In Season Recipes

Hi all,

Just a note to say that I reported the SPAM post of Satokenta when she posted it.  I wrote again today to bc.org moderators to ask that it be removed.  What a world!  

Carolynn79 -- it's probably best to use PM for this information.  Look who reads our thread!  You don't want to be found on FB and receive her SPAM.  Apple is having this problem on FB now I'm sorry to say.  

We'll get back to our favorite topic of food soon ....

Best wishes to all as always,

Marilyn 

Hi Apple,

Your salad sounds good to me....I like the combo of rice, fruit and nuts....and substantial is a good description.

I'm a fan of grapefruit too. The problem is that it interferes with my thyroid medication.  It was a sad day I can tell you when I learned that I couldn't eat it anymore.  Mango too blocks medications and we use that in our salads....sparingly.  

Marilyn 

Carollynn79 I'll look for that information again.  I know I read it recently while looking up foods that decrease not add to inflamation of the joints.  I'm thinking that it's either mango or pomegranate because I was going shopping and my husband wanted them so I was researching the nutrition.  Sorry I didn't BM it.  

Here's a few interesting links though

Pomegranate fruit extracts can block enzymes that contribute to osteoarthritis 

Fruit Juices Block Some Drugs: Scientific American Podcast 

I'm meeting friends for lunch ..... more laughs than nutrition .... I'll do some more homework on this when I get back.  In the meantime, remember to take you thyroid meds with water about 30 min before you eat in the morning....even coffee....the milk in the coffee is calcium and blocks the med.  I took my thyroid and AI together without problem.  

"Never run faster than your guardian angel can fly" 

My kitchen experiment of the other day....

I made a lasagna with pumpkin, ricotta and mozzarella cheese, parsley and alternated layers with sliced zucchini.  I enjoyed the mixture....a little of winter/spring....and it seemed like a nice farewell to pumpkin season until the fall.

My husband wasn't as fond of it as I was.  He wanted that I cook the zucchini before I baked it in the lasagna and use less pumpkin.  That's his taste and what makes the world go around.

I'm using the rest of the pumpkin for pie. 

Just a reminder of the nutritional benefit ... http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2601/2 

Best wishes to all as always,

Marilyn 

Ps... I'm still looking for that information on mango...so until I can substantiate it...best to let it go.  I found another interesting piece while I was looking .... http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/docs/endocrine-disruptors.pdf

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/daily_green_news/332/the-new-dirty-dozen-12-foods-to-eat-organic-and-avoid-pesticide-residue.html

This was interesting to read.  "...leave the spots on the apples, but give me the birds and the bees....please..." Remember that song?

I was thinking .... I'll bet the insurance companies list consumption of food sprayed with pesticides as "pre existing conditions" of disease! Just imagine all the money they can save.  And life insurance companies can term this suicide to not pay on that insurance!   Everyone eats this food because it isn't labeled with those little yellow and black hazard warnings in the food markets.  Is it me or has the world gone totally crazy?! 

Carolynn79....I read something about natural sprays to deter the deer....it might be in this link. 

http://gardening.about.com/od/naturalorganiccontrol/a/Companion.htm

I noticed the aphids arrive this week to the roses so I prepared my spray bottle with soapy water.  I also planted marigolds next to my tomatoes, basil and pepper plants to keep away the beetles.  I hope it works or at least keeps them at a minimum.  I put some geranium plants near the rose bushes for the same reason.  

Marilyn 

High Sierra!  So good to hear from you.  I think to you often.  Hope all is going well.  Hello to your sister for me.  DH is still in a whirlwind of doctors.  We can empathize with that, no?  Fortunately, I'm feeling well these days so I can navigate with him on this roller coaster.

I wanted to post this recent information from .gov  Chemicals and Cancer ... what we can do now.

http://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/pcp08-09rpt/PCP_Report_08-09_508.pdf  

The report gives specific information about food among other things so it fits to our thread of "in Season Recipes".  I like their approach to healthy eating.

Best wishes to all as always,

"Never run faster than your guardian angel can fly"

Marilyn 

Hi Idun!  We are very happy to hear from you.  I took a peek at the picture of the volcano eruption that you posted.  Stunning.  We'll look forward to some of your recipes when the dust settles!  

Our cars have been getting some of that dust when it rains.  Winds have been strange over the last couple of months.  Usually the dust on the cars is from the deserts of Africa, carried in the clouds and more of a reddish brown color.  Last week the dust on the car was a greyish color.  And there is more coming I hear.

On the food news front..... 

