My newest creation - DASH Chicken Stew with CousCous

Slowly but surely I'm getting better at making my low-sodium, low cholesterol meals. Here's a crockpot meal I came up with tonight, and we both loved it. Jeff eats an entire 6 oz chicken breast, but I stick to my 3 ounces, so this will be at least 3 good meals for us. CHICKEN STEW WITH COUSCOUS 1 large onion, roughly chopped 12-15 baby carrots (pre-packaged) 1 10oz. package frozen spinach 1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed 3 tsp diced garlic or 3 cloves of garlic, diced 1 tbsp dried Rosemary 1 tsp Black Pepper (more if you love black pepper like I do) 1 tsp parsley flakes or fresh parsley 1 tbs Mrs. Dash 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1 15oz. can low sodium diced tomatoes 2 cups low sodium chicken broth 1 cup couscous 1 cup boiling water 2 tbsp fat free cheddar cheese 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp parsley flakes Layer onions, carrots, black beans, frozen spinach on bottom of crockpot. Pour chicken broth over the layers. Place chicken breasts on top of vegetables and beans, sprinkle with spices and herbs. Pour canned tomatoes over all. Cook on high for 4 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours. When chicken is cooked through, turn crockpot off. Place couscous in large heatproof bowl, pour boiling water over, add garlic powder, cheese and parsley flakes, stir gently, and place lid (or dinner plate) on top. After 5 minutes, fluff gently with fork. To serve, place one large spoonful of couscous on plate, place chicken and veggies on top, and ladle a small amount of broth over all. NOTE: I had a small amount of fresh brocolli and fresh zucchini in the fridge, so I broke the brocolli into florettes and rough chopped the zucchini and added both to the initial vegetable layers. I think fresh corn would also be a good addition.

More catching up

I love weekends. Isn't that strange, since I don't work (outside the home) and, with the exception of my two babysitting days, I'm pretty free to do whatever I please during the week. But still - there's just something about weekends... I'm sitting here at my desk with the TV a few feet in front of me, the DVR playing Friday night's DOC MARTIN. Anyone else watch this PBS show? It's my new favorite English (BBC) comedy/drama. Martin Clune is the main character, Doc Martin - a highly-rated surgeon who suddenly had panic attacks at the sight of blood. He moves to a tiny English town to become the town doctor. The man is as cut-and-dried, unemotional as they come, and "bed side manner" is not in his vocabulary. Very subtle English humor that I love so well. I've been baking bread like crazy these days -- my continued low/no sodium low/no cholesterol diet. Lots of wheat breads with added flax seed and unprocessed bran, flavored with fruit juices and spices, which makes bizarrely wonderful toast. My bread machine rarely leaves the kitchen counter these days. Homemade bread has so many things going for it, not the least is the aroma in the house. But the one thing which can be troublesome with homemade bread is cutting it. So, in case there are other homemade bread makers reading this, I have a helpful hint for you! Use your trusty electric knife to cut your bread. Let the knife do the work -- don't put put pressure on it as you slice - and you'll come out with beautifully cut, even slices of bread. MMMMMmmmm - doesn't this look good? See how even the slices are?

Mr. B and I had a very extravagant day on Friday. First, I took him to the local Yankee Candle store. Mr. B is a big fan of candles, but even more so, he is a big fan of the Yankee Candle catalog that comes in the mail with it's "scratch n' sniff" candle scents. That boy loves that catalog. So I thought taking him to the store might be fun -- just let him and his little cute nose have at it. I'd forgotten how easy it is to drop a load of money at the Yankee Candle store. Mr. B had to pick out a candle for his Mom (a "fancy" one in a jar) and two candles for his Umpa (yes, Umpa loves candles too), and one candle for his other babysitter, Kelly, and two candles for himself. Give the child a plastic bag and he's going to fill it up. I bought myself three candles (besides the one "fancy" jar candles the rest were all votives), and a pack of 3 car fresheners. Forty-one dollars and 45 minutes later, we were out the door.

Next we stopped at a toy store in the same mall. Mr. B became quite enamored with a stuffed kitty he saw when we first walked in the door. The cat was curled up as if it were sleeping. "Umma! Is that kitty REAL?" At first I didn't understand why he was asking... but then I saw... the cat's belly was very slightly pumping up and down as if it were breathing! Mr. B's little eyes were like saucers and all he wanted to do was stand and stare at this stuffed cat. He said, "Umma - how many dollars does this cost?" (as in Umma, will you buy this for me?). I mean, he REALLY wanted this cat. I picked up the cat and showed it to him -- it wasn't soft or flexible but, quite honestly, felt like a cat that had gotten run over the day before and rigor mortis had set in -- but he didn't care. He was totally in love with this cat! I said, "B, what you DO with a cat like this?" and he said, "Oh, Umma - I would just put it on my bed and pet it." Mr. B loves cats and Joey the Killer Cat hates anything to do with petting or cuddling or generally being loved up on by a 3 year old. So this little stuffed kitty was apparently the answer to Mr. B's prayers -- it layed still and it didn't bite or scratch! No, I didn't buy it for him. But who knows - Christmas is coming.

Has the world gone mad?

Top US directors Woody Allen, David Lynch and Martin Scorsese have signed a petition protesting the detention of Roman Polanski in Switzerland. I'm having a tough time understanding why Hollywood actors and directors think why ANY person, talented, gifted, artistic or not, should be exonerated after admitting to drugging, raping and sodomizing a 13 year old child while she begged him to stop. And here's the wording of the petition from Europe's artistic set: As members of the European Film Academy and the European film community we protest at the arbitrary treatment of one of the world’s most outstanding film directors. We declare our deep respect for our colleague and friend Roman Polanski and we demand his immediate release. We declare our deep respect for our colleague... Are you kidding me? How deeply can you respect a man who confessed to raping a child? I don't care if it was 5 years ago, 50 years ago or 5 minutes ago, this man raped a child. THIS MAN RAPED A CHILD. Woody Allen signed the petition. Big surprise. Woody Allen married his adopted daughter. Michael Moore signed the petition. No surprise there either. He thinks it's a huge deal for the government to screw people, but he doesn't think it's at least equally or even far more serious for a man to do the same to a child. Give me a break. Artistic license does not include a license to break the law. Whether it's drugs, sex with minors, hit and run accidents, murder, or domestic violence. This is a lesson Hollywood and cohorts need to learn and learn quickly. Every woman in the world should be up in arms about this.