Technology saves the Day!!

I gave my kids cell phones because I wanted them to be reachable. But I told my son to use the house phone when he was at home to save our minutes. Yesterday, he was talking to his girlfriend on our house phone. I needed to remind him of something, so I texted him using my computer. Our service provider allows that. I don't have the brain capacity to learn such a high tech computation.He answered, adding that he was going to bed soon, as he felt 'garbagey'. New word, but rather apt, I suppose. He was a bit under the weather. I'd noticed that much when I went downstairs to the inner sanctum of the basement's TV room to tell him to clean that pig sty up.Well, this morning, my husband flicked on his bedroom light and told him to get up. It was what we do every school day.I added my voice to that order when I got up.Nothing happened, which in itself is the norm. He's a teen. Jumping out of bed early on a school day is against their personal code of honour.Finally, his older sister came downstairs."What's with Alex?""He's not up yet," I answered."He's sick.""How do you know?"She shrugged. "He texted me."Oh. He texted her across the house. Hmm. I went into his bedroom, and found him peeking out of his blankets. "I'm sick," he whispered hoarsely. "And you and Dad don't care.""Why didn't you tell us?""Too sick to talk."He was warm, and a bug had been flying around his school, so this wasn't unexpected. I told him to go back to sleep, I'd deal with him later.When I returned to the kitchen, I asked my daughter what her brother had said in his text."He wrote, 'I'm sick. Help. Save me.'"So, I pondered, technology has saved the day. We would have kept yelling at him until someone got mad and it set the whole house on edge, especially since I had to drive my daughter to her university classes within the hour."So the cell phones earned their keep," I commented. "Don't you think that's nice?"My daugther gave me one of those unsympathetic, older sister looks. "He's faking it."Technological changes may be new and exciting, and we're grateful for them, but there are some things that never change.

Desserts!

I'm going to round out this healthy eating series with desserts.
Many times, I don't make desserts. I want my family to eat healthy foods and often send them back for more vegetables if they are still hungry. But some desserts are both healthy and economical and I'm not talking about fruit here.
Not being a great fruit fan, I was never one to offer it as a dessert.
But having said that, my daughter often cuts up a pear, then adds a few slices of cheese and is quite happy with that and a cup of herbal tea.
But even dark chocolate can be a nice dessert in moderation.
An important thing to note is that if you're eating a bit of chocolate for your dessert, take a small piece, put the rest away in the freezer, and eat the chocolate with a hot drink. The warmth from the drink helps to smooth out the flavour over your tongue as you savour it. You'll get maximum flavour from the small piece.
Another good dessert is rice pudding. The traditional rice pudding we ate in England has only three ingredients. Milk, rice and sugar.
Mix 4 cups of skim milk, 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 cup sugar in a large, deep casserole dish. Bake for one hour at 300 degrees, or until rice is tender and the top is brown.
This is economical in that you make it only when the oven is turned on. My mother used to make a roast beef dinner every Sunday and cooked the rice pudding in the oven, maximizing the heat. I have one in my oven right now, because I decided to bake bread and a casserole for my sister in law who has hurt her knee. The rice pudding is forgiving about the temperature, so don't worry if your other dish needs 350 degrees.
If you're into making muffins, throw in some shredded carrot or zuchinni for extra nutrition.
I have grown zuchinni in my front flowerbeds because it's such a decorative plant that loves full sun, and then shredded the zuchinni and frozen it in 1 cup baggies. Bring it out in January, thaw and drain it. You can add it to a muffin mix, or even a chocolate cake mix. You can do the same for apples, especially those that don't live up to your children's high standards of quality for lunch. I've always asked my children to return the food they don't eat back home, not just to see what they have eaten, but also to not waste expensive fruit or other snacks. I don't mind them giving some of their lunches away, as they have when other kids forgot theirs, or say they forgot theirs, it's just that I don't want perfectly good food to end up in the garbage, and if you've ever been to a school cafeteria, you know what I mean.
If you like fruit, and ice cream, especially bananas, consider buying the cheaper over ripe bananas, peel them and freeze them. Later on, put two or three into a food processor while still frozen, and puree them. They taste like the best ice cream ever. Top with thawed fruit for a really healthy dessert.
And remember that over ripe bananas are really just ripe ones. We've just got so used to eating green bananas, that we don't realize a good ripe one when we see it.
So you've got a few good ideas on how to save money and how to eat healthily. Enjoy! And don't forget to leave a comment.

