Workout With Friends

I was spinning last week when a thought came to me. Everywhere I turn people are playing WWF(Words With Friends). They're addicted to it. I for one have not played, having no IPhone, IPad, or I anything. Never was very good at scrabble anyway. So the thought occurred to me. Instead of words with friends, how about workout with friends? A partner makes any activity more fun. My Y friend Kathy and I started spinning together about 18 months ago, and although we don't always do it together, it is much more fun to sit next to a friend, moan and groan togther, and compare mileage and calories. Sounds like torture, but it really is fun. Workout with friends (the new WWF) can be applied to swimming, walking, weight training, zumba, or any aerobics class. All you need is someone who will make a committment to workout with you. Fran and I have been walking together for years. Even during these busy holiday times we manage to squeeze in a one hour walk each week. And our boogie boarding group has been riding the waves together for years. What fun would boogie boarding alone be? (fun, but not as fun). Fran has come up with a new activity. It's walking with walking sticks. You can buy a pair of walking sticks at Walmart for around $25, and incorporate an upper body workout into your walking routine. I was at Batiquitos Lagoon last week and saw a woman walking with the sticks. I stopped and asked her how she liked them. She loved them, and felt she was getting a super workout. So Fran and I are buying the sticks and will start walking with them. It's always fun to try something new. So find a partner, just once a week, and get out there and WWF. Walking, biking, weight training, whatever it is you like, find someone who will commit to doing that activity with you once a week. You will be doing something good for your body and mind, and developing a deeper friendship with your partner. It's a win-win situation, and maybe for some of you, a first step back into exercise. Remember, WWF doesn't just mean "words with friends." It now also means "workout with friends."

Make Your Own Seasonings

One of my fondest memories of life during my 30's was a cooking class I took once a week during the school year, for maybe 5 years. The class was taught by Frances Raboff, an artist and cook, and dear family friend. She and her partner Eleanor taught a unique cooking class at Westchester High School in Los Angeles. I signed up with two friends the first year, and several years later we had a group of six, who loved the class so much, several of them travelled from the San Fernando Valley, probably a 70 mile roundtrip every week. You know it had to be good. Each week the class had a theme. Dinner in Provence, Italian Night, Creole Night, Sunday Brunch, Thanksgiving, Holiday Gifts were just a few of the themes. We would break into groups of four, and each group would have a full mini kitchen to work in. Each group would make the entire meal, then we'd eat and clean up. Fran and Eleanor would spend some time at the beginning of the class teaching us a particular technique, like boning a chicken, or folding eggwhites into a souffle. I learned a lot. But the fun of the class was cooking the meal with friends. I can't put into words how much we all enjoyed the evening. We looked forward to it all week. One class was spent on making gifts to give for the holidays. One recipe Fran had was for a seasoned salt. I made this for years, and used it on everything from chicken to vegetables. I can't find the recipe now (I've moved so many times I may have lost it), but I did find recently some wonderful recipes for other seasonings that are great to keep on hand or give as gifts. The great thing about keeping these on hand is you no longer have to buy packaged ranch dressing or onion soup, something many of use alot. Here are two recipes I think you'll enjoy, and they're so easy. Dry Onion Soup Mix: 2/3 cup dried, minced onion 3 teaspoons parsley flakes 2 teaspoons onion powder 2 teaspoons turmeric 1 teaspoon celery salt 1 teaspoon sea salt 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper Mix all ingredients in a jar, then give the jar a good shake. I’d recommend shaking the jar to mix the ingredients well before each use. Use 4 tablespoons in a recipe in place of 1 packet of onion soup mix. Store this in a dry, cool place. Homemade Ranch Dressing: Dry Mix Recipe 1/2 cup powdered Buttermilk 3 tablespoons dried Parsley 1 tablespoon dried Dill Weed 1 tablespoon Onion Powder 1 tablespoon Salt 1 1/2 teaspoons Garlic Powder 3/4 teaspoons Pepper Combine in a food processor and blend into a powdery consistency. Store in a container of choice. To make ranch dressing: Combine 1 tablespoon mix with 1 cup mayonnaise and 1/2 cup milk. (or use half mayo, half yogurt) Mix with wire whisk. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. Make several hours before using, to allow flavors to blend.

