Sometimes our dinner comes from what I have fresh and available.  Yesterday I browned a lb of organic ground beef to put in the refrigerator for a future meal and realized that I had everything I needed to put together a Taco Salad for dinner.  I keep homemade Taco Seasoning in a glass jar, and I had planned on making a quick batch of my Salsa.  The Salsa disappears as if by magic, and it takes about 5 minutes of my time to put together.

The result was really phenomenal, filling and fresh, so I wanted to share it with you.  Cinco De Mayo is tuesday, so it's a good time.

You will have no need of extra salad dressing, which makes this especially nice and healthy for a complete meal.

Fresh Taco Salad (recipe here for Salsa, Taco Seasoning, and the Taco Salad)

Taco Meat (you can use ground beef or chicken)
ground beef, browned and drained 
1 T. Taco Seasoning for each 1/2 lb of Protein (included in above PDF)
1/2 cup water for each 1/2 lb of protein

Other Salad Ingredients
Tortilla strips or chips
Fresh lettuce (I used an organic spring mix)
Shredded Pepper Jack Cheese 
Cherry Tomatoes, halved
Black Olives
Avocado, cubed
Salsa to top salad (recipes are all included in above PDF)


Sprinkle a few tortilla strips in bottom of wide bowl or plate.  Top with Lettuce, then taco ground beef, pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, olives and avocado's.  Top with a spoonful of salsa.

We have a tendency to think of herbs as an additive to our foods to please the palate. Their value is much more profound. You’ll find health benefits below for common garden herbs in hopes that you will plant an herb garden and start to use herbs liberally in your diet.  I love mine and I use my herbs all summer long.  I also pulse them with olive oil for winter use, storing them flat in freezer bags.

The Nutritional Value of Herbs (Downloadable in PDF format)


How I Use my Fresh Herbs:

• I make a Nutritional Shake every morning for breakfast and often put Mint in any flavor.  Parsley and mint work well together in Vanilla
• In Omelets of course
• When I juice, always 
• I love mint in my water bottles
• Mint or basil in a fruit salad
• Fruit and vegetable salsas (Pineapple Salsa Recipe and vinaigrette recipes here)
• Salads - green, grain, or pasta salads
• Salad Dressings  (My Vinaigrette recipe below)
• All your meats will be flavor enhanced. Try steak with garlic and Rosemary before grilling.
• We can't forget vegetables.  The milder herbs won't overwhelm here. 
• Just Plain.  A sprig of anything but chives- those will stay with you like onions will!

I love turkey…….just for Thanksgiving, and just once a year.  Most people I know also look forward to turkey  sandwiches the next day, but after that, it’s a struggle.  It has such a strong smell that it tends to overwhelm by day three.  I wanted to make a leftover dish that was flavorful enough to seem like something completely different.  

This year it was a Turkey-Sausage Cassoulet.  A Cassoulet is a meat and bean dish. It's a traditional peasant dish in France  Sort of like the spanish Paella, it can have thousands of variations.  I wanted mine to be Gluten Free, healthy, and filled with more than turkey and beans.  A few months ago I mentioned that I had purchased a sustainably raised half pig from some friends.  The ground sausage is really, really good, and very lean.  I thought it might compliment the turkey in a nice way.

The gluten free component arose when our son Andrew walked in the door wednesday evening before Thanksgiving.  His trip was unplanned and a complete surprise for us.  We love that, and I think he loves doing it!  He switched to a gluten free diet a week ago to see if it would take care of a few health problems, and found that he felt better in a few days.  I wanted to support that while he was home.  Pat and I made a decision to keep it up since Andrew left, so I’ll talk more about it in future posts.

I loved the Cassoulet.  It’s rather protein rich, so I served a smaller portion over brown rice with a dinner salad.  You could also serve it like a stew with some crusty bread.


Turkey-Sausage Cassoulet


Note:  Every Cassoulet recipe seems to be a multiple day process.  The prep time on this is about 30 minutes or less (except the beans).  The cooking time is more, but you could also do this in a crockpot. 

Serves 6-8

A few cups of leftover turkey, cut into chunks
1/2 lb ground sausage, browned and drained
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 lb (or two cans) white beans (I used white cassoulet beans from Rancho Gordo)
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1 can diced tomatoes, blended
2 cups chicken broth
2 T cooking sherry
1 tsp thyme
sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Bouquet Garni
1/2 stalk celery
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1. soak beans overnight.  Cook until done.  (or use canned beans, drained)
2. Saute onions until soft.  Add garlic and carrots and continue cooking for a few minutes
3. Add all the ingredients, except the beans and cook until bubbly.

4. Layer beans in bottom of covered casserole.  Cover the beans with the meat and vegetable mixture.  
5. Cover and cook at 350 degrees for 2 hours or so.  Uncover for another 30-45 minutes until browned. 