Real Healthy cinnamon

Cinnamon
The name conjures up toast, buns, sweets of all kind. Now it’s also beginning to give hope for triglycerides, blood sugar problems and digestion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon has a great article on it, but often we just don’t realize that the cinnamon at our stores is not true cinnamon at all, and worse, it’s about 50% fillers.
It’s cassia. Cassia is like a cousin to true cinnamon, and stronger in flavour, hence the use of all the fillers, but with less of the health benefits, I’ve been told. And worse, it’s the only cinnamon generally available in North America. Yes, there’s some question as to which cinnamon is being tested, as these two articles used different kinds of cinnamon, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10641152?dopt=Abstract
And this study which used cassia,
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/26/12/3215
but most articles I’ve read insist it’s Cinnamomum verum that matters, the real stuff. Still the jury seems still out on this matter, so I’ll let you know as I learn more.
This begs the question, where can we get true cinnamon? Some sites say they can import it for you, but before you rip out your credit card, why not check around in some unlikely sources?
You see, I’ve found true cinnamon at our local apothecary. We have one in Moncton New Brunswick that dispenses the real stuff in both capsule and powdered form. For 450 grams, or half a pound, approximately 2 cups, I paid $15.00. So if we are to compare it with the spices in the grocery store, it’s a pretty good value, and better still, it’s 98% pure. The pharmacist told me that it’s only true cinnamon that has the benefits for type 2 diabetes.
I’ve been told that one quarter of a teaspoon three times a day is a good measure of what I should be taking. (My own triglycerides are up) and I’ve sprinkled it on toast, mixed it with plain or sweetened yogurt, and even put it in curry dishes or on porridge.
I haven’t been for my annual bloodwork yet, (I’m due) so we have to wait to see if there is any health benefit to taking this stuff. But it’s certainly a tasty and benign way to help your body, plus it’s cheaper than I expected, and forces me to eat yogurt every day, which we all know is good for us.
So consider searching out real cinnamon in your area, and try some for your health.

Chicken fried rice that's full of veggies

In this recipe, you get a full meal. I usually throw in some frozen veggies because my son wouldn't eat that many unless he's forced. If you don't have chicken, consider any leftover meat, or sliced sausages from breakfast, or cubed tofu that has been dipped in soy sauce.
Also, remember my previous post on cooking chicken thighs? I hope you saved the broth, because here you can use both the thighs and the broth.
Want less salt? Use low sodium soy sauce, and refuse to put the salt shaker on the table. Increase the spices instead for extra kick.

2 tsp olive oil
3 chicken breasts, cooked, or 6 boneless chicken thighs, cooked, and chopped coarsely
1 onion finely chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
½ cup frozen peas and carrots
½ cup frozen corn
1 finely chopped clove of garlic
1/8 tsp ground ginger
2 cups of the broth you saved from cooking the chicken thighs
1 cup long grain rice
Dash soy sauce
1 thinly sliced green onion
Preheat frying pan over med. high heat, then add oil, onion, celery, garlic. Sauté until onions are transparent, then add chicken and cook until browned.
Reduce heat to med., then add water, bouillon and rice.
Simmer until rice is cooked, stir in soy sauce and green onion.
Makes 5 1 ¼ cup servings. Each serving is only 350 cal, 5 g fat, 45 g carbs, 4 g fibre.

Next time, I'm going to talk about cinnamon and what I've started to do with it.
Enjoy!

chicken thighs

Chicken thighs. They're cheaper, tastier, and two little ones can be substituted for one breast. They can give you more value for your money, and can be used in low calorie recipes just as easily as the breasts.

Boil them until just cooked. Remove skin and fat and gently pry meat off bones. The meat is an excellent and flavourful alternative to more expensive and drier chicken breasts.
Take the bones and skin and boil them in the water you cooked the thighs in for about 10-15, and then cool in fridge. Chip off the fat that has set on the top and you have a great chicken stock for soups and casseroles. You can flavour to taste with either herbs and garlic, or salt and pepper, or one teaspoon of chicken bouillon per two cups of stock.
Freeze in ice cup trays. One cube equals about ¼ cup of stock.
Next, we'll look at some recipes in which you can use chicken thighs.
And of course, the broth you made, too!