Pumpkin Mousse, Weight Watchers Style

Dieting is difficult during the holiday season, but here's a recipe you can eat without guilt, and at the same time not make you feel like you're missing anything. It's a Weight Watcher's pumpkin mousse, but everyone will love it. You can even make it into a pumpkin mousse pie by pouring it into a graham cracker crust pie shell. It has just the right amount of sweetness and creaminess to make it sooo delicious. Note the fact that with the new Weight Watchers program the points have changed, but the bottom line is that it's still 100 calories, and that's not much for a delicious dessert. You may even like it so much that you'll make it all year round. Oh, and did I mention that pumpkin is one of the superfoods? (our Weight Watchers friend Betty, just loved this recipe. She lost much of her weight eating pumpkin soup and pumpkin mousse.) Weight Watchers Pumpkin Mousse Ingredients: ■2 small packages of instant sugar-free vanilla pudding ■2 cups of non fat milk ■1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice ■15 ounce can of pumpkin(pure pumpkin, no added spices) ■8 ounces of fat-free Cool Whip Directions: 1.Make pudding first with the 2 cups of skim milk. 2.Fold in the rest of the ingredients - spice, pureed pumpkin and Cool Whip. 3.Serve! This recipe makes 12 servings ■Calories 102 ■Calories from Fat 44 ■Total Fat 4.9g ■Saturated Fat 4.2g ■Cholesterol 1mg ■Sodium 185mg ■Total Carbohydrates 13.2g ■Dietary Fiber 1.0g ■Sugars 7.6g ■Protein 2.0g Under the old Weight Watchers POINTS system, it’s 2 POINTS per serving. Under the new POINT PLUS system its’ 3 POINTS per serving

Made In The USA

Our once a month poker group always has a holiday party, and this year was no exception. We don't play poker on this night, but eat, drink, laugh and tell stories. It's a wonderful evening. This year, our poker diva in charge of fun, Fran, decided that the gift exchange would include gifts under $15 that were made in the USA. Everyone thought this would be a daunting task, but in the end, the gifts were thoughtful and made domestically. Food and drink was most popular. Domestic wines, regional jams and jellies, fancy mustard and chutney, and several Trader Joe's products. Trader Joes is a bit misleading, as many of their products say "Packaged in Monrovia, Ca." That only means that their distribution is there, and determining the original point of origin is difficult. I have written about this before, and there are codes that tell what country produced a product, but the codes are not on all items. What are they hiding? Other gifts at our party were candles, lots of candles, bath oils and soaps, homemade jewelry, and some novelty items. Everyone loved the American theme, and went home with something unique. I received a bag of Cranberry beans, an old American heirloom bean, and a recipe for an Alice Waters creation using the beans. Now what could be more American than that? If you really are interested in trying to buy American, you can. Below are just a few of the dozens of websites to show you the many products that are produced domestically. It takes a little more work, and sometimes more money, but if that's important to you, here is some info to help. Americansworking.com Stillmadeinusa.com bassettfurniture.com hardenfurniture.com allusaclothing.com amdericanmadecompanies.com Cars, toys, shoes, socks, underwear, jeans, you can find it all made in the USA. There's a shoe manufacturer right here in Carlsbad, and they make great sporty shoes. New Balance has 5 plants in the USA. Even companies like Apple are starting to shift their workforce back home. It's not as hard as you think, so keep your eyes open, check some of these websites, and buy American.