We've been nurturing our small garden of tomatoes, basil, hot peppers, and herbs.  The strawberries are looking promising too.

Yesterday, after I started a couple of loads of laundry and hung sheets out on the line, then filled holes in the garden created by the dogs (their idea of landscaping),  I sat to the kitchen table, shelled almonds and hazelnuts after I roasted them, and watched a weeks worth of Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.

On Jon Stewart I was stunned to learn that a town in Oregon was ostracizing  a neighbor for hanging her laundry outside on the line!  Unsightly I think was the problem.  How strange to hear this news report! It was like listening to Rod Sterling's Outer Limits TV show!  Fresh air instead of high priced electricity dries clothes, blows out wrinkles and leaves the clothes with a fresh smell...all for free.  The funny thing is that I felt the same way when I first moved to Italy.  Now I use the dryer only during excessively wet weather.  I'm glad that I'm old if this is the direction that the world is taking.  I wonder what they think of edible landscapes?!

Glad that you are "getting there" Idun.  

"Never run faster than your guardian angel can fly"

Marilyn 

Carolynn79--  So how were the steaks?  I really enjoy mushrooms on my steaks.  I  mix them with peppers and onions if I'm in the mood or just leave them by themselves sauteed in a little white wine.  I've used red wine but they turn an unappetizing color.  I've never seen mushrooms like these...beautiful.  Foraging is a wonderful wealth of knowledge....I'm not knowledgeable myself except for several occasions when I was younger.  Once with a neighbor who toured my yard with me and showed me all there was to eat or take for medicine to stay away from.  Another time was with an Indian Chief at the Univ. of Maryland ... a day trip.

We have a friend here  who looks for mushrooms to use in his restaurant.. wonderful fresh flavor.  He doesn't let people follow him when he goes out...so they don't get to the mushrooms before him.  I don't think it's because he has a secret rendezvous....his wife would be waiting with a cooking utensil on his return!   

I'm off to the Village of Health at the Komen Weekend Race for the Cure in Rome.  Healthy cooking is on the agenda in the village.  Hope to come home with some recipes to share.

Best wishes to all as always,

Marilyn 

I found the morel mushrooms on a google....they are beautiful. DH and I thought they may be similar to Italian galletti http://it.dreamstime.com/immagini-stock-un-modulo-dei-due-galletti-image10674614 ... He cooks them in a red sauce....but your morels look nothing like them.  

The rain is making the weekend events difficult even if they are under tents.  This is what I posted to the women's group I belong to:

"Wet weather this weekend for the Race. That can be the good news for the runners. I'm doing the walk.

Tents line your walk as you enter the circle to the the Village. Immediately to your right, and next to the Komen booth, there is an information booth with very helpful ladies who speak English and Italian. I made a new friend from Cleveland.

Further along past the grand stands and kickboxing exhibits is the Village of Health. I joined a group in Gi Kong taught by an anesthesiologist who teaches this at the university. He is a wealth of knowledge, both Western and Eastern. As an example, I learned yesterday that Gi Kong is the exercise best suited for oncology patients from the yin yang point of view.

Later in the afternoon I went to the Education tent and sat in on a group discussion led by a psychologist from Gemelli. I learned that this service is offered to oncology patients at Gemelli every Friday night. This is when I want to speak better Italian. But, in any language, the experience of this disease is the same I found. The circle included young and old (83), husbands and friends.

There were a list of lectures and times just outside the tent. I wanted to return for the lecture of food but I ran out of energy that I needed for the ride home. Earlier, at the tent for Donna in Rosa (Women in Pink) there was a cooking exhibition and lecture, especially for the chemo patients. The same doctor gave the lecture in the Education tent.

The people were lined up for their digital mammograms at the mobile. Appointments for this were made in advance.

So that was my day....hope yours is a good one too.

"Never run faster than your guardian angel can fly"

 So I'll tell you that for lunch I went to a sidewalk cafe and had a platter of grilled zucchini, egg plant, string beans, spinach and a few pieces of skinless chicken with water and an espresso at the end.  When I went to pay (11.50 euros plus 1 for tip.) I saw a brownie on the counter with the sweets.  Brownies are a rare find here.  But the Race for the Cure is near the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN so the cafes cater to a few cultural favorites...like brownies.  So I bought one. Hey, I walked it off just to arrive to the cafe and back to the Village of Health.  

Hope the weather is better tomorrow.  I'll remember the camera...and a raincoat...and an umbrella.  

I also wear my pink cap that my sister gave me.  I add a pin every year.  It give me pause, but I'm glad to be there for ladies who are new to arrive.

Best wishes to all as always,