DASH DIET Crockpot Beef Soup

We've always eaten a lot of soup and stews during the colder weather, so I needed to come up with a low-fat, low-sodium soup recipe to replace the old tried and true recipes. This soup had a ton of flavor, despite being low-salt and low-fat. This one is a "keeper"! DASH Diet Crockpot Beef Soup 3/4 pound lean beef, cut into 1.5 inch cubes 6 cups low sodium vegetable broth 2 carrots, cut into chunks 2 onions, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 1 can (15 oz) lentils*, drained and rinsed 1 slice turkey bacon, diced 1 cup low sodium tomato sauce 1 tsp rosemary 1/2 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp black pepper 1 tbsp. Mrs. Dash salt substitute 1 tsp worsteshire sauce 1 large potato, peeled, cut into chunks Put all ingredients except potato into crockpot, cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low 7-8 hours. One hour before cooking is done, add potato. *Lentils - I just happened to have a can of pre-cooked lentils on hand, but you could use any canned bean (drain and rinse to remove sodium) or even dried lentils, if that's what you have. I had leftover couscous with a small amount of peas and carrots, so I reheated that, and served the soup in a bowl, over a spooonful of the couscous, and with a tablespoon of no-fat cheese on top.

Martha Stewart let me down

A friend, Lynne, stopped over for coffee and chit-chat yesterday (and a bit of quilting show and tell), and amongst the many subjects we discussed was the subject of whether or not our husbands were fussy eaters. Lynne's is semi-fussy, mine is not fussy at all. I told Lynne that in 31 years of marriage, Jeff has only disliked two meals -- a fish meal, and a very very burned meatloaf. Considering how rarely we go out to eat (especially in the earlier years of our marriage), that's a LOT of dinners he's eaten without complaining. In fact, even after all this time, every single night when I serve him dinner, he says, "Thanks, Honey" -- like I'm doing him a favor! You have to love it. However... I now have to say last night's dinner was the THIRD meal he didn't like in 31 years. Thank you Martha Stewart. I looked on the web for a honey-glazed chicken recipe. On this DASH diet, I am for as little sodium and fats as possible, so honey is quickly becoming a good way to add flavor without adding fats or salt. I had boneless chicken breasts and thought a honey glaze would be good with the chicken. Off I went to Google, and saw a recipe on the Martha Stewart web site for "Easy Honey-Glazed Chicken". And easy it was - 1/3 cup honey, 2 tsp tyme, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Brush it on the chicken, cook in the oven, brush a few times more while it's cooking... and poof! Honey Glazed Chicken. It was SO bad. The flavor of the tyme had no business in the honey glaze. It was overpowering and just plain not compatible. Even if it was compatible, there was too much of it. We both ended up scraping off the glaze as best we could. I'd also made couscous with peas and carrots, and brussel sprouts, and luckily those were good. For some reason, I hear the name "Martha Stewart" and I assume whatever is associated with the name - recipe, craft, helpful household hint - is going to be good. Does anyone have a honey glaze recipe they'd like to share? No, not you Martha. You had your chance.

Time to start a "TV Project" - Cathedral Window Quilt

I decided I need a project to work on in the evenings while watching TV. I always think of TV time as such a waste of time, but there are shows that I love (Survivor, Amazing Race, So You Think You Can Dance, Project Runway, Top Chef, The Next Iron Chef, and more!) and it's easy to slip into TV-mode now that the colder weather is here. And, it's NASCAR's Chase season, which means 4 to 5 hours in front of the TV on weekends! The only way I can spend that much time in front of the TV is to be accomplishing some other task at the same time. Despite having a sewing machine in my family room (a wonderful old knee-pedal Majestic - my workhorse machine), I decided I want to do some hand piecing. I learned quilting by taking a 12 week class on hand piecing and hand quilting, but I'd gotten into the "faster is better" mode, and haven't done hand work in years. A quilt that's been on my "Want To Do" list for years is a Cathedral Window quilt. It's a wonderful way to use up scraps, plus I love the symmetry of the finished quilt. You can do it on a machine, but traditionally this quilt is done by hand. One block takes me about one hour to complete. It actually starts with a 10 x 10 inch square of muslin, which is folded twice down to a 3.4 inch square, then a center fabric added, and the musline pulled over the center fabric and hand stitche to create the rounded "frame". This is what I got completed over the weekend while watching the NASCAR race and Project Runway: Considering how many total blocks this quilt will take (250? 300? I haven't measured it out yet), I probably won't finish for a year. But that's OK. I'm in no hurry. I'm quite delighted to find out how much I truly enjoy hand piecing. It's the way I started making quilts, and the precision of the hand stitching and the concentration needed really appeals to me. I'm quite sorry I got away from it for as long as I did. Lately I feel like I lost my enthusiasm for quilting -- but could it be that I simply enjoy hand piecing far more than I enjoy the assembly line method of machine sewing? Interesting... Here's a photo of someone else's completed cathedral window quilt (from centralbucks55.com - found with a Google search), so you can an idea of what the finished quilt will look like.