I bought a half of a pig in June.  Anyone who knows me would think that highly unlikely because I've never been a fan of pork.  I got a few raised eyebrows!  As it happens, this pig was raised by the teenage sons (and grandsons) of my business partners, and, most importantly, was raised sustainably- on their own land without hormones or antibiotics. Last year the boys entered the pig in the fair, and because it was a show pig, they gave it USANA Procosa for joint health.  I didn't ask that question about this years pig! 

 So now I have a freezer full of pork.  Several of my friends have purchased part of a cow and they all say that it tastes so much better than the beef we buy at the store.  The same is true of this pork.  It's all very lean and very flavorful.  

I wanted to share this recipe with you.  It's a keeper.  It's also a great one for entertaining because you can prepare it all ahead of time.  Mango's are plentiful in the stores right now.  I found organic Mangos at Fred Meyer last week at $1.50 each.  The bright yellow/orange flesh of the mango is really heavy in Carotenoids which are known to help reduce the accumulation of plaque in the arteries.  

I hope you enjoy this as much as we do! 

 Pulled Pork and Mango Salsa Tacos
For the Pork:  I used 6 pork chops because they are so lean.  This is slow cooked and worked beautifully.

1. Brown pork chops in a little olive oil with salt and pepper.  Put them in a dutch oven with :
          A diced onion
          2 cloves garlic, minced
          1 T. Cumin
          1 T. Coriander
          1 tsp paprika
          1 tsp cinnamon
          1 T. oregano
          4 T. Cider vinegar
          1 T. Tomato paste
          1 3/4 water

Cook for several hours at 250 to 300 degrees,  in the covered dutch oven.  Check to pull the pork apart, and remove the chop bones as they separate.   By the time it is finished, you will see the liquid almost reduced to nothing.  The flavors will be very rich.

Mango and Red Pepper Salsa 
2 Mango's cut up in small chunks
1 Red Pepper, chopped
Cilantro, chopped (about 1/4 cup, or to taste)
Lime


Put Mango, Red Pepper, and Cilantro in a bowl, and squirt about 1/2 a lime of over top.


Serve Pork and Salsa on warmed tortillas.  We serve this with a green salad for a complete meal!

I printed this recipe in 2009 on my old blog site. That year I had a huge beautiful and fruitful garden.  Since that time, my backyard has become increasingly shady.  I do have a small garden space this year, with cherry tomatoes, massively productive round zucchini and lots of herbs.  I have to purchase the rest of my summer veggies at the local produce markets.  It's the price to pay for a beautifully shady back yard in this 2013 excessive heat. 

 Labor Day Spaghetti just calls  to me every year.  It’s from “Vegetarian Suppers” by Deborah Madison.  I find that an increasing number of young people I know are vegetarian by choice.  They are making conscious healthful decisions, and I admire that.  

The healthful nutrients found in tomatoes are plentiful, and even more so with vine-ripened tomatoes which have twice the vitamin C of those grown in a hothouse.  Tomatoes are also a rich source of the carotenoids lycopene, xeaxanthin and lutein.  There is promising study of lycopene and its protective effects in reducing the risk of prostate cancer.  It has also been shown to be beneficial for heart health, protecting against LDL oxidation and oxidative damage to DNA.  Lutein and Xeaxanthin are known to be beneficial for eye health and protection against macular degeneration.  The benefits of lycopene are compounded when tomatoes are consumed with fat rich foods such as avocado, olive oil or nuts.

Labor Day Spaghetti
(from Deborah Madisonʼs “Vegetarian Suppers”)

Sea Salt and freshly ground pepper

3/4 lb spaghetti (I used brown rice spaghetti which is

gluten free)

2 T Olive Oil

4-5 Golden Bell Peppers, cut in strips. (Iʼve used red,

orange and yellow peppers in this recipe. See note

on preparation in original recipe below)

1 red onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup chopped black olives

3 T. Capers

2/3 cup chopped parsley

2 cups fresh tomatoes, cut in bite-sized pieces

Cook spaghetti in salted boiling water.

Heat the oil in a wide deep pan such as dutch oven or large frying pan. Add peppers

and onion and cook over high heat, tossing them about the pan to sear them. After 4-5

minutes, add garlic, white wine an deglaze the pan. Lower heat to medium and add

olives, capers, halft he parsley and a scoop of water from the pasta pot. Season with

salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes, simmer for a minute and turn off heat.

Toss the pasta with a small amount of olive oil and the vegetable mixture.







Note: Deborah suggests peeling the peppers. Iʼm sure that would be delicious, but I

wanted a super quick dinner and skipped that step.

