Harvey the Hurricane Hawk, Anniversary,

Many of you may have heard the story of Harvey the Hurricane Hawk. I hadn't until I got an email from National Geographic and one of their topics was the hawk's release. I then had to find the story and it turns out it went viral.



To me it is an incredible story. Obviously it happened at the beginning of Hurricane Harvey. The hawk even allows people to handle him without too much fuss which made me wonder if he was a falconer's bird but then if he had been, surely he would have been ringed? A great story nevertheless.

Today Matt and I have been putting up with each other for 45 years. Thought we would go to supper at Mandarin, particularly as  they are still celebrating the Moon Festival and one of their evening items is roast lamb. Yes, I have a roast of lamb in the freezer, but this way I don't have to cook it myself. The picture of us, 45 years ago, I was wearing a pale lilac coloured dress, looks white but wasn't. We had a reception at home with just a few people and guess who made the food - yes, we did. I remember Matt made a Spanish orange dessert which contained quite a lot of alcohol and unnoticed by us, his two daughters were sitting at the table supping up the juice. When he took them home to their mom, she wasn't too pleased as they were quite tiddley. I think they were about 5 and 9 years old as I recall. These days the 5 year old doesn't drink at all and hasn't done so for many a long year. Just went through some other old photos of that time and Matt's comment was, what a difference having dark hair makes - not that his hair was ever that dark but it sure wasn't white like it is today.

Isn't that nice, I received a thank you email from Justin Trudeau, our Prime Minister, not sure what for mind you, I didn't read it. But as far as I know, I have done nothing to earn the thanks of Justin.

I love Portobello mushrooms so I liked the look of this recipe. But, if I make it - me being me - I would not use low fat cheeses.  However, as this is supposed to be a diabetic recipe, that is probably why they use such ingredients. This diabetic doesn't believe in it though. I remembered a story when, quite a few years ago, we were living in the States but we came back for a while to visit friends and stay with them. I discovered Portobello mushrooms in a local grocery store which I had never seen in Canada before. They were pretty expensive so I bought 4, one each for our hosts and for us. Our hostess refused to eat anything so expensive so guess who chomped it down instead?

Lasagna Bella

This lightened-up lasagna is big on flavor, thanks to roasted portobello mushrooms and fresh basil.

8 large fresh portobello mushrooms
1/8 tsp salt
2 (14.1 ounce) cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained
½ cup chopped onion (1 medium)
1 tsp salt-free tomato-basil-garlic seasoning blend, such as Mrs. Dash brand
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)
¾ cup low-fat (1%) cottage cheese
2 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese
5 fresh basil leaves, snipped

Preheat oven to 425°F. Remove stems and gills from mushrooms. Place mushroom caps, gill sides up, on an unheated foil-lined broiler pan; sprinkle with salt. Roast for 13 to 26 minutes or until tender, turning once halfway through roasting time. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan combine tomatoes, onion, and tomato-basil-garlic seasoning blend. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a medium bowl combine mozzarella cheese and cottage cheese. Spoon one-third of the tomato mixture onto the bottom of a 2-quart square baking dish. Arrange four of the mushroom caps, gill sides up, on top of the tomato mixture. Spoon one-fourth of the cheese mixture over each mushroom cap. Spoon another one-third of the tomato mixture over the cheese-stuffed mushroom caps. Arrange one of the remaining four mushroom caps, gill side down, on top of each cheese-stuffed mushroom cap in the baking dish. Spoon the remaining tomato mixture evenly over the mushrooms. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bake in the 350°F oven for 20 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with fresh basil.

Servings: 4

Source: Diabetic Living Magazine

Have a great day