Cancer, Mail, Vegetables, Murder and Bears.

A report on the news yesterday said the Canadian Cancer Society is spending more on fundraising and operational costs than it is on research which is somewhat disturbing to me. Read here http://tinyurl.com/44uxurz

Finally we have had some mail, a Father’s Day card from one of Matt’s daughters, a letter from the local hospital telling him of an appointment on June 28 (luckily they phoned as well) and two late but important pension documents. Still, at least they are here now. What has happened to daughter #1’s card we don’t know, maybe she didn’t send one this year!! It seems that it is taking forever for the Post Office to sort out the backlog of mail, I still have a couple of other things I should have received by now but……

Michelle of Smothered in Butter (see link this page) has been writing about her vegetable garden. Wonderful if you have the ability to grow one, and an even more wonderful way to ensure your children know what fresh vegetables are and what they taste like. I remember being horrified on one of Jamie Oliver’s programmes when kids in a classroom could not identify the most ordinary vegetables such as celery and carrots. I wonder what would have happened had they been shown my favourite, asparagus? I cannot imagine life without vegetables, there are so many who say they don’t like them, many, I believe, because they haven’t had them cooked properly. I have mentioned before, most vegetables can be eaten raw, so why cook them too much.

ON TV, continuously for several weeks, they have been covering the Casey Anthony case, a woman accused of murdering her child. Now its all over, she has basically been acquitted of all major charges, and now we are getting the analyses of what people think – most seem to think she did it anyway. I was totally fed up with the case anyway, and now it is still going to drag on for a while. Enough already.

Nasty one today, a Grizzly bear attacked and killed a man in Yellowstone Park. Unfortunately it was a mother bear with cubs. The wife is OK. Some other people on the same trail heard the shouts for help and used their cell phone to call in the emergency. The rangers say they will not kill the Grizzly because she was only exhibiting normal behaviour. Sad for the wife, but I am very glad for the mother bear. This is the first such attack in 25 years.

I have always like Satay’s and here is one from dLife which I picked up yesterday. If you go to the website http://tinyurl.com/4xzfwhr there is a video which shows you how to prepare this dish. In view of my new obesity campaign, I have left in the nutrition facts.

Beef Satay

Nutrition Facts

Makes 6 servings

Source:
Asian inspired skewered beef with spicy peanut butter sauce.

Ingredients

Beef Satay
3/4 cup low sodium beef broth, canned
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp fresh ginger root , peeled and minced
2medium garlic cloves , minced
1 lb top round steak, lean , boneless; cut into 1/4"-thick strips
1 tsp grapeseed oil
Peanut Sauce
1 tbsp light honey
3/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 tsp fresh cilantro , chopped
2 tsp chili paste
4 tbsp fresh lime juice (juice of 1 lime)
1/4 cup tap water , slightly heated

Directions

Beef Satay
1 In a large, resealable plastic bag, combine broth, soy sauce, ginger root, and garlic. Add steak; seal bag, and turn to coat steak.
2 Marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours, turning bag occasionally.
3 Soak wooden skewers in water for at least 20 minutes.
4 Remove steak from marinade, reserving marinade.
5 Place marinade in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat, strain and set aside, reserving 1/2 cup for peanut sauce.
6 Thread steak evenly onto twelve 8-inch skewers (or 24 4.5-inch skewers, if making as appetizer). Coat broiler pan with cooking spray. Space skewers evenly on prepared broiler pan.
7 Place pan 5" from heat (with electric oven door partially opened) for 7 to 8 minutes (or to desired degree of doneness), basting frequently with remaining marinade.
8 Remove from broiler and arrange on serving plate.
Peanut Sauce
1 In food processor or blender, combine peanut butter, honey, cilantro, chili paste, lime juice, and 1/2 cup of heated marinade. Drizzle in hot water, if needed to thin.

Additional Information

For appetizer version: Use smaller skewers and halve the length of the meat strips. Serve on platter with oval or rectangular dish of peanut sauce for dipping. For entree version, serve two skewers per plate, drizzled with peanut sauce.

Serving Size: 1 serving

Amount Per Serving

Calories 353.4

Total Carbs 12.3 g

Dietary Fiber 2 g

Sugars 4.8 g

Total Fat 20.3 g

Saturated Fat 3.2 g

Unsaturated Fat 17.1 g

Potassium 68.3 mg

Protein 28.9 g

Sodium 347.8 mg

Dietary Exchanges
3 1/2 Fat, 2 1/4 Meat, 1/2 Starch, 3 Very Lean Meat

Have a great day