Last night my Mom was sitting down to her "very quick and impromptu" Garden Pasta dinner and opened up my last blog post on Labor Day Spaghetti.  She snapped this picture because it was too coincidental.  Her comment was "no stress, quickly done garden pasta".  I'm always looking for dinner ideas for those days that I just don't have time to plan ahead, and this one looked so good.


Carol Delaney's Garden Pasta 
In a non stick fry  pan:
1/2 chopped yellow pepper
1/4 c. chopped zucchini
2 golf-ball sized tomatoes,quartered
Add 1-2 tbs. olive oil & 1 tsp. Napa Valley italian seasoning (or Herbes de Provence)
Cheese Ravioli


In a 6 quart pan, bring water to boil, add a few drops of olive oil and fresh cheese ravioli,  angel hair pasta or your choice of pasta
When water boils, add pasta, turn fry pan to low and time both, about 8 minutes
Drain pasta and place in low bowl. Add vegetable mix and top with about 2 tbs. fresh shredded Parmesan and a quick twist of pepper mill, and, if desired, a pinch of sea salt.


NOTE: I know an increasing number of people who are gluten free, by choice or necessity.  Please don't feel like you have to be deprived of pastas.  Brown Rice Pasta and Quinoa Pasta are both gluten free, and are easy to find in the natural food sections of Grocery stores.  

Although our days are shorter, we still have temperatures near 100 degrees in Boise. I was in the mood for a light and refreshing dinner last night.  

USANA has a research partnership with the Linus Pauling Institute on the Oregon State University campus, so while in Salt Lake City last week for the USANA International Convention, I picked up a cookbook put out by the LPI's Healthy Youth Program.  (Let's Cook! Kid tested recipes for the whole family).  I bought several mangos a few days ago, and decided to make a really refreshing Cucumber-Mango Salsa last night.  I also made up a quick chicken salad yesterday.  It turned out to be a great combination and I added the fresh wonderful summer tomatoes, radishes and hard boiled egg!

 Start with Mixed Greens, topped with a scoop of chicken salad.  Surround with thin sliced radishes, fresh garden tomatoes drizzled with a bit of olive oil, sea salt and pepper, hard boiled egg slices, and the cucumber- mango salsa!  That's it!

CUCUMBER-MANGO SALSA
3 Cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1 mango, coarsely chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped (I left this out!)
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 T. White wine vinegar
1 T Cilantro, minced
salt and pepper
a sprinkle of cayenne

Combine the ingredients and chill for 1-3 hours.  
Note:  I halved the recipe and used just one garlic clove.  You can adapt to your tastes and it will still be delicious!!  

I'm really into techy gadgets, so when I saw a review on this Jawbone UP bracelet earlier this spring, I was intrigued.  My sons, Chris and Andrew gifted me one for Mothers day and it has changed my life in a way that I never dreamed.  

Let me tell you what it does...... it logs my steps and it logs my sleep.  It sync's with my smart phone through the free UP app and I can upload throughout the day.  My goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day and I find myself pushing to achieve that goal every day, and more often than not, I'm reaching 12-17,000 steps a day.  I can link with friends for accountability.  The other day I noticed that my best friend (also my UP friend) had logged in 19,000 steps (like 8.5 miles), so I could send a "way to go" message, and also say "what???? how did you do that?"  As it happens she walked her grandson in the stroller in the morning, and then got some "me time" reading her tablet while on the treadmill before dinner.  The rest of her day's normal activity is added as well.  

My favorite thing to do now is to walk on my treadmill in the morning while it's cool upstairs and read on my iPad.  I can walk between 3.0 and 3.5 miles an hour and still read beautifully if I increase the type on the iPad.  I walk for an hour, which works out to 3 or 3.5 miles, giving me about 7000 steps.  It's a great start and gives me a lot of latitude to still reach my goal by the end of the day.  You can see that I got 12,150 yesterday.

Notice above that it gives me a reading on how many calories I'm burning.  I also have it set to buzz me if I'm idle for 30 minutes.... it's telling me to get up and get going!  I can also enter my food consumption, but I haven't used that much yet.  Honestly, with what I do for a living, if I don't have a handle on what I put into my mouth yet, I'm in trouble!  

Most of the friends we have in the Baby Boomer generation are more interested in the Sleep cycle recording.  I found that interesting, but there are so many people in the US who don't sleep well.  

The light blue is "light sleep", the dark blue is "deep sleep", so you can see that the app tells you how much of each you got through the night.  The orange is awake time.  I got up to use the bathroom last night at 4:32 and went right back to sleep.  I have noticed that I have way more energy the next day if I get more than 50% deep sleep, and I get an "atta-girl" from the app if I get more than 60%.

The bracelet allows for timed activities, like cycling, yoga, running or a stationary bike.  It won't log steps on a timed activity, but it will account for the energy spent in the calorie count.  Pat now has a bracelet and notices that he gets about 8,000 steps playing tennis or mowing the lawn.