Time to get ready for colder weather...

Cold weather really snuck up on us quickly this year. Last week we were in the 50s and 60s all week, and this week is forecast to be in the low 50's. (That's 10 to 15 degrees colder than normal for southwestern Ohio.) So I have planned several To Do Projects this week to get ready for Fall and (ack!) Winter. -- Put fabric slipcovers on family room furniture. Our sofa and chairs in the family room are leather. There's nothing worse than sitting down on cold leather in the winter! So I have fabric slipcovers that get put on to "warm them up" a bit. I will also put out different colored pillows, and get the throws and lap quilts out. Getting ready for snuggle weather! -- Clean out both closets in master bedroom. Time to move the summer clothes out and put the sweaters and jackets and long-sleeved shirts in. Also time to get rid of some old shoes and purses that have been around way too long. I'll make a list of clothes I need (sweaters this year, I think) and watch for sales. -- Get out duvet cover with down quilt and put on master bedroom bed. Switch lace curtains to draperies. -- Put away wicker rocking chair from front porch. Clean front porch, windex storm door and window surround. Put out Fall decorations. -- Replace lace table cloth in dining room with heavier cloth, put out Fall dining table decorations. I think that's it for the seasonal stuff. Also on my To Do List this week is to clean out my kitchen cabinets and put down new shelving paper. Jeff is going off on a trip next week, and honestly, I'm considering painting my kitchen cabinets while he's gone. Big debate. They are currently oak stained cabinets, and I'm thinking they would look great in either white or slightly off white. With a glass tile back splash! I have a friend that just painted her very dark wood cabinets, so I need to get over there and see what they look like before deciding if I'm going to do mine. Has anyone tried this? Do they come out looking like nice cabinets, or simply old cabinets repainted? I have Mr. B on Wednesday and Friday this week. I went to Michael's yesterday and purchased a t-shirt and some fabric paints so we can do a spider (hand print) T-shirt this week. I found the project on Michael's web site.

It's a Miracle

I have been plagued with a bad back since the age of 10, when I broke a vertebrae in my back that healed improperly. As I get older (and older and older), my back has gotten worse (and worse and worse), to the point where I had to give up my beloved job at the public library and, for the past year or so, where a good day of housework would be followed by two or three days of pain. I've been to physicians and chiropractors and massage specialists and more, and these visits have 100% of the time ended up with me in more pain than before the visits. Six months or so ago I decided I'd had enough and I would just learn to live with the pain. Two months ago I started having problems with my upper arm. (Keep reading - honest - this isn't a whining session). I went to my physican who sent me on to an orthopedic doctor. He diagnosed some inflammation of the tendons in and around my shoulder, gave me a cortisone shot, and put me on high-test anti-inflammatory medication. The result? MY BACK IS BETTER!!!!!!!!!! My back is 100% better! My back doesn't hurt! At all! AT ALL! No aches, no pain, no weak feeling - nothing! My back has not felt this good in 20 years. All this time, I was an anti-inflammatory pill away from having no back pain. It didn't take surgery, it didn't take deep tissue massage or acupuncture or any of the other stuff I've been through or feared. It makes sense, because a chiropractor told me that the broken vertebrae had been pushed forward and was rubbing against the nerves in my back and sometimes causing inflammation of the nerves to my hips. But she didn't catch that it was also causing inflammation of the nerves in my back. I don't care who did and didn't catch what - I just know that I had no idea how MUCH my back hurt until I felt what NO pain felt like - and understood the difference. For the past couple of days, ever since it dawned on me that my back didn't hurt (my back doesn't hurt!!!!), I've been cleaning house like crazy. For the past few years, I haven't been able to vaccuum and wash a floor on the same day. I could only clean any one bathroom in one day. Not now!!! Wooo Hoooo! I'm a cleaning dervish! The other great thing? Mr. B. noticed. Normally, when we go outside for him to ride his bike or just play, after 10 or 15 minutes, I have to sit down because my back would start to hurt. A few days ago, he asked me if I needed to get my chair, and I said no. He looked confused, and said, "Umma, doesn't your back hurt?" and I said, "No, I think my back is all better!". His response? "Umma, what will you do with all your Motrin now?" LOL Bless his heart.

Finding the strength

An important lesson I try to teach Mr. B is to "try, try again". This video is the manifestation of that phrase.