It's Soup Time

My front porch thermometer says 37degrees this morning. My living room thermometer is at 60degrees. In other words, it's time for soup. I usually have a Sunday afternoon soup making session every so often, in which I make two kinds of soup, then freeze most of it for use over the next month. I go to the Y on Sunday morning, have a quick coffee with my friends, then I'm off to Sprouts to buy all the ingredients for soup. Most recently I made a vegetable bean soup for a holiday party. I thought it was overcooked, as I did it in the crockpot and the beans were so well cooked that they became a thickener for the soup. The soup was good and hearty, but a little too purreed for me. Here's another version of a vegetable bean soup, adapted from Martha Stewart, that I like better. It freezes well. Vegetable Bean Soup Ingredients 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 medium carrots, diced small 2 celery stalks, diced small 1 medium yellow onion, diced small 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon dried thyme Coarse salt and ground pepper 2 cans (15.5 ounces each) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (any beans will do) 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes 4 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley Grated Parmesan, for serving Directions 1. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, and onion and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and season with salt and pepper; cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes, broth, and parsley and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide soup among four bowls and add parmesean cheese if desired. For a thicker soup, take about 1/3 of the soup, puree in the blender, then mix back with the rest of the soup. Either way, it's a great lunch or dinner during the cold weather.

China's Great Shame

Every country has its shame. Ours is slavery. For Germany it's the Hitler years. For China, it is the 36 million people that starved to death between 1958 and 1962, during the man-made calamity known as the Great Famine. I recently read a New York Times story on the subject and recalled a fiction book I read on the subject last year, Dreams of Joy, by Lisa See. I still remember vividly Lisa's descriptions of life in China during that period, and even though her book was fiction, from what I've read about the great famine, it was very real. The 36 million lost to starvation twice outweighs the number of fallen men in World War 1, and about six times the number of Ukrainians starved by Stalin in 1932-33, or the number of Jews murdered by Hitler during World War 11. 50 years later, the famine is still a taboo subject in China. Books on the topic, like Yang Jisheng's Tombstone, could only be published in Hong Kong, Japan, and the West. China has historical amnesia, and is tightening government control on information and expression in it's most recent Communist Party National Congress. Even as they have become major players on the world stage in many ways, China will not tell its people the truth. The party line rhetoric says that there were three years of natural disasters, but no plague, flood or earthquake ever wrought such horror during those years. The reason that China does not want to tell people the truth is political: a full exposure of the Great Famine could undermine the legitimacy of a ruling party that clings to the political legacy of Mao, even though that legacy is the root cause of the famine. In Mao's China the state penetrated every corner of national life. Rural populations were brought under control through collectivization of agriculture. The peasants survived at the pleasure of the state. The Great Leap Forward was Mao's ambitious attempt at rapid industrialization, without the means to achieve. The people were lied to, as newspapers boasted of huge production from rice farms which were not true. Peasants were forced to give anything metal to the state, which melted it down and used it in building. Families were forced into communal kitches. Food ran short, and no aid ever came. The result was starvation on an epic scale. I have not yet read Tombstone, Jisheng's account of how the Great Famine happened and why, but I will. Dreams of Joy, by Lisa See, is fiction, but she has done her homework, and gives you the feeling of what life might have been like during that period. I highly recommend it to anyone who finds this topic of interest.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

You probably know by now that the sweet potato is one of the superfoods. It's got more good stuff in it than almost anything you can eat. If you know me at all you also know that sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods. I eat them for lunch and dinner several times a week. Hmmm, maybe there's a breakfast recipe for sweet potatoes. I'll have to check that out. In the meantime, I just made the salad below, which I found on the Whole Foods web site. (an excellent site for recipes, nutrition and health articles). It's only 160 calories per serving, 0 calories from fat, 0 grams cholesterol, 85 mg sodium, 39g carbohydrate, 3g protein, 5g dietary fiber and 23 g sugar. If you want to eliminate the sugar, use a sugar substitute for the honey. The calories will also be reduced. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Roasted Sweet Potato Salad 2 small sweet potatoes, peel and diced (or purchase the pre diced sweet potatoes in a bag at your local supermarket) 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced 1/4 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (divided in half) 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup honey (or sugar substitute) 2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped 4 cups baby arugula (buy the bag of prewashed and trimmed arugula) 3 medium radishes, thinly sliced Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss sweet potatoes with pepper, half the cinnamon and onion in a bowl, and transfer to a baking dish. Roast until tender, about 45 minutes. Make sure they have enough room so that they're not stacked. For the dressing, whisk vinegar, honey, the rest of the cinnamon and chives together. Toss arugula and radishes in serving bowl, add cool roasted sweet potatoes and dressing and combine. Enjoy.