about a green girl

raise a glass of vitamin C to our presidents...

Another reason federal gov't employees have it so good = President's Day. Don't President's have it so much better than the average bear? Aren't they constantly celebrated? Do they need a whole "official" day? If I would have had today off from a cushy gov't job, I would have spent it with a nasty case of the throat yucks and a cough. (cough *cough.)

It's from the damn suburban mall play-lands!Every time I take my son to one, he gets sick. Then I have to get sick. He loves to climb the plastic, resin structures they've built in our local mall, but the thing is a total petri dish. After playtime, I had us both use hand sanitizer, but alas, here we are. (Sniff * sniff,) Complements of ten other snot-nosed kids, no doubt.

What is a girl to do when she is under-the-weather? Browse Etsy, of course. I wanted to find an Abe Lincoln locket. No lockets appeared, but this top hat pendant did. I just love it. The shop that stocks it is so fun.

I also love to read at night after I have put the sick boy to bed. I am excited to start this new book. It was listed on Powells' site. If you haven't before, Powells Books is just one more reason to visit Portland, Oregon!

Well, if you catch a winter bug and need to boost your immunity, fast......try my all natural home remedy:

Audrey's Double C, Cold Kicking Tea

• Fill a glass half way with warm/hot water

• Add the juice from one large lemon (squeeze)

• Add several large splashes of lime juice (fresh or packaged)

• Add an organic green tea bag to the mixture and stir.

• Let sit 5 minutes.

• Then add ice cubes to fill the top to make it ice cold. And drink! Mega Vitamin C and Green Tea cold fighter to the rescue in one refreshing, cold drink

  ...If that doesn't work, head for the Ny-quill or the Z-pack, (like I'll probably end up doing!)

a yummy salad for you

I recently went off a medication I had been taking for the dreaded PCOS. I am one of the lucky women who only ever had a few of the nasty symptoms of this syndrome which reportedly effects 5% of all women and is the number one cause of infertility. I was able to have a baby (thank you God,) and I have few signs, if any, of ever having had it. It's a good thing in the long run for me to be off the medicine, but the side effects of removing this somewhat metabolic regulating pill is wrecking havoc on my system. Hopefully my body will eventually value its independence and adjust.

Picture me as Violet Beauregard, blown up, until she practically popped. I am barely eating anything and still feel like I will burst! Is there anything more frustrating than when your body won't respond and do what you want it to. Such is the life of a pre-disposed fat girl, (pitiful sigh of self-pity.) Since everyone tells me "you have to eat something", I have been creating my own variety of salad recipes. It's fun if you pretend you are the owner of a super cool salad cafe' (in your kitchen.) I call my cafe Chez' Le Rabbit!...which I think translates: TO THE RABBIT! (said with a wink and a grin, and much less self pity ;)

Anyhow.... I have a new concoction that I whipped up on Monday, during lunchtime with my son, which you might like to try:

Chez' Le Rabbit's Baby Spinach Spectacular

• 1/3 bag of pre-washed baby spinach,
• 1/3 a small can of chic peas,
• half a mini-can of mandarin oranges,
• one handful walnuts,
• one handful dried cranberries or cherries,
• several grape tomatoes
• and a teaspoon of Aunt Mids all natural raspberry dressing, (which is not expensive and is totally low-cal!) Aunt Mids is available at your local Kroger's and is made right here in Detroit. Who'da thunk it?

Wha-la! It's a very filling meal for under $5.00 (based on the one bowl portion) and it's under 300 calories. No-guilt and hopefully less puffiness!

I can just feel the self-pity melting away! It is so yummy! We all have our days in the dumps. If you need cheering up or de-puffing...my kitchen is always open!

The chef hopes you will enjoy.

 

Whoot, Whoot, (with hand motions!) My cookbook is finally ready for publication!

 

Last Spring I drafted a family cookbook as a tribute to my grandmother as a Mother's Day gift. You may remember me rambling on about it in this post. WELL...it's finally done! My grandmother helped me edit it and I added a little intro to give a little background on our family and the FOOD!

I chose  lulu.com for their print-on-demand publishing which makes managing inventory very flexible and keeps the production costs low. If you are interested in a hard copy of the book, just click on the book cover icon in the top right corner of my homepage. As a gift to my extended family, friends, and readers I am offering a PDF of the entire 36 page mini-book for you download. Just email me or leave a comment here and I will send it your way! (Just in time to bake something for that workplace Christmas party!) ~Enjoy!

Jello Brained

Sorry to have abandoned you temporarily, friends. My brain has turned to florescent, pink jello with all that I have been up to.....

Elections, fund-raisers, home association board meetings, family bike riding, applying for          The Biggest Loser (....just to prove my last post wrong....I DO like reality TV with a purpose. Mainly the purpose of reducing my butt size...)

Yes, all kinds of things have kept me floating in the sea of summer motion!

AND...A big 36th birthday party is on the horizon, as well.

Not for me! I am not that elderly--YET! No, no, it is for the partially gray haired man that I married. That devil will do anything to have a party. The 36th year doesn't seem like a milestone to YOU, perhaps...but we can make it into one with Superman cupcakes and spiked lemonade, to DIE FOR!

Details to follow, along with rants about inappropriate behavior at the voting precincts, and newly discovered craft sites that will make you want to grab your sketchbook and curl up with a nice bowl of ....jello?

Cough * Cough

Hey lovelies!

I have been absent from the blog this week due to a hacking cough and unpleasant illness attack. I have been getting plenty of Vitamin C from the fresh strawberries we purchased on our way back from Kalamazoo this past weekend.

When I used to work for Kellogg's (located near Kalamazoo) I would love to buy locally grown, fruits and veggies from Horrocks. More than anything though, they have the BEST supply of fresh flowers at rock bottom prices. If you ever drive through Lansing or Battle Creek, MI you must stop by and check it out.

My wedding took place in my in-laws garden and I had the intention, since I had always dreamed of a garden wedding, to take every pressed, dried flower I had saved from homecoming corsages, and valentine bouquets (which I had collected  in a memory box since the age of seven..) and crush and sprinkle them down the ceremony isle.

One problem with this idea: No one could see the dried flowers, of course. I felt like this "petal" runner down the isle really needed something more to it. I ran all over town the week of the wedding to find a flower shop that sold petals for a reasonable price. I was just about to buy silk petals for $6.99 per box...(and I needed about 20 boxes, all told) when I discovered the back flower cooler at Horrocks! For $4.99 I was able to get a giant bag of the most fragrant, beautiful fresh roses petals to supplement my dried "memory" petals from all the important events in my life. Horrocks definitely rocks, and not just for their strawberries. (cough* cough)

(Try and you'll see)...YUMMY!

Here is the apple cake recipe (from this post) in my grandmother's handwriting. Try it and you will crave it, again and again!

    Few shots of our delicious baking session:

The reward for our efforts: One for the neighbor, one to freeze for another day, and one to enjoy with family!