Disasters and Hips, Heart Healthy Food,

Travelling to Cambridge yesterday, we crossed a couple of small river tributaries and noticed that they are somewhat swollen, in fact a few people had water covering a large part of their yards. There has been a heck of a lot of snow melt in the last day or two together with some rain which doesn't help when it comes to flooding. There are large puddles in the fields as well as at the local airport. Hopefully it won't get any worse. Cambridge itself is right on the Grand river which has been known to flood a few times. Like I said in the comments yesterday, humans are the ones who are daft enough to build their homes in the wrong spots, be it flood planes or the sides of volcanoes. A friend of mine has a house on the edge of the Intercontinental Waterway in NC which gets flooded regularly when hurricanes drop by. Luckily her house is on stilts so her main living area is fine. Have you heard about the plane which apparently dropped out of the sky last night in the Buffalo area? One minute Traffic Control were talking to them and the next, silence. 49 passengers and crew were killed together with one person on the ground in the house the plane dived into. Thank God the plane came down vertically and didn't plough through several houses. There is a lot on the news today, but at the moment they have no idea what happened. The picture shows the burning at the crash site. Incredibly two people escaped from the house. My sympathies to all the families. Yesterday I went to see the surgeon about my hip and he says the situation hasn't got any worse since last time he saw me. He has sent me for a bone scan which will be in March. I had to go for an X-ray first and took the CD of the X-ray results in to the surgeon. He then gave me the CD which I looked at on my PC and lo and behold I can look at my hip bones. Ain't technology wonderful? I asked him whether he preferred the old or the new system, he said in one respect it made it a lot easier for him as the labs could just email him the scans. Also it is cheaper for labs to make a CD which costs 1¢ as opposed to making films which cost more. On the other hand, he figured the clarity of the films is much better. Anyway, unless the bone scan shows anything different, I don't need to go for surgery at the moment unless the pain becomes unbearable. The hip bone is connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone is................... I made myself a salad yesterday for lunch which was so good for me I should be the healthiest person in the world. It had some avocado which is recommended for many things including heart health, a few walnuts, good for lowering cholesterol, some fresh ginger thought to be good for heart health amongst other things such as the knitting of bones, not to mention the usual salad ingredients. They believe turmeric may have some heart benefits too but its not yet proven so I left that out. Cinnamon is supposed to be good for lowering blood sugar, but I took the recommended amount of that every day for months and it didn't seem to do anything for me at all. They are now saying avocados are good for weight loss whereas at one time, the opposite was said. Difficult to keep up isn't it? I love avocados anyway, so it doesn't take a lot to persuade me to eat them. Funnily enough I have never made Guacamole which is the way so many people over here eat avocado. I enjoy it too so not sure why I have never made it. Mind you, we don't really eat Mexican food so that is probably why. Having said that, I had to find a recipe for Guacamole didn't I? Guacamole Source: Cooking Nook.com

This is a wonderful, easy guacamole recipe. I have added garlic, because I find it really zings up the flavor.

Guacamole is a very healthy recipe. Although we tend to think of avocados as high calorie, they are extremely healthy for us. The garlic and citrus juice are also very healthy foods. This recipe is so delicious and so easy to make. It's not only a great dip recipe on it's own, but is also perfect served alongside many other Mexican dishes like Nachos or Quesadillas. 4 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 tomato, seeded and diced 2 serrano chilies, seeded and minced (optional) ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves 4 tablespoons fresh lime juice 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped hot pepper sauce (optional) salt and pepper to taste

Cut avocado into large chunks and mash coarsely in a bowl with a fork.

Add remaining ingredients and blend gently. The guacamole does not have to be absolutely smooth. Leaving a few small chunks is fine and some people prefer it that way.

Taste and adjust the seasoning by adding more pepper sauce if you wish. Have a great day and don't forget Valentine's tomorrow.

Portions, Weight Watchers and Burritos

There has been a lot in the news lately about portion control. It is certainly something which isn't done very often in North America, all the fast food joints advertise bigger and better burgers and large sized cokes, etc. I must admit some of the ads one sees on TV make me feel sick there is so much stuff piled on one bun. But its not just fast food, a lot of ordinary restaurants do it too and I know at least one couple who aren't satisfied unless they can take a doggie bag home with them. Not everyone takes a doggie bag though, most of them eat what's there. Buffets are the worst, people pile their plates with food and then don't eat it all and still go back for more. They definitely consume way, way too much.

As for High Days and Holidays, the tables are groaning with food and people eat and eat and eat. Yes, I am guilty of doing this too although I don't eat as much as I did. I think age decreases one's appetite. When you think that a portion of meat or fish should be the size of a pack of cards, then think what most people consume, it is no wonder so many are obese. I hate that word, but it is the medical description of anyone really overweight, morbidly obese is even worse. Something I have never understood is how anyone can wear a bikini when they are so overweight. My one visit to the Dominican Republic shook me as there were huge women wearing bikinis, I was about a third of the size of some of them and wouldn't have dreamt of wearing a bikini. Wearing a swim suit was bad enough.

Having said all that by the way, I have now lost 13 lbs. which I am very pleased about. Mind you if I had kept off all the weight I have lost in my lifetime, I would be a Twiggy. Wasn't it Irma Bombeck who said something similar and that she could have ended up as a bracelet charm if she'd kept off all the weight. I do find using the Points Tracker on the Weight Watchers' site helps terrifically. I don't use anything else other than the weight tracker, none of the menus and so on. So often the menus contain foods I wouldn't eat anyway, or things I can eat a half of, what on earth do you do with the other half? Avocado springs to mind, Matt isn't keen on avocados and you certainly couldn't keep a half. I suppose guacamole would keep for a day, but then you have to add other things such as chips or crackers. Nope, no good.

Yesterday I gave you a dessert recipe, so only eat a small piece if you make it and are on a diet, today, how about burritos. We've had these several times and they are very good.

Chicken Burritos
Readers Digest Great Recipes
Serves: 4

1 Tbs corn or peanut oil
1 lb chicken meat cut into 1/2 in cubes
1 lge yellow onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs flour
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 C chicken broth
1 C buttermilk
4 oz chopped green chilies, drained
2 tsp tomato paste
8 6 in flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 375F. In a heavy 10 in skillet heat the oil over moderate heat for 1 min. Add meat and cook, until no longer pink (unless using precooked meat) transfer meat to a bowl. Cook onion and garlic uncovered in same pan until soft. Blend in flour, chili powder and cumin and cook sitrring constantly for about 2 mins.

Stir in chicken broth, buttermilk, chilies and tomato paste. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 4 to 5 mins or until slightly thickened. Return meat and stir.

Place a scant 1/4 C of the mixture on the lower third of each tortilla and roll it up like a cigar. Place seam side down in an ungreased baking plan and drizzle any remaining filling down the center.

Bake uncovered for 5 mins.

Have a great day.