Thursday Update

Today is Thursday and I am returning to Tennessee.  We experienced issues with road construction and missed our flight.  We were able to get a later flight with only a small two hour time difference.  We had a great visit and shared some new recipes that are posted in the recipe section of the blog. I have added a recipe for broccoli salad and will add two others (bran muffins and oatmeal cranberry cookies) once I give them a healthy twist.  The recipes call for sugar, vegetable oil, and regular flour.  I am going to make them with honey, olive oil, and whole wheat flour before I post them in the recipe section of the blog. 

During my visit we tried the mashed potatoes with pumpkin and they were really good.  If you like pumpkin you will enjoy this healthy addition to your potatoes.  My mother prepared some red kidney beans and they were so good.  She drained almost all the juice from the can and heated them while adding some butter and pepper.   A small amount of milk was added to the bean mixture and heated completely.  This is a great vegetable to add over brown rice or your potatoes. 

My nephews had never tried avocados or guacamole so I bought some “Wholly Guacamole” organic dip for them to try.  They really liked it and are going to add it to their list of favorite foods.  I suggest including guacamole on a baked potato, on top of an omelet, or with blue tortilla chips.  The possibilities are endless with how you can include this healthy food into your diet.  One note of caution when looking for prepared guacamole dip.  Watch out for the imitation or flavored dips that contain sometimes only 2 % guacamole, sugar, and added salt.  Once again it is so important to read the labels very carefully.  Look for organic 100% guacamole such as the brand, “Wholly Guacamole”.  This brand can be found in Walmart next to the organic lettuce and other organic foods.  

You can make your own guacamole dip with fresh avocados.  You must first be sure the avocados are ripe enough to spoon out of their skin.  When picking out an avocado at the store try to get ones that are soft but not real soft.  Usually they will appear to have some dark brown mixed with the dark green.  If they are not soft enough you will have difficulty spooning them out of their skin and mashing them. When you get them home you will split them with a knife down the center and take out the pit.  Next you will spoon the inside out of each half.  You do not eat the skin.  Next you will mash the avocado and add chopped cilantro and some finely diced jalapenos to taste.  Another simple way to add the spices is to buy a dry package mix located in the produce section or add salsa to taste. 

 While in K-mart I was able to locate chocolate bars with the cocoa level of 60, 70, 80, and 100%.  I previously tried the 60% cocoa and it is very good.  I am going to try the 70 and 100 in the near future.  These are the big bars used for baking and can be located in the baking isle or with the other candy in the story.  Another word of caution here, do not think that you can eat anything that is covered with dark chocolate.  Dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate is better than milk however what it is covering such as candy is not.  Be sure to find the bars of dark chocolate with any of the numbers noted above to satisfy your sweet tooth and gain the healthy benefits at the same time.  Another helpful note, you should not eat the entire bar at once.  These are large bars and I only eat a few pieces throughout the day.  Once again focus on your portion and limit yourself to a few pieces each day and believe me you will enjoy it a lot more. 

Raspberry Ketones update-- I am really happy with the results I am experiencing with the Raspberry Ketones added to my healthy eating plan.  As I previously noted they are great for helping reduce food cravings.  I have had weight reduction since I started them just one week ago today.  I would suggest adding them to your diet if you have not already.

If you have any questions or comments please post them below.  Also please add your results or comments about your healthy eating and use of Raspberry Ketones, thanks.