You can also set it for a power nap and it will wake you after your allotted time.  A friend of ours in Pat's office sets her bracelet to wake her in the morning during a time when her body is coming out of a light sleep cycle, which is a very natural way to wake up.  She gives the app instructions on the time she wants to wake with a 10 minute window. 

Pat and I charge our bracelets up about every 5 or 6 days.  The instructions say to charge every 10 days, but I notice that the battery life shortens if I upload more - and I like to keep track of what I'm doing.  

His bracelet is black, mine is bright blue - there are several colors to choose from.  Everyone asks me where they can purchase one, and how much it costs.  Ours came from Amazon, but you can find them at the Apple Store, Best Buy, or on www.jawbone.com.  I notice that the website has a promotion on the new orange color (I'm sure they were thinking about the Boise Bronco's) where they donate $20 to a charitable cause.  They retail for $129 and the price on Amazon is the same. 

We aren't any different in our house than everyone else in America.  We have purchased all kinds of workout equipment over the years and it gets use for a short time, then NOTHING!!  I have to tell you that I have had just 3 days since May 8th that I failed to reach my goal, and I seem to still be picking up steam! 

PS.  Since I wrote this, we gave our daughter in law, Jen, a bracelet for her birthday.  Granted, she's 30 (young), but the first day she walked and ran 8+ miles!  She's also entering all her food intake so that she can see the difference between calories burned and consumed.   

I'm going down to Salt Lake City next week for the USANA Annual Convention.  It's not abnormal for us to walk 5 miles before lunch, so I'm excited to see how many steps in a day I rack up!

It's finally summer here in Boise, and time to start eating on the patio.  One of our favorite "all in one" dinners is Paella.  It's easy to put together with whatever you have on hand, and it's a really fun dish for entertaining. The traditional Paella (Valencia) features clams, mussels, shrimp and fish.  And we can't forget the Chorizo!  Paella Valencia is delicious, but it gets a bit expensive, and requires a shopping trip just for dinner!  (Picture above is Paella Valencia)

The version we make most often is simpler, with chicken, artichoke hearts and chorizo.  Those are ingredients I always have in the house, so it can be an impromptu dinner choice.

No matter your version, there are a few ingredients that you can't leave out.  Saffron, pimento, garlic, and a Risotto like Spanish rice are the basis of a good Paella.  From there , you can vary the main ingredients.  Unless I'm making a vegetarian version, I never leave out Basque Chorizo either.

It's perfect for entertaining - you can assign an ingredient to each guest and you can all watch the process around the barbecue while enjoying a glass of wine!  

The Basque Market in Boise carries Paella Pans, which are really reasonably priced.  We have one for 6 servings, and another for 8-10.   Hint: Paella leftovers are great - just don't store them in the Paella Pan.  

FOR THE CHICKEN ARTICHOKE VERSION-

Ingredients:  (amounts can be really loose!)
Chicken breast, cut in chunks
Basque Chorizo, also chunked
The Spanish Risotto
A can of Artichoke hearts (un-marinated kind)
Garlic
Onion
Pimento
Fresh Red, orange or yellow peppers, chopped
Chicken Broth
white wine
Saffron
Fresh herbs such as thyme, oregano, parsley (herbes de Provence are perfect here)
Olive Oil
Frozen Peas

Start by putting about 4 cups of chicken broth, about 1/2 cup white wine, a pinch of saffron and the herbs in a pot to heat up.  Let it simmer a little while the guests arrive (30-60 minutes is perfect).  

 Fire up the BBQ and heat up the Paella Pan with some olive oil in it.  Saute chopped onions for a few minutes before adding the chopped colored peppers.  Then the garlic.  After a minute or so, add the chopped pimento's - then the chorizo and chicken.  When the chorizo is browned, add the rice (about 1 1/2 cups for a six serving Paella, 2+ cups as you go up to the 8-10 serving, or larger pans (they come as large as 50 servings).  Saute your rice a little- and add more olive oil if you need it.  Add some of the broth mixture, let it simmer, then add more.  Risotto is one of those rice's that you can add liquid to a little at a time.  I do it in about 3 segments because I want to add the rest of my ingredients and close the lid.

With Paella, you don't want to stir it up once you add the artichokes and extra ingredients.  Your ingredients sitting on the top make it a very showy dish.  Let it cook with the lid closed on the BBQ until the liquid is absorbed.  Plan on about an hour for the whole process.  If you have your BBQ closer to your patio, your guests will be involved in the preparation and it's more fun.

Serve with a green salad and a good artesian bread.  We just put the pan down in the middle of the table and let our guests help themselves to more than one serving!

Good fresh ingredients and whole foods - you can't beat that for good health!  Take liberties with your ingredients and make sure you have plenty of color in your meal.  Antioxidants are in your colorful foods!