA was talking to President Obama this morning about
health care and smoking. He is still a smoker and struggling with it apparently.
click here. Tonight Dianne and Charles Gibson of Night Line are having a meeting with the President and a lot of medical people and I believe you can call in and ask questions, about the proposals for improving medical services in the U.S. This is an article by the New York Post
click here if you wish to read it. The Americans want to achieve a balance between the kind of health system they already have and a socialised scheme such as is available in both Canada and the UK. Certainly socialised medicine leaves a lot to be desired when you have to sit in an emergency room for hours on end. A lot of that is because people just don't have their own doctor, there are not enough doctors to go round. Having to go to Emergency just for medical treatment is ridiculous, although I believe they do sort out those who are really there for emergencies, but the systems get swamped.
This morning there was a report on GMA about the Mediterranean Diet which is a very popular diet. They are now saying, having studied the foods and people of Greece, that certain foods on the diet are excellent for promoting longevity. Basically, a plant based diet is better for your chances of a long life.
Check here to read all about it. One of the things was red wine with less than a glass of red wine for women and less than two glasses for men (I have never seen people drinking less than a glass of any wine). Although fish and grains are good for you, they are apparently not instruments for promoting longevity. Longevity is all very well if you have the health to go with it.
One of the foods mentioned in the Mediterranean Diet was beans. Matt and I enjoy bean based foods but don't eat them as often as we maybe should. Here is a pasta salad from Eating Well which includes beans.
Southern Pasta Salad with Black-Eyed Peas
Makes 6 servings, 1 1/3 cup each
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
8 ounces whole-wheat small elbows or other small pasta shape
8 ounces Swiss chard (not the red variety), washed and cut crosswise into thin strips
8 ounces smoked turkey, chopped
2 14-ounce cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
½ cup chopped sweet onions, such as Vidalia
¼ cup brewed coffee or tea, such as Lapsang-Souchong
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons molasses
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1. Place sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl, cover with boiling water and let stand until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain and let cool. Cut into slivers and set aside.
2. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente, about 5 minutes; add chard during the last minute of cooking. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool. Press to remove excess water and transfer to a large bowl. Add turkey, black-eyed peas, onions and the reserved tomatoes.
3. Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add to the pasta and chard; toss until well-combined.
Have a great day.
If you read the comments, you will see a friend told me I can buy samosa wrappers locally. I was thinking about them after I had blogged yesterday, I think it would be a good thing to make a batch with different fillings and then freeze them so that you could take out one or two of each flavour at a time. Buying wrappers would certainly make it easier if not as authentic. However, not being the best pastry maker in the world, that is probably the way I would go.
I nearly forgot to mention, went to Barrie's Asparagus farm yesterday and 
he had strawberries for sale. I bought some and last night we had a feast of berries and cream for dessert, delicious. They were pretty sweet but still needed sugar/Splenda added. This is another thing we have lost, really sweet berries. When I was a young woman in the UK we never needed to add sweetening to strawberries or raspberries. How sad.
Diane Sawyer of GMA was talking to President Obama this morning about 
health care and smoking. He is still a smoker and struggling with it apparently. click here. Tonight Dianne and Charles Gibson of Night Line are having a meeting with the President and a lot of medical people and I believe you can call in and ask questions, about the proposals for improving medical services in the U.S. This is an article by the New York Post click here if you wish to read it. The Americans want to achieve a balance between the kind of health system they already have and a socialised scheme such as is available in both Canada and the UK. Certainly socialised medicine leaves a lot to be desired when you have to sit in an emergency room for hours on end. A lot of that is because people just don't have their own doctor, there are not enough doctors to go round. Having to go to Emergency just for medical treatment is ridiculous, although I believe they do sort out those who are really there for emergencies, but the systems get swamped.
This morning there was a report on GMA about the Mediterranean Diet which is a very popular diet. They are now saying, having studied the foods and people of Greece, that certain foods on the diet are excellent for promoting longevity. Basically, a plant based diet is better for your chances of a long life. Check here to read all about it. One of the things was red wine with less than a glass of red wine for women and less than two glasses for men (I have never seen people drinking less than a glass of any wine). Although fish and grains are good for you, they are apparently not instruments for promoting longevity. Longevity is all very well if you have the health to go with it.
One of the foods mentioned in the Mediterranean Diet was beans. Matt and I enjoy bean based foods but don't eat them as often as we maybe should. Here is a pasta salad from Eating Well which includes beans.
Southern Pasta Salad with Black-Eyed Peas
Makes 6 servings, 1 1/3 cup each
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil)
8 ounces whole-wheat small elbows or other small pasta shape
8 ounces Swiss chard (not the red variety), washed and cut crosswise into thin strips
8 ounces smoked turkey, chopped
2 14-ounce cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
½ cup chopped sweet onions, such as Vidalia
¼ cup brewed coffee or tea, such as Lapsang-Souchong
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons molasses
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1. Place sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl, cover with boiling water and let stand until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain and let cool. Cut into slivers and set aside.
2. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente, about 5 minutes; add chard during the last minute of cooking. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water until cool. Press to remove excess water and transfer to a large bowl. Add turkey, black-eyed peas, onions and the reserved tomatoes.
3. Whisk together the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add to the pasta and chard; toss until well-combined.
Have a great day.
I am not so sure that it is what we eat or do not eat that keeps us alive or kills us. It's all been written down before we were even born.
ReplyDeleteWell there are new theories every minute it seems.
ReplyDeleteHello Jo, there's a new trend now, at least in Portugal and Spain, where they want to promote the Atlantic diet, covering all the european countries that border the atlantic ocean, and that includes Portugal, Spai, England, Iceland, among others. The difference to the Mediterranean diet is the huge consuption of fresh fish, the similarities are vegetables and pulses.
ReplyDeleteHi Lurdes, that's interesting, haven't heard of the Atlantic diet before. You certainly have lots of access to fresh fish which we really took advantage of when we were in Portugal. You introduced us to eels as well.
ReplyDeleteTrouble with Ontario, we are around 1,000 from the coast so what fresh seafood we get has had to travel quite a distance to get to us. The availability is much better than when we fist got here 30 years ago though.