Exciting News!
I am moving....at least my blog is!  You can now find me at: http://homegrownsimplicity.com/ I will be gradually transferring some of the content of this blog there, plus many more new recipes and simple ways of doing things.  Check out the recipe for Creamy Garlic Parmesan Dressing that was a hit at yesterday's 4th of July party! I hope you can find me at my new address and enjoy all the amazing things that I will be publishing there.  Enjoy!
Simply,
Mary

Coconut Macaroons

Here is the recipe that uses the egg whites that you will have left when you make Toffee Bars. You can make 1/2 the recipe if you only have one egg yolk, otherwise you'll just have to make Toffee Bars again and get another yolk! It turns out that coconuts are so good for you in all their forms so whether you eat coconut oil, coconut palm sugar or drink coconut milk, or coconut water, you are doing a good thing for your health. You can even use coconut oil as a moisturizer for all of your skin!

Coconut macaroons:


2 egg whites Dash of salt 1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sugar or 1/4 cup sugar and 1 to 2 dashes of Stevia extract
1 cup shredded coconut

Beat egg whites with salt and vanilla until soft peaks form.
Gradually add sugar (and stevia), beating until stiff. Fold in
coconut.
Coat cooking sheet with generous amount of butter.
Drop by the rounded teaspoon onto cookie sheet.
Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.
Makes about 18 cookies.

These are so easy and good plus each cookie will give you about 4 grams of coconut oil.

Simply,
Mary

Mary's Salsa

While grocery shopping, I decided I wanted to make my own salsa so I looked at a jar on the shelf and composed a list of ingredients. The following is my version of the recipe after trial and error of different amounts of the goodies.

1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 T. jalapeno peppers
2 oz. green chilies
½ C. fresh cilantro
1 T. lime juice
¼ t. sea salt
1/8 t. (roasted) cumin
freshly ground black pepper

Put all ingredients in food processor and pulse or process minimally, leaving it a little chunky.
Note: I use canned green chilies and fresh or canned jalapeno peppers.

Gazpacho

It's tomato season and we are having quite a harvest! Time for some cold tomato soup. Here's a recipe I have made for years and it is always refreshing in the warm summer.

Gazpacho-cold tomato soup

3 tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 green pepper
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, quartered
1/2 C. lemon or lime juice
1 cucumber
2 T. chopped chives
2 sprigs parsley
1/4 C. fresh basil
1 1/2 t. chervil (optional)
1/4 C. olive oil
sea salt or regular to taste *
3 C. chicken broth *I use 3 t. bouillon granules & water so not as much salt

Put all ingredients in blender and puree. It doesn't all fit so I have to divide it into 2 batches and combine after blending. Chill in refrigerator and serve.

This soup tastes better as it ages and is refreshing even as a morning wake up drink - what a way to get your vegetables! Enjoy!

Simply,
Mary

Zucchini-Pepper Skillet

Thanks to my son Jason, we have a vegetable garden this year! Tonight I was able to make our favorite veggie dish with all of our own produce (except the onion, garlic, salt and pepper). Our onions will be ready to harvest soon so next time it will be almost exclusively from the garden. Here is the recipe:

1 pound zucchini
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 small green pepper, chopped
2 T. olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
Fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese

Cut zucchini into 1/4 inch slices. Cook and stir the zucchini, onion, green pepper, oil garlic, salt and pepper in a skillet until heated through. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes. Cover and heat through, about 5 more minutes. Sprinkle with snipped parsley and Parmesan cheese.

I hope you enjoy,
Simply,
Mary

Finger-Lickin, Good? - Not Always!

These days we are all more aware of germs on our hands and should be constantly washing them before even touching our faces. Imagine the trouble that those of us, who subconsciously lick our fingers to turn a page, open a plastic bag either at the produce counter, or (Heaven forbid) to reline our trashcans, are in. I know more than once I have looked for some ice chips to wet my fingers in produce so I could open one of those stubborn bags!

Well, here is a simple solution that works in those difficult times. Just do one of those haaaaaaaaaa breaths on your fingers - the kind that you would use to put some steam on you glasses to clean them. This usually puts enough moisture on your fingers without licking them and transferring who knows what germs directly into your mouth. So save that finger-lickin for your fried chicken!

Simply,
Mary

Simple Common Sense Eating

I generally have good common sense about most things, but what to eat has confused me for years. I have heard about hundreds of diets or ways of eating and I have been a lifetime member of Weight Watchers for 10 1/2 years, but my common sense still fails me when it comes to figuring out what is best to eat.

As I have gotten older, it has become more difficult to stay trim so I have become determined to solve this dilemma. Since everything we eat affects our body, it's probably a good idea to pay as much attention to all that goes down our throats as we do to medications that our doctors prescribe. In the end, I am going to pay close attention to how I feel as I change the way I eat. After all the "proof is in the pudding", but I am thinking that pudding will not be a staple on my new diet. Common sense tells me that since we eat to survive, why not eat to survive feeling good in the end. After all, why eat to feel crummy. Would you keep taking Tylenol for a headache if it never worked to take the headache away?

I have never tried avoiding carbohydrates, so I have begun doing that and I feel amazingly better. I hadn't realized how sluggish I felt until I made the change and have tons more energy. I am combining a few diets that I have read about in magazines and online and I don't have any of the books so I am a human guinea pig at this point, only interested in the end result of feeling better and getting healthier.

I am taking (author of "Why We Get Fat - and What to Do About It") Gary Taubes' advice in Reader's Digest to eat foods that keep insulin low and that fat makes you feel full which is a good thing. He claims that if you restrict carbs, you can basically eat as much as you want of anything else so long as you quit when you are full. Tim Ferriss (author of "The 4-Hour Body") says that if you eat low carbs for 6 days, then you can have a free day once a week to eat anything you want. He says to make sure and eat lots of protein within the first 30 minutes after you wake up, but I heard he wants you to cut out milk and cheese (not sure I could do that). Dr. Oz throws in all sorts of tidbits like drinking ice water to boost your metabolism and taking a fiber supplement before supper. None of them agree with each other on everything so it is up to me to figure out what works best for me.

I thought about the people who don't eat living creatures and I realized yesterday that everything we eat is living. Otherwise we'd be left with stone soup without the vegetables! I respect the vegetarians and vegans and I'm happy that those diets make them feel good, but everyone is different, I am a meat lover and I think my O positive body needs it to function well. Maybe each one of us has a passion for the kinds of foods that are really good for our bodies, except of course for candy and obvious things that just give us an immediate pleasure and would make us lethargic and sick if we overdid it.

So, I am off and running, combining all sorts of advise, having fun cheating (but then, I don't know the rules), eating all I want of non-carbs, going crazy once a week and loving it! I am inventing all sorts of new recipes using tons of vegetables, beans, meats, poultry and fish and I have lost one and one half pounds in less than two weeks. I feel great with lots of energy and I sleep so well at night which has not been the case in the past. I'm going to add exercise back into the equation now that I have the energy so I should feel even better soon.

Keep checking and I'll start posting the recipes I invent. If I start gaining weight, I'll use my common sense to figure out what's going wrong. Have fun figuring out what you can eat to make yourself feel great!

Simply,